The announcer pulled out a little blue stone from his pocket space and crushed it, instantly the arena began splitting apart into equal halves terrifying most of the crowd and both halves slowly levitated into the air as the visual world around them was breaking to pieces and falling off like flakes to reveal that they were now somewhere deep in the cosmos floating an immense distance above an endless sea of honey gold adorned by beautiful bright colors shining from underneath to bring forth a breathtaking hue that reflected on the cosmos like an Aurora.
Swimming inside this beautiful sea were a multitude of gargantuous and ethereal creatures with one of a particular kind coming up ever so often to the surface in groups for a graceful dive pushing up an uncountable number of bubble like substances with a colorful core that drfited around atop the sea an around the cosmos like little lights.
"Gentlemen, I welcome you to the greatest wonder of our realm".
"The Sea Of Life".
Rising out of the depths of the sea was an astral avatar of a man standing so tall all seemed insignificant before him, he walked along the surface of the sea and cupped his hands together breathing into life a lotus of many colors and petals with a multitude of ethereal roots that sunk into the sea and generating a golden pulse of mana that spread throughout the cosmos.
Even with how slightly obscure his features were in this form of an astral avatar everyone present could still recognize at a glance who he was, portraits of him were abundant all over the world though he had remained unseen to the masses for over a decade.
"And how lucky you remain still, welcome tower master".
The announcers head was bowed in courtesy to him under the awed gazes of the crowd who felt their hearts skip a beat seeing the avatar turning his head towards them showing a gentle smile as he slowly faded away leaving the singular lotus behind.
Emrys had his eyes completely locked on the petal, while most might not know it's purpose he did. But it wasn't just him but seemingly Avistro and Hope caught on to what the tower master's true purpose here was, this in the end all served to confuse them still when taking into consideration why a person like the tower master would prepare such a thing as this.
The announcers voice broke them out of their thoughts serving as a reminder that as of right now they were still in the middle of a tournament-
"Well then, let's get down to business".
"I will be very blunt, in this round you are to catch a world eater".
"To be more precise, you are to catch a world eater's infant".
"You will be doing so without agitating the infant nor will the use of seals and teamwork be allowed".
"If the infant were to not take kindly to you and either gets agitated or tries to kill you then the penalty shall be an instant disqualification".
With every word spoken by the announcer the contestants and even the spectators themselves could feel their hearts sinking further and further into the abyss of terror, world eaters were a species with a name that did to them not the slightest bit of justice as to what they truly were.
Creatures on average whom were large enough to lay in a bed made out of trillions of universes and still have it not be enough to match their monstrous size, the only world eaters known to consume worlds were infants which were the first type encountered from their species and accidentally given the name which had stuck already before the mages of the past had their eyes opened to what their true capabilities were upon discovering the juveniles and adults.
What they fed on were whole realms which is why it was most important and fortunate that their home and that of other great creatures resided in the 'Sea Of Life', a birthplace of realms with an endless body so no matter how big they grow or how much they devour it would all simply just amount to the total value of zero.
Many would have pondered and doubted the dragons place as the pinnacle of all creatures if it were not for the fact the ancients nearly wiped out their entire race thousands of years ago due to a breach of domains caused by history's biggest fool as he came to be termed after.
The announcer smirked looking at their faces and wiggled his index finger while clicking his tongue "wait a minute, there's more".
"To your great fortune the tower master has helped to make this round a bit easier".
"Originally you were to search for them yourselves in the Sea Of Life but taking into account that you would have been obliterated in an instant touching that great of a power it was scrapped".
"After some......peaceful negotiations with an adult world eater some infants have been generously donated to us temporarily".
The announcer summoned a second blue stone from his pocket space and placed it onto the empty space to reveal a giant doorway.
"Now you only have to step into the little portal here to meet them, easy right?".
With a will that would have been capable of moving of mountains they managed to hold themselves back from cursing at him.
"Oh, it almost slipped my mind. Worry not about registering on their radars due to how tiny you are in comparison".
"Once through the doorway your sizes would be instantly adjusted to an adequate level".
"Time limit for this round is twenty minutes, wish you good luck".
Having said everything he had to the angry and terrified contestants began walking through the doorway in droves, the sensation of getting their sizes adjusted so quickly felt a bit electric. Most took a bit in adjusting to the new feeling of piloting a gigantic body while the special few got used to it a fraction of a second later.
Before them were thousands of infant world eaters spaced adequately well floating around in this space seemingly asleep and unaware of their presence, world eaters at the stage of infancy had a body mildly similar to that of a manta ray with six slender tails and a head almost like that of an orca's.
