For the past two days, the top four Challengers had been going against each other. The 2 Gavarnum's and the In-Place Gavarnum would be selected from these four Challengers. Actually, the fourth person too would be kept as an Assistant Gavarnum, just in case of an emergency.
The fights were becoming more and more complicated. By now almost all the Challengers knew about each other's Guiding Weapon, and were already well prepared for facing them. So now the fight came down to the trump cards these Challengers were still holding back.
It was the last fight of the entire Conquest. There were two fights scheduled yesterday. And now, the winners of the two previous fights would be going against each other today. Technically they had already been declared as the Gavarnum. The fight today would decide the Gavarnum of Policies and the Gavarnum of Trade.
The terms themselves explained a lot. Gavarnum of Policies was in-charge of all policies, laws and rules implemented for the smooth running of the four prefectures. The Gavarnum of Trade was in-charge of all the trade and business conducted inside the country, and also the trade deals made with the other countries. Though both held separate positions, a lot of their work overlapped with each other.
As the final Challengers landed on the arena below the ground, the array of the outer-circle lit up, and the barriers were instantly activated.
"One has Metal Wing Guiding Weapon accompanied by Wind power. The other has Purple Flame Ball-and-chains with Light power. I feel the Metal Wing will win. The Purple Flame Balls are strong, but the Challenger doesn't have as good a control over them as the Metal wing one."
"We can't say anything for sure till they reveal their trump cards. If the second Challenger has a really strong trump card, and can use it cleverly, then she still has a chance."
Rihanna was observing the two Challengers on the stage as she listened to the two. She agreed. None of the Challengers had a very good control over their Guiding Weapons. Which was understandable, since most cultivators could comprehend and create their Guiding Weapons only once after they reached the Sprouting Stage.
So for almost all of them, this was a new addition to their powers, and they had probably not used it enough to make it a part of their self. It lacked the smoothness and flexibility she had seen when 'He' had shown his Guiding Weapon.
Thinking of 'Him', Rihanna started wondering just how powerful was he? Not only was his controlling smooth, his Guiding Weapon was extremely flexible and agile. They moved, changed, increased and decreased momentum like they were dancing along with his thoughts. And it could change into so many different forms effortlessly, still keeping along with an inaudible rhythm.
'Hey, Little Purple...just how old is that Emperor of the Underworld? He must be very strong to have such a strong Guiding Weapon. And he definitely couldn't have reached that level at a very young age. Is he an ancient like you?'
'He's nowhere near being an Ancient! But he is not very young either. Well.....at least not when compared to you, though he is still pretty young according to cultivators. I think he is over 200 at least.'
Rihanna blinked, then opened her eyes wide.
'Over 200 years old?! Wow! He is more than 200 years older than me!...Then.....why exactly is he so nice to me? Is he seeing me as his disciple...his servant.....or is he rearing me up as his child-bride?!'
'Tsk! What is the point in bothering so much right now. You can't really stop him even if he does have any plans for you, can you? He will not be as easy as the Moon-Grave Sect Leader or the Dorminion's Leader to deal with. Instead of being panicked, just focus on developing your strength. As long as he is not making a move, don't waste your energy in thinking.
Also...don't try to calculate age according to earth. Earthlings barely live for a hundred years, so 200 may seem old. But here people live for thousands of years. So 200 is not old at all. Merely think of him as a person in his 20's. But...that doesn't mean that you should start thinking of him! Remember what he is. You do not need to add complications to your life right now!'
Rihanna leaned back in her seat with a sigh. True. He was an Aratyuusa, creatures being hunted by all of mankind, She already had a growing number of people chasing after her. She did not wish to add on the people chasing him as well!
As usual, the floor of the arena changed gradually to metal, with a thin stream of purple fire burning all around the edges. The silver-white energy of wind gathered in the air like rolling mist. Light, of course, was everywhere.
The Metal Wings Challenger was from Ye, whereas the Purple Flame Ball-and-chain was from Kshugenu. Surprisingly, Kshugenu managed to oust Whamei out of the top two. Whamei had only managed to beat another team from Ye to enter the Third Place.
