Chapter 123: Greater Monsters
Five days passed in a blur of training, strategy sessions, and Clara’s frustrated screaming echoing through the hotel basement as she tried to force gravity to obey her.
Now it was time.
The Stadium of Ascension was packed beyond capacity. Extra seating had been added. People stood in the aisles, crammed against walls, climbing on each other’s shoulders. The energy in the air was suffocating. Every person in that stadium understood what they were about to watch.
The terrain had been reset one final time. A natural balanced terrain — lakes reflecting the evening sky, clusters of ancient trees, rocky mountains rising at the edges, and open grassland rolling between it all. It was a little bit of everything. No single ability type had an overwhelming advantage. No single terrain favored a single element.
The two teams walked out from opposite tunnels.
Chinese Vanguard Institute emerged first. Six figures in crimson and gold uniforms trimmed with dragon motifs. They moved with the quiet confidence of an undefeated team that had demolished every opponent they’d faced.
Wei Chen His presence alone made the air feel heavy.
Liang Feng.
Behind them walked Ryu Yichen. The Ryu Clan prodigy.
Bao Lei brought up the rear with Li Yang and Liu Jiang — the two fighters whose data had been missing from every public record.
Lucian’s eyes flared gold.
Li Yang. 23 years old. Mid Core Realm. S-Rank Summoning.
S-Rank Summoning. Damn. A summoner.
Liu Jiang. 23 years old. Mid Core Realm. A-Rank Barrier Creation.
Barrier Creation. So she’s the crystal defender.
Lucian turned to Arthur. The captain was watching the Chinese team with cold, calculating eyes.
"Arthur." Lucian’s voice was low. "Two of those fighters are unknowns. One is an S-Rank Summoner. The other is an A-Rank Barrier user. They were hiding them."
Arthur’s frown deepened. He listened without looking away from the Chinese team.
"I’ll handle Wei Chen with Nadia’s enhancement. Mickey — Liang Feng is yours. Carlos — you have to hold off the summoner even if you can’t defeat him. Hold him. Don’t let him complete a summoning ritual."
Carlos cracked his knuckles. "Understood."
"Lucian." Arthur’s eyes finally shifted. "You go for their crystal. Based on their former matches, the Ryu clan prodigy will likely protect the crystal alongside the barrier user. So you’ll have to face both of them."
Lucian nodded. "Understood."
Arthur looked at each member of his team.
"This match will push us to the limit," Arthur said quietly. "Even as one of the best academies, these guys we’re about to fight are monsters. But we’re going to prove that we are even greater monsters than they are."
A few minutes passed. The referee — the same Grand Core Realm man with the golden eyes — stepped to the center of the arena. He raised his hand. The stadium fell silent.
"Five days ago, forty-eight academies entered this tournament. Today, only two remain."
His voice echoed across the the natural terrain, rolling across the lakes, bouncing off the mountains.
"Final match of the International Champions League. Chinese Vanguard Institute versus European All-Star Academy. Six versus six. Protect your crystal. Destroy theirs. Thirty-minute limit."
He paused.
"Let the better team win."
His hand dropped.
"Begin."
Nadia’s voice rose immediately.
"Ancient Amplification."
Green light exploded from her palms and washed over all six EASA fighters. The enhancement hit Lucian like a warm wave. His muscles filled with power. His mana capacity surged. His spell output spiked. Every physical stat boosted by 1.3x.
Arthur’s metal armor shifted and thickened across his body — shoulders, chest, arms, legs — turning him into a walking fortress of living metal. He reached into shadow storage and pulled out his weapon for the first time in the tournament as he charged forward.
An A-Rank spear — seven feet long, the shaft made of condensed metal, the spearhead gleaming with a razor edge that hummed with stored kinetic energy. He spun it once and leveled it at Wei Chen.
"Going somewhere?" Arthur said flatly.
Wei Chen drew his sword.
The blade slid from the scabbard with a sound like a ringing bell. Shiiiing. The sound cut across the natural terrain, silencing birds, freezing the crowd.
Wei Chen looked at Arthur with a smirk.
"You are far too weak to be my opponent."
Arthur’s expression didn’t change. "We’ll see about that."
He launched himself forward again.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Arthur crossed the grassland in three explosive steps. The ground cracked beneath him. He closed the distance to Wei Chen in under two seconds.
Wei Chen’s sword came up.
Shiiing.
The clash was cataclysmic.
CLAAAAAAANG.
The impact sent a shockwave rippling outward. Grass flattened in a perfect circle around them. The lake nearest to them erupted, water spraying upward like a geyser. Birds scattered screaming into the sky.
Arthur’s spear met Wei Chen’s sword. Metal screamed against metal. The shockwave traveled up both weapons and into both fighters’ arms. Arthur’s arms burned with absorbed kinetic energy. Wei Chen’s sword arm bled.
Wei Chen’s smirk didn’t fade. If anything, it deepened.
"Stronger than expected," he said, pushing harder. "But this will not be enough."
His sword intent intensified. The pressure in the arena tripled. Arthur’s metal armor groaned under the weight of it.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
Arthur was pushed back. His boots carved furrows in the grass. He stabilized — feet sliding, spear planted — and pushed back.
"You fight like a man protecting something," Wei Chen said, advancing. "I respect that. But the gap between us is not something you can overcome with willpower alone."
Arthur spat blood from a split lip. "Shut up and fight."
