Avari was nervous for him, since she wasn’t allowed to spectate. Anyone who hasn’t made it past the first round isn’t permitted to view the fights, so all she could do was sit and worry. It probably wasn’t necessary, but she felt that whoever that child was, he posed a real threat. She knew that worrying wouldn’t help anything, so she calmed herself down and began meditation. She was close to the peak of the True realm, it would just take a bit more spiritual energy.

In the Joka clan, they had a method to quantify the amount of soul force one had. For example, each stage of the Nascent realm was separated by a soul force of 10. The peak of the Nascent realm was thus 100, in most cases. In other clans, many only used this system for the Nascent commoners, but in the Joka clan, they continued the scaling. Once you broke through, the difference between levels was 10 times greater. This meant 1,000 was the peak of the True realm. This held true for every rank up to peak Saint.

Right now, Avari was around 995, and was exceedingly close to breaking through. It was unknown why, but once one breaks through to the next level within their rank, their power increases much greater than one would expect. This is the reason many other clans forgo the use of the numerical system, but the Joka clan has many methods to quickly increase power, but only at very specific power levels. This was why Avari, who would usually be considered a merely above average genius, has been able to keep up with all but the most frightening super geniuses.

She sat there, her mind calm and absorbing the qi around her. Her concentration was soon broken by the arrival of the child, however. He had a satisfied look on his face, along with the stench of blood. Once again, her chest closed, but she felt relief upon seeing Audun arrive. She ran over to him and hugged him.

“Well, you managed to make it past round one. Maybe you aren’t the absolute worst.” Audun gave her a smile for her compliment, but worry was all over his face. “What happened out there, what did the child do?”

He gave her a grim look. “That kid was able to take down every single combatant that came out from our side in less than a minute. He was also able to keep up with my fastest speed. I was just barely able to take out everyone before he arrived.”

Avari looked over at the child again. How utterly monstrous, to take everyone out that fast… She needed to break through, and soon.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot. He is also the son of one of the founders here.”

“What?! A founder?” Which one, however? They were all saints, but one of them ranked amongst the top 5 strongest in the whole land. “That makes him infinitely more dangerous. Audun, it may be best for you to drop out when it comes to fighting him.”

Audun gave her a laugh. “”I’m just a bit surprised that there is another brat out there who is so powerful. There’s no way I’d lose to him, so don’t worry about me. You just need to worry about yourself, you have to face the foreigner. Don’t get knocked out round one, mkay?”

Avari found she very much liked this side of Audun, his caring and optimism. Even if it was a bit sarcastic, it was comforting. But she didn’t have long to dwell on these thoughts, as her block was called out.

Stepping out onto the stage, she gasped. It was craigy, and a seemingly huge sea lay below them, and separated them from the other side, only connected by a series of unstable looking land bridges. Mist covered the edges of the Stage, and the crowd was impossible to see. She looked over at the woman with the tattoos, and figured this was done as a spectacle because of her.

“The first match gave us the founders son, and now this match we have a mysterious girl, who finds herself wandering adrift. And it seems that a great current has dropped her off here at our Arena. Seeing that we are the most hospitable of folks, we decided to dedicate this blocks stage to her!” Faintly, if one strained their ears, they could hear the roar of a cloud. It was quickly lost in the smashing of waves against the craigs, however.

“Now, let’s begin a most exciting match!” As soon as the voice disappeared, every contestant felt restrive spells fall away. Avari quickly set to taking out her lesser competition, twirling like a deadly storm through tens of people. She wasn’t like Audun, who had little control over his spiritual energy. She could use every single ounce individually, enabling her to use very little energy in taking out those who were only of the mid True stage. In minutes, only six combatants were left, with all of them minus Avari being at the peak True stage. She and the girl with tattoos eyes met, and they almost came to an instant understanding.

They both then lashed out at their nearest foes. Avari called the mist to follow her, then used her overwhelming speed to quickly knock out the two close to her. She was light and nimble, very much unlike the girl with tattoos. Her attacks were strange, and exceedingly heavy. Most techniques in the land of Amrestria were light, and depended more on finesse than strength. This foreigner, however, smashed down on her foes, with her tattoos responding and reacting to every strike. They even lept off her skin to attack as well, resulting in the person being attacked on multiple fronts. Her opponents never stood a chance, and soon, everyone was down.

They both then looked over to the other side. The other side was down to twenty or so fighters, and looked like it would be some more time before they stopped.

“I will take care of this.” Her accent was exceedingly thick, rolling her r’s and being barely able to pronounce w, but it added to her charm. Avari blushed a bit, taken slightly aback by how alluring she found this girl.

The girl then jumped down below, stopping herself just before the water by grabbing onto the side of the cliff. She then proceeded to place one arm in the water, and two inky water dragons slithered off into the ocean. They seemed small, but their cultivation base emanated late Earth realm, at least 8th rank. Avari knew that this woman was going to be trouble when it came to fighting her. Even though the dragons were powerful, it seemed to control them required all of her focus. In a real fight, she would probably be able to only control late True Realm tattoos without complete focus.

The combatants on the other side immediately ceased fighting when a sense of danger crashed into them. They all put their guards up towards the sea, and waited. All of them were sweating, and none of them knew what was going on. Seconds ticked by. Then, two massive dragons, made of a rainbow colored ink leapt out of the water. They swirled around each other, as if in dance, and shredded through the cultivators. Every one of them died.

The dragons quickly ran back to their home on the girl’s arm, and she jumped back up to Avari. She was damp with dew, and her tattoos sheened with a layer of water. She looked like an ocean goddess.

“I cannot wait to see you in the semi-finals dear. Remember my name; Renn.” She stroked Avari’s face, and began walking back.

“It looks like our foreign friend has not only come on top, but found herself smitten with another lovely contestant! Let’s give it up for The Foreigner, and her new companion, Royalty!” Once again, one could hear the crowd roar. “Let’s see where this love story goes, next time when we have the semi-finals.”

The announcer leaned back from the voice enhancing stone, and stared out towards seemingly nothing. “We still do have two more rounds to go, don’t we readers. Well, they won’t matter too much. The winners are going to be a guy with black angel wings, a guy who is a dual sword master, a boy who wins by a fluke, and a man who breaks through and forfeits his right to participate. Besides, we really care about what our little Audun is gonna do about his competition.” The announcer laughed, before disappearing from the room he was in.