CLEAVER OF SIN

Chapter 862: Friendly Smile [GT Ranking Bonus - ]

"The purpose of the Worldshaper’s Relic in this competition is simple," AlyxAtlas began to speak. "When two students are picked to have a match, one of them is selected to transform the battlefield into anything of their choosing," she explained with a smile.At these words, some of the students immediately frowned as they understood that, while it might not mean much, this could be disadvantageous for some people. Imagine Teo fighting a student who possessed Fire Affinity; they could simply choose a battlefield that was a literal ocean, then throughout the fight, rely solely on their Water and Wind Affinities.

But did they complain? Certainly not. They all understood that this was simply how battlefields worked. During a life-or-death match, no one chose the terrain. It could be advantageous to the enemy, advantageous to them, or advantageous to nobody at all. But at the end of the day, it didn’t exactly matter. All they had to do was adapt and win.

And as sixteen geniuses representing the four Empires, none of them were going to make any complaints.

"When two people are selected, a box will be presented with a red card and a green card. Whoever chooses the green card gets to rewrite the terrain into anything of their choosing," Thomasinho explained, earning a nod from all the students.

Neither Asher, nor Arianna, nor even people like Acker or Isaac complained. They simply remained indifferent, as though they knew that no matter the environment, they could come out on top. If an ocean battlefield was created, someone like Isaac could simply grow gills, change his physiology to that of a fish, and adapt on the fly.

"Now, as for the matchups," AlyxAtlas spoke next, a huge television descending at her words, displaying the names of all sixteen students. "The television possesses an algorithm that will randomly select the names of students who are going to fight. And for clarification, a name won’t be chosen twice in a row. For example, if Student A and Student B fight and Student B wins, Student B won’t immediately participate in another match. They will have to wait at least one round before they can be chosen again by the algorithm," she explained calmly.

Everyone nodded again, perfectly understanding everything that had been said thus far.

"Now, to the next matter at hand," Thomasinho stated, "as we said earlier, these developments are to maximise entertainment for our live audience." He clapped his hands once.

The next moment, a woman stepped into the open arena, then, with a thought, a vertical green barrier was erected, protecting the spectators from the destruction that would come with the battle.

"This green barrier doesn’t just protect the audience from getting injured," Thomasinho continued as he turned towards the students. "It also allows a bit of the shockwaves, blast waves, among other things, to pass through so that the spectators will feel as though they are on the battlefield alongside the students. They will also feel the heat if flame-based attacks are used, and things like that. But of course, everything will be reduced to what people can endure. After all, we don’t want people dying, and we also have children present."

At his words, the live audience immediately erupted into cheers as they roared at the top of their lungs.

"LET’S FUCKING GO!!!" one of them screamed at the top of his lungs.

"WE WILL FINALLY FEEL THE INTENSITY IN REAL TIME!!!" another shouted with a wide grin as he laughed without a care in the world.

"LET’S GET STARTED ALREADY!!!" a woman screamed.

The crowd was in a frenzy. After all, some of them were unawakened, while even those who were awakeners weren’t nearly as powerful as these students. Although they watched the livestreams of streamers who battled various Monsters and Emovirae, and had even gone through two rounds of this Inter-Empire Competition, none of that could compare to what they were about to experience. And with the power level of these students, they all wanted to be thrown off their feet when the shockwaves hit.

This was a massive win for them.

As for those who were watching from the various Empires and from their homes, they could only click their tongues in jealousy. After all, this was entertainment at its peak.

"That shall be all with the explanation of things. And remember, if you can’t continue, just say you give up, and you will immediately be teleported out of the arena," Thomasinho stated with a calm smile.

"And now," AlyxAtlas spoke, "SHALL WE FUCKING RUMBLE!!!!???" Her voice thundered through the microphones.

Adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin immediately spiked as everyone cheered. The battle was finally about to begin.

Unknown to Asher and basically ninety-nine percent of everyone present, this entire new scenario and everything that Thomasinho and AlyxAtlas had just explained was something the people behind the Inter-Empire Competition had come up with over the past ten hours.

The original one-versus-one competition was supposed to teleport each student to their respective battlefield as usual.

But they changed that because of Asher.

They wanted to see what this new Energy that the Tenth Sun was hiding truly was.

Although it seemed excessive, it wasn’t. After all, this was an Energy that appeared even more ridiculous than the First Sun’s Solar Energy. Besides, they weren’t losing any money or resources by changing the format.

People like Azaron and the rest of the Wargrave Family were oblivious to this. After all, they never knew how the original one-versus-one competition was supposed to play out. To them, this was simply how it had always been intended to be.

But... even if they knew, they wouldn’t make a fuss over it. After all, people knew of the First Sun’s and the Second Moon’s unique Energies, and what had that changed? Nothing. They were still very much alive.

The eyes of the oblivious snapped towards the huge television hanging in the sky. Names started flashing across the screen, anticipation building in the air as the students stared in silence. Within a few seconds, two names appeared, flashing with a golden light.

FINCH WHALE VERSUS HILTON ZARIK.

Hilton’s black eyes shifted to the side where Finch stood, and he smirked. Finch met his gaze and simply gave the boy a polite friendly smile.

To Hilton, this was an easy win. Who didn’t know Finch? They all knew he had relied on his ridiculous luck to survive throughout the first round; he had read it in the news. And to Hilton, Finch had also relied on the delusional Buddha to qualify for this round.

But unknown to poor Hilton, Finch couldn’t be so easily bullied with the Sword Savant known as Lior by his side.

But alas, Hilton didn’t have access to that piece of information, as he wasn’t allowed to have his phone or receive any visitors during the ten-hour resting period.

"FINCH!!!"

"FINCH!!!"

"SWORD SAVANT LIOR!!!"

The spectators screamed at the top of their lungs.

As for the people of the Thalvorn Empire supporting Hilton, who was a genius from their own Empire, they couldn’t care less. After all, it was already a given that Arianna Haellight or Asher Wargrave was going to win. They might as well support whoever they wanted in each round.

The box appeared, and of course, without any suprise, Finch pulled the green card. Finch touched the Worldshaper’s Relic as he focused his thoughts.

’Do you need any specific terrain that would be advantageous to you or disadvantageous to him?’ Finch asked Lior through their soul-link telepathy.

’Just pick whatever. Even with advantages, weaklings like him would always lose,’ Lior replied flatly.

As the Worldshaper’s Relic received Finch’s thoughts, it immediately began to rewrite the terrain until a vast, dry wasteland filled with various jagged pillars stretching towards the sky appeared, spreading across a one-kilometre radius.