Chapter 108: Third fight

Chapter 108: Chapter 108: Third fight

That’s Jack_Blackshadow for the golden ticket.

....

His knees nearly touched the ground.

He gritted his teeth.

Flames erupted around his body.

He forced Tolu backward.

Then he attacked with everything he had.

Fire filled the battlefield.

The crowd screamed.

Tolu disappeared behind a wall of flame.

For a moment, nothing could be seen.

Then the fire parted.

Tolu stood there.

His clothes were scorched.

His breathing was heavier.

But he was still standing.

Yemi stared.

Tolu lifted his hammer.

"You’re strong."

Yemi tightened his grip.

"So are you."

They charged simultaneously.

Their weapons collided.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Neither gave ground.

Then Tolu changed his grip.

He swung the hammer low.

Yemi jumped.

Exactly as Tolu expected.

A stone beneath Yemi’s feet suddenly rose.

Yemi’s body tilted in the air.

His balance disappeared.

Tolu stepped forward.

The hammer struck his abdomen.

BOOM!

Yemi flew backward.

He landed near the edge of the battlefield.

Before he could recover, Tolu was already there.

The hammer stopped beside his head.

Yemi stared upward.

Then he laughed breathlessly.

"I surrender."

The referee immediately stepped forward.

"Tolu wins!"

The crowd erupted.

Tolu lowered his hammer.

This time, the cheers were louder.

People had begun remembering his name.

---

The remaining matches continued.

One contestant was knocked out of the arena by a single technique.

Another surrendered after suffering a broken weapon.

An Ologunri candidate defeated his opponent with a devastating water technique.

An Omimi candidate won after a long battle that left both fighters exhausted.

An Ilepaja candidate displayed a bloodline technique that caused the spectators to erupt.

The seven great forces were watching closely.

Their representatives spoke quietly among themselves.

Some candidates were performing exactly as expected.

Others were performing below expectations.

And a few were becoming unexpected names.

Tolu was becoming one of them.

The final match of the second round ended near sunset.

The referee walked onto the battlefield.

Thirty-two contestants remained.

The arena fell silent.

The referee looked toward the surviving young cultivators.

"Congratulations."

The crowd began cheering again.

"You have survived the first two rounds."

Thirty-two figures stood across the preparation area.

Some were bleeding.

Some were exhausted.

Some looked completely calm.

Others were staring at the remaining contestants, already wondering who they would face next.

The referee continued.

"But from this point onward, the competition will become even more difficult."

Tolu stood among them, his hammer resting against his shoulder.

He looked toward the VIP section.

Seven great forces.

Thousands of spectators.

And somewhere among those people were individuals who might soon know his name.

He smiled faintly.

Thirty-two remained.

.....

The excitement that had filled the arena after the second round did not disappear.

It changed.

The first two rounds had been loud.

This was different.

The remaining thirty-two contestants stood beneath the arena walls while thousands of spectators looked down at them.

There were no longer a hundred young cultivators competing for attention.

There were only thirty-two.

Every person standing there had already defeated at least one opponent.

Most had defeated two.

Nobody could be dismissed as an easy opponent anymore.

The referee stepped onto the battlefield.

The conversations in the stands gradually died down.

"The first two rounds have ended."

His voice echoed throughout the arena.

"One hundred contestants entered this competition."

He raised one hand.

"Sixty-four survived the first round."

A second finger.

"Thirty-two survived the second."

The crowd remained silent.

"Every contestant will fight in every remaining round."

The referee looked toward the thirty-two young cultivators.

"The next round will reduce the number from thirty-two to sixteen."

That announcement produced a much stronger reaction than the previous ones.

Sixteen.

The number suddenly made the competition feel much smaller.

But sixteen was the point where the strongest candidates would begin colliding with one another.

There would be fewer unknowns.

Fewer weak opponents.

Fewer opportunities to hide.

The referee continued.

"The rules remain the same. Death is forbidden. Leaving the battlefield, surrendering, or being rendered unable to continue will result in defeat."

He paused.

"However, I advise every remaining contestant to understand something."

His expression became serious.

"From this round onward, your opponent may be someone whose strength is very close to your own."

The arena became completely silent.

"A single mistake may decide the battle."

His gaze moved across the contestants.

"Do not expect easy victories."

The referee stepped aside.

"The pairings will now be displayed."

A massive formation above the battlefield activated.

Light gathered in the air.

Names began appearing.

One after another.

The spectators immediately started shouting.

"That’s a good match!"

"No way!"

"They’re fighting already?"

"Those two shouldn’t have met this early!"

The contestants stared upward.

Tolu did the same.

The names shifted rapidly.

Then they stopped.

The first pairing appeared.

Two names belonging to candidates from different great forces.

The crowd erupted.

The second pairing appeared.

Then the third.

Then the fourth.

The further the list progressed, the louder the arena became.

There were no weak pairings anymore.

At least, none that looked weak on paper.

One contestant was a Peak Adept with a powerful bloodline.

Another had an exceptional affinity and had already demonstrated an advanced elemental technique.

Another had been trained personally by a Master.

Another came from a great family and possessed an artifact that had already attracted attention.

Every remaining contestant had something.

Then Tolu’s name appeared.

The reaction was noticeably different.

People recognized him now.

"The hammer user."

"He’s fighting..."

The name beneath his was displayed.

Tolu’s eyes narrowed slightly.

