“Instead of the two phase format I mentioned previously, the final round will consist of only elimination battles. For this, you will draw lots once again, determining the pairings!” The words of the judge were like a clap of thunder resounding through the coliseum.

Such a change raised the intensity of the battles once again. One loss meant elimination. In the previous format the participants had more chances of making it farther, but in this format…

While the crowd was excited, the remaining six participants on the stage were unimpressed by the changes. Of those that preserved, all had their own pride and confidence. Especially people like Levi, Jiule or Areth, they did not care a bit about what this meant for the rest of the tournament.

For Levi, a potential future successor of the Azure Dragon Sect, this tournament was just a stepping stone, a stepping stone for him to shine even brighter, to show the Azure Dragon Kingdom and the Azure Dragon Sect that he was the right candidate to lead the Azure Dragon Kingdom to greater heights!

His ambitions were already beyond the scope of Azure Dragon Kingdom, he was already thinking way beyond its borders: the struggles against the demons on the Northern Frontier, the conflicts with the neighboring kingdoms, the uprising of the sea folks in the Endless Sea and many more current affairs.

From his point of view, the kingdoms tournament was a fleeting checkpoint, although one that he had to pass to prove his worth. If he couldn’t overcome this “small” obstacle then there was barely any chance for him to be accepted by the rest of the Azure Dragon Sect and much less by the enigmatic sect master — even he had the legendary Azure Dragon Body. There were many other monstrous talents lying in wait, waiting for their opportunity to stab Levi in the back to overtake his current leading position. One wrong step on Levi’s side meant a harsh downfall.

Although his situation could be considered to be precarious, Levi was confident, confident in his strength and most important, confident in his blood. The moment he awakened the Azure Dragon Body, he became the one with the densest bloodline of the current generation. In times where the Azure Dragon blood became thinner and thinner, he was like a beacon in the dark, reigniting the fervor and worship of the Azure Dragon.

Areth’s situation was entirely different. He rose from a nobody to the first Blood Prince since a few thousand years ago. In a sect like the Nameless Sect, where struggles and infighting belonged to the every day life, where everyone was like a poisonous insect caught in jar, fighting and plotting until only the strongest preserved, this was an even more impressive feat.

Despite his young age, Areth could be said to have experienced much worse than Yasha for example. In an environment like the Nameless Sect, his personality became twisted and vicious, something some participants experienced the hard way. Thus such a small change of plan just brushed past him.

The judge might also have said nothing at all, Areth did not care either way. He was only here because he was forced by the higher-ups of the sects. One of the few entities he could not afford to offend at all. Those that managed to enter the higher-ups of the Nameless Sect could be considered to be some of the most wicked, most intelligent or most vicious persons to exist in the entire Azure Dragon Kingdom.

Jiule was another case once again. He was also not influenced by the change of plan at all. Compared to the life and death struggles against the demons, the tournament was child’s play in his eyes. He also only attended because the Demon Slayer Sword Sect wanted him to attend. Although they did not force him, Jiule considered the fights during the tournament as whetstones that further sharpened his sword path.

Similar to the others, Eleanor, Lentz and naturally Yasha also each had their own reasons, motivations and experiences, but they all had in common that they were unaffected by the change.

After a moment of silence, the judge continued unhurriedly, “I will now distribute the sticks!” While speaking, he waved his sleeves, sending six wooden sticks flying through the air. They then hovered in front of the participants.

Yasha did not wait long and immediately reached out for the stick floating in front of him and soon noticed a “three” etched into the stick. The number was very small and could barely be seen with the naked eye, but could be felt clearly with a finger. The others also reached out for the sticks in front of them.

“Those with a “one” on the wooden stick will fight now and may remain on stage and I ask all others to leave!” In next to no time, only Lentz and Levi remained on stage, the first battle of the final round.

The prodigy of the Hunlua Clan, inheritor of the Great Art of Flames, versus the prodigy of the Azure Dragon Sect with the renown Azure Dragon Body. Although Lentz was part of the six prodigies and his strength was widely known, not many looked optimistic at his chances to win.

Levi was the titan of the tournament, the one everyone expected to win it all, so in the eyes of the crowd and the elders in the VIP lounge, it was impressive if Lentz managed to prolong the fight for ten minutes. Anything longer than that would already be an incredible feat.

Although Lentz knew that Levi was probably the strongest opponent of the tournament, he did not care, the fire in his eyes only getting stronger. This fiery spirit was the legacy of the Hunlua and ran through the veins of every Hunlua Clan member! He would show everyone who the real prodigy of the Hunlua Clan was and demonstrate the might of his clan. The Hunlua Clan was not to be belittled.

“The first battle starts now!”

As if waiting for those words, Lentz and Levi immediately sprang into action. The sword in Lentz’s hands ignited with an orange flame, leaving searing scars in the air while Lentz sprinted forward.

This sword technique was named Incinerating Blade and was one of the five sword techniques of the Great Art of Flames, the strongest and most ancient cultivation technique in the Hunlua Clan created by their very first ancestor.

By using this cultivation method, every practitioner cultivated an inner flame by gathering spiritual energy and storing it in the meridians first. Starting from the Energy Gathering Stage, the spiritual energy would already possess certain characteristics that real fire energy possessed. The moment the practitioner entered the Dantian Grade, the flame would move to the Dantian and unleash the real of the cultivated inner flame. Every flame cultivated that way possessed its own characteristics and charm, making this technique incredibly strong and precious. That was why only the direct line of the Hunlua Clan was allowed to cultivate it.

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Looking at the burning sword, Levi calmly stood on the other side of the stage. His golden hair fluttering in the wind, while his right hand was on the sword at his waist. He then stepped forward and assumed a particular sword stance. In that sword stance, the center of gravity of his body was shifted to the front, allowing him to unleash a formidable strength in the blink of an eye.

While assuming that stance Levi closed his eyes and focused on sensing the small changes in his environment, like the vibrations of the stage of the small gales of air that were created by Lentz. This method allowed him to react even faster to changes during the battle and also allowed him a certain sense of foresight.

Lentz was unaware of all that. This was one of the negative aspects of his fiery temper. He would always storm ahead without thinking or analyzing the situation first. He was wild and unrestrained like his inner flame.

Lentz only realized that something was off after he heard a clap of thunder. In that instant, he saw Levi vanish for a second, only to reappear shortly after with his eyes open and while sheathing his sword. He barely twisted his body to the sight, reacting purely on instinct.

Before he could do anything else, Lentz looked down and saw a gaping wound on his torso! Levi had moved so fast that he did not even had the chance to react. The only reason he was still standing right now was because his body instinctively reacted to the sudden sense of danger. This was the first time Lentz really shocked, his own pride and confidence now riddled with cracks.

He knew that Levi was monstrously strong, but he and Levi were worlds apart, which he had not expected. He considered himself as strong and even if he was not as strong as Levi, he would still have a chance, but this one exchange already dealt a huge to blow his confidence. This realization hurt and even though he was shaken to the core, he would not give up easily.

Levi on the other hand smiled innocently and assumed the same pose as last time. This was the signature sword technique of the Azure Dragon Sect, Five Phases of the Azure Dragon, that could only be cultivated by those that possessed the Azure Dragon bloodline. The Five Phases of the Azure Dragon imitated the movements of an Azure Dragon that roamed the seas and the heavens and was focused on immense speed.

Now that Lentz knew of Levi’s move, he had to interrupt the latter before he finished his sword stance. With that in mind, Lentz pushed his spiritual energy to its limits, increasing the strength of the flames on his sword and focused the spiritual energy in his legs to raise his speed to the limit.

If he wanted to interrupt Levi he had to be even quicker. But that was easier said than done, especially with the shock still lying deep inside his bones. Aside of this, Lentz forte wasn’t speed, it was raw strength.

Under normal circumstances, Lentz overwhelmed his opponents with his overbearing spiritual energy and flame energy directly crushing them and not leaving them any room to operate. Such a strategy worked if was evenly matched or stronger than his opponent, but the moment his advantage vanished, he had a great disadvantage and this showed.

