Ascension of the immortal Asura

Just before the start of the battle was announced, John turned his gaze towards one of the millions of semi-translucent floating formation screens that popped into existence in the air before the spectators. The screens contained the information regarding both fighters, from their illusory testing scores to their current fighting metrics such as Qi reserves and health.

He narrowed his eyes as he read the illusory testing scores of both fighters, which was the first time he had done so for either of them.

Name: Jaxus

Age: Twenty Two

Cultivation: Half-Step World Expansion

Special Attributes: Yang-Attribute Body

Qi Quantity: 98

Qi Quality: 98

Health: 92

Durability: 90

Stamina: 96

Comprehensions: 96

Instincts: 97

Willpower: 97

Soul Talent: 83

Speed/Movement Arts: 98

Battle Arts: 98

Attack Power: 98

Total: 1141

Rank: 3

John raised an eyebrow upon reading Jaxus' scores, especially in regards to his movement arts, battle arts, and attack powers. Those were all frightfully high, as was his Qi quality and quantity. With such values, the explosive power Jaxus' would be able to release was guaranteed to be incredible.

He then turned his gaze slightly and began to read Ji'Han's information. He had not been interested in Ji'Han's scores up to this point, as it made no difference to him. He would have to fight Ji'Han and defeat him, and knowing his scores didn't change that. However, with the information readily available to him at the moment, he decided to inspect his most likely opponent in the next and final round.

Name: Ji'Han

Age: Twenty Two

Cultivation: Half-Step World Expansion

Special Attributes: Flame Attribute Body. Emperor Grade Innate Variant Body

Qi Quantity: 99

Qi Quality: 99

Health: 91

Durability: 91

Stamina: 93

Comprehensions: 98

Instincts: 98

Willpower: 97

Soul Talent: 88

Speed/Movement Arts: 99

Battle Arts: 100

Attack Power: 99

Total: 1152

Rank: 2

As he scanned the short list, John's surprise steadily rose. He knew Ji'Han as a pinnacle genius, so talented that he was heralded as the most promising genius of the last several hundred thousand years, and perhaps the most talented in the history of the Nine-Dao World.

And yet, the scores still surprised John. Ji'Han's Qi quality and quantity was both ninety-nine, a score only bested by John himself. The rest of his combat-based abilities were incredible as well, with his instincts, movement arts and attack power all nearly the maximum score possible.

The most shocking of all was the battle art score, which was the maximum one could obtain; one hundred. This meant that in the history of the Three Dao Tournament illusory testing scores, Ji'Han's battle arts were by far the most powerful. John assumed that the only reason Ji'Han's attack power was ninety-nine instead of one hundred was due to his own score dethroning Ji'Han's, as despite having worse battle arts, John's outright power was the strongest in the history of the tournament.

After reading both fighters' statistics, John considered Ji'Han the favorite to win. Both his and Jaxus' stats were neck and neck, but Ji'Han managed to edge Jaxus out in the most important things when it came to battle; Qi quality and quantity, power, speed, and instincts. These were the things that affected one on one battles the most, and in all these categories, Ji'Han scored higher.

"Ji'Han's combat statistics are amazing!" Naelia exclaimed, giving voice to John's thoughts. "He's sure to win!"

"Testing scores aren't everything," Zuri said, looking past John to Naelia who sat on the opposite side of John. "While Ji'Han does have better scores, combat is far too wild and unpredictable to be decided by such things. Jaxus' scores are prodigious as well, and if he's able to land a couple of critical blows on Ji'Han, he could win."

"Ah, I guess you're right!" Naelia said, her eyes glued to the battle that was just about to begin.

A moment later, the Yang-Dao Sect Elder voiced the start of the battle.

"The semi-finals between the third ranked Jaxus of the Yang-Dao Sect and the second ranked Ji'Han of the Sword-Dao Sect….begins!"

The crowd roared to life upon the start of the battle, as the two most popular geniuses finally clashed. That roaring was instantly drowned out by a fiery explosion coming from the center of the arena.

Boom!

The arena trembled and the stadium was drowned in a fiery glow as a tempest of flames erupted from Jaxus, like a volcano come to life. His aura of pure yang flames erupted outwards, covering everything in the arena in his fiery power.

The newly created rivers and lakes nearby evaporated from the heat, while the mountains began to melt and turn into magma. In a mere instant, the landscape turned from serene to a hellscape of ash and flames. It was as if he had instantly become the god of fire, reducing all of creation nearby to ashes.

"I may have lost to you last tournament, but this time will be different," Jaxus roared with heated passion, his battlelust as potent as his fiery aura.

Standing a hundred yards away, Ji'Han stood tall and calm, his focus on his opponent before him. Unlike his previous opponents, Jaxus was not someone he could look down on. Much like himself, Jaxus was a pinnacle genius that stood at the top of humanity, and as such, was someone who could cause serious problems if not taken seriously.

The aura of flames blasted onto Ji'Han, making it feel as though he was standing in the middle of a chamber of the hottest lava. The heat scorched the ground beneath his feet, turning the vibrant and lush landscape into lifeless desolation, while the wind all around raced like a tempest.

That same heat scorched Ji'Han's skin, trying to do the same. Ji'Han merely stood there unconcerned, as if the heat didn't exist at all, his white robes and long hair the only things moving at all. Jaxus smirked at the sight.

"I knew your Flame Attribute Body would be able to resist my aura, so why don't we skip all the usual gimmicks and get right to using our strongest battle arts," Jaxus said, his aura growing by the second. "Anything else will only be a waste of time."

"Agreed," Ji'Han said with a calm nod, then reached towards his two sheathed swords, gripping the hilt of one of them and drawing it from its sheath.

The sword he drew was not the one he had drawn before, and was instead the longer of the two. The shorter sword was a mundane sword, meant to be used against unworthy opponents. Against opponents worthy of respect and attention, he used his true sword.

As it was drawn from its sheath, a flash of the brightest white light filled the arena for an instant, blinding everyone for a second. The flash faded away as the sword was fully drawn, revealing its form to everyone. The sword was pure white from handle to sword tip, like the glow of an angelic being. Tiny wisps of white flames danced on the swords surface, giving it an ethereal glow.

A calamitous uproar broke out amongst the crowd at the sight of the sword.

"It's Ji'Han's true sword! Whiteflame!"

"I never thought I'd see him actually draw it!"

"Jaxus is the real deal. His mere presence has forced Ji'Han to draw his real sword. This fight is going to be amazing!"

While the crowd discussed Ji'Han's sword with frenzied passion, Jaxus smirked, a satisfied look on his face. Being the only one thus to force Ji'Han to draw his true sword was already something he could be proud of, but for a pinnacle genius like Jaxus, that was not nearly enough.

"Good! Then let's get this battle started!" Jaxus said, his voice growing louder until he last word was like a roar of thunder.

Boom!

His aura exploded outwards with even more power, growing from a storm into a tempest of the apocalypse. The land for a dozen miles in all directions was reduced to ash, with lakes and rivers evaporating into a steamy mist, while mountains melted into lakes of magma.

A large, fiery red saber appeared in Jaxus' hand. Its handle was two feet long, giving plenty of space to use both hands. The blade was six feet long and half a foot wide, with the tip curving upwards slightly towards the end. A fiery heat emanated from the blade as it appeared, its power no less than that of Jaxus' aura.

Then he pressed off the ground beneath his feet, which exploded into a shower of ash and magma. Jaxus' figure flashed forward like a storm of fire, incinerating everything in his path. His saber slashed outwards as he neared Ji'Han, who finally took action for the first time in the battle.

True sword in hand, Ji'Han raised it, then slashed out towards his opponent.