Chapter 848: Core Members Tournament 22
Kronalord frowned as he climbed upon the stage with Kiran. He eyed the dark monk warily as he was aware that his opponent was not a pushover.
In the past timeline he had been Hellscape's strongest fighter after Draco. To have occupied that spot, there must certainly be something about him that was remarkable.
What's more his status as a Dual Lineage member had even allowed him to keep up with the monster that was Essence...
Nevertheless, as a God Serpent Inheritor, coupled with his Divine Class, Krona was confident in his victory. Meanwhile, Kiran was frowning and sweating heavily, knowing that this fight might be his last in the competition, but by the Gods would he make sure to tear a giant piece of flesh off his opponent before going out!
The match began with Krona filling the stage with water using a Tsunami once more. Kiran used the same method as Shani to create makeshift land for himself and then faced Krona who had spawned a total of 10 Asian style Dragons made of water.
The Leviathan holder didn't stop there, raising his hands on either side as he created gigantic tentacles and tendrils out of water and lashed out, destroying the landmass around his opponent, hoping to get him underwater.
Watching this, the core members felt their hearts go cold. Krona was outright skipping the probing stage, going all out from the get-go without holding back on his Bloodline Energy in order to deal with Kiran. In truth, he was using a mixture of his Divine Class and his bloodline in order to maximize efficiency and power.
Kiran gulped, aware that holding back would just be asking for trouble. He first exploded with greenish energy that made his robes swirl slightly.
Internal Force, Activate!
Then he released another brownish energy that merged with the green one almost seamlessly, while still remaining somewhat distinct.
Buddha Lineage Noble Energy, Activate!
Then, a pure white light enveloped his body and gave him a holy radiance, one less religious and more pure, clean.
Merlin Lineage Knight Energy, Activate!
With these three energies coiling around Kiran perfectly, merging together yet remaining distinct enough that you could see the different layers and colors, he felt a great amount of power flow through his body.
Upgraded Base Warrior form!
At this time, a giant tentacle was slamming over his piece of landmass to break it apart, but Kiran showed no fear. Instead, he condensed energy into his right first and punched out, resulting in an explosive strike.
This was done without using the active skill like before. With Kiran's level of skill and technique, replicating the Kiai Cannon his Base Warrior and above forms was easy as pie.
The huge shockwave of martial force blew the water holding the tentacle part, splattering back into the rising ocean below them.
Seeing this, Krona's eyebrows rose. He did not know anything about Kiran's various forms, transformations, and copyright-stolen moves, but the older core members who were watching by the side had a weird glint in their eyes.
They were strangely mum and not passing comments like usual, making the newer core members feel like something was wrong as they themselves passed comments on the fight as it went on.
"Little Princess, you've been silent this entire time. Pray tell, aren't you worried that your boyfriend will get beaten to death?" Misery teased Sublime while taking a sip of his drink.
"Hehe." Was the only reply Sublime gave in return
"Hm?" Misery murmured, surprised by his niece's lack of concern.
For her to keep nonchalant, it was either she had resolved herself to her lover's fate… or she was confident in him due to something he was unaware of.
Thinking like this, Misery perked up slightly. He had drilled his nephew until the latter had literally wept blood, so he was sure about Kiran's success chance. So... what exactly could this Alabama Brat have kept hidden under his sleeves?
Krona himself was surprised by Kiran's retaliation. However, when he noticed that Kiran had two different bloodline auras on him, he was bewildered for a while, and so were the other God Serpents and core members new to the guild.
Sensing this, Krona intensified his attacks once more, burning even more of his energy and mana to spawn fiercer aquatic attacks, not to mention using his class skill to summon three behemoths from the depths, as well as the two Divine Beasts, Umibozu and the Kun Peng.
Even then, Krona didn't stop there as he jumped off an Aqua Dragon he was riding and let it attack. In the meantime, he directly used the Advanced Manifestation technique he had learned from Draco when he infused the other 50% of their God Serpent into them, manifesting Leviathan in 1/30th of his glory.
If we're talking about size among the God Serpents, the three largest were the World Serpent – Jormungandr, the Behemoth – Leviathan, and the Symbol of Eternity – Ouroboros. These three were easily almost planet-sized and never actually went to their full size in history.
Still, the version Krona manifested was large enough that none could see its tail. The Leviathan roared, releasing almost audible sound waves that created cyclones and tsunamis on the water's surface.
The behemoths roared in tandem and charged at the lone Kiran with severe killing intent. Anyone would have been frightened being stared down by such massive behemoths while trapped on a piece of rock in the middle of an ocean.
However, Kiran only breathed in deeply and squatted slightly. He then focused internally and began sweating, as he activated the first of the Eight Inner Hidden Gates, the Gate of Opening.
Coupled with Internal Force, this skill only followed its text and granted 100% strength for 10% of his total HP. But when paired with Internal Force and Noble Energy, it unlocked a unique power that Kiran had relied on to make a name for himself worldwide and cause a cultivation/martial arts craze in China.
