Once they arrived at the arena, they saw a large circular area reserved for fighting. The floor was grey-colored, and there were six thick pillars at the sides. The walls surrounding the arena were around 200 meters tall, thick, and filled with formation runes.
Other than this, the ceiling was around 10,000 meters tall, more than enough for large beings to be able to fly.
In general, it was a dome-shaped arena with a height of 10,000 meters at the highest point.
Yasenia looked at the thick pillars and asked. "Will they be able to resist if I slam against them in my dragon form? While there is enough space to fly around them, I can imagine myself being flung at them after a large collision."
Valeria looked over and spoke. "It should hold… But that's bad for you, Yasenia."
Yasenia nodded. "Right, if they aren't destroyed, I will receive the attacks without being able to cushion anything. Abrupt stops are much harsher than slowing down as you smash through walls."
Cecile looked at the walls and blinked. "So, why are those walls there? The arena extends beyond them and then goes up in the dome, which is the real wall."
The girls pondered, and Kali guessed. "I can't see myself using more than what the walls have surrounded, to be honest. Perhaps that wall is for giant creatures to be able to play differently? I can see myself fighting outside the walls in my Fox Beast form if the battle extends."
After that, seven circular holes appeared in front of them, and a pedestal appeared on each of them, rising up while holding seven jade tablets. Other than that, you could see an item similar to a carving pen at the side, used to write in them easily.
A message arrived at them. "Please write the names of the participants. Remember, you can't repeat participants in the same sections."
Andrea asked. "Does that mean that we can't send the same person three times in a row in the 1v1?"
Kali smiled. "Well, it makes sense. I guess."
Cecile tilted her head. "What about the two 5v5?"
The girls looked at her with a deadpan. Yasenia smiled and explained. "That's naturally not counted, love. We can't duplicate ourselves now, can we?"
Cecile commented. "Valeria can."
The girls were stumped, but they decided to ignore her.
Andrea asked. "So… How do we do this?"
Yasenia commented. "You three are participating so that you can temper yourselves in order to face the tribulation. Hence, you three will do the three 1v1. Choose the order you like the most."
Kali asked. "What about the 2v2s?"
Yasenia smiled. "That's easy. I'll go with Andrea, and you'll go with Cecile. The reasoning is that Andrea and you have a hard time synergizing."
Kali nodded. "Fair enough."
Andrea smiled. "What if we lose?"
Yasenia shook her head. "Even in the worst-case scenario, we actually can't lose if we don't want to."
Andrea tilted her head. "How?"
Yasenia explained. "If Kali uses Valeria, then it's a certain win wherever she participates. That wins us two of the first five combats. In the last two 5v5s, we have Eira and Valeria together. I don't think I need to explain much more."
Andrea realized and laughed. "So… Do we go for the win?"
Yasenia shook her head. "No need. Winning does nothing good to us right now. The rewards are territory, resources, and equipment. We don't lack the last two, and the first one, we are still digesting the territory we have. Adding more would be like throwing food in a full mouth that is already chewing with all its might. We might choke ourselves."
Andrea nodded. "So, we go as far as our own strength carries us?"
Yasenia smiled. "That's right."
After they wrote the names and placed them back on the pedestals, the pedestals went down again and entered the hole where they came out from.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the Dolurs were talking with each other.
"What do we do? Do we send our strongest person first to give them a psychological blow?"
"They are pretty young, right? We need to force them to feel helpless. I think that we can be aggressive and take the lead by sending our strongest people first. If we win the first three 1v1s, the following 2v2 will be easy."
After discussing it more, they all placed their names and allowed the jade tables to sink into the floor with the pedestals.
The two stands where the two groups were opened, and two giant names written out with ethereal lights appeared in the air.
"Andrea vs Wert."
Andrea looked up and then observed her opponent. It was her first time seeing this race.
The man that jumped in front of her was not tall, with an agile body and webbed fingers. Other than that, the face was a bit elongated, showing traces of dolphin genes.
Their skin was also glossy as if covered by a natural oil.
It was not a flattering look in Andrea's books, but she never focused on appearances too much. Her mind mainly analyzed the danger that came from this person.
'Strong.'
Andrea could say for certain that this person was even stronger than the bear-man leader they encountered.
"The battle will start in ten seconds, participants, please prepare."
"10..."
"9..."
The heroic woman's face became serious as she readied her halberd, and the veins of her black armor began glowing red. Magma flowed through the armor, increasing its strength, and a magma-like cover surrounded her body thanks to [Obliterating Chromosphere].
Andrea didn't stop there; she took this fight seriously. First, she added [Star Born Searing Mantle], creating a thick cape made of magma that stained her surroundings in the superheated material.
After having those two skills increase her strength, she activated [Solar Body], her innate skill.
