The night before the competition, Bary Casfiu came to talk with Krune's group. Although some people saw that, no one paid much attention. Still, he left a few minutes after. In the end, only the Yule Continent Contestants were a little puzzled. Of course, they couldn't simply go ask what it was about. Not to mention that Krune's group probably wouldn't tell them anyway.
The next day came fast. Soon the contestants were already close to the arenas prepared just for it. Each continent formed a group of their own and waited by the sides. All the Guild Heads came forward with their elders and took their position. It was then that a man came forward to announce the rules. Surprisingly, it was Bary Casfiu, the Yule Continent Guild Head.
"There is a total of 229 contestants for the five available slots. We will separate you into eight groups of thirty-two. Obviously, there aren't enough people for each group to have thirty-two participants. So some of you will receive a free pass to the next round. Luck is also part of one's strength, so we will draw lots to decide which Mercenarieswon't be battling in the first round. To make sure that the contestants with the highest chance of getting the five slots won't battle each other before the finals, we have decided on eight-seeded Mercenaries. Each one of them will be put in a different bracket."
He looked at everyone and then continue.
"To make sure that things like cultivators or demon beasts of the same continent going easy or losing on purpose won't happen, we separated the five continents contestants as best as possible, so that they will hardly fight people of their own continents. Of course, sooner or later, they will end fighting each other. But at least you won't need to be afraid of that happening in the first stages of the competition."
So far, it was pretty much as everyone thought.
"Additionally, after the victors of the eight brackets come out, they will battle every single winner of the other brackets. The five with the highest number of victories will be the representatives of the Mercenary Guild Alliance this time."
He then looked at some of the Mercenaries and said:
"The eight seeded mercenaries are:"
"Lina Jue, Makui Continent, First Arena."
"Rog Werer, Sky Fall Continent, Second Arena."
"Tasier, Borle Continent, Third Arena."
"Lofa Harcken, Ice Continent, Forth Arena."
"Arlan Rosier, Makui Continent, Fifth Arena."
"Shad Forgon, Sky Fall Continent, Sixth Arena."
"Jack Biurer, Ice Continent, Seventh Arena."
Bary then paused for a while and looked at a woman's direction.
"Yusa Shen, Yule Continent, Eighth Arena."
"Those are all the seeded players who are going to be put one in each of the eight groups. That's all for the seeded players. Now I will draw the names of those who are not fighting in the first round."
Everyone found it strange that Yusa, an 8th-Stage Foundation Establishment, got the Yule Continent Seed Slot. There were quite a few people in the Yule Continent side with cultivations at the peak of the 9th stage. But those who were the most confused were obviously the Yule Continent Contestants themselves. They knew that Krune was probably the strongest among them. Even if not him, it should have been Ao Sulian, at least. After all, they saw his strength first hand back in the Headquarters. So the decision of putting Yusa Shen as a seeded player puzzled them much.
Going back to the last night, Bary Casfiu had visited Krune's group to talk exactly about this issue. In the end, Krune and the others decided for Yusa to take the Seeded slot. Bary was taken aback with that decision, but then Ao explained.
"Between the three of us, Yusa has the lowest attack power. Her skills are more focused on support. Of course, she is very strong too, but for the three of us to get a better chance to enter the Martial Gathering together, it will be better to have her as a seeded player. I'm a lot more focused on attack, while Krune could be said to be all-rounded."
Yusa heard the last part and couldn't help but laugh.
"Can Krune even be considered a normal all rounded? He is overpowered in both attack, defense, and movement. I'm only a little better than him in support. That's because I mostly focus on it."
Shinja and Ao heard that and laughed as well. After so many spars between them, they had to admit that it was true. Shinja only had the advantage at the moment basically because of her much higher cultivation, and, even so, it wasn't easy to beat Krune.
Krune heard that and got a little embarrassed. He thought that maybe he should take it easier on Yusa and Ao the next time they sparred.
Bary Casfiu was taken aback. Their confidence in Krune was as high as it could be. But since they decided that it would be better to have him taking a regular role, he would follow their requests. Besides, if Krune couldn't even beat the seeded players of the Mercenary Selection, then we wouldn't even mention the Martial Gathering contestants.
