Chapter 58 - The Elimination Tournament Part 1

As Shu's body slept, his mind was withdrawn into his Mystic Crystal. First, he took a broad view of his realm of consciousness. Most of it was empty space, with stars alight in the distance. Two strange moons circulated a planet of pure oceans. Due to the influence of the two spirit reactors, symbolizing two moons, large tidal waves scourged the planet. A ring of ice developed around the planet, at a slight thirty degree angle.

In the core of the soul planet was the Dragon Fox. If one looked closely, they could see the Snow Emperor Pearl, a pearl containing the soul of demon nobility, at the feet of the Great Spirit. No matter what Shu did, the pearl never reacted. He left his realm of consciousness as he went to sleep in both mind and body. The next morning, Shu and Ivy headed back to the stadium. It was finally time for the elimination tournament.

Unfortunately, one of the three Blue Phoenix Palace members was eliminated and the Green Hare Tower student moved on to finalize the top eight. Shu had to fight that same boy he saved and would fight in the last fight of the official first round. The first three of four had been decided. Ivy was in the first fight against a member of Red Dragon Temple, defeating her opponent by overwhelming him with her quick strikes with her dual-swords. Her swords were two halves of a winged-cross guarded sword. Even the blades, which looked single-edged, could be combined into a single sword at will. That was the threat of dual-swords. The Practitioner is able to separate and join them at will, very different than twin swords which consists of the same dual-sword style but cannot be combined into one.

The other people who to the second and third spot of the finals was a girl of Gold Crow Palace who quickly defeated a member of Blue Phoenix Palace. The boy had little sprit energy and would be disadvantaged in long battles. It seemed he was a Practitioner who focused on speed. The third who made it to the finals was a member of Red Dragon Temple who defeated the final disciple of Blue Phoenix Palace, effectively eliminating the school from the games. It was now time for the last fight of the first round to decide the final four before the championship round.

"Ladies and gentlemen! It is now time for the fourth and last fight of the semi-finals. One is a student of Black Lotus Academy. His name is Shu of the Lu Clan!" the announcer began, the crowd cheering as they saw a familiar blonde boy wearing a black jacket with a hood over his head, a mask materialized to cover the bottom half of his face. His moon blades were in his storage bag as he could only be allowed to fight with his Practitioner weapon and a magical beast not of a draconic lineage. Magical items were allowed, but not magical weapons and armor. Enchanted weapons and armor did not reveal a Practitioner's true potential while magical items had to be practiced to a certain mastery in order to be effective when used. Anyone could become stronger when grabbing a random, magical weapon or armor, but magical items were not without its restraints and degrees of difficulty in how they were used.

Bahamut was in its full size behind the stadium, many people admiring the dragon. Save for rare, one-of-a-kind magical beasts, draconic magical beasts were usually the most powerful magical beast. They also looked at Supaiku, standing on all fours beside Shu. It had orange fur and spikes with lightning crackling from its tail. Most of all, its eyes were gold in color and a black fur design with shapes of a drop of water, swirled all over its body instead of stripes. Bahamut was an Emerald Steel Dragon and Supaiku was later identified as a Gold-Eyed Lightning Tiger. Many people in the stands were shocked to see two Saint level magical beasts bound to a Practitioner of the sixth stage.

The announcer looked pitifully at Shu's opponent as he continued, "And his opponent, hailing from Green Hare Tower, is Roen Kurt. I can honestly say that Green Hare Tower has shocked the nine schools and stole the limelight by knocking down Steel Horn Temple from the third rank. In fact, Steel Horn Temple performed lower than Red Dragon Temple in the mages division. I can tell you all now: Red Dragon Temple is ranked fourth and Steel Horn Temple is ranked fifth. The new generation truly rids of the former generations' shackles and make their own marks in history! Not only that, Red Dragon Temple also has a dark horse in this division as Green Hare Tower did in the seventh: a true Archon Practitioner without a spirit reactor! Truly, both schools did spectacular this year."

People from Green Hare Tower and Red Dragon Temple cheered, obviously happy as they made the most improvement over the last year. The defeated one of the Big Three, one of the top three schools! They all stared at a nervous, black-haired kid who was obviously intimidated by the presence of Bahamut and Supaiku. Shu did not draw Freezing Tail as the other boy took out his Practitioner weapon, a spear, from his storage bag. The announcer hit the mini gong he had with him and the final fight of the first round had begun.

"I owe you for letting me pass the second game, but I can't lose here!" the boy yelled, drawing his spear for a thrust at Shu's chest. Shu did a low kick, his feet brushing the ground. A small wave of water burst toward Roen, forcing the boy to stop as he tried to block the wave of water. As the boy was doused, Shu stomped onto the wet trail created by the wave, lightning crackling at his feet. Lightning touched water and Roen was severely hurt by the lightning as it traversed the water, its power magnified by the water. While lightning may be useless underwater, lightning is invincible on the water's surface. It was a quick, overwhelming victory.

