The first three of the battles were spectacular in their own unique ways, but the last was a travesty.
The unknown Holy Land genius was beaten down within three moves and thrown out of the arena.
His body and soul were crippled, and it was his mind was no longer present. A line of drool slipped out of the side of his mouth as he was rapidly collected by his sect's Elders.
They did everything they could to heal him, using a mysterious pill that was rare even in their eyes, but there was no hope.
The young man was braindead, and his body was soon to follow.
A new genius came to replace him as fury enveloped the Grand Heavens Boundary crowd, but the results didn't change.
In fact, the process repeated itself six times. Six separate geniuses were utterly crippled and the influences of the universe became hesitant to send their own people forward.
In this way, the three victories from before were overshadowed by six consecutive losses, and the denizens lost the momentum they briefly held.
When nobody else was willing to step forward, however, a single man made his stand.
He was Atticus.
Atticus had gone through a journey of self-discovery ever since he arrived in Luxurion, and now that such a situation was happening before his eyes, he couldn't sit still!
Damien and Su Ren were the strongest two present, but both of them were clearly waiting for the Saint King.
Since someone needed to take down the man named Haren, he would step up!
It was a moment for Atticus to prove himself, and when he took his place on the arena floor, he did exactly that!
He used a splendid combination of Lightning Laws and Fire Laws to entrap and ensnare his opponent in an inviolable net of death, slowly cornering the once-thought-invincible genius to death!
The thing about Haren that made him impossible for others to defeat was mainly his Demonic Providence, which allowed him to transfer accumulated damage back to its sender as long as he could perfectly parry one of their strikes.
Haren had long become accustomed to this limitation and honed his skills until he was a master who could parry even the most convoluted blows.
Unfortunately, this skill meant nothing in front of Atticus.
Atticus was faster than lightning itself and so frenzied that it became impossible to figure out where his true body was in the storm of afterimages that appeared.
Atticus' fighting style had undergone a complete change, and its effects were shown clearly against Haren.
Unable to find an effective time to parry, Haren found the damage he accumulated for his own purposes working against him instead!
His death was the most spectacular. Once the damage reached a point past his limit, he exploded into a firework of black ink, which was instantly incinerated by Atticus.
The victory wasn't as absolute as the other three since Atticus and Haren went several hundreds of rounds before a victor was decided, but it was still a great achievement on Atticus' part.
Only, not many paid attention to him, as the Saint King began to show signs of movement.
Atticus looked at two locations for approval. Even if the rest of the atrium ignored him, he would be fine if they acknowledged him.
And in return, he was greeted with smiles all around.
A wave of relief overtook him as he walked back to his seat in confidence.
Damien watched him walk with a genuine smile on his face.
'I'm glad he's found a way out of that rut.'
The current Atticus was not the brat he fought when he first arrived in Luxurion, that much was certain.
However, he could talk to Atticus later. Right now…
Su Ren stood up and walked into the arena which was now empty aside from several black and red stains on the ground.
The Saint King also stood up from his "throne."
"Are you the one I am facing?" He asked tauntingly.
The undertone of his words was piercing, but Su Ren didn't back down.
"You and I both know the truth of the last battle. Come, face me again and prove you're worthy of my place," he responded unflinchingly.
The Saint King grinned.
"Hahahaha! So that is the source of this newfound confidence of yours? Very well, I will show you. Whether it was then or now…"
Bang!
He jumped from his perch and landed in the arena, facing Su Ren.
"…you are nothing but an ant to me."
The condescending expression in his eyes created a palpable sense of mockery that emanated through the crowd, provoking countless angered hisses and growls.
Su Ren didn't join the crowd, instead drawing his blades with the same calmness.
"Talk after you have won."
Su Ren jumped forward and made the first move, forcing the Saint King into his momentum.
Unlike when he fought Damien, the two blades in his hand were furious and each strike held the intent to kill and shatter the soul!
During his time observing Su Ren, he began to understand the nature of the latter's grey mana.
It was similar to the mana of a man he'd fought before, an unfortunate young soul named Hun Fang, but while Hun Fang used his mana to contact the spirits of beasts and contract them, Su Ren used it much more directly.
He attacked the spirit, almost touching upon the soul itself. The mana's properties were so mystical that they could halt Transcendent Regeneration, something Damien didn't even think was possible!
That very terrifying mana was currently bombarding the arena with such immense force that it looked apocalyptic. Su Ren and the Saint King's figures disappeared within the mana cloud, and other than the peak experts among the crowd, the rest could only follow the battle through sound.
It was a true shame for them, because witnessing the collision between these superpowers among their peers would've been an absolutely advantageous experience for them.
Nevertheless, even without the mana blocking their vision, it was hard to say whether or not they'd be able to follow the speed of battle!
Su Ren and the Saint King moved across the several hundred-kilometer large arena floor as if it was no more than a few tens of square feet. Every second, they were in another corner of the arena, absolutely destroying the mana protecting the outside world from their battle.
Several Demigods had to step up to maintain the barrier, and in the second it took for the stronger barrier to be out in place, a massive explosion of mana escaped the confines of the arena and blew through the atrium.
ROOOAAAAAR!
It was like the roar of a dragon that sounded as the mana coiled up into the starry sky beyond.
While those observing could take the time to watch it, Su Ren wasn't the same.
Unlike how it looked, he needed to do everything in his power to fight equal to the Saint King.
It wasn't what he was expecting at all!
He definitely knew the Saint King would grow, but he didn't expect this much growth!
After all, Su Ren himself had stumbled upon a heavenly opportunity, the type unique in the entire universe, and also created his own form of mana to reach his current great strength.
What did the Saint King do?
Considering the nature of the Nox…
Just how many billions of lives were taken to give him this strength?!
