Edi
“So, first, let me introduce Ms. Starflower,” the man centered in the giant illusion surrounding Edi and the C ranks trapped in cages in the valley, a human B rank with dark skin, shoulder-length silky black hair, and bright blue eyes, turned to look at the other individual sitting behind the large illusion of a marble desk, a human woman with fiery red hair, bright green eyes, and the type of figure which would make men stare. “An established host of auctions from around the universe, the breakout star of three of the five biggest hit dramas from the last 1,728 years, and the woman who managed to kick out Hellflame Heros, the original third seed of this instance of the Universal Tournament, during the regional competitions, albeit at the expense of exhausting herself and losing the next two rounds. She will be my co-host for this instance of the C rank Universal Tournament finals.”
“Thank you, Lord Astos.” Edi’s master, somehow having schemed her way into one of the most prestigious gigs for actors in the entire universe, bowed slightly to the trillions of audience members all over the Prime Material Universe—and other universes like the Heavenly Soul Universe where Edi was forcing the captured C ranks to watch the tournament using one of Lord Aalam’s Big Black Illusion Spheres. Then she bowed again to the B rank, a famous actor and host who’d MC’d the last 14 C rank Universal Tournaments. “And thank you for allowing one of my dreams to come true, being able to sit next to someone as accomplished as yourself on such a universal stage.”
Turning back to the audience, Edi’s master then smiled one of those charming and flirtatious smiles which in Edi’s experience usually meant someone was about to hate their life. “But enough with the formalities. Let’s give our viewers more information about this instance’s contestants.” She turned to the B rank. “Lord Astos, as someone with experience, have you noticed anything different about this Universal Tournament compared to the others you’ve seen?”
“Yes.” Astos ‘The Face’ Karidan nodded. “Several.
“First, the average age of the contestants, especially in the finals, is quite a bit lower than normal, around a twelfth of the contestants not even 6,912 yet, including five of the top sixteen seeds, incredibly young for a C rank. Even if they don’t last many rounds, just the fact they were able to make it to the Universal Tournament finals at such a young age means they’re almost certain to make it to B rank in the future.
“Stand outs include the top seed, Krysta La’Vordi, the Daughter of Space; the fifth seed, Daevic Stormborn, the Thunderstrike Prince; and the eighth seed, Carlo Man’Voria, the Yin Yang Blade. But, personally, I am most looking forward to the fifteenth seed, Tonya Cim, the Fist of Wrath. It’s just so satisfying to see someone use their bare hands in this type of contest.
“Is there anyone among the youngsters you find particularly impressive, Ms. Starflower?”
“The thirteenth seed, Orianthi Mic’Gin, the Wind Witch, is also particularly impressive.” Edi’s master nodded slightly, mentioning the longterm disguise of Earth’s Nitya Chakrabarti after her co-host had already mentioned the assumed identities of Earth’s Javier Garcia and Irena Krol. “Personally, however, I think everyone is underestimating the forty-third seed, Deimos Karan, the Slaughterer. If you go back and watch his fights in his regional competition, you’ll see the amount of control he had over his section is about the same as the second, third, and fourth seeds had over theirs.”
Astos turned to Edi’s master with a look of surprise, obviously thinking. “Yes, looking back on all the recordings I’ve watched, you make a good point. Despite not showing any obvious Law Scarabs, the System has granted the Slaughterer the forty-third seed, meaning this famous mercenary has been hiding a lot of his power, and, if this is the case, there might be things he hasn’t shown publicly even in life and death situations as well. There is a good chance he’ll give us all a rather big surprise.”
Astos nodded once and then looked back at the audience. “To explain, the seeding in the Universal Tournament is done by the System based on the combat ability the contestants have shown outside their own force, not everything the System knows, so training sessions and sparring within a force don’t have an effect, but external competitions, personal fights, and wars, even if there are no other survivors, do. As a result, the seeding is almost never fully accurate, and there are often cases of individuals who hide their power until the tournament and perform far better than their seeding would suggest.
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“The second big difference between this Universal Tournament and others I’ve announced, however, is how often the System’s seeding has been wrong.
“Of the original top 144 seeds, for example, only 76 have made it to the finals.