Infants were on average 2-3 larger than a normal celestial satellite and right now they looked to be a little over half their size in comparison, the contestants whom were quite short on time began hurriedly thinking of ways to win the favour of the little infants, the big ticking clock counting down in all red far above wasn't helping matters but they had no choice here.
One obvious thought they all had was to bribe them with worlds but absolutely none of them here could do that, nobody keeps a random world on them for no reason and even if there were worlds around in this empty space none had the confidence to capture one at their current level.
With time running out on them a few made peace w)ith the fact that this was to be the end of their journey in this tournament and bit the bullet as they approached the infants, once they had crossed within a certain range of them it was like their presence had registered to the infants. The sensation of multiple thousands of eyes of giants all staring down at you could not be put into words, everything suddenly felt so heavy and it was like they were laid bare before the eyes of these monsters.
The infants approached them steadily looking at them with curious gazes, one in particular circled around them getting a feel of what they were with it's fins and nearly almost biting onto the head of one contestant who reacted on instinct and flared his mana up in defense ready to attack.
The infant shrank a bit following the sudden movement and show of hostility, no words needed to be said as the contestant realized what he had done, his heart sunk to the bottom as he looked up at the infant which nearly began leaking out some mana before be got teleported out of the space surprising everyone present.
Those who had stayed back analysed the whole thing from start to finish, for one it seemed like there a second space separating they and the infants and unless you cross a certain threshold the infants would remain completely oblivious to them, a second point was that only the contestants could cross that threshold and not the infants due to the fact that they were so close to it yet even with their movements they seem to not have crossed it in the slightest.
The third was the fact that even within the threshold there remained another final one, only one contestant seemed to be in contact with a single infant each though they might look clustered on the outside there was an orderly placement to their positions that not even the contestants seemed to be aware of.
The fourth point confirmed the announcers blunt words, at a hint of annoyance or irritation from the infants they face instant disqualification, with that being said one oddity stood out to Emrys. Particularly concerning Ishmael and Hope, they were dragons and even without mentioning the fact that their nature was anything but calming especially to other beastly creatures even if suppressed to the absolute limit the possibility of one other little thing occurring could make this round possibly the only one with a real chance of elimination for them both most especially.
A blood feud, sometimes in it's natural most occurring state enough resentment and hatred could be imprinted deep into the physical body or mana and this could be passed down to future generations with even more freshened hatred and despite like the very day and moment your ancestor experienced that great emotion for the first time.
With more than a quarter of the available time spent already the rest hurriedly pushed themselves to go face the challenge head-on, Emrys along with the rest of his peers still hung back for a little longer. The longer they watched how the others tackled this round the grimmer things got, a good portion just stood there looking all prim and pretty like an auction item hoping to catch the attention of a bidder in the crowds, the very same strategy used for when gaining a familiar but there was a fatal difference.
Other than the fact that their objective was to capture and gain their favour they forgot the most very basic thing, these were infants. And just as they had expected most of the infants began moving away after seeing nothing of interest being displayed by the little beings who piqued their curiosity, some even got a bit fussy leading to the instant disqualifications of more contestants. But in the midst of all this a little miracle occurred, a few brave souls got the bright idea to try petting the infants and though they looked a little confused at first after a little bit they gave themselves into the gesture enjoying so much that some even rolled over on their backs.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Portals opened up right beside the contestants who managed to achieve the feat of gaining the world eaters favours, the infants even looked a bit saddened when they saw their favoured ones leaving and tried to leave along with them but sadly could not as they also were being called back to their original home and guardian.
Emrys and his peers felt numb for quite a bit, normally one would be happy to having discovered the answer to clearing a troubling challenge but this time they just felt so.......defeated. Having no choice but proceed with completing this round now that they had their answers they went forward and crossed the threshold, same as the others the infants immediately became alerted to their presence and came forward.
But unlike the others something different happened this time, when the infants approached they nudged themselves playfully against the fated ones even Ishmael and Hope, it was most surprising no doubt but soon they responded in kind with a gentle rub along their smooth bodies.
Soon after as expected the portals to return back opened up and the call back home for the infants began, they seemed saddened but unable to resist the process their bodies faded away from this space and with that they left through the portals also. Now back to the original space with just barely four minutes left on the clock they waited around in an odd sense of silence, somehow announcer saying nothing at all was more unnerving than not, the crowds silence further served to amplify this unease.
Time suddenly seemed much slower and dragged out than usual to the senses of most contestants here as they began silently wishing for this round to end faster so they could move on, counting every damning second that went down they waited with bated breaths until the moment of great relief. All contestants bar the disqualified ones were returned to this space looking down and defeated, time ran out and they could not complete the challenge so they knew what awaited them or so they thought.
"Congratulations, you have all passed".
The announcers words struck like a bolt causing great confusion amongst the contestants, even the fated ones showed a visibly strong reaction this time.
With a smile on his lips seeing their reactions he continued-
"I lied about a few things of which I will come to explain soon enough".
"The purpose of this round was not to cull you some more".
"But for those of you unfortunate to have achieved true disqualification within this round they might be already on their way home".
He shrugged nonchalantly-
"Oh well, I'd hope at this point a few of you should have gotten a rough idea about the purpose of this round".
"Most of you are geniuses, the uncontested best of your generations chosen from all around".
"But there is one thing that universally plagues everyone named a genius".
"The inability to physically and mentally familiarize yourselves with simplicity the further you grow".
"Take this round for example".
"Yes, it's big, it's scary and it can exterminate you all with a single breath".
"An all-round seemingly hopeless situation that we put you in setting everyone up for failure correct?"
"Yet in the end most of you failed to consider the simple idea that it was just a bigger, dumber, puppy".
"An infant".
"Millions of scenarios ran through your heads yet almost none of them were in consideration of something simple and basic".
"The more you look the less you see, forever an immortal phrase".
"Sometimes the answer to a most complicated problem is a very simple one".
He sighed "it's not fun being serious for once, better learn this lesson now else I might actually be mad you wasted this moment for nothing".
"Do you understand me?".
The eerie feeling in his gaze shook their souls to the core as they nod their heads eagerly, the announcer satisfied with their responses smiled as his happy spirit seemed to have returned once more.
"Good, now that we are done with the pleasantries–
"Fall".
Upon his command everyone exception found themselves unable to resist as they fell right through the arena and down into the 'Sea Of Life', but the body of water they found themselves in looked wildly different as was their position, in no time again they found themselves uncontrollably falling through that body of water and down from the skies like a meteor crashing down to the earth and it wasn't until the very last moment that control was restored to their bodies leaving them crashing hard to the floor except for a select few.
Upon regaining their bearings the contestants looked around to find themselves back in the arena of the host world now whole instead of two halves, the announcer popped up a moment later with a devilishly wide grin on his face.
"Ladies and gentlemen.....the hour has arrived".
"Now we commence the final round".
"ARE YOU REAAAAAADY!!!"
The crowd erupted in an uproar of earth shaking excitement, now was no longer the time for hiding and stalling, for team-ups and pointless time wasting, it was the time for true life and death hanging in the balance as each contestant puts their all on the line using every possible unfair advantages they had just to survive.
His blood crazed gaze was cast upon the contestants, there was madness in the air and it infected the eyes of everyone present, he could not help but break out in laughter feeling all the excitement rush up his veins.
"Only 652 contestants left now, perfect".
All contestants were immediately teleported to ocean's surface, to be more precise they were teleported to the different stages created atop the ocean with barriers created around each one, two contestants for every stage and each being a little over half the size of the arena. A moment later mini versions of the announcer appeared to the three hundred and twenty six stages bearing the contestants to make the rules clear, his face seemed to be completely serious and his eyes clear bearing nothing of the blood curling madness that had shone in then just moments ago.
"If you fall out of the barrier, you might die to whichever creature lays in wait".
"Though most of you will find it very difficult to break, it's not impossible".
"You are allowed to incapacitate or kill your opponents".
"Surrender shall only be allowed if shown to be completely unable to recover or fight".
"If you defeat an opponent you are allowed the option to try going for another so long as they too have defeated theirs and agree to your challenge".
"If both of these conditions are not present then you shall be teleported back to the arena".
"If also unable to receive an acceptance to your challenge after eight minutes then automatically you shall be returned".
"You are only allowed to challenge another contestant a number of two times".
"An hour is the limit of this round but it is also allowed to end in less".
"You may begin".
Having said all he had to the mini announcers all vanished as each contestant began sizing up their opponents, this time once again it was like a silent agreement had passed between the fated ones on how to approach this round.
'Savour it'.
Emrys studied his opponent in silence, the fear was palpable as was his resignation to what was to come.
"Red orcs have never been known for their fear, why tarnish that" he questioned.
His opponents grip on his war axe grew tighter but said nothing, a little smile found a way to his lips as Emrys felt himself amused and got a little idea.
