Chapter 368: Day One: The Right Switch

Kayden and Maliyah kept walking for a few more minutes. The forest remained quiet around them for a while until suddenly, Maliyah’s glowstone flared red.

“People” she said, stopping alarmingly and moving the casing holding the stone in the right direction.

At the same moment, Kayden stopped as well looking ahead at those approaching.

People in purple robes over grey cloaks emerged from between the trees, stepping into view with weapons drawn.

These were the champions of the continent Lomen. To be more specific, they were people of the kingdom Leantis.

There were four of them, each holding a different weapon. A massive warhammer with a head the size of a boulder. A greatsword nearly as tall as its wielder. A double-bladed axe with gleaming edges. And a spiked mace that looked heavy enough to crush stone.

Each weapon was at least three times the normal size of its natural counterpart. The people of Leantis specialized in weapon magic, and they had sent more champions than any other kingdom on their continent.

In truth, of the thirteen kingdoms that made up Lomen, only four had agreed to participate in the war. Leantis was one of them.

On this first stage alone, they accounted for fifteen of the forty representatives assigned to Lomen as a whole.

Maliyah took a stance as blue colored runes began around her arms. She was going to attempt to fight despite seeing how outnumbered she and Kayden were.

In that instant, white lightning burst from Kayden’s body, crackling outward in violent waves.

The champions of Lomen felt this tension that forced them into agitation. Then, one by one, they raised their weapons which became ignited in different hues of color, as magic surged through them.

And now, they were ready to charge.

However, Kayden disappeared in a flash, moving in streak of white lightning that cut through the space between them.

It moved in what looked like a single line of motion, passing through all four warriors in one fraction of a second.

The four of them froze mid-step, then their eyes rolled back into white, and they began to fall.

Kayden had aimed at their necks as he blitzed past them, and the force of the strike felt like lightning cutting through their heads.

This should have been enough to kill them under normal circumstances, which is why before their bodies even reached the ground, the safety system the gods set in place was triggered and the four of them vanished in a flash of light.

Instead of dying, they had been knocked out and sent from the field. Invariably Eliminated.

The lightning energy around Kayden settled as he glanced back toward Maliyah and muttered, “Like I said…”

He didn’t complete those words, she quickly understood. His steps then fell back into place as he continued moving forward.

Maliyah stood there in a daze. She hadn’t even seen him move.

It was so fast she wondered if it had happened in the brief period when her eyes completed a blink.

Back at the Valaross fortress, in Dragonhold’s hall, Oberon had turned his attention to the screen showing Kayden.

He watched how the elimination occurred and nodded in approval.

“Good one, Prince Kayden,” he said.

His son understood the assignment. Going for the kill would trigger the elimination system and make less of the work needed to defeat opponents.

At another corner of the hall, Innis watching the same screen had her lips curved into a subtle smile.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

——

Back on the far side of the field, where Katherine and Elena faced the beast tamers of the Anane continent, the battle had settled into a stalemate.

The winged hybrid flew in rapid arcs through the air, banking hard left and right as it weaved past several spheres of water chasing after it in rapid succession.

On the ground, Katherine and the hybrid sabertooth woman clashed in close quarters. The hybrid swung her claws in a wide arc, prompting Katherine to ducked beneath it before driving her shoulder into the hybrid’s midsection, forcing her back a step.

The hybrid snarled and retaliated with a downward strike. Katherine blocked with her sword, and the impact sending a shockwave through the dirt beneath her feet.

They pushed against each other, neither giving ground, before breaking apart and resetting their stances.

After what looked like a brief separation of the fighters, Elena’s platform of water hovered back toward Katherine.

“Captain…” Elena began, her eyes still watching her opponent.

Katherine followed without hesitation. “I see you’re thinking what I’m thinking, girl,” she said while also looking at her own opponent.

“Aye!” Elena said.

Katherine nodded. “Switch.”

Right then, they both crossed each other and were now staring at different approaching opponents. Elena at the hybrid sabertooth and Katherine at the hybrid winged man.

And both women of Ravens Grave lunged at their foes.

As Katherine raced toward the winged hybrid, he released a volley of feather darts. She swung her blade in one fluid motion without breaking stride, causing a blue arc of Qi wave that deflected the darts in a single go.

Then she closed the distance between them, transitioning into a sudden leap that made the winged hybrid’s eyes widen.

The hybrid moved to divert but it was too late because she had also swung her sword at the same time, using a technique: Shippu Hyaku.

The swordmanship technique, which was the lesser version of her sister’s Shippu Senjin, caused an instant hundred cuts in multiple directions toward the winged creature.

The several cuts of blue arcs made in multiple directions in one move of attack made it impossible for the winged hybrid to avoid all. And due to that, had sustained very powerful cuts to his skin that made him bleed from different parts.

A part of his wings had also been affected, making him unable to maintain flight, and falling from the skies subsequently.

–

On Elena’s side, her water platform carried her toward the approaching hybrid sabertooth.

In close proximity, the hybrid sabertooth swung her full right arm forward in an attempt to hit Elena out of her circular water platform. In response, Elena slanted her upperbody backward in such a way that the arm swing crossed over her entire body.

She straightened back up almost right away, raising both hands which conjured a magic circle beneath the sabertooth beast.

In the next instant, vast bodies of water formed underneath its footing and cascaded violently upward until they trapped the beast inside a sphere prison.

The sabertooth, now trapped, kept punching back at the water sphere but Elena held tight and long enough that soon it started to drown within the prison sphere.

The slamming at the walls of the prison became less and less as it was losing consciousness due to the drowning.

Elena held until the beast drowned completely and was ejected from the field.

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