Chapter 297 297 – Round Two 1/2
Alaric, eyeing a fellow disciple's prowess on the projection, turned to Ken. "Not interested in these fights?"
Ken, glancing at the scene, shrugged. "The ones I seek aren't among the displayed."
"What do you mean? All impressive fits are displayed, nobody in that age group can hide from those high-ranked formations," Alaric said, surprised.
"I'm not interested in impressive fits."
Before Alaric could satiate his curiosity regarding Ken's words, Steve shouted again, marking that the short break was over.
"It's time for the next round. Participants, please be on the platform within 10 minutes. Let's accept them with applause!"
Ken and Tiara took a final bite of their meat, then rose gracefully, using a water technique to clean their hands and faces. Some useful tricks that could help with daily necessities were practiced by every cultivator, even by mortals who cultivated to the first or second stages for better health.
The two glided from the mountain to the platform. Their masked and veiled faces were momentarily projected in the sky, exciting the crowd. Most of the crowd was there for entertainment and did not care about the war that took place within it covertly. If anything, it only made the fights more thrilling.
"It's the Deadly Couple, responsible for over 40% of the death toll from the first round!" The commentator screamed when Ken and Tiara's figures were shown, attaching them with a new nickname.
"Seems like we are a couple now," Tiara remarked when they heard the man's words.
"Lucky you, I'm a very romantic man," Ken said as he adjusted the mask on his face.
"In 10 seconds, two teams will be teleported to each of the platform's quarters. Aim your sight tools at the best fight or you might miss the real fun!" Steve announced, and the crowd started counting down in a united voice.
"Ten… Nine… Two… One…"
Ken and Tiara stood confidently, somewhat expecting to be teleported. However, sixteen lights flashed and different pairs were chosen for the first round. All four battles could be watched in the sky for those who couldn't see the battle clearly.
"They picked some interesting fights for the opener, although not the best," Ken commented as he watched a weird couple from an unranked sect facing two men from the Dragon Scale Sect, the eleventh strongest sect of the continent.
"I don't know what kind of Charm technique this… human, is practicing, but I believe it's inferior to the one I originally used," Tiara said while they looked at a genderless cultivator walk toward their opponents.
Their partner also seemed to have something that was related to the mind or illusions; the man channeled a technique by doing a few seals with his hands.
However, their enemies were not among the top disciples of a ranked sect for nothing. One of them stomped the ground, generating a mini earthquake around him that made the charmer stumble, ruining their grace.
"Here are the heavy blows the Dragon Scale Sect is famous for!" Steve shouted as the crowd watched the other man bring out a large hammer and try to destroy his enemy's skull.
"Again, their enemies are trapped in illusions, can they get out of it?!"
The hammer user seemed to be completely off-mark, hitting the ground ten meters away from the real location of his target. Long spikes made of iron burst out of the stone ground, trying to impale an imaginary opponent. The man who performed the hand seals took out a knife and threw it at his opponent's back while disengaging.
"BOO!" The crowd reacted, finding the illusionist's fighting style boring. However, the man just made a rude gesture with his hand before throwing another knife.
The hammer user could sense the danger incoming, and his skin turned metallic as he blocked knives with his bare arm. He missed them due to the illusion, taking a few cuts.
"I wonder what he sees in his mind right now, can you guys guess?" Steve shouted when the genderless fighter also jumped away to avoid the quakes that ruined their charm and closed on the hammer user.
The other fighter from the Dragon Scale Sect seemed to be under an illusion as well; he took out a heavy greatsword and swung it down, cleaving the ground for some reason.
"Their charm wouldn't hold in a battle, the enemy would break out of it as soon as they sense a hint of danger," Tiara snorted in dissatisfaction as she recognized the technique's weak spot.
"It still can work well in a group battle," Ken answered.
Indeed, the two untraditional cultivators managed to isolate the greatsword user while ganging up on the other enemy who wasn't at his best either. The charmer fought with a sword, their swordsmanship seemed to be a graceful dance.
"It's indeed inferior," Ken agreed. When Tiara did it, the whole crowd would be eager to watch more. But this cultivator's fighting style was just… nice. Comparing the two was like comparing the show of a top performer to that of an average one.
Nonetheless, it was enough to deal with their enemies. The hammer user kept accumulating wounds from the sword strikes and the throwing knives, and never received any help despite his continuous shouts for it.
"It seems like the fight's outcome is determined!" Steve called. The hammer user was lying on the ground, exhausted from bleeding and accumulated damage. Just when they expected the duo to gang up on the remaining participant who was still busy slicing the ground, the charmer showed an ugly smile and plunged their sword into the defeated man's chest.
"He killed him! How merciless, how cruel! Why did he do that?!"
A murmur rippled through the audience. Initially, there were gasps and murmurs of shock. But gradually, as the adrenaline of the moment took over, these murmurs evolved into raucous cheers, the crowd's bloodlust overriding their initial horror.
The death of ranked disciples of the top sects was not something that happened often. There was something exciting about watching the demise of geniuses.
"The Dragon Scale is not interested in losing another disciple, they surrender this match, pulling their remaining disciple out!" The crowd was about to cheer, but Steve's continued speech drew a collective groan of disappointment.
"What are you watching?" Tiara asked when she noticed Ken stopped watching the most highlighted fight of the round long ago.
"This fight was supposed to be one-sided, and it is, but the other way around," Ken said, wearing a curious expression. The fight took place in the ocean, and two disciples from the Jade Sky Sect were facing a pair from a top-five sect, the Peaceful Demon Sect.
At first, the Jade Sky's practitioners could only defend and get roughed up, but soon beasts were lured to their opponents, forcing them into a fight of 5v1. Interestingly enough, the beasts never aimed at the other two, only attacking the monk and the demon.
"What is going on in the lake section? Do we have another cultivator capable of manipulating the sea beasts?" Steve wondered, "No, I just got word that their opponents' attacks disturbed the undercurrent habitat of the beasts, inciting this assault! How unlucky!"
The fight played out, the weaker cultivators cooperating with the enraged beasts to take down their enemies. Two sharks were already dead, and the third was grievously injured itself. However, the same could be said about the pressured opponents. Their fight ended just slightly after the untraditional one, getting the attention it might have deserved too late.
"Let's rewatch some parts of this battle, I can't believe I missed it!"
In the replay, it was obvious that the Jade Sky Sect's disciples were inferior, yet luck seemed to favor them. The two other battles also ended one-sidedly, and Ken and Tiara continued to watch the battles transpire, waiting for their turn.
"All of you were waiting for them, and here they are! The Deadly Couple, with a perfect score of 100% kills upon confrontation, last but not least! Is it a question of how long their opponents can survive, or is it about who is going to win?!"
Ken and Tiara remained silent as they stood on the calm water of the lake, looking at their enemies. Ken did not know if it was intentional, but their enemies were from the Phoenix Feather Sect, two members of elite clans.
"You can have them."
Tiara nodded and walked toward the two. They were two girls with completely straight tendencies, yet they were still entranced by the sight of Tiara's swaying walking posture. One would often find it hard to find the correct place to focus on. Some chose the hips while others preferred the legs or the long blonde hair.
"Is it going to end quickly without any battle? Are they too weak to fight back?!"
Tiara was still an enchantress, and she did not want to betray the crowd's expectations for a battle. She lowered her charm enough to allow the girls to fight back and brought out her saber, beginning her assault.
Every strike sent the two girls stumbling backward regardless of which movement or attacking technique they tried to deploy. Their bodies were covered with sweat, their hands were shaking from the heavy blows, and their faces were slowly distorting in desperation.
When Tiara saw the first sign of desperation, she knew what would follow – surrendering. She also knew that her job was to kill them; Ken cared much more about practical rewards than a happy audience. She raised her eyes and offered a sweet smile to the female cultivators, making them freeze momentarily.
*BOOM!*
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