Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: Quarterfinal Draw
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While Havel was making waves in the martial tournament,
a man disguised as a bear-like race let out a hollow chuckle.
'Havel, huh.'
His name was Penbola August.
Once the leader of the golden generation, he had been captured by his eldest brother during his breakthrough to the 7th hierarchy.
As a result, he had been dragged here under the pretext of training, ending up in this sorry state.
Now, he had been ordered to participate in the martial tournament.
The command was to retrieve the Star Sword.
According to his eldest brother, the Star Sword itself wasn't all that important.
But it was a good opportunity for training.
'This doesn't even feel like proper training.'
Penbola let out a deep sigh.
One day, a man named Havel from the Banpellyon family had suddenly appeared.
He was a monstrous figure who cleared the 6th hierarchy of the Tower right after showing up.
Thanks to him, the Banpellyon family was on a skyrocketing rise.
Out in the world, nine out of ten conversations were about Banpellyon and Havel.
They were advancing triumphantly.
And Penbola, who had personally felt Havel's power, knew the truth.
Havel was an untouchable calamity.
'The August family still hasn't fully accepted that fact.'
His home family recognized Havel's danger,
but they only saw him as a threat, nothing more. They hadn't shifted their mindset beyond that.
After all, the Five Great Families had reigned like the heavens for so long.
They didn't realize Havel was the kind of man who could shatter even the heavens.
'If things continue like this, August will clash with that monster.'
Penbola felt a headache coming on.
He didn't like the Five Great Families' monopoly, but family was family.
He didn't want to see August completely collapse.
'Maybe I should talk to Havel.'
It was at that moment.
"Next match, Panvola versus Pyod!"
His alias was called.
With no time to even glance at Havel's side, Penbola trudged up to the arena.
Unlike his days leading the golden generation, his spirit was a bit broken,
so he lacked any real motivation.
Still, he hated losing more than death itself.
He lifted his head and looked ahead.
There stood a pitch-black monkey beastman covered in bull tattoos everywhere.
Penbola had seen him talking with Havel earlier.
Perfect timing.
"Pyod, was it?"
Panvola decided to speak to him.
"Mind if we talk for a—"
"Sorry, I'm a busy guy. No time for trash talk."
Penbola stared at him in disbelief.
This wasn't trash talk; he just wanted to chat. What was the rush?
"No, it's not trash talk—"
"Shut up already."
Pyod drew a dagger and a curved sword from his waist.
"Enough talk. Come at me. I'll end it quick."
Penbola stared blankly at him.
Then he let out a hollow laugh.
"You'll end it quick, huh..."
Penbola rolled his shoulders.
"You saying that to me?"
A chill settled in Penbola's eyes.
He was a proud warrior too.
He wasn't about to take this lying down.
"Looks like that's my line. Monkey."
Switching fully to provocation, Penbola beckoned him with a finger.
Pyod snorted.
Red aura poured from his body.
"Bear bastard. You're done."
Both men's tempers fully ignited.
Boom! Crash!
In the midst of the explosions from Pyod and Penbola's clash,
Havel muttered with arms crossed.
"Penbola."
"Ah, so it is him, right?"
Elasia, sitting beside him and eating ice cream, replied.
Unlike Pyod, she had breezed through the round of 64.
Pyod was just unlucky.
"Penbola looks okay, at least."
"Yeah, he does."
And in the meantime, he'd even awakened his Calamity.
'So even the Five Great Families are desperate enough to force it now.'
With the Memento Mori climbing the Tower for all-out war,
they must have pushed all the direct descendants to awaken their Calamities in the urgency.
'The era really has started to change completely.'
Eras were always like this.
Even if one faction dominated, the end would come.
And when it did, the era would grow massively once more.
'The Great Calamity Era, is it?'
Victory and defeat would hinge on Calamities.
That was the current era.
"Elasia."
Havel called to her as she finished her ice cream.
"Watch how the era flows carefully."
Those who couldn't ride the wave would be left behind forever.
Where there were those advancing, there were always those falling behind.
Kaboom!
Another explosion rocked the arena.
Pyod had landed his secret technique, Mountain Overturn, sending his opponent tumbling.
"Huff... huff..."
Pyod breathed heavily.
His legs trembled, and he looked a mess.
But Penbola was even worse.
He lay sprawled on the ground, unable to move.
His chest rose and fell—he was alive.
The match was decided.
"Pyod wins!"
As Durandal announced the victory, cheers erupted from the crowd.
Many spectators who had been drawn in by the unexpectedly thrilling fight joined in.
After the fight, Pyod walked over to Penbola.
He extended a hand.
"Good fight. You're strong."
Seeing this, Penbola exhaled deeply, then firmly grasped the hand.
With Pyod's help, he stood.
"Yeah, you too. Been a while since I went all out like that."
The two gripped hands tightly, their hot-blooded spirits resonating, sharing satisfied smiles.
"What a show-off."
Elasia, meanwhile, reacted with disgust at the scene.
"Let 'em have their moment."
"Has Lord Havel ever been like that?"
Havel paused at the question.
There had been similar moments, but...
"More often than not, fighting once meant killing."
"Ah."
Elasia fell silent.
It couldn't be helped, even for Havel.
The unification war era, when Havel was at his peak, was a time of utter madness.
If you didn't kill your opponent, you'd be killed.
There were no friendships or respects blooming from such battles.
"Sometimes I wonder what kind of life you've lived, Lord Havel."
"Nothing special."
A life now forgotten, with no one left to remember it.
The martial tournament continued.
As some rose, others fell.
Havel's side mostly ended fights in one blow, needless to say.
A few made it to the second exchange thanks to him going easy,
but most couldn't withstand the follow-up.
Pyod's side, however, had rotten luck with matchups.