His opponent was Kola.

The crowd immediately began discussing him.

"Kola?"

"Yes, that Kola."

"He was the one who defeated the Ilepaja candidate in the second round."

"I heard he’s Peak Adept."

"Peak Adept isn’t the scary part."

"What is?"

"His technique."

The conversations around Tolu grew louder.

Kola was a young man from the general pool.

He hadn’t represented any of the seven great forces.

That alone had made his progress interesting.

But his previous battle had made him famous.

He had defeated an Ilepaja candidate who was considered one of the stronger public contestants.

His weapon was a long black spear.

His affinity was lightning.

And unlike many lightning cultivators who relied on speed alone, Kola used his lightning to reinforce his body and weapon simultaneously.

The combination made his attacks exceptionally powerful.

Tolu stared at his name.

He had watched that battle.

Kola was good.

Very good.

Tolu wasn’t worried.

But he was interested.

Beside him, several contestants were talking.

"You’re fighting Kola?"

Tolu turned.

A young man who had been standing nearby looked at him.

"Yes."

The young man gave a low whistle.

"Good luck."

Tolu smiled slightly.

"Thanks."

The man walked away.

Tolu looked back toward the battlefield.

For the first time, he felt the pressure of the competition properly.

The first round had been about surviving.

The second had been about proving he belonged.

This round would be different.

Now people were watching him.

His opponents had watched his previous fights.

They knew he used a hammer.

They knew he had earth affinity.

They knew he could manipulate stones without touching them.

They knew he was physically strong.

They knew he was comfortable fighting at close range.

Every battle had given away information.

And the same was true for everyone else.

The advantage of surprise was disappearing.

Tolu lowered his eyes.

That wasn’t necessarily bad.

He had deliberately held back.

He still had techniques nobody here had seen.

His cultivation was stronger than what he had displayed.

His body was stronger than what he had displayed.

And there was something else.

Something he had gained during the last two days.

The memory of the strange creature that had appeared in his dungeon crossed his mind.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

He pushed the thought away.

That wasn’t for the arena.

Not yet.

The next few matches began.

The first battle was brutal.

A Peak Adept fire cultivator fought an ice cultivator who had received extensive academy training.

Fire and ice collided across the battlefield.

Steam filled the arena.

The ice cultivator eventually managed to freeze his opponent’s weapon.

The fire cultivator broke free.

Their battle continued for nearly ten minutes before the ice cultivator won.

The second match ended much faster.

A young woman from the Omimi Family defeated her opponent with a precise water technique.

The third match lasted nearly twenty minutes.

By the end, both contestants could barely stand.

The winner collapsed immediately after the referee announced the result.

The fourth match was even more violent.

The crowd went wild when one contestant broke through during the battle and reached Peak Adept.

The fifth match featured one of the candidates from Ologunri Academy.

He dominated his opponent.

Not because he was overwhelmingly stronger.

Because he barely made mistakes.

He never wasted movement.

Never chased an opening that wasn’t there.

Never allowed his opponent to dictate the pace.

When the match ended, several people in the VIP section leaned forward.

The seventh match produced another surprise.

A general contestant defeated a member of one of the major forces.

The reaction was enormous.

The young man who lost stood at the edge of the battlefield in disbelief.

His family’s representatives in the VIP section remained silent.

The winner looked toward the crowd.

For the first time, his expression showed what he had probably been feeling since entering the competition.

He had been underestimated.

And now everyone knew his name.

The competition was changing.

Every victory mattered more.

Every defeat hurt more.

The remaining sixteen places were becoming increasingly valuable.

Eventually, only a few matches remained before Tolu’s.

The atmosphere around the preparation area became tense.

Tolu could feel it.

Contestants were no longer casually speaking with one another.

They were observing.

Studying.

Measuring.

Some closed their eyes and meditated.

Others stretched.

Some checked their weapons repeatedly.

A few quietly spoke with companions.

Tolu remained alone.

His hammer rested beside him.

He closed his eyes.

His breathing slowed.

The sounds of the arena became distant.

Thousands of people were outside.

But he wasn’t thinking about them.

He wasn’t thinking about the seven great forces.

He wasn’t thinking about the money.

He wasn’t thinking about the reputation.

He thought about the next battle.

Kola.

Lightning.

Spear.

Peak Adept.

Experienced.

Tolu opened his eyes.

A faint smile appeared.

That was enough.

The announcer’s voice suddenly echoed through the arena.

"Our next match!"

The crowd erupted.

"Please welcome..."

Tolu stood.

He picked up his hammer.

The weight settled naturally into his hand.

"...Tolu of the Omimi Family!"

The crowd responded with a mixture of cheers and curious voices.

Tolu walked toward the battlefield.

Then the announcer shouted the second name.

"Kola!"

The response was immediate.

Thunderous.

Kola stepped into the arena.

The young man carried a long black spear.

Tiny arcs of blue-white lightning crawled along the weapon.

The moment he entered the battlefield, the atmosphere changed.

His eyes settled on Tolu.

Neither man spoke.

Kola slowly lowered the tip of his spear.

Tolu rested the hammer against his shoulder.

Above them, the protective formations began to glow.

The referee stepped between them.

"Both contestants, prepare yourselves."

The crowd quieted.

The referee raised his hand.

"For the right to enter the final sixteen..."

He brought his hand down.

"Begin!"