As Zera began to walk towards the Vilmir family, Tyde clenches his fists and growls at Zera.
"Damn you!!!" Tyde said as he charges towards Zera with the attempt to punch her.
Zera grabs hold of Tyde's wrist, flips him to the ground, steps on his face and breaks his neck with her foot.
"Two..." Zera said while walking towards the others.
"You bastard!!!" Adil said as she charges towards Zera.
"Adil, wait!" Zigar said.
In a flash, Zera appears behind Adil with her arm stretched sideways and with a large hole on Adil's torso, leaving Adil to drop dead on the ground.
"Three..." Zera said.
Kon charges towards Zera with a battle cry and with his fist set in a position to punch her.
"Don't you people have common sense?!" Zigar asked with a slight irritation.
Kon tries to punch Zera but Zera averts his attack and smashed his head down to the ground with her fist, leaving the shape of it on his face. Kiva instantly blasts a beam towards Zera but Zera immediately grabs hold of Kon and throws him from the ground towards the attack.
"Koraas." Zera said as she quickly sends a crescent wave attack towards Kon with one swipe of her arm.
Zera's and Kiva's attack both hit Kon at the same time which created an explosion and left Kiva stunned.
"Four..." Zera said.
Zera appears behind Kiva and cuts off her head with one swipe of her hand.
"Five..."
Mida and Riel appears beside Zera while emitting an aura and hurls their aura engulfed fists at her, creating a gust of wind in the process. As the dust-clouds had cleared, Mida and Riel were shocked as Zera had stopped both of their fists while panting for air.
"She is extremely weak but yet she was able to stop our attacks?!" Mida asked within herself in shock.
"This makes it seven..." Zera said.
In a flash, Riel and Mida's neck snapped and they both dropped dead on the ground.
Zigar being amused by what he had just witnessed, suddenly bursts out in laughter.
"I must say, Zera, you really are strong." Zigar said, "To take down seven opponents in your current state... You really are 'The red fang of the Ripar tribe'.
If we had taken you on at full strength, you would have wiped us out in a blink with or without the use of your beast soul."
"I've ripped apart 30 Terror beasts at the age of 16 without the use of my Kan ability." Zera said, "Did you honestly believe that these people will be enough to beat me?"
"Actually, i did." Zigar replied with his eyes closed while smiling, "I should have considered the fact that they were incompetent objects that was meant for the service of our master. However, i am not incompetent, for i am the only useful object and i will avenge our master's death."
"Empower!!!" Zigar shouted while emitting a fierce aura that broke the ground.
Zigar dashed towards Zera and throws a punch at her which she quickly guards against with both arms. At that moment, Zera's head began to ring from blocking and she was sent flying back towards a tree.
While leaning on the tree, Zera began to breathe heavily while Zigar was walking towards her.
"Just as i expected..." Zigar said while smiling, "You are not able to withstand a weak attack from my empower. You've been trying to fight the kaliss technique and stay conscious but in doing so, you've been getting weaker.
Still, it doesn't change the fact that despite being weakened, you defeated seven people that trained intensively to defeat you."
"You're so full of sh*t." Zera weakly said while struggling to stand, "If you trained so hard then you should have taken me at full power."
"You think I'll take such a risk against a wild woman whose kan energy matches that of a monster?" Zigar asked while smirking with a raised eyebrow, "No way!!!"
Zigar sprints towards Zera and tries to punch her but Zera moves out of the way, leaving Zigar's fist to shatter the tree. Zigar shows up in front of Zera and lands a punch on her side which sent a wave to pass through and made Zera cough out blood.
Zigar began to swing his fists at Zera multiple times and ends his attacks with an uppercut on Zera's belly which raised her up from the ground a bit and quickly performs a high side kick that sent her rolling sideways on the ground.
As Zera began to cough while struggling to stand, Zigar began to walk towards her with a devious smile on his face.
"You're pretty good at taking hits, aren't you?" Zigar asked, "It's a good thing that i was able to get my hands on this Keigra's stone of Shanox.
I've got to say, the Keigras despite them being a minor tribe, they've got some pretty good inventions. Because of this stone, i was able to create this realm and bring you here so that i can have all the time in the world and savour this moment. And right now..."
"There is nothing that will get in my way!!!" Zigar said as he advances towards Zera to punch her.
Zera swiftly attacks Zigar with an uppercut to his chin (that left him a bit stunned in the process) and began to release a few rounds of punches and finalizes everything with a reverse roundhouse that sent Zigar in a twisting motion to the ground.
Zera immediately mounts on top of Zigar and began to brutally pound him with her fists; During the beat down, Zigar stops one of Zera's fist and broke her fingers, leading Zera to scream out in agony.