[Solar Body] allowed Andrea to enhance everything related to Sun energies, heat, etc. Moreover, as the heat around her grew, her strength similarly grew in an endless loop.
As the countdown in the air went from 10 to 5, Andrea activated [Battle Intent Level 3] and [Perseverance Intent Level 3]. Both these skills similarly increased her strength as time went by.
Finally, Andrea activated her offensive buffing skill, [Sun Obliterating Armament].
Her armor and halberd were surrounded by a blazing hot aura as beautiful orange veins spread around her weapons and armor.
By the end of the ten preparation seconds, a complete inferno has descended together with a molten draconic knight.
The sight of Andrea unleashing her everything was spectacular.
On the other hand, the man named Wert became severe. He thought it would be an easy win, but it didn't feel as such now.
Andrea saw the countdown going from 1 to 0 and shot forward like a blazing meteor. "[Sun Obliterating Charge]!"
The air burned as a trail of molten lava was strewn all over her path.
Meanwhile, Wert was not standing still. First, he used one of the skills passed down by his ancestors to increase the flexibility and strength of his muscles. This gave him much more explosive reaction time and movement.
After that, he gloved his humanoid hands with a gauntlet made for his race.
Then, Wert activated [Fist Intent Level 4] and also used an acceleration skill. "[Marine Propulsion Step]!"
His body shot forward after using a non-attributed technique, and both sides clashed.
BOOM!
An enormous explosion ensued, and Andrea was forced back several steps. This surprised Wert, who thought that Andrea had become much stronger. He sneered. 'So, it was all a bluff.'
Without a shred of hesitation, Wert ran forward in order to release a barrage of attacks on her.
Meanwhile, Andrea wore a calm expression as she released [Solar Domain] and [Molten Sun].
A golden aura spread from her, rapidly increasing the temperature, while an enormous Sun manifested 100 meters above their heads, further feeding the already heated-up inferno.
Then, Andrea quickly stepped sideways and acted [Sun Obliterating War Dance].
Once Wert arrived, he launched a strong punch upward toward her chin, but the armored woman quickly sidestepped, followed by a roundhouse kick.
Wert quickly reacted and blocked the leg.
BANG!
His body just moved half a step as he quickly absorbed her leg's power. However, his face was not good even when he completely blocked it; the heat coming from the leg had almost cooked his skin.
Not affected by Wert easily blocking her kick, Andrea spun the other way and used her enormous halberd. "[Warring Sun Battle Art: Foundation Crumbling]."
However, Wert was quicker and managed to cross the distance when Andrea was spinning to gather momentum.
With tremendous force, his punch landed on Andrea's stomach.
"[Maritime Fist]."
Andrea felt the punch landing, and her entire body shook. Her mouth opened as a sound of pain left her mouth, and her body shot backward, flying like a shooting star.
Wert took the chance and ran behind her, intending to finish Andrea off as quickly as possible.
Her back smashed against a distant wall, but she was quick to recover her stance. Andrea's lips arched slightly. 'That's heavy. Body cultivators hit as if they have cannons instead of arms.'
With her spiritual sense, she could sense Wert rushing at her and closing up at ridiculous speed. Her light green eyes flashed, and her lips opened when Wert arrived, punch first. "[Star Born Searing Flame Explosion]."
The Natural Treasure in her dantian surged with the strength to flatten a mountain and burst outward.
BOOOM!
Wert's face changed when he felt the powerful aura and quickly tried to retreat. However, he was still a step too slow as he was hit by the attack and blasted backward for tens of meters. Even then, he managed to keep the balance.
Wert's lips arched downward. "A sneak attack like this one won't work, woman."
Andrea, who just appeared by his side, answered indifferently. "We'll see about that."
Wert's leg shot sideways at blurring speed, aiming for Andrea's head. Even if Andrea had a helmet reinforced by many auras and skills, this attack would be too dangerous to receive.
Using the still active [Sun Obliteration War Dance], Andrea quickly sidestepped with elegance. Losing not as much momentum as Wert expected. He clicked his tongue. 'Slippery.'
Andrea gave a low shout as she used her palm instead of her weapon, taking Wert completely by surprise. "[Sun Burning Palm]. Ha!"
Returning one in kind for his previous strike, Wert was struck and flown backward with a burning palm print on his shoulder.
Andrea didn't follow, though. She stopped while looking from a distance and checking on her energy reserves and body's state. 'Hm. I can go on like this.'
She then pointed at him and used her ranged attacks. [Sun Molten Pillar] exploded, creating giant pillars of molten material that engulfed the man.
"That's not enough!"
Wert shouted as he burst from one of them, covered in the sticky and searing materials. Andrea nodded. "I know."