The day off was over. The contestants felt refreshed, Scorn informed the contestants to choose their numbers from the bowl again.
Huan Chun headed towards the bowl. They stuck their hand in and pulled their number. It was number seven!
Huan looked at the ball with a puzzled look on their face, because this round could only have three fights, when Scorn intervened, declaring Huan to be the lucky contestant who would move immediately to the top 4 round, without a fight.
Since, the fight between Brothers Liu and Huang offset the correct order of the tournament.
Everyone looked at Huan with envy. Some were mumbling under their breath.
Seph resolved himself to thinking that this is for the best, since he will get more training in fighting one more tough opponent before the top four.
He was still feeling envious though, since this could mean that Huan will be fresher next round, and they could have dodged one of the toughest opponents in this tournament!
Divinity, Gabalawi, Dahlia, Kafka, Black Crow all headed towards the bowl and picked their numbers.
Gabalawi and Kafka started heading to the arena together at the same time. Kafka tried to look unconcerned that he was fighting the tough Gabalawi.
While the latter felt confident that he would win this fight after the adoration that the others showered him with after the last fight.
Both were outstanding fighters in their own right, but only one could win, only one could reach the top four, and get one step closer towards true power.
Seph thought that whatever happens was going to be good for him, because that’s one less tough opponent to fight. He only thought of a strategy to fight Black Crow and maybe Dahlia, but not the rest of them.
Once in the arena, Gabalawi and Kafka raised their number ones.
While in most fights, the stoic Gabalawi only responded when people talked to him, the melancholic Kafka didn’t feel the desire to talk with anyone.
So they didn’t exchange words. Gabalawi nodded to him with his head, Kafka did the same, and the fight officially started.
Kafka ordered his cats to attack, and an abundance of cats started running towards the same target, all running towards Gabalawi.
The giant man was confident in his power, and didn’t attack them from afar, which proved to be a huge mistake.
The cats reached him, and he started punching one after the other, turning them into incorporeal cat souls that floated back to their owner, taking their place on his clothes.
But it turned out to be subterfuge, as three red cats closed in on him, and exploded near him.
Gabalawi staggered back, his clothes blackened by the explosion. He had to shake off the shock before knowing that he would be in more trouble if he let the cats get their way with him.
He roared loudly and jumped to stomp on the ground with both feet. Two huge reverberations started heading towards the cats, and most of them couldn’t dodge even after jumping to avoid the attack.
Kafka’s countenance finally changed, as losing so many of them alarmed him.
He wasn’t good in close physical fights, and the few cats left with him won’t be able to handle Gabalawi’s punches, let alone his localized miniature earthquakes!
Gabalawi took a deep breath, still affected by the explosion, and then started running toward Kafka, punch after punch, cat soul after another went back to their owner, yawning cutely before taking their place on his clothes, and becoming still imprints of themselves.
Once the giant reached Kafka, he loaded up a right punch and launched it towards his opponent’s chest. When something unexpected happened, the white souls of cats emerged from his clothes and congealed around his fist to stop the attack.
But Gabalawi won’t be denied, and he launched a left punch on Kafka that got stopped by Scorn, declaring him the winner of the fight.
Gabalawi bowed down deeply to Kafka, with the latter doing the same, and they both stepped off into the arena.
The first of the top four is determined. I really have no strategy to fight Gabalawi. Something’s gotta give. Hopefully, I learn a new trick during the next fight, or maybe spamming him with lumps of death might give me a fighting chance against him. Seph was thinking deeply to himself, recognizing the threat that is Gabalawi. He needed to win this tournament, no matter what.
There was a 15 minute rest between fights, and Seph used his to intercept Gabalawi, who was heading back to where he usually stood.
Seph used the eye on both his gloves and boots.
Appraising…
Name: Gloves of Titan
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Type: Gloves
Quality: Super Rare (Growth/Set)
Durability: 95%
Your Fate is to be above humans from now on, for you have become one with Titan.
Magical Ability: Increase strength by 100%.
Blocks 75% of physical damage If used to intercept attacks.
Drawback: These gloves can’t be taken off once worn.