"HHharrghh!!" he roared as his aura that was green, brown, and white turned into a blood-red color, looking like thin blood lit on fire that swirled around him. His golden hair became red in color and became spiky, standing on its ends.
His blue eyes that linked him to Sublime and Misery became crimson and filled with power, as well as a strange sort of berserk fighting will.
Krona and the rest of the new additions felt their jaws drop. They thought they had seen everything, but it turned out that in the end, they were still limited by their meager common sense and realistic perception of the world.
This was perfectly displayed when Nightwalker blankly murmured.
"Isn't that… a fucking Super Saiyan?!"
Kiran saw the incoming attacks from the behemoths and showed a serious expression. Immediately, he soared into the air with his red aura trailing behind him, blasting forward like a bullet as he charged towards the head of the Kun Peng.
Flight? Easily achievable even without his Super Warrior form. He had trained himself on how to use Ki Energy to fly like in the series he was copyrighting so blatantly that even Nightwalker who was a young boomer could identify it.
During the Inter Player Competition, he had been unable to, as he had only just unlocked the usage of such forms, not yet adept at it. Now, though, after having more than a few months to train, he had naturally increased all of his powers and techniques.
As such, he took to the air and easily avoided the nearby monstrosities as he reached the Kun Peng and struck its head with his full force.
The beast screeched in agony as one of its eyes were blown out, reeling backwards immediately.
Kiran noticed an Aqua Dragon rushing over, and dispersed it forcibly using an empowered Kiai cannon far stronger than what he used before. He then began throwing such shockwaves outwards, blowing apart the other aqua dragons as well as the tentacles and tendrils that swarmed him.
However, Krona did not seem fazed as he spawned more where that came from, using mostly his mana and conserving his bloodline energy after getting a glimpse of Kiran's power. He also waved Umibozu and the other behemoths forward, and they unscrupulously rushed towards the flying fellow.
Kiran himself simply grinned and blasted towards them, his red energy growing further and further until he roared a familiar line.
"The will of a martial artist! To never fall! Die under my attack, Kronalord! Realm King Fist, HAAAA!!!"
Kiran instantly created a line of energy in the air as he shot towards the first behemoth that was in his way. He did not even pause for a split second as he tore through the monster, passing through one side of its abdomen to the other.
Without pausing, he then warped once more and left a line of red energy in the air as he spun in an arc, passing through the skull of another behemoth that was on its way.
The final behemoth saw the death of its brothers and roared in fear, but could not escape its fate as Kiran continued in a final arc and passed through its body which such speed that it tore a hole on either side of its torso.
Screech!
How could this monster that had ruled the depths like a king for so long tolerate this kind of pain? Immediately, it let out its death throes in the form of an agonized shriek and joined its fellowmen in the sea below, bleeding out terribly.
Krona saw this and frowned darkly. He clapped his hands and created a cannon made of water, then began firing large and thick jets of high-pressure water towards the airborne Kiran. Seeing this, Kiran hastily dodged, not daring to receive or try to disperse such an attack.
At this time, Kiran was forcibly stopped where he was by a powerful soundwave attack. It sounded like the wail of a baby, and Kiran had to clasp his ears shut in order to reduce the sheer pain it caused.
He turned to see that this was the effect of Umibozu, who was like a giant half-human, half-fish baby with only a shoddy piece of coral covering its privates. It was somehow rising on the waves of the sea itself, but was naturally unable to fly.
As such, it had opted to wisely use a long-range attack to disable its airborne enemy. While Kiran was 'stunned' by this attack, Krona fired another jet of water that struck the fellow head-on, sending him flying through the air as he coughed out a thick wad of blood.
At this time, the Primordial Kun Peng had recovered from its damage and hatefully rushed toward the flying Kiran. It coiled and spun around, building up the maximum momentum it could before sending its tail flying toward Kiran, smacking him towards the sea.
Many of the core members by the side directly grimaced. They felt pity for Kiran and knew that such a combo of attacks had to hurt terribly. Even if he was still alive, he would have to be on the verge of death.
What's more, having been smacked into the water... at this point, he was basically putty in the hands of Krona. He could forget about ever breaching the surface and seeing the light of the sun again.
In the eyes of the core members, this match was over. Kiran had put up a great fight, but a Legendary Class simply could not beat a Divine Class, not to mention this strange freak with two bloodlines couldn't match up to a God Serpent Inheritor.
And yet, despite this, Sublime still looked confident even if the core members who knew Kiran were wavering. She was still smiling slightly, as if there was nothing to worry about.
This puzzled Misery until he felt a certain aura from the water, and his face changed greatly.
"HOW? HOW CAN THIS BE?!"
He stood up from his lazy posture and actually dropped his bottle to the floor, for he was witnessing something impossible and thought to be a taboo in their lineage for many generations.
At the same time, the water in the sea exploded outwards, revealing a shocking scene.