"Your punches are getting weaker, Zera." Zigar said while chuckling.
Zera immediately headbutts Zigar on the face which drove his head deeper into the ground and began to release a series of brutal headbutts. After Zera had finished headbutting him, she stared at the disfigured face of Zigar's lifeless body and fell off from his body out of exhaustion.
As Zera managed to stand on her feet while breathing heavily, a hand emerged from her chest which appeared to be an unharmed Zigar.
"Surprise, Zera!!!" Zigar said while smiling.
The stunned Zera coughs out blood a bit and slowly rolls back her eyes towards Zigar.
"H-how...?" Zera asked.
"Oh, Zera, have you forgotten my Kan ability of mind warping?" Zigar asked, "Everything you did against me from the time you attacked me with that uppercut was an illusion. But that would have been the future if i hadn't activated my Kan ability on you.
I've got to say, Zera, you really are an animal but with my mind warping Kan ability , my kaliss, my energy stealth and empowerment technique combined with the Shanox stone..."
"I will always be five steps ahead of you." Zigar said with a grin as his irises glowed brighter.
Zigar quickly pulls out his hand from behind, leaving Zera to drop on her knees and walks in front of her.
"Empower." Zigar said as he lifts his right arm which instantly grew into a massive size, "This is where you die, Zera. I'm going to crush your head into tiny bits."
While kneeling and facing the ground, Zera recalls the faces of Schroeder, Zotek and Leorona.
"I just wish i could see them one last time." Zera said within herself.
As Zigar was about to drive his enormous fist down at Zera's skull, his massive arm suddenly exploded which made him scream in pain and step back a bit. Black-blue particules began to swirl between Zera and Zigar, leaving Zigar dumbfounded.
"This... Is this sand?" Zigar asked within himself.
The dark sand slightly shows the head of three shadow figures and a hand quickly emerges from it and grabs Zigar by the throat; The sand instantly disperses, revealing the identity to be Zotek who happened to be accompanied by Schroeder and Leorona from behind and Zotek pulled Zigar upclose while still having his hand wrapped around Zigar's throat
"What do we have here?" Zotek asked with a cold glare.
Back at the court, the crowd were massively cheering as Sting and Gorn were standing in the arena. During this moment, Karma stares down at the arena with her arms crossed.
"At long last. I can finally get to see what you are made of." Karma said within herself.
At the Chiefs center, Chief Ezgord was staring down at the arena with a serious demeanor which caught Chief Tenya's attention.
"What's the matter? Are you worried about your son?" Chief Tenya asked while smiling.
"No." Chief Ezgord replied, "As far as I'm concerned, he is going to win this match. I expect him to."
"Okay. But don't underestimate Gorn." Chief Tenya said while smiling, "Many people believe that he has what it takes and a bright future of becoming Chief of the Tenplar tribe."
At the arena as Gorn and Sting locks eyes with each other, feminine cheers instantly sounded at the audience center.
"Gorn!"
"Over here!!"
"Look at me!!"
Gorn turns to the audience center and sees multiple teenage females cheering and waving their hands at him.
"Be sure to win this match!"
"Your red hair is so beautiful!" "He's so adorable!"
"Damn. I can't really seem to get away from these girls." Gorn said within himself with a blank face.
"You're quite popular, aren't ya?" Sting asked while smiling.
"You can say that again." Gorn replied, "Anyway, it's honor to finally fight you, Sting."
"You're excited in a fighting a B+ candidate like me?" Sting asked.
"Yeah, you can drop that act." Gorn said, "I was quite aware that you were playing your strength and slacking in academics. I don't know why you were doing it but your act had a lot of flaws in it."
"Wow, so you noticed." Sting asked while smiling.
"A lot of people did... I think." Gorn said, "Plus, you really expect me to believe that the nephew of Zotek and the son of Chief Ezgord will be a weak goofball?"
"Ok, I'm going to stop you right there." Sting said with his eyes closed, "This isn't a battle of relatives. In this battle, I'm nobody's son and we are just two guys that are about showcase their skills to move on to the next round, got it?
"And since a lot of people didn't fall for my act, i promise to do a better job at deceiving everyone." Sting said as he bowed himself.
"Promise to do a better job at deceiving everyone? Is this guy truly sane?" Gorn asked within himself with a wtf face.
"Alright, let's get started." Gorn said with a slight grin.
"Right!" Sting said with a slight grin as well.
At the audience center, a Ripar male teen stared down at the arena with his arms.
"Gorn versus Sting, huh?" The Ripar male teen asked within himself, "I know Gorn is strong but i Reiv has felt and seen Sting's power at the rumble. He's definitely a force to be reckoned with. But still, Gorn... I remember when i used to think he was over hyped until i witnessed his power..."
