*BOOM*
Zayn and Kayn clashed on each other and created a small shockwave, sweeping through the audience. The current clash was the strongest force the crowd experienced in the tournament.
Both of them were pushed a few meters back and instantly after, stormed at each other again.
The spectators were fascinated by the current development of the fight. It was a back and forth between Zayn and Kayn, one triumphing against the other, each time. It began with Zayn's one-minute break and switched back to Kayn after his prince-like transformation. Then Zayn became slower and was nearly finished.
And momentarily they are nearly at the same strength. Zayn was slightly falling behind by a bit. The Killing Intent strained not only his mental strength but also his combat power in general.
Even though Zayn was falling behind, the crowd was still dumbfounded by his performance. He was skipping 3-Stars to fight Kayn, and he was only lagging slightly behind. That was too abnormal. Their Thunder Head Academy was the first place in the whole empire where they encountered such a freak.
The elderly teacher and many other talented teachers noticed that this wasn't his only feat. And that Kayn wasn't also to be underestimated. Both of them were unusual cultivators, with Zayn being the bigger freak.
Kayn's unusual ability to swallow qi and change his body entirely was something they never encountered before. He was also getting stronger through that effort. They noticed that Kayn's strength wasn't limited to the 6-Star Body Refinement Realm. Through that transformation, Kayn was able to get stronger than his previous self. The teachers were still unsure if Kayn was skipping half a star or 1-Star with that transformation.
This meant that Zayn wasn't only skipping 3-Stars, he was even bridging 3-Stars to 4-Stars. This was on a whole new level than before. Skipping 3-Stars was never before seen. But 4-Stars, that wasn't even talked about before.
Maybe there existed geniuses equal to Zayn in those others empires, but these empires were something way out of the teachers league, so having someone as Zayn in their academy was a blessing to the academy. This could bring glory to their school and make the school part of Zayn's future stories.
Even Kayn was a blessing to their academy. He was also able to be stronger than in the boundary of his cultivation stage. This kind of feat wasn't normal. Normally, the chance of having this kind of genius was below 1 in 10000, to find one student like that, and now they had two students in one year. And one of them even triumphing over this concept.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
Clashes after clashes sounded in front of the audience. Their movements right now were so fast that they easily overshadowed the most anticipated fight in the tournament, the clash of the 6-Star Body Refinement Realm Cultivators, which happened in one of the first rounds in the tournament.
The current fight was the most thrilling fight many students experienced in their whole life.
At the beginning of their clashing, Zayn was always the one who was being pushed further away, but during the fight, he was able to level that out.
'Good, I at least now know a bit about Killing Intent. I need to learn more about how to resist it. My movements and attacks are also constantly getting better and better. If I analyze his movements more, I could predict his attacks and end this fight.'
Again he rushed at Kayn and answered Kayn's fist with his fist. Another explosive sound rang.
The fight was currently in its 8-minute and was nearly reaching the 10-minute mark. The fight needed a winner immediately.
"Heheheheheheheheheheheheh! I've never had this much fun. You are truly freakish. I like that. But unfortunately, it has to end now!"
In a flash, Kayn's charming prince-like appearance changed back to his corpse-like appearance.
Zayn was puzzled about his transformation. Wasn't his prince-like transformation the stronger one? What was he up to?
"I give up..." His lifeless and hoarse voice was again heard.
"..."
"Let's do that again... In the future..." And after that, he walked away, out of the arena, without waiting for any response or reaction.
Zayn couldn't process what happened. Their strength was evened out. Zayn was only getting stronger and stronger by a bit. This surely shouldn't have forced Kayn to give up. He could of at least launched a final attack.
'What an anticlimactic end... Well, at least I can beat up Flint now...'
Kayn's surrender sparked differences in opinions in the audience. Many were confused by the surrender. Many others credited it to Zayn's overbearing performance.
The teachers also had opinions on this matter. Some noticed Zayn's constant improvement. He was getting better and better with his movements and attacks. If Kayn also noticed that then maybe he gave up for this reason, but why wouldn't he at least try to force a final clash.
Teacher Leaf then entered the arena and announced Zayn as the winner of this round. Many in the audience really didn't know if they should clap or not. A small part of the audience, Zayn's fans, started wildly clapping and screaming in excitement.
Zayn walked out of the arena and was greeted by a voice, he was familiar with.
"Good job, kid! Except for the one-minute break, everything went well. You delivered quite well and proved yourself out there. The one-minute break wasn't really necessary, but it shows your creativity in a fight, I give you that. But you should know that you won't have chances like that in the future fights. Not everyone is like the corpse kid, driven by entertainment. You will encounter many life and death fights in the future where the one-minute break would mean your death. Anyway, you had luck with that."
"Yeah, I know...you don't need to remind me again. Still, I learned a lot in this fight! ...But I am still puzzled about the sudden surrender."
"Sudden surrender? Well, it's nothing like that. I previously didn't tell you, but the corpse kid has a unique body constitution. I wanted you to be able to adapt to unexpected incidents.
It's a low-level kind of the Devouring Qi Body, I think. I'm not sure, my senses are restricted. But it's most likely that it's something around the Devouring Qi Body. Maybe he hasn't fully unlocked it yet. You saw what he did with it. He devoured qi into his body and abused the qi to transform himself. There are many Martial Skills that are using the same principles, but only with a body constitution can you do that in the Body Refinement Realm. But this transformation has a time limit on it. It can't be used for longer periods of time as the consumption of qi and willpower is immense with it. The corpse kid was most likely reaching the limits of his transformation. That's why he gave up."
This explanation gave Zayn a sense of certainty back.
With that fight, the semi-finals ended. Teacher Leaf announced a 5-minute break. After that, the finals would be held. Flint vs Zayn.
Zaym just walked up to Vown and Ryu, trying to brush of his fans. He conversed with Vown and Ryu the whole break long.
In the beginning, Flint was the favored candidate for the winner position, but then Zayn came storming in. He was defeating stronger opponents after stronger opponents. He was truly a dark horse in the tournament.
No one in the audience was sure if Zayn would again bridge the gap between his cultivation and his opponent's or if Flint was taming the dark horse and bringing an end to Zayn's unstoppable strength.
The teachers were aware that Zayn hasn't reached his limits yet. The question now was if Zayn's limit would be able to defeat Flint or if Flint would crush Zayn before or even after he tapped into his limits.
"Now, everyone please get ready for the final fight." Teacher Leaf announced it.
Zayn and Flint simultaneously entered the arena. Each of them staring each other down.
The crowd knew of their previous animosity. Flint lost against Zayn in a display of their Martial Skills. The loss made Flint not only lose his face in public, but he also lost his family's Martial Skill the Fire Fist.
"Hey, worm how about a wager to make this fight more interesting? Only if you are confident!"
"A wager?"