After a few draws, the name of the people or demon beasts who got not to fight the first round was decided. Ao got lucky and was exempt from battling the first round. Krune and Yusa were not so lucky, so they would need to go forward with it. Perhaps Bary had done a great job with the contestants' position of the Yule Continent in the brackets. The three of them wouldn't get any seeded players, until they got close to the end, while Yusa avoided fighting the strongest one other than her in her bracket.
After everyone found out their groups, there were eight arenas. They gathered beside their own fighting stages and waited for the referees to come to make sure that no one would need to hold back. Each referee was at least in the Divine Soul Realm Early Stages. Only when a fatal move was about to connect would they move to stop it. The competition was performed in a Danger Zone because, sometimes, even a Divine Soul realm cultivator wouldn't be able to stop the fight in time. Because of that, there was still a chance of someone dying. They were all the best Mercenaries of the five continents, so their skills were obviously much higher than ordinary cultivators.
In case someone died, the Danger Zone rule would apply. The killer wouldn't be blamed, and no one would try to take revenge. It would, instead, be considered as idiotic. If you were participating in that competition and didn't even have the confidence to keep yourself alive, what did you come there for?
The eight referees from various continents took on the stages and called the name of the first Mercenaries. Krune's fight was the second one of his group, and he was part of the sixth arena. While Yusa was the fifth one to fight in the eighth arena, Ao wasn't going to fight in this round. He was part of the second arena.
Everyone's eyes were focused on the battle of the Fifth and First Arenas, because the seeded players of both were fighting in the first round.
In the first arena, Lina Jue was fighting a man from Borle Continent. Both of them were peak 9th-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators. Lina was a Fire and Lightning Element's user. As mentioned before, all cultivators and demon beasts could use any elements they wanted. Still, they would usually specialize in one or two while they were on lower realms. Her opponent was an Earth and Water user called Hao Foese.
Right from the start, Hao used Metal Element, a branch of the Earth Element, to strengthen his armor and spear tip. Only then, he charged forward. He knew that Lina was a seeded player, so he went all out from the very start. Unfortunately for him, Lina wasn't taking him seriously at all. Lina disappeared from his sight with a Lightning movement and appeared right above him. In both her hands, a fireball had appeared. The strange thing was that they had some sparks coming out. She was obviously able to merge fire and lightning together. Most impressive was the fact that she summoned those fire-thunder balls at the time she took to move above Hao.
Without any other choice, Hao could only switch his Water Element to Earth Element and use both Earth and Metal to try to resist the attack. After all, there was no time to dodge anymore. The two fire-thunder balls hit his body, and an enormous explosion could be heard. Hao couldn't take the attack. He was sent flying outside the arena, and Lina hold herself back, so Hao only got severely injured. As long as he received the right treatment, he would be fine.
In the Fifth arena, the battle was over even faster. Arlan was a Fire, Wind, and Lightning user. It was already impressive that he could control three elements at the same time. While still in the Foundation Establishment, one must remember that he didn't have Spiritual Energy Meridians like Ao and Yusa. That was proof of how talented he was.
He didn't even leave his spot. With a single Fire-Wind Slash of his sword, his opponent was already done for. The Divine Soul Referee even had to block the attack. Otherwise, Arlan's attack would have killed him. In the end, Arlan didn't even use his lightning element in that fight. One move and everything was done!
Krune saw that and couldn't help. He was surprised whether he didn't consider the wind element. Arlan's Fire Element control was at the same level as his. It was really impressive!
It was then that he received a Divine Sense message from Guild Head Bary.
"Did you see that? Arlan Rosier has a Pure Yang Body, his fire element control is far above any of the other contestants. He is the cultivator. Everyone thinks definitely to get one of the five slots."
Krune heard that and finally understood the reason. With Shinja's Pure Yin Body, she also had a Water Element control as good as his. It'd been even before she got her Spiritual Energy Meridians. So at that moment, he could understand why Arlan could do the same with fire, not to mention that he could feel it. Arlan's Divine Sense was very strong too. He definitely didn't lose to Yusa or Ao, so he probably had some way of training his soul as well. Although Soul Techniques were scarce in Makui Planet, it didn't mean they didn't exist.
