Chapter 111
Chapter 111
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Semifinals - Agni Ignor
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The quarterfinals had wrapped up, and the semifinals were just around the corner.
With the champion about to be decided, the audience was buzzing with excitement.
Everyone was throwing out their predictions for the winner.
"It's gotta be Havel, right? High chance."
"Yeah, probably."
Havel—the man who had steamrolled through from the preliminaries to now.
His performance was on a whole different level from the other competitors, so the vast majority of spectators were betting on him to take the title.
After a brief intermission...
"We will now begin the semifinals."
Durandal announced the start of the next round of the martial tournament.
With the championship on the line, all eyes were glued to the arena.
"Semifinalist Havel Banpellyon."
And the first name called was none other than Havel.
'Surprisingly few from the Five Great Families.'
Aside from Penbola, none of his opponents had been from the Five Great Families.
'Are the Five Great Families preparing something else?'
He could've just asked the Tendar Princess to hand over the Sword of Stars, no problem.
But he'd entered the tournament specifically to gauge the Five Great Families' strength.
Yet hardly any of them had shown up.
'I figured making a name for myself like this would at least draw their attention.'
Havel stepped onto the arena and looked up.
At least this semifinal pitted him against one from the Five Great Families.
Not that it changed the fact that he already knew the guy.
"Semifinalist Azaris Ignor."
Clack, clack—
The sharp click of men's dress shoes echoed in response to Durandal's call.
What emerged was a fox-eared man with fiery red hair.
Faint flames flickered around his body.
His eyes, like polished rubies beneath his hair, gleamed with sculpted perfection.
He flicked the bushy fox tail bulging from behind him and slowly flashed a sly smile.
The moment their eyes met, Havel sensed something off.
Azaris had always radiated a fiery aura.
But this Azaris before him felt eerily subdued, like everything had burned to ash.
"Azaris."
When Havel called out to him, his gaze shifted over.
A faint, uncharacteristic smile tugged at his lips.
"Hey, nice to meet you. You're Havel, right?"
Havel's brow twitched at the sight.
The Azaris who'd fought him in the tournament was definitely Azaris.
But the one standing here now? Not the real deal.
"Who are you?"
Someone else from Havel's memories—not the pyromaniac Azaris, but another figure entirely.
This intruder had taken up residence in Azaris's body.
"Who, huh? We've never met, so even if I told you, you probably wouldn't know."
"Don't dodge the question."
A warning tone laced with power emanated from Havel, warping the space around them.
Azaris let out a long, impressed whistle, unfazed even in the face of Havel's Calamity.
No ordinary guy.
Havel could feel it too.
"How about we introduce ourselves, then?"
He grinned cheekily and pointed to himself.
"I'm Agni Ignor, patriarch of the Ignor family—possessing my immature little runt here."
Havel's eyes narrowed sharply.
Not because of the "patriarch of the Five Great Families" title.
He'd sensed the aura pouring from Agni shift dramatically with those words.
From ashes fully consumed...
A sly flame began to flicker back to life.
Dangerously so, as if it could incinerate anything it touched.
"So it was you."
Facing Agni like this, Havel pieced together one key fact.
Besides himself, another reason the Night God had been drawn to Tendar.
This man right here—Agni.
'Even possessing someone else's body, and he's this strong.'
Havel let out a dry chuckle.
Indeed, the head of one of the Five Great Families.
These guys were definitely on par with the Calamity wielders.
"Havel Banpellyon of the Banpellyon family."
"I know that much!"
Is he nuts?
Havel shot Agni an annoyed look.
Agni just giggled.
"Banpellyon's been making waves lately. Everyone's talking about you guys everywhere. Next-gen family and all that!"
Havel realized this wasn't solely his doing.
'Arthur's been working hard too.'
Another force actively building up the Banpellyon name.
Arthur Banpellyon, the young patriarch of Banpellyon.
He was just as dedicated to reviving the family as Havel was.
While Havel had been conquering the 7th hierarchy...
Banpellyon had undergone tremendous growth.
"Still, I think it's about time to start being cautious. There are shadowy hands threatening the family popping up all over."
Agni offered the advice like a senior from the Five Great Families.
Havel snorted in amusement.
"Don't worry. Our patriarch's got it handled."
If Arthur couldn't handle that much, he didn't deserve to lead Banpellyon.
So Havel trusted him.
