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Edited by: Watermelon

Chapter 19- …

Gerin has lost! I cannot believe that someone managed to defeat Gerin and what is more surprising is that Gerin lost the fight before I could finish my fight. Considering the fact that Gerin had learnt from his mistake which was to never to let his guard down or belittle his enemy, this opponent’s strength must have a quite a huge gap from him. I had better keep an eye on this guy as I am quite sure that I will be facing him in the finals if I win the next fight. Rudo, it is his name, currently at the level of 3 stars 9 stripes. That is pure madness. With such a huge realm of difference, I have to strategize for a way to win by looking at his fighting style hoping that I will manage to find some weak points of his.

First, I start off by looking into his profile. Raging Fire Tiger, it sure sounds powerful. Info time, Taratos! Raging Fire Tiger is the one and only tiger clan that has the innate berserk talent and at least moderate fire talent and above. The thing about the Raging Fire Tiger is that all of the tigers are low level or middle level divine beast. All of them are able  to train in the fire berserk arts. Fire berserk arts makes one’s dantian enlarge into the size of a tennis ball and turns it into a whirlpool. This will create a strong suction force to draw in the surrounding fire essence and chi. This allows them to momentarily boost their power and speed. All fire based techniques used during this time has a 50% increase in destructive power. What’s more is that they have unlimited supply in chi during that time. Of course, after that, they will suffer backlash from using the skill and the effects of backlash varies. People may ask why don’t people steal such arts and practice it. They can’t because only these tigers have the special bodies to practice it. Others, they just die upon practicing it. The other downside is that the time one is able to use the art also varies depending on luck and talent.

The semifinals start off with Rudo fighting another contestant. Rudo is pleased that I am acknowledging him as an opponent. Rudo uses a fire based techniques that I am unsure of. That fire’s ferocity and might is beyond the ferocity and might I can produce through Ionization Lightning  A huge movement is triggered. The fire essence element is siphoned at a crazy speed and gathered in one spot. The fire element essence forms a rod then a spearhead. As more and more fire element essence is drawn towards the spear, a whirlpool of fire element essence forms with the spear at the origin. The swirl provides a torque to the spear. The spear then starts to spin with much more speed. Obviously, at that time, Rudo’s opponent, Yoraz is not that stupid to allow Rudo to complete his attack and take on the damage. Or rather, if Yoraz wants to win, he has to deal a severe blow to Rudo to win. Yoraz gathers wind around him as he moves forward. If one is able to see it clearly, one can see the tiny wind blades forming around the claws. Yoraz then projects the tiny wind blades at Rudo in an attempt at causing Rudo to lose concentration. Sadly, Rudo’s body is fairly tougher than the wind blades. There are no cuts at all. Yoraz suddenly loses his will to fight back as it is almost a certainty that he will lose although he has not yet unleashed his ultimate attack. However, the same can be said for Rudo. Contemplating for a while, Yoraz opens his mouth and shoots out few balls of compressed air towards Rudo. Time is up. The charging is done. The spear is unleashed with its utmost power. The balls of compressed air are like ants compared to the spear in terms of might. The balls of air vanish upon contact with the spear. Yoraz takes a gulp of his saliva as he witnesses his attack that was powered by twenty percent of his chi being destroyed just like that. Rudo’s opponent immediately shouts out as loudly as possible, “I give up.” An elder than instantly appears in front of the spear. The elder then morphs into the form of human. Using his hand, he grabs onto the spearhead but the spearhead resists using its rotation. The elder than channels out his chi towards his hand giving his hand an extra boost in power, crushing the spearhead. The spear without the spearhead breaks apart and diffuses back to the surrounding as fire element essence.