But soon, Krune put this matter to the back of his mind. Arlan hasn't shown his real abilities yet, so there was no point in paying attention to it at that moment.
The other six arenas battle took a lot more time to finish. The competitors were fairly, even considering combat power. One of the battles, in the seventh arena, took over ten minutes to finish. Although there was a victor, the guy wasn't the least bit happy. He used a lot of his strength in the battle and received quite a few injuries. If his next opponent didn't go through the same problem, his chances of winning it were meager. Nonetheless, he immediately took some healing pills and started to recover.
The next round came, and it was finally Krune's time to fight. But other than the Yule Continent Mercenaries, no one was paying attention to him, because, in the third arena, there was another seeded contestant. It was the Thunder Hawk Tasier. His opponent was one of the Yule Continent Mercenaries. His name was Kaile Ford, a 9th-Stage Foundation Establishment who was also part of the Carnage Team that Turi Belane is the Leader.
Tasier was both Lightning and Wind element user, a pretty obvious combination for a Lightning Aerial Demon Beast like him. As soon as the battle started, Tasier took the skies and started to bombard Kaile from above with Lightning Element Attacks. Although the arena was closed by a protection formation, it was still very big and had a lot of aerial space. It was more than enough for him to show his abilities. Kaile immediately flew after him, but it wasn't long before he was utterly defeated. Though Foundation Establishment Cultivators could also fly, Kaile obviously couldn't match the Thunder Hawk. Tasier showed no mercy in his attacks, and the Divine Soul Realm Referee had to intervene to save Kalie's life.
In Krune's arena, he was looking at Tasier Battle. The problem was that he was doing that while battling his opponent, which made his adversary burst in rage. Krune wasn't paying attention to him at all. Unfortunately for him, Krune was too fast. It didn't matter what kind of attack he used, not a single hit, let alone hit. The moment he made an attack, Krune wouldn't be in the place where the attack was aimed at anymore.
Krune wasn't doing that on purpose. He was simply interested in the Thunder Hawk lightning element control. He wanted to check the difference between both of them. For such, he couldn't pay too much attention to his opponent. In the end, a scene where it looked like Krune was playing with his opponent started.
Only when the third arena battle was over, did Krune finally pay attention to the guy in front of him. But he kept dodging the attacks anyway. It was only when most of the battles were over that he finally made his move. He saw another attack coming his way and just sighed. Using the flaws in the attack itself, Krune launched some Blazing Wind Blades that sliced his opponent's attack as if they were made of paper. The blades didn't stop, and just as they were about to hit his opponents, they suddenly exploded.
His opponent was ready to resist the slashing effect of the blazing wind blades. He really didn't expect them to explode on his face, the blast shook wave sent him flying outside the arena. Just as he was about to hit the ground outside, he focused on his spiritual energy to stop mid-air. The shook wave of the explosions didn't do much damage. In the end, he was just about to fly back into the arena when, suddenly, several roots appeared on the ground and caught him before he could even react. He was pulled to the ground. The referee saw that he touched the ground outside the arena and announced Krune's victory.
Shad Forgon, the seeded Mercenary of the sixth arena, looked at that, and his face went dark. Krune showed an ability far above than he had expected. It was evident that he didn't take his fight seriously at all. He started to think that he might have found a dark horse. Worst of all, that dark horse just had to be in his group.
Krune came down from the arena and noticed the people on his group, and even those outside it were looking at him. That battle had made everyone acknowledge Krune was extremely strong, but Krune got puzzled instead.
'That doesn't make sense. I made sure to wait for the other battles to be over before finishing mine. I was planning to lay low until the end and then strike it hard. But how come I became the focus all of sudden?'
He's just forgotten to account for the fact that not only had it looked like he was purposely playing around with his opponent. He'd also controlled three different elements at the end of the battle. His cultivation was obviously at the 7th Stage of Foundation Establishment. It would be weird if no one paid attention to him instead.