Even though Lentz did his best to be faster than Levi and pushed his spiritual energy to the limit that even minuscule cracks appeared on his meridians, he still could not close the gap between them in time. With another clap of thunder came another gaping wound on his upper body.

If the first exchange was like a sledge hammer that left cracks on his confidence then the second exchange directly shattered his confidence.

Looking at the calm Levi that once again sheathed his sword, Lentz finally felt afraid. In a life and death battle he was sure that Levi could kill him in an instant.

Contrary to what everyone thought, Lentz still did not surrender. Though shaken, Lentz managed to gather enough strength to not give up. Soon after, the fear turned a rage that burned fiercely. This was naturally seen by Dyetz who was already sweating profusely. Even he was shocked by the strength and potential that Levi showed. But he was even more pleased that Lentz did not give up without a fight.

Seeing that he could not reach Levi, even if he put everything he had into raising his speed, Lentz abandoned this method and instead chose a brute-force method that fit him more.

He then channeled his spiritual energy according to the special pattern of the third stage of the Great Art of the Flames, a stage he had never used before. The heat around him instantly skyrocketing. For the first time since the start of the battle, even Levi finally looked serious, the smile gone from his face.

Of all the people, only Dyetz immediately noticed what Lentz was trying to do and sprang up in shock, startling the other elders in the VIP lounge. He… when did he learn the third stage, Momentous Combustion?! And why is he using this technique now, is he trying to get himself killed? This is not something he can use at his cultivation level. Goddamn, what is going through his head?!

Dyetz naturally knew the Great Art of Flames, having cultivated it to the fourth stage, and this was precisely the reason why he was shocked now. The third stage created a domain where fire reigned supreme, a domain where everything in a certain radius was burned to ashes by ferocious flames. But the entry level to that stage normally was the late Energy Overflow stage at the earliest.

Anyone below that level could either not even ignite a blade of grass or would produce a flame domain that was out of control, threatening to destroy even the user. Flames were ferocious and wild by nature, insufficient control often spelled certain doom for flame cultivators. This was the greatest taboo of flame cultivators: to be swallowed by their own flames.

Lentz, however, did not care about anything of that. Influenced by his rage and shame, his only thought was to not get down without a fight. He could not bare to show such a pathetic fight that shamed not only him, but also the Hunlua Clan. Thus he pushed his common sense to the back of his mind, while the heat around him reached unimaginable heights.

Even the stage showed signs of being melted away by the overbearing heat. A five meter radius around Lentz quickly turned into a hell-scape, with flames weaving in and out of existence in inconsistent patterns that showed the instability of the flame domain.

Shouting in pain, Lentz felt the whole brunt of his own flame domain, but ultimately, he barely managed to conjure the flame domain. He directed his gaze at the golden haired boy opposite to him and pounced forward. The flame domain around him naturally followed, but fluctuated even stronger, on the brink of exploding or extinguishing.

Feeling the immense heat, Levi quickly backed off. Should he come to close to that flame domain, Levi was sure that even he would be burned to a crisp. While jumping backwards, Levi suddenly sneered and roared.

This roar was accompanied by a berserk explosion of spiritual energy and another kind of energy that exerted mountain-like pressure on the advancing Lentz. This was the bloodline pressure of the Azure Dragon blood, a royal bloodline that was known throughout the Four Divine Symbol Continent!

Instead of a human shout, the roar sounded like the enraged roar of an Azure Dragon that proudly flew through the sky and sea. In front of such a roar, all living beings had to prostate themselves on the ground.

Already having trouble to stabilize the flame domain, Lentz immediately spat out buckets of blood. The pressure of the Azure Dragon blood was too great for him to bear in his injured state. Even in his prime, he would probably be rendered motionless.

Although defeated, Lentz weakly smiled, while lying flat on the ground, his body burned black on many places. In the end, he had to use his Azure Dragon blood to defeat me. I can be proud of that. With that last thought he immediately lost consciousness.