Chapter 268: Start of Round 18 (Patreon)

Daevic

With the end of the 18th round, the top 33 of the tournament were decided and Daevic was still the fifth seed, not having shown off the new level of power he’d gained over the year between his uncles and aunt deciding to invest in training him and the start of the finals, so he’d done about as well as could be expected. But still, of the remaining 32 contestants, only four were not obvious subordinates of the Heavenly Spark Soul King.

Seeded 13th, Ren Kimbal, the Twilight Illusionist, was a confirmed member of Sunrise Valley like Daevic himself and the only other remaining cultivator the Primordial Humans had invested in left in the tournament, so he wasn’t an issue. Meanwhile, the fourth seed, Sword Saint Milan, was the future high priestess of War Dance Koraline, the elven goddess of combat and the arts, so, as a direct wielder of divine power, she couldn’t be working with the United Federation of Planets without the direct consent of her goddess. But Krysta La’Vordi, seeded first, and the other remaining space focused mage in the competition, Master of Spacetime Nial Gilim, seeded 19th, were questionable.

Krysta La’Vordi had been friends with Aalam Alvaro and several of his subordinates back when they were E ranks, her mother still technically the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s master, so it wasn’t impossible she’d secretly joined the United Federation of Planets. Meanwhile, just because the artifacts used by Nial Gilim had clear origins, it didn’t mean he wasn’t holding back one of the Empyrean grade artifacts from the Havadim Imperium, making him a slave of the United Federation of Planets.

It wasn’t possible to check which force someone registered under for the C rank Universal Tournament, after all.

As Daevic was contemplating, round 19 started and Krysta La’Vordi was the first to go up, her opponent, a confirmed member of the United Federation of Planets unrelated to any of their major powers Daevic had heard of, immediately surrendering just as every other confirmed member of the United Federation of Planets had done when facing her, allowing himself to be knocked out of the competition. Then it was Seven Sword Sarosin’s turn, the old one-eye woman easily destroying a young combatant from one of the active battlefields of the Primordial Humans who’d signed a blood oath with one of the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s fake ancient armors, the young man’s second loss, but, given the old woman had also signed a blood oath, it didn’t make a difference in the United Federation of Planet’s larger scheme.

Devil Blade Vanar Tedros and Sword Saint Milan then both kicked out two more members of the United Federation of Planets, the Devil Blade’s opponent immediately surrendering and Sword Saint Milan’s opponent, the daughter of the wind mage his sister had fought back in the War of the Chosen, fighting her hardest, her fiery wind actually forcing the Sword Saint to get serious, the saintess looking quite tired after the fight.

But the main thing Daevic noticed was how similarly the Devil Blade, the Sword Saint, and Seven Sword Sarosin fought.

Each of the three were close combat sword specialists who also used telekinesis with flying swords, and, while Seven Sword Sarosin focused more on telekinesis, the Devil Blade on blood poison, and the Sword Saint on pure combat technique, their similarities were more than their differences and Daevic wondered if he would have been more powerful if he’d chosen Telekinesis instead of one of his other warrior skills.

He didn’t have much time to ruminate on the possibilities, however, as it was then his turn, his opponent one of the more powerful members of the United Federation of Planets, Poison Master Oh Mega, the already confirmed via interviews fake identity of Thomas Garcia, Li Evelyn’s only child and the cousin of Li Mila, the Heavenly Soul Universe’s empress.

This family member of the woman who’d given him his only loss back when he was an E rank was an interesting case, having only used his life element Law and poison up until the sixth round of the finals, making it difficult to spot his identity as someone who practiced the Yin Yang Cosmology cultivation technique. But then he’d fought against Reverend Samsara in round 14 and had to bring out seemingly everything he had, appearing to have exhausted himself. He’d lost in the next round to a cultivator who’d taken the blood oath of one of the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s faked artifacts, but, given what happened after, Daevic’s current guess was the loss had been deliberate. Including Reverend Samsara, Thomas Garcia was responsible for knocking out five of the original top 32 seeds of the tournament early, and it seemed the man was aiming for Daevic next.

“So, my sources say you’re either a pathetic man without talent or you’ve been holding back, what with how much the old farts in your family must have invested in you over the last year.” As Thomas Garcia spoke using mana, dark purple armor Daevic recognized appeared on the man’s still disguised body, the same Empyrean grade armor the Devil Blade had used both times they’d fought, the one specifically designed to absorb energy from the Stormlord Rebirth cultivation technique Daevic practiced. “What is the truth?”

