Dyon stood and stretched. "One last thing Arios."
"Mhm?"
"How do the challenges work?"
"Ah, almost forgot. To stop the top nine from avoiding competition and picking on the weakest and avoiding the strongest, nine people from the non-rankers take up nine spots on nine stages. Then, people can begin to challenge them.
"Those people can choose to stay on the stage the entire time and accumulate wins from challenges, or they can step down. Because you are only obligated to accept a single challenge in a row, you don't have to stay on the stage.
"Those people can also choose to send out challenges. But, the difference is that if you're ruling a stage, your challenge can never be ignored, or it becomes a victory by default. The only exception is a person who just stepped off of the stage."
"Got it."
Dyon didn't even have to say anything. Before he even finished his last sentence, Ri and Madeleine were already by his side. He found the faint flicker of anger on their features adorable, but he didn't say anything.
"Good luck." Clara called out. She could only sigh back into her seat when all she got was a wink and wave from Dyon. 'That guy never shows his true emotions, tch.'
Zaltarish followed them out. He had made it into the top 1000 as well along with a few other elves. But, Dyon couldn't be bothered with the likes of Clarice Grimbold.
"Be careful." Eli said softly, realizing that Delia would also be a part of this fight.
Delia smiled. She was a head and a half shorter than Eli who was practically as tall as Dyon, but Eli never seemed to act his size.
With speed too fast for anyone present to see, Delia stretched to the tips of her toes and planted a kiss of Eli's cheek before flashing away. It wasn't until she had already caught up to the group that Eli finally registered the faint wetness on his cheek. And it probably wasn't until the battles were underway that he moved.
**
Elder Den looked down from the skies at the remain thousand contestants. Aside from the top ten, they had all gathered at the center of the stadium, prepared for their final fights.
Anger flashed in his eyes when he noticed Dyon smiling and carefree, speaking to his wives as though nothing else of importance was occurring.
In the Clyte Royal God Clan section, though, their king was focused on something else entirely. "It seems your bastard child is a lot luckier than I gave her credit for."
The voice reverberated in Queen Clyte's ears, causing blood to drip from her nose again. But, she had learned her lesson. After witnessing her daughter almost die, she cut off her emotions entirely. They were only a detriment to her now.
"As you all know, there will be ten total brackets and only the top nine from each of these brackets will earn a right to challenge the top ten rankers and fight for spots in the top 100. This will be on full display for all to watch and there won't be possibilities for cheaters to prosper." The monitors focused on Dyon, hoping to embarrass him. But, all they found was a handsome young man happily laughing with his wives.
The ire of the crowd seemed to be drudged up again. They didn't seem to want to allow Dyon's powerful display to change their hate for him.
King Acacia's eyes burrowed into Dyon's back. "If you can't make it to the top hundred, you aren't worthy of my daughter."
"He technically already has, big brother." Uncle Acacia chimed in.
"Don't give me that nonsense." A stubborn light flashed in King Acacia's eye.
Kawa giggled. "Maybe if you were nicer, your son in law could have cleansed you. Then you could check for yourself."
King Acacia grit his teeth, focusing his attention on the battle below.
In the Sapientia sections, Madeleine's parents were having a reaction not too far from King Acacia's. But, no one wanted to see Dyon fail more than Connery Sapientia.
He couldn't confirm it because his 6th sense was nowhere near as powerful as Dyon's, but he had little doubt in his mind that Madeleine was no longer a virgin. He wanted nothing more than to see Dyon killed.
"Kill him." Connery sent a message covertly, his voice seething in anger. "You've already failed once. I won't accept failure again."
The voice of a woman soon responded. "I think you have something misconstrued, Patriarch Sapientia. Regardless of the agreement we had before, I am still a genius of a Ragnor auxiliary clan. I hope that in your threat, you're willing to provoke the Ragnors. I'm sure with the information the Sapientia have access to, you understand how foolish that would be.
"That said, I don't need your motivational threats to have enough incentive to kill him. For what he did to my little sister, he's already signed away his life."
In the crowd of 990, a beautiful woman with striking red eyes and long jet-black hair. Anyone who paid attention knew who she was. The undisputed genius of the Ipsum clan and top 4 ranker of Planet Earth. What did that mean? It meant she held a spot amongst the cumulative top 20. She was without a doubt among the most powerful experts taking part in this round and she only had one goal in mind – Kill Dyon.
"Everyone please turn your attention to the monitor before you. Soon, 99 names will appear. These will represent the members of our first bracket. If you pay attention to the number that will appear beside the name, these represent your starting points and over the course of the match, will represent your accumulated points." Elder Den spoke.
In an instant, the names appeared. It was clear immediately that this would be a normal bracket because there was only a single member of each tier.
At the very top of the list sat a name everyone recognized. The number 14 on the cumulative rankings, number 13 on the true cumulative rankings, and a beauty that fell just shy of the 6 known throughout the universe. That said, she was still among the four junior royals of Earth, widely known as the second most powerful after Prince Lionel Belmont.
Iris Ipsum – 10pts
However, before Elder Den could even allow volunteers to take the spots on the nine stages, a very familiar figure had already flashed onto the one at the very center.
He yawned, stretching his neck as he heard satisfying popping resound through his spine.
There, a boy in sweat pants rolled to his calves and a crisp white T-Shirt stood, his smile having disappeared.
There was not a soul in this stadium or even out in the universe watching that didn't know who this young man was.
The Cowardly Demon – 1pt
"I don't think any of you mind if I take this spot, right?"
