Divine Beast Ascension

Chapter 414: Sudden, Brutal, and Lazy Victories

Shing! “AAAaaahh!”

Blood fell out of the thick mist, tainting the condensing cloud. The crow started to drastically lose altitude. It tried its best to keep flying, but it finally looked at his injured wing. Only, he couldn’t find half of it.

“It’s over! The winner is the human from Toxic-shadow!” Slazza declared, rushing to catch the falling crow.

He was handed the missing wing by Vant, again, and quickly restored the limb. Slazza offered a quiet tip to the bird, “You saw that he specializes in illusions and stealth. That makes it even harder to hide from him.”

“... I understand.” The Cloud Crow sighed, accepting his defeat. It got up and bowed to Vant. “Thank you for teaching me something new.”

Vant gave a quick bow and replied, “You’re welcome,” before heading back to the stands.

Slazza smiled and shouted, “Now, for the third match! Contestants, step down!”

.....

Focusing and centering its thoughts, the Flame Jackal took a deep breath while getting up. It started walking down but suddenly stopped. Blinking, the jackal looked up at a corner of the seating area. The jackal almost said something but didn’t dare in the end.

While the Flame Jackal entered the arena, Narja flew past the contestants. Telepathically, she reminded, ‘Master Hathal, it’s your turn to fight.’

‘Hmm? Oh. Okay...’

Hathal sighed, not even glancing at the bracket he had been handed. It was crumpled up and thrown aside while Hathal stared aimlessly at whatever he wanted.

When Hathal eventually reached the arena, Slazza declared, “A Flame Jackal from Thunder Prefecture versus Hathal from the quadrant! Are you two ready?”

The jackal nodded but Hathal did nothing more than stare blankly at the Jackal and Slazza.

“... FIGHT!”

Flames rushed over the jackal’s body. It immediately roared and spat fireballs to test its opponent’s unknown abilities.

Hathal blinked. He stepped aside. Abruptly, Hathal appeared behind the Jackal even though it looked like he had only taken a few steps.

But it wasn’t fast enough to evade the jackal’s vision. The Flame Jackal increased the number of fireballs while keeping a closer eye on the human.

Yet, again, the bored, uninterested Hathal sidestepped the attacks. To the crowd, it felt like he was fading in and out of the fireballs because of his simple, basic movements. In a few steps, Hathal was nearly on top of the jackal.

The flaming beast refused to give up. With fiery claws, the jackal leaped into action as Hathal drew closer.

Shrrrt! “Aaooooh!” the jackal howled.

“It’s over! Hathal from the quadrant is the victor!”

Not sparring the jackal another second of his attention, Hathal sighed and started walking back to the stands.

Slazza took a moment to reattach the canine’s missing leg. He chuckled lightly and asked, “So, did you figure out his affinity?”

Panting, the jackal replied, “... Wind.”

Up in the stands, the prefecture lords were nodding and chatting. Isla commented, “So, perfect wind affinity?”

Toseko nodded with a chuckle, “Yup.”

“That’s good to know, but I’m too excited for the next match to speak about that boy,” jested Warak, smiling at Treeda. “This should be good.”

“Time for the fourth match!” Slazza announced. “Contestants, come down!”

Both of the large contestants stood up and looked at each other. They grinned and locked gazes, brimming with eagerness to see who was stronger. Both beasts raced to the arena and preemptively nodded to Slazza, taking their fighting stances.

Laughing at their excitement, Slazza calmed himself down and declared, “A Tundra Tiger from Toxic-shadow Prefecture versus a Razor-hide Dragon from Razor Prefecture! This is one match we all want to see! And since you’re ready, FIGHT!”

Roaring, they armed themselves to the teeth with essence armor before making a move.

“What is your name?!” the dragon shouted in excitement.

“I’m Tilgron. What is yours?” replied the tiger, matching the dragon’s enthusiasm.

The dragon forcefully spread his wings, keeping his mad grin. “Tilgron! A warrior’s name! Call me Harmot!”

“Well, Harmot, let’s not keep them waiting!”

Tilgron lunged forward with a spear loaded onto his tail. Harmot dove head first, spiraling forward with his jagged earthen armor and claws. Each of them used their full strength right out the gate.

Tucking and flipping, Tilgron let the icy spear loose, shooting it off like a cannon. He didn’t bother with the whistle trick. Instead, he focused on creating a spear that could spin in the opposite direction as Harmot, allowing it to counter the rotation. But he didn’t stop flipping. Tilgron held the tuck and lashed out with his claws, using the second flip to increase his attack strength.

Harmot accepted the spears challenge. They were moving too fast anyway, so it was better to try and tank the blow than to fail in evading it. And, then, it would let Harmot attack Tilgron directly not even a second later.

The imminent collision of attacks already had the prefecture lords at the edge of their seats. And the other contestants were amazed to see such destructive battle arts colliding without fail. Even Hathal cast a brief glance at the two mortals in the arena.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRACK! CRACK!

Blood flew in all directions. Ice and earth essence scattered and shattered endlessly.

Yet neither beast cried in pain. They were both smiling, happy to find such a great rival and respectful of how straightforward they both were.

“IT’S OVER!!” Slazza shouted with force, making sure that both battle-crazed contestants stopped in their tracks. “It was the closest match yet, and the Tundra Tiger has won it for Toxic-shadow Prefecture!”

Both contestants took a moment to calm themselves, gradually disengaging their essence. They panted in synchronization as they fell to the ground, exhausted and badly injured.

Slazza focused on the dragon first. He made sure to carefully melt away the giant ice spear in Harmot’s shoulder, healing the broken shoulder and wing joints in the process. Slazza also spotted the raking claw marks on that same shoulder, those left behind from Tilgron’s flipping claw attack.

Then, Slazza went to the tiger. He healed both of Tigron’s front paws, which were left broken after penetrating the dragon’s tough defenses. And he offered a healing salve as well to help with the dozens of cuts and bruises that Harmot’s drilling scales had left on the tiger.