He was more than four meters tall, and was a bronze color throughout!
The muscles all over his body intertwined and bulged like rocks!
His eyes were bright and piercing, and he held a mace in his hand!
He wore a suit of golden armor and had a horned Viking helmet on his head!
He was the King of Fighters that had held the title for three terms straight—Nicolas Austin, the Giant Spiritual God!
"All of our guests should be aware that our Giant Spiritual God has Ancient Giant blood in him. He has herculean strength and was once the winner of the King of Fighters title for three years straight. He even fought with all his might against powerful opponents in the Emperor of Fighters battle organized by the empire this year, and achieved an impressive third place!"
The host's voice overflowed with passion and resounded throughout the sky above the ring. She said, "Today, we shall look forward to seeing whether Nicolas can overcome his opponent to achieve victory, and continue his King of Fighters legend!"
"Giant Spiritual God!!!"
"Giant Spiritual God!!!"
"Giant Spiritual God!!!"
As though deafening claps of thunder, even more fanatical cheers erupted with a boom and engulfed the Flaming Ring of Life And Death. The reverberations made the audience's eardrums hurt, causing their ears to hum and making them dizzy!
As the winner of three King of Fighters terms, Nicolas the Giant Spiritual God enjoyed immense popularity. It was something that the newly-promoted King of Fighters Oden couldn't compare with, despite having royalty blood in him!
"And now, let us hand the ring over to the two Kings of Fighters!"
The host flapped her snowy white wings and slowly left the ring. Then, Oden and Nicolas, who were standing on the small raised platforms, moved simultaneously!
With a flap of his wings, Oden turned into a beam of fiery red light and arrived in the ring in an instant. He moved swiftly and as quick as lightning, arousing scream after scream from the audience!
Roar!!!
Nicolas let out a furious roar and stepped onto the platform with one foot. With a dull and thunderous boom, the platform cracked and fell apart. Nicolas' big and tall form leaped high into the air and landed on the ring!
"Victory for Oden!!!"
"Victory for the Giant Spiritual God!!!"
In this instant, the cheers and screams in the arena reached their pinnacle. People screamed and shouted excitedly as though they had gone mad!
Madness! Truly madness! Looks like fervent fans exist in every world. Eh? That's…
Meng Lei noticed light balls dropping one after another from the crazed, fervent fans. Judging from the color, these light balls were mostly spirit light balls.
Could it be that people easily drop spirit light balls when they are excited?
Meng Lei was secretly astonished. However, he didn't stay idle. He turned and left the fighters' viewing gallery, went down the safety passage, and quietly came to the stands.
Fighters were the arena's internal staff. Hence, apart from being unable to enter the VIP rooms, they could freely enter any area in the arena.
"Ding! Assimilation successful. Host's Spirit +5!"
"Ding! Assimilation successful. Host's Spirit +7!"
Meng Lei collected dropped light balls without a moment's pause as he walked about the stands.
Hehe, how marvelous! I was really right to come to the arena!
Whoosh!
Just as Meng Lei collected his light balls, the cheers throughout the arena came to a sudden stop, as though someone had pressed the pause button. Meng Lei lifted his head and took a look. As it turned out, the battle between the Kings of Fighters had begun!
Magic shields rose into the air. The two Kings of Fighters gazed at each other from afar, sparks flying everywhere!
"Nicolas, I'm going to end your path of glory!"
Oden flapped his wings, his form suspended in mid-air. His voice was cold and emotionless like a blade, and there was an icy glint in his eyes.
"Shamelessly boastful little fellow, I hope your fists are half as tough as your mouth!" scoffed Nicolas as he sneered at him, his countenance full of disdain.
"Die!!!"
With a roar, Oden swooped down and struck out with his fist!
"Good job coming here!"
Boom!
As though meteors crashing into Earth, Oden and Nicolas clashed against each other forcefully. Within the booming thunderclap-like sounds of collision, the two of them went back and forth as they clashed intensely.
Every punch connected with flesh!
There was no holding back!
"Oden! Oden! Oden!"
"Giant Spiritual God! Giant Spiritual God! Giant Spiritual God!"
The audience in the arena were crazed as they shouted and cheered desperately!
One is a Dragon Person with Fire Dragon blood in him and part of royalty!
The other is a demi-giant with Ancient Giant blood in him!
This is truly like Mars ramming into Earth—a clash of the powerful!
Meng Lei stopped collecting light balls and watched the ring with bright and sparkling eyes, which were full of envy. As Kings of Fighters, Oden and Nicolas were definitely Ninth-Grade Warriors!
