Kill The Old Ones!

Chapter 170: Tournament: Prelude to the Grand Finals

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The losers bracket continued up to the third day.

They served as a warm-up before the grand finals, the match between Ren and Adrian.

The main highlight was, of course, the fight between Lucian and Elena.

Lucian Skyrend, Heir of the Heaven’s Reach Clan and the Young Spear King, versus Elena Forstmere, Heir of the Far North Clan and the Young King of the North.

Everybody else was just an appetizer. Yes, this includes the other family heirs too.

The fight between Lucian and Elena was fierce and exciting. A perfect entrée before the Grand Finals.

Coming from the Heaven’s Reach Clan, it’s not surprising that Lucian was an expert with polearms, more specifically, the spear.

The Heaven’s Reach Clan has a heaven preference against polearms—staves, spears, halberds, tridents, poleaxes, war scythes—you name it. So long as it’s attached to a pole, giving it an extended reach? Somebody from the Heaven’s Reach Clan was good at it—this is what makes this clan unique.

Like the other Heavenly Kings, Lucian also has an Epic Grade Martial Physique. However, his doesn’t contain any special attributes.

It’s just that—an epic-grade martial physique. Aside from increasing his training speed, it doesn’t give him any other benefits.

This made him the most ’ordinary’ amongst the Four Heavenly Kings of Central City. An attribute and nameless epic grade martial physique in itself was rare and not really the good kind of rare, either.

But Lucian never complained about this.

When he discovered this anomaly during his initiation ceremony, he was the only one who just accepted it at face value and continued on with his life. His parents, his elders, and pretty much everybody in his clan whined about this upsetting find, but not him.

While they’re all busy crying over spilled milk, Lucian began his work.

Sure, it’s true that Lucian was a playboy. He could be found in some random places near motels with his hands wrapped around the waist of a lady, or two, or three at the same time, but when it comes to work ethic, Lucian does not play around.

When it’s time to train, he trains. Hard. He doesn’t miss a day, doesn’t get complacent, and doesn’t falter either.

Others still found it a shame that Lucian’s talent fell short, while Lucian already began his mastery over the spear.

While everybody thought that this was just his way of grieving over his ’loss,’ Lucian practically flew through martial progress.

In truth, he never cared about his so-called talent. Regardless of whether he had it or not, nothing would’ve changed for him anyway; he’d still hold his spear and cycle through the moves as resolutely and as faithfully.

Actually, the fact that he had an epic-grade martial physique at all made him extremely happy. It increased his training speed, no? And without any side effects, too! What’s not to love?

What about the extra benefits? Well, what about them? Was he going to die if he didn’t have them? No? Then, it’s all good.

The increased training speed was more than enough. It’s already a goddamn blessing that he even had it. No reason to reach for more.

Hell, this was the reason why Lucian could take breaks so often, which allowed him to meet people and enjoy his youth.

Had he awakened with a common or rare grade martial physique, his schedule wouldn’t have been so free, so he’s really thankful for that.

Lucian’s obsession with the spear is clear whenever he holds one.

Adrian had sword intent; Lucian had spear intent.

Even though his talent and aptitude weren’t as good as Adrian’s, the fact that he was able to come this far with just what he had speaks volumes to his dedication.

Adrian, in private, totally admitted that his achievements mostly came from his gifts, while Lucian’s were a product of his sole hard work.

Not many people acknowledge it, but Adrian does. He knew that he only won over Lucian because of his innate talent and aptitude. If Lucian had the same talent as his,

Then it wouldn’t be Adrian’s turn to sit on the throne of Central City’s strongest prodigy.

Elena was good. More than good, honestly. She’s one of the best in the city. She’s also extremely talented to boot.

But in terms of skill and expertise? She falls short of Lucian.

That’s why in their fight, she lost.

Elena could summon a blizzard storm; she could call upon the power of ice, frost, and snow to aid her in battle. She could fly so fast that she’d be nothing but a blur to her enemies, and her ice possesses incredible toughness that most people would find hard to break. It’s also so cold that it penetrates to the marrows.

