Everything happened so suddenly: the golem defeated Muham as if he were an insect, and then the Djinn attacked. Now, the audience watched everything almost in slow motion.
Before the Djinn, a small female golem appeared. Her entire body was wrapped in runes, while terrifyingly high-level space-time laws twisted around her, trapping the Djinn. But he simply snorted, and with a single thought, everything was swept away as if it had no value. But then...
*Pierce!*
Suddenly, the Djinn’s vision blurred, and a large amount of purple blood spurted from his mouth. Even the Tarrasque and Caipora stopped, completely catatonic.
On the chest of that immortal, a hole the size of a golf ball appeared. It was impossible to distinguish blood from flesh, and soon he was thrown away like a shopping bag carried by a strong wind.
*BOOM!*
The Djinn collided violently with the stands. People were able to run quickly, but a cloud of dust rose.
Two seconds later, the smell of blood had already spread. Then, a roar of pain echoed, sending a chill down everyone’s spine inside the arena.
The Djinn screamed as if he were experiencing indescribable pain. The five immortals were the first to react, running to him. The Tarrasque waved his hand, dispersing the dust until everyone could see.
The entire figure of the Djinn was writhing. His body, once purple, was now black, slowly decaying before everyone’s eyes. His blood poured out, black as death, as he roared as though his flesh and soul were being refined.
"Like father, like son... really similar." A mocking voice echoed.
The five immortals turned toward the pair of golems on the stage. The round figure still held Muham by the neck. With a movement of its fists, Muham’s screams became even louder, mixing with those of the Djinn.
"OH! What a symphony! Master was right: a family with such hidden talent! Now everyone can appreciate it." Ruri commented with an expression of admiration.
The audience was completely still, unsure how to react. What were they witnessing? People began to shake instinctively as they saw the wicked smile of the pair, while the duo writhed before them.
"This... how is this possible... anti-life?!" The Tarrasque was the only one to recognize what was happening, observing the hole in the Djinn’s chest.
Caipora widened her eyes and turned to the round golem. These immortals had heard rumors about anti-life, something only the Behemoth, the King of Mortals and ruler of the laws of the earth, could use. However, the Behemoth was considered too pathetic, and no one took these rumors seriously.
But... that golem had shown earlier that it could easily summon the essence of life. The peak of the earth laws involved converting the laws into balance, toward one of the poles. Manifesting the essence of life was something accessible to those with great talent, as everyone had life in their bodies. However, converting to the side of death was infinitely harder, bordering on impossible. Only the Behemoth had that ability due to his domain.
Caipora felt the power of the round golem and realized it didn’t have a drop of Qi in its body. Even its earth laws were exhausted, which only confirmed the situation, leaving her even more stunned.
The five immortals understood. The small female golem also had no remaining Qi; she had used all her power to block the Djinn and create a gap for a second, just long enough for the golem to strike.
The Tarrasque murmured: "It’s just a small fragment of anti-life, two centimeters... this won’t kill him, but the damage will be immense. His body will be practically destroyed, and his divine soul will be one step away from total annihilation."
Everyone swallowed nervously. Inside the Djinn’s chest, something small pulsed incessantly as he writhed and roared.
The five immortals were terrified. They dared not move the small anti-life fragment inside the Djinn, fearing they would be affected. Even approaching his body could have disastrous consequences. They quickly moved away and ordered everyone in the arena to stay as far away as possible.
Then, they turned their attention back to the golem, while the macabre symphony of Muham’s and the Djinn’s screams continued.
After an hour, the golem released Muham, tossing him aside indifferently. Almost simultaneously, the Djinn also stopped writhing.
The Tarrasque analyzed the situation and realized that the Djinn could recover, but it would take centuries, maybe more. Thankfully, the fragment used was small. If it had been a little larger, or if the Djinn were a bit weaker, he would have died.
The Djinn remained motionless, and a funeral silence took over the arena. The judge checked Muham’s condition: he was in a much worse state than Emppu had been.
