Divine Beast Ascension

Sword and claw clashed, coated in lightning and ice respectively. Now that Tilgron only had a single opponent, he didn’t need to worry about being constantly flanked and out-maneuvered.

However, there was a drawback to Tilgron’s strategy and circumstances.

Tilgron was running low on essence. It was an inevitable hurdle when fighting more than one opponent. And since both of Tilgron’s opponents had been so strong on their own, that meant he had to exhaust essence without holding back until at least one of them was eliminated from the arena.

Saltor understood this well. It was one of the reasons he was able to keep completely calm and keep fighting without worries or doubts.

With the aid of lightning, Saltor leaned to the side and sped around Tilgron. Even if Saltor was alone, he understood that it would always be better to attack a weak point instead of fighting a beast like Tilgron head-on.

But Tilgron’s icy essence armor wasn’t so easily destroyed. Saltor thrust into it and managed to stab Tilgron with the tip of his sword but he was unable to truly break past the armor.

C-Crunch!

Saltor narrowly stepped back to avoid Tilgron’s ice mace tail. The ground crumbled under the blow and left multiple cracks behind from the jagged, blue ice spikes.

.....

“Guarded on all sides thanks to that tail…” Saltor sighed, reassessing the situation.

Tilgron nodded but didn’t say much. He had enough energy to keep fighting but he refused to be careless.

Smiling back at the tiger, Saltor remarked, “Well, since you got the chance to unleash attack after attack, I guess I’ll take a turn.”

Zzzrrch!

Lightning flew out in every which way, originating from Saltor’s body. The electricity didn’t reach far but it never diminished or died down. Saltor leaped straight into the tiger at his top speed, proving how much he had held back so far. His body acted like a lightning rocket, honing in on Tilgron and making micro-adjustments to the flight path so it would certainly hit.

Tilgron raised ice pillars and sidestepped the blow. Yet it still connected with Tilgron’s side to spill a bucket of blood.

Forcing himself to adapt, Tilgron covered his wound with blue ice and locked his gaze onto Saltor. He knew that Saltor would prolong or delay the next attack. All Tilgron could do was follow his instincts and whatever idea popped into his mind as immediate countermeasures.

Saltor was already rebounding and about to launch his next charge. His sword was leading the way, making sure his thrusts were incomparably more powerful than before in order to best breach the tiger’s defenses.

Tilgron roared and leaped toward Saltor as well, baffling most of the other mortal candidates on the balcony.

Oli, on the other hand, sighed and smiled.

ZZZRRCH! CRRRSH!

The two met in a face-to-face collision. That was the purpose behind Tilgron’s charge, after all, to keep Saltor from veering away slightly in order to attack Tilgron’s side. This way, there wasn’t enough space between them for veering away to be an option.

Saltor’s lightning-clad sword aimed for Tilgron’s clavicle. But it failed to reach its true target due to Tilgron tucking into a front flip for a wild swing of his mace tail. Instead, the sword stabbed Tilgron in the buttock, very deeply.

That wasn’t enough to stop the swinging mace tail, though. Since Saltor was leaning forward for his leaping lunge, the spiked tail crashed down onto Saltor’s back. The ice shattered as Saltor was slammed into the ground. Its shards flew off in every direction while some embedded themselves in Saltor’s back.

“I… give.” Reluctantly, Saltor admitted his loss and laid still. With so many ice shards in his back, Saltor didn’t dare consider rolling over onto his belly.

“Great fight! Both of you!” Tilgron roared and cheered while he too dropped to the floor, exhausted.

Vloz appeared by Tilgron while a medic was rushed to Saltor. There was no panic over their wounds, but there was no delay for their treatment either.

While they were being treated, the three kings chatted at their table.

Rhyner chuckled, “Well, I guess we know who Zelsh is sending in next thanks to you, Ingall.”

Ingall nodded but sighed, “True. But I can only hope that my candidate holds strong against your two candidates. Rhyner, your son is powerful with an auto-healing ability. That’s amazing. He’s as strong as any regional champion, yet you were also blessed with a perfect candidate… Life’s really not fair sometimes.”

“Oh, cheer up, Ingall!” Zelsh pounded the table with his wine goblet. “There’s no use complaining about it now.”