But against a power that could influence the very concept of nature itself, Lucian’s spear intent, her power falls too short.

It looks different from her match against Adrian, but the core concept of her defeat was the same.

If her ice can’t freeze conceptual matter, it can’t stand up against Lucian’s spear intent or Adrian’s sword intent.

To do that, Elena would need to reach the state known as the ’Heart of the Elements’—in her case, she needs to form the ’Ice Heart Seed,’ which, like Spear and Sword Intent, could exert influence over conceptual matter.

The ’Heart of the Elements’ is not a martial realm; it’s a realm of elemental mastery.

Alas, it’s clear that Elena is still a distance away from reaching this level. And it’s because she lacks this that she couldn’t defeat Lucian or Adrian.

With Lucian’s display of skill, he reminded the audience that he’s still a competitor. He might’ve conceded against Seraphina earlier, but that’s definitely not because he’s inferior to her.

Now that the loser’s bracket was determined, the grand finals were next.

Before Adrian’s and Ren’s match, though, the organizers decided that the following should happen:

Adrian has to fight Lucian and Seraphina.

Ren has to fight Elena and Lucian.

This was to truly determine the top five before they move on to the ultimate match for the top one.

The finalists had no complaints with that. And the audience certainly doesn’t either.

Adrian came up first with his match against Lucian.

This was intense. Adrian and Lucian fought like they’re old rivals.

And they are.

This isn’t the first time they fought against each other. It’s a pretty common thing between them. This one just happened on the big stage with everybody in the city watching.

Sword Intent vs. Spear Intent. Talent versus hard work.

The match was close. And in terms of hype, this one has the most.

In the end, Adrian won. But he was spent. Lucian made him work for his win, just as always. There were no hard feelings between the two. And they would most certainly do it again some other time.

Next was Ren versus Elena.

Elena lost.

Ren stood within her blizzard and said, ’Ooh, it’s gotten pretty chilly around here.’

He was completely unbothered by her cold. He even took every ice crystal spike she sent his way head-on, and they shattered when it made contact with his skin.

In the end, even after she exhausted herself, she failed to move Ren a single step backwards.

Ren ended a match with a strong punch that sent her off the stage in pain and unable to continue.

After that came Adrian’s match against Seraphina.

By now, the poor girl was still dejected. The dark circles under her eyes and the lethargy she exuded were palpable to everybody who could see her. Her fans’ hearts were breaking for her.

Nevertheless, she dragged her tired and exhausted body and spirit up the stage to put on a performance. She entertained no idea of winning anymore.

The moment the fight began, she went all out. She fought against her exhaustion and did her best, really.

She even used the move she specifically created for the sake of defeating Adrian.

But it wasn’t enough. Adrian sliced through her move like he was cleaving her beliefs apart. Her mind and spirit weren’t in the fight. She went up on the stage believing that she wouldn’t win. How could she in that state of mind?

That’s why her match against Adrian was over after only three minutes, and she was defeated.

In the end, she dragged her dispirited body out of the stage, unable to look at anybody in the eye.

Finally, there’s the match between Ren and Lucian.

Hard work versus hard work.

Lucian was more talented, yes. But Ren was standing at the same stage as he, so he’s definitely not inferior.

Surprisingly, this was one-sided. More specifically, in Ren’s favor.

This was the moment where Adrian’s fans began to worry because Lucian didn’t hold back.

His fierce intent flared and flourished with the competition.

However, the very power that could effect conceptual matter was surprisingly ineffective against Ren. The audience and Lucian himself realized this much to their awe and horror.

Ren’s invincibility became even stronger in this match than ever before.

Because whatever Lucian did, Ren rendered it meaningless.

Lucian did receive the full nine echoes before he was knocked off the stage and unable to stand to continue the fight.

He never lost so thoroughly to someone of the same age before.