“You’ll be up against that chronomancer again in the next round,” Orodan said. “Have any strategies in mind?”

“I have something I’ve been thinking about, but I don’t know if it’ll work,” Mahari replied as she got up and made way for the fighters’ area. “I’m just happy to have gotten this far as a first year. Wish me luck.”

Orodan hummed in acknowledgement.

Mahari would be fighting Kastirya Asonueva, the same fourth year chronomancer who beat her in the qualifier matches at Bluefire.

The woman was formerly the second strongest student at Bluefire until Orodan’s inclusion in the rankings. She undoubtedly held some level of resentment towards Orodan due to losing out on having a preferred spot, but never approached him about the grievance.

Orodan wasn’t too sure just how Mahari was planning on fighting her.

Ordinarily, in battle people would wear anti-chronomancy items to circumvent the influence of the art. But in the tournament, no such items were allowed, and all enchantments and spatial rings were thoroughly inspected.

“Either way,” Orodan said as Mahari departed and the coast was clear. They were in a secluded part of the arena roof, overlooking the fights. “It will be an uphill battle for her. Chronomancers have quite an advantage in such a competition where people aren’t allowed to bring enchanted items or prepare warding countermeasures against them.”

His female book companion decided to pop out of his recovered spatial ring as he spoke.

“Chronomancy is strong, but it speaks to the deficiency of today’s youth that they need to rely upon enchanted items and wards to counter it,” she spoke. “Back in my day anyone worth their stock would have some basic levels in the art, solely to counter and make difficult a chronomancer’s attempts at manipulating time.”

“And let me guess, you were one of these haughty people?” Orodan asked, and the book arrogantly hummed in acknowledgement. “How come you talk so freely about chronomancy and not necromancy then?”

“That is… none of your concern,” she brushed off and Orodan let the matter go. “Besides, I didn’t take you for the type to hide behind ranks of shambling corpses.”

“You’re not wrong. In fact, it would almost be accurate to say that I despise necromancers and might just kill them on sight if they stepped out of line,” Orodan casually said, recalling how the undead Demonic Berserker had savaged him so long ago at the orders of a necromancer.

Strangely enough she didn’t react to his dislike one bit. Instead electing to remain silent.

After a while, the fight before Mahari’s began.

Orodan wisely chose to remain atop the edge of the open arena roof looking down at the fights. He was tired of the commentary team’s blabbering and wasn’t interested in appearing on the scrying eye feeds until his own fights.

The vengeful drow wielding dual daggers would be facing Claridin Rockwood.

Claridin was a mace and great shield wielding melee combat specialist who was essentially a juggernaut type. One who took blows and returned them twofold with his skill.

The drow on the other hand, who had a hateful attitude towards any dwarves he’d seen so far, was a nimble roguish type who was possessed of incredible speed.

Both combatants could jump a tier and were as strong as Masters despite being Elites.

From what he knew, the drow within the Dokuhan Mountains had been fighting a long war against the dwarves for a few years now, which they were losing. The dwarves and their Novarrian allies together were slowly oppressing and leading to the death of the dark elves as a nation.

The drow didn’t even have an academy of their own, and the few that managed to escape the underground stranglehold would often attend Goldleaf Academy in Eldiron.

Needless to say, dark elves despised dwarves. And there were also some tensions between the dwarves and the elves of Eldiron for their act of sheltering drow refugees.

This was to say, Orodan understood why this drow competitor had brutally eviscerated the two dwarves he’d been put up against. A part of him suspected the match ups were arranged just so he could do such a thing.

The match began, and the fight was decent enough to watch.

To the uninitiated it appeared that Claridin was the brave human warrior, holding the advantage and standing tall against the sneaky and agile dark elf. Forcing the dual dagger rogue to retreat time and time again.

But to Orodan’s quicker eyes and combat experience, it was apparent that the rogue was getting a read on Claridin’s patterns and defenses frighteningly quick.

Additionally, Claridin was unable to land any blows on his opponent and take advantage of his skill that allowed him to return blows with more power.

What was clear to Orodan from the start, soon became apparent to the rest of the crowd.

Claridin Rockwood was losing.

Two more minutes of combat passed, and the drow mercifully slashed the tendons of his opponents’ arms and finally held both daggers to his throat from behind.

The drow hadn’t offered such polite treatment to his dwarven opponents.

Claridin yielded.

“Winner! Jegdalo Mezzer has defeated Claridin Rockwood! What a display of agility and skill with those dual daggers!”

It was a rather decent fight in Orodan’s opinion.

Aside from the archer he spent his first set of loops dying against, Orodan didn’t recall facing many other agile types.

It wasn’t that he didn’t face them, but rather that he’d never encountered a roguish opponent who was faster and deadlier than him in melee. He might’ve encountered many rogues of House Argon at Eversong Plaza, but they all died to his blade without being able to show much of their sneaky skillset in the frontal melee exchanges he forced.

Anyhow, Mahari’s match was coming up next, and Orodan was curious to see how the girl dealt with the chronomancer who bested her prior.

Kastirya Asonueva and Mahari Ilya Vedharna both walked out to the arena floor.

Orodan’s friend had a serious look in her eyes, while the fourth year chronomancer from Bluefire simply had a cold and disdainful look in hers.

The battle started, and almost immediately Mahari launched an absolute torrent of speed cast spells. Although instead of various elements, they were all ice magic spells.

But Mahari had learned from her last defeat.

Each competitor was allowed up to five potions carried in a spatial ring during combat.

Thus, Mahari quickly drew and drank one of hers which completely topped her mana pool up.

A full mana pool made it much harder for a chronomancer to affect their target, as the energy cost of chronomancy increased proportionally to how much energy was being modified.

Furthermore, it seemed that Kastirya hadn’t yet mastered the deadly chronomancy technique of reverting beneficial effects upon opponents and stealing the mana difference like truly advanced chronomancers could.

But, while the chronomancer didn’t directly try affecting Mahari yet, she did erect a time barrier that simply froze all the ice spells Mahari sent, in place.

Finally, just as the chronomancer reverted the barrier to send the ice spells back in reverse towards their caster… Mahari’s quick reflexes caught on, and she acted.

A blistering hot wave of fire was sent towards the ice spells that were just being sent back.

The timing was perfect in Orodan’s opinion. Mahari really was a natural at combat.

Too soon and the firewave would also be stuck in the time barrier.

Too late and her own ice spells would’ve reached her.

But, as it was, the timing of the fire wave was perfect. It hit the ice, and the collision resulted in an obscuring cloud of steam around Kastirya.

Orodan didn’t have any sight or detection skills, so he was as in the dark about what was going on as most members of the audience were.

But soon, the mist cleared, and the audience began to gasp.

Mahari was engaged in combat with Kastirya…

…and beating her face in with her fists!

“Yes! That’s how you do it!” Orodan cheered. “Let her have a taste of those hands!”

The crowd began raucously cheering as well.

Mahari mentioned she had a Physical Fitness of 40, which was absurdly high for a mage and would be quite respectable for an Adept-level warrior.

So of course, she could easily beat up a fourth year chronomancer once the distance was closed and they were in melee.

Hells, her opponent likely wasn’t expecting it at all! And as a young mage Kastirya likely didn’t spend time honing her ability to tolerate pain and keep fighting through taking damage.

Getting punched senseless by someone spelled doom for the chronomancer.

Kastirya’s face was bloodied by the punches of someone with 40 Physical Fitness, and soon the healers had to pull Mahari off.

“Winner! Mahari Ilya Vedharna defeats Kastirya Asonueva! I haven’t seen a mage pull a win like that in years!”

Quite the fight!

Mahari looked ecstatic herself and immediately looked to where her brother was sitting in the stands, and then looked to Orodan’s position atop the arena roof and waved happily.

Orodan smiled and pumped his clenched fist in the air in celebration of her victory.

Mahari, just by winning her match in this round of sixteen, would undoubtedly receive accolades and great regard among House Vedharna. Her complaint of being looked down upon by her house, wouldn’t be a concern any longer.

For a first year to make it to the round of sixteen in the Inter-Academy Tournament, was quite prodigious!

Orodan had thought to perhaps find some way to help her across the loops… but she had just gone and solved her problem by herself.

Truly, the girl did worry and stress too much.

The competition began to get fiercer by this point, as anyone who made it to the round of sixteen had a decent level of talent and was capable of jumping at least a tier.

Merely talented and strong Elites were the chaff that had been weeded out in the first two rounds of competition.

Every contestant from the lower brackets now was someone who could jump a tier to fight at the Master-level.

These contestants were the cream of the crop in their respective nations.

Any one of them held an incredibly bright future just by making it to the round of sixteen.

There would be offers of becoming the direct disciple of a Grandmaster, recruitment attempts by their nation’s military and even politically advantageous marriage offers waiting for them at home if they weren’t promised already.

Some might even be approached by other nations in shameless poaching attempts! Nations were always on the lookout for talents. Even better if they could be poached from under the noses of their rivals.

The next six fights were thus riveting affairs that had people sitting on the edge of their seats.

The heavily armored dwarven woman wielding a repeating rifle was a true force to be reckoned with. The gun spat out bullets with incredible speed, and what mystified her halberd wielding opponent was that certain sets of shots would come out at regular speed and be non-magical. But then for a split second, an overwhelming blitz of magical bullets would spew out.