They clashed again. Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang. Wei Chen’s sword moved like water — fluid, unpredictable, each strike aimed at joints, tendons, vital points. Arthur’s spear was solid, defensive, designed to intercept and redirect. He held. Barely.
Swoosh. Swoosh. Scream — a distant civilian who got too close to the stadium edge and was dragged away by security.
Arthur parried a strike meant for his throat, redirected it, and sent Wei Chen sliding sideways across the grass.
Wei Chen laughed. Actually laughed. "Better. Much better."
He leveled his sword. The blade began to glow with condensed sword intent. The air around him warped.
"I can’t have you interfering with the others." Arthur growled, spinning his spear. "So we’ll have our own showdown here."
Wei Chen laughed again. He finally fully unsheathed his sword — the full blade was longer than a normal longsword, ancient symbols carved along the flat of the blade, glowing with condensed sword intent that made the air itself flinch.
Then he vanished.
Crack.
Arthur’s instincts screamed. He raised his spear. The blade missed his heart by two inches, slicing across his metal armor and drawing a line of blood across his chest.
Arthur grunted. Blood ran down his metal chest plate. He swung back. Wei Chen ducked and cut across his thigh.
Crack.
"I can’t have you interfering with the others," Wei Chen repeated Arthur’s words back at him mockingly. "So I’ll just cripple you first. Then I’ll take the crystal at my leisure."
Arthur’s eyes burned.
Meanwhile,
Mickey and Lucian moved the moment Arthur attacked Wei Chen.
They sprinted across the grassland, cutting across the terrain toward the distant glow of China’s crystal. Behind them, Carlos split off toward the left, heading for the summoner.
Carlos reached the summoner first.
Li Yang stood on a rocky outcrop, hands already moving through a summoning ritual — hands drawing symbols in the air that glowed red. The symbols hung in the air like burning glyphs.
Carlos set him on fire.
"Change your mind about that ritual?"
Li Yang’s eyes widened surprised they knew about his ability. He abandoned the ritual and threw himself sideways as Carlos’s fire blast scorched the rock he’d been standing on.
Crack. Sizzle. Bam.
"Come back here, coward!" Carlos roared, launching another fire blast.
Li Yang ran. Carlos chased him.
Meanwhile, Mickey and Lucian reached the Chinese crystal.
Protecting it were three figures.
Liang Feng stood at the front, feet bare on the grass, earth shifting subtly beneath her. She watched Mickey and Lucian approach with flat, dead eyes.
Liu Jiang stood to her right, hands raised, barriers already shimmering in the air around the crystal.
And Ryu Yichen stood to the left. Crimson scales rippled across his skin as his partial dragon transformation intensified. His golden eyes locked onto Mickey with predatory interest.
Mickey stopped thirty meters from the crystal and grinned.
"Are you not going to attack our crystal?"
Liu Jiang replied with a confident smirk. "Wei Chen is enough for our attack."
Mickey’s grin widened. "He’s currently being held back by our captain. All we just have to do is defeat you guys."
Ryu Yichen’s golden eyes shifted to Lucian. He assessed him with a predator’s patience. "Are you dumb? You think your captain can hold off Wei Chen? What a joke."
Mickey then says, "Lucian, are you listening to this lizard?"
Ryu’s eyes narrowed. His partial dragon transformation intensified. Scales spread across his body — spreading across his chest, his arms, his jaw. His muscles doubled in size. His height increased by four inches. His golden eyes slitted like a snake’s.
He charged at Mickey.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Each footstep cracked the ground. The grass flattened in his wake. He drew back a scaled fist and swung at Mickey’s head.
Lucian moved.
He stepped between Ryu and Mickey in a blur. His hand came up and caught Ryu’s fist in his palm.
Bam.
The impact sent a shockwave across the grass. The ground beneath Lucian’s feet cratered. His feet sank six inches into the earth.
But he didn’t move an inch.
Ryu stared. His golden eyes went wide with disbelief.
From the information they had on Lucian, he was still at the Early Core Realm. But what he was seeing right now was totally different. This dude was at the Mid Core Realm. And he could block a full-strength punch from a dragon-blooded fighter without flinching.
"How?" Ryu growled.
Mickey from the side then says, "Thank you, Lucian".
Mickey was already moving.
Lightning crackled around his fists. Fire swirled around his legs. He hit Liu Jiang like a thunderbolt.
Crack. Bam. Boom.
Liu Jiang threw her hands up. An earth wall erupted from the ground — rumble, crack — absorbing the fire. But the lightning slipped through a gap in the earth. It hit her shoulder.
"Aaaahhh—"
Liu Jiang staggered, clutching her smoking shoulder.
Mickey pressed the attack. Fire fist. Lightning uppercut. A spinning back kick loaded with both elements.
Crack. Bam. Crack.
Liu Jiang raised another earth wall. Mickey’s fire melted through it. His lightning punch shattered what was left.
"Nnngh—"
She stumbled backward toward the crystal, trying to reform her defenses. Mickey chased her relentlessly, fire and lightning screaming around his fists like a living storm.
Lucian looked back at Ryu. His crimson eyes glowed.
"You seem quite weak for a lizard."
Ryu’s face twisted with rage. Scales rippled across his face. His jaw extended slightly, teeth sharpening into fangs.
Lucian squeezed his fist. Ryu’s knuckles cracked.
"Let go of me, you fucker."
Lucian smiled and let go.
Ryu stumbled backward, cradling his broken knuckles. His golden eyes burned with humiliation