A flashback occurs in a dark forest as a damaged Reiv, Izaiya and Hyle were struggling to stand while a huge humanoid black ant with glowing red patterns on it's body was walking towards them.
"The other shadow ants promised to let you go if you can defeat me." The black ant said, "But how can you do it? For i am Gredus - The Black death. All those that stood against me, I have killed and you children are just another addition."
"Humph. Of course we are." Izaiya said with a slight grin as he wipes the blood off his lips, "Raen, now!!!"
Gredus quickly turns around and spots Raen in high in air, having a glowing green aura around her and an enormous green sphere in her hands; With a mighty bawl, Raen threw down the sphere at Gredus which greatly cleaved the ground and engulfed the black ant's entire body, leaving him to scream in great agony.
"Kadinis la rippa: Raen's ultimate technique that involves her using her kan ability of sphere to cage her opponent and shreds them to bits." Izaiya said within himself, "The problem with this technique is that it takes a lot of time to prepare and takes a serious toll on Raen's body after use."
"Keep struggling all you want but you cannot resist her attack for too long." Hyle said within himself, "We don't know where Gorn is but with Raen's trump card set in place, we can definitely beat this guy."
While Gredus was still in the sphere screaming, Gredus suddenly bursts out in laughter which left the teenagers shocked.
"Foolish children." Gredus said in a darkened tone.
The enormus sphere that engulfed Graidus began shrink rapidly as Gredus demonically screeched. Gredus gave a final dark screech that echoed through the environment and created a great explosion, blowing the teenagers away.
After the smoke had cleared, Reiv and the others raised their heads and became startled at Gredus increase in height and stature as his body was emitting a black flaming streak.
"H-he just got bigger!" Hyle said.
"This is my Kan ability 'Swallow'. I can take in every none physical attack and use it to boost my physical attributes." Gredus said with his fist raised, "Now then, shall we continue?"
In a flash, Gredus impales Raen's belly with one of his huge fingers which made her cough out blood and lifts her off the ground (with his finger still in her belly).
"Raen!!!" Reiv shouted.
"Let go of her, you bastard!!" Hyle said as he and the others charged towards Gredus.
Gredus sends the boys flying with a single punch and quickly slams Raen to the ground with his finger still on her belly, making her to scream out in pain.
"Damnit...!" Reiv said within himself while struggling to stand, "How can we beat him? His aura alone was powerful enough to corrupt the sky and his power level has greatly increased, making it more difficult for us to break through his defences and what's worse is that we cannot use our Kan abilities on him. What do we do?"
Gredus pulls out his finger from Raen's body and raised both arms in a position to smash the half conscious Raen.
"Die!" Gredus said.
"Raen!!!" Reiv shouted.
As Gredus moves his arms in motion, a large golden beam of light suddenly sprung out from the ground and moved towards the sky, reverting the sky back to its original color, making Gredus to halt and stare in wonder.
"Huh?!" Gredus said.
Reiv became stunned as he sees a giant golden glowing tree with it's leaves spawning a small ball of light.
"A glowing tree?" Reiv asked within himself, "Wait, don't tell me...!"
"I've finally found you guys." A masculine voice said.
Reiv turns back and sees the person to be Gorn who happened to be smiling with his eyes closed.
"Gorn...? Where have you been?" Reiv asked.
"Yeah, sorry about that." Gorn said, "I got lost and i had some shadow ants to deal with but i'm glad that i was able to -"
Gorn became dumbfounded as he spots Hyle and Raen on the ground, bloodied and unconscious and finds Gredus standing next to Raen which Gorn emit a menacing golden aura.
"Did you do this?" Gorn asked with a flouride stare.
"Gorn, be careful!" Reiv said, "This guy is not someone that you can beat on your own!"
"No matter how many of you come, it won't make a difference to me!!" Gredus said as he advanced towards Gorn.
Gredus tries to smash Gorn with a double hammer fist but Gorn leaps in the air, leaving Gredus's attack to shatter the ground.
"Luminescent tree..." Gorn said while in mid air as he sends a golden glowing oval from his hand towards Gredus.
"Gorn, no!" Reiv said.
"Fool. I'll eat that technique whole!" Gredus said.
Wasting no time, Gredus immediately swallows the glowing ball.
"Pollen grain nova." Gorn said as he immediately snaps his finger.
Gredus immediately explodes, producing a massive golden light that spread across the area and moved beyond it; After recalling that moment, Reiv gripped his biceps harder.
"To destroy Gredus with one shot says a lot." Reiv said within himself, "Ever since then, i started believing Gorn to be as strong as the others say he is but Sting... Can Gorn beat him? Will he be able to continue to live up to his hype as the 'Peerless dawn' or will he fail miserably?"