Over a million people had gathered in the Star Colosseum, all waiting for the start of the tournament.
Building the Star Colosseum had been beyond expensive, but it had been worth it. The cheapest tickets cost one Grade Five Mana Crystal, and they had sold over a million.
Star City had made one Grade Seven Mana Crystal with just one event.
The audience was waiting with bated breath, and a couple of hours later, it finally started.
A man with long silver hair appeared on a flying platform above the colosseum. Behind him stood ten more people with luxurious robes.
"Welcome, everyone!" the man with silver hair shouted, his voice echoing throughout the entire colosseum.
This was the City Lord of Star City, Lord Starsky. His real name was different, but every City Lord of Star City would take up the title of Lord Starsky. This had been a tradition for over a hundred thousand years.
When Lord Starsky announced the beginning, the colosseum fell quiet. Everyone present here had some form of status or power. After all, the entrance fee was one Grade Five Mana Crystal. They wouldn't cheer like some mortals.
"Today, everyone has been gathered for the greatest warrior tournament in history!" Lord Starsky announced.
"We will all witness the birth of the strongest warrior in the world!"
"Let the games begin!"
After that, the ten people behind Lord Starsky jumped down from the flying platform and positioned themselves around the colosseum, with three of them hovering above the middle.
All ten of these people were Ancestral Mages, and it was their job to officiate the entire thing.
"Contestant 1 and contestant 12, step into the arena," the head judge ordered.
Contestant 1 was the favorite to win the tournament, while contestant 12 was judged to be in the middle.
Contestant 1 was the only Peak Diamond Body Stage warrior in the entire world. He had invented an entirely new method to absorb the powers of a beast, allowing him to strengthen his body a bit more and faster as well.
Contestant 1 entered the arena. He was a slim man with green hair. He was a bit on the shorter side and wore an elegant green uniform. On his hips were two long and thin swords.
Surprisingly, he wasn't the youngest anymore.
He looked to be in his sixties for mortal standards, but he still radiated a certain level of power.
Contestant 1 calmly walked to the middle of the arena and stopped. There was a peaceful and kind smile on his face, making him appear like a gentle old teacher.
Then, contestant 12 stepped forward.
He had black hair, and he also seemed to be on the older side. He wore imposing black armor, and he carried a long black spear on his back.
In comparison to contestant 1's kind expression, contestant 12 seemed far more serious. He had a constant frown on his face, making him seem like a fearsome commander.
Surprisingly, contestant 12 wasn't at the Mid Diamond Body Stage but at the Early Fifth Stage.
Yes, Early Fifth Stage, not Early Diamond Body Stage.
There was an important difference!
Contestant 12 wasn't in the Diamond Body Stage.
The two of them met in the middle of the arena and looked at each other.
According to the rules, contestant 1 was supposed to fight contestant 32 in the first round, the publicly acknowledged weakest participant in the tournament.
However, both contestant 1 and contestant 12 had wished to fight each other in the first round, and the organizers had agreed.
The reason was the strong rivalry between them.
Contestant 1 was the one that invented the Diamond Body Stage, and he ushered in the birth of warriors in the Fifth Realm.
Sadly, by the time he had created it, many True Path Stage warriors had already died due to old age.
It had taken a long time for contestant 1 to create this Stage and make it powerful enough to support a breakthrough to the fifth Stage.
Many warriors had tried to continuously strengthen their bodies in the True Path Stage to step forward, but they just hadn't been able to gather enough power to push into the Fifth Stage.
But then, contestant 1 created the Diamond Body Stage.
In order to create a Diamond Body, one needed to convert their marrow into a concentrated storage of Mana. Usually, the sheer amount of concentrated Mana would make the body explode, but the toughness of the bones could withstand the pressure.
With that, a warrior with a Diamond Body was about 20% more powerful than a beast.
Originally, contestant 1 had tried to create a Beast Core, but the pressure of so much Mana was impossible to contain with normal Mana Pathways. Sadly, it wasn't easy to increase the power of one's Mana Pathways.
Because of that, contestant 1 had to use his marrow and bones.
