Kai had lost his match and moved to the loser's bracket. Erina will move on and fight in the three-way semifinals where one of them would be eliminated and then move on to the finals.

How Erina defeated Kai was seen by everyone and all of the looks filled with awe given to him were changed completely. What happened during that match for her to suddenly initiate a kiss and him to surrender? Needless to say, everyone felt that the fight was unsatisfying. Many of them wanted to complain but in the end, the power Kai held wasn't something they could contend against.

When he arrived next to Yoko and the others, they were all giving him strange looks under their masks. Although they didn't know Kai could see under their masks, he didn't plan on telling them.

"Just to make things clear, there were no shady deals happening which caused me to admit defeat."

Arata, Date, Kei, and Yoko flinched prompting Kai to sigh. Iori was the only one present who didn't seem to be fazed.

"It isn't fair for me to fight Erina and hence we made a bet. If she manages to make me bleed even a little bit, then I'd surrender—"

Kai was about to continue but Yoko stopped him.

"And so, she kissed you and bit your lip."

She finished his sentence but he couldn't provide an answer. He opened his mouth to say something his defense but closed it when he couldn't say anything. Unless he told them that Erina caught him off guard by telling him she wanted a baby, then he couldn't.

They'd undoubtedly use that to laugh at him for the rest of his days. Even he thought it was pathetic of himself to let down his guard because of that.

Humanity's Last Hope?

If the people who called him that were to hear of the reason for his loss here, they'd probably be doubtful if he could really do it.

"Right, I've determined the people you all need to watch out for. Yoko and Iori only need to care about the one who will be exempted from the next round, he's definitely the ringleader."

Before, Kai reduced that the reason for the number of participants being reduced so much is because someone wanted to play with a different set of rules. When Arata, Date, and Kei were defeated by random participants, he could finally tell. There was a group of people here other than them that had the power of A-class.

"As for the rest, the three who defeated you and that frail-looking man are his conspirators."

In truth, Kai didn't need to warn them. It wasn't necessary for them to pass through the competition, they were just there to sweep through the contestants faster. Kai didn't want to spend such a long time for this tournament, he still had to go through two others and deal with Emi's matter.

"When it comes to them... don't hold back."

In response to his words, the four he called out had their fighting spirits raised.

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"HAAAAA!"

Arata took the claymore easily towering three meters—weighing more than a hundred kilograms supported by his back and swung it over his shoulder and made a battle cry.

His opponent was one of the people that Kai had told him to watch out for.

"[Strengthen: Arms]!"

Normally, Body Enhancement was spread all over the body with no uneven parts as that would be dangerous. Strengthen was a skill that Arata devised with the help of Kai. It was a skill that added on top of Body Enhancement making the selected body part even stronger.

To wield this massive claymore, Arata didn't need to use Strengthen as by using Body Enhancement to its fullest, he could lift more than eighty tons. But, it was different when using it for practical purposes. He still needed to exert some other movements of his body, he couldn't just focus on his arm when swinging the claymore.

Arata's arms bulged and blue veins popped out. It looked as if his arm size was twice that of before. The man who was his opponent quickly tried to retreat but even the wind from the swing was overwhelming. Not only was the man unable to balance himself—but he also needed to close his eyes for a split second.

During that time, Arata charged forward by using earth and slammed into the man with his body containing all of his power.

"Steel Body!"

Arata's body became larger. His muscles, tissues, tendons, all of them became tougher and firm. His skin was as hard as stone—just a little ways off from reaching the level of steel. His weight accompanied by the claymore was more than three hundred kilograms and the man he slammed into had his abdomen hit straight by Arata's head.

The man released his sword and his body was knocked back several meters.

Kai saw that scene and raised his brows from underneath the mask.

"I taught him Steel Body so he could take more attacks but I didn't think that he'd use it for something like that."

He's like a human torpedo.

Unfortunately, although a normal human would be out of commission after being hit by something like that, his opponent was also a fighter. Other than several coughs in quick succession, his opponent managed to stand up albeit with shaky legs.

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"You...! [Giant Wave]!"

The man leaped backward and a giant wave of water formed out of nowhere. He was at the center of the giant wave that towered over fifty meters and the tournament staff quickly created barriers to prevent the audience from getting hit.

In the face of that wave, Arata stood silently. It looked like he was frozen in fear but everyone could feel the fluctuations of mana around him, he was using something big.

"[Mountain's Base]!"

Rumbling sounds could be heard as Arata yelled out. The entire ground below him rose up to a height that even towered over the giant wave.

But, it wasn't just the stage that was shaking, even the entire arena was experiencing the tremor.

Other than a select few like Kai's group and the Blind Swordsman, everybody else was panicking.

The wave could do nothing more than to crash into the mountain and disperse. Arata sat on the edge calmly and began to speak.

"Kai told us that the natural law of elements, water wins against fire, fire to wind, wind to earth, earth to water, light to dark and vice versa was just an illusion. With enough fire, even water wouldn't be able to do anything before it evaporates.

"With enough wind, even fire would be blown out. If the earth is firm enough, the wind won't be able to pass. And, if there's enough water, even the earth would corrode. Unfortunately for you, there's still the matter of quantity."

Arata spoke slowly but clearly. His voice was amplified and his opponent could hear him.

"My friend told me to end this quick, so you're going to have to drop out now."

Arata moved towards the center of the base of the mountain he created using Flash Step and raised his claymore.

He stabbed it into the center and the entire arena trembled once more.

"[Mountain Sword]."

Although he only said two words, those words were terrifying beyond belief. What was a mountain? If he could use one—even the smallest one as a sword, what would he be capable of?

The mountain began to break apart and meld into the sword.

Arata's opponent roared hysterically and began charging out—firing magic along the way.

But, Arata's magic power as B-class was too weak to be able to do such a feat. The mountain stopped breaking apart after only a bit of it had done so and Arata ended up with a sword that towered over twenty-five meters.

He held it with both hands and he charged towards his opponent.

"HOOOOOOOOOH! [STRENGTHEN: ARMS]!"

Arata cried and swung his massive sword just when his opponent had reached the proper range. Before his opponent could move to dodge, Arata's arms bulged and the sword swung even faster to directly hit his opponent.

BOOM

With the giant sword made of earth, Arata's opponent was blown away and crashed into the wall. His figure couldn't even be seen anymore as he had pierced through completely.

"It's my win," Arata muttered and dropped down on one knee.

After the staff checked Arata's opponent, they gave a gesture to the announcer.

"Participant — wins!"

With that, Arata would be moving to the match tomorrow with eleven others and his opponent would drop out of the tournament.

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Inside a dimly lit room.

"You incompetents!"

A man with a rough face slammed down on the table in front of him and three of the four people in front of him twitched.

"The three of you have been eliminated before you even reached the quarterfinals! What the hell did you even participate for?!"

His gaze was sharp and blue veins appeared on his face in his anger. The only person who didn't react in the room was the frail-looking man.

"We're sorry, boss! We didn't know there'd be people of that level participating!"

One of the three being berated bowed down in front of the man with a rough face—the one they call boss.

"Boss, you can't really blame us! I was confident in my skills, I've scouted out most of the participants and dealt with who I can but those masked people just came out of nowhere! None of the info brokers I've asked know anything about them! Other than their genders and elements, we know nothing!"

The one who just spoke was Arata's opponent.

"I mean, did you see what he did to me? He slammed part of a f*cking mountain onto my chest! If I wasn't healed, I would've been bedridden for years!"

But, in response to his plea, the boss slapped him across the face and sent him tumbling off his seat.

"You could have f*cking dodged before he swung it! Don't make excuses you dipsh*t!"

The boss was trembling in anger as he looked at the last man who yelped in fear.

"And you, Johnson! You didn't even land a hit on the girl!"

Johnson who became the sole focus of anger looked like he was about to cry.

"I really couldn't do anything! She moved faster than I could turn my head! The next thing I saw after she disappeared was the ceiling of the infirmary!"

It was Yoko's opponent who became a target of practice for Yoko's innate ability.

"Now, now, Cole."

The frail-looking man stood up and addressed the leader.

"We can't really blame them. Besides, you only have to defeat one person in the semifinals and I'll fight you in the finals, isn't that fine? You only need to save your stamina and techniques for the final match after all."

Although Cole looked reluctant and even snorted, he sat back down in his seat.

Knock knock knock.

The sudden knocking caused the five men in the room to look at the door.

"You expecting someone?"

Cole asked the frail-looking man.

"...No."

On the normally nonchalant face of the frail-looking man, there was an expression of caution.

"Johnson, open the door."

Cole ordered Johnson who sighed and walked up to the door. He reached out for the handle and once he opened it, he was struck dumb staring at the person at the door.

"Acknowledgment. You are the people that my master has asked to find."

The angel who worked for the Soul Thief walked in and ignored Johnson who was still staring at her because of her beauty.

"Well, well..."

Cole inspected the angel from top to bottom and licked his lips.

"Missy, you know what's gonna happen if you walk into a place like this, right?"

Hearing his words, the three men began to chuckle. The frail-looking man kept his eyes glued on the angel and he was breathing heavily.

"Cole, I want her."

Cole turned around to look at the frail-looking man.

"You serious, Damon? I haven't had a girl this fine in months. The baron's daughter over at the next kingdom was a nice meal but this one is on another level."

It appeared that he didn't have any intentions of giving away the angel.

"I'll make it worth your while. I'm going to be receiving a shipment in a few days, I'll give you half of my profits."

Cole looked at Damon then turned his eyes towards his men who seemed to be crazed.

"Cut that down to thirty percent and you'll let us have this girl for the first day. We won't hurt her, we're just going to have a little fun."

He looked at Damon once more but found that his eyes widened.

"Impatience. You're all talking too much."

Cole turned around as fast as possible and saw his three men already on the ground.

"What?! You b*tch!"

Cole leaped forward but the angel only needed to wave her hand once and other than his head, he was encased in a crystal of clear ice.

"Calm. My master wants to strike a deal. You all have no chance of defeating the people in masks, he will provide you the power to defeat them and in exchange, you are to create a distraction on the day the tournament will end. He doesn't care about the means, whether you kidnap hostages or kill someone, he just needs you to keep everyone in the arena."

Cole trembled and looked at Damon but both of them were frozen—one being literally frozen.

"Confirmation. Deal?"