Chapter 215: Semi-Finals
Chapter 215: Semi-Finals
The remaining matches of the Top 6 proceeded with thunderous intensity, and the semifinals had been decided.
"Top 3 have been decided!" Octavius announced, "Combined with our reigning Rank 1 who has been granted a bye throughout the preliminary rounds, we now have our four Semi-Finalists!"
The hundred thousand spectators erupted into a deafening roar that shook the whole plaza.
Names for the semi-final matches were revealed.
Semifinal 1: Rank 1, Zane versus Rank 6, Varrick
Semifinal 2: Rank 2, Elysar versus Rhain
A new wave of discussion exploded across the plaza.
"Zane is finally fighting! We get to see the number one disciple in action!"
"I’ve been waiting all day to see the King of the Inner Palace fight!"
"And Rhain versus Elysar? The monster versus the genius? This is going to be incredible!"
Up on the grand stage, Preceptor Krell leaned forward, his severe eyes gleaming with intense anticipation and pride.
Zane was his most cherished disciple.
For four relentless years, Krell had watched the young man push himself to the limits of his endurance, grinding his bones and bleeding for the sole purpose of entering the Core Palace.
Down in the arena, Zane stepped onto the arena.
He was tall, and lean, his dark hair pulled back into a simple knot, and strapped to his back was a long, silver-spear.
Zane had dominated the Inner Palace without a single challenger coming close. He had trained relentlessly, endlessly, sleeping no more than four hours a night and spending every remaining moment either in the Combat Chambers or under Preceptor Krell’s direct tutelage.
His singular obsession had always been to reach the Core Palace.
This was his final year. His last chance.
And now, after witnessing Rhain’s impossibly dominant march through the bracket, Zane understood with perfect clarity that the greatest obstacle between him and the Core Palace wasn’t Heavenly Ascendent Tower.
It was the dark-robed youth sitting calmly in the Gold Badge section.
Varrick swallowed dryly as he stepped onto the combat floor, gripping the weapon in his hand tightly.
Standing opposite him, Zane slowly reached behind his back.
With a fluid motion, he drew the spear free.
BOOM!
The instant his fingers closed around the shaft, Zane’s entire aura transformed.
It was no longer just the overwhelming pressure of a Level 7 Spirit Manifestation Realm expert.
A razor-sharp intent erupted from his body, slicing through the air like a blade.
Up on the stage, the Domain Masters and Half-Step Domain Masters sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.
"That is...!" Matriarch Seraphine revealed an expression of surprise.
"The nature of a Law! The embryonic form of Law comprehension!" Patriarch Thorian muttered, the same look of surprise clearly etched on his face.
To grasp the nature of the law while merely at the Spirit Manifestation Realm was a monstrous feat.
It meant his understanding of the spear had transcended mere technique and entered the realm of fundamental truth.
After understanding the nature of the law prematurely, Zane had already taken half a step to forge a Domain in the future.
Lucius’s amber eyes gleamed with a calculating light.
"Interesting," Lucius murmured. "He is a prodigy worth winning over."
"Begin!" Octavius roared.
The moment the command fell, Varrick did not hesitate for even a microsecond. He channeled every last drop of his essence, unleashing his ultimate Epic-Grade martial art in a desperate, preemptive strike.
Facing the attack, Zane wasn’t panicked at all.
"I apologize," Zane spoke to Varrick in a calm voice, "I cannot afford to waste a single drop of energy today."
Swoosh—!
Zane also thrust his spear forward.
A thin line of silver light extended from the spear’s tip.
It crossed the sixty feet separating them in less time than it took a heart to beat once.
BOOM!
The silent spear thrust met Varrick’s ultimate attack.
Like a hot knife slicing through butter, the silver spear effortlessly pierced Varrick’s attack, shattering it into countless scattered fragments of light.
The residual force of the thrust did not abate.
It struck Varrick squarely in the chest, shattering his protective barrier in a blink of an eye.
"Gah!" Varrick spurted a mouthful of blood.
The invisible force of the thrust lifted his entire body off the ground, sending him sailing backward through the air in a perfectly straight line.
Zane slowly lowered his silver spear, his expression indifferent, demonstrating exactly why he had been the undisputed king of the Inner Palace for four years.
"Winner: Zane! Advancing to the Finals!" Octavius announced, his voice filled with genuine admiration.
The plaza erupted into a thunderous ovation.
"ONE STRIKE! ZANE ENDED IT IN ONE STRIKE!"
"Did you see that thrust? I couldn’t even follow it with my eyes!"
"That’s the true power of the number one disciple!"
In the Gold Badge section, Rhain was calmly analysing his opponent.