Combined with a high-level marksmanship skill which saw her reacting and adjusting her aim minutely to the movements of her foe, the dwarf utterly overwhelmed her opponent. It was a display of magical and firearms expertise which had Orodan reevaluating the threat level of these dwarven weapons.

Needless to say, the repeating rifle wielding dwarf won.

One contestant Orodan had overlooked thus far, was a diminutive halfling who hadn’t looked very strained during his fights.

He was up against possibly the strongest shield user of the lower brackets that Orodan had seen, a gigantic great shield and halberd wielding warrior that would make Claridin look like a little boy.

But it mattered not to the halfling. Once the fight started, he got serious for the first time.

This halfling… was a true talent!

He wasn’t a reincarnator nor did he call upon divine assistance, but fought like a rabid berserker, nonetheless. He could jump a tier to fight at the Master-level, but unlike most students he’d seen, this halfling fought close to the peak of the Master-level.

He was probably the most prodigious young student Orodan had seen. And this was probably the strongest someone could get at a young age without being a many millennia old fogey reincarnated into a new body or using Avatar powers. Or being in a time loop.

The halfling comically grappled and delivered a bloody beatdown upon his much larger opponent. The great shield warrior quickly yielded in pure terror and fear of the unarmed wrestler’s rage.

The next three fights were more closely fought, and Orodan suspected neither of the winners would last against their respective preferred spot opponent in the next round.

The last fight though, was interesting.

Orodan had seen spirit mages on the northern continent, but to see one here on Inuan was a rarity.

The boy was a youthful looking first year from Rubywater and had a calm and gentle disposition.

The multiple raging spirits he summoned unto the arena were anything but.

Fire, water and lightning elementals of the Elite-level flooded the battleground and the boy’s opponent, an elf who could summon spectral wings to fly… was made to look like a conjurer of party tricks.

What use was the ability to fly when seven powerful Elite-level elemental spirits were hounding you in the air?

The elf must’ve been a powerful elemental mage, but each elemental attack of his was easily absorbed by the corresponding spirit. They worked shockingly well together, and Orodan felt that mages relying on elemental attacks would face a nightmare trying to fight this young spirit mage.

Thus, the round of sixteen came to an end. The winners who Orodan felt had the highest chance against the preferred spot holders, were Mahari, the dual dagger wielding drow, the repeater rifle dwarf, the halfling and the spirit mage.

The other three winners hadn’t shown anything too impressive and would likely get knocked out.

Finally, then, it was time for the eliminator round.

But before that, the contest which would eliminate two of the ten preferred spot holders.

It was time for Orodan to fight.

***

“We’ve had some incredible fights thus far, but now before the eliminator round it’s time to play the surprise game to determine which two preferred spot holders will get knocked out of the tournament entirely!”

There were five academies participating in this tournament. Which of course meant that there were ten preferred spot holders versus the eight underdogs from the lower brackets.

This led to an imbalance that had to be corrected, and each year the organizers enjoyed coming up with surprise contests to eliminate the weakest two preferred spot holders.

Having a preferred spot could be considered an advantage, but it could also be a detriment in this way. One would have to compete against the other nine preferred spot competitors and hope not to place in the bottom two of the challenge.

And the other nine were all the best of the best in their respective academies.

Holding such a prestigious position and then being humiliated by placing in the bottom two was a real risk a preferred spot holder faced.

It was akin to saying their academy had chosen poorly.

Two people from the preferred ten were going to be knocked out, and the public loved watching the spectacle of it.

They were close enough to the commentary team that Orodan could hear the outrageous and insulting blabber of Oratius Mendax about it.

“Just which one of these arrogant young brats will be humiliated today?! I know I’ve said some constructive comments regarding the underdogs, but at least they had the work ethic and humility to come up from the bottom! The two weakest coddled elites among these ten are truly worthless characters!”

“But Oratius! Surely these ten wouldn’t have preferred spots without reason?! How can you say such a brash thing?!”

“Bah! I bet at least some of these preferred spot holders used nepotism and connections to secure the spot! How can their lazy attitude compare to the hard work of those from the lower brackets?!”

And so, the commentary went.

Outrageous, and utterly insulting. But it generated plenty of drama and interest, especially when paired with a high-level Storytelling skill.

Who knew? Maybe someone among the preferred spot holders really was only there through nepotism.

Not to say that they were entirely untalented, but every tournament to date had at least one underdog beat a preferred spot holder. So, the rankings in an academy weren’t necessarily accurate.

At Bluefire, the rankings were determined by the headmasters and official spars between students.

Orodan was just so monstrously strong that nobody had dared to challenge him. Not after he had trounced Claridin so easily, but especially not since his venture into the energy well which made him truly famous this loop.

What really complicated matters for the weaker ones among the preferred spot holders, was the fact that this year’s tournament had some freakishly powerful competitors.

Four people who could jump two tiers to fight at the Grandmaster level.

Akelrim Vedharna, whose secrets were the subject of wild speculation.

Vespidia Aulmalexis who was a reincarnator, but one whose original identity wasn’t known. The Cathedral had attempted time and again to divine who she was in her original life, but to no avail.

Othorion Evertree, the elven prodigy who by himself could only jump one tier to the Master-level but could call upon divine assistance and freely enter Avatar form. Something which would make him more powerful than even a dual-Grandmaster.

And of course, Orodan Wainwright himself, who was suspected to also be capable of calling upon Avatar powers. Who too could fight at the level of a Grandmaster.

Not that Orodan bothered to correct the false assumption much. He admittedly did look rather similar to someone hosting a God within them when Eternal Soul Reactor was truly ramped up.

But all this was to say: the weaker competitors who held preferred spots faced some very stiff competition.

Orodan had his own aims in this game either way, and from the looks Vespidia and Akelrim had, they too were looking to be competitive.

“For this year’s random game, we shall be playing… the Divine Tower Ascension!”

The crowd erupted into raucous cheers and were incredibly excited.

A big part of the Inter-Academy Tournament’s draw was this one random game they hosted each year to eliminate two of the bottom performers among the preferred competitors.

This year, it would be the Divine Tower Ascension. Orodan had no idea what it was, as while he read a lot of books and could be said to have an education by now… he still hadn’t bothered to read about the history of the Inter-Academy Tournament.

“The Divine Tower Ascension! Such a contest both encourages teamwork while also incentivizing strategic skullduggery to bully the weaker competitors! Can some of these spoiled children hope to withstand the savagery of the tower’s denizens? Will they beg the stronger contestants to carry them through?!”

“I would normally say you’re speaking flippantly, but even I’m excited to see how far the weaker competitors will negotiate to be carried farther up the tower!”

“You call it negotiating, I call it grovelling! Who wants to bear the shame of being among the two weakest preferred spot holders?!”

The rules were explained to the contestants.

The Divine Tower Ascension was a contest where aspirants would be tasked with going up a hundred floor tall imposing tower filled with traps and deadly guardians. Points were gained through solving puzzles, collecting treasures and defeating the monstrous guardians at the end of each floor.

The aspect of puzzle solving, and loot collection also opened up an avenue for the weaker combatants to gain some points. One got points from solving the puzzle, and from collecting the loot.

But weaker competitors would also face the issue of not being able to ascend floors if they couldn’t defeat the guardians. Thus, an interesting mechanic existed where if someone else defeated a guardian, the door to the next floor would remain open for one minute before it closed, and a new guardian was created once more.

This encouraged the negotiations and grovelling that the commentators spoke of.

It was common for weaker competitors to beg stronger ones to allow them to tag along in the tower.

Such as what one student next to him was undoubtedly considering doing.

“Mister Wainwright… we’re from the same academy but I don’t think we’ve met as of yet. Uxidar Marfegan, at your service,” the man introduced. “I admit you’ve quite overshadowed everyone else at Bluefire with your accolades, but I’m one of the other preferred spot holders alongside you. Perhaps we could work together? If you allowed me time to solve some of the puzzles and let me to accompany you as you pass through the gates… I am happy to give you the treasures I acquire from solving the puzzles.”

The man was essentially offering to give Orodan the spoils of solved puzzles in return for being ferried along to the next floors.

But this… was not Orodan’s way.

“I apologize, but I have my own aims in this game. I want to see just how fast I can reach the top of this tower,” Orodan bluntly replied, shutting the man down. “Besides, if you’re strong enough I’m certain you’ll pass.”

Uxidar’s face fell, and he didn’t broach the topic any further after that.

Of course, while there were no points to be acquired from simply making it to the next floor, one could still hide near the guardian, wait for it to be slain and then quickly go through in the ensuing minute before the gate closed and a new one appeared.

Weaker competitors could attempt to try their luck at the various puzzles on each floor this way. This method of piggybacking allowed for the weak to ascend and try the puzzles of higher floors instead of simply remaining on the floor whose guardian they couldn’t defeat.

Violence between competitors in this game was strictly prohibited, and the tower was monitored at all times by Grandmasters to ensure this. Bullying people for treasures was therefore prohibited, but voluntarily trading them in exchange for passage, wasn’t.

Soon, the competitors were taken via teleporter to the site of a hundred storey tall tower.

The tower was a hundred floors, but incredibly wide. Orodan wouldn’t be surprised if the floors were like labyrinths and had traps and dead ends.

