BAM!!
A blinding flash of blueish light hurled into the air as it flew straight toward Eilish. It slammed into her as a powerful shockwave swept out directly shattering the barrier around the arena.
A massive amount of energy gushed out the moment the barrier was shattered. It spread out forcing ordinary people to feel a heavy weight pressing on their shoulders.
Meina, who was just standing outside the arena, was blasted away. Her figure looked fragile as she crashed into the audience's seats.
When the smoke disappeared, Franklin laughed as he saw Eilish simply block his attack with her hand.
"Good."
He said before he swung his hand once again. This time, wind elements swirled around his fist and it made it more powerful and devastating than before.
"It seems that you wanted to feel the effect of your breakthrough..." Eilish's raised his other hand and a magic circle formed on her palm.
[Dominant Repulsion]!!
A massive force formed through her palm and it slammed into Franklin's body.
Ugh!
Franklin groaned in pain as his body was blasted away crashing on the ground several meters away. He quickly stabilized himself before layers of flesh covered his body. Savage looking armored flesh formed around him as spikes protruded on his back along with a thick battering tail. Then, he threw himself forward once again.
BANG!!
Elder Hanmi and Elder Guan moved as they protected the audience from the shockwaves. The impact of an attack coming from a Shackled Realm was harmful to ordinary people.
"Franklin!! The barrier was gone!! You're causing problems here!!" Torkez said loudly while gritting his teeth. He couldn't approach them since the waves pushed everything around.
Amanda and some of the S-rank experts that could withstand the shockwaves turned to protect the entire crowd.
Regardless, Franklin attacked as if he didn't hear them. He was too absorbed in his current power and wanted to test it badly.
Whoosh!
At this moment, Eztein moved. He appeared just above Franklin with a spear in his hand.
"You need to stop now, Franklin!"
Instantly, he thrust his weapon nailing Franklin on the ground.
BAM!!
Each of their moves caused a terrifying energy that pressured the audience. The barrier was gone so the aftershocks from a Shackled Realm expert could harm them.
"Hahaha, good. That's it."
Franklin laughed as he gazed at the spear on his body. The next moment, the elemental energy from his body seeped out making his aura much more powerful than before.
He was about to swing his thick tail when a voice rumbled everywhere.
"Enough!"
The voice carried a strong power that made everyone silent. It felt as if they heard thunder directly in their mind.
In just a second, all the energy fluctuations in the arena had disappeared. It was replaced by a much stronger force that shook the entire Astros. The floor vibrated nonstop as if the entire area was going to collapse at any second.
In the Pople district, the citizens of Ekatoe city couldn't help but look in the direction of the Astros. They just heard loud tremors and in the next second everyone stopped in their tracks.
In the Shimpan Family, Edward was discussing some important matters with his two sons when the three of them suddenly stopped moving.
"T-This...?"
Edward lifted his head with all of his might. He felt that this strength was leaving his body. He didn't know why but everyone was experiencing the same thing.
They lost their strength without any warning and felt a huge presence at the center of the Astros. They didn't know what was happening but the fluctuation of energy was best feram.
"C-City Lord..."
At the arena, Souta gazed at Franklin with cold eyes. He just used [Serpent Dominance] and the effect of this ability instantly covered everything within Ekatoe city.
Gulp!
Franklin subconsciously gulped when he saw Souta's stern expression.
"Remember your oath," Souta said before he closed his eyes.
Ohm!
The invisible pressure on his body disappeared as if nothing happened. Everything returned back to normal and people breathed a sigh of relief.
Sigh!
The pressure just now wasn't harmful but the feeling of their strength leaving their bodies was something they didn't want to experience. It feels as if they returned to the lower level once they were.
[Serpent Dominance]: Activating this ability will make the creatures below the user's power level to suffer a debuff (-70% to all stats). Other uses are unknown.
In short in this little spectacle, Souta didn't harm anyone. He just removed seventy percent of their strength.
Alice, Eztein, Eilish, Elder Guan, and Elder Hanmi felt horrible. Compared to them, ordinary people weren't as pale as them. After all, the closer they were to Souta's level, the larger the decrease in strength.
If they had 1,000 stats then the decrease was 700 points while ordinary people who only had 30 stats were lessened by 21 points. 21 points compared to 700 points. Of course, the people closer to Souta's power level felt it more. Also, they were more sensitive to the changes in their bodies.
"The leader is terrifying..." Eztein said in a low voice before he pulled his spear out of Franklin's body.
"Souta sure is something else... I knew that this day will arrive but I didn't anticipate that it will come sooner..." Eilish forced a smile on her face.
Franklin wiped the blood on the corner of his mouth and his body returned to normal. He knelt down and said, "Forgive me, I acted out of the rules. I implore the Lord to punish me."
"No need. I'll disqualify you from this tournament. Your opponent tomorrow will win by default." Souta said as he waved his hand.
For him, the greatest punishment he could give to Franklin was to disqualify him from the tournament. If it was other people he wouldn't disqualify them but since the person he was talking about was Franklin, not be able to fight was a huge blow to a person who craved battle more than anyone.
"I... I accept the punishment of the Lord." Franklin said.
"Okay, get out now. The tournament will continue." Souta said with a small sigh. He turned to the two children beside him and asked with a smile, "Did I scare you, Aina? Anzu?"
"I..." The two children were trembling. It took them a while before they gained their senses. They cried out and turned around to hug Yuko. "Ah, Yuko!! Big Brother Souta is scary!! Big Brother is scaring us!!"
Souta laughed at their reaction. As long as they were fine. Even if they grew scared of him, it would be fine as long as they were alive. It would be better like that since they wouldn't be exposed to his best feram.
As for Yuko, they had protection from various artifacts and Yuko was still a third stage monster. Her energy wasn't as strong as his.
Souta shook his head and returned his attention to the arena.
The power he showed just now once again made everyone realize why he was the Lord of Astros. It's been a while since he exhibited his power to them so this event cleared their minds. He was the strongest person in the entire Astros.
Back in the war against Red Matter Association, his [Serpent Dominance] could only affect experts at S-rank and below. The ability considered that One Shackle Realm and above were either at his level or above so they weren't affected but now... This ability affect One Shackle Realm which was above Solidifying Realm.
It only means one thing.
One Shackle Realm was lower than his current power level.
"A high rank fourth stage..." Doranjan muttered to himself while looking at Souta's figure. He himself was only at initial rank. The disparity was huge.
Meina was injured. The healers healed her and it took a while before she could return to her job as the host of the tournament. She was just a C-rank so she wasn't powerful enough to receive a parasite from the Lord so she didn't have that regeneration ability.
The earth mages quickly fixed the arena and the monster orbs were replaced.
After thirty minutes, everything returned to normal. Although everything was fixed, the atmosphere wasn't as lively as before. A lot of people were harmed when the barrier was shattered.
Regardless of that, the tournament would still continue without any delay.
There were only two matches left.
The next match would be Yuko vs Elder Guan and after that was the battle between Doranjan and Lina.
Souta looked at the two children and said gently, "Aina, Anzu, Yuko will fight next so Big Sister Eilish will accompany you for now."
"O-Okay." Aina reluctantly nodded her head. She stood at the side and her brother, Anzu, followed her.
Looking at them, Souta smiled softly and he couldn't help but patted their heads. "Behave well, Big Sister Eilish will take you to the marketplace tonight."
"Really?!" Anzu and Aina raised their heads as they looked at him with bright eyes.
"Yeah, I'll take you there tonight." At this moment, Eilish arrived and said to the two children with a soft smile.