The first Challenger immediately revealed her large wings. The dark, blackish-blue metal of each feather gleamed with a sharp, cold light. Layers upon layers of metal feathers stretched out from her back, as the wings kept on extending on both sides. The layers of feather were connected to each other, and were extremely flexible. The Challenger had good controller over each feather, and could move each of them in any direction she wanted.
The wings opened to the two sides like two large tents, with a sharp-edged curve where both wings bent. The last layer of feathers grew longer and longer, till they were almost as long as legs of a beast. Then, with a huge impact, the long feathers jammed themselves into the metal ground. The wings kept on expanding, sharply tugging the Challenger off the ground, till she looked like a small spider hanging in between the huge expanse of sharp metal blades.
"I love the way she uses these feathers to move around. Instead of walking on the ground herself, she uses these long feathers as her legs. It looks awesome!"
The second Challenger, meanwhile had been gathering the Purple Flame all around his body, turning the highly volatile Purple Flame into vibrating balls of energy. A multitude of Purple Flame Balls were currently floating all around him. From the vibrations, one could make out the explosive impact of these tiny balls.
Though it was not visible, these balls were actually attached to each other with some form of invisible energy threads. When they moved, a group of 4-5 balls would be moving together, circling around each other, as they spun around on an axis whilst moving forward. Reminded Rihanna of a tiny solar-system. Rihanna pursed her lips to stifle the rising chuckle, and ended up coughing. Imagine someone chucking an entire solar-system at you in attack!
Ye Luo and Artreya glanced at her, as did the three Uncle's. By now, even the three of them were clear about the weird ideas and references often running inside her head. Sometimes, they were appalled by her level of imagination!
Sensing all the eyes on her, Rihanna coughed again awkwardly, leaning further into the seat to make herself invisible.
The two Challengers didn't bother to wait and check out each other. By now they were more or less clear about the opponents strengths and weaknesses. So they launched their first attack simultaneously.
The feathers on the large wing started changing directions, then flew off like shadow daggers at the second Challenger. At the same time, the purple balls gathered in bunches and shot off towards the first Challenger. Both Challengers were controlling their air-borne weapons, trying to target the others weapons.
The first challenger had better control over her feather-daggers, since her second element was wind. However, the Purple Flames were a hard opponent. The heat of the flames was so high, that it could melt almost anything instantly on contact. Moreover, the Challenger could make them explode according to his will.
The best and worst part of these Flame Balls was that there was hardly anything which could extinguish them. So though the feather-daggers could break the Flame Balls if they were fast enough not to become molten metal first, the balls would simply divide and become two, instead of being destroyed. And this made it very troublesome to deal with.
There was no dearth of metal or purple flame, so the entire space within the arrays was soon filled with shooting metal-feathers and spinning purple-flame balls. The two Challengers were fighting hard to maintain their control over the innumerable weapons flying about in the air, even as they sped around to escape the weapons being shot at them.
The feathers could change direction in the air, while the groups of spinning flame-balls kept on expanding in size and area as they moved forward. The space in between these spinning balls of fire became lesser and lesser, and the first Challenger needed a lot of focus to control the movement of her feathers. The smallest contact with these flame-balls could melt away a part of these metal-feathers.
"Ummm.....what is he doing?"
The second Challenger had suddenly paused in a corner. Hurriedly, he bit his finger, and started drawing signs in the air using his blood. The first Challenger noticed as soon as he started, and sent a bunch of feathers, accompanied by a gust of wind to blow away the symbols shining in the air.
Surprisingly, instead of fleeing, the man pulled in a large amount of Purple Flame from the thin stream around the stage, building a thin but violently vibrating wall all around himself.
"What is he doing? He seems to be writing some sort of an array inscription with his blood!"
"To be able to use his blood and write directly on air...he must be at least a mid-level inscriber!"
Suddenly, the entire wall of purple flames dispersed, and a dazzling light emerged from behind it, swiftly spreading in all direction within the arena.
"Why do I feel things are about to become more intense!"
Before Artreya had finished his words, the entire arena plunged into darkness.
For a while people sat there, confused by this sudden lapse of the illusory screen. Only when two silver robed cultivators from the back of the arena moved into the air above the arena, one writing inscriptions in the air over the still glowing barrier, and the other going around the array, adding more spirit stones to the pattern, that people finally understood.
The array was apparently fine. It was not the illusory screen which had collapsed. Instead, that last inscription which the second Challenