Cthulhu Gonfalon

It was overwhelming, to look out over the more than ten thousand people, who were all standing in the plaza! However, Sui Xiong only yawned. It was extremely crowded and noisy, but nothing that he considered as being spectacular.

On the other hand, the bunch of country bumpkins, who had come from the Void Mask Church, were stunned! Every one of them had their eyes wide open. Even Snowflake was impressed.

“This is really magnificent!” she whispered to herself.

“This is just a gathering of a bunch of jobless people,” Sui Xiong mumbled to himself. He then waved his tentacle, signaling Deacon Igor to begin the first round of eliminations.

The competition would take too long, if they did not run this round of elimination soon. After all, there were more than ten thousand people taking part in this. Leon Igor nodded,as he stood up and walked towards the front of the main stage.

“Now, the first round begins.”

He stated this straightforwardly, then drew his sword out from its sheath, before swinging it across the air. A coerced force of a legendary expert purged through the crowd.

Upon seeing this, more than one-third of the contestants could not stand still. They fell down, one after another. Some even had suspicious wet spots that appeared on the crotch area of their pants!

“Those who cannot stand still, you are out!”

The eliminated contestants did not dare to protest against the imposing manner of the legendary expert. They could only mumble their grudges to themselves, while the staff ushered them out.

Sui Xiong scanned the crowd, then counted the number of remaining participants. He could not help but secretly pout at the outcome. There were still over six thousand of them left! It was still way too many!

When the contestant list had been first presented to him, there was more than ten thousand names on it. He even once suspected that Gerald and the team were trying to please him, so that he would allow everyone to enroll, without examining them all carefully.

But then, it seemed that Gerald had not let them through as easily as he had first imagined. This was because the standard of the participants actually had seemed pretty high overall thus far.

One would have to have the capability of at least a qualified adventurer, to be able to withstand Leon’s strength. So, in order to have made it this far, to break into this competition, no one could be just an ordinary adventurer!

And, there were six thousand plus adventurers, still! Could it be that all of the adventurers across the world had come here?!

After the first round of elimination, the preliminary round officially commenced. Sui Xiong had prepared an insane preliminary test, just for the sake of convenience.

“There will be a massive battle in this huge arena, with one thousand contestants per battle. Each battle will last for half an hour, and there will be only ten people that will pass through to the end.” Deacon Leon could not help but shiver at the rules of the game. “There will be many deaths…”

“No, there won’t. There will be four Gods overlooking the battles. The contestants will most likely have bruises, or they might break a bone or two, but they will not die,” Sui Xiong said indifferently. “Look, there are six thousand contestants. It will only take six rounds of battle to reduce that number to sixty. Alright, let’s just make this easier. We will have sixty four of them, and then we will let them draw lots, in order to form pairs. They will then run through a single elimination tournament, twice. Then, the remaining sixteen contestants will draw lots in order to be grouped up again. Then, a double-elimination tournament will be carried out, until we have a winner. It’s as simple as that.”

“What do single elimination and double elimination even mean?!” A few murmurs from the crowd could be heard.

Sui Xiong was stunned for a while. He then recalled that his believers had never come across any battles on earth. So, of course they would not understand any of those rules or terms that he was talking about. So, he decided to try to explain it again.

After the second, more simple explanation was given, the crowd understood. Then, since the insane preliminary match would not get anyone killed, no one had any further comments about it.

“It’s a pity that legendary experts cannot partake in this competition,” Leon sighed. “Or else, I would have joined the fight!”

“The power of a legendary expert cannot be simply defined by his strength alone,” Wor, who already had become the God of Knowledge, replied with a smile. “Every legendary expert has a different path. Those who can fight are not necessarily smarter, whereas those who cannot fight, might be journeymen, focused on traveling further than the others. As a matter of fact, their combat skills are irrelevant at this point.”

He saw that the crowd still did not understand completely, so he explained further. “What is the key to moving from the advanced to legendary status? The key is to find your own path. And what is the purpose of this path? It is not to get physically stronger, but to exceed being just an ordinary human, thus becoming an immortal God at the end of the day. That is why the most important thing for a legendary expert is not his combat skill, but whether or not his path will lead him to becoming immortal. Everything else is just incidental.”

Everyone nodded, while they were listening to him, especially those who had already reached the advanced level and were looking for a way to move onto legendary status. Their faces grew grave, their minds drowning in deep thoughts.

“Well, you do not have to think too much about that right now. The path to advancement in the legendary realm cannot be accomplished within a day or two. Let’s just complete our task at hand!” Sui Xiong broke everyone’s trains of thought, while proclaiming, “Also, if there is anyone else, who wants to join the competition, you can still enroll now!”

Everyone looked at each other, smiling over the idea. Of course they were interested!

On the very next day, the preliminary rounds began.

Bam!

A loud noise came from a wide and long blade, as it slammed onto the floor, which then caused the magically fortified floor to crack. At the same time, it caused a huge impact, which made the contestants nearby fall. The impact even threw some of them out of the battle ring entirely!

The person who dealt that blow was none other than the armored creature, Phil! He was one of the four members of the Arctic Tyrant, and was also the only member, who was not a giant dragon himself.

He was a brawny guy, wearing heavy armor, who did not even bother to show his eyes. In fact, there was no flesh nor body underneath that piece of armor. He was actually that armor, in his very essence!