In the finals, it was Ivy versus the Red Dragon Temple's true Archon and Shu versus the student of Gold Crow Palace. Ivy was a true Archon as well, but the Red Dragon Temple student actually had two golems fight alongside him. While powerful, Ivy could not destroy the two golems that represented walking fortresses that protected the Red Dragon Temple student. Shu easily beat his opponent by using his Phantasmal Sky technique to appear behind this opponent, appearing from the girl's shadow as if he had teleported. It was quite obvious that Shu could now move faster than his normal speed and use short distance teleportation, all while using his Phantasmal Sky technique. Most Practitioners practiced spirit techniques, but it was clear Shu's techniques were above the Spirit Shaman tier.

Ivy did manage to win against the Gold Crow Palace student and earned third place. It was because her opponent was desperate and did not maintain a calm mind. Her near instantaneous defeat rattled him and rushed toward Ivy without thinking. Ivy easily defeated her rattled opponent but was still upset about her loss. She sat with Hinako and the others. Once the final fight ended, the games would end and all the Practitioners and mages, who have earned the right, will go to the Vault of Kings at last.

Shu decided to have Supaiku fight alongside him. Supaiku would deal with the meddlesome golems while he went for their master. His opponent's name was Duren Gallect and owned two golems made of clay. However, the golems were considered indestructible as they always repaired themselves, rock and clay pieces rising and returning to the main body. Every golem had a core, but this kind of golem was always moving that core, making it difficult to destroy them permanently. Water slowed them down, but the body would return to normal due to the core.

Everyone watched as the two boys circled each other. Supaiku and the golems made the first move, clashing in a storm of lightning and earth. Two conflicting elements that neutralized the advantage of the other. The other boy was shocked as the tiger was capable of keeping the golems back. Everyone watched as Supaiku withdrew while Shu gathered his spirit energy into his throat. Shu roared with rage, like a beast venting its rage at the heavens. Members of the VIP box stood as they saw the image of his spirit: the Armored Ocean Tiger God. People recognized the white tiger, but not the dragon-scaled serpent tail or the armor that covered the face and limbs.

Shu had used his Great Spirit Integration technique, stunning the golems and causing Duren to cough blood as he staggered back. Shu narrowed his eyes and three snow-white serpents rose, striking one of the golems. Everyone watched, wide-eyed, as the golem froze in its tracks and shattered as its core was destroyed by the chilling effects of the strike. Duren drew a large mace with the black wood beneath the metal ending in a spike. Supaiku had a easier time holding off the lone golem as the two boys clashed. Mace clashed against sword as Duren rushed at Shu.

Shu's eyes widened as another mace appeared in the boy's hand, this one with a gold metal head and white wood grip. The boy's spirit was actually a weapon! Shu grunted as the boy's spirit mace blasted him back. Shu grit his teeth and yelled out, spirit armor manifesting on his arms and legs. His pupils and irises changed into a shape similar to a tiger's as celestial aura radiated small wisps of white from Freezing Tail. Shu growled as Duren's mace seemed to enlarge as he fused his mace spirit with his Practitioner weapon. Fire seemed to radiate from Duren's body as pieces of rock and clay levitated around him.

The crowd cheered as the two boys slashed and hacked at each other. The ground cracked whenever Duren missed and smashed the ground. Shu kept appearing out of nowhere, constantly appearing out of nowhere as his speed was too fast. As he slashed and pierced with Freezing Tail, the air chilled with every movement of the sword. However, an armor of rock seemed to cover and protect Duren, repairing almost instantaneously with every strike. Fire rained down as Duren threw dagger after dagger of fire at Shu. Duren cried out when Shu cut through his rock armor and cut off his left arm with his Radiant Howl technique.

"What the fuck?" Shu frowned as Duren's arm regenerated within seconds. "You really are a true Archon. I don't think any regular Archon can regenerate so quickly."

"You'll pay for cutting off my arm!" Duren roared as dragon wings sprouted from his back. Duren screamed as he flew into the air. The crowd gasped. Mages flying were not uncommon, but Practitioners could only fly at the Spirit Master tier unless they developed wings through learning some technique or through the process of gaining a true Archon body. There was no dispute now. Duren was a true Archon.

"DIE!" Duren roared as he created over a hundred images of his spirit mace all around him, like flying swords in a formation. Fire burned from the metal heads of the maces. This was why weapon type Practitioners were feared. Only they had the ability to manifest multiple copies of their spirit like flying swords.

"I will not lose!" Shu roared as vermillion wings sprout from his own back. The crowd gasped Shu was a true Archon! Only the members in the VIP box and a few rich nobles and powerful people were not surprised as they had the power and connection to learn of what transpired on Shu's birthday several months ago.

Water seemed to swirl from the air and ground, condensing into his sword. The crowd felt hotter as the humidity of the air dropped constantly as the stadium below seemed to freeze, mists of ice covering the ground near Shu. The living spirit technique seemed affected by Shu's bestial rage. Shu smiled as he knew he had made a breakthrough and improved his technique as his subconscious mind began filling his head with images on how to perform the technique. Shu stared at Supaiku's eyes and it quickly left the stadium as it used all its might to cover itself in lightning and destroy the golem as it rammed through it, using the element of lightning to increase the speed and power of its sprint.