Chapter 9: Three Way Battle

Complete and utter silence.

Elita's body made a slight sound as she unconsciously fell on the stage. Strictly speaking, at that moment, Talhera, the main judge of the competition, should have called for the end of the fight and declared Zax the winner. Nevertheless, her expression was too stunned and stiff for her throat to issue a sound and her mouth to make the pronunciation.

Not just the crowd of spectators, backers and participant were shaken by the abrupt and unassuming manner in which Zax defeated Elita.

At least eleven of the fourteen elders, who were the minor judges of the competition, were looking at the fighting stage, where Elita was supposed to dazzle everyone with her prominent spear technique, and a perplexed look was plastered on their faces.

The fourteen elders were all third level Core Master or above. Observing from their honorable seats that were only second to the Supreme Rulers', each and every one of them saw and understood how Zax brought down Elita. But it was this very understanding that caused them to be all the more shocked than the regular spectators.

Frankly, it was not how Zax proficiently transmitted the Soul Binding formation that had the elders captivated by his performance, but how nimble was a single step of his that could only be considered as a leisure nudge of a few toes.

Zax's one move to cover the distance between him and Elita indicated two staggering things. First, his control of the body was probably not inferior to that of a third realm expert. Second, the full power he could generate was most likely not weaker than any of the eleven shocked elders.

The only three elders who still maintained a composed front were superintendent Ten and the elderly female third realm expert. One was already familiar with Zax's capabilities to a profound degree and the other was pleasantly surprise by the younger generation. As for the third elder, the handsome best bodily cultivator in Kingdom Earth, his eyes viewed Zax coldly and nothing more.

...

"Talhera", a soft and amiable voice instigated the return of sounds to the hall.

Talhera lifted her head and received a gentle nod from Supreme Ruler Trey. Only she, Supreme Ruler Ariel and Supreme Ruler Ar Yen did not have any reaction for the fight.

Grasping the meaning behind the small gesture, Talhera's composed demeanor of a main judge recovered.

"Winner, Zax!" She declared, and as if assuring everyone that the prompt battle was indeed genuine, she opened the gates for all the spectators to acclaim excitedly.

"Wooah! So fights like this can still occur even in the Martial competition?!" Someone exclaimed.

"This guy ... Is he really the one the Molten Core people demeaned? Did someone just want to play a prank on Elita?" Another person wondered outloud a question that many asked themselves.

"The Black Thunder Yellow River Spear was broken with a mere poke to the head! Does anyone know what exactly happened?"

"It was a soul attack! Definitely a formidable soul attack!"

"Splendid! With ease and peace of mind, regardless of what Elita said, Zax triumphed splendidly!"

There was no rest to the hubbub. Every spectator came to cheer and favor a specific participant, but that did not prevent them from appreciating impressive displays of ability and strength. Moreover, receiving the winner with smiles as he returns from the fighting stage could also be useful to make good impressions and later form beneficial ties.

Of course, there were also those who felt dejection by Zax's easy win. Razil, Elia's backer and junior, figures who sided with Razil before or were competing through their representatives with Eden Formation for prestige and more ... Surprisingly, Neyrar was not one of the demoralized people. Razil, on the other hand, was having it worse than anyone else as the fear of Zax still after him, only intensified.

Zax returned to his seat as the chief representative, to his left and right he was being congratulated by his companions from Eden Formation.

"Senior Zax, you were amazing!" Susuya praised.

"Indeed, Zax, you finished the fight in a single move. Moreover, this Elita already took her stance and was in the midst of executing her spear technique when you struck. I doubt there is anyone here who is below the second level of the Core Master realm that could have done the same". Uri expanded more in his compliment.

"How it has been?" Anet asked. She was the only one who knew about Zax's true thoughts and his acknowledgment of the fact that he might not win the competition.

"It's still the first round and there are several who ended their fights without showing their real strength". Zax carefully said. Elita was weak in comparison to him, wining against her did not make him over confident. Seeing that his choice of words mildly changed Anet's expression, he retracted. "Still, if I were to pick my opponent, I would rather fight with one of these elders". He smiled and caressed her cheek with his thumb.

The first round of the competition continued. Eden Formation had two more representatives to participate before the round ends.

Susuya was up after Zax. Her opponent was the same as her, a pretty young first realm expert, a boy who represented both a great family and a reputable large company.

Don grimaced when the boy, Evan, entered the stage. She did not have a bad premonition or anything profound of the sort; it was only the presence of the boy that bothered her, and the smile on the elderly female third realm expert. For someone so young who has yet to break through the second realm, to participate in the Martial competition only signified that he had some unique of talent. Generally, this would mean that Evan and Susuya were in the same boat; both were in the Core Breaker level, with minute differences in the phases they were in, and both joined the competition due to their accomplishment in other fields than mist cultivation.

The instant the battle started in all four fighting stages, the two youngest participants currently engaging, Susuya and Evan, immediately displayed their personal expertise.

Dark white aura erupted around Evan, mist energy circulated outside of his body. Evan executed a soft formation that seemed to be only a small component in his technique, and following the drawing of a few quick seals, his circulating mist energy divided into two, four, eight and finally sixteen same size currents, each pair split to circulate around Evan in diverse flows.