The arrow itself had its own active skill in effect, which was doubled by the power of the Snipe skill that increased it by 200%. The power of the Legendary Arrow that Tunder Power had nocked into his bow created a huge special effect that made a dark miasma shroud his body.
Right now, coupled with his Wood Elven looks and the black air that billowed around him, the aura of Tunder did not lose out to Kiran who was still rushing over, similarly covered in an aura, only his was reddish-golden, giving him spiky hair.
Seeing this clash, the crowd was left at the edge of their seats, not comprehending what they were seeing but understanding that this was probably one of the few times in their short lives that they would ever get to witness such a scene in person.
Tunder unleashed the arrow, which hurtled towards Kiran with an unstoppable momentum. The de-facto leader of the Five Generals tried to avoid it, but instantly realized that it had a surestrike attribute when his attempts of avoiding it failed and it changed directions.
As such, he stopped his charge and dug his foot into the ground, destroying the arena and digging Kiran in. He then stretched his hands to either side and breathed out lightly.
With a sharp glance and a roar, Kiran clapped each of his palms together and something looked to have been trapped within. In between his fingers, there was now a black arrow that was trembling and shivering, as if it were struggling to escape..
Kiran's expression became rough as he gritted his teeth, his entire body taut with effort. Even when empowered by the new form of energy he had derived after mixing both Internal Force, Noble Energy, and Gate Force, he was still on the losing end.
Internal Force was the mortal energy of cultivation, one level below Spirit Energy that true Immortals had. Unfortunately, if Kiran wanted to access that, he would have to find a way to access a Divine Class equivalent of his Legendary Class.
Noble Energy was produced by one of his two Inheritances in the Buddha Lineage, which had the same effects as Internal Force with some extras. He could generate Noble Energy as long as he had Bloodline Energy.
Gate Force though, was a new power he had discovered after repeated use of the two Legendary class skills, Eight Inner Gates – Gate of Opening and Eight Inner Gates – Gate of Healing.
It was the energy released by opening these gates which granted him that power, but came at the cost of lifeforce. Naturally, Kiran had discovered the locations of those two gates in reality, but didn't dare to unlock them there casually.
Months of practicing following the core members' humiliating destruction at the hands of Draco, he had eventually drawn out the Gate Force Energy and combined it with his Internal Force and Noble Energy, creating a new power he had named Noble Gate Force.
This power manifested as the red aura currently surrounding him and increased his power by more than just the number stated in the skill. In fact, those numbers were separate as it worked on his base power.
In this form, you could say Kiran had 5x his base power which was buffed by his various items and skill modifiers. That was because his current state was treated as a technique.
While the energy was called Noble Gate Force, Kiran called the transformation the Super Warrior form. This was the first form, and he planned to add later forms to it later on.
Right now, this immense power was what had allowed him to catch the Legendary Arrow fired by Tunder that was enhanced by two Legendary skills and his own Wood Elf power.
However, Tunder had not been defanged, just because his arrow had been caught, far from it. He simply gazed at Kiran calmly, and muttered 'explode' beneath his breath.
Immediately, the arrow that was in Kiran's hands exploded in a blackish light, covering Kiran in its power before blowing him backwards. Kiran coughed blood, and his aura weakened slightly, but he only dug a groove in the stage.
Just when he was about to fall out, he recovered himself and dug his hands into what was left of the arena floor to stop his momentum. The Martial Artist then rose to his feet and gazed at Tunder with a solemn gaze.
"Hm." Tunder grunted with gravity and seriousness. He could not attack Kiran for the next 50 seconds, which was almost a year of time given the speed he and Kiran could move.
He had been banking on sending Kiran out of the match with that maneuver, but he had clearly underestimated his opponent's new form, a secret trump card he had kept to himself all along.
Tunder quickly placed a hand on the ground and closed his eyes. He used a summoning technique to call forth a Dire Bear companion using his Wood Elf gene, which manifested itself on the stage.
Tunder felt much weaker, but knew that he could at least persist for the rest of this match's duration in his Wood Elf form. He had been training to maintain the gene, and with training from Eva and Draco, he and the Supernatural members of Umbra had gotten much better at things related to their genes.
Kiran had recovered from the blow and charged towards Tunder once more, activating one of his Uncommon Rank skills in his repertoire, Realm King Fist!
Immediately, the aura around him boiled even redder as he blasted forward almost as if in flight. Just as he was about to crash into Tunder's Dire Bear at the front, Kiran's speed suddenly accelerated as he made an arc and appeared behind Tunder, shocking the Ranger and everyone in the crowd.
Kiran then blasted Tunder's back, sending him into the sky, where he followed up. Now it became apparent that the Five General's current ability mixed with his energy gave him some form of flight capability!
He followed Tunder and was about to strike his back again, but suddenly made another half arc and struck him from the side. While Tunder was still flying in the air, Kiran made a third dash and appeared behind him, striking him in another half arc meaning that Tunder was hit from the front.