Years ago, he was pretty famous in the northwest region, going by the name of Armour Maken. He did not achieve much as an adventurer, but he did make his mark as a wanderer. He used to do a lot of good deeds. Although, these deeds did not render any profit for himself, which was completely different from the other common adventurers.

Later on, he met Snowflake and the other two giant dragons, so they formed the Arctic Tyrant. They decided to run a town of freedom and happiness, which they named the Dragon-Roar Town. Since then, he had retired into the background, ceasing from going on any more adventures.

On a usual day, he would either be taking care of his grocery shopping in town, or gardening in the fields of flowers in the temple (dragon’s nest) that was hidden deep inside the wastelands. Sometimes, he would wander in the mountains, helping out any hunters who were in trouble. He was a respectable elder in Dragon-Roar Town.

Actually, Sui Xiong had already discovered his true identity, so he knew that his armor was just another decoy. His real self was actually that sword, which looked merely like a piece of common weaponry.

That wide, long blade, called Baster, was his real body. Sui Xiong had not asked around about his past, but he was certain that this person, or rather this sword, must have a thrilling story.

After all, how many pieces of weaponry in the world would have the capability of self-consciousness? And, amongst those, how many blades would be more interested in gardening than combat?! That image was just wrong!

Phil’s, or rather Baster’s, power was really strong. Its long blade could draw gushes of strong wind, just by swinging it about. Its strong impact made all of the other contestants in the same round tremble. In fact, almost no one was able to go near him. And yet, when he found that he was not clearing out his opponents effectively enough, he cast an even stronger impact in order to cover a wider area.

“I thought his best move was his punch. Why did he use sword instead?” Sui Xiong asked, as he was confused.

“I think it is probably because his opponents are not that strong, so there is no need for him to use his true powers,” Leon explained. “I believe that, when he proceeds to the next phase, he will come across an opponent that will then require him to use his punches.”

As a matter of fact, they did not have to wait till the next phase. Phil was forced to throw his punches shortly after this very conversation!

The opponent was a golden lion man. His body was engulfed in an electric current, and he looked powerful and extraordinary. His speed was terrifyingly fast, and his strength was powerful. His moves were also extremely brutal. In fact, if Wor had not been overlooking the battlefields, who knew how many people would be killed at his hands!

“That is thunder lion, so his tribe has resurfaced…” mumbled Morani. “His people were a famous warrior tribe amongst the orcs. They have produced more than one Orc King in the past. I wonder what this little fellow’s abilities are, as compared to his ancestors, who had once made their names known by all.”

Th​e ​golden lion man was obviously a crazed warrior. He would dash forward to challenge anyone who he deemed as being a strong opponent. Soon, he had his target locked at Phil. He laughed hysterically, while he charged towards him. His fist turned into a bolt of lightning, as he swung it towards Phil’s face.

His steps were strong and steady. He did not even flinch or pause, when Phil swung his sword to cast an impact towards his body. The impact merely blew his golden hair about in the breeze.

Seeing his nearing opponent, Phil finally resorted to use his true powers! He planted the huge weapon, which was either a blade or a sword, in the ground, as his right fist burst into red flames, welcoming the golden lion by striking a punch with it.

His punch was stunningly fast and full of fire power. It struck the golden haired lion man, before he could even make his move. His strong punch sent the lion man flying across the field. The lion man’s body was burning in flames, as he knocked down some other opponents along the way. He ended up laying still on the ground.

“Is he dead?” Rhode jumped up in disbelief.

“Of course not.”

Just as Sui Xiong said this, the golden haired lion man grunted. Then, he stood up after a short while. His body had been burnt to charcoal by Phil’s fiery punch. He even had black smoke puffing out of his mouth. Yet, he was still able to knock out a fully armored guy, who attempted to seize the chance to take him out. That poor guy was sent flying off the battlefield!

After throwing that punch, he looked towards Phil, who seemed to be utterly untouched. No one dared challenge Phil anymore.

“You are very strong!” He bellowed, without showing any sign of grief, pain, or failure. Instead, he looked rather happy and excited, even eager for another fight. “I will fight you again, and I will defeat you!”

Phil laughed under his thick armor, “I look forward to that.”

After this round of battle ended, Sui Xiong sought Phil out secretly, as he was really curious. “Just now, when you planted your sword on the ground, then used your fist instead… I found that really odd!”

“What was so odd about it?”

“I reckon that sword is your real self, and yet you planted yourself on the side. You only used your armor, which was your decoy to battle him… How did you do that?” Sui Xiong had to ask the man himself, as he could not figure it out.

Phil fell silent for a beat, before replying. “This is my unique skill. As to the technicalities, I actually do not understand it all either. It just always happens naturally.”

Sui Xiong curiously extended his tentacles to touch Phil’s right hand, which had been burning just a while ago. To his surprise, he found that the tough armor had some traces of having melted.

“Your armor has melted a little. Will this affect you?”

“My instinct tells me no, it won’t affect me much.” Phil shrugged. “Well, at least in the matter of melting, it does not affect me much.”

“Do you mean… You have even higher level skills?”

“Of course I do. But, I will not use them during a fighting competition.” Phil smiled, then turned to leave.