Chapter 1439

Truly, Huang Li had been relatively lucky in the first round. Both opponents had displayed powerful firepower, but neither of the Mana Marines was capable of hitting Huang Li with their Skills or defending against his sword. Just like that, the first match of the tournament had ended in Zone 7’s victory.

Huang Li watched a few of the following matches, but he quickly lost interest. It seemed that the arrangements of the tournament weren’t as random as the Order Ducis claimed they would be when they announced that before each round, pairings would be drawn. The first few matches all appeared to have one dominant force that was obviously superior. None in the afternoon possessed very much tension either, aside from matches between two relatively weak parties.

Still, Huang Li doubted that anyone would raise a fuss as the Order Ducis’ lie. So long as the Order Ducis didn’t show very much overt favoritism to one faction, the knowledgeable leaders of Earth would cautiously allow them to guide the matches. After all, that was the way the Earth worked. The public would react strongly to a true random distribution, due to the inevitable emergence of a meaningful clash very early in the tournament.

Those with power worked behind the scenes so that the people experienced a world that seemed to spontaneously veer toward order. The ‘random’ the public wanted was for the eventual winner of the tournament to go through several increasingly difficult fights, to a climactic conclusion.

In the small viewing booth given to their duo, Huang Li sighed. People were foolish and short-sighted in so many ways.

The first day of the tournament passed without much general tension from the crowd, although there were many individual participants who experienced high mountains of excitement and low valleys of disappointment. This tournament laid bare many people’s relevance on the scale of the world. Quietly, the losers slipped away while the winners prepared for tomorrow. With a punishing efficiency, the Order Ducis marched forward, finishing over one-third of their matches within sixteen hours on the first day. Each match was compressed to a brutal 5 minutes to keep them on schedule.

The second and third day continued like the first, with much of the attention of the public turning away from the current matches to the discussion of the favorite groups to win. To Huang Li’s quiet surprise, their duo earned a relatively high standing: they were projected as the tenth most likely to win the tournament. Huang Li supposed it was because they were fresh in the public’s mind, being the first match to be broadcast.

But it was also true that Zone Seven was a well known and sometimes feared opponent for the people in the other Zones.

Huang Li looked at the list of the rest of the Top 10 most likely to win.

Immediately after them was another Duo from Donnyton led by Glendel in the eleventh spot, and after that was two powerful warriors from the Great Sea. Huang Shou had been very furious to see that they were outranked by Hank Howard and a normal horse that the betting houses didn’t even see fit to acknowledge, but ultimately there was not much to be said about their thinking. Hank Howard had the accomplishments to back up his ranking.

Although Huang Li had fought rather constantly since joining New Earth, it was mostly within the confines of Zone 7. And Huang Shou was an entirely unknown element. Tenth was truly a ranking that weighed heavily their status as the only representatives of Zone 7.

Although the specific odds given varied depending on which establishment you patronized, these were mostly the consensus ranks. In addition, two things were universal no matter which location you went to.

First was that Alana Donal sat with her Frost Dragon at the top of the rankings. Their advantage was so overwhelming that she hadn’t needed to rely on anything but physical strikes to overwhelm their opponents. The few brief fights they had been a part of in the preliminary were almost laughable.

Second was that the establishments clearly favored the dark horses of Kir-Nan and Hoowan, who hadn’t originally been interested in the tournament but had been drawn by the violence of the Redemption Arena to win one of the twenty-four extra spots in the tournament. Their first match saw them overwhelm two notable warriors of Donnyton, instantly winning approval of the general public of Zone 1 that attended the live event, who secretly wanted to see Donnyton fail.

Just like that, the first round was finished in three hectic days. Just like that, five hundred and twelve teams had been eliminated. Without bothering to rest, the Order Ducis announced the pairings for the second round that would begin tomorrow, stretching over two days. But when Huang Li saw who they were paired against, his expression turned ugly.

This round would be much more exciting for the fans to watch than the prior ones, especially now that the constant talk had identified which fighters were the most important to watch. Luckily or unluckily, the Zone 7 duo’s fight was scheduled for the end of the first day, meaning that they had the entire day to prepare themselves.

Honestly, Huang Li wished for it to have been sooner. Having the fight out of the way would be better. But still, his leaders could not afford him to lose so soon in the tournament. He sat on his knees in his lodgings that were as small as a closet. His hands tightened around the hilt of his sword. I cannot fail.

Huang Li felt the image he had nurtured for at least a year in various Dungeons of Zone 7 stirring as he could hear the cheers and boos of the crowd throughout the day. The noise washed over him, waves on an uncaring coastline. No matter what shells or ship-wrecked artifacts were thrown upon his shore by the current, Huang Li would be entirely serene. Only then would he have a chance.

He would weather everything. He was untouchable and pure.

When it was finally their turn, Huang Shou’s deep wrinkles around his eyes revealed his pleasure, even though he kept the rest of his expression entirely neutral. They walked side by side through the dark passage to the open arena. “It is still possible to reach an agreement.”