Now it’s my show time. The opponent is just some pushover. The fight should have ended easily but this opponent of mine has seen all of my attacks. Thus, allowing him to have a general understanding of my fighting style. Draw too near, and my lightning pulse will do its trick. Too far, and I will use my Ionization Lightning and Ordinary flame to attack him. Suddenly, I can feel that the amount of water essence in the surroundings are waning while the ground is actually turning softer. It cannot be the dream of mine turning into a reality just that it is not Gerin. I start to panic at this turn of events. I could not allow myself to swallowed by his momentum. Earth Embrace! I start to move out of the puddle while trying to find some solid hard ground. At the moment that I managed to find one, the ground starts to turn softer. Thinking about it, the water essence waning is causing the ground to be softer. Therefore, why don’t I try to use Ordinary flame to counter it. I will my chi to coat my body and summon the Ordinary flame. The ground is starting to lose its water content. While I try to remove the water content in the ground, he is adding to it. It is like a push and pull with almost equal forces. All of sudden, I can feel a sudden rise in the removal of the water content. I have been duped by him. Quickly, I cut off the supply of my chi. Moisture around me starts to rise exponentially. Droplets and mist are forming. A doppelganger of my opponent is appearing. Using Earth Embrace, I dash to one of them and strike at one of them with Ionization Lightning. Unexpectedly, as the lightning hits onto him, there was no sound or indication that he was in pain. Just what is going on? I then feel a jerk from my leg areas. I then look at the at my hind legs as I then see water like vines coiling around my hind legs. I try to move but the water like vines are not letting me off the hook. I send out a burst of chi to my hind legs. The instantaneous burst of chi destroy the containment of the water-like vines. In order to win, I have to strike both of them at the same time but how?

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I summon out a sword. Biting the sword at the handle, I try to envision my mouth as my hand of my human form. With a swing of my head, I create a sharp blade of wind. At this moment, I shoot out an Ionization Lightning towards the other one. With sheer speed, both attacks manage to reach the both of them. At this moment, I can hear a groan of pain and the mist is dispersed. Now, I can see him bleeding. I release another swing and he quickly ducks down. Quickly without sparing any time, he surrenders. After all, the rewards for all the representatives are pretty much the same and the only difference is the fame gained. However, trading fame for death is not worth it.

After a short intermission of ten minutes, the finale that everyone is waiting for is here. Rudo and I stepped forward into the ring. MATCH STARTS IN 3, 2,     1! Both of us back off to the edge of the ring. I create two lightning pulses from two fingers. Rudo gives a cautious look as he does not know what my lightning pulse is able to do.

Rudo’s black pupil then turns red. His claws turn sharper and curves more forming a greater arc. His fur then stands up like a sharp porcupine. Rudo is activating the fire berserk arts. His speed is so fast that it is almost comparable to me using the Earth Embrace. As we draw near to each other, I notice a miniature spear dyed red in color in directly below his belly. As it is too late for me to dodge the attack, we can only trade blows. Stretching out my paws to reach out for him, I manage to shoot out one lightning pulse into Rudo’s body. Sadly in return, I have to sacrifice myself to take a hit by a flame spear. The spear grazes my shoulder but the damage is severe. The short time span of contact with the spear has unexpectedly managed to give quite a degree of burn to my shoulder but it is worth it. I shoot out an ionization lightning while Rudo shoots out another spear. It is probably because of his berserk state. Rudo does not seem to have any damage while I did suffer damage on one of my legs.

I am seriously angered but what can I do. I promised Grandpa Dugo not to use the Vermilion flame in a friendly match and not to use enchantments in the sect. The fight goes on with us trading attacks but the problem is that I am the one who is suffering the damage. Slowly, my mobility is dropping to a new low. With so many cuts here and there, I can feel that energy is seeping out of my body. Due to excessive blood loss, I collapse and Rudo is the winner. Rudo gives out a victorious roar. All I know is that I truly lost to Rudo. I learn the hard way is that one can truly never be at the peak as there will always be someone stronger that you. A few things that I had learnt through the hard way were that never show all your techniques, and that I should cultivate more diligently and learn another one or two techniques and master them.

Surprisingly, the one who gave me a lift to carry me down from the ring was Gerin. Gerin gives me a wide grin and then says some words that thoroughly rubs salt into my wounds,”Good, since I lost, you can never win as well.” Limping, Gerin drags me towards to my room. Our path is then obstructed by a tiger. He is standing with his back against the wall. Crossing his arms, he says, “I have business with Rancer. As for you, please get lost.”

Chapter 19- Never The Strongest