“Amalia Stormborn, one of the tournament’s nearly unprecedented three demigods, was schemed against by the current third seed, Devil Blade Vanar Tedros, before she even got a chance to go on stage, a redirected attack of one of her father’s own B rank subordinates hurting her to the point she couldn’t compete, causing her to lose her first two matches. The original second seed, Four Wing Avana Ri Amara, exhausted herself against a temporal mage who is now seeded 18,345th in the finals, and was then beaten by the Yin Yang Blade and the current 74th seed, another youngster, Death Destroyer Zora Fin, losing in the regionals. And, as we all know, when Ms. Starflower fought the original third seed, Hellflame Heros, she beat him so badly he was too exhausted in his next fight and lost to a wind warrior now seeded 16,396th.”
“Yes.” Edi’s master nodded, also looking toward the audience. “And I can already guess the third difference between this Universal Tournament and those in the past. It has to do with the quality of the contestants’ artifacts, correct?”
“Of course.” A look of excitement entered into Astos’s eyes. “In this tournament, among the members competing in the finals, there are more confirmed Empyrean grade artifacts than there are contestants, at least a fourth of the contestants having one, and there are many more Mythic and Fabled grade artifacts than usual as well.” He turned to look at Edi’s master. “Ms. Starflower, you probably know more about this than me, so why don’t you explain?”
Edi’s master bowed slightly to the B rank. “Gladly.” Then she turned back to the audience. “There are three main sources of this increase in artifact quality. First, and probably most important, is the repeated discoveries in the last several thousand years of the five Havadim Imperium caches found in the demiplanes between our universe and the one previously owned by the imperium. Contained inside were numerous D and C rank artifacts suitable for war, ranging from Heroic to Empyrean grade and, just among the C rank weapons and armor, there were 20,736 at Empyrean grade, most of which have ended up on the front lines of our universe’s wars against foreign invaders, many of the talented C ranks who got their hands on them then participating in this instance of the Universal Tournament. Second, there seems to be some new crafter capable of making specialized Empyrean grade artifacts, and they seem to enjoy drama. Including the Devil Blade whose family was murdered on the order of the highest level of the Thunderstrike Empire, Swift Sword Raven and the other three who were sold into slavery and fed to a bloodtree, and the Fist of Wrath whose daughter was molested and then murdered, many disadvantaged yet talented cultivators from around the universe have seen rapid growth in stats and Laws since their last public appearances and have been using this tournament, along with new Empyrean grade artifacts perfectly suited to their own fighting styles, to successfully gain their revenge on those who wronged them. Finally, third, there are the existing powers. Seeing how those usually disadvantaged in arms in the universal tournament have gotten better weapons and armor, the powerful forces of the universe have taken out the high grade C rank artifacts usually sitting in their vaults so their juniors can maintain their usual advantage.
“The artifacts I used to counter Heros’s hellfire, for example, were previously sitting in the vault of the Lord of Sand and Sun.”
“For the second item, who do you think is the creator of the artifacts?” Astos still looked excited, Edi guessing the emotion wasn’t faked.
“It’s hard to tell with most of those who gained his or her artifacts not talking, but there are some clues.” The projected illusion focused on six different people in the various compounds on the surface of the halo-shaped space station surrounding the stage—the Heavenly Scarab of Space and the Heavenly Scarab of Fire sitting next to each other near the Alchemist of the Deep Woods, Krysta La’Vordi’s father and uncle; the Lady of Hellwater, the Master of the Eternal Forge, and the Lord of Twilight Flame sitting together in a compound shared with the forces of the Thunderstrike Empire and other members of their faction, Daevic Stormborn’s uncles and aunt; and, finally, a humanoid man with dark skin, overly large multi-colored eyes, and multi-colored avian wings folded up behind his back sitting in a compound he shared with the two C ranks and the administrative leader of his own force, the Law Master, the only living child of the Lady of Laws. “The finals have barely started, yet already six gods have shown up, from all three major factions. Almost certainly they know more than we do, and it is likely they are here for more than just the two demigods competing in their first matches of the finals today.
“What they know, it is not our place to ask, but we can hope more will be revealed as the finals progress.”
“Speaking of the two demigods, however,”—The battlefield in the center of the halo ring moved into focus in the illusion as Astos spoke—“the first round is starting, first seed Krysta La’Vordi against 20,736th seed Iman Corio. Let’s watch and see if Mr. Corio is someone hiding his true power.”
The fight lasted for about two seconds, Krysta La’Vordi’s slicing her opponent into four pieces with an X-shaped double void slice and her opponent then immediately surrendering, moving out of the arena to allow his C rank vitality to quickly heal him.
“Well, I guess not.”