Damien had no plans to go easy during this round like he did in the previous two. He would be the only supreme genius within the 25 competitors in his arena, so he’d be a prime target.
Not to mention, after this round came the top 12 tournament where he would truly fight the best of the best. He didn’t want to waste any more time on those that couldn’t cause his eyes to let off even the slightest hint of a warning bell.
It wasn’t even a matter of levels at this point, rather it once again came back to control and mana circuits. The former was something that could be improved with practice, but the latter was usually present only in large families or clans.
Time passed quickly as hype for the final game grew.
***
In the penthouse that Damien’s group entered when they first arrived at the venue, the leaders of the various powers were conversing.
“It’s surprising how many of the supreme geniuses fell this year. Not only were they paired with each other quite often, but there were also many normal competitors with tactical knowledge that surpassed them.” The Elf Queen stated as she observed the competitors who were approaching the stage.
“Indeed. Not only that, even the disparity between supreme geniuses was large this year. There were three in particular that I’ve had my eyes on.” Responded the Dwarf King.
“Well, one of them is of royal descent so that isn’t too surprising. The other two boys have astonishing physical strength. I haven’t seen that boy Ethan use much of his fire abilities, but that Damien kid has some powerful lightning.” The Stanton Emperor pointed out.
Malcolm smiled at this. ‘If you knew how weak his lightning is in comparison to his other affinity, how would you react then?’
Suddenly, an unexpected voice rang out. “That boy is still hiding the majority of his power. If I’m not wrong, his main abilities should stem from his spatial affinity. The teleportation he showed in the previous rounds was just the tip of the iceberg.”
Everyone turned to the pink-haired man who had spoken with surprise. He wasn’t the talkative type, so it was rare to hear him praise someone. Most of them hadn’t even heard him praise his own children, let alone an outsider.
The Beast Empress giggled. “My my, who would have expected you to praise that boy. That girl is the 2nd princess, no? It seems she’s taken quite a liking to him. Maybe you’ve already considered accepting him into your family?”
The fact that Katherine was one of the royal children didn’t matter much to these leaders. There was no ban on their descendants participating in the tournament, it was just that most of them held too much arrogance to compete with the masses in such a fashion.
They didn’t enjoy sheltering their children, as they knew that life or death battles and the pressure of real danger were the best way to temper their wills and abilities, but they couldn’t do much about situations like this.
This event was meant for enjoyment and building personal relations. They didn’t need to appear. Besides that, they didn’t want to involve politics in an affair like this one, so they never pressured their children to compete.
The Adelaire Emperor spoke again, continuing the previous conversation. “Hmph. The boy is an unknown. Until I find out where he came from and what his goals are, I won’t give him the slightest chance.”
The Lennon Emperor raised his brow. “I’ve heard that your 2nd daughter has an adventurous personality. Are you sure she’d even ask your opinion before she makes that decision, James?”
The Adelaire Emperor’s brows twitched. Even he doubted this point. He was also a youth that yearned for freedom at one point. He had roamed the continent and carved a name for himself through various deeds, allowing him to maintain the position he had today.
He knew that he wouldn’t be able to sway her decision if she wanted something, and since she usually aimed to earn those things with her own strength, he wouldn’t interfere. However, this matter was different.
Regardless of his status and regardless of his indifferent demeanor, he was still her father. At the end of the day, all he wanted was to make sure she wasn’t being conned or trapped by someone despicable.
But he also knew that his worries were needless. Katherine’s eyes never failed her when judging people’s true intentions and personalities.
This feature was why he always allowed her to venture relatively unaccompanied as long as she was disguised and used her fake name.
***
While the Emperors conversed, the competitors had been transported to the bottoms of their respective mountains.
Out of the 300 remaining, only 12 would move forward. These odds lit fires of determination in each of the competitors’ eyes. Regardless of whether they won or lost, they’d earn glory, but that didn’t change anything. Nobody was content with quitting here.
Damien looked up at the mountain in front of him and was genuinely unimpressed. It wasn’t his fault though, he had spent 6 months training on one of the largest mountains in the human domain.
Compared to that behemoth, this one looked like a mere hill, which was apt considering the game’s name. The surface was mostly rocky with patches of forest here and there. It was clearly a terrain made for the competition rather than something that would grow in nature.
Damien then moved on to the other 24 participants around him. It seemed they’d come to an unsaid agreement, as all their eyes were focused on him. Damien couldn’t suppress the predatory grin that formed on his face.
‘Since you want to play like that, I’ll get just a tad bit more serious. Let’s see how you deal with me then.’
As the announcer’s voice rang out, the final round finally began.
Without wasting a single second, Damien had already teleported hundreds of meters up the mountain, startling both the competitors and the audience outside.
Thus far, he had only shown a range that spanned a few tens of meters, so the abrupt change was shocking.
Not minding the dazed opposition, Damien continued making his way up the mountain. It was only when he reached the halfway point that the others realized their mistake.
They didn’t attack nor hinder each other as they all climbed the mountain. Their only goal was to defeat this supreme genius in front of them. Everything else came later.
When Damien reached the peak, a holographic screen appeared in front of him.
[Participant: Damien Void]
[Time Captured: 00:00:03]
[Points Earned: 0]
The announcer had never explained how much time needed to pass for one to earn points, so Damien kept a close eye on this screen as the other competitors closed the distance.
Even after they arrived Damien didn’t pay attention to them. They threw a plethora of elemental attacks at him from afar, hoping to cause him trouble before they could arrive, but it was wholly ineffective.
It was unlike anything they’d ever seen before. Every attack they launched at him bounced back after reaching a certain distance from him. It was as if he was completely impervious to their assault.
[Time Captured: 00:05:14]
[Points Earned: 5]
Damien was still focused on the screen in front of him. It seemed that every minute he would earn a point, but he had arrived at the capture point too early, leaving him to wait 5 minutes before the tally even began.
It made sense for the points to count at such a rapid pace. In usual situations, the person occupying the capture point would constantly be changing, leading to a lack of points being gained if it took too long to earn them.
Besides, the points only mattered in this one round. They didn’t count towards overall ranking, which would be decided by the single-elimination tournament. Those that were eliminated here would be ranked based on the overall points they gained through all the rounds combined, though.
These people would make up the rest of the top 50 who would gain access to the secret realm.
Suddenly, the counter paused. “Hm?” When Damien looked up, he saw that another competitor had entered the circle with him. The circle was large but only enough to contain around 3 people if they were moving constantly during battle.
For this reason, the other competitors decided to enter direct combat one by one while the rest supported from the back.
Damien still didn’t pay attention to them. In this round, there were no early eliminations and everyone would be eliminated at the very end, so he couldn’t be too hard on them when it came to injuries. Otherwise, the round would end too fast.
He just lightly flicked lightning at the ones who entered the capture point, pushing them out of range, while casually blocking the ranged assault with his vector field.
The audience was stunned by this overbearing performance. This wasn’t how the tournament was supposed to go, right? Their doubts were easily confirmed when they looked at the screens that showed the other battles taking place.
It was a fierce competition where even supreme geniuses were having trouble keeping the capture point locked for long periods.
There were only 3 screens where the other competitors didn’t stand a single chance.
One was Damien, whose case didn’t need to be explained further.
The next was Ethan. He still wasn’t utilizing his elemental abilities much, only using his fire to block larger projectiles that were headed towards him. His main style was simply punching competitors out of his ring as they came, brute-forcing his way to the top.
The final one was Katherine. Her case was more artistic to watch. She danced through incoming projectiles as if she was putting on a show. Her movements were both graceful and precise, leaving a strong impression that won the hearts of many men in the audience.
Besides that, she didn’t need to face a single competitor in direct combat. Any time one of them attempted to walk forward into the ring, they’d end up moving in another random direction.
Sometimes right, sometimes left, and sometimes even backward as they walked down the mountain. Some competitors even tried walking in another direction from the start, hoping to trick the illusion, but they just ended up looking dumb.
For these 3 geniuses, this round was a breeze.
However, an interesting show was taking place within one of the other arenas…