Kill The Old Ones!

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Lies, pretense, truth...

Regardless of what people thought of Soren Marek Vire, the tournament has to continue.

Before, there were 20. Now, there are 24.

Only ten will move on to the final round. And in the final round, the top 10 will determine who amongst them was the strongest in the Letter Kingdom.

After the spectacle created for the seeded participants, Terry moved right along with the event. He didn’t pause to address the people’s doubts about Ren’s record. He and the organizers didn’t care whether people believed the information or not; they trusted that Ren would prove it himself once he fought.

Terry stated the rules of the semi-finals. Then, he only gave the audience a brief pause before he called up the first pair of fighters.

Just like that, the semi-final round began...

The audience’s attention shifted. The fight occupied their focus instead of questioning the validity of Ren’s information.

Pair by pair, the battles continued.

Adrian, Lucian, and Elena won their fight. So did Lily, Aria, and Sieg. But they won’t be fighting only a single battle. They have to fight until it is determined who amongst them ends up in the top 10.

Of course, since the seeded participants are now here, they too fought.

And people realized that their privilege wasn’t given without consideration.

Darius Stormholt was called up first.

He went up the stage confidently, a stark contrast to what his enemy felt.

The fight that ensued was very one-sided.

Darius’ enemy attacked first, seizing the initiative. He was brave, skilled, and strong; nobody could deny that. Nobody ends up in the semi-finals through sheer dumb luck.

That man fought with all he had. He gave it his all. Alas, all his efforts just weren’t enough. He was fighting against one of the true blessed geniuses of this kingdom.

The whole crowd knew that Darius could’ve ended this battle instantly. There was not a single second in this entire fight that he had ever been threatened or in true danger.

He parried the enemy’s attack like they were annoying flies. Even when his enemy put his whole back into striking, he failed to truly push back Darius or force him to display more strength than necessary.

The audience realized that Darius was allowing his opponent to display his skills before defeating him. Because at least that way, his defeat would be less humiliating.

At least people could say that he tried his best.

After he had shown enough. Darius struck. One decisive strike and the enemy was done for. The strike was strong enough to defuse all thoughts of fighting back, but not strong enough to kill or leave any lasting injury.

Just like that, Darius won.

The way he won set a standard of how strong the seeded participants truly were.

The enemy wasn’t some street-level martial artist. He was someone who came from a respectable background. Someone who worked hard, honed his skills, and had given it his best to get this far in this tournament. He wasn’t some waste who just happened to be lucky.

So, the fact that Darius was able to defeat him so easily set a precedent among the seeded participants and gave the audience a glimpse of just how strong they truly were.

The same went for Aurelia Valentine and Kael Ashcroft—they too won too easily.

And of course, this also applies to Ren.

When he was called up, people doubted him still, but they’re intrigued. Since his fellow seeded participants have come up on the stage and set a precedent, if Ren couldn’t follow, then the lies will be exposed.

He was in a precarious situation to say the least.

But Ren went up the stage wearing a small smile of confidence. His hands were still in his pockets and his expression placid. It’s as if he’s feeling no pressure at all.

His opponent was irked and swore that he would wipe out the arrogance of this man.

But when the fight began, nobody could’ve imagined the results.

Ren did one thing. One thing that was more than enough not just to end this meaningless fight, but also to prove to everybody that he was no liar or pretender.

He glared.

As soon as the fight started, Ren glared at his opponent, and an extremely oppressive pressure exploded out of him.

The pressure plunged the whole stadium into a quagmire. It wasn’t just the man before him who felt it; everybody in the stadium felt it.

They felt as if the sky were collapsing and the earth were giving way. It’s like there was this boulder pressing on their chest, making it hard to breath.

Ren’s presence just then was so heavy that the ground beneath him—one that was made by premium materials, specifically designed to endure abuse—cracked ominously.

Nobody could stand straight before the weight of Ren’s presence: the participants down in the arena who were watching, his fellow seeded participants, Terry, who’s hosting this show, and the audience in this stadium located in some mysterious place. Nobody.

Even more so the one who wanted to wipe off the smirk on Ren’s face. The dude wasn’t even standing; he was forced to his knees, his spine bent forwards, and his head lowered.

He braced his arms to his side in resistance, but he could feel his bones creaking ominously. He knew in his bones, flesh, and soul that he couldn’t endure more of this.

So, in his desperation, he screamed his admission of defeat.

Ren just shifted his gaze to Terry, who announced his victory immediately through gritted teeth.

It was only then that the pressure disappeared, gone like it had never been there at all.

Ren’s smile returned as he swaggered down the arena and back to his throne like he didn’t just imply that he could wipe out everybody here in an instant.

”What the fuck...”

”Holy fucking shit...”

”What a goddamn monster.”

”We’re supposed to compete with that. I’m out, bro.”

”That’s so unreal.”

”Just crown him already.”

”We’re all just fighting for 2nd place.”

”He won without throwing a single punch. Awesome, but scary.”

The audience buzzed in sheer disbelief.

At the very least, they expected Ren to display a little bit of the strength shown in the video clip of him fighting the Flood Dragon King. But contrary to what they expected, he didn’t even need it.

Just the pressure of his chakra volume at all was enough to plunge his enemy into total despair, making him unable to even think about resisting.

That whole fight—if it could even be considered as such—lasted for only a minute. And he spent half of it walking up and down the stage.

Terry was so shaken that he had stuttered when calling the next pair; the audience were whispering against each other, with the majority of them still feeling slightly afraid.

The audience’s doubts vanished; the eagerness of the other finalist to get up on stage and fight Ren was doused by a cold and chilling realization that they wouldn’t have fared better.

Adrian smiled wryly. Lucian’s eyes constricted, but his fighting spirit was ignited. Elena just accepted that Ren was an anomaly through and through.

Darius Stormhort and Kael Ashcroft were wide awake now, and a fine sheen of cold sweat appeared on their foreheads as they realized that they were in for a tough time. Ren’s presence felt scarier than the Flood Dragon King’s.

Aurelia Valentine was displeased but also wary and alert. She knew that this easygoing guy was just the wall she must get across to climb to the top.

Lily placed a hand on her chest to calm her heart, but her eyes were bright and admired Marek even more.

Aria looked at Ren with hostility. Her instincts didn’t lie. He was, indeed, the most dangerous one here. Her instinctual crisis alarm didn’t just blare when Ren glared; it screamed.

It screamed so loud that Aria nearly jumped out of fright—something that nobody had been able to do to her ever since she was born. She could feel the encompassing terror and suppression of Ren’s presence draped all over the stadium, and for once in her entire life, she couldn’t come up with a solution to solve it...to solve him.

But the one that felt the most crisis wasn’t her; it was Sieg, and his was an existential one.

His mouth was parched, his body sat rigid in his seat, and his mind was thrown in complete chaos even after the ’fight’ was done.

When Ren went up on the stage, Sieg’s eyes were honed to him. He watched every movement, tracked every motion, and was alert to any changes. He was looking for flaws, anything to discredit the information on Ren’s profile, any dirt that would prove that Ren’s whole existence was a lie.

But even with his full attention honed in on the guy, Sieg still wasn’t prepared for what he had seen.

That overwhelming pressure from his chakra alone. The sheer volume of it could drown everybody in here like it was limitless. It screamed that Ren, by himself, could completely wipe out everybody here without so much of an effort.

That wasn’t a lie or a flaw. It’s the cold hard truth.

And somehow, that just made Sieg feel so much worse.