The ten competitors were gathered upon the open space in front of the tower.

“What’re you aiming for in this game? I didn’t miss the look upon your face,” Vespidia spoke. “It was almost excited.”

“I want to test just how fast I can reach the hundredth floor,” Orodan answered.

“Wait… but what about the points?” she asked. “You’d be missing out on so much if you just tried blitzing each floor’s guardian.”

“I know,” Orodan answered. “And I don’t care.”

“But… that would-”

“And begin!”

Eternal Soul Reactor churned, Death Rage activated, and he pushed his own life force just low enough to activate Dying Struggle.

The boost to his body and abilities was profound, and without further ado he reached the guardian of the tower’s entrance in an instant via Flash Strike.

The poor metal construct didn’t react, because it couldn’t. So monstrously fast was Orodan.

He flew right through it with his attack, and the doors to the tower utterly exploded from his collision with them.

There was no time to waste, no treasures to acquire and no stupid puzzles to solve.

Orodan Wainwright had one goal…

…to speedrun to the top of this tower as fast as possible while slaughtering anything that got in his way.

Who had the time to slowly go through some dusty tower? What was this? Some sort of tower climbing game?

Behind him, he vaguely caught the last glimpse of the other participants before he began his mad dash upwards.

Vespidia looked shocked by his raw speed.

Orodan had no doubt that the Novarrian reincarnator was incredibly fast, but he held full confidence that his top speed exceeded hers in a straight line. Who cared if she was some millennia old Grandmaster born anew? Orodan’s raw strength and Physical Fitness exceeded hers all the same.

Akelrim was actually the second person to react, and immediately set off after Orodan. The prodigy from Rubywater didn’t want to be outdone, and to the man’s credit he was slower but still keeping pace.

A preferred spot holder that Orodan hadn’t heard of prior, was just behind Akelrim. A dwarf wearing what looked to be some kind of glowing mechanical armor which gave him strength beyond his regular body.

The dwarves and their inventions were truly strange.

Othorion reacted alongside everyone else and set off at a normal pace. Despite only being as strong as the weaker competitors, the elf held a strange confidence that wasn’t shaken.

Everyone else was quite shocked and an immediate scramble began.

The weaker competitors all furiously rushed to follow Orodan.

Orodan’s first obstacle, was the fact that there were walls. Plenty of them.

The floors were rather labyrinthine as he suspected.

But what were walls to a battering ram like Orodan Wainwright?

Breaking walls with his own head was something he had been doing since loop number one.

An All-Strike completely disintegrated the first wall and two more behind that.

They were meant to take the attacks of Grandmaster-level combatants. It would normally be sufficient for a tournament of this level.

But against Orodan’s full power attacks which could make a triple-Grandmaster serious? The walls were but rubble.

His Pathfinding skill wasn’t as useful in such a situation, so for the purposes of exploration and finding where the gate was… Orodan used his action increases in a unique way.

Three copies of him executed All-Strikes in three different directions, and then three copies executed Flash Strikes in the directions of the now broken walls.

His main body kept going straight, but this way he explored in three different directions while progressing forward.

Just like that he had changed the entire dynamic of this game.

What was meant to be a slightly slower paced delve where contestants explored and solved puzzles while collecting treasures, now became a mad scramble for the gate to the next floor.

Orodan had left the regular competition in the dust.

The thunderous footfalls of Akelrim Vedharna a hundred meters behind him were the only thing he heard currently.

Thankfully, the gate to the next floor was structurally placed at the end, in the same direction as the entrance he had demolished. So, all Orodan would have to do… was keep destroying walls and traps in a straight line from wherever he entered a floor.

The guardian leading to the second floor was a golem made of Dothril.

It too was utterly scrapped as Orodan flew right through it with ferocity.

The guardians of the lower floors were mere Elites. Nothing before the current might of Orodan.

Traps were summarily ignored and charged through. Puzzles which happened to be in his way were smashed to smithereens, and any treasures were simply thrown to the side or outright trampled by his powerful footfalls as he ran like a juggernaut.

Who cared about the silly points? Orodan just wanted to get to the top and smash every single thing in the way.

Fifty more floors were annihilated before Akelrim Vedharna finally caught up to him.

It was during his mauling of the first Master-level guardian - a centipede blocking the way to the fifty-first floor - that the prodigious swordsman from Rubywater made his presence known.

Strange and ethereal sword light shot out of the man’s profound blade and contributed to Orodan’s battle.

“Good! Good! You have ignited my thirst for battle, warrior! Your body arts are profound! You are like a raging bull demon! Now witness my sword!” Akelrim shouted as the man dared to interfere in Orodan’s fight.

And what the hells was a bull demon?

In response, Orodan only got annoyed and immediately used Vitality Black Hole to rip all the life right out of the Master-level guardian.

It was his kill and Orodan would be damned if Akelrim stole it.

The centipede died and the gate to the next floor opened.

Orodan put on a burst of speed once more by churning Eternal Soul Reactor harder and outpaced the preferred competitor from Rubywater again.

Behind Akelrim, was the dwarf wearing the empowered armor. The dwarven competitor had cut loose and now activated the full power of the armor in a move that made him slightly faster than even the prodigious swordsman from the east.

But Orodan didn’t stick around to see all that.

He simply continued plowing forward and almost instantaneously killed whatever Master-level guardians were in his way through the usage of Vitality Black Hole and Vitality Destruction in his attacks.

The monsters were quite strong, but those two skills of his were well suited to slaughtering beings with a high level of vitality.

The destruction and mad speedrun continued until the eightieth floor, where Orodan encountered a Grandmaster monster guarding the entrance for the first time. A hundred headed hydra.

For a Grandmaster monster, it meant it was at least as powerful as a dual-Grandmaster human. And unlike the one he fought in the Sea of Uxumar long ago, this one could grow new heads as soon as one was cut off. Its vitality was tremendous, and it would take Orodan at least half a minute to kill it.

Who even provided these creatures for the tower?

Orodan actually had to begin working at full power to kill it, and his rapid progress was finally slowed for the first time.

Which only meant that he could now unleash the rest of his arsenal.

Quadrupled Draconic Fireballs began flying towards the monstrous hydra. Cataclysmic explosions rang out on the floor and Orodan combined all this with Endless Blitz, All-Strikes and Vitality Black Hole. Within thirty seconds it was on the verge of dying when the dwarf finally caught up.

Furious blue flames of pure mana were expelled from the joints of the dwarf’s armor as the greataxe he swung was sped up to land harder.

The dwarf’s very armor gave him a boost to attacks and the weapon bit decently into the hydra’s flesh.

But Orodan wasn’t pleased at the interruption.

“Must you come in and steal my kill?” Orodan asked as he put another of its heads in a headlock and pummelled it.

“Yer’ being entirely too greedy tall-legs! Leave some for the rest of us!”

“No! Bugger off and let me have my kill,” Orodan replied as he continued slaughtering the hydra. “You’re not even contributing much!”

As Orodan slew the Grandmaster hydra, another voice rang out as it caught up thanks to the delay.

“Orodan Wainwright! By rushing ahead, you refuse to give me even the slightest bit of face!” Akelrim Vedharna roared as multiple swords above his head coalesced into some kind of pattern and fired a deadly looking beam towards the remains of the monster.

Orodan had never seen such a weird skill before. Was it perhaps magical?

Nonetheless, Orodan simply dashed onwards and refused to entertain the slightest notion of working together.

All the kills would be his!

Many more Grandmaster monsters were slain by his blade as he ascended the final floors.

The dwarf’s greataxe was middling, and the powered armor he wore could maybe allow him to fight at the peak of the Master-level, but the greataxe wielder was clearly outclassed. And finally, the dwarf was forced to stop one more floor after the hydra when he realized that his contributions weren’t cutting it at the Grandmaster level.

The dwarf’s travel speed with the armor was impressive, but he was still an Elite who could only jump one tier to fight at the Master-level.

But Orodan had to admit, Akelrim contributed decently enough, albeit not as much as himself.

Akelrim’s floating swords were arranged in a strange pattern, and the man fired deadly beams of energy from the center of the formation. Orodan was certain the beams weren’t composed of mana at the very least.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Furthermore, he even saw the man standing atop one of the swords for a very brief instant as it flew about.

It was one of the strangest methods of travel Orodan had ever seen.

Still, Akelrim somehow managed to keep pace with him. Even if Orodan was doing the overwhelming majority of the work.

Orodan could kill these Grandmaster guardians by himself. But he wasn’t sure if Akelrim could do the same against some of the stronger ones.

Finally, they reached the guardian of the hundredth floor.

Orodan had never seen something like it before.

Fifteen feet of vicious and deadly muscle. Pitch black skin that was unnatural in its darkness. Deep ruby red eyes which if looked at, caused a feeling of slight assault upon Orodan’s soul. And a set of six regal and terrifying horns protruding from its head that would make a Demonic Berserker look like a peasant.

He recalled the description from Monster Studies and World History but needed to confirm.

Thus, he consequently used Observe on it.

[Name: Naamaraz, Warden Of The Ninth Hell (Species: Arch-Devil)

Title 1: Claw Combat Grandmaster

Title 2: Combat Master

Title 3: Physical Master

Title 4: Grandmaster Slayer

Title 5: World Conqueror]

World Conqueror?

It was an Arch-Devil.

An unfathomable existence. How the hells had they acquired one when the last great invasion of the hells was five-thousand years ago and led to all known Arch-Devils being slain?

If there was a species that was beyond even dragons in the matter of being an apex being… Arch-Devils qualified. They were monstrously strong, had talent that surpassed mortals and had energy generation capabilities that rivalled dragons.

In fact, the last invasion of the hells required multiple Avatars, dragons, and Grandmasters of all races venturing forth to put down the incredibly powerful and apex race that was the Arch-Devils.

But historically, a Warden of Hell was among the lower ranks of the Arch-Devils, being a mere single-Grandmaster. How strong would a general or a king be?

Was it perhaps a prisoner of the tower? What even was this place?

Despite being a single-Grandmaster, this Arch-Devil could likely fight at least two tiers above its own. Its physical ability was legendary, and its rage was unfathomable. It was closer to the strength of a triple-Grandmaster mortal, much like the Death Roach he fought.

Orodan’s face…

…had a manic grin of ecstasy upon it!

Finally, his first real challenge in this tournament!

“Wait… do not approach that thing lightly unless you wish to court death!”

Needless to say, Akelrim’s warning was not heeded, and Orodan’s Flash Strike brought him into immediate melee combat range against this frightening dimensional invader.

What other mortal could hope to jump two tiers himself against a mythical existence that could do the same?

Orodan wasn’t just jumping two tiers to fight a regular Grandmaster. He was essentially jumping two tiers and then some to fight something that was effectively as strong as a triple-Grandmaster mortal.

The first exchange hammered into Orodan the reminder that not all species were equal. Fighting a human Grandmaster was not the same as fighting an Arch-Devil Grandmaster.

His body was eviscerated horribly and the alarms around the chamber immediately went off.

The Divine Tower Ascension event had safeguards to prevent the deaths of competitors. One of these things was the alarm system in place to teleport healers and chronomancers inside to immediately reverse fatal incidents.

These were usually sustained by competitors attempting to fight something far beyond their level of strength.

Like Orodan was currently doing.

Healers and chronomancers immediately appeared, but Orodan waved them off as he’d already reformed thanks to Harmony of Vitality.

[Harmony of Vitality 70 → Harmony of Vitality 71]

The power of his opponent meant that the skill level gains were excellent too.

“I apologize if the alarm goes off, but I’m fine!” Orodan roared in-between being eviscerated.

It was like fighting a triple-Grandmaster human. The dual-Grandmaster Death Roach he fought was powerful. But this Arch-Devil, despite being only a single-Grandmaster, was just as strong!

Maybe even slightly stronger.

His weapons had been entirely shattered and torn to smithereens in just the one exchange of combat they had. Weapon Aura, even powered by Draconic Mana Channelling wasn’t enough to maintain the integrity of his sword and shield against such a powerful foe.

Eldritch Avatar and True Vampire aside, this was the strongest monster Orodan had ever faced down.

But… who was Orodan Wainwright?

To stand against impossible odds was his nature.

His very spirit demanded he stand tall and face this monstrous foe blow for blow.

The warrior within would accept nothing less.

Every single empowerment skill was activated to the limit, and Endless Blitz was combined with All-Strikes for Orodan to meet the Arch-Devil in a deadly melee of warriors.

He fought it toe to toe.

[Unarmed Combat Mastery 83 → Unarmed Combat Mastery 84]

And while he was utterly mauled and eviscerated beyond belief, he stood his ground and reformed.

He survived.

Much to the shock and awe of the tournament’s staff of healers and chronomancers who had retreated a fair distance away but were still monitoring the battle.

But most importantly, the more he survived… the worse it was for the Arch-Devil.

The apex being was quickly learning that brutally eviscerating Orodan Wainwright was a poor idea when Warrior’s Reciprocity returned the damage more than twofold.

Unlike a lot of his foes who would speak and express their outrage and disbelief at his survivability, the Arch-Devil elected not to talk whatsoever.

Its face was devoid of emotions altogether. Whether it was a trait of Arch-Devils in general or the quirk of this particular one, Orodan didn’t know.

But one emotion it did have, was rage.

It wasn’t the hot and angry berserk state many of his other opponents had been in, but a cold and almost methodical rage that was channelled masterfully.

It was skilled too, given its Combat Master title.

The combination of being overpowered and outmatched in skill alongside its cold rage was utterly overwhelming.

He lost each and every exchange of blows…but it also made the fire of his own Death Rage burn hotter.

[Death Rage 82 → Death Rage 83]

Who in the hells was this Arch-Devil, to bully him in melee like this?

Each and every movement of his muscles was forced to be efficient simply to avoid complete evisceration by the narrowest of margins. The sheer strain his body was under while fighting such a qualitatively superior opponent, lead to improvements.

[Physical Fitness 82 → Physical Fitness 83]

[Combat Mastery 80 → Combat Mastery 81]

And most importantly, his Eternal Soul Reactor was forced to become efficient at such a high level of combat where he couldn’t just cheaply rely on Harmony of Vitality. Unassailable Fortress only barely allowed him to survive as well.

[Eternal Soul Reactor 80 → Eternal Soul Reactor 81]

As for why he couldn’t just rely on Harmony of Vitality to reform him from a puddle? It was due to the contributions of Akelrim Vedharna who was launching tumultuous attacks with his strange sword light against the Arch-Devil.

On the bright side, the sword light was doing some noticeable damage and actually contributing. But on the downside, the moment Orodan ceased being a threat, Akelrim would become its target, and the man had nowhere near Orodan’s ability in pure melee.

This wasn’t like the fight he had with the Death Roach where all he had to do was survive. Somebody else was actually depending on Orodan’s ability to have melee exchanges against the foe lest they be slaughtered.

True, the healers would save Akelrim from death, but it was the principle of the matter.

Orodan refused to be trampled over.

He would hold the front line.

The pressure he was under in melee was immense, but Orodan refused to give in and allow himself to be battered down to a complete puddle to be stepped over. Akelrim would be killed or seriously wounded, and the healers would have to pull the eastern prodigy out.

They might stop the Arch-Devil temporarily using whatever control mechanism they held over this Divine Tower. Which meant Orodan’s fight would be interrupted.

This was unacceptable in his eyes, so he doubled down and struggled like a rabid dog.

As the fight drew on, one advantage Orodan realized he had, was that the Arch-Devil inexplicably wasn’t as intelligent.

It was almost mindless, like an undead in its targeting and instincts. And it seemed to consider Orodan the main threat.

Which was correct. But it thankfully didn’t pose the risk of suddenly deciding it wanted to eliminate the comparative small fry Akelrim Vedharna.

This made the fight slightly easier than his battle against the Death Roach. Thus, the gap to close wasn’t as wide.

The furious melee continued for fifteen more minutes, and numerous combat skills which were past 75 gained levels as Orodan was forced to strain his creativity, body and willpower to their utmost limits. He experimented, found better ways to use certain skills and improved the minute particulars of many of them. He did all this while under the threat of real death and the adversity of a superior opponent.

Finally, as the skill levels rose, small gains were made. Orodan went from being able to barely survive the melee exchanges while being dismembered, to now ending each exchange with more than two limbs remaining.

If he was allowed to fight it for even longer, how profound would the gains be?

But…

…all good things had to come to an end.

Thirty more minutes passed, and Orodan began to run out of creative adjustments and improvements to make. The low hanging fruit in fighting this prime species had been plucked, and no more gains could be easily made.

Orodan would’ve continued battling against it for days longer if needed.

Unfortunately, the decision was taken out of his hands.

Something suddenly appeared above the Arch-Devil.

More accurately, it was someone.

A glowing dagger plunged into its head. Courtesy of Vespidia Aulmalexis.

Her attack pierced its hide, the offensive prowess of the strike being quite high. But it lacked destructive power, and the Arch-Devil simply healed from the relatively small wound.

The damage of her attacks was quite potent. But they consequently weren’t as destructive and left only small wounds.

If Orodan himself couldn’t kill it easily with his destructive attacks, then what hope did Vespidia have?

But her arrival signalled more.

Othorion Evertree and the powered armor dwarf charged forth and began peppering the Arch-Devil with heavy amounts of ranged firepower.

Othorion sent arrows of glowing energy from his bow, while the dwarf pulled out a rather gigantic gun from his spatial ring which was almost the size of the magical artillery cannons atop the defensive towers of Karilsgard.

The elf’s arrows peppered the Arch-Devil, but they didn’t do overly much in the way of damage. Othorion currently wasn’t using any divine power, so he was as weak as a talented regular student who could only jump a tier to fight at the Master-level.

The dwarf on the other hand…his gigantic gun hit almost half as hard as Akelrim.

Orodan was again forced to re-evaluate in his mind how powerful magical firearms could be. Especially ones crafted by the dwarves.

Although, utilizing that gun likely took a high level in the relevant firearm and magical skills to amplify the power of the shot. But that it could jump tiers to deal damage hinted at the dwarves’ technological prowess.

“You dirty thieves!” Orodan yelled as he fought and barely held on. A great improvement over when he first started. “Get your own Arch-Devil. Stop trying to steal mine!”

“You were taking far too long,” Vespidia remarked. “Did you expect us to spend hours combing through the tower and doing puzzles while you slaughtered all the guardians? Also, put some clothes on.”