“You’re one to talk, Zelsh. Even without a perfect candidate, you’ve got someone strong enough to fight two top-tier mortal candidates at once,” remarked Ingall.

Shrugging, Zelsh replied, “Well, sometimes we’re just lucky. This is the best batch I’ve had in decades, maybe in centuries. Besides, I had to convince Jeerda to give me Tilgron, otherwise he’d be representing her instead.”

“You got lucky she was willing to cooperate,” Rhyner scoffed with a friendly grin. “Considering you told her it was either he represented you or you wouldn’t agree to train him, it makes sense. You just know how to negotiate and understand what other people want. You’re lucky so many people are willing to help you and offer their young cultivators, as I’ve done also.”

Ingall squinted and asked, “Who? Which candidate did you give to Zelsh?”

Rhyner’s eyes landed on Oli. But they quickly shifted to find Yeter. “Him. The stallion. He’s originally from Iron Town, just like Netra and the lynx candidate that became a wildcard during the provincial wildcard.”

“Seriously? Why did you give him such a strong candidate?!” Ingall complained. “If you had talked with me, I would’ve gladly exchanged candidates for him! And I would make a much better teacher for the young stallion!”

“I couldn’t agree more!” Zelsh laughed and slapped the back of Ingall’s chair. “That’s the favor I’m asking of you. To let Yeter train under you for the next five years after the Mortal Championship.”

Glaring at Zelsh, Ingall Sardin replied, “You mean you’ll lend him to me and not give him to me?”

“That’s why it’s a favor. Besides, he needed me to figure out that weird essence armor of his. But now that he’s got it covered, you’d make a better teacher going forward,” Zelsh admitted.

“... I accept. But only if I’ll also be considered his master.”

“That’s fine, master number three.”

“Number three?!”

Rhyner laughed, “I told you, he originated from Iron Town. His first master was Leader Bradok. Yeter trains the Iron-body Gorilla Clan’s cultivation technique, so of course Leader Bradok would be his first master.”

“Hmm… Fine. I still accept. It truly is a small favor, and one I’m actually happy to fulfill. If you hadn’t asked, I would’ve come to you with an offer anyway,” sighed Ingall, dropping his false, frustrated expression. “I look forward to seeing what this Yeter will become with the help of three regions.”

The arena was finally cleared of debris and its former combatants and all eyes went back to the three kings.

Ingall motioned toward his strongest competitor and nodded. “Gennor, you’re up. Go show them the pride and honor of Sardin Region.”

“Yes, Master Sardin,” Gennor casually replied, stood upright, and bowed to his king.

Gennor’s body was four krin tall, not including his tail. Dense scales lined his body and his winged arms stretched up to seven krin wide when fully opened. His streamlined body and face proved him to be aerodynamic and fast with but a glance. His small horns atop his head and fangs showed even more of his draconic bloodline.

With a flap of his wings, Gennor took off and effortlessly landed in the arena.

“You’re complaining about our candidates when you’ve got a Sky Wyvern?” scoffed Zelsh, pretending to be offended while motioning for Oli to get up. “Fine. Then we’ll just have to knock it out of the sky.”

Rhyner looked less confident. “I know this is a bad match-up, but I want to choose him anyway.”

When Rhyner nodded to his candidate of choice, everyone on the balcony was startled.

While Oli vaulted over the balcony to reach the arena floor as quickly as possible, Rhyner’s candidate marched down the stairs while keeping his thoughts steady and clear.

Oli kept his poker face the entire time. But he was irked to recognize who he was supposed to fight alongside. “Hiztor? Seriously? I’m surprised King Rhyner even allowed you to come after everything you did.”

“My father paid King Rhyner a special visit as soon as the provincial qualifier ended. And this isn’t an event sponsored by the Mortal Championship, so there’s no reason I can’t join the rest of the Rhyner Team on this trip,” Hiztor reasoned, keeping his calm demeanor to the utmost.

“I’m Gennor, member of the Sky Wyvern Clan.” After introducing himself, Gennor asked, “So you’re Hiztor? The same Hiztor Galdo that shamed Rhyner Region and got the Galdo Clan banned from the Mortal Championship for half a century?”