The day of the semi-finals had arrived, the sun casting a golden glow over the grand Star Luo Plaza. The anticipation in the air was palpable as the four remaining squads, the best of the best, took their respective zones in the arena.
Shrek Academy, Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, the Star Luo National Academy, and the Imperial Mystical Academy—these were the final four of the tournament. The tension between them were high, occasionally they would cross gazes. When that happened, sparks appeared to fly from their eyes, some traces of killing intent were even present.
To them, this wasn't just some competition—no, this was a battlefield where reputations, pride, and the future of their nations and institutions were at stake.
"Hey, am I seeing things or what? Is his left arm?"
"Gone? Yeah, unless we're both under an illusion, but I'm seeing that monster without his left arm."
"What happened? Did someone attack him?"
"Maybe it had something to do with the incident that occurred a while ago in the hotel?"
As the Shrek squad entered their resting area, all eyes inevitably fell on Huo Yuhao's appearance, or more specifically, on his missing left forearm. His reputation as the most formidable participant in the tournament, dubbed as the "Ice King" and "King of Monsters", and his sudden injury sparked curiosity, concern, and speculation from the crowd and the other teams alike.
Huo Yuhao didn't hide his sudden change of appearance from the public, simply because it didn't really matter.
Honestly, it was actually an advantage to him. Anyone who saw his pale skin, white hair, and missing left forearm would underestimate him—thinking that he was near death.
They would certainly regret that.
He ignored their inquisitive gazes and took his usual seat, and secretly used his Sharingan.
Huo Yuhao and his friends waited patiently for the tournament to start. Mos of them listened attentively as the Star Luo Emperor gave his opening speech, while Huo Yuhao kept on looking out for any idiots that would cause chaos in the audience.
"—The semifinals will commence in a moment. In turn, the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament will soon come to an end. There will be no more lot drawing after the top four teams draw their lots, thus I will personally supervise the lot drawing this time. I hope that Shrek Academy, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, the Imperial Profound Academy, and our own Star Luo National Academy will put on a grand, exciting show for all of us."
"I know that everyone is dying to watch the show. I'm very excited too. Without further ado, let the drawing commence. I wish to partake in the joy with my people, and I hope that our Star Luo Empire will prosper for generations to come."
The Star Luo Emperor's words were majestic, humorous, and not too long. The moment he finished, the crowd began to cheer once more.
"In order to ensure the safety of the semi-finalists and the finalists, I have decided that the Empire's Protector Douluo will be the judges for the subsequent rounds, and be hosts to the contest. Senior Huang Jinxu shall be the host for today's balloting and the first round. His title is the Heavenfiend Lonestar."
The emperor's introduction stirred up a wave of applause from the citizens in the audience.
All four team leaders stood up and headed towards the stage.
'The Heavenfiend Douluo? The Star Luo Empire's Protector Douluo?' Huo Yuhao's eyes widened as he observed an old man exuding a heavy presence walk up the stage. 'Looks like the Empire wants to assert their dominance and flaunt their national strength, but to also show off their security.'
Compared to before, the security around the entire arena had tripled in terms of both quantity and quality. Huo Yuhao had even saw numerous camouflaged soul cannons above the arena.
'But to think they managed to pull this old man...' Huo Yuhao began to recall the information he collected about the Heavenfiend Douluo; he had some of his clones investigate all known and active Titled Douluos in the continent.
The Heavenfiend Douluo was a especially infamous and tragic person, who gained incredible power but at the cost of his family and loved ones. As of right now, he was around rank 91-92 but he has the ability to fight against a rank 95 Transcendent Douluo. Moreover, he still hasn't reached his full potential.
However, rumor has it that he picked a fight with several powerful sects some time ago, and they chased him down like a dog.
'A troublesome character like this one...just what makes the empire confident that they could leash him?' Huo Yuhao pondered, keeping a curious eye on the Heavenfiend Douluo as he strode confidently across the stage.
At that moment, the respective team leaders of the final four teams arrived on stage.
Ma Xiaotao represented Shrek Academy, while someone named Ma Rulong represented the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. The team leader of the Imperial Mystical Academy was a youth with broad shoulders and an average build. The representative from the Star Luo National Academy was a young girl, who looked familiar to Huo Yuhao and the rest of Shrek—she was Princess Jiu Jiu.
Wang Yan furrowed his brows as he watched the princess on stage. "That's strange...This is the first time I've seen the princess appear in the tournament. Although, I seem to recall there had been a vacancy in their reservation team..."
"Teacher Wang Yan, do you know what's the martial soul of the Royal Family?" Wang Dong'er asked, curiously eyeing the princess.
Wang Yan rubbed his chin and said, "Well, if I remember correctly...it should be one of the most rare Auxiliary System Martial Soul called Star Crown. It's a Tool Soul known to have potent fighting ability and support skills that leanex entirely towards boosting fighting power."