“I did slaughter all the floor guardians,” Orodan remarked, and the moment of distraction caused him to be decapitated. He reformed and continued speaking. “If you’re here to prevent me from finishing the job and killing all one hundred, then you can get lost. I do apologize about my state of attire, but shouldn’t you be the one who avoids staring?”

She rolled her eyes in response.

Yes, he was nude. As was typical whenever he faced near complete bodily destruction.

“This isn’t some coin collection you can add the last one to,” she retorted. “You’ve upset the entire balance of this contest and hogged over seventy percent of the points for yourself. Are the rest of us supposed to stand by and clap as you show off your stupidly overpowered might?”

“No. But if you’re slow enough that I can kill ninety-nine floor guardians,” Orodan said as he skillfully engaged in a clash where he only lost an arm. “Then that sounds like your problem, not mine. What good’s being a reincarnator if all those millennia in your old life still lead to you losing?”

That one apparently struck a nerve, as Vespidia suddenly got silent and started brutalizing the Arch-Devil at a far faster pace.

It almost appeared like she was flitting in and out of existence as she attacked and disengaged.

Finally, thirty more minutes passed, and the Arch-Devil fell.

It was a combination of Orodan managing to hold its attention in melee while everyone else battered it from range with impunity.

It ended up being a simpler fight than Orodan thought.

Sure, it was stronger than the Death Roach, but it lacked the intelligence and instincts.

It tied into Orodan’s suspicions that the monster wasn’t a natural creation. Whatever this tower was, the guardians within it weren’t regular living things.

It was already a bit implausible for an Arch-Devil to be present in some random tower used for a contest.

But that was a question for later.

For now, with the defeat of the one-hundredth floor guardian, the game was over.

***

Uxidar Marfegan had an ugly look on his face as he shot a resentful glance Orodan’s way.

As did another student from Rubywater who was quite unimpressive and likely got her spot through nepotism.

Orodan didn’t see how it was his problem that they were knocked out of the tournament early.

It’s not like they died, or their families faced great devastation.

Sure, it was a bit humiliating to be known as one of the two preferred spot knockouts. But it was their fault for agreeing to take a preferred spot and the expectations that came with it if they weren’t ready.

From what he heard, these two failed to keep up with even the second group of floor guardian clearers who went in after Orodan. Thus, they remained stuck at the fiftieth floor.

“And with that Uxidar Marfegan and Sofiya Ishrakur are eliminated from the round-up of preferred spot competitors!”

The commentary team were of course laying into the two eliminated combatants with no mercy.

“Uxidar Marfegan should just quit the academy altogether and take up farming! How embarrassing! He couldn’t even kill a single floor guardian!”

“But that’s because Orodan Wainwright killed all of them! Surely you can’t expect a regular student to compare?!”

“If he’s such a ‘regular’ student, then he shouldn’t have embarrassed Bluefire by competing! Least of all in a preferred spot!”

Scathing and brutal commentary as usual.

Orodan noticed that the powerful were never spoken of in such a way. Only the middling and bottom-tier competitors.

Orodan had naturally taken first place in the Divine Tower Ascension event. Floor guardians had a hefty point weighting, and Orodan had gotten the points for killing all of them.

From what he’d learned afterwards; the tower was as the namesake implied.

A legitimate divine artifact of grand proportions.

It was also self-repairing, which made Orodan feel less guilty about utterly wrecking the place.

Nobody knew which God made it, but it was capable of creating floor guardians from scratch.

The tower was somehow capable of viewing the lives of past entrants. It would use this data to populate the structure with guardians.

That an Arch-Devil had appeared on the final floor meant that one of the people who tried scaling it in a past tournament must’ve been someone who ventured into the hells five-thousand years ago.

Frankly, Orodan suspected none of the current Gods he knew of were responsible for such a profound creation. The ability to just create a Grandmaster-level being was a bit much for even them. And reading peoples' minds and viewing their lives? Quite powerful as well.

It made sense in hindsight though, given how mindless the Arch-Devil appeared, that it might be an unnatural creation.

There were only twenty tournaments in the past where the hundredth floor was cleared. With Orodan's victory, it made this year's competition the twenty-first.

Either way, the preferred spot knockout game was finally over. Although he was still a bit peeved about the interference in his fights.

Orodan had won in dominant fashion and even the rest of the participants pooling points together wouldn’t beat him. Not when he’d killed every floor guardian first with almost no help except on the last few. Even then he'd contributed the most of everyone.

This meant it was time for the actual eliminator round.

The schedule was about to be displayed on the large mana-powered weave as well.

“Now, for the moment we’ve all been waiting for! The unveiling of the official eliminator round matchups!”

This was followed by a drum roll and ominous music played by the bards.

The cloth unfurled…

…and his opponent would be Mahari.

The eight underdogs from the lower brackets were all present on the arena floor alongside the eight preferred spot holders.

Mahari gave him a shy smile and a wave. She didn’t look worried at all for once.

It was a competition in good fun, and losing to Orodan might’ve been preferable to losing against someone who might potentially humiliate her.

His fight against her would be the second match.

The first, would be a fight between Othorion Evertree and the unarmed halfling wrestler who was genuinely a peak talent for his age without being a reincarnator.

The fighters were ushered to separate areas meant for the combatants depending on who they were up against. Thus, Orodan and Mahari were on opposite sides of the arena waiting for the battle.

“For our first match-up! We have the venerable Othorion Evertree! He’ll be fighting the underdog Yarner Honeybrook, an Elite Wrestler!”

The halfling happened to be on his side of the arena and was consequently preparing to head out onto the floor.

“I must admit, for your age you’re incredibly talented,” Orodan remarked. “An Elite who can jump a tier to fight at the very peak of the Master-level? And doing this without any reincarnation or divine assistance too is just profound.”

“Thank you, Mister Wainwright,” the halfling politely replied. “My clan hopes to use my victory as leverage to ask for cultural protections for us halflings in the Republic. I know I’m no match for an elf who can call upon divine assistance, but I hope to provide a good enough showing that I’m respected all the same.”

Orodan would’ve liked to converse some more with the impressive halfling warrior, but the time was due for Yarner’s match.

Soon, Othorion Evertree and Yarner Honeybrook stood before one another.

The elf looked quite calm as was standard from what Orodan had seen so far.

Then, without much fanfare, the announcer called for the match to begin.

Othorion immediately drew his bow and sent a volley of arrows towards the halfling, most of which Yarner dodged and the others he parried.

The elf kept trying to maintain distance, but in an arena the feat was easier said than done.

Soon, the fight entered closer quarters and two things became apparent.

First, Othorion Evertree was decent, but nothing special. The halfling was clearly going to overwhelm him in melee combat.

Second, the elf was all too happy to call upon his God to bail him out.

Othorion was on the ground receiving a savage beating from his halfling opponent when the fight changed.

A mighty roar rang out from Othorion, and the elf’s eyes began glowing. Yarner was flung off the elf and flew backwards.

A God had come down.

Yarner Honeybrook… was now fighting an Avatar.

How unfair, Orodan thought. But frowned upon as it might’ve been, it wasn’t against the rules.

The halfling attempted one more charge in glorious defiance of the might of an Avatar… but was summarily blown backwards with a mere hand wave which flayed large chunks of flesh from his bones.

Yarner Honeybrook yielded after that.

“Winner! Othorion Evertree has defeated Yarner Honeybrook! The power of a God is truly beyond reckoning!”

Orodan felt that Yarner had nothing to be ashamed of.

Even if it was theatrics, the halfling’s final charge against the Avatar had earned him many fans and much respect.

He left the arena to raucous cheers and fanfare.

Othorion on the other hand faced boos and jeers for being forced to call upon divine assistance to win.

With that match, it was time for Orodan’s own.

“With that wrapped up, it’s time for the second match-up! The mysterious and mighty delver of energy wells! Orodan Wainwright! Fighting him is the prodigiously talented speed caster of Bluefire, Mahari Ilya Vedharna!”

Orodan was too far to hear them, but for good measure shot a look of ‘understanding’ towards the commentary team. Oratius Mendax’s unnerved look assured him that Mahari would not be the subject of any ‘entertaining’ commentary.

“Aren’t you two from the same academy?” asked Akelrim beside him. “How’s she been doing in class? Is her brother well?”

“Ah, you two are cousins if I recall,” Orodan answered. “Yes, she’s doing well. As is Altaj. Wasn’t aware you cared for them.”

“That is… the least I can do for what happened long ago,” Akelrim carefully replied. “Either way, be gentle with her please. After all, you and I shall be fighting next once I best my opponent.”

Orodan had heard from the Vedharna siblings that Akelrim used to be a bully until an accident a decade ago. But he wouldn’t pry into the man's personal affairs. He was looking forward to experiencing the Rubywater prodigy's strange sword techniques for himself.

His conversation ended as he headed out onto the arena floor.

Now, he stood before Mahari.

“I still can’t believe I’ve made it so far Orodan,” she spoke as they stood face to face before they would part and create the standard distance. “Will you go easy on me?”

"I'll keep it fair, but I also won't disrespect you by going too easy," Orodan said with a smile. “Given how far you’ve come, don’t you want to at least push your limits and see what you’re capable of?”