If it weren’t for his divine soul, Muham would be dead. Only a thread of vitality kept his body functional. Still, even with supreme resources, it would take a long time for him to recover.
The golem’s voice broke the silence: "So..." He said, looking at the judge, who had remained still and catatonic throughout the whole event. "You saw everything clearly, didn’t you? In the middle of my fight, the Djinn attacked. According to the rules, he and his entire continent must be disqualified, right?"
Only then did everyone snap out of their stupor.
"Y-yes..." the judge said, a little trembling.
"I only defended myself and suffered a huge loss. But you, as the judge, didn’t protect me," the golem declared, turning his gaze toward the Tarrasque, who was farther away.
The Tarrasque understood the message and stared coldly at the judge: "This seems pretty serious. Maybe I should report it to the heroes..."
The judge immediately reacted: "No need for that! The rules are very clear about this. The moment the Djinn invaded, his entire continent was disqualified. In the end, everything was settled. Let’s just follow the rules and move on."
He said, waving a tablet in his hands. "The Djinn acted in bad faith and violated the sacred laws. His entire continent will be disqualified, and he will be imprisoned and punished later."
Immediately, all the youths from the Djinn continent felt the space around them twist; within seconds, they disappeared from the arena. The Djinn, even unconscious and unable to react, was chained by runes and taken to a distant place in the city.
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At that moment, the couple calmly left the central stage, returning to their faction’s group as if nothing had happened, as if they had just gone for a brief walk.
Carod and Florien stared at them, unable to say a word. Then, the Tarrasque returned and also observed the pair, visibly perplexed.
How insane was that? Those two were truly capable of gravely injuring an immortal and driving him to complete despair. If they were a bit stronger... could they have killed him? The thought seemed absurd.
’Humph... they got away easy this time. My soul seal was placed perfectly on both of them, master,’ Ruri confirmed through the array.
Alm nodded, satisfied. Ruri had acted discreetly; at the moment they attacked the Djinn, she also secretly attacked. This allowed her to mark them with the new immortal-level technique she had acquired.
Now, they could track them wherever they went, as part of Ruri’s soul was linked to them. It was a great opportunity they had gained.
Meanwhile, Bruno was focused on the statue and the bell. Earlier, he had felt the power of faith coming from another god flowing into the weapon. It was just a tiny remnant, but with his mastery and knowledge of faith’s power, he quickly connected to this other god’s power. With that, he could use the weapon at its full strength.
It was indeed a peculiar weapon, but extremely efficient. Combined with their knowledge of the elements, they were able to dominate the enemy’s purple flames with ease, as if they were using the tattoos.
However, that was only the power of the weapon, and all the immortals who watched could clearly see that... even though they were still shocked.
’It was just a remnant of this god’s will. I can’t even say if he’s really dead, but he realized we used his weapon and helped us in an unexpected way,’ Bruno analyzed. ’I don’t know exactly where he is, but it’s not here, nor in this universe of the Queen.’
In the end, they burned the power of faith that had been sent. With no more of that energy available, they wouldn’t be able to use the weapon the same way again unless the god decided to send more help.
It took an hour for the judge to finish the necessary adjustments. After that, he resumed the tournament with an announcement. All 58 youths from the Djinn continent were officially disqualified. Out of the 50 who had won the first fight, 19 were from the Djinn continent.
Only 25 would move on to the final stage. Some battles had already taken place, which allowed the classification to be decided without the need for new fights.
In the end, two advanced from the Tarrasque continent, eight from the Caipora continent, two from the Fenrir continent, and thirteen from the Qilin continent. The Thunderbird continent had no representatives advancing.
The 25 finalists were gathered. They wouldn’t fight directly among themselves anymore, but would compete for the title of winner in a small, separate world.
At that moment, Alm and Bruno felt an increasing agitation among the people from the Caipora continent. When they looked at the immortal from that group in the stands, they noticed that her gaze had changed. Whatever it was, everything pointed to her planning to do something for this next phase.
Alm and Bruno took a deep breath. They had no control over what would happen, and they didn’t even know what she would do. But they felt it would be something dangerous.