259 Martial Artis

'Another 'Star', huh?'

Simply dodging to the side to avoid the fiery fist of the dashing man, I could easily recognize that he was also another pure elemental practitioner who didn't train weapon techniques, quite similar to the earth guy that caught most of the interest as of late.

However, unlike him who used outer elemental abilities that seemed to indicate the possibility of him being a third stage practitioner, this guy here was obviously only an intermediate second stage practitioner, apparently going through the path of becoming a martial artist using elemental fist techniques…

The reason I dodged instead of simply stopping his fire first which weren't going to cause me much harm with my advanced fire immunity, was precisely because this fist technique was supported with something similar to my elemental physiques, and if I wasn't completely wrong, it had the fire's ability to spread resonated with his fist, making it simply less complicated to just dodge.

Besides, while I wasn't planning to hide my strength, I was only going to use as much as needed, showing off too much with only a fake master in the background to support me wouldn't prove useful anyway…

Still, having that much proficiency in this technique, being able to learn it to begin with meant that he was quite the lucky person...

Unfortunately for him though, his luck in this tournament didn't seem to be as good, having me as his competitor…

Otherwise, with his prowess, he was at least going to go through the 'Qualifiers' without much trouble…

Removing my sword from its hanging spot while it's still in its sheath, I calmly used the 'Wind' concept to deliver a blow that was strong enough just to literally 'Blow' him out of the ring.

"No.666 wins!"

`~~`~~`~~`

Leaving behind the flabgasterred fiery martial artist who still seemed to be not up to date due to how fast his loss was, I returned back to the watch platform as the other competitors threw their curious looks at me in bulk…

Of course, they didn't approach and simply looked as that was the main way of behaviour in the platform, after all, every one could meet you in the ring the next day or even the next hour, so unless they were acquainted before coming here, the relations between the participants were far from friendly...

After the match was done with, the first round still didn't end as the first two matches were obviously still ongoing, but after less than 30 minutes, the first round was announced as done and the second round of the 'Qualifiers' began on the same day…

Quite similarly to the first one, the lowest numbers were matched as well, the winner from the no.1 vs no.2 battle fought the winner of the no.3 vs no.4 and so on…

However, due to that matching logic and my current number…

"As the final odd contestant, you will be given a free pass this time…"

With the last duo fight supposedly being the winner from the no.661 vs no.662  battle and the other being the winner from the no.663 vs no.664 battle, I was simply left as the odd numbered passer while the other 332 had to fight in knockout matches just like the first round.

While it seemed as if I got quite lucky with beating that martial artist guy, I didn't think that hard about it, as it mostly meant more rest for me, after all, I would have to go all out once again after I'm done with this tournament, whether it would be my training or my search for demon bases…

`~~`~~`~~`

One and a half days later…

"No.664 wins! And with that the second round of 'Qualifiers' has finally come to an end…"

After taking my leave with the first round's end, I only returned by the time it was the end of the second round, of course, it wasn't to fight a match with my ghost but to finally know how the next stage would proceed...

"Alright, may I have the attention of the 666 participents once again…"

For some reason, the ones who lost during the two rounds of the 'Qualifiers' were also present in the ground view platform, it seemed like…

"I know that most of the ones who didn't make it are still wondering why we told you to join us here once again, but you don't need to worry, it's actually an opportunity for you…"

'As expected…'

"While the two round that were agreed upon ended, the 'Qualifiers' aren't truly done just yet… there is still the bonus round to go!"

"The bonus round which will take place first thing tomorrow will be the last chance for those who failed to qualify during both knockout rounds…"

"However, unlike the first two this third bonus round won't be in the same style, it will be a battle royale round!"

It seemed that using this luck dependent method was just to make everything fast, as they still took in mind the possibility of an extremely bad match up like mine and that martial artist guy, so they were apparently going to put all that was left in the blender and see who can come out to join the lucky early qualifiers, or so it seemed to me…

"The number of the last standers that will mean the end of the battle royale will only be announced tomorrow as we make our own calculations according to number of the qualified from the first two rounds and the 'Seeded Participants' that will join starting from the next stage…"

That also meant that the reason I came here today was…

"As for the information of how the next stage will proceed, it will be explained tomorrow once the bonus round is done, and it will also start tomorrow if everything goes as planned…"

'Came for nothing, huh…'

Going back to the 'Hotel' once more, I hoped that tomorrow will go as planned with no more 'pushing back', as it was getting quite boring even for me who loved to laze around once in a while…

'At least sleep never gets boring…'