“That I haven’t fought anyone worth taking seriously.” Daevic, like in all his previous fights in the finals, summoned out his original artifacts, a sky blue crystalline blade and an armor made of the same material, a set of Mythic grade artifacts made for him after he’d advanced to C rank. “And that isn’t something which has changed.”

“Hmm.” Thomas Garcia just smiled, summoning out the same Empyrean grade staff he’d used against Reverend Samsara, one which seemed to strengthen his Yin Yang Blast skill to the point it was almost equivalent to Mythic grade. Then he activated his wing skill, black and white feathered wings of energy appearing behind his back, and Daevic thought he was done.

Instead, however, Thomas summoned out one more Empyrean grade artifact, a set of almost transparent draconic wings which attached over his armor, and Daevic watched in stunned silence as the artifact absorbed Thomas’s energy wings, turning black, white, and gray.

It wasn’t the power of the wings themselves which was the issue. There were limitations on the level of artifacts which could be used by a C rank and, while the wings were obviously at the absolute peak of what was possible for a C rank artifact, they, by themselves, weren’t going to change the result of the fight.

What stunned Daevic was the material the wings were made from, and the resulting aura of order they radiated.

Daevic had been around a lot of A ranks, even gods, and he’d seen them lose control and radiate their auras of power multiple times, yet even his father’s aura could barely match up against this pair of wings from a dead dragon, and his father, while not that old, was one of the most talented A ranks in the universe.

This pair of wings, while only C rank at the moment, was an artifact which could grow to A rank, and it would be a powerful one even at that level.

“This is one of Lord Aalam’s personal artifacts, loaned to me temporarily.” Thomas Garcia then summoned out three golden blades, the three storm spirit slayer swords the Devil Blade had used to restrain Daevic’s summoned spirits both times they’d fought, and the wings artifact somehow absorbed the swords, one blade entering into each wing and the third into the base which connected them to Thomas’s armor, causing the wings to turn ever so slightly golden. “Are you sure you don’t want to change your artifacts at least?”

The System then gave the starting signal, triggering a small burst of mana between them, and Daevic rushed forward while changing out his armor and sword to the Empyrean grade lightning-covered purple-golden set the Master of the Eternal Forge had given him, the armor alone increasing his speed by almost 20%.

Still, however, he wasn’t fast enough.

Thomas Garcia, using an artifact enhancement skill on his wings, fled from him quickly and smoothly, almost a third faster than Daevic, and, as Daevic sensed three different yin yang blasts heading his way already, he realized he’d lose if he kept holding back.

So, he stopped.

He released the full power of his six Laws, all of which had advanced to high grade Law Scarabs; he summoned out and merged together his nine storm spirit serpents, forming a storm hydra; and then he absorbed the storm hydra into his body, past experience and common sense telling him those wings on his opponent’s back would rip his spirits to shreds if he sent them out by themselves.

Using his sword to block seven different yin yang blasts as he advanced, he then used his true speed to approach his opponent, rather easily catching up, and infused his full power into his Storm Strike skill, stabbing directly toward his opponent’s completely armored chest, right at the spot over his opponent’s heart, his blade cutting roughly 1 mm into the armor.

But this was all he needed.

Releasing all the power he’d previously stored in the weapon, he didn’t try to drill through the armor and into his opponent, but sent the overcharged energy into the armor’s energy channels, overwhelming the artifact’s complex design and ruining it to the point only a truly skilled smith might be able to fix it.

Sure, in response to his risky attack, he was hit by his opponent’s wings once, the pair knocking into his helmet and releasing powerful blasts of yin and yang energy which poisoned him, but the scary thing about his opponent wasn’t his opponent’s own power but the artifacts he was using, and the most dangerous artifact hadn’t been the wings, but the armor, at least to Daevic.

“I surrender.”

But before Daevic could attack again and kill the man, Thomas surrendered, loudly and clearly even while sounding disappointed, his mana spreading out to the entire space station, and Deavic felt helpless.

The man, someone almost 1,728 years his junior, had forced him to use all but three of his reusable trump cards, and he hadn’t even been able to kill the bastard. In fact, in the entire tournament, while dozens of cultivators had died while fighting, not a single member of the United Federation of Planets had, despite Daevic’s best efforts.