Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 856: Anticlimactic

Asher felt the earth beneath his feet once more, his purple eyes fluttering open to the familiar Coliseum. The moment they opened, a wave of chants slammed into his ears at lightning speed.

“ARIANNA!!!”

“HAELLIGHT!!!”

“ARIANNA!!!”

“CHILD OF THE STAR!!!”

“ASHER!!!”

“ASHER!!!”

“WARGRAVE!!!”

“FINCH!!!”

“FINCH!!!”

The two million live spectators shouted at the top of their lungs as only these three names left their mouths. Asher wasn’t the main star this time around. Although he still received admiration for his ridiculous feats, people knew that Arianna was the one who had eliminated students at an astonishing speed to bring the round to a close. Hence, they screamed her name as though their lives depended on it.

As for Finch, he had given people the biggest shock they had ever experienced. They were stunned to see him summon a Grave-class Goblin named Lior, then watched him shapeshift into a snake before wrapping his body around his summon’s neck.

“FINCH!! HOW MANY ABILITIES DO YOU HAVE?” one of the live attendants screamed at the top of his lungs.

“HOW STRONG IS YOUR GOBLIN?” another shouted as they gazed at Lior, who stood without a single injury.

“CAN YOU SHAPESHIFT INTO ANYTHING WITHOUT LIMITATIONS?” another asked… although the question sounded a bit weirder than genuine.

Asher could feel the excitement in the air as the ground beneath his feet trembled. Camera flashes erupted nonstop as the media and paparazzi immediately went into work mode. Asher didn’t say a word; he was already accustomed to scenes like this.

‘It seems Arianna was the one who eliminated all the students,’ Asher thought to himself, his eyes shifting in her direction. He couldn’t understand why she had done so, as she didn’t come across as that type of person. But after thinking about it for a while, he simply shook his head with a faint smile and sigh, realizing she had beaten him to his own plan.

His eyes shifted toward Finch, and he could see the crowd had gone completely frenzy over him. The moment Asher’s purple eyes landed on him, he was stunned to see a small snake shapeshift back into Finch.

‘Isn’t that the Goblin I fought at the Rivelle Barony?’ Asher thought to himself as his eyes landed on the Goblin standing beside Finch. He wondered when Finch had suddenly acquired both a shapeshifting ability and a summoning ability. His eyes narrowed slightly as he remembered that Lior was the one who possessed a shapeshifting ability.

‘It seems that’s Lior posing as a Monster,’ Asher mused inwardly. ‘I wonder if his ability can fool even Crownstar Life Rankers,’ he thought as he wondered whether they would be able to see through the disguise.

Not that it mattered if they did. After all, Positive Emovirae like Lior were always welcomed by everyone, and quite a few Nobles even possessed Positive Emovirae of their own.

“It seems Arianna Haellight usurped your plan,” Teo Swig spoke with an amused smile, although deep down he was somewhat annoyed.

He had just gotten the perfect opportunity to fight without getting injured or losing Vitality Points, only to be teleported away because the round had already ended. Why wouldn’t he be frustrated?

But alas, there was nothing he could do except swallow his emotions. Confront Arianna? Well… that certainly wasn’t going to happen, as he knew his place. Besides, she hadn’t broken any rules.

“At least I was saved the stress and hassle,” Asher replied with a shake of his head.

Around them, the various participants wiped beads of sweat from their foreheads as they sighed in relief, grateful that they had qualified. They were covered in soot and dust, although their clothes remained untorn and their bodies were completely free of injuries, thanks to the energy that had been cloaking them throughout the round.

With a single thought, Asher dispersed the Star Energy covering Teo Swig, as there was no need to maintain it any longer now that the round had ended.

Asher’s eyes rose toward the sky to look for the names of the remaining sixteen participants, but there were no names displayed.

As Asher gazed upward, Thomasinho and AlyxAtlas floated down from above, microphones already in their hands.

“I have to say… that was sort of anticlimactic,” Thomasinho stated, his tone carrying a hint of disappointment.

“I share the same feeling. Not even five hours have passed since the round began. We couldn’t even make it past the second wave, and now it’s already over. This has to be some kind of record,” AlyxAtlas followed up with a shake of her head.

One didn’t need to think too deeply to realize that the two commentators probably knew what Classes and Ranks of enemies were going to be unleashed during the third and fourth waves. Judging from their expressions, they had genuinely been looking forward to witnessing them. The second wave had already been a nightmare for many; only the stars knew just how terrifying the third wave would have been.

The crowd also reacted to their words, but they weren’t too disappointed. After all, the revelations during this second round had been immense. Numerous abilities and skills that contestants had deliberately kept hidden during the first round were finally revealed here. So although the round ended in an anticlimactic fashion, unlike the first round, which had concluded perfectly, the audience could still understand why things had unfolded this way.

Besides, while many wanted to blame Arianna’s teammate, they had far more exciting things to focus on.

“As sixteen students have automatically qualified for the next and final round, the rankings won’t be displayed this time around. Although I’m certain that almost all of you are already familiar with the scores,” AlyxAtlas stated once more.

The students didn’t complain or object. They simply nodded in agreement. They already knew Asher was the top-ranked participant. After all, his team’s name made it painfully obvious. On top of that, he had once again accumulated a ridiculous number of points, nearly doubling the gap between himself and the second-place team, Arianna’s.

Which was understandable, considering Arianna had spent most of her time hunting students, whereas Asher had been hunting Rank 7 beings and numerous other Monsters without pause.

“Now then, the next round, which is the third and final round, is set to begin ten hours from now,” Thomasinho announced. “Within those ten hours, all of you will be fully healed, your stamina will be restored, and you will be given time to rest. You will also be taken to a special location where your depleted Astra Energy can recover as quickly as possible,” he explained.

Almost all sixteen students immediately sighed in relief, having feared that the next round would begin immediately after this one ended. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case, as the Inter-Empire Competition organizers had been considerate enough to provide them with sufficient recovery time. After all, participants like Teo Swig and Zis Zaitsu had been unleashing one devastating attack after another without restraint.

“That will be all for now. Recover as quickly as possible, because in the next ten hours we shall witness…” AlyxAtlas began to speak once again before raising her voice… “TRUE PEAK!”

The moment those words left her lips, thunderous cheers erupted throughout the entire Coliseum. Everyone already knew what was coming next. Even the dumbest person on the planet could guess that the next battle would be a one-on-one showdown. And for the spectators, this was the best possible outcome. One genius against another, with every skill and every ability displayed in full.

Expectations soared, adrenaline surged through the crowd, and everyone quickly forgot about the anticlimactic ending of the second round, for they knew they would never experience something like that in the final round.