Ninth-grade!
That was a special domain!
This was because it was only one step away from reaching the Saint Domain!
The Saint Domain!
An existence far above!
An existence that transcended life and death!
An existence that controlled the heavens and earth!
It was a great and noble existence that truly stood at the pinnacle of all lifeforms!
Apart from this, ninth-grade also represented extremely strong and powerful battle capabilities!
Looking at the entire Fire Dragon Kingdom, Sixth-Grade and Seventh-Grade Warriors emerged in an endless stream. For Dragon People with even the least bit of purity in their bloodlines, even if they didn't cultivate much, they would still become comparable to a Sixth-Grade or Seventh-Grade Warrior when they came of age!
In comparison, there were relatively fewer Eighth-Grade Warriors. It was impossible for one to reach a level like this just by relying on their bloodline. One could only reach this level by cultivating diligently.
As for Ninth-Grade Warriors, the numbers were even fewer!
There might not even be a single person that could attain ninth-grade among 10,000 Dragon People!
Thus, every Ninth-Grade Warrior enjoyed an illustrious social status. Those that were willing to become fighters for people's viewing pleasure… There were even fewer of them!
This might also be another reason why Oden and Nicolas were so popular!
Boom, boom, boom!
The intense battle in the ring had already turned white-hot. Oden, the Fire Dragon Person, transformed into a fiery beam of light and raised his speed and physical strength to their maximum, leaving afterimages everywhere in the ring!
On the other hand, Nicolas the Giant Spiritual God's speed was evidently not on par with Oden's. However, he was like a massive mountain. No matter how Oden blasted and bombarded him, he remained firm and unmoving!
Everyone could tell by this point of the battle.
Oden had high speed, and his attacks were swift and forceful!
Nicolas' defense and physical strength were a notch higher!
One was fast, while the other was strong!
One could land strikes on his opponent, but couldn't deal a fatal blow!
The other had stronger physical strength, but he was ultimately always slower by half a beat!
It can't be that this stalemate is going to continue like this?
Meng Lei was secretly rendered speechless. The audience was also dissatisfied with the battle situation in the ring. They cheered and shouted even more desperately, hoping that the contestant they supported could defeat the other party and emerge victorious.
"Kid, do you only know how to scurry about madly like a mouse?"
Nicolas swung his mace, though it missed its target every time. He goaded, "Fight head-on with me if you have the capability to! You can't defeat me just by fleeing about willfully!"
"Hmph!"
Oden was furious, yet there was nothing he could do. He was ultimately still too young and hadn't been able to develop his body to perfection. In terms of physical strength, he lost to Nicolas!
If I can cultivate Fire Dragon Manual to a level of great mastery, I'd be able to smack him to death with just one hand. What a shame!
Oden was rather regretful and ended up spacing out slightly.
However, how could a battle between experts brook even a moment's distraction?
Right in that split second, the experienced Nicolas seized the opportunity and swung his mace down. Oden barely managed to duck in a moment of desperation, but it was in this instant that Nicolas' heavy fist came smashing down.
Oden wasn't that lucky this time!
Boom!
The iron fist struck Oden heavily. With a terrible cry, Oden was thrown backward as blood spurted madly from his mouth!
"Lose!"
Nicolas was unforgiving upon gaining momentum. His attacks crashed down upon Oden like a hurricane. Within horrifying sounds of collision, Oden went smashing down and landed on the ground like a fallen leaf in the wind.
An uproar went through the crowd, and then the whole place instantly quietened!
The audience stared at the arena in a daze, all of them somewhat unable to recover from their astonishment.
The battle had still been equally matched in strength the previous moment!
Yet now a great change had suddenly taken place the next moment!
Oden… had lost?
Boom!
After a brief silence, Nicolas' supporters erupted into tremendous cheers, while Oden's supporters cursed and swore, unable to accept the outcome.
"The results are out. The Fire Dragon Person has lost!"
Meng Lei shook his head and sighed. Then, he got up and walked toward the ring. He remarked, "After suffering so many punches, probably even all the sh*t in Oden has probably been punched out of him?"
Meng Lei didn't know whether or not Oden's sh*t had been punched out of him, but what he did see was that in the instant when Nicolas' punch threw out Oden, a shining blood-red light ball had dropped from him!
Oden was a Ninth-Grade Warrior. The light balls he dropped would probably be exceptional, right? Alright, he'd better hurry and pick it up!
"Ding! Assimilation successful. Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Fire Dragon bloodline!"
(⊙_⊙)
"What!?"