"Alright, I think we've all waited long enough, right? It's time to get pumped up!" Rathe showed off his gauntlets as he pounded his chest loudly to the crowd.
The audience was thrilled for the finals and couldn't wait any longer.
Taking advantage of the crowd's anxiousness, Rathe introduced the first finalist, "On this side, we have the young genius of our gorilla clan and the underdog who made it to the final round, Oli!"
Oli bolted out of the tunnel and jumped onto the platform with enthusiasm. Thanks to his high energy, the crowd went wild and cheered for the young ape regardless of their bets against him.
"And on this side, we have the crowd favorite who stunned every challenger into submission, Karos!" Everyone stood up and roared for the lynx as he casually exited his tunnel and walked up the steps. His unusual seriousness got everyone excited as they hoped to watch a spectacular match.
Karos and Oli looked to each other and bowed their heads respectfully to their opponent. Oli was calm and focused on anticipating Karos' first move, especially since Karos had always one overpowering each opponent with electricity to either knock them out or stun them and push them off the platform in one go. Oli's gaze met Karos' and Oli noticed that something was off. They were very serious, but they showed no emotion towards him. They had the chance to talk a few times since they were both young masters, but Oli had never seen Karos like this before.
"Let's get this match underway! Ready, set, fight!" Rathe glued his eyes onto the finalists and smiled wide as he thought about how he would spend his winnings after Oli won.
Neither Oli nor Karos wasted any time as they dashed towards each other. Karos covered his claws in lightning essence and began his assault on Oli. Oli covered his entire body with the most essence he could muster without affecting his later use of the Earthen Hammer art and did his best to dodge as many attacks as possible. The gorilla took a few blows and was received a few claw marks on his body, but his small amount of essence armor was able to keep Oli from being stunned by the electric shocks. With Karos directly in front of him, Oli tackled him to the ground.
Everyone watching was on the edge of their seat as Oli became the first competitor to make it past Karos' first attack. They remembered his victory by grapple from the semifinals and some booed, hoping that it wouldn't end in such an anticlimactic way. The booed stopped almost as quickly as they began however when they saw what Oli did next.
Oli immediately lifted his arms above his head and materialized an essence hammer, ready to strike the downed Karos. As the hammer came down, Karos struck out with his lightning coated claws. The attacks collided, getting the entire crowd pumped up as Oli was knocked off of Karos. Of the two attacks, it was Karos' lightning claws that managed to destroy the hammer's head and cut through Oli's defenses.
Karos stood back up and lunged at the shaken Oli with his lightning claws. Oli was trying to dodge but he noticed one strike a little too late to dodge and was forced to block with his arm. What surprised Oli wasn't the speed of the attack, it was that the claw had targeted Oli's heart and showed a possible threat to Oli's life. He jumped back and tried to create some space as he processed the situation, but Karos didn't let up and followed him around the entire stage.
Rathe and other experienced cultivators noticed it too, but no one would be able to determine if it were intentional at the moment.
The person most curious about Karos' attack was Vloz, who had activated his Piercing Gaze battle art after witnessing the attack, trying to discern any irregularities. All of a sudden, Vloz's eyes widened from shock and he vanished from his seat.
Ania was left alone in the stands and she knew that something was wrong the moment Vloz left without saying anything. If she could do anything to help, he would've told her or Rathe, but to leave on his own meant that no one else should try anything. Keeping that in mind, she watched to fight and hoped that everything would be alright.
No matter what he did, Oli wasn't able to get any space between him and Karos. The worst part was that Oli's left forearm had a large gash in it from his rushed block of Karos' life-threatening attack. With not much left in the tank, Oli went all out and used the full form of the Earthen Hammer battle art to try and end this as quickly as possible.
As Karos reached for Oli's chest, Oli parried with his hammer at full strength. Karos would've normally been caught off guard and flinched, but instead, he kept his emotionless gaze and never stopped attacking.
This tactic caused both Karos and Oli to feel pain shoot through their bodies with every exchange. Oli was slowing down a little after every swing as he was constantly being jolted with electricity. Karos' muscles and internal organs were being damaged with every attack thanks to Oli's cultivation technique. The weird thing was how Karos acted unaffected and never stopped lunging for Oli's chest, despite the threat to his own body.
It was clear to Oli what his hammer did to his opponents, but when he realized Karos wouldn't even slow down he had to make a decision. He had the option of walking off the platform and giving up or trying to settle it with a single strike and hoping for the best.