"Is that so? Well, then. Truth is, I was more curious about you than Banpellyon anyway."
"Both contestants, prepare."
Durandal's cue for the semifinals came right on time.
Agni lounged back, hands behind his head, smirking lazily.
Havel, on the other hand, stared him down with a stone-cold expression.
Opposing emotions clashing...
"Curious, huh?"
Havel raised his hand.
"Find out for yourself."
"Begin!"
With Durandal's shout, Havel's hand slashed down.
A streak of dawn light shot from his palm.
In an instant, it swelled into a massive sword beam engulfing Agni.
KABOOOM!
The blast split the arena and slammed into the spectator barriers, detonating with thunderous force.
As everyone gaped in shock at the devastation from a mere flick of the wrist...
Tiny sparks drifted lazily through the air.
Like will-o'-the-wisps, they began gathering overhead.
The audience felt intense heat from above.
Sweat beading on their faces, they looked up to see...
A massive orb of flame hovering there.
As if the sun itself had been summoned to the arena.
At its center stood Agni, still smiling.
He was now astride a horse forged of fire.
"Just what I wanted!"
Agni's hands danced like a conductor.
Flames rained down upon the arena.
The mini-sun he'd conjured unleashed a solar flare straight at Havel.
The arena became an inferno in seconds.
Havel charged through the blaze.
He thrust his hand forward.
The sword intent surging from it cleaved the flames apart.
"Ho."
Even Havel looked surprised.
'Didn't expect to feel heat even after obtaining Vajra.'
This heat pierced right through his Vajra state.
Havel pulled back his hand.
Instead, he drew his sword.
This wasn't an opponent he could take barehanded.
'That sun—definitely magic conjured from a Calamity.'
Worth the head of a Five Great Family.
'Even in a possessed body, he's at least Transcendent level.'
Now he understood the arrogance of the Five Great Families' patriarchs.
'If I'd run into one right after clearing the Demonic Palace...'
Without surpassing mortal limits, he might've been the one overpowered.
'The Demonic Palace gave me the power to absorb Calamities. It didn't impose one on me.'
Things were starting to click.
The Demonic Palace was special, but it hadn't made him instantly stronger.
p>It had quantified his stats for rapid growth.
Unlike typical Calamities, it didn't grant one outright.
'Maybe even the Demonic Palace I cleared...'
The difficulty with just aura versus with a Calamity might've been separate.
'In that case...'
Could there still be unabsorbed Calamities lingering in the Demonic Palace?
His mind grew complicated at the thought.
When Calamities emerged, the world entered a truly new era.
The old era's power couldn't match the Five Great patriarchs with their Calamities.
But unfortunately...
WHOOSH!
Havel had changed drastically too.
SLASH!
The dawn glow of his swung sword shone bright.
The dawn incinerated the solar flare in an instant.
The beam hurtled toward Agni's face.
CRACKLE!
It melted against the circular flame barrier around Agni.
Agni's brow twitched briefly.
The barrier was layered dozens deep.
"Insane firepower."
A single dawn strike had shattered a good chunk.
Still, he kept his composure.
The sun refueled the barrier instantly.
"Patriarch of Ignor."
Dawn light gathered on Havel's sword.
It suppressed even the surrounding sea of fire.
"I asked if you were serious."
WHOOSH!
Agni's hair stood on end.
The pressure from Havel made even a Five Great Family patriarch shiver.
"How long can you last against my full power?"
Havel smirked coldly as dawn erupted from his sword.
It swallowed the entire area in a flash.
Blinded spectators squeezed their eyes shut.
In that brief blaze...
Havel was already in front of Agni.
Lightspeed had long outstripped human perception.
CLANG!
A sound rang out against Agni's barrier.
Too late by the time it echoed.
Havel's sword speed had surpassed sound ages ago.
Thousands of strikes had already hammered the flame barrier.
CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG!
Delayed echoes compressed the air sharply.
The pressure hit its limit...
And exploded in a shockwave of thunder.
KABOOOOOM!
Steam rings erupted, filling the arena with deafening blasts.
Agni plummeted toward the ground.
Inside the barrier, he'd taken the sonic impact head-on.
His ears rang with piercing tinnitus.
A fire horse caught him just in time.
But thinking it was over would've been a mistake.
SPLURT!
Something pierced the fire horse's neck.