"Woah..." Wang Dong'er and the others were impressed. She then turned towards Ning Tian, who looked toward Princess Jiu Jiu with a frown. "Hey, Ning Tian! How's the Star Crown compared to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda?"
Wu Feng huffed indignantly, crossing her arms and said, "Well of course the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda is superior! The martial soul of the clan has been well-known for its superior support skills that no other martial souls have proclaimed superiority over it for the last ten thousand years!"
"A-Ahem," Ning Tian faked a cough, slightly flustered. "Sister Feng, please. While the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda is certainly a formidable Auxiliary System Tool Spirit, that doesn't mean that it's completely superior to other support-type martial souls. The Star Crown, while less known compared to our clan's martial soul, is also quite powerful in its own right."
Ning Tian glanced back towards Princess Xu Jiujiu, her brow furrowed slightly in thought. "I've read about the Star Crown from ancient records, and in terms of pure auxiliary capabilities, the Starcrown is probably inferior. However, the Starcrown isn't just about support–as Teacher Wang explained, it possesses incredible fighting power and enhancements in fighting power."
"The owner of the Star Crown possesses the ability to create star shower with each star being akin to a bomb, in that with each one they weaken the opponents attack power. This is vastly different from the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda's overall capabilities. It could be said that the Star Crown martial soul existed purely for battle."
"A auxiliary system martial soul, purely for battle..." Huo Yuhao muttered, fascinated, the rest of their group felt the same.
"T-There's gotta be some sort of drawback or something, right?" Wu Feng said.
Ning Tian nodded, "Of course. There are some flaws to the owner of the Star Crown; the most obvious that I've remembered was that they could only cultivate at night, as they would need to absorb star element to further increase their cultivation. Furthermore, their spirit skills could only be used by consuming some of their accumulated star power."
"So as long as she exhausts her star power, even with a Milky Bottle, she would be useless?" Huo Yuhao remarked.
"Exactly. The usual strategy to fight against a team with someone with Star Crown is usually the "hiding like a turtle" strat; were one simply stay in position and stay on the defensive long enough, they would inevitably have the advantage—of course, the perquisite is that we can last long enough to exhaust her." Ning Tian explained.
As they nodded in agreement, some of them couldn't help but sweatdropped at the name of the strategy, and they couldn't help but glanced at Xu Sanshi.
"What are you all looking at me for?!"
While they laughed and made fun of Xu Sanshi, Ning Tian lightly smiled and looked back down towards Princess Jiu Jiu, her eyes narrowing. 'Everything will be fine. That is, if she doesn't possess "that" ability. Well, we have one out of three chances of getting them as our opponents.'
"Ning Tian, is something wrong?" Huo Yuhao asked, noticing her worried expression.
Ning Tian shook her head. "It's nothing much. I just thought, what are the chances of us fighting Star Luo? Hehe."
Huo Yuhao softly smiled at her, "What if you will? What are you going to do?"
Ning Tian was surprised for a moment but quickly composed herself. She met his gaze, her expression hardening slightly.
"We'll win."
Decisive and confident, Huo Yuhao was taken aback for a moment. He expected such an answer from Wu Feng, as Ning Tian was usually composed and pragmatic. But her answer was clear, firm, and resolute.
'Is it because that they're so close to the end of the tournament that she's gotten so confident?'
No, it wasn't that. Ning Tian simply wanted to look cool in front of her crush.
"We'll win," she repeated, her eyes sharp and determined.
Huo Yuhao smiled at her shift in attitude. "I like the sound of that," he said. "Confidence suits you."
Ning Tian turned a bit red and smiled, "Thanks."
"Oi, what are you doing, embarassing sister Tian like that." Wu Feng interjected, punching Huo Yuhao's right shoulder.
"Ah! Abuse! Abuse of an amputee!" Huo Yuhao dramatically cried.
"I'm sorry! Oh my Sea God, Yuhao, are you–" Wu Feng knelt by his side and started panicking, only for her to see his widening grin. "You—! Augh! You're such a drama queen!"
"Well, I mean, it did kinda hurt...."
"Really?"
Huo Yuhao smiled obnoxiously at her. "Nope."
"Ugh!"
"Hahaha!" Ning Tian and the others couldn't help but laugh.
At that moment, the Star Luo Emperor made an announcement.
"The results are in! The matches in the semi-finals are as follows: the first match will be Shrek Academy versus Star Luo National Academy, and the second match will be Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy versus Imperial Mystical Academy!"
"..." Huo Yuhao, Wu Feng and the rest blinked, before turning towards Ning Tian, who stared blankly at the stage.
"Jinx..." Wang Dong'er whispered to Xiao Xiao, nodding in agreement.
Ning Tian's face twitched.
....
AN: No one got it still, so no extra chapter. But! You guys get another chance.
Hint 2: The aesthetic arm came from a story that technically has two main characters. And no, it ain't FMA.
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