"Good," Asuros smiled as he cast his gaze back to John. It was smug and confident, as if John's fate was already sealed. John calmly gazed back, as he had finally managed to reign in his murderous anger. He would unleash all his pent-up rage and hate in their battle. Doing so here was a waste of energy.
"What about our cultivations?" Zasgoth asked.
"What about it?" the golem replied.
"Are we really going to battle with restricted cultivations? What kind of bullshit is that?" Zasgoth complained, while the others shook their heads lightly at his stupidity.
The Monster race was not stupid, but was incredibly straightforward. Power was everything for them, and things like talent were only secondary. In their society, if one had a lower cultivation than the other in battle, then they could only blame their dogshit luck for being born later. Things like accounting for age was not something they considered.
"This entire realm has tested our talent, and your shit-filled brain still hasn't understood that its the only thing being tested? Your Monster race is a fucking joke," Asuros said mockingly. Even if he had no qualms with a person, he loved conflict, as if the Asura influence on him had taken a full hold of his mind.
"What did you say to me?" Zasgoth growled and took a step forward, as if ready to attack Asuros on the spot.
"Save that energy for your fights to come, you last-placed peasant," Asuros continued his mockery. "Or should I say…fight…to come," Asuros corrected himself, implying that Zasgoth would lose his very first battle.
"Enough," the golem spoke up, stopping the two before they caused more of a scene. Once he confirmed that neither made another commotion, he addressed the others once more.
"Are there any more questions before we begin?" the golem asked.
"I have a question," Serilia asked, her soft voice soothing to listen to. She cast her gaze to the edge of the massive arena, to the stands where the countless holograms were still standing, watching them.
"What are those holograms?" she asked curiously, while the others listened on as well. They were all curious about them. Even though they were holograms, they still reflected relative age, cultivation level, talent, and combat prowess. At the very least, the others were able to tell where they stood in comparison.
Most of the holograms were geniuses of geniuses, their talent nearly without comparison. In fact, some of the cultivators in the group felt as though many of the holograms had greater talent than their own, although none dared to admit it.
"Those are trial participants of the past," the golem said, his words confirming their suspicions. "All of you who made it this far have been recorded as well, and your holograms will appear in future trials should you all fail to claim the treasure of this realm."
"And what is their purpose?" Serilia asked.
"Typically, the final trial included battles against some of the holograms, including the most talented of them," the golem said and shifted his gaze to John, "but one of you has managed to achieve the best overall score in the history of this realm, and has displayed talent and combat prowess even greater than the most talented of the past. And thus, he will be the final opponent of the realm for you all, and not the holograms. Should one of you manage to defeat him, that will be proof enough of having sufficient talent."
Everyone's eyes fell onto John. Their faces were mixed, with some surprised, some jealous, and some hateful. They knew John had done exceptionally well in the previous trials, but never would have guessed he would have done the best in the history of the realm.
The realm had been in existence since before the calamity, when society was much stronger and more talented, and yet he still managed to outperform those geniuses of the past. That was completely shocking to hear.
The crowd outside the realm wall was also completely shocked upon hearing this. John's performance had been stunning considering he had bested the top geniuses of the world, but to hear he had also bested the top geniuses through all of history was not something they would ever have thought they would hear.
Those in the Honorable Alliance felt pride to have such a genius amongst their ranks, while enemy powers felt anger, as well as a creeping threat from John. They already knew he was talented and thus had placed bounties on his head, but to hear such a thing from the golem, their desire to kill him had amplified tenfold. They could not allow him to grow.
"Are there any other questions?" the golem asked, but received only silence.
"Good, then we shall begin the first round. Zasgoth and Rahze are to stay in the arena. As for the others, please find a place in the stands to wait until it is your turn to fight," the golem instructed.
"Prepare yourself. The last moments of your life are fast approaching," Asuros said to John, who scoffed in reply.
"This time, there will be no escaping. You sealed your fate by entering the same realm as me," John replied and then left without looking back.
The others quickly left the massive hundred-mile wide arena as well, and sat in the stands at differing locations. John and Lilian took seats next to each other, and watched on as the final round began.
"Begin," the golem instructed, officially commencing the final round.
Two powerful auras exploded outwards followed by calamitous explosions, as Zasgoth and Rahze began their fight. John watched on calmly as the battle continued, but felt his heartbeat quicken as he realized something from watching the battle. Each of their attacks were lacking in Qi density and potency when compared to his, but were still nearly as powerful as his own attacks, which he had not expected.
There was only one explanation.
'Their cultivations may be suppressed to the Heaven Tribulation Realm, but the artifact spirit is unable to suppress their comprehensions. Each of them has lived for nearly a hundred years, and each of them have incredible comprehensions to increase the lethality of their battle arts.'
When it came to battle art lethality, comprehensions were just as important as dantian talent, meridian talent, and battle instincts. Comprehensions alone could double or triple the power of a battle art, such as when John advanced his comprehensions in the Dao's of Power and Lightning to the Dao Expert Stage. By stepping into that stage, he was able to greatly increase the lethality of his attacks through his comprehension improvements alone.
His opponents all had comprehensions at least at his level, and some most likely were far surpassing him in that aspect. John frowned as he realized this, and cast a side eye towards his master. He was not worried about himself, but was worried about his master. She would have to fight Zeras, and who knew what level his comprehensions were at.
'This final trial might be more challenging than I had originally imagined.'
