Kiran had known from the start that his chances of victory were low, so his plan had always been to put in his chips on the table at the right moment. Now, that plan had come to fruition as he released all his power in the form of an energy wave point blank upon Krona.
But how did Kiran manage to sneak up on Krona when just moment ago he was being blasted by a jet of high-pressure water powerful enough to have reached outer space and even pierced through the goddamn moon?
Well, it was a known fact that Kiran was notorious for plagiarizing moves from a very specific anime series that enjoyed an eternal popularity.
So far, the Martial Artist had copied basically all the known moves of the main character, so it was naturally that he would also learn those he had initially failed to grasp.
If he could train himself to learn the basic flight, he could naturally learn the Instantaneous Transmission, or a version of it. Kiran had made sure not use it at any time during the match because he certain that a skilled fighter like Krona would be able to react to it and block his attempt.
As such, he needed Krona to lower his guard and that could only occur on the premise of absolute victory. Being hit by that jet of water was a death sentence, and even Sublime’s confidence had cracked, thinking it was the end.
However, it had created the perfect opening for Kiran to strike. He had endured a bit of damage from the jet after shielding himself with Qi then warped himself behind Krona while charging energy.
This led to the current situation.
Still, Kiran couldn’t help but respect Krona, for even when caught completely off-guard like this, the God Serpent Inheritor had managed to respond fast enough to hastily conjure a water barrier. Nevertheless, this barrier’s defensive threshold was far, far lower than the offensive threshold of his all-power blast.
.me.
Not long after the shield shattered, Krona ended up vaporized into ashes by the intense energy wave. Like the jet before it, the attack continued off planet and dug another hole through the moon.
Sigh, in just one fight, the moon had been torn two new ones!
Kiran slumped as his body smoked as if he had been on fire, and his aura disappeared as his hair turned back to its golden color. He only had one eye open that was dim, and his upper torso was bruised and bleeding from different spots.
Still, the tiny smile on his face couldn’t be hidden as he had actually managed to clinch victory against a foe far stronger than he was on paper.
8th Battle: Kiran wins!
And with that, the second round came to an end. Now, onto the third round in this exciting tournament!
Here are the updated lineups!
Group A!
1st Match: Hades vs Essence Stalker
2nd Match: Nightwalker vs Nil
Group B!
1st Match: Ghostprotokill vs Shadowheart
2nd Match: The Showman vs Kiran
1st battle, Hades vs Essence Stalker, begin!
The two clashed immediately after the match was called. The young man with the Devouring ability stomped on the ground and raised a few earth spikes to stab in Essence’s gut.
Essence simply smiled while pouring Aurora Energy onto the ground, creating metal barriers that blocked these earth spikes. Hades tsked and fired a jet of water from one hand and a gout of flame from the other.
Essence used Aurora Energy to manifest a floating water tank that collected the water harmlessly and a large fire extinguisher that clashed with the incoming fire. It was quite comical to behold.
Hades stopped wasting Bloodline Energy in testing Essence. He had come to the conclusion that as long as Essence had even a drop of Aurora Energy, he was no different for a mortal god, able to stomp on anyone in his path.
The fellow could literally create anything and everything, so he could counter all your attacks and plans in real time. He could also create something to target your specific weakness and end you with ease.
All this was predicated on having enough Aurora Energy, which Essence did thanks to Dreary Traveler’s ‘hardwork’. This was exactly why Dreary Traveler had demanded a favor, which the winner hadn’t refuted.
To give the perfect analogy, it was like Essence had gone to the medieval era with a sci-fi star class battleship. As long as he could use the battleship, he was unbeatable and a literal god, but its fuel was impossible to find or produce in this era.
In this analogy, he had ‘encountered’ Dreary Traveler who – through special means – could generate such fuel and did so, filling his tank to the brim right before Essence went into a huge war.
With a full tank, he could take on all comers for the duration of the war with ease and clinch certain victory.
The same was the case here. Hades decided to try his immense physical strength out and rushed towards Essence like a released cannon shot. Essence raised an eyebrow and created a clone of Hades himself that rushed forward to fight him.
This Hades replicated the real version’s physical strength but could not replicate class nor bloodline because that would cost more Aurora Energy than Essence could control at the moment. He could simulate up to Legendary Classes and Tier 1 Control for such ‘puppets’, but anything more than was impossible, at least to the current him.
Hades was interested and changed targets to clash with the clone. Both fired off powerful kicks and punches at each other, moving adeptly like the most seasoned martial artists.
Heh, Kiran was not the only one who had spent this time honing himself. Hades had understood first and foremost that he had a great power in his body but was about as skilled at using it as Superman.
He had raw strength, but no technique.
So what did he do? He had strived to become Batman, taking his training serious, learning from the best masters among the NPCs by paying exorbitant fees – which were covered by Umbra – had and mastered various fighting techniques with his Tier 4 Control.
