As Lucy stepped into the arena, she looked up at the massive creature and said, "I, Lucy Nightengale, choose trial by combat." The confidence in her voice made the broad creature smile once again, but she wouldn't be fooled again.
Looking at the pack of lions, she spotted decided to choose one of her fiercest cubs. "Dark Razor, face her."
A jet-black Sphinx walked out from among the group and onto the stage. This Core Builder's aura told Lucy that it strength outmatched Green Tooth's significantly.
The lion let out a menacing snarl and prepared itself for the engagement. "I can't wait to taste your blood, human."
"Come try. If you think you can."
Several elemental manas moved around Lucy at once. A paragon power always shocked everyone who encountered it. Even the proud beast before her started to worry, sensing the multitude of manas in front of him.
"She's a paragon." Almost everyone there whispered under their breaths.
"Begin." Announced the giant lioness Sphinx.
Dark Razor took the initiative to strike first. Stepping forward with Lion's Grace and then disappearing in a poof of smoke. This Sphinx beast was a master at assassination. Unfortunately for him, Lucy trained many of days with Shadow and understood assassination tactics very well.
The lion exited a black puff of smoke behind Lucy only to be frozen in space. Lucy released water particles and froze them and the wind to capture the lion.
Moving her hand back, she opened her hand and released Queen's Hell-Fire. A tunnel of flames engulfed Dark Razor. When the flames extinguished, the defeated lion laid there immobilized.
"The paragon insect wins." The massive lion Sphinx said with a bit of disdain. Two of her children lost in a row.
The other races seeing, two earthlings win in a row, breathed a sigh of relief. Most of them felt at least confident in fighting in a trial of combat now. Little did they know Green Tooth and Dark Razor were fierce warriors, but in the Core Builder group, they were weakest.
A confident peggian Core Builder stepped forward to try his hand at a Trial by Combat. The giant Sphinx tired of having her children defeated, sent out her 3rd strongest Core Builder warrior. The lion defeated the warrior in one move crushing all the captives spirits.
Next, a draconian stepped forward, and the same lion killed him using the same move. The claw strike was full swing attack utilizing earth laws to increase its power. Leo hoped to see this technique a couple of times to get inspiration for his methods.
After her fight, Lucy sat next to Leo, and they just quietly cultivated next to each other, stealing glances at the other every so often.
All of sudden Reiner stepped forward. Everyone could tell with one glance this was a battle-hardened warrior, but he caught everyone off guard when asked for a Trial of Strategy.
The beat up and bloodied arena transformed once again into a senet board. Reiner stepped up to the board and waited for his opponent to chosen for him.
The great Sphinx chose a great warrior by the name of Red Tide. The lion was twice as large as Sun Claw and the rest. His large frame made him almost as wide as the arena itself.
"Begin," Announced the massive Sphinx looking at the two on each end of the senet board.
Reiner moved the first piece, and the Trial of Strategy began. They each moved pieces forward. Red Tide piece was the first to take Reiners, but something happened. When Red Tide's pawn moved forward, a blood-red aura surrounded Reiner's pawn and prevented it from attacking.
"Oh? The Avatar Insect figured out the game is not as simple as just moving pieces." The massive Sphinx thought to herself.
Its real purpose is how cultivators fight wars, not mortals. Each of Reiner's pieces coated itself in his mana. At the same time on the other side of the board, Red Tide's pieces took on their own color aura.
Cultivators played the game of Senet in ancient times. They infused each piece with their own mana and in the process imparting one technique to each pawn be it defensive or attacking mana-art. This game was meant to simulate generals leading warriors into battle.
Reiner's first two pawns absorbed his barrier technique called Death's Divide. This move forms a sphere of water and death mana around them, blocking.
Red Tide had his front pawn attack again, but the barrier blocked its attack. He then had the two behind the first attack using his signature move Red Wave Strike. The three pawns attacked together, creating a tidal wave of fire mana that crashed into the two blood barriers.
Both barriers popped like balloons destroying Reiner's front two pawns. Reiner then used his next two pawns to counter-attack. Both executed Phantom Slayer, killing the mana less pawns.
Depending on the power of the move, depending on how much mana the pawn would waste. Imagine that each pawn acts as a container. Once that container empty then they can't use anymore and become mostly mortal pawns again. The three pawns shattered, leaving Reiner in the advantage.
At the moment, Reiner had three pawns to Red Tide's two. With Reiner's two pawns having no mana remaining his defeat was imminent. Red Tide had his two pawns move forward the front one using a fire mana barrier and the rear one attacking using Red Wave Strike.
Reiner rear pawn activated Blood Domain siphoning the first pawn's mana. The barrier crumbled, and Reiner's two weakened pawns received its mana. The two pawns used River of Souls boosted by the Blood Domain. In mere seconds, Reiner turned the tables and destroyed all of Red Tide's pawns.
"The human wins the trial."
At this moment, everyone had shock all over their face. Once again, an earthling human defeated the lions. The Peggians and other races were amazed that the weakest race on earth were the only winners so far.
Red Tide suffered a soul attack and spat out a bunch of blood. The large lioness sent a mana message to it, saying, "You disgraced us by failing."
The crushed dispirited Sphinx walked back into the mass of lions waiting to battle.
Reiner looking a bit exhausted walked back over to the Angel Corps. Lucy shot him a look of relief while he returned a smile to her.
After that, more warriors tried their hand at the Trial of Strategy but soon realized it was tougher on one's mind and soul then they anticipated.
The first non-human to win a trial was a peggian with ax techniques. He barely won the duel but lost his arm in the process. The next three wins were a draconian in a Trial of Combat, a mermanian in a Trial of Strategy, and surprising enough Usdem. Usdem lost a wing and gut torn open. If not for his high level of cultivation, he would have bled to death already.
Out of the thirty-one participants, only seven had passed so far. The only three remaining participants were Keysol, an earthling, and a draconian and time would only tell if they could win their first trail.