Kiran went downward with the fellow this time, and the two crashed into the arena and destroyed the entire stage. The dust and debris prevented the crowd from seeing the conclusion straightaway, but Amber waved her hands and cleared everything.
From there, the crowd could see Kiran standing in the center of the debris, holding Tunder up in the air with one hand on his back. Both of them had returned to their base form, with Kiran having a ferocious expression on his face.
Tunder though was out cold and had blood pouring out from every orifice, looking like he was in intense pain. Kiran then tossed the fellow to the floor, where Tunder lay without being able to move.
Amber inspected the two before smiling and declaring Kiran to be the winner, which made the silent crowd erupt with glee. Out of all the fights witnessed so far, that one was the most epic and bloodboiling.
Then again, with Kiran's class, character and nature, every fight he was in felt like watching a shounen anime battle, and very few things could get a young man's blood pumping like those.
Kiran breathed out deeply and walked down the stage calmly. He was soon harassed by Sublime Notion who was smugly nagging him about keeping this form secret from her, much to the fellow's chagrin.
As for Tunder, he revived by the side with a slightly confused expression, but sighed when he acknowledged his loss. Essence patted him on the shoulder, feeling some sort of unspoken kinship with this Tunder fellow.
Fourth match winner: Gentle Lamb (Kiran)!
5th Match: Rambunctious Buttlover vs Noble Soul!
From the left came up the handsome RamButt who wore an expression of artistic nonchalance. His eyes were locked onto his opponent, but he revealed nothing but a glance of normalcy.
Noble Soul came up from the right, flourishing his greatsword as he gazed at his opponent seriously. He had seen the horror of RamButt's mouth and the kind of effects it had on others, so he kept up his guard against Umbra's first core member.
The two faced off for a while until Amber felt like she had milked everything out of their staredown and finally called for the match to begin.
Rambunctious immediately activated his Uncommon Rank buff skill, Lyrical Words!
｢Umbra Local Party Announcement
Player Rambunctious Buttlover has boosted the party's morale through song! The enemy is cowed by his verbal verbosity!
All players:
Attack +20%
Defense +30%
Speed +10%
All enemies:
Attack -20%
Defense -30%
Speed -10%｣
Immediately, RamButt felt an increase in his power, but Noble Soul simply swung his sword and dispelled half of RamButt's work by making the debuffs useless.
His passive skill, Unbreakable, truly was a Godsent in this matchup.
｢Unbreakable – Passive skill
Effect: Your will is iron and will never bend nor break for anyone, especially when your beliefs are on the line. The will to protect, the will to love, and the will to fight course through you, giving you immunity to all mental spells, and skills, as well as full resistance to all status effects.｣
This skill was what gave Noble Soul confidence to beat RamButt, because it directly negated the fellow's bard skills in their entirety, since most skills of that nature counted as mental spells, his passive would allow him to negate their effects.
Unfortunately, this would not negate the buffs the Battle Bard could stack on himself nor the damage his other skills might cause, so Noble Soul could not casually end RamButt as he pleased. However, he wasn't about to let his opponent keep the initiative!
He then activated his buff skill, Aura of the People, which increased all his stats by 50% for 3 minutes, raising his power to a level similar to RamButt who was under the effects of a buff as well.
Noble Soul then raised his greatsword and charged over, aiming to strike RamButt down and keep him occupied. RamButt himself smiled and activated all his passive skills in tandem.
Then, with his superior Dexterity, he dodged as he activated his pivotal active skill that would synergize with those passive skills to create the effect he liked to call 'Words of Death'.
｢Endless Speech – Active skill
Effect: Speak an unending stream of nonsense so stupid that all enemies within hearing distance lose 2% of their HP per second.
Duration: 2 minutes
Cooldown: 20 hours.｣
"In Korea, heart surgeon! Number one! Steady hand! One day, Kim Jong Un need new heart! I do operation! But mistake! Kim Jong Un die! SSD very mad! I hide fishing boat, come to America! No English, no food, no money! Darryl give me job! Now I have house, American car and new woman! Darryl save life! My big secret? I kill Kim Jong Un on purpose! I good surgeon! The best!"
"I fucking hate gaming laptops. Today when I walked into my economics class, I saw something I dread every time I close my eyes. Someone had brought their new gaming laptop to class. The Forklift he used to bring it was still running idle at the back. I started sweating as I sat down and gazed over at the 700lb beast that was his laptop. He had already reinforced his desk with steel support beams and was in the process of finding an outlet for a power cable thicker than Amy Schumer's thigh. I start shaking. I keep telling myself I'm going to be alright and that there's nothing to worry about. He somehow finds a fucking outlet. Tears are running down my cheeks as I send my last texts to my family saying I love them. The teacher starts the lecture, and the student turns his laptop on. The colored lights on his RGB Backlit keyboard flare to life like a nuclear flash, and a deep humming fills my ears and shakes my very soul. The entire city power grid goes dark. The classroom begins to shake as the massive fans begin to spin. In mere seconds my world has gone from vibrant life, to a dark, earth-shattering void where my body is getting torn apart by the 150mph gale force winds and the 500-decibel groan of the cooling fans. As my body finally surrenders, I weep, as my school and my city go under. I fucking hate gaming laptops!"