"Hiiik."
The horse wailed as its neck disintegrated into flames.
Its body collapsed.
As Agni tumbled across the floor...
THUD!
Someone stomped on him.
Havel.
"Your barrier's densely layered, huh."
Havel's voice cut through Agni's ringing ears.
"It's my kid's body, after all."
Just as he said, the barrier still enveloped Agni's crushed form.
He felt the impact but no major injuries.
SIZZLE!
The intense heat scorched the soles of Havel's shoes on contact.
He ignored the burn.
Instead, he raised his sword again.
Yet even then, Agni wore a chilling smile.
The mini-sun overhead split open.
Flames cascaded down like a waterfall.
Havel was swept into the fiery deluge.
And it wasn't just for show.
The pressure could've pulped a man like rags.
Havel's shoulders bore down hard.
Meanwhile, Agni's fingers flicked.
A fire horse emerged from the cascade, scooping him up.
Taking advantage of Havel being pinned to create distance.
THWACK!
Havel's hand shot out.
"Where do you think you're going?"
The disguise spell Kabala had cast burned away.
Havel's true eyes blazed fiercer than the flames.
Like the Grim Reaper incarnate.
"If you're leaving, take this."
Still in the fire horse's pulling stance, Havel poured power into his sword and swung straight.
The blade struck Agni's gut dead-on.
BOOM!
The fire horse tore apart as Agni's body bent backward like a jackknife.
Hurled from the flame waterfall, he soared through the sky.
Blood gushed from his mouth.
His organs felt twisted from that single blow.
Even the flame barrier hadn't blocked it all.
Yet he grinned wickedly amid it all.
Battered and broken, he pointed a finger at Havel.
The mini-sun compressed in a flash.
From sun-scorching blaze to fingertip-sized...
It became a white-hot orb.
"Boom!"
With a playful tone, Agni flicked his hand up.
Havel was mid-swing.
PING!
A sharp sound pierced the air belatedly.
KRAKABOOM!
The delayed roar devastated everything around.
Havel's hair whipped wildly.
Spectators outside the arena were flung like chaff in the storm.
Cries echoed from the stands.
"Th-the spectator b-barriers..."
They realized too late.
A fingertip-sized hole pierced the top of the barriers.
That tiny breach had caused all this chaos.
SIZZLE—
Havel's sword hissed with heat.
The price of deflecting Agni's superheated sun orb.
He glanced at the damage scarring even his dawn-coated blade.
Unprecedented destructive power.
"Whoa, you can even block superheat magic."
Agni was just as stunned.
He'd aimed to punch a hole through Havel's body.
Yet Havel had parried it.
Havel casually swung his smoking sword.
Then eyed Agni.
White heat shimmered like haze from Agni's body.
The air around him warped from the temperature.
CRACK!
Agni's right leg buckled.
Blood streamed from his nose.
"Looks like you can't bring your full strength in a possession."
Havel saw through Agni's state.
Agni was drawing out Azaris's talents to fight.
But there were limits to how much he could pull.
Azaris's body hit its breaking point first.
And still, Havel felt the heat.
If it had been Agni's real body, Havel might've taken real damage for the first time in ages.
"You're strong. Really strong! And that's not even your full power, right?"
"Same to you."
Havel eyed him distastefully.
Agni giggled.
"Thanks to you, I've learned plenty.
With you around, Havel, we might actually clear all the Calamities."
Havel's brow twitched at those words.
Agni knew something about the world.
'Information even the Whisperer and God's Poison deliberately hid.'
This guy definitely knew.
"If you're gonna spill, do it now. Is that why your Five Great Families and the Memento Mori blocked the Tower clears?"
"Haha, we can talk after you clear the Tower! That was fun. Next time, let's meet in my real form."
Tch, not talking, huh.
"But I should tell you this much."
He grinned like it was his parting gift for losing.
"Penrad August, firstborn of August, is planning to destroy Tendar right now."
That made Havel's brow furrow again.
"Ignor's stepping aside, so good luck blocking him!"
With that, a flicker of flame ignited on Agni's body.
It vanished, and he collapsed unconscious.
"Zzz."
Snoring away on his face—back to Azaris, apparently.
Havel turned slowly.
"Penbola August."
"Eek!?"
He snatched Penbola from the arena stands in a blink.
"Take me to your August base. Now."
Time to meet the real August forces.