Appraising…
Name: Boots of Titan
Type: Boots
Quality: Super Rare (Growth/Set)
Durability: 95%
Your Fate is to walk the earth without mortals. They hear your footsteps from afar, for you now walk with Titan.
Magical Ability: Reduce Speed by 20%.
Increase Knock down resistance by 100%.
Special skill: Stomping Earthquake.
Drawback: These boots can’t be taken off once worn.
So that’s why he didn’t get knocked down by the three exploding cats! Also, the information about him being able to negate the attacks only if he would intercept them with his gloves. I can definitely use this in my favor!
Seph hadn’t much time, though, as he was part of the next fight. He started heading for the arena and noticed that Divinity was heading to the arena with him!
Crushed were Sun’s spirits by this revelation. He was just playing with the little girl and the kittens yesterday, and now he had to fight her along with his master!
Seph noticed a low whine coming out of his companion, and guessed the reason he might be sad, since he couldn’t even withhold the moan that escaped his mouth.
Seph carried him and put him down and patted him on the head, before saying, “You can sit this one out, buddy, if it’s just me and her. I got this, but if you see any fresh surprises in the fight, you can join, okay?”
Sun nodded to him, sad tears welling up in his eyes. He got another pat on the head before his master left him and continued his way to the arena.
Once in the arena, Seph and Divinity showed their numbers to everyone.
“Fight hard Divinity, I won’t be able to take it easy on you after I already saw your overwhelming strength!”
Divinity answered with a loud laugh before saying, “Good, or else you will lose the fight before you can even feel you are in one. Don’t worry though, I will take care of Sun for you if you kick the bucket. Let’s go!”
He was amused by her good attempts at getting under her opponent’s skin. She wasn’t what she was selling; she carried herself with a different personality than who she really was under all that.
He started running towards Divinity, who was running towards him as well.
Once they closed in on each other, Seph launched his palm attacks. She struck each one with her hammer.
She then attempted to land her own strike on him. He dodged to the side and hit the hammer with two overbearing palm strikes in a row that made the little girl lose her balance and get pulled by her own hammer to the side.
She was wide open for him to land an attack on her body, but she saw it coming, and used the momentum of her hammer being pushed away from her body to start her whirlwind attack!
Seph’s eyes went wide seeing that, but he got a new idea on how to bypass her attack. He jumped in the air and directed his palm strikes to the ground.
One after another, his palm strikes pushed him in the air towards the eye of the whirlwind that his opponent had created!
And once he was right on top of her, he unleashed many palm strikes in a row. The hammer whirlwind blocked them, but it was losing momentum and Divinity became exposed to his attacks.
He landed another palm strike on her, when a hair band she wore shone brilliantly, blocking the attack.
Seph then stood in front of her, his palm extended towards her face, but he didn’t strike.
Divinity looked sad for a second realizing she had lost the fight, but then she hid her true feelings again and started giggling cheerfully, while telling Seph he did a great job!
Seph thanked her for the fight and asked if she was doing well. Sun came at them running and jumped on his master’s shoulders, and patted him on the back for winning, while grinning happily!
Seph used the opportunity to use the eye on her hammer.
Appraising…
Name: Hammer of the Warrior Princess
Type: Hammer
Quality: Super Rare
Durability: 85%
Restriction: Can only be used by females.
Magical Ability: Increases your strength by 500%.
Blocks 75% of physical damage If used to intercept attacks.
Special skill: Hammer Whirlwind.
He nodded to himself, but then realized that Divinity was looking at him seriously, like she noticed he just used some kind of skill!
But she abandoned her serious look and went back to her cheerful manner again in an instant.
Seph then checked on his Eye of the Appraiser quest, since he could appraise a few items since the last time he did so.
Quest
Eye of the Appraise level 2: Identify 25 unique items.
Progress: 23/25
Just two more items! It’s so close! I wonder what new ability this skill will get after I finally finish the quest! I also need to think about who else in the arena I can use it on to finish the quest. Maybe in the next break time I can finally finish this quest!
I am so excited to see what the next quest will be as well!
The final two who hadn’t fought yet were Dahlia and Black Crow.
Dahlia felt overcome with fear. Seph realized that when he looked over at her. She didn’t look all that well, and he thought, What’s wrong with her?