“I keep telling you that I’m not like you,” Mahari replied. “I’m not some legendary warrior that shakes the world with his steps. I don’t enjoy fighting the way you and my brother do. I don’t have much else to aim for in this tournament now that Claridin has been sufficiently humbled by that drow and I avenged my loss against Kastirya.”

“Fair enough, how about you go out with a bang then?” Orodan asked.

And in return, Mahari smiled in acceptance and nodded.

Rather than shaking hands as typical of competitors in the face off, they instead bumped fists.

They took their starting positions and waited.

“Begin!”

Orodan didn’t want to just bully his friend, so he held back and kept his approach slow, at merely the level of an average Elite.

An absolute volley of spells of all elements came his way but he comfortably dodged them all. Not that he needed to, but he didn’t want to take too many hits lest his clothes be destroyed. That would be awkward among friends.

Orodan’s dodges and movements were responded to appropriately by Mahari who made minute adjustments in her aim on the fly.

He handicapped himself, but felt that stylistically, he had never faced a mage who had such high Combat Mastery and reflexes.

Mahari wasn’t the issue, but what she implied was.

What if he one day encountered an Eastern speed-caster mage with soul empowered attacks at the Grandmaster-level? The thought of such a potential future match-up excited him.

“This still isn’t your true power,” Orodan remarked.

“What?! I’m giving it my all! It’s not my fault that you’re some unfair hero of legend!” Mahari protested as she kept firing spells.

“No. I meant, you aren’t showing me your real battle spirit,” Orodan remarked as he closed the distance. “Just once, before this ends… I want to see it.”

Mahari didn’t say anything else but simply kept slinging spells as Orodan approached.

Finally, as the gap was closed, Mahari did it.

She threw a crisp punch right at his face.

Orodan was impressed even as he gently caught the fist and pushed her back.

“I like it! You’re the first mage to ever really earn my respect!” Orodan exclaimed. “But I know you can do more than just this. Why do you give up magic for the fist? Why does it have to be one or the other?”

“I don’t know what the hells you mean Orodan! Either knock me out or shut up!” she yelled in a rare show of frustration.

“You know exactly what I mean, now let’s do this one more time,” Orodan remarked as his own fist clenched and rose. “Show me your true potential Mahari.”

At a speed far faster than before, Orodan’s fist sailed towards Mahari.

The attack likely alarmed her into acting with her all.

It was a rare situation she didn’t usually find herself in, going punch for punch with an actual warrior.

Her left fist met his right, and her arm shattered despite Orodan massively holding back.

“Not yet! I know you have it within you! You have one more arm, use it!”

The pain must have awakened something in the girl, for her eyes held a quiet fury.

The next punch wasn’t the same.

As her left arm hung limply by her side, Mahari’s eyes blazed with spirit and fury while she threw the right.

Except this fist was charged with elemental power.

A cavalcade of fire, lightning and ice exploded upon his own punch.

He could have shifted his punch into an open palm.

But Orodan was a warrior and that would’ve been disrespectful of his opponent who had truly given it her all.

Besides, he needn’t have been too gentle.

The raw shockwave of the collision provided just enough force that Orodan’s punch - greatly held back already - was given a slight nudge backwards and didn’t outright mangle Mahari’s good arm.

She fell to a knee and her face was pale as she breathed raggedly.

“E-elemental fist?” she quietly spoke to herself. “Legendary…”

“See? I knew you had more to give, but you just didn’t want to believe me.”

Mahari yielded.

But despite her loss and the pain she was in. She had a beaming smile on her face.

She had acquired a legendary rarity skill.

***

The remaining six eliminator matches were quite the affair.

In the third match, the dual dagger wielding drow ended up facing the powered armor wearing dwarf.

The atmosphere and bad blood between the two were tense before they even set foot onto the arena floor.

Almost immediately, both fighters went head-to-head and were aiming to slaughter one another.

The enmity between dwarves and drow ran truly deep.

The dwarf’s powered armor provided him some incredible raw speed in a straight line, but it was countered smoothly by the drow who was far nimbler overall.

It was an even battle where the agility and dual daggers of Jegdalo Mezzer constantly searched for openings and weak spots in the armored bulwark that was Barudar Hammershield.

The drow was more agile, but the dwarf could travel frighteningly fast in a straight line. This was used in bursts that nearly caught the drow off guard.

But…

…nearly, wasn’t quite enough.

The dwarf, close as he came, still failed to land a single hit. Jegdalo Mezzer’s nimbleness and agility were truly prodigious.

Against all odds and expectations, the drow won his battle by brutally hooking his daggers into the eye slots of Barudar’s helmet and savaging his face.

The dwarf immediately yielded but Jegdalo acted as though he hadn’t heard it. Staff had to intervene to separate the two lest the dual dagger wielder kill his opponent. Barudar was nearly killed as the drow sliced his face into ribbons.

This drow truly hated all dwarves and showed no mercy.

Just like that, an underdog from the lower brackets had decisively crushed a preferred spot holder.

The next match had another upset, as the young spirit mage overwhelmed the other preferred spot holder from Goldleaf Academy. Getting ganged up on by multiple elemental spirits was too much for even the prodigious rapier wielding elf who could jump a tier.

The youthful spirit mage revealed that he had the ability to summon a Master-level earth elemental spirit, and this sealed the elf’s fate. Prodigious as the elven rapier wielder was, he couldn’t beat seven Elite spirits and a Master-level one at the same time.

The only reason elemental spirits were allowed by the rules, was because the act of summoning and utilizing them in battle directly drew from a mage's mana pool.

The third match was between the repeating rifle dwarf underdog from the lower brackets and the other Novarrian preferred spot holder, a chronomancer.

It was where the crowd was reminded that the preferred spot holders were given their positions for a reason.

The dwarf’s bullet was frozen mid-air thanks to a time barrier and sent right back with a time reversal.

Dwarven rifles didn’t have a large amount of mana within each shot, they were thus quite susceptible to a chronomancer manipulating them. The penetrative power of the shot could be quite strong, but that didn’t matter much to a chronomancer if the projectile itself lacked much energy overall. Even the larger models didn’t have as much mana in a shot as Elite-level spells cast by a mage.

The dwarf was at her wits end against a foe who countered her quite well. Their natural mana pools also weren’t very high, and operating a magic rifle could become quite costly over time.

This led to the chronomancer eventually freezing the dwarf in time once her mana pool ran dry and slitting her throat.

The chronomancer then unfroze his opponent and the winner was called while the healers tended to the dwarf who was bleeding out.

The fourth and fifth matches had Akelrim Vedharna and Vespidia Aulmalexis casually trounce two unimpressive contestants from the lower brackets. The two made a show of standing against impossible odds, but Vespidia was a reincarnator and Akelrim had some strange abilities that allowed him to fight at the Grandmaster-level.

In the sixth match the second preferred spot holder from Dothrilriver Academy, a female dwarf with a maddened look and numerous alchemical grenades, fought against a spear and shield wielding peltast from the lower brackets.

It was a close fight where the woman’s javelineering put the dwarf in trouble by shattering a volatile flask on her hip early on. The dwarf’s screams horrified the audience as her flesh melted.

But Orodan had to admit, the dwarf had decent Pain Resistance. He could respect a fellow grinder of the skill.

She recovered and even as her flesh was melting, she threw down a flask which healed her, and one that gave her four extra feet of height and two hundred more pounds of muscle.

Her new brutish form was used to great effect as the dwarf pummelled the javelineer unconscious and had to be pulled off. Of course, the effects of the potion were temporary, and the dwarf looked utterly miserable after. Something even the healers could do nothing about.

Like that, the eliminator round came to an end, and eight winners emerged.

Thiralga Tankguzzler the mad dwarf who abused alchemical concoctions.

Primon Cosanox the chronomancer, also from Novarria.

Elidibus Astarti the youthful spirit mage from Rubywater who won against a preferred spot holder.

Jegdalo Mezzer the underdog drow with a vendetta against any dwarf in the tournament.

Vespidia Aulmalexis, the reincarnator from the Novar’s Peak Academy.

Akelrim Vedharna, Rubywater’s strongest with strange sword skills and a weird manner of speaking.

Othorion Evertree, the strongest student from Goldleaf who freely called upon divine power.

And Orodan Wainwright himself.

Now that he had won against Mahari, his next match would be against the prodigy of Rubywater and the golden heir of House Vedharna.

----------------------------------------

Jegdalo Mezzer was the first and only drow Orodan had ever seen thus far.

Light skin which looked gray and pale moonlight hair. Supposedly the white hair was a trait all dark elves shared. Orodan shamelessly stared for a few moments as he’d never seen a drow face to face before.

If the drow noticed, he politely chose not to comment.

“It must be rigged, that’s the only explanation,” Orodan remarked. “How else have you managed to fight almost nothing but dwarves so far?”

“I would not know Mister Wainwright,” Jegdalo Mezzer replied. “I’m not from around here. But, given how the Eastern Kingdoms don’t exactly consider the Novarrians friends… it stands to reason that the Kingdom of Shivenduran who hosts this tournament would happily feed the dirty bearded murderers to me. The dwarves and Novarrians are allies after all.”

“Does your vendetta extend to the Novarrians as well then?”

Jegdalo remained silent on the matter. But his hands did clench around the hilts of his daggers. That was answer enough to Orodan.

