Gravis entered the arena under the shocked eyes of the onlookers. His opponent also quickly entered.
The expression of his opponent could be guessed with ease.
He looked with disdain at Gravis.
Fighting someone like this was beneath him! He could fight one level above himself, but he was supposed to fight two levels below himself now? What a humiliation!
Bzz!
A small Punishment Lightning bolt appeared on Gravis' saber for a brief moment. The other participants scoffed. Why was this guy already showing his Element? Didn't he know that this would give his opponent valuable intelligence about his fighting style?
Only the remaining unaffiliated Cultivators and the upper echelon of the Nine Elements Sect knew what had happened.
Gravis had reforged his saber just now.
However, it had been so fast that they hadn't seen what exactly Gravis had done.
"I don't know what dogshit luck you must have had to get here, but it ends today," Gravis' opponent said with disdain.
Gravis didn't answer and just took out his saber.
"Don't take your opponent lightly," the old Vice-Sect Master in the arena transmitted to Gravis. "You've had easy opponents up to now, but this is a genius from a High-Rank Sect. He is far more powerful than your previous opponents."
"The Sect Master was kind enough to give you the weakest person from the High-Rank Sect so that you don't humiliate yourself. However, even if he is the weakest, he is still far more powerful than any opponent you have ever faced."
"Vice-Sect Master," Gravis transmitted. "Have you seen my first three fights in the preliminary tournament?"
"No, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"I won my first three fights in just a second because my opponent didn't take me seriously. Guess how this fight is going to go," Gravis answered.
"This is not a beginner," the Vice-Sect Master answered. "He won't make that kind of rookie mistake."
'Won't he?' Gravis thought. 'Sadly, it's not up to him.'
The Vice-Sect Master was frustrated that Gravis wasn't listening to him.
"Begin!" he shouted.
WHOOOM!
Suddenly, some weird kinds of fluctuations appeared in the air.
The other participants were confused. What kind of fluctuations were these?
The Vice-Sect Masters were also confused. What was that? They had never felt anything quite like it.
However, the Sect Master's eyes widened.
She knew these kinds of fluctuations!
Their current Holy Maiden had also shown these kinds of fluctuations previously!
The Sect Master didn't know what Law it was that created these fluctuations, but she knew that their Holy Maiden also knew this Law. Sadly, the Holy Maiden had never told them what kind of Law this was.
Yet, nothing really happened.
These fluctuations traveled throughout the central palace, but the opponent didn't seem different. Gravis also didn't seem more powerful.
What was the point of these fluctuations?
Obviously, this was the Law of Freedom.
Gravis didn't need the Law of Freedom for anything right now. He hadn't even unleashed it for the fight.
No, this was a signal for Stella.
Gravis had to lure Stella here, and this was the best way. No one should be able to understand the purpose of these fluctuations. Because of that, even if Stella arrived, no one would become suspicious.
After all, it was natural to be curious about something like this.
'That should alert her,' Gravis thought. 'Now, I only have to wait.'
Gravis' opponent also furrowed his brows in confusion.
What was the point of these fluctuations?
At the same time, Gravis activated his Law of Control and Safety to elevate his opponent's confidence.
Even if his opponent didn't want to, he now underestimated Gravis severely.
'The less conspicuous I am, the better.'
WHOOOOM!
Suddenly, Gravis activated his Will-Aura with its full force and also included the Law of Major Suppression.
BANG!
The opponent's Spirit was shocked. He hadn't been ready for such an insanely strong attack on his Will-Aura!
BANG!
Gravis accelerated to his full speed with his different Lightning Laws and the Law of Time. In an instant, he appeared in front of his opponent.
The opponent couldn't react since his Spirit was still under shock.
SHING!
Gravis bisected his opponent horizontally at his waist with his saber.
BANG!
Then, Gravis kicked the torso of his opponent.
BANG!
The guy hit the edge of the arena with his back and fell to the ground.
The other participants took a deep breath through their teeth.
If Gravis had beheaded this disciple, he would be dead now!
However, after calming down, they sneered again.
'What an idiot! He could have ended the fight by simply putting his saber on the neck of his opponent, but now, his opponent can simply heal himself and continue battling,' they thought.
Gravis' opponent glared with rage as his torso began levitating.
Then, his legs started to regrow with incredible speed. Obviously, he knew the Body Growth Laws.
Splat!
Yet, when he wanted to step on his newly regenerated legs, he fell over again as blood continued pouring out.
Everyone's eyes widened.
Why hadn't the guy's legs healed!? They had stopped healing after his waist had regenerated!
The guy looked with shock at his missing lower body, and then he noticed something horrifying.
His body was aging!
His hair fell out as his muscles vanished. His skin started to cling to his bones as it started to split all over his body.
'I'm out of Life Energy!?' he thought with shock and terror.
In shock, he extended his right arm towards Gravis, but his arm was falling apart.
He was dying!
CLING!
The Vice-Sect Master rushed over to the disciple and lightly tapped the body of the Cultivator. When he did that, a black mist left the guy's body.
CLING!
Another tap and the Life Energy of Gravis' opponent was refilled to ten percent of his total.
The Nine Elements Sect knew all the Elements, and the Vice-Sect Master also knew several Battle Laws that increased the healing effects of his healing Elements.
However, the poor guy still couldn't make a coherent thought.