"Allow me let you in on a little secret".
"Right now amongst the rest of my peers I am by far the weakest".
Emrys could see his will waver and a hint of hope taking root in those eyes as he absorbed the weight of his words, but as a final attempt to drive it in further leaving no room for escape-
"For this battle I shall use no magic against you, I swear it on my core".
Almost immediately a little inscription was written on the air before him marking the fact mana had sealed his promise and if he were to dare break it then the consequences could be fatal in ways he could not imagine, that was the power of a Mages vow.
As he has hoped that seemed to have sealed the deal, the red orc wield a battle axe in each hand and changed them against eachother three times activating a hidden rune which lit up and covered both axes in a blaze of blue flames.
He burst forward in a blue streak crouching low at the last moment to deliver a heavy chop at legs of Emrys or so he thought, having been too late to see it coming it hit him square in the face pushing him tens of meters backwards and had into the stage unable to move under the heavy stream of power blasting onto his face.
By the time Emrys had stopped a minute later more than half of his fleshhad been burnt off to the bone and and one eye a complete mess, yet to no one's surprise the red orc began regenerating everything in a matter of seconds thanks to the overwhelmingly robust vitality of his race on par with that of an ogre if not surpassing it.
His eyes held surprise at what he had just experienced, very nearly he had been on the cusp of cussing out Emrys for breaking his vow not to use magic but he felt it very clearly that the attack used on him contained not the slightest hint of mana.
"A little gift I obtained from my travel, it is incredibly weak on it's own but has quite the entertainment factor for annoyance".
"Though this surprises me as I expected no injuries granted to you by it, seems my body made some adjustments I wasn't aware of".
Emrys felt that he hadn't used that concentrated beam of pure heat to it's full potential yet which should make zero sense when considering he was back in his home realm which led him to the conclusion his body had truly mutated it into something entirely different breaking the original limit ceiling of this power.
'Interesting, will make sure to study this extensively after'.
A flash of blue shone in his eyes as he looked up at the last moment as the red orc swung his axe upwards aiming to lop his face clean off from underneath and Emrys levitated backwards at extreme speeds just in time to avoid the axe accompanied by a large arc of blue flames and a great burst of wind at the extreme force exerted by those powerful arms.
The orc gave no breathing space to him as he rushed forward once more this time stopping just a meter of him to stomp his feet hard onto the stage using the skill <
Emrys felt his body get assaulted by these terrible vibrations in the air which threatened to shatter his innardsand for a moment it almost made him lose control of the ongoing war in his body but he held steady and retaliated with another round of the concentrated beam but the orc raised an axe to block it entirely budging not the slightest bit this time.
With swift and nimble movements he stepped to the side of the beam and launched himself towards Emrys with a thundering roar but Emrys simply turned his head a bit to send the beam into his sides launching the orc away but he recovered quickly and threw an axe into the beam cutting straight through it without any resistance and Emrys levitated to the side to dodge the axe responding in kind with a stream of lightning that covered one half of the entire stage but it did nothing to the orc and just then Emrys noticed movement from behind.
He levitated higher to dodge the returning axe or so he thought but with a flick of the orcs index the axe followed his movements and impaled him straight in the chest. The orc noticed something was wrong as he felt the axe unable to move forward, a large gash was present showing his skin had been cut but his bones didn't budge in the slightest.
Emrys pushed the blade out easily and tossed it back towards the orc to took a look at his palm which was visibly burnt, the gash on his chest was healing as was his hand but the natural regeneration of his body was much slower this time. The axe was as he had expected infused with many things to counter specific situations and one of them included anti-regeneration magic, those flames had even attempted to burn the very mana out of his core and eat at his soul though failing terribly in the end.
The orc seemed to have come to an understanding that this level of power would not be anywhere near enough to defeat Emrys, he unleashed a wave of crimson mana blazing around him, the air shifted with the new intensity and danced wildly around him, the stage shook with an amazing intensity rivaling that of the <
The blazing mana seemed to settle bit by bit around the orcs body almost like a thin shield of mana specially crafted around his body, it extended to his battle axes and with a single clang a particular resonance was created strengthening and reinforcing the orc's physical parameters by six times what it was even with what such skillful control over mana already grants.
'Strong'.
That was the only word that had come to his mind feeling the current state of the orc, a strength which entirely dwarfed that of his in a normal state without doubt. Emrys felt no whistle, no disturbance, no blur and no flash, right beside him now was the orc swinging his axe right down towards his head with a force seemingly threatening to pull down the very heavens itself.
EnD.