“I’m afraid our conversation will be cut short Mister Wainwright,” Jegdalo said. “Your bout against the prodigy of the Eastern Kingdoms is coming up first.”

The drow was right, and the announcer called it shortly after.

“For the first match of the quarterfinals, we have the mighty Orodan Wainwright, against the esteemed prodigy of Rubywater, Akelrim Vedharna!”

The crowd went berserk at the announcement.

Not because of the promise of a good fight, but for Orodan’s own feats.

The Divine Tower Ascension held numerous scrying eye orbs at every floor of the structure. Thus, the public and audience had witnessed the entirety of Orodan’s meteoric ascent through all one hundred guardians of the tower.

Orodan himself didn’t think either Akelrim Vedharna or Vespidia Aulmalexis were a real threat to him. And from what the rumors were, the crowd didn’t think so either.

Burgher Ignatius had contacted Orodan over the communications amulet to congratulate him, but to also let him know that the public now thought he was the clear front-runner in the tournament.

Popular sentiment and betting odds were between him and Othorion Evertree. Orodan’s glowing white eyes led to people thinking he too was calling upon the power of an Avatar.

Which was blatantly untrue. Orodan’s strength was his own.

But visually Eternal Soul Reactor made him look shockingly similar to one. Hence people wrote off all other competitors besides him and Othorion, as the narrative was that both he and the elf would engage in a battle of divinities in the finals.

If they won their respective matches, which Orodan was absolutely certain of. Then they would naturally meet in the last match of the tournament.

But the fight against an Avatar that he was eagerly looking forward to was a matter for later.

For now, he stood before Akelrim Vedharna as they both walked out onto the arena floor.

“Your reputation precedes you Orodan Wainwright. Everyone tells me that I stand no chance against you whatsoever,” Akelrim spoke as they stood face to face. “I’ve witnessed you facing down that vile devil… but to think one your age could be so mighty with the aid of divine power…”

“It isn’t divine power. I don’t call upon any Avatar to fight,” Orodan honestly replied. “Just the power of my own soul.”

“…incredible! You must tell me how you can do this!”

“Will you tell me the secrets to your strange sword arts?”

“Only if you best me in this fight.”

Sounded like a fair deal to Orodan.

The two competitors stood upon the designated spots, and soon…

…it started.

“Begin!”

A Flash Strike took him towards Akelrim immediately, but he was met midway by a strange light.

This sword light tore right through Orodan’s body.

It was partly physical, thus that part was almost completely negated by Bulwark Physical Resistance. But the part that wasn’t physical, ripped right into him.

He wasn’t sure if it was soul energy or some other form of energy.

Still, he managed to finish his Flash Strike and reach the golden heir of Vedharna despite the sword light going right through him.

Piercing wounds which merely blew a hole in him weren’t anything Harmony of Vitality couldn’t handle.

Additionally, Akelrim had also harmed himself, but the man’s body was quickly working on patching the hole, albeit at a far slower pace than Orodan's healing skills.

“Tch! Your body arts are strong for you to heal so quickly! I’d also forgotten about that deadly skill which returns damage…” Akelrim replied. “But can you withstand this as easily?”

Suddenly, a set of dozens of floating swords behind the Eastern swordsman arranged themselves into a pattern, and a familiar beam of sword light shot towards Orodan.

The beam blew a far larger hole in him. It wasn’t entirely physical damage, and the part that did go through was something Orodan had no resistance skill for yet.

Consequently, Akelrim took serious damage as well and kept backpedalling the entire time.

He had directly witnessed Orodan’s power in the Divine Tower. The Rubywater prodigy likely held no confidence in beating him toe to toe in close combat.

Finally, just as Orodan drew close enough to begin a proper exchange, Akelrim stood atop one his swords… and it began flying away.

“What kind of movement technique is that?” Orodan asked. “A shield would be a better ride!”

A sword looked like such an uncomfortable platform to stand upon too.

“You dare?! A flying sword is the ultimate method of travel! It took me decades to learn how to utilize this art with any sword.”

“Decades? Aren’t you only in your twenties?”

Akelrim remained silent at that response. Orodan was sure he had caught onto something about the man’s secrets.

Despite the novelty of flying around while standing atop a sword, Orodan still caught up and forced Akelrim to the ground with an overhead Death Rage empowered swing.

Thus, a furious clash of melee began.

Akelrim was quite good in melee. The man was Rubywater’s strongest student.

Hells, Orodan would say Akelrim was the strongest melee combatant in this Inter-Academy Tournament aside from himself.

Unfortunately, Orodan was his opponent.

Death Rage which psychologically shocked even hardened veterans, Warrior’s Reciprocity which returned every blow received more than twofold and Harmony of Vitality which reversed damages like they were nothing.

Opponents who were greater in strength feared facing him.

So, to someone like Akelrim Vedharna who was weaker?

Orodan Wainwright was a nightmare.

“You…! If this body wasn’t so…”

“This body? The more you speak the more you sound like a reincarnator… but you should’ve had time to adjust to the body you were born with by now,” Orodan accused. “Who are you really?”

Orodan didn’t have to try very hard.

Akelrim fought at the level of a Grandmaster… but not a particularly powerful one.

Two more powerful sword strikes later, the Rubywater prodigy was finally forced to his knees. His sword shattered and his body bleeding from numerous wounds.

He raised his arms in surrender.

“Winner! Orodan Wainwright has defeated Akelrim Vedharna to advance to the semi-finals! What a display of exotic sword skills meeting pure warrior prowess! I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“I believe that’s my victory,” Orodan said. “Will you tell me how you perform those strange sword techniques now?”

“It is… through being one with the sword. Look, I cannot say any more here or I risk undue attention,” Akelrim replied. “Find me after the tournament and we can discuss things further there.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” Orodan replied as he helped Akelrim up. “I want my own flying shield. I’ve thought about throwing it and then riding it, but with your technique… I can truly rule the skies!”

“I display abilities with the sword that nobody on this world knows… and all you can think of is riding a flying shield?!”

“Yes? Why would I not? The lack of ability to fly is a glaring weakness in my repertoire,” Orodan replied. “A shield is just a nicer method of travel. So much more leg room.”

“…Orodan Wainwright… you truly are a fool!”

Orodan smiled as the backlash from the insult hit the strange warrior.

***

Every one of the matches in the quarterfinals was utterly intense.

The match right after Orodan’s was Jegdalo Mezzer against the alchemical dwarf Thiralga Tankguzzler.

It was brutal and there were serious talks of potentially disqualifying Jegdalo after the drow savaged and sliced apart the dwarf for a torturous six seconds past her yielding.

Her muscle form from the elixir didn’t help. All it did was increase the amount of blood that Jegdalo could cause to pour from her grievous wounds.

Orodan was sure she had actually died.

The healers and chronomancers almost weren’t able to bring her back from death if not for two Grandmasters of healing and chronomancy working together alongside a Grandmaster of the soul arts who reconnected the soul to her body.

The dwarf looked utterly traumatized and filled with terror upon her revival. She refused to so much as look at Jegdalo after the experience.

The other matches were filled with less hatred, but still impressive displays of the winners’ prowess.

Primon Cosanox the chronomancer was up against Othorion Evertree, and the elf immediately went into an Avatar state to avoid being frozen in time.

From what Orodan heard, killing Othorion before he could call upon divine assistance was a real vulnerability of his. As was suspending him in time before the divine power reached him.

Of course, if the God empowering him decided to send down their power without Othorion’s input, then no chronomancer or surprise attack could fell Goldleaf’s strongest.

Orodan himself pondered whether he could kill potential Avatars this way, via a rapid assassination…

…but then immediately discarded the idea as weak and cowardly.

It wasn't the warrior's way.

Regardless, Primon Cosanox stood no chance against an Avatar and immediately yielded. Opting not to even theatrically face down the power of a God.

For the final match of the quarterfinals, Vespidia Aulmalexis faced the young spirit mage Elidibus Astarti.

The second the match started; she vanished using that deadly skill of hers.

And in the next instant the poor spirit mage had a dagger stuck in his head.

The healers immediately intervened, and the match was called since Elidibus couldn’t defend himself.

Thus, the winners of the quarterfinals were Orodan, Jegdalo, Vespidia and Othorion.

Next came the semi-finals, where Othorion Evertree would face Jegdalo Mezzer…

…and Orodan Wainwright would face Vespidia Aulmalexis.

***

“The diviners in Ahram-Taj’s Cathedral have been trying for years to divine her original identity,” Altaj spoke as Orodan inspected his weaponry. The Vedharna siblings had been allowed into the fighter’s area to support Orodan, and Mahari had happily come along. “My grandfather is a diviner of the Cathedral back home, and he’s certain she is a reincarnator since her threads in the tapestry show the tell-tale signs. But he tells me that the threads of her past lead to someplace outside of our continent.”

“Outside?” Orodan asked.

“Well, discovering who a reincarnator was in their past life is easy when their previous identity was also near the same area,” he explained. “This is how the cursed reincarnator Demosthenos Albathrax was easily discovered. He rose again in the same place where his old life was.”

“Then her old life could have been anywhere? Guzuhar? Eldiron?”

“Precisely so,” Altaj replied. “I thought I should tell of you of that much. It’s not publicly available information, since the Cathedral guards its methods of divination closely. But we’re friends and every bit of knowledge I can provide might give you a leg up.”