His opponents were all top-tier powerhouses.
But he bulldozed through each fight, snatching victories one by one.
Amid those hard-won triumphs,
the crowd's cheers for Pyod grew louder.
He overcame crisis after crisis to claim victory.
And at the end, that mutual respect.
Such heart-stirring scenes repeated multiple times.
"Pyod!"
"Kick ass, you bastard!"
"Grab that top spot!"
Amid their massive cheers,
Pyod had fought his way into the quarterfinals before he knew it.
And his quarterfinal opponent was none other than Elasia.
"Elasia, sis!"
"Don't lose to that beast!"
Perhaps due to her haughty, elegant appearance,
many women were among her supporters.
Especially her graceful style of dispatching foes with light magic—it was quite beautiful.
"Quite the star, aren't you?"
Elasia, now in the arena, casually brushed her hair back with her fingers.
Seeing her noble demeanor, Pyod spat.
"You're the one having fun. Happy with the girls squealing for you?"
"What a sight. Aren't you thrilled with all those burly guys cheering you on?"
The two, still on bad terms, glared at each other.
From the start, intense pressure filled the air.
Havel watched from afar.
Noticing his gaze, they locked eyes with him.
"Got it?"
"Loser gets hell training."
Pyod clenched his fist, remembering the bet.
"No thanks."
"Why not? You followed Lord Havel for training, right? I'll yield the training to you."
"That's not training. That's torture."
Neither backed down an inch.
"Quarterfinalists, prepare."
Durandal signaled in the meantime.
Amid their tense stares,
the magic flare in Durandal's hand launched.
"Begin!"
With the flare soaring, Pyod vanished instantly.
He leaped forward in a flash, thrusting his curved sword wreathed in red aura.
Slash!
But he cleaved only an afterimage.
Elasia had activated light refraction and Blink the moment the match started.
She smirked.
"That brute force personality of yours."
Several orbs of light gathered behind her.
"I'll fix it properly today!"
With her shout, beams of light assaulted Pyod.
Pyod hurriedly blocked with his dagger and curved sword.
But there were limits.
An unblocked orb grazed his side.
Sizzle!
The heat ray mixed in seared a deep burn into his flank.
Pyod winced at the burning pain.
In that gap, Elasia created more orbs and giggled behind her hand.
"Unlike you, I've been pacing my stamina this whole tournament."
As she said, she held the edge in endurance over Pyod.
Her opponents had been weaker than her.
Pyod's had been equals or stronger.
He'd ground them down with grit and stamina, barely winning.
His reserves were depleted.
Elasia looked utterly relaxed.
"Who told you to fight so recklessly? Fight nobly, like me."
Her nasty side, which never showed around Havel, emerged.
And matching that attitude, her light magic shot out fiercely.
Boom! Crash! Boom!
The barrage hammered Pyod again.
Empowered by her Calamity unlike before, her output was immense.
Pyod took the hits head-on but charged at Elasia regardless.
She dodged with practiced ease each time.
Time passed since the match began.
Even Elasia, who had been on the offensive, started tiring.
She squinted at Pyod amid her light bombardment.
Red aura surged endlessly from his body.
And its hue was far deeper than at the start.
"Hoo... haa."
Hot breaths poured from his mouth.
His crimson eyes screamed danger.
"Just fall already!"
Gritting her teeth, Elasia fired another light spell.
But with her mana low, its power had weakened.
Clang!
Pyod deflected it with his curved sword.
Boom!
The deflected spell exploded against the arena wall.
Seeing this, Pyod gripped his dagger in reverse.
"Magic... girly... talking stamina... when you're not even fit to...?"
With a sneer, Pyod kicked off the ground again.
"Out of breath and still bluffing!"
Like a rampaging bull, he charged relentlessly.
Elasia used short-range Blink to deny him distance.
But this time, it was a mistake.
Whoosh!
Pyod's thrown dagger flew to her landing spot.
Realizing it, she hastily cast a defensive spell.
Thud!
The dagger clashed with her barrier, shoving her back.
'He herded me to limit my evasion space?!'
Too late, Elasia realized Pyod had baited her Blink position.
But realization came after.
As she staggered from the impact,
Pyod closed in.
And promptly unleashed a kick at her.
Boom!
"Kyaa!"
The force shook her barrier, toppling Elasia.
Standing atop her flickering shield, Pyod panted.
The sweat pouring from him had evaporated in his aura's heat.
Instead, his flesh burned fiercer.
"That's what you get for running your mouth."
Seizing the chance, Pyod grinned, and Elasia unwittingly smiled back.
"Uh, g-get down?"
"Nah."
With that, Pyod raised his curved sword.
Red energy gathered, bloating it into a greatsword.
His finisher.
"P-Pyod! Calm down!"
"Enjoy hell training."
Too late—Elasia's panicked cry.
Red aura converged on the greatsword and blazed.
Pyod swung it down.
Freyya Style Frenzy Art
Mountain Flip Kick
With Pyod's descending strike, the area drowned in red light.
Kaboom rumble rumble!
Amid the deafening blasts,
whirling winds engulfed the arena.
As everyone held their breath watching the scene,
Screech! Thud!
Something collapsed.
The moment the smoke cleared after the sound,
both Pyod and Elasia lay fallen.
Elasia's eyes were rolled back.
Pyod's were too.
A closer look showed a bruise and blood trickling from Pyod's head.
'She used light magic in that final clash.'
Havel, who had seen it all, knew the outcome.
Exploiting Pyod's overconfidence on his finisher,
Elasia had blasted his head with light magic.
'A draw.'
Stroking his chin at the result, Havel thought it worked out well.
He could train them both now.
Not ideal for them, but perfect for Havel. Satisfaction all his.