"Umbra, am I the arsehole? My mum (82F) told me (12M) to do the dishes (16) but I (12M) was too busy playing Fortnite (3 kills) so I (12M) grabbed my controller (DualShock 4) and threw it at her (138kph). She fucking died, and I (12M) went to prison (18 years). While in prison I (12M) incited several riots (3) and assumed leadership of a gang responsible for smuggling drugs (cocaine) into the country. I (12M) also ordered the assassination of several celebrities (Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and Jeffrey Epstein) and planned a terrorist attack (9/11)."
"I (74M) am finishing up my first term as President of the United States of America. Let me tell you, America is an incredible country, probably one of the best countries in the whole nation. As my reelection comes closer and closer, my opponent Sleepy Joe has been leading in approval ratings, and I began to get worried. Let me tell you, I am the best at being worried. Just ask anybody in my administration, I get worried like no other president. Anyways, I was considering putting Sleepy Joe to sleep for good, which I think is a service not only to his family, but also the nation as a whole. I was going to ask my good pal Putin to borrow some of that poison he's using to silence the libtards in his country."
Rambunctious began spitting these words out rapid-fire, stringing them together to what should theoretically be a coherent sentence, but made the listeners all feel their brains explode.
Hundreds of billions of brain cells would die on the altar of stupidity today, and there was no bringing them back. The collective IQ of the human race had been decreased by 20%, and this had set us back more than 500 years.
Noble Soul suffered the worst of this as he coughed out three thick wads of blood even as she attacked RamButt, who deftly avoided it while continuing to speak. Usually, his targets would be left unable to move thanks to his various passives.
Deceptive Words made targets who listened to him feel like what he said made sense. Sweet Talker made his words charm listeners and reduce their hostility as they were sent into a slight daze.
These two usually allowed him to rampage across battlefield, speaking rubbish as he reduced the HP of all listeners to nothing. However, neither of these two worked on Noble Soul thanks to his passive.
However, he couldn't avoid the 2% damage per second from the skill, which was why he was rushing to destroy RamButt. The skill was truly insidious, as even with Noble Soul's buffs and high Defense that was boosted by 300% thanks to one of his passives, he was reduced to 50% HP in just under half a minute.
At this point, the fellow realized he couldn't let this go on as he banged his chest and roared.
"FOR HONOR! FOR MY PEOPLE!! FOR EVERYONE WHO HAD TO LISTEN TO THAT NONSENSE!!!"
｢Heroic Might – Active skill
Effect: Shout out a line that invigorates the user and highlights their true power – as well as supremacy – which cows the enemy and leaves them full of fear and regret for attacking the innocent. This skill cancels all active and passive skills of all enemies that are currently in battle with the users and his allies regardless of range.
Cooldown: 1 day.｣
Immediately, RamButt's Endless Speech, various passives, and even active buff with Lyrical Words were canceled, leaving him as bare as a newborn babe.
However, despite being bothered, RamButt showed a vicious smile. He reactivated his switched-off passives and since Endless Speech was forced into cooldown, there was nothing he could do.
However, RamButt activated two new skills right after that. The first was the Rare Skill, Lyrical Lines! The second was his class active skill, Inspire!
｢Guild Local Area Announcement
Player Rambunctious Buttlover has boosted his party's morale through music! The enemy is cowed by his lyrical might!
All players:
Attack +50%
Defense +70%
Speed +20%
All enemies:
Attack -50%
Defense -70%
Speed -20%｣
｢Inspire – Active skill
Effect: Sing a song of camaraderie and brotherhood, inspiring all allies within hearing distance to do their best. All damage, defense, and speed for allies are increased by 90% while damage, defense, and speed for all enemies is reduced by 90%
Cooldown: 20 hours.｣
For both skills, the debuffs were inactive because Noble Soul negated them, but those were obviously not what RamButt was chasing. Thanks to the combination of both skills, his damage increase was at 140%, his defense increase at 160%, and his speed increase at 110%.
Putting aside the damage and defense, the speed boost alone was madness. RamButt was already someone who invested stats into Charisma and Dexterity equally, so when his speed was enhanced like this, his movement was practically the same as teleportation.
He practically ran circles around Noble Soul for the remainder of the match, not allowing the fellow to hit him. Unfortunately for the Hero, neither Inspire nor his Lyrical skills had durations.
They would last for as long as RamButt could keep singing or playing any of his instruments, whatever was required of the skill. This was why he couldn't use them, against Happy Scholar who had silenced him, but could use them on Noble Soul.
He had already reduced the fellow's HP by half and could attempt fighting him, but why take such a risk? RamButt just wore down the timer until he was declared the winner by default due to having a perfectly healthy HP bar compared to his opponent.
Noble Soul had tried to use his Ultimate skill along with other skills, but it didn't matter how OP a skill was if it couldn't hit the target in the end.
