The air turned tense and three pairs of eyes locked onto her.
The princess raised her hands and said. "Even though the bamboo is precious, we're here for the Ruler's Abode. We should keep the losses to the minimum."
A prince nodded. "Her words make sense. If we get in with injuries, we won't be able to deal with our rivals."
The remaining two looked at each other and saw helplessness in their eyes.
Even though this proposal sounded fair, in truth, it wasn't.
The princess who pushed the proposal was a lightning awakener. Lightning attacks were known for their explosiveness.
So, she had a definite edge over launching a single attack punched with a lot of strength.
The prince was also fine since he was an extreme awakener. While the rest of his attributes were lower than an average superhuman awakener, strength was his extreme attribute and thus, he too held an edge in a single attack match.
But as plantae and superhuman awakeners, their forte was in vitality and stamina respectively.
So, it was likely that they wouldn't win.
"But this is unfair for both of us…" The prince with superhuman path complained.
His words caused the ones with advantage to frown. "Do you really want an all-out battle?"
The disadvantaged prince and princess looked at each other and sighed.
Unlike them who had just met, the two in front were actually teammates. So, while everyone's strength was roughly the same, if they fought, the teamwork would beat them without a doubt.
So, they compromised.
"Fine."
"But only one strike. I don't want to hear childish words like best of three."
"…"
The disadvantaged prince and princess blankly nodded.
The teammates smirked at each other and raised their hands.
The wind burst as the superhuman path prince and extreme path prince clenched their fists.
Lightning heated the air as the princess summoned a lightning net.
The forest shook as the second princess transformed into a giant flower. Green gas covered the flower and the grass on its ground began to melt.
The world seemed to slow down as the extreme awakener kicked the ground, the lightning princess waved her hand.
A huge lightning net began to descend on the giant flower releasing a poisonous mist.
The superhuman awakener punched out while the giant flower shot its poisonous petals at the lightning princess.
It seemed like an hour, but it happened in the blink of an eye.
Boom!
A huge golden light enveloped the forest before an extreme shockwave spread out and uprooted thirty percent of the bamboos.
When the dust settled, the plantae princess and superhuman prince had bitter expressions while the other two were clearly overjoyed.
As expected, both of them fared better. The bamboo would go to one of them.
Far in the distance, Varian channeled his aura and tensed his muscles. Logically, the battle ended and the teammates would settle things between themselves.
They likely decided who was going to get the lightning bamboo.
So, if Varian went there now, he'd be confronted by two hostile peak level 7s.
However, Varian didn't worry about it at all. After observing the princes and princesses for the past few days, he understood one thing about them.
They considered themselves as future pillars of humanity. So, they couldn't stand unfairness.
It wasn't the unfairness against common people, but unfairness against them.
'I need to time it right.'
Varian pulled back his hands and clenched his fists. His space sense locked the golden bamboo and he started to channel his space power. His telekinetic force also formed an invisible but sturdy barrier on his arms. When he wanted to attack, this armor would dissolve into pure force and push his arms, giving him additional momentum.
As Varian prepared himself, the silence of the bamboo forest was broken.
"Now leave." The princess said with a smug smile.
"What?" The superhuman prince repeated her words in a cold voice.
"Are you going to renege on battle conditions?" The extreme prince expressed contempt.
"…Conditions that are completely favorable to you?" The plantae princess interjected.
"You agreed to them, didn't you?" The princess crossed her arms and said with a haughty expression.
"Then fine, we'll leave and let you take the bamboo." The superhuman prince said and the princess' smile grew bigger.
But his next words caused her to almost choke. "But when you exit the forest, we'll attack you."
"You!" The extreme prince raised his voice.
"Me too. I can't promise I'll lay down poison traps for you when you walk out." The plantae princess promised.
As they stood in twos and stared at each other, literal sparks appeared between them.
The lightning princess was on the verge of slapping them with an attack while the extreme prince knew that a long battle would likely end in their defeat.
But he didn't want to give up now. So, he clenched his fists, just like his opponent, and stared at him to—
Whoosh!
The four suddenly felt space fluctuating.
But since they were on the verge of attacking each other, their response was a bit delayed. Moreover, they already knew how tough it was to teleport accurately in this valley due to the psychic plants.
So, on top of their slight delay, they were also unguarded against space awakeners.
And that changed everything.
Boom! Kee! Shua! Bang!
Two lightning spears paralyzed the plantae princess.
Two psychic attacks caused the superhuman and extreme path princes to freeze for a moment right before they were bombarded by two lightning spears each.
Finally, a slap in the face directly knocked out the lightning princess.
"Oopsie~" Varian wanted to slap the prince, but since she was the fastest to react and was about to attack him, he slapped her.
It wasn't a normal slap either. It overlapped his physical strength, along with his macro kinetic power.
After expressing his sympathies for less than a millisecond, Varian held the lightning bamboo and waved at the three.
The two princes and the princesses were injured since they were caught off guard.
But they quickly reacted and launched their all-out attacks on him.
"You!"
"Stop!"
"Son of a—"
Since they were caught off guard by a lightning attack, their bodies were numb and their movements slowed down a bit.
Thus, right before their attacks reached him, Varian disappeared with a smirk but not before expressing his gratitude.
"Thank you very much~"
"Arghh!"
The angry screams of the three lingered in the air for a long time.