In terms of physical power alone, Hades currently could match Kiran in Super Warrior’s first form, which was extremely great. As such, paired with proper fighting techniques, the two clones were like two Chinese martial masters fighting to the death.
Just watching their fluid movements, punches that utilized all their bodies’ force, kicks that involved pins and jumps, the core members by the side were more enraptured and excited than they had been for any fight before.
Not to mention that with their various high tier Control, they were also leeching off Hades’ expertise and gaining some proficiency in combat from his movements.
This wasn’t surprising but was a basic aspect of the VoP.
In truth, Hades could easily prevent this by blocking the domains of the others. After all, this kind of accelerated learning relied on the Void of Perfection’s extreme sensory abilities to monitor to moments of a target to the microscopic level to comprehend and copy techniques.
However, he didn’t do so because there was no real point. Besides, just as they were leeching off him, he too had leeched off his mentors. They had assumed Hades would take months to grasp their teaching, only to be left hollow and depressed when he had mastered within hours, what they had spent years and decades on.
As all the core members now had Control, they could also use the same teachers to learn, so purposefully blocking them would seem petty and alienate him from them somewhat.
Eventually, Hades outmaneuvered the clone and smashed its head off with a punch, watching it dissipate into Aurora Energy that returned to essence. Hades’ eyes narrowed as he glanced at the Aurora Energy as a thought came to mind.
He stomped on the floor and rushed towards Essence, who no longer blocked him using a clone. Rather, Essence manifested his favorite halberd from Aurora Energy and met Hades’ charge head on.
What could he say, he also craved a head-on fight as a young man with great power. Just standing back and always using constructs felt kind of boring compared to smashing things with his own two hands.
The two met in the middle and their clash caused a small shockwave that raised dust on the arena. They then began to clash continuously, neither party moving a step back from their spot.
This shocked Hades as he could not understand why his physical strength, which should be able to suppress anyone else, failed to do so against this foe. Even if he was talented and had good power thanks to his bloodline and class, it was impossible for his stats to match Hades’.
However, Hades soon noticed greenish Aurora Energy coiling through Essence’s veins, his usually amber colored eyes shining with a green light.
Seeing this, how could Hades not understand?
‘How? Why?? Why can this bastard do something so unfair? Is there even a limit to his power?!’ Hades roared in his heart.
His indignation could be understood. After all, Aurora was too OP, its versatility was only countered by its volatility. But with Essence who negated that volatility, its versatility was allowed to come into full play.
He could even use it to passively and actively boost his power to this degree, so what else could he not do? Was Essence basically only limited by his imagination and the amount of Aurora Energy it cost to bring his crazy ideas to life?!
If so… GM, roll down here for Daddy!!!
Oh wait, the GM had long been captured into Draco’s harem.
Sigh.
Eventually, Essence pushed Hades back, causing the fellow to skip lightly on the ground for a few steps. He then sighed deeply as he glanced at Essence, knowing that he only had two more methods left. If they failed, he might as well forfeit and save himself a beating.
Black mist poured out of Hades, a malevolent miasma like no other that caused all those looking on to feel chills in their heart. The other God Serpents Inheritors all blanked as their God Serpents roared with shock, not believing what they were seeing.
Hades himself transformed into a black mist, completely losing his human form as he darted around the stage wantonly, zigzagging towards Essence who was frowning. His own Aurora Dragon was warning him that this fellow had done something that they had not expected and had evolved into a slight threat.
Essence slashed at Hades with his Aurora-made Halberd, but it harmlessly passed through the fellow as Hades appeared behind Essence. Then, with a partially formed humanoid outline, he spoke in that his dark voice.
“You will drop your weapon and walk off the edge of the arena willingly.”
Hades used his Absolute Bewitchment ability which he only revealed when alone and dealing with foes in secret. This was his first time displaying it in Boundless and even before other fellows.
“I will drop my weapon and walk off the edge of the arena willingly.” Essence repeated mechanically.
Essence who was the target of this immediately dissolved his Aurora-made halberd and began walking towards the edge of the stage with a calm expression. He didn’t seem to be in a daze nor was he mentally controlled.
It seemed like he was actually, naturally doing this of his own volition, which was the terror of Hades’ Absolute Bewitchment. However, it also had a weakness, and that was if it conflicted with certain aspects relating to the circumstance or previous orders, it would backfire.
Essence walked all the way to the edge and was about to walk off, when he stopped. His one foot was already hanging off the edge, ready to send him down to the side of the silently watching core members, which would signal his forfeiture and loss.
However, an expression of struggle appeared on his face. Rather than Aurora Energy, a strange veil of Darkness Energy exploded from his body that gave a sinister and seductive vibe, which countered the bewitchment he was placed under.
At the last second, Essence was able to pull himself back before he did the unthinkable, panting as if he had run a mile with weights on his back.
