Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

Brynn again managed to win her quarterfinals match, but in the semifinals, she came up against an older girl in the Tenth Step Vein Opening Realm and was eliminated.

Even so, the spirited girl still wore a big smile on her face, thoroughly satisfied with her performance today.

She had proven herself to be a formidable warrior, defeating 2 opponents with higher cultivations with a mix of clever tactics and finely-honed skill, earning her many nods of approval from the gathered masters.

Christina also ’lost’ her semifinal match as she was unfortunately matched up against Timothy, a rather embarrassing situation for the older boy.

Once again, thanks to his much more frequent interactions with his great great grandmother’s Disciples, Timothy was well aware that the Twelfth Princess was a monster more than capable of beating him in a fair match.

In fact, Timothy had sparred with Christina several times before today, but he had yet to defeat her even once.

Still, Timothy also understood how difficult things would become if the full extent of Christina’s talent came to light, so he pushed down his shame and put on a brave smile, saluting the younger girl and thanking her for ’letting him win’ when she surrendered.

Everyone in the crowd saw this and thought Timothy was an excellent role model, always remaining humble and encouraging his juniors.

Only a select few know he was simply speaking honestly.

For her part, Christina wasn’t bothered. She knew this would be the outcome the moment she signed up to participate in the tournament.

Her ’composure’ after suffering ’defeat’ only further improved people’s opinions of her, though, causing Christina to blush a little from all the undeserved praise.

.....

For the Body Tempering, Vein Opening division, the final match ended up being between two lesser-known contenders. One was a boy just a couple months shy of 19 named Maurice, the personal Disciple of General Genie Farber of the Towering Mountain Legion.

Maurice was actually a commoner orphan from a small, unnamed fishing village in the Northern Province whose high talent was accidentally discovered by General Farber a few years ago.

Because he only began properly training recently, his cultivation wasn’t very impressive for his age, just Tenth Step Vein Opening Realm. Still, considering his background and story, no one thought poorly of the boy.

His opponent, on the other hand, had only turned 17 a few days ago, the same girl who defeated Brynn, a Tenth Step Vein Opening Realm junior named Danika Emerson.

Danika was actually the youngest daughter of the current Prime Minister, Perry Emerson.

With such a high-profile father, one would think Danika would also be quite famous, but that the truth couldn’t be more different.

Whether it was because Prime Minister Perry didn’t like showing off his family in pubic, or because Danika herself was shy, quiet, and unassuming, very few people in the capital, much less the kingdom, knew who she was.

It didn’t help that she rarely attended social functions or interact with noble daughters her age. Even when she did show up at events, she always dressed plainly despite having a rather pretty face.

Danika’s weapon of choice, however, was anything but subdued.

Facing off against her final opponent, Danika drew a giant two-handed sabre that was longer than she was tall and at least 10 cm wide at its crossguard.

Maurice also used a large weapon, a halberd, but it somehow seemed quaint when compared to the petite girl’s menacing blade.

How Danika was able to swing this unwieldy weapon with such speed and finesse was truly a mystery, especially with her short stature and thin-looking arms.

”Who do you think is going to win?” Audrey, who was watching with great interest, asked her excitedly.

However, Eris, Christina, and Brynn all replied flatly, ”””Danika.”””

”Hm?” Turning to her friends, some old, some new, Audrey tilted her head, ”How are you all so certain?”

”Well, just watch,” Brynn, the last one to face off against the Prime Minister’s daughter, muttered wryly.

Allina, who was refereeing the final match of the division, saw that both sides were prepared and gave the signal to begin.

Immediately, both sides charged.

Maurice used a conventional tactic when advancing with a polearm, he held his halberd at his waist and aimed it forward, preparing to pierce his opponent’s guard.

In a head-on, close-quarters clash between two opponents wielding large, slow-moving weapons, reach tended to be the most important factor in deciding who won because it decided who struck first.

This was basic knowledge all instructors taught to their students, yet Danika did the exact opposite and held her sabre in a side-stance, its tip pointed backwards, away from her approaching enemy.

Had they not seen this young girl’s previous fights earlier today, many of the masters watching would have shaken their heads in disapproval, but that didn’t happen for one simple reason.

Just before Maurice and Danika closed to within striking distance of one another, Maurice stamped hard with his leading left foot, then slid his right foot forward, throwing all his weight behind a brutal thrust of his halberd.

He was aiming to end this match then and there, but not because he was confident in achieving victory with this move. If anything, Maurice knew that if this attack, which he had literally put his all into, failed, he was going to lose.

Conventional wisdom said that a thrust was faster than a slash, especially a wide, sweeping slash, but despite having moved first and using the more direct technique, Maurice actually came up short as Danika’s sabre flashed, smashing into the blade of the halberd right before it could reach her.

The blow was astonishingly heavy, and had Maurice tried to forcefully recover, he would almost certainly have had his weapon torn from his grip.

Thankfully, he had also seen some of Danika’s previous matches and knew what to do.

Instead of fighting the force of the blow, Maurice leaned into it, using the transferred momentum of the sabre’s blow to slide away, recovering his balance and putting some distance between him and his dangerous opponent.

It was an impressive display of judgement, reflexes, and skill, but it bought Maurice less than a second of leeway as Danika’s sabre came round again, slashing towards him with cold intent.

Barely lifting his halberd in time, Maurice managed to block this second blow, but doing so caused his hands to go numb as he had to take its full force head on.

The boy, who was a full head taller than his opponent, really couldn’t understand just how she managed to produce such outrageous power with such slender arms, but he didn’t have time to think about it right now as a third slash was rapidly closing in.