“The Glorious Leader will not step down,” Huang Li replied lightly. Then he walked out through the currents of the crowd’s cheers and regarded the foes waiting for them. A towering, flaming bear twisted her head and considered Huang Li. Thea Glasshammer looked less intimidating than Huang Li had expected, given her reputation, but her eyes were laser-focused.

Honestly, Huang Li felt rather bitter he hadn’t realized that Thea was participating in the tournament. Why hadn’t she attracted the attention of the betting houses?

As with the prior match, Huang Li produced a stool. “Please sit, grandfather.”

“Hmph, after walking so boldly out in front of me, now you suddenly remember your manners?” Huang Shou replied lightly, but he sat down with a heavy glance toward his grandson. Huang Li didn’t bother to return the look and instead straightened. There was a cool wind that brushed against his face. Rolling his shoulders, he walked out to the middle of the arena alone.

To his surprise, the infernal bear Chrysanthemum lumbered off to the side and settled down on her belly, opposite Huang Shou, leaving small scorch marks on the edge of the arena in the process.

“Is this pity?” Huang Li asked bluntly as he glanced at Thea Glasshammer. He didn’t think most people would know of the political struggles of his Zone Seven, but he wouldn’t put it past the Nemesai to dip their toes into the edges of every pool.

Yet Thea Glasshammer ignored him entirely; she simply stared at the prone form of the bear with very red eyes.

“Are you both ready?” The judge from the Order Ducis carefully asked, looking between the two of them. The crowd, too, seemed confused by the situation. But Thea slowly turned around and nodded, after sparing one glance upward toward the silver isle of the Ghosthound.

Suddenly understanding that some other force was at work here, Huang Li also nodded with great care. He drew his wodao and calmed his heart. His image stirred again, slowly circling the arena. One foe was doable. Another win would put them into the top 256, solely on the strength of their glorious leaders. There was no need for the conservative faction to move at all.

From there... Then Huang Li shook his head. ‘From there’ he would worry about tomorrow. Today, he would fight the foe in front of him.

“Then… begin!” The judge announced.

Huang Li twisted his feet and launched himself forward. That slight wind in the surroundings began to stir. His sword cut horizontally without a sound, the sharp blades of air around the strike just as dangerous as the blade itself. Flood Dragon Across the Reeds.

Thea ignored the strike, raising her hammer and gathering a horrible, destructive image into her body. She a broken vase, leaking out hatred and an ominous regret that dyed the surrounding air orange. Right as Huang Li’s attack was about to land, she exploded into motion and brought her hammer crashing down through his attack. The blades of wind were blasted apart and her hammer smashed into the ground at something close to its full force.

Cracks quickly radiated outward, but Huang Li practically glided over the damaged ground, his sword cutting left and right with vicious quickness. Thea’s expression soured and she simply oppressed Huang Li’s Skills with her raw image. That orange light continued to leak out of her eyes and from her skin, sapping his strikes of their strength to the point that they harmlessly rippled against Thea’s leather armor.

“I don’t have time for you,” Thea growled, gathering even more of her image to herself. Red lightning crackled around her limbs. She raised her hammer high once more, the heavy weapon radiating a terrible sense of loss and grief. “A minor character like you… You are not my opponent.”

Before Thea whipped her hammer downward, she abruptly stomped her foot and released another paralyzing wave. With his attention drawn upward by the gathering power, the stomp Skill caught Huang Li unaware and pinned his movements for a split second. Gritting his teeth, he had no choice but to raise his wodao and resist her strike directly as she brought her hammer viciously down.

No use in regretting, the mistake was made. He spun the weapon into a backhand grip and lay the blade along his forearm. He squeezed every drop of Willpower he could spare to fuel his Skill. His eyes were bright and narrowed. Tortoise Holds its Breath.

BOOOOOOOM!

The arena shook. Sweat dripped rapidly down Huang Li’s brow as he struggled to resist the hungry waves of Thea’s image. The ground beneath his feet cracked and he felt the joints of his arm groan and pop from the strain. Thea’s red-rimmed gaze bored into him, then turned and looked upward once more.

Within Huang Li’s heart, something snapped into place. The strain on his face gradually vanished, even as he was being forced backward. This is all… waves upon the shore… ceaseless…

As the stone stage beneath him collapsed, he could no longer maintain his footing. Huang Li was smashed into the ground by Thea Glasshammer’s strike without any further resistance. Bits of the stage exploded outward, leaving him crumpled in a small crater.

But as the audience quieted and peered down to see what was happening, Huang Li trembled and then forced himself to stand. “A minor character… that might be true.”

His images stirred. As Huang Li straightened, an azure dragon rose with his sword, twining its body along the shimmering length. The surrounding wind began to howl. At this point, his image had completely surrounded the arena. Huang Li’s eyes were bright as he wiped the blood from his mouth and considered Thea. “But all countries are built on the backs of minor characters such as I. Do not underestimate the humble power of a single human being.”

The azure dragon raised its head and howled at the sky.