"Thank you, Elder Yan." Nova bowed with thankfulness.
"No need to thank me. If you don't mind, you can call me uncle for short." Elder Yan chuckled, then called out the name of the next paricipant.
Wang Mou was flabbergasted. Who knew both these teenagers from the tiny Daxrim city had such great background.
Was this an illusion? Is he dreaming?
He snapped out of his hallucinations. He's definitely getting a raise.
The boy given a green light by a superior wasn't someone he could compare with. But even this young man with weird hair had a solid background, with Elder Yan as an uncle. What the hell was going on?
Being with these mountains are frightening.
"Ok! Everyone gather up. We will be initiating the official challenge for today. Like always, we can only accept 27 people amongst the 55 of you today." Elder Yan stood up, spinning the pen in his hand.
"Bang!"
The ordinary pen in his hand splintered into the granite wall behind a Tier 3 Tyro, who was bragging his cultivation rank to the Warriors with lower Tiers beside him.
Smoke emitted out the visible hole in the wall. Just one centimeter closer, and the Axonn's skull would have been penetrated, brain juice splattering all over.
"Rules are simple. As long as there's no killing, you can use any move you like. Weapons will be tolerated too."
"Old Yan! How many times do I have to say! Stop destroying the walls!" Another old man with majestic long braided hair leaped out from the audience, screaming in misery. "It's god damn expensive to repair it!
"Sorry Mr. Ma! I was overwhelmed by the urge to boast my self esteem! Right guy?" He glanced provocatively at the Tier 3 Axonn. "Always so energetic while youth, quite nostalgic."
"But always remember!" Elder Yan boomed. "For the weak, arrogance is stupidity. For the strong, arrogance is a choice."
Mr. Ma sighed heavily, rolling his eyes. "Stop trying to give inspirational speeches, just get this over with so that I can fix this wall."
"Boring..." Elder Yan swiped his arm. "We shall start the elimination round. I'll be calling out random names. You will all broad the platforms in pairs in an orderly manner. Ryan Tan and Kathleen Petal. First platform. Yu Ren and Ken. Second platform..."
Everyone obeyed his instructions.
There were no actual judges beside the platforms, because the mass audience were the best prove of the integrity in a duel.
Petal's match was the first to begin.
Due to her deceiving appearance, her opponent, a young, healthy Tier 2 man, fell for her trap by underestimating her strength and tricks, falling into sleep with a pinkish powder she threw on his face after deflecting his knife.
The first round was quick and efficient.
Chaos and applauses reigned the arena. Losers and winners were determined, the number simply cut to half.
Nova's battle was the final one.
His opponent is a bulky man, basketball sized muscles bulging intimidatingly from heaving his enormous hammer.
"That's an atrocious hammer you have there." Nova taunted humbly on his side of the platform, reeling his index finger inwards.
The triggered man charged forth, clouting Nova with a mighty slam of his hammer.
Nova revealed his wild-colored parazonium, blocking the attack with one arm on his weapon.
"Not bad." He was surprised that a tiny kid could block his smash.
"Meteor smash!" He shouted. The hammer rained down on Nova like a destructive meteor.
A dangerous leer escaped Nova's eye, he grunted. "Night shade."
Dark slashes appeared around the hammer like fissures in space. The hammer drove towards Nova's face without hesitation and a victorious smirk hung from his ear to ear.
However, the man felt the pressure on his hands abruptly dissipate as the hammer crumbled into irregular, jagged pieces.
He was dumbfounded. How the f*ck can he win without his hammer?
His expression was comprised with traumatization and fear.
Nova rushed forth, pressing the dull hilt against his throat.
"I warned you. The quality was terrible."
"That's amazing! How did he do that?"
"The Coiling Dragon Arena has yet recruited another fabulous genius!"
"Bravo!"
Elder Yan clapped genuinely and declared. "As expected, nothing out of the ordinary for an elite member of the Typhon Family."
"Typhon?" Mr. Ma who was standing beside him nodded and gasped. "No wonder that technique is so familiar and powerful. It does resemble Typhon Family's traditional heritage."
Cold sweat drenched the man's forehead as he felt the deadly, hard object against his skin. He thought it would be easy for him to enter the Coiling Dragon Arena, yet he was beaten by a child.
"I surrender." He said with disappointment.
"This kid is gonna be classified onto the main cultivation list."
"No sh*t Sherlock."
The crowned victors celebrated, while the losers could only accept fate and attend next month's selection again.
"Wait a minute! Why isn't he fighting anyone?" The pervert guy on the plane noticed and pointed at Atlas, questioning.
He was extremely unlucky as he encountered the ignorant Tier 3 Tyro who was scolded by Elder Yan. The Warrior vented his anger onto him for no reason at all, and he had to suffer a painful, shameful beating.
On the battle arena, many eyes targeted Atlas, clearly indicating the same sense of unfairness.
Atlas sighed. All he wanted was to quietly be a peace loving, handsome man, yet some idiot just had to ruin his moment.
Elder Yan smiled mischievously at Atlas before saying. "He is a bit special. But if you manage to defeat him in combat, I'll make an exception and accept you to the Coiling Dragon Arena."
"Are you sure about that? Regulations can't be altered just like that." The pervert guy asked with suspicion.
"Kiddo, open your shallow brain. This man here is a Sky Arena member." Mr. Am grunted with slight discomfort.
"What!? I'm so sorry." The pervert guy pleaded apologetically, hoping to seek forgiveness.
Fortunately, this Sky Arena Axonn has no intention to bicker him, or else he would have been squashed like an puny ant.
"Do you dare to challenge me?!" The pervert guy shouted at Atlas.
"Why not?" Atlas leaped onto the platform.
"Good luck Atlas." Nova encouraged with sheer confidence.
————————
"Equip your weapon lad!" attaching claws on his knuckles, the pervert guy raised his fist for combat.
"That won't be necessary." Atlas has got second plans.
"Don't be cocky." He tightened his grip, running towards Atlas.
The sharp edges of the long claws were lethal, capable of penetrating Atlas's chest.
"Punches number 3: 𝓓𝓞𝓞𝓜 𝓕𝓘𝓢𝓣."
A bone-white skull symbol forged with Aura roared as Atlas deeply yelled out loud, word by word. His fist collided with his opponent in a matter of seconds.
After discovering the chain, Atlas has neglected the move set 'punches' his mentor provided for quite a while now.
Since he is an Axonn now, he has fulfilled the quota to unleash the third punch, 'Doom Fist', out of the 7 moves.
The pervert guy was a perfect dummy to test it out.
With one punch, Aura exploded in all direction. The man shuddered due to the apocalyptic impact, flying 10 meters away from the platform.
He crashed onto the granite ground, leaving not a single chip on the floor.
What just happened? Everyone who saw this scene gasped in disbelief.
Amazing!
That one shot one kill was utterly mesmerizing.
The two Tier 3 Axonns panicked. Defeating a Tier 2 Elite is not so difficult, but even they weren't confident enough to apprehend that man that easily.
With no doubt, the elimination round is officially over.