Zane was indeed impressive.
Among all the opponents he had faced or observed in this tournament, Zane was unquestionably the most dangerous. His comprehension of the spear had reached a realm that transcended mere technical perfection.
As Zane calmly walked off the arena, Octavius turned his fierce gaze toward the remaining two competitors. "Second Semifinal! Rank 2, Elysar, versus Rhain Voss! Step into the ring!"
The murmurs in the crowd instantly hit a boiling point.
From the elite section, a young man with a serene expression walked onto the arena floor.
Elysar. The undisputed strongest disciple of the Array Division.
At the seventh level of Spirit Manifestation Realm, the exact same cultivation tier as Zane—he was widely considered the most tricky combatant in the entire Inner Palace.
Brute force meant nothing to him; his enemies were usually defeated before they even realized they had stepped into a trap.
He was the personal disciple of High Preceptor Aldren.
Up on the grand stage, High Preceptor Aldren sat a little straighter, a rare smile touching his usually impassive face as he watched his personal disciple take the field.
"Rhain," Elysar spoke, "I have watched your matches. I admit, in a direct, physical clash, or in a contest of raw martial arts execution, I am absolutely no match for you. Your physical prowess and movement arts are anomalous."
Elysar raised his hands, and several glowing runes appeared on his fingers.
"But I am an Array Master," Elysar continued, his eyes flashing with confidence. "And an Array Master never fights a battle on his opponent’s terms."
Rhain didn’t reply.
The truth would be revealed within a matter of seconds anyways.
"Begin!" Octavius roared.
The instant Octavius’s voice dropped off, Elysar shouted, "Seal."
Buzz—!
The arena instantaneously transformed. Countless glowing runic lines erupted from the ground, weaving together to form a colossal, luminous maze.
Thick, binding chains of glowing essence shot out from the ground, and the sky, crisscrossing the entire combat ring.
It was a pre-prepared, high-tier Epic-Grade combat array! The sheer complexity and flawless execution of the formation left the surrounding disciples dumbfounded.
"It’s over!" A Gold Badge disciple yelled in awe. "Once trapped inside Elysar’s domain-locking array, you can’t even take half a step without triggering a lethal elemental backlash!"
High Preceptor Aldren nodded slowly from the stage with a look of deep satisfaction.
"To deploy a complete Epic-Grade domain-locking array so flawlessly in the heat of combat... Elysar has truly surpassed my expectations," Aldren murmured, drawing nods of respect from the surrounding Preceptors, and making him proud.
Elysar stood safely outside the lethal zone of the array, a triumphant, elegant smile plastered on his face. He looked at Rhain, who was now entirely engulfed by the blinding runic lights.
"Your strength and speed are truly admirable," Elysar declared confidently, "But within a fully activated domain-locking array, raw physical strength and movement arts are completely useless! Every step you take will only bind you tighter. Surrender now, before the array breaks your bones!"
Hearing Elysar’s confident declaration, Rhain simply chuckled, "Is that so?"
Rhain didn’t even bother to activate his Eyes of Truth.
With a spiritual sea that was close to the Domain Master Realm, the flow of essence within the arena was as obvious to him as a glowing beacon in the dead of night.
His vast Spiritual Sense effortlessly swept through the hundreds of complex, overlapping runic lines, instantly tracing them back to their singular source.
He found the hidden, critical core node buried deep beneath the left side of the arena in a fraction of a millisecond.
Rhain casually raised his right hand.
Without using any profound martial art, he simply gave a casual wave of his hand, sending a concentrated pulse of essence directly toward the seemingly empty space to his left.
SWOOSH—!
The condensed essence tore through the air and struck the invisible core node with pinpoint accuracy.
CRACK!
A sharp sound, resembling that of a shattering glass echoed throughout the entire plaza.
In the next second, the entire high-tier Epic-Grade combat array collapsed, shattering into a million pieces of dissipating spiritual light like fragile glass.
"Impossible—!" Only a single word could rip through Elysar’s throat, the confident smile on his face vanishing instantly.
He didn’t even have time to process the impossibility of what had just occurred.
Because his ultimate array had been violently destroyed by force, the resulting energetic backlash exploded outward, directly impacting the array’s creator.
BANG!
The invisible shockwave slammed into his bod.
He vomited a mouthful of blood and was launched across the arena. He tumbled through the air in a graceless spiral, arms and legs flailing as the force carried him far, far beyond the boundary line, before crashing heavily onto the stone tiles outside the boundary.
High Preceptor Aldren’s proud smile completely froze on his face.
"Winner: Rhain Voss!" Octavius’s stunned voice finally echoed across the arena. "Advancing to the Finals!"