Chapter 1439 (2/2)

As with the prior match, Huang Li produced a stool. “Please sit, grandfather.”

“Hmph, after walking so boldly out in front of me, now you suddenly remember your manners?” Huang Shou replied lightly, but he sat down with a heavy glance toward his grandson. Huang Li didn’t bother to return the look and instead straightened. There was a cool wind that brushed against his face. Rolling his shoulders, he walked out to the middle of the arena alone.

To his surprise, the infernal bear Chrysanthemum lumbered off to the side and settled down on her belly, opposite Huang Shou, leaving small scorch marks on the edge of the arena in the process.

“Is this pity?” Huang Li asked bluntly as he glanced at Thea Glasshammer. He didn’t think most people would know of the political struggles of his Zone Seven, but he wouldn’t put it past the Nemesai to dip their toes into the edges of every pool.

Yet Thea Glasshammer ignored him entirely; she simply stared at the prone form of the bear with very red eyes.

“Are you both ready?” The judge from the Order Ducis carefully asked, looking between the two of them. The crowd, too, seemed confused by the situation. But Thea slowly turned around and nodded, after sparing one glance upward toward the silver isle of the Ghosthound.

Suddenly understanding that some other force was at work here, Huang Li also nodded with great care. He drew his wodao and calmed his heart. His image stirred again, slowly circling the arena. One foe was doable. Another win would put them into the top 256, solely on the strength of their glorious leaders. There was no need for the conservative faction to move at all.

From there... Then Huang Li shook his head. ‘From there’ he would worry about tomorrow. Today, he would fight the foe in front of him.

“Then… begin!” The judge announced.

Huang Li twisted his feet and launched himself forward. That slight wind in the surroundings began to stir. His sword cut horizontally without a sound, the sharp blades of air around the strike just as dangerous as the blade itself. Flood Dragon Across the Reeds.

Thea ignored the strike, raising her hammer and gathering a horrible, destructive image into her body. She a broken vase, leaking out hatred and an ominous regret that dyed the surrounding air orange. Right as Huang Li’s attack was about to land, she exploded into motion and brought her hammer crashing down through his attack. The blades of wind were blasted apart and her hammer smashed into the ground at something close to its full force.

Cracks quickly radiated outward, but Huang Li practically glided over the damaged ground, his sword cutting left and right with vicious quickness. Thea’s expression soured and she simply oppressed Huang Li’s Skills with her raw image. That orange light continued to leak out of her eyes and from her skin, sapping his strikes of their strength to the point that they harmlessly rippled against Thea’s leather armor.

“I don’t have time for you,” Thea growled, gathering even more of her image to herself. Red lightning crackled around her limbs. She raised her hammer high once more, the heavy weapon radiating a terrible sense of loss and grief. “A minor character like you… You are not my opponent.”

Before Thea whipped her hammer downward, she abruptly stomped her foot and released another paralyzing wave. With his attention drawn upward by the gathering power, the stomp Skill caught Huang Li unaware and pinned his movements for a split second. Gritting his teeth, he had no choice but to raise his wodao and resist her strike directly as she brought her hammer viciously down.

No use in regretting, the mistake was made. He spun the weapon into a backhand grip and lay the blade along his forearm. He squeezed every drop of Willpower he could spare to fuel his Skill. His eyes were bright and narrowed. Tortoise Holds its Breath.

BOOOOOOOM!

The arena shook. Sweat dripped rapidly down Huang Li’s brow as he struggled to resist the hungry waves of Thea’s image. The ground beneath his feet cracked and he felt the joints of his arm groan and pop from the strain. Thea’s red-rimmed gaze bored into him, then turned and looked upward once more.

Within Huang Li’s heart, something snapped into place. The strain on his face gradually vanished, even as he was being forced backward. This is all… waves upon the shore… ceaseless…

As the stone stage beneath him collapsed, he could no longer maintain his footing. Huang Li was smashed into the ground by Thea Glasshammer’s strike without any further resistance. Bits of the stage exploded outward, leaving him crumpled in a small crater.

But as the audience quieted and peered down to see what was happening, Huang Li trembled and then forced himself to stand. “A minor character… that might be true.”

His images stirred. As Huang Li straightened, an azure dragon rose with his sword, twining its body along the shimmering length. The surrounding wind began to howl. At this point, his image had completely surrounded the arena. Huang Li’s eyes were bright as he wiped the blood from his mouth and considered Thea. “But all countries are built on the backs of minor characters such as I. Do not underestimate the humble power of a single human being.”

The azure dragon raised its head and howled at the sky.