Hero of Darkness

Chapter 1303: Fiery Banquet

The first envoy leading the army of the united forces of the Rakos and Abyss empires was now being weighed by the hosts from the Nadur Empire. And the proposition came from none other than the Heavenly King of Metal, one of the top 5 powerhouses of the entire Beast Empire.

Although they had figured out that the whole spar thingy was already a preplanned set of events… the guests had to preserve their own pride as well as the empires they represented.

And as soon as one of the three hooded people raised his hand and declared that he accepted the challenge, everyone looked at him with a shocked countenance.

“Youngest, are you sure?” asked the snakekin saint.

The only noticeable thing about this person was the violet horns coming out of this person’s hood, while the face remained veiled under a mask.

“I am. It is better than making a scene with saints going all out.

Besides… the journey will be long and boring. I need to stretch some muscle.” replied the hooded person.

“Ah, you should not get tangled in these petty squabbles. They mean nothing.” said another hooded person on the left.

[Who are these people? I cannot even sense what rank they are.] spoke Jaro to his son.

[I do not know, father. I thought they were just some underlings among the entourage.

Well, be as it may… they will embarrass themselves nonetheless.] replied the son.

Both their figures were 3 meters tall due to their species, and the aura around them revealed their majestic lineage.

However, the envoy felt neither oppressed nor a hint of fear.

“Fine. Do as you wish.” said the last of the hooded people.

Soon, a declaration about the friendly spar was spread among the attendees of the banquet, and the atmosphere suddenly turned cheerful as well as ecstatic.

People soon left the middle area of the banquet hall empty and started circling it as if forming an arena.

“Send your best warriors.” spoke the hooded person.

“Sure. But do know that no use of mana or class skills is allowed. This spar is about the warrior’s pure combat skills.” said Jaro.

“Never said no to a fair fight.” responded the hooded person and walked to the centre of the room.

Jaro also looked to his right, and his sight landed on a skilled warrior of his tribe.

The warrior bowed as he understood the look and soon approached the centre of the hall, facing the hooded man.

“WOAAHHH!!”

“FIGHT! FIGHT!!”

“Let’s show them who we are!”

One after another, the people of the Beast Empire, comprised of several beastmen species, bellowed in excitement.

They had expensive food in their bellies, fine mead in their hands, and now they were getting free entertainment through this spar.

What reason did they have to not get excited?

The circling crowd soon saw a couple of mages surrounding both contestants and creating a suppression barrier.

“This shall stop you from using mana, world energy, or any of your class skills.

Compete only with your own strength and skills.” spoke one of the mages who belonged to a bird-like species.

The warrior of the black panther tribe soon looked at the hooded person and spoke…

“Just to clarify, I am a 4th-stage saint. Admit defeat if you cannot even withstand a single blow from me.” he revealed with a prideful grin.

“I would rather not kill you if you’re too weak.”

To his warning, the man under the cloak and hood replied calmly…

“Trust me… I should be the one saying those words.”

The mood suddenly turned tense as the black pantherkin summoned a war axe from his space ring while the hooded man quickly summoned a trident.

Shing!

Just the aura of the black and golden trident alone suppressed the pressure created by the suppression barrier itself.

“Calm down. We have to fight with only pure strength,” spoke the hooded person as if he was speaking to the trident.

The next moment, the aura emitted by the trident lowered and then completely disappeared, resembling any other normal weapon.

After noticing this scenario, even Jaro was left with an incredulous countenance.

“That is a Legendary-rank weapon. It is even stronger than the one I wield.

That aura it revealed resembles that of a dragon.”

“What?! How can that be?!

A mere envoy has a weapon of that caliber? Who the hell is this person?” asked Jaro’s son with his eyes wide open in shock.

“Perhaps we acted too rashly. We should have gauged their individual abilities first instead of asking for a public spar.” said Jaro as he regretted his decision.

It was right then…

“Do not worry. He won’t kill your warrior. But I cannot guarantee that the latter won’t be ashamed for the rest of his life,” spoke another one of the hooded persons from the envoy.

And before they could continue their conversation, within the suppression barrier…

“WARRGGHHH!” shouted the pantherkin and charged at the hooded opponent.

He swung his axe horizontally from the right and aimed for the opponent’s open side.

Grab!

However, before the axe even hit the intended mark… the hooded man simply stretched out his left palm and grabbed the blade of the axe with his palm.

“Is that it? Your attack was so obvious; your momentum didn’t even reach its full extent, and the swing was… weak.” he said, and the next moment…

Shatter!!

The metallic blade broke into several pieces.

Swoosh!

The pantherkin retracted and switched to the other side of the blade of the axe, his battle senses on high alert.

[What the hell was that? We both should be reverted to our physical strength only. Yet he broke my unique rank weapon with his bare palm?] he asked himself.

He did not dare to underestimate his opponent any longer just because their strength was restricted.

“Take my axe!” he shouted and lunged high in the air, gathering all his strength in a powerful vertical slash attack while building full momentum.

This time, the defending opponent did not even move a step back and simply swung his trident towards the incoming axe.

Bang!

Crumble!

A massive shockwave sent everyone a step back as the two weapons clashed. However, before they could absorb what happened…

The war axe crumbled to pieces as the pantherkin had his jaw dropped on the floor in disbelief.

“Impossible! What trick did you use?!” he asked with befuddlement.

“Trick? I don’t use tricks.” said the opponent and took off his hood, revealing a handsome ashen-haired warrior with yellow slanted eyes.

“I just swung my trident very hard.” spoke the man, still masked.

“You… what is your name?” asked Jaro from outside of the barrier.

To his query, the warrior finally took off his mask and his entire cloak as he replied sterly…

“My name is… Rudra.”