He had been about to die.
Something like this was always terrifying.
Gravis left the arena under the shocked gazes of everyone else.
He had used one of his new Weapon Techniques that he had created in the past 300 years.
What Laws did this Weapon Technique have?
Shadow's Poisoning and Time.
Combining two Laws didn't take that long, especially when it didn't involve something as complex as the Law of Perceived Reality. This Weapon Technique simply infused the opponent with the Shadow Element and spread with insane speeds across the opponent's entire body thanks to the Law of Time.
Gravis' opponent quickly calmed down. After all, he had been in his fair share of tempering experiences.
He gritted his teeth as he hit the ground with his fist.
What a humiliation!
Why had he become so careless!?
He looked at the other disciples from the Sects, and his heart stopped.
Disgust.
Rage.
Hatred.
He had feared that his colleagues would ridicule him, but now, he wished that they had ridiculed him.
They hated him!
He had not only humiliated himself but every High-Rank Sect in existence. Losing against an opponent on one's level was one thing, but being killed in a single attack by someone two levels below oneself was an incredible humiliation.
He had humiliated every single Sect Disciple here!
For that, everyone hated him!
They wished that they could kill him for what he had done!
Something like this was deserving of death!
The disciple looked away with horror. His face became white as his lips quivered.
What had he done?
"AAAAHHH!"
BOOOOOM!
The disciple suddenly exploded as his entire body was consumed by fire.
Everyone looked with shock at the dead disciple, but then, they sneered.
'Weakling! He couldn't even face his problems and killed himself!' they thought.
Yes, the disciple had been too ashamed to stay alive.
Usually, people with powerful Will-Auras wouldn't commit suicide, but in this case, his powerful Will-Aura did the opposite.
He had valued respect and his own power above everything else, and when he had lost everything, his Will-Aura pushed him to commit suicide. He had been afraid of death, but he also had enough willpower to go through with it. After all, in his mind, this was the correct thing to do.
Gravis was also surprised.
'Dude, I didn't want you to die,' Gravis thought.
SHING!
The belongings of the dead disciple vanished as the young Vice-Sect Master gathered them.
"Inform the Raging Fire Sect of what has happened here and bring his belongings to them," the Sect Master said coldly.
The Vice-Sect Master bowed and vanished.
"You and You," the Sect Master said as she called out two new opponents. Apparently, she wouldn't comment on what had happened here.
Gravis saw cold disdain in the Sect Master's eyes. 'Sure enough, just like everyone else, she despises weaklings.'
Gravis had already left the arena, and the next two opponents entered it.
It was one disciple of a High-Rank Sect and one disciple of a Peak Sect.
There were no unaffiliated Cultivators left that hadn't already fought, which meant that the Sect Disciples now had to fight amongst themselves.
The battle was completely one-sided.
The disciple of the Peak Sect completely dominated his opponent with his superior Will-Aura and Weapon Techniques.
It just took two seconds for the fight to end.
The same thing repeated itself three more times.
Peak Disciples were fighting High-Rank Disciples, and the battles were always one-sided.
After these battles were over, only two disciples hadn't fought each other.
One of them was Zern, and another one was a Peak Disciple from the Primordial Force Sect.
The fight went on for multiple minutes, but Zern lost.
However, Gravis only raised an eyebrow. 'Zern hasn't used all of his equipment. The All-Matter Sect is all about equipment. He should have won if he had gone all-out.'
"Surprised?" Zern transmitted to Gravis with amusement as he passed him on his way out.
"Yes," Gravis answered.
"I'm only here to make up the numbers. I'm not supposed to win this tournament. I'm only here to make a show and leave," he explained.
"Internal arrangements?" Gravis asked.
"Yes. The winner of this tournament is already set in stone. The other disciple from the All-Matter Sect is supposed to win this tournament, and even if there are more powerful disciples present, they will simply act like they are weaker after showing their power. The All-Matter Sect paid off everyone else."
"Is that so?" Gravis asked.
"Yes. Anyway, I have to go. See ya later!" Zern transmitted with a smile.
"See you later," Gravis answered.
Like this, the first round was over, and eleven people remained.
"Everyone gets two hours to regenerate their Energy," the old Vice-Sect Master said. "After that, the second round will start."
The participants nodded politely and relaxed.
Some of them were completely exhausted.
Gravis simply waited.
Time passed, but after only 90 minutes, something happened.
The doors of the hall opened as everyone looked over. Then, their eyes widened with shock.
The Holy Maiden!
However, the other Peak Disciples simply glanced at her. They were not supposed to win her hand in this tournament.
The Holy Son Candidate of the All-Matter Sect would win this tournament.
The Sect Master looked with furrowed brows at Stella.
Why was she here?
Wasn't she completely against this entire marriage thing? She hadn't appeared for any of the previous tournaments.
However, the Sect Master quickly remembered the fluctuations that Gravis had released in his fight.
'So that's why!' the Sect Master thought.
Gravis saw Stella, and his nervousness peaked.
What would be her decision?
Was she still hung up on what had happened in the past? Was she past it? Was she past it but still didn't want to have anything to do with Gravis?
Gravis only felt this nervous when he knew that he was about to meet mortal danger.
Gravis looked at Stella.
Stella looked at Gravis.
And Stella's eyes showed deep fear as she looked at him.
Gravis' heart stopped.
