***EXTRA LONG CHAP***

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Crimson barely had time to cross his arms to defend himself as the colossal palm struck.

The pink flames flashing here and there around his body sputtered and flickered under the assault, unable to fully withstand the raw, crushing force.

He was driven into the ground like a nail, his figure vanishing into a plume of dust and rubble.

The watching crowd was silent—utterly silent. No cheers, no gasps. Only the sound of crumbling debris echoed through the area as the dust slowly settled.

Tyr stood amidst the chaos, his golden palm slowly rising up and returning to his side, like a loyal hound.

He let out a controlled breath, his gaze locked on the crater where Crimson had been moments before.

‘This technique is incredible. Not just my power, but even my speed seems to have doubled…’ He paused, ‘Im surprised I haven’t received a notification by GG yet saying I killed him. He must be in a dire state…’

Suddenly, a rumbling noise broke the silence. The crater began to shift as pieces of rubble rolled aside.

Crimson emerged, his entire body bruised and battered.

Tyr’s brows raised, “Impressive…” He said, “To stand after an attack like that is not easy.”

In all honesty, Tyr was complexly taken by surprise. He had never performed such a devastating attack in his life, it felt like.

His pink flames sputtered wildly around him, no longer controlled but chaotic, his breathing ragged.

“Don’t worry…” Crimson growled, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. “Its my nature to fall down…”

Tyr’s gaze narrowed in slight confusion upon hearing that as Crimson continued, “… but get back up.”

“Ho?” Tyr smirked, “Is that right?”

Crimson raised his head at that moment. He grinned, his teeth stained with blood. The pink embers around him burst into a collective flame that instantly enveloped his entire body.

The fire came and left within seconds, and in the end, Crimson was totally unharmed. He didn’t even have a spec of dust on him, let alone a scratch.

The Aura that radiated from him was also different. Tyr instantly noticed this, ‘He’s stronger than before.’ He noted, ‘Don’t tell me… that’s his Ancestral Ability…’

He dreaded that idea, ‘I thought it was healing flames, but now that I look again, it seems as though his ability makes him stronger each time he takes damage, or metaphorically falls down.’

Tyr didn’t want to dawdle, getting straight to the point: “What is it? Your Ancestral Ability?”

Crimson chuckled slightly: “Every time I fall, I rise again, even stronger. From that nature I have told you, you should already know what my Ancestral Ability is…”

The crowd’s murmur began to get louder once again. It was clear to Tyr now that they weren’t silent because Crimson had been injured. This must have happened before.

The crowd was silent because they knew what was to come. They had already known of Crimson’s Ancestral Ability, and now, Tyr had also figured it out.

“By definition, that is the nature of the phoenix. The bird which always rises once again from the ashes of rubble.” Tyr said, garnering an amused reaction from the crowd as a tilted smile by Crimson.

“That is exactly right! I have the Boon Of The Immortal Phoenix.”

‘Boon huh? I thought those only came from the Gods. In fact, I thought all Ancestral Abilities were from ancestors. If you were to go all the back in ones ancestry, the gods would eventually be there to give their boons. However… I guess I didn’t take into consideration that ancient beasts would also have ancestors who carry their blood into human beings of this time, even if it is by a smidgen.’

“Its my phoenix powers versus your dragon ones,” Crimson exclaimed.

“I see…” Tyr said, stepping forward, “To put it simply, the nature to always get back up no matter what you are facing, and the nature to obliterate anything in your path through sheer power.”

Tyr paused, a smirk growing on his face, “However… I haven’t used my dragon powers at all in this fight… and I don’t plan on doing so either.”

Crimson furrowed his eyebrows, “Don’t joke around with me unless you want to die, you bastard. If you don’t want to use all of your powers, I will force you to, no matter what it takes, I will not bow down.”

Crimson blitzed forward once again, the pink embers around him dancing with spark.

The flame on Tyr’s glabella flickered with energy as he pushed his hands forward.

The massive golden palms behind him moved like bombs waiting to be unleashed.

It flew forward and slammed into the ground beside Crimson, nearly obliterating him. Crimson stepped to the side, nearly avoiding the blow by a hair’s breadth before closing the distance on Tyr.

Tyr backed up, using his golden palms to try crushing Crimson several times.

Crimson was able to just barely avoid all of them, eventually catching up to Tyr.

“Your fists may be fast, but you aren’t!” Crimson shouted, lunging forward at the last second as Tyr’s palm just narrowly avoided him–grazing against his back before slamming forcefully on the ground behind him with a loud boom.

Crimson threw his hand forward, mere inches from grabbing Tyr’s neck.

*SEEEW*

The other golden palm flew toward Crimson at extreme speeds. Crimson raced to grab Tyr’s neck, finally obtaining a solid grip.

*CRUNCH*

The fist grabbed him like a frog in mid air, swiping him away from Tyr.

Tyr raised his chin, “Grabbing me doesn’t mean you won’t get grabbed back.” Tyr said, tightening his fist.

Crimson gritted his teeth as a massive force overwhelmed his body, like being crushed against mountains. The vice grip was no joke, making some of his skin rip off of his body. A few muscles were crushed under the pressure, bones dislocated and fractured, and several other ligaments torn.

“Ack!” Crimson exclaimed in pain, closing his eyes tightly.

For a moment, even the crowd gasped.

“Is it over!?”

“He’s trapped!”

Tyr’s eyes widened, a smile beginning to tug at the corner of his lips.

In that split second, a flash appeared in Crimson’s head. A memory.

His eyelids flew open out of nowhere as he slammed his teeth shut and clenched his jaw as hard as possible.

A blast of pink fire Aura exploded out of him, healing him completely in an instant.

“Tsk.” Tyr noised, throwing Crimson onto the ground.

Crimson exclaimed as all the air in his lungs was suddenly forced out: “Ough!”

He was grabbed again,

*CRUNCH*

Before being slammed onto the ground once more–this time from 20 feet above the air.

Crimson flew down like a hawk, except crashed into the ground like a tsar bomb and left a mushroom cloud of dust in the air.

As the cloud slowly settled, the crowd witnessed Crimson’s mangled body. His arms and legs were completely discombobulated. His skin was torn apart in several areas, and his eyes closed.

He was completely unconscious, his body completely still.

For the first time ever, Crimson looked to have fallen in battle.

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Silence.

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The crowd didn’t know what to think.

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Huevas sighed. Arin glanced over on hearing this, “Well… now that the fight is over, tell me why you are here.”

Huevas looked over at Arin, “You think its already over huh?”

Arin nodded.

Huevas continued, “I am here because… Crimson is a monster that can not be controlled. Tyr has no chance of defeating him, that isn’t up for debate. It will be a learning moment for him in the best-case scenario. However… in the worst-case scenario, the dragon tamer will be butchered, and so will thousands of other people. Along with that, Tyr may go berserk and unleash his dragon, which could lead to the destruction of the entire faction in terms of its buildings depending on how much his fire dragon has grown.”

Arin squinted her eyes, “You say that… but Im sure you know by now of my abilities. I have already seen that this is the end of the fight.”

Huevas glanced over at the young lady, “Your ability is indeed powerful… however, fate is not an invincible law that the universe follows. Fate is only a thin string, and if one’s will is powerful enough, one can become sharp enough to cut that string in half and forge a new path in their destiny. That is the glory of free will… no one can perfectly predict what will happen. Not even the Gods.”

Near the arena, Kepl stared at Crimson’s body with an unbothered look on his face, ‘They don’t know you. They have no clue what you had to endure… and they think that this is all you have? Don’t make me laugh… rise again, phoenix.’

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At that moment, Crimson’s finger twitched slightly.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep