"Match Start!"
The moment the match started, both of them disappeared. However, this time, they did not appear in the middle of the arena. Instead, the people found a shock wave coming from above.
They just started fighting in the sky. Although it was not that high as they were still in the Barrier Array range, their fight was still protected so they would not destroy the nearby constructions.
But because they were fighting in the sky, many people in the town could see them fighting.
"Look, those two are fighting. Looking at their position, they should be right above the arena."
"Wow. I could not enter the arena since it is full, so I am wondering what kind of fight inside there, but I will get inside the arena tonight and wait there."
"Those are the first Elder of Heavenly Sword Sect and the former king of Thiveapia Kingdom. I come to this place just to see many powerful people fight." One of peak Martial Grandmasters said.
In fact, the Carageo City had been filled not only by the disciples of eight influences, merchants, and the original citizens. There were also many loose cultivators that decided to come by so they could witness the battle between them.
Little did they know the reason for the fight suddenly in the sky was because of the first elder. Maira knew that Arua was a master in fighting. And that strength came from the difference of height.
Arua loved to gain height advantage as he could use it to gain the advantage in fighting. And because of this, Arua could become the strongest person second only to the sect master in the sect.
Maira decided to make him not gain any advantage, so he kept climbing and climbing until the limit they could go, which was the barrier. If the barrier stretched to the sky, they might even climb higher than that.
Of course, the first elder had another thing so he could gain an advantage with height. It was…
"Blessing of the Wind."
A pair of wings appeared on Arua's back. The wing had a wingspan of five meters. This was one of his Supreme Techniques that he always helped him in defeating his enemy. After all, Alex could see that his wing contained a huge amount of Wind Element.
The first elder swung his sword to make his combo before finishing him off with his Martial Art.
This level of attack was nothing in front of Maira's eyes. He blocked the attack one after another. But Maira could not catch Arua in the sky. It was because Arua kept using his wing as well as his Wind Element to make an unpredictable but fluid movement. It was like watching a bird fly. However, unlike birds, Arua was equipped with intelligence where he could maneuver as much as he liked and struck him to his advantage.
Of course, Maira had yet to be pressured by this. Even though he was under relentless attack from Arua, Arua had yet to get the advantage even with his wings. It was because of the height limit of the barrier, AKA, the barrier roof. Maira only needed to fend these attacks off until he found a weak link on his attack.
Arua also knew that. Considering his situation, which restricted his battle prowess, he knew he would finish this fight as soon as possible. And the only way to do it was to descend to the ground.
"!!!" Maira was confused to see Arua descending. He thought he would try it for a bit longer, but both of them did not want to drag this battle for too long. He also descended to the ground. He looked at Arua, "Heh. It seems both of us think the same thing. Well, I will be going first."
Maira held his sword with both hands. He jumped forward with his sword on his front.
Sadly, Arua did not want him to get too close. He immediately waved his sword as a Sword Wave came out of his sword.
"Seven Stars Cut."
Maira raised his sword and struck the Sword from above. He just wanted to deflect it and charged toward Arua.
"Berserker Strike!" The moment he struck the Sword Wave, he pushed his body to the air to jump over the Sword Wave.
"!!!" However, when he was in the air, he suddenly felt danger from above. He was shocked to see ten swords had been waiting for him right above him. Without even giving him a chance, the swords immediately rained down on him.
Maira was forced to block all of them in mid air. Unfortunately, two swords managed to pass his defense and strike him in the right hand and left waist.
Arua then jumped toward him and swung his sword.
He did not want to give Maira a chance to stabilize his position.
"Grace of the Lion." Maira suddenly let out a loud howl that made most people close their ears. It was especially true for the first elder as everyone could see blood coming out of his ears. However, Maira was not any better. His eardrums also burst, and both of them could not hear a single thing for a while.
Maira and Arua knew they were still in a clash. So, they could only endure the pain on their ears rather than covering them. They started clashing their swords again.
They did not care about the wounds they had as they only wanted to finish this clash as soon as possible. Maira wished to preserve his power while fighting Arua. However, as expected, even though he could not use his full power, it was still enough to hinder Maira from doing so.
He continued pushing Maira to the limit to exhaust him. Both of them got injured all over from their legs to arms to body.
Clash after clash, each strike was precise and deathly, but both of them were equal. Until finally, both of them reached the point they were too exhausted. So, Arua decided to end the fight. Maira clicked his tongue as he was a bit unsure whether he could take down the second elder after fighting Arua.
