Chapter 382: Gloves Are Off
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
Lie Jian stared at Wang Tong for a second and conceded that he was a bit too late to join the harem game. Therefore, he found a random excuse and left Li Ruoer’s room.
The two girls laughed out loud as soon as Lie Jian walked away. Wang Tong wiped away the sweat from his forehead and marveled at the two girls’ courage to refuse Lie Jian.
“Don’t fret! You are Xiaoru’s precious babe. I won’t snatch you away from her.”
“Whatever! If you want him, I can offer you half of him.”
“I’m afraid someone is not going to protest that. Haha! Hey Wang Tong, don’t just stand there and do nothing. Do you mind peeling an orange for me? Haha!”
The laughter of the two girls erupted from the room. Although Wang Tong had no idea what was on LI Ruoer’s mind, he was certain that she no longer meant any harm to him.
Meanwhile, the fight of the fifth section was about to start.
It was a fight between Michaux Odin and Ye Kai from the Templar’s Court. Ye Kai’s Gentleman’s sword skill had impressed everyone when he used it for the first time, and therefore, everyone anticipated an excellent performance from him. As for the young master of the Divine Master sect, so far, no one was certain of his exact power. However, Ye Kai had prepared himself well, and had since improved his defense against soul energy attacks.
As soon as the match started, Ye Kai started the attack with abandon, wishing to finish the fight in one strike. It was obvious that he did not want to engage in a prolonged fight.
The tension on the stage kept the fellow inner court disciples on the edge of their seats. To prepare Ye Kai for the fight, they had cast a protective shield on him to help him fend off Michaux’s soul energy attack.
This protective layer would give him an edge during the heat of the battle if Michaux chose to deploy his soul-energy focused tactics.
Michaux used the same tactics as before, as he crossed his hands while quietly staring at the incoming attack and then he shouted out, “Break!”
Suddenly, Ye Kai stopped in his tracks as a gush of blood squirted out of his mouth. As if struck by an invincible force, Ye Kai’s body was thrown into the air before thudding heavily back to the ground.
Silence fell into the arena.
Even the inner court disciples were shocked by the development, as they watched how ineffective the protective shield was. However powerful Ye Kai the Gentlemen was, he was finished under one second by Michaux.
Slowly, Michaux bowed to the audience as if he had just finished a routine exercise.
Although Martians were familiar with Michaux’s power, many Earthlings and Ivantians had doubts in their mind regarding his real power before the fight. However, after the fight, those doubts were all gone. Ye Kai didn’t even get a chance to zero in on him.
Inside Li Ruoer’s room, as Wang Tong and the two girls marveled at how quickly the fight had finished, they all found it hard to grasp the technique Michaux had used. Li Ruoer could tell that Michaux had used soul energy attack, since it was similar to the attacks of the Enchantress. However, she couldn’t explain why even the well prepared Templar had failed to defend against the straightforward soul energy attack, considering that the Templars were well known for their soul energy damage resistance.
Michaux Odin had entered the quarter-finals without any difficulties.
In the sixth section, the Heir of the Wind-Cloud kick, Turbolix, was about to fight against Heidi, the Kaedeian Princess. Although the Wind-Cloud kick was a renowned tactic in the confederation, Turbolix had lost the battle to Heidi. After-all, Turbolix’s power was at par with Wang Ben at most.
After the fight, Heidi had also entered the quarter-final.
In the seventh section, Thunder Blade Lee Xin fought against the Dark Witch Wu Ma.
The Dark Witch was an important branch of the Mastery, and it emphasized heavily on the damage output. Unfortunately for Wu Ma, Lee Xin not only had an innate ability to resist all forms of soul energy attacks, but he was also taught personally by his Einherjar father. Wu Ma lost the fight in a few minutes, and Lee Xin entered the quarter-finals.
In the eighth section, Zhang Buyu from the inner court fought against Allen Smith, the heir of the Golden Wheels.
Although Zhang Buyu had finished all of his matches so far with only one strike, the Golden Wheel focused heavily on defense, and countered the attack. As long as long as Allen was able to fend off the first attack, the tactics of the Golden Wheel would be able to retaliate continuously, until his opponent used up all of his energy.
However, Zhang Buyu was able to land a solid blow on Allen on his first attack like he always did, and finished the match then and there.
Finally, the roster of fighters competing in the quarter-finals had come out.
Patroclus, Ivantian
Li Shiming, Earthling
Wang Tong, Earthling
Lie Jian, Martian
Michaux Odin, Martian
Lee Xin, Ivantian
Heidi, Kaedeian
Zhang Buyu, Earthling
They were the strongest eight among all young fighters of the Confederation. All eyes would be on these eight deadly fighters to find out who would prevail and to claim the title of Champion.
Right before the start of the intense quarter-final, the fighters finally got a much-needed break. They had already proven their power by earning a seat this far into the tournament, and all of them needed time to prepare for the next fights. They knew that all the fighters in the quarter-finals had come not just for the sake of participation, but to claim the title of champion.
The next couple rounds of matches would be not only a test of their strength, but also their strategic thinking. It would be crucial to strike a balance between winning the very next fight and preserving strength for any ensuing battles.
The anticipation was immeasurable; everyone was curious as to who would be the final victor. Nevertheless, it was still too early to judge. After all, the final result would depend largely on the yet-to-announced match-up of fighters.
By far, the most likely Champion had remained to be Patroclus. Not only did he have the home advantage, but his performance had also impressed everyone. To a lot of audiences, Patroclus was a reincarnation of the legendary Rilangalos. Therefore, without the intervention of another Blade Warrior, Patroclus would be invincible, like Rilangalos had been before he encountered Li Feng.
The second most popular fighter for a long time had been Li Shiming. However, that had changed as Michaux usurped that position after defeating the mighty Ye Kai with one strike.
Everyone was excited to see more of Michaux’s techniques, and to learn more about the secrets of the Divine Masters. The Divine Master Set was no less influential than the Templar’s Court. However, unlike the Templar’s court, who had publicly claimed to be the birthplace of all tactics, the Divine Master had upheld a humble tradition, and kept most of the sect’s secrets to themselves.
It was this very secrecy that had added much fuel to Michaux’s already flaming popularity.
The third most popular fighter was Li Shiming, closely following the two ahead of him. That being said, the ranking did not equate to saying that the other five fighters were less powerful than the three.
Wang Tong and Ma Xiaoru were enjoying the quality time they had spent so far. However, they both knew that the next few fights would be uphill battles, and therefore, they refrained from intimate and laborious activities. Ever since he gained the soul essence in the Crystal Space, Wang Tong had noticed that he had gained a new ability to examine the condition of other’s sea of consciousness. Therefore, he had been examining Ma Xiaoru’s sea of consciousness to find out the culprit of her slow improvement.
“Take your jacket off, Xiaoru.” Wang Tong announced.
