They continued watching the fights, but eventually, Sam started cultivating. Another hour passed that way, and when he opened his eyes, the tournament was almost over.

There were only a few hundred fighters left in the tournament at this point, and they were still nothing compared to them. The only person who Sam hadn’t seen fight yet was the blue skinned woman who he had noticed before the tournament started.

She was sitting on the other side of the arena, a look of smug confidence on her face. She must have battled during the period when Sam had cultivated. He had no idea what her powers were, but he knew that it would hardly make a difference.

As the last few battles commenced, Sam closed his eyes once more. He would open them when it was time to fight.

A slight flicker in the wind around him awakened him from his cultivation, and he opened his eyes, taking in the figure of one of the random fighters. He sighed. Yet another useless battle.

“I’ve seen enough of your tricks-” the other man began. Sam simply waved his hand. An immense amount of Dao energy swept across the ground, baking the sand into glass. That was beginning to become somewhat of a theme during this event. Before the fighter even had a chance to finish his sentence, he was sitting back in the stands, his lips still moving.

Sam had to chuckle at that one, although he was glad that he had been able to end the battle without bloodshed. It was a rarity in the world that he now lived in.

As he returned to his seat, he realized that the Overlord was gone, off fighting in the arena below. He raked his eyes across the ground, and spotted him facing off against one of the lava mages. It was the male member of the twins this time, and he seemed to be a bit less cocky in this battle than his sister had been. Unlike Sam, the Overlord had not been holding back. Every battle had resulted in a devastating defeat for his opponent, without fail.

They were speaking to one another, but Sam was unable to hear it over the din of battle, even with his immense sensory prowess. Instead, he simply watched as they faced off.

The Overlord began with a sudden burst of energy, red light flickering beneath his feet. He shot forwards like an arrow, but to his annoyance, the mage teleported out of the way. Rather than be stymied, the Overlord formed a slab of red energy in the air, and flipped, kicking off it. His momentum was preserved, and he buried his fist in the unsuspecting mage’s stomach, sending him flying backwards.

With a grimace, the man got to his feet, threads of fiery light orbiting his hands. He thrust them forwards and the threads began to coalesce into the concentric circles. One by one they lit up with a blinding glow, creating a small cannon out of lava. A shard of molten rock erupted from his hands. It was initially small, but every circle that it passed seemed to lend power and momentum to it at an exponential rate. It was similar to the concept of a railgun, which Sam only really knew from reading a lot of science fiction.

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The projectile had accelerated to near relativistic speeds by the time it had exited the cannon, and seemed too fast to dodge. Planes of scarlet energy began to form around the Overlord, the plates of energy overlapping into armor. However, they had only formed halfway by the time the strike hit.

The shields cracked and crumbled before the incoming blow, but they did serve to deflect it slightly. Rather than tearing through the Overlord’s entire body, it instead raked a line across his torso and left leg. Blood sprayed everywhere, but to an E Ranker, the injury was minor. The strips of flapping skin were already healing, even before he hit the ground.

The Overlord grinned, blood flecking his teeth. He seemed pleased. With a roar, he punched forwards, a beam of energy erupting from his fist. Unprepared for a ranged attack, the mage was too slow to dodge, and a chunk was taken out of his abdomen.

Unlike the Overlord, his healing rate was abysmal, and he fell, clutching his side. However, lava began to coalesce around him, forming the same golem-like armor suit that his twin had used against Sam. Unlike Sam though, the Overlord did not wait for the technique to be fully realized. He streaked forwards and buried his energy enhanced fist in the center of the forming armor. Cracks spread across the surface of the armor, and it came apart as the Overlord forced his own Dao energy into the weave of the construct.

He snapped his fingers, and the armor was blasted apart, revealing the cowering mage below. With a slight smile, the Overlord reared back and punched, his fist descending with the force of a nuclear bomb. Just before it hit, the mage was teleported away to safety.

The Overlord appeared next to Sam a second later, a smile crossing his face. Blood dripped down, but he ignored it as his wounds fully healed over. “That was more like it.”

“What are you, some sort of masochist?” Sam asked.

“No, I simply enjoy the thrill of victory more than I dislike the pain of it.”

“Fair enough.”

As the tournament came to a close, there were only a few dozen fighters left. Because of various factors, such as their scores or surrenders, they were all brought down to the arena floor as one. Either that, or it was part of the structure of the event.

Sam found himself facing a gauntlet of mediocrity, with the majority of his foes falling before him like wheat before a scythe. He knew that at the end, he would likely be facing the Overlord. He was looking forward to that fight.

Many of his opponents were wiser than their predecessors, and did not challenge him to the death. He banished them from the tournament with ease. Eventually, there were only five fighters left. Himself, the Overlord, the lava mage twins, and the blue skinned woman. They were what he assumed to be either the entirety of Challenge Mode, or a good fraction of it. There was a small pause before they engaged, as the lava mages tried to prepare more effectively for their battles.

Sam’s Dao began to flare in anticipation of the fight to come. All of the challengers had been healed by now. So far, Sam still had been unable to get a good idea of the nymph’s powers. It was finally time.