The biggest factor of this was the third elder. If the third Elder did not make him use thirty percent of his power, he would already defeat Arua a few minutes ago. Both of them knew this would be the last as they could not endure many clashes after this.
The first elder took a deep breath as he was planning to use this as the last clash. He did not know whether he would win or not in this exchange, but considering the stake here, that old Maria would surely challenge his limit.
He looked at him with a serious expression, wanting to cut him down with his sword. In this final stage, he did not hear a single thing, such as the loud cheering from the people even after his hearing recovered a little from before. He only wanted to make sure he could win.
The same could be said to Maira. His body was covered with wounds, but the light in his eyes was still intense. He was still thinking about winning. He needed to win this round and somehow beat the second elder even if it meant he would go down along with him. With that, their kingdom had the possibility of winning this.
After all, the barrier already helped him by restricting the height. If not, he would not be able to defeat Arua in front of him with his current condition. It was because Arua could not use his full power that he was in this state.
Both of them had steeled their resolve. They then jumped forward as the tension filled with chilling air. Even the people did not know why they felt a chill just by watching them. However, they somehow knew this would be the last exchange between the two.
They opened their eyes wide, making sure they did not leave a single detail. Even Alex concentrated his focus together with his Spirit Eyes.
"Heaven Breaking Sword."
"Berserker Strike!"
The single strike decided all and this shocked everyone in the arena. Many people could not understand what happened just now, but the people of Heavenly Sword Sect sighed.
There was a big cut on Arua's chest as he fell down to the ground. It looked like the Heavenly Sword Sect had lost in this match.
"Thiveapia Ki-!" Just when he was about to announce the result, he could see a big wound on Maira's body too.
"You old bastard… can't you just give me the win…" Maira fell down to his knees before collapsing on the ground.
"Heh… We are going to win this tournament no matter what." Arua said. It turned out Arua did not pass out. He was lying on the ground, exhausted and hurt. It was the same as Maira as he slowly turned over his body and looked at the sky.
"Eh, what?" The announcer was completely clueless about this.
Alex, with his Spirit Eyes, could see it clearly. In the last exchange, Maira bypassed his limit. From the swing alone, he expanded his limit at the very last moment and focused his attack on that swing.
That way, he could avoid the strike from Arua and struck him on the chest. However, Arua was a daredevil. He believed Maira would pass his limit in that attack and let him slash his chest. Because of that, he got enough time to strike a devastating blow to him too.
Arua knew he could not use the height to his advantage, so the chance of beating Maira in this tournament had gone away. Because of that, he decided to end it this way as he would go down together with Maira. If it was like this, then there were still five people left excluding Alex in the Heavenly Sword Sect. On the other hand, with the defeat of Maira, Thiveapia Kingdom did not have any chance to win this fight anymore.
Seeing the curtain was close, he did not think he would need to watch the rest of the match. Of course, he did not know whether the Thiveapia Kingdom would continue to fight until the last man standing or not. However, after losing Maira in the competition, they decided to stop.
It seemed Maira had instructed them in case he could not win, they would surrender. Sadly, they could not surrender as a team. Hence, each of the participants needed to go to the arena and surrendered, giving another kind of humiliation. Unfortunately, they could only swallow it as it was the order from Maira.
Meanwhile, Alex started practicing the Heaven Breaking Sword as well as Berserker Strike. He already saw both Martial Arts many times from Dolf Kolk, Arua, and Maira. He only needed to practice it so his body could get used to it, and he would be fine.
Of course, he wanted that Sword Snake, but Maira did not use it that much, so he could not successfully copy it. He did not really mind it though, since he had plenty of ranged Sword Art.
He practiced inside Xiang Bai's room so he could observe the next battle. There were two more battles that he intrigued. It was the battle between Zhou Kingdom and Southern Kingdom, as well as Rainbow Flower Sect and Mount Hua Sect. Well, he just wanted to see the massacre of Mount Hua Sect by Rainbow Flower Sect though. As for Buddha Sect versus Hazel Kingdom, he did not really care about it since either influence would be defeated by Rainbow Flower Sect.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. The first battle between Heavenly Sword Sect and Thiveapia Kingdom has officially ended with Heavenly Sword Sect as the winner. Let us give a big applause to the two influences as we could witness both prowess."
*Applause* *Applause*
"However, because of the tight time, we will hold the second battle between Zhou Kingdom and Southern Kingdom. So without further ado, let us welcome the two kingdoms."