Orodan genuinely appreciated the sentiment, he did. But knowing who Vespidia was in her past life wouldn’t help him.

The only thing that mattered, was his own strength.

“Good luck Orodan! I’ll be waving my glowing fist at you in celebration for when you win!” Mahari cheered as her hands sparkled with her new skill while Orodan got to his feet.

“Now, we have the first of our semi-final matches! The invincible warrior-juggernaut, Orodan Wainwright! Daring to stand in his way is the silent and deadly shadow, Vespidia Aulmalexis!”

The crowd went wild, and most people began cheering loudly for Orodan.

The Inter-Academy Tournament was held in Marasthus, which was in the Eastern Kingdoms. None of the locals liked Novarrians here, which lead to cheers for Orodan and jeers for his opponent.

The two stepped towards one another and Orodan extended his hand.

“I’m not sure exactly how that scheming Elucian Arslan expected me to pull some underhanded trick against you,” Orodan spoke and offered a handshake. “From everything you’ve shown, you’re probably the most nimble and sneaky combatant I’ve seen in my life. How am I meant to get one over you?”

“Hmm, I have my secrets,” Vespidia replied as she shook the offered hand as a sign of good sportsmanship. “That being said, I’m now glad you refused his offer then. If I knew how strong you were at the time, I wouldn’t have attended this tournament for fear of you actually deciding to kill me. It’s only with extensive research into your character that I feel reasonably certain you aren’t out to murder me.”

“You’ve been researching my character?” Orodan asked. “What do they say?”

“That you are an idiot,” Vespidia spoke and then grimaced from the backlash. “One with an annoying skill... but also that you’re a warrior who detests cheap tricks and underhanded actions. I don’t think you’d act dishonorably.”

“You’re right. But can the same be said for you?” Orodan queried in return. “Why not do away with the invisibility and stealth attacks and fight me head on? I’d rather not demolish the entire arena just to flush you out and beat you.”

Her face took on a serious look at the challenge.

“I will admit that you’re unnaturally strong, and I likely cannot defeat you…” Vespidia replied. “But if you think the divine power you so freely use scares me, then you have another thing coming.”

Orodan didn’t channel divine power when fighting, but he didn't feel the need to correct his opponent right now.

He said nothing more in reply and simply stood at the designated position for the fight to start.

“Begin!”

His eyes were on Vespidia…

…and then his opponent disappeared.

Orodan felt in his soul that Warrior’s Quarry, the second Blessing he held from Agathor… was being bypassed.

The only way this could happen was if his opponent had a Blessing of their own that dealt with the same concept he was attempting to impose upon.

The Blessing of the more divinely proficient God would win.

And while Agathor was strong, Orodan didn’t know if the War God was as skilled in bestowing powerful Blessings as whichever divinity had gifted Vespidia.

But still, Orodan had other ways of forcing his foe to come out of hiding.

He had warned her.

Four clones of Orodan Wainwright appeared, and they each held four gigantic Draconic Fireballs.

The four magical spells then hit the ground.

[Draconic Fireball 4 → Draconic Fireball 6]

The barrier spells protecting the audience, maintained by some very powerful Grandmasters, immediately shimmered under the strain as fire washed over everything.

Approximately sixty feet from him, a figure became visible in the flames. She was cutting through the fire with her dagger but was looking worse off than she previously was.

“You’re a mage too?!” she yelled.

Now that was just offensive, Orodan wasn’t a damned mage. He was a warrior!

His goal of forcing her out of hiding was successful, so he ditched the thought of throwing more spells at the ground and instead rushed her with a Flash Strike.

She evaded his attack fluidly. And the following hundreds of blows.

Orodan wasn’t going all-out, but he was fighting seriously. Yet he still couldn’t land a blow!

For the first time, he was facing an enemy that had a Blessing of their own which allowed them to evade attacks with unnatural grace.

The God that gave Vespidia her Blessing, was likely better at it then Agathor was. His own Warrior’s Quarry wasn’t working in preventing her from evading attacks.

Finally, she attacked.

And this was where Orodan’s combination of frightening abilities began to show.

It didn’t matter that Vespidia hit him with an attack so potent that his resistances and defenses were ignored. Perhaps it was a Blessing, maybe it was the raw skill of a reincarnated Grandmaster.

But even as Orodan’s own body was stabbed and sliced…

…Vespidia’s condition looked utterly gruesome as the damage was returned with interest.

“You’re one annoyingly slippery foe, but you’re feeling the return of Warrior’s Reciprocity, aren’t you?” Orodan asked and Vespidia grimaced.

“The attacks aren’t physical… how are you returning them? That skill is mythical rarity, isn’t it?” she asked and Orodan nodded, prompting her face to turn even more grim.

Orodan’s own wounds almost immediately healed through Harmony of Vitality despite how grievous they were.

This continued for another minute as Vespidia healed herself through potions and spells all while dealing devastating amounts of damage through stealthy attacks.

She disappeared and reappeared to launch brutal strikes.

It had gotten to a point where Orodan flared Eternal Soul Reactor a slight bit to empower Harmony of Vitality.

This was getting ridiculous. And he felt it was time to end it.

Each and every empowerment skill activated, and Eternal Soul Reactor churned at a high level of power as Orodan sent an Endless Blitz combined with All-Strikes her way.

His eyes were glowing white as he got serious to put down this evasive reincarnator.

Every time she disappeared; a Draconic Fireball would hit the ground.

Every time she reappeared, Orodan would rush and overwhelm her in melee.

She barely evaded, but now took a few glancing blows.

Even a single glancing blow from Orodan left her with serious wounds, and her own healing magic was having a hard time keeping up.

Blessings weren’t absolute.

With enough power… even a Blessing could be overwhelmed. Especially when one had a Mythical skill and extreme power like Orodan did.

But, at the sight of his glowing white eyes Vespidia only had a crazed smile on her face.

“You dare to use divine power against me?! That was a mistake!”

Vespidia’s right hand rose in the air… and stabbed into her own chest.

A glowing dagger was then pulled out, and for once Vespidia decided to take a blow from Orodan Wainwright head on.

Even as his blade ran her through, she delivered her own stab.

“All you foul divinities… can go rot in the hells!”

Her words were screamed with madness.

The glowing dagger hit Orodan, and he felt it pierce his soul.

It hurt.

Vespidia stood there with the glowing dagger impaled into his chest as she looked into his eyes with a satisfied expression.

Seconds passed, and slowly her expression turned to one of confusion.

His eyes were still glowing white.

The glowing dagger hurt. But Orodan had taken worse soul attacks before.

“Was it meant to do more?”

Even Orodan was confused as he asked her directly.

“But… it should have destroyed the connection you have to your divinity… I had it ready to use on the elf…”

“Ah right… I’m not an Avatar.”

“Y-you’re not? But all that power… how?”

“It’s a second Mythical skill,” Orodan replied.

“More than one Mythical skill…” Vespidia muttered. “How can you do this? What are you?”

He was someone that enjoyed fighting.

Orodan Wainwright was a warrior.

The glowing dagger dissipated alongside Vespidia’s will to fight.

She yielded shortly after.

“Winner! Orodan Wainwright defeats Vespidia Aulmalexis to advance to the finals! What a display of divine power!”

Orodan hadn’t used any divine power, but to the announcer and audience it looked otherwise.

They could hold the mistaken assumption for all he cared.

His final opponent, almost certain to be Othorion Evertree, could also labor under that assumption.

In the stands, he could see a glowing fist of sparkling flames and lightning raised by a grinning Mahari.

***

The other semi-final match was anti-climactic.

Jegdalo Mezzer simply yielded upon walking out onto the arena floor.

Othorion and the drow were both from Goldleaf and likely knew one another.

Fighting an Avatar while being a talent that could jump merely one tier wasn’t anywhere near enough.

Without Orodan’s inclusion, Othorion Evertree’s victory would have been almost assured.

The only person who had a chance otherwise was Vespidia and her strange ability which could target the connection between an Avatar and its host. But Orodan had knocked her out of the running. And who knew if she could’ve landed the hit against the elf?

Thus, tomorrow, would be the finals.

None of the elf’s opponents had dared to stand against him seriously thus far.

Orodan would break that streak.

He was a man who dared to stand against the power of a God.

It would be Orodan’s first proper one-on-one battle against an Avatar where he stood a real chance of winning.

Othorion wasn’t a Chosen Avatar, but a weaker one. The man at base wasn’t a Grandmaster, but a mere Elite who could jump just one tier.

He wasn’t even the strongest of the single tier jumping Elites either. This made him a weaker Avatar than a Chosen One.

But the elf did have the ability to freely and without cost call upon his God’s power. This was what made him a threatening prospect to face.

Orodan had encountered and seen the power of a mere Favored Avatar like Lady Lakshiya long ago. Such Avatars faced the issue of burning their hosts out if the God used too much divine power.

But Othorion’s Bloodline meant he needn’t worry about it.

Warrior against Avatar.

Man against God.

The audience thought he too called upon divine providence, but this wasn’t the case.

Naught but the light of his own soul and the strength of his own body would avail him.

Tomorrow Orodan would dare to fight the divine directly.

Beyond that, lay a far worse host of divinity descending in little over two weeks.

The Eldritch Avatar, and the potential end of the world and his loop.