Luckily, it wasn't very hard to condense a Diamond Body. One only needed a lot of time and a lot of beast corpses.
Of course, as soon as contestant 1 had created the Diamond Body Stage, every True Path Stage warrior followed him and did the same.
Finally, they could reach the Fifth Stage!
Sadly, since the only increase in Battle-Strength was a 20% stronger body after entering the Fifth Stage, the power of the warriors had fallen in comparison to the Mages.
And then, there was contestant 12.
Instead of following contestant 1's example and condensing a Diamond Body, contestant 12 focused on something else.
He had been sure that there was a better way to reach the Fifth Stage, and he had dedicated his entire life to finding that way.
He just kept trying different things and comprehending more Paths on his way.
And eventually, when he had already been 450 years old, he found a way.
By then, contestant 12 had comprehended four different Paths. His original Path with which he had achieved his breakthrough to the True Path Stage had been the Long Spear Path, but over the next centuries, he had also comprehended the Composite Bow Path, the Long Sword Path, and the Tower Shield Path.
After training with all four of the Paths at the same time, contestant 12 had found something.
The Paths could connect, and they seemed to resonate with each other.
After experimenting some more, he finally found a way to combine them.
Contestant 12 slowly took out his spear without a word.
SHING!
Then, three more weapons appeared.
A composite bow hovered above contestant 12.
A long sword hovered diagonally in front of him.
A tower shield hovered to the left of him.
And the spear was inside his hands.
A mystical power seemed to connect the different weapons together.
In a way, it was a bit like Impose, but it wasn't the same.
Impose felt powerful, strong, and fierce.
But this force felt versatile, agile, and quick.
This was the Stage contestant 12 had created.
He called it the Weapon Variance Stage.
In comparison to Impose, Variance, the force of the Weapon Variance Stage, didn't strengthen one's attacks.
Instead, it granted remote control over several weapons. It was almost like one had grown several long, invisible arms that could wield different weapons.
With this power, contestant 12 could use all four weapons at the same time.
According to his calculations, it was possible to reach the Weapon Variance Stage after comprehending three Paths in total, which would put the warrior on about the same level as someone with a Diamond Body.
However, compared to the Diamond Body Stage, the Weapon Variance Stage had something that made it strictly superior.
More potential.
A Diamond Body was a Diamond Body. There was no better or worse Diamond Body. Every Diamond Body was the same.
But when it came to the Weapon Variance Stage, one could increase their power before the breakthrough by comprehending more Paths.
For example, contestant 12 had comprehended four Paths before he had reached the Weapon Variance Stage, which made him just a slight bit below average for a Mage if he were an average warrior.
Luckily, contestant 12 was also quite talented, and if he had had more time, he would have comprehended more than four Paths before the breakthrough.
Nevertheless, due to his potential, contestant 12's Battle-Strength was about as strong as an above-average Archmage.
Of course, contestant 1 was also quite outstanding, but he could only fight evenly against a Late Archmage, someone a level below him.
Meanwhile, contestant 12 was stronger than the average Archmage on his level.
If one looked objectively at the two Stages, there was a clear winner.
The Weapon Variance Stage was just better.
However, that was only true for the moment.
Contestant 1 and his people were already working on a way of creating Beast Cores inside humans, which could potentially push someone's body to be 50% more powerful than a beast's body.
But, for now, the Weapon Variance Stage was better, and the reason why contestant 12 had a problem with contestant 1 was that nearly every warrior in existence was following contestant 1's path.
Of course, contestant 1 also had a problem with contestant 12 because he knew that contestant 12's path was strictly better at the moment. However, contestant 1 was certain that his path would win out in the long run. They just needed more time to research the human body.
Both contestants had problems with each other, and both of them saw the other as a rival.
And that was why they wanted to fight in this tournament.
Contestant 1 wanted to show the world that he was stronger than contestant 12.
Contestant 12 wanted to show the world that he could fight contestant 1 while being three levels below him.
The crowd had heard about the rivalry, and they couldn't be more excited about the upcoming fight!
This was going to be great!
