Raven
“Mwha, ha, ha.” Even out in the open space battlefield, where there was no air for sound to propagate, Raven could still hear his opponent’s deep voice laughing, Twilight Illusionist Ren Kimbal completely in control of their fight.
A master of stealth, illusion, energized metal, and telekinesis, the man was a middle-aged C rank under the Lord of Twilight Flame and, like Raven, he’d been seeded quite low for those who originally won their regional competitions, only 6,987th. Unlike Raven, however, he didn’t deserve such a low placing, obviously having held back in his previous fights.
For the first time since the start of the tournament, the Twilight Illusionist had shown just how overpowered his stealth skill was, Raven unable to find any clue of him anywhere on the battlefield. And, at the same time, he’d made the false bodies he was known for, and they were stronger than Raven had been led to believe, Raven unable to recognize them as fake bodies at all. Add onto this the nine false images he’d made of the three Empyrean grade flying swords he controlled, ones empowered by high grade Law Pupae of the lightning and metal elements, and, even while the man’s offensive might wasn’t as strong as Raven’s own, Raven couldn’t do a thing to him.
He just had to dodge both the real and many false flying weapons, and it didn’t take long until he messed up—the man’s constant deliberately evil sounding laughter not helping. A shock went through Raven’s body with just a nick of one of the Empyrean grade weapons and, as he was almost positive the man would kill him if he didn’t, he immediately surrendered, losing his first battle in the third round of the finals.
Still, as he flew back toward the compound Master Tedros had been given, where everyone from the Za-Lord’s Guard had gathered, he was feeling quite good.
The way the double elimination style tournament worked, every contestant’s seeding changed after every round, everyone with one loss lower in seeding than everyone with none. Then the first seed, judged by who’d shown the most power to the universe, would fight with the lowest seed, the second seed with the second lowest, and so on. Things would be shuffled slightly so the same contestants wouldn’t fight twice, but overall it was quite fair.
For the third round, there had been 7,035 contestants with no losses and 6,666 contestants with one, so Raven, with his low seed among those who hadn’t yet lost, had to fight against someone else who hadn’t lost as well. But, for the upcoming fourth round, there would be more contestants with one loss than with none, so Raven, with his high seed among those with one loss, would be fighting against another cultivator who’d lost once, and anyone who’d lost once was almost certainly without any unforeseen trump cards.
According to what their master had told him and the other three who’d been attached to the bloodtree, the otherverse lord would have the ability to help them reincarnate into new bodies of their choice so long as they made it to the fifth round of the Universal Tournament finals, and Raven at least had a good chance of achieving that goal.
Zev Ankur, the one-eye specializing in defense, hadn’t been able to make it out of his region of the tournament, so he would die as a C Rank, and Endless Will, the dwarf specializing in destruction, had lost in the second round to someone more balanced than himself and then in the third round to someone called Poison Master Oh Mega, so he wasn’t going to be able to live past C rank as well. Wen Alexis, however, the elf specializing in regeneration and originally the least combat capable of them all, had managed to win a close battle in the third round, so he was absolutely guaranteed to reincarnate.
He’d been lucky not to run into anyone hiding their power, the flame wielding warrior he’d fought at the end one of the youngest participants in the finals, but his biggest luck had been the artifacts the force had given him, a sword, shield, and armor that together used his power of regeneration to create a domain of death and destruction, the artifacts very similar to those wielded by one of the top seeds of the tournament, Death Destroyer Zora Fin.
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With the domain as his offense, and his naturally high defense and sustainability, he was one of the strongest from the Za-Lord’s Guard.
“Good job being quick to surrender, Raven.” Master Tedros nodded to Raven as he landed, preventing any of the others from teasing him about the same subject. “I would also have trouble with those illusions, yet alone anyone else among us, so it was a good idea to save your strength.”
Raven was about to respond, thanking Master Tedros, but, before he could, he noticed a shocked silence start from the western side of the compound and one of the C ranks who’d already lost quickly guided a man toward the center courtyard where Master Tedros and most of the rest of the members of the Za-Lord’s Guard were watching the fights up above, a humanoid man with dark skin, overly large multi-colored eyes, and multi-colored avian wings folded up behind his back.
“Y-your lordship.” Wen Alexis was the first to get on his knees and start kowtowing to the man, about half the others quickly having looks of realization cross their faces before doing the same, but most of the rest, even after realizing who the god was, first looked to Master Tedros, saw he was only bowing slightly to show respect, not subservience like the others, and followed his example.
“Lord Kemizle, what brings you to our humble abode?” Master Tedros smiled slightly as the next fight started in the arena above them, his aura somehow not shaking in the least.
“If your master is who I think he is, I was hoping to propose a trade.” Kavon Kemizle, the only child of the Lady of Laws, and one of the strongest gods in the universe known widely as the Law Master, smiled warmly.
“For experimental results of the Heavenly Spark version of the Twelve Element Primal Code?” Master Tedros sounded like he’d been expecting the Law Master’s arrival, and Raven felt his heart start to beat faster.
The Twelve Element Primal Code was reportedly the best cultivation technique in the entire universe, but it was too hard to cultivate to its full potential. Even the lesser version required equally raising a single Law from each of the twelve elements during every stage of cultivation, and the only known individual in the universe to have done so until C rank was the god in front of them, the only child of the technique’s creator. But even the Law Master, with all his talent, had abandoned the lesser version of the Twelve Element Primal Code at B rank, let alone the Heavenly Spark version which required three equal Laws of each element.
The Law Master, however, didn’t seem surprised at all at Master Tedros’s question, just continuing to smile in response. “Yes.”
“And what would you be willing to offer in exchange for such experimental results?” Elbeth Varina, a powerful one-eye member of the Za-Lord’s Guard—with pale yellow-tinted skin, long black hair, and one large eye which seemed to be almost all pupil—spoke up instead of Master Tedros, rubbing Raven the wrong way with her interjection even though she was probably the second or third strongest in their group.
“It depends on the results.” Different from how he looked at Master Tedros, the Law Master seemed to be examining Elbeth more closely, an expression of interest and enjoyment on his face.
“Cultivation up to at least the 12th level, with a core formed from an acupoint opening order specializing in the Soul stat and a self-invented skill.” Elbeth’s body shifted, her skin losing most of its color, her body becoming more feminine, and her single eye splitting into two, both with more normal pupils and blueish gray irises. Then, while Raven and every other member of the Za-Lord’s Guard other than Master Tedros looked on in shock, she turned to the east. “It seems we’ll have to delay the haggling for a little while, however. My nephew-in-law’s uncle seems to want to join the conversation.”
From the east, a powerful aura could be felt, one stronger than anything Raven had ever sensed, and another god arrived, completely bypassing the outer walls of the compound and any courtesy to land in the courtyard, Raven instantly recognizing the man as the Lord of Twilight Flame.
Again, however, Master Tedros didn’t seem at all surprised and the woman who’d seemingly been using a false identity in the Za-Lord’s Guard, somehow even fooling everyone into thinking she was a different species, appeared calm as well.
“Little Sunset, I see you’ve come to join in on our discussion.” The pretty woman smiled radiantly toward the Lord of Twilight Flame as, to Raven’s horror, she wrapped both her arms around one of the Law Master’s. “But you’re coming in a little too hot. You should instead try a slow and steady approach if you want to win a girl’s heart, like Mr. Kemizle here.”
She was for some reason deliberately trying to antagonize the Lord of Twilight Flame, one of their universe’s oldest and most famously vengeful gods, and, were Raven and most of the other members of the Za-Lord’s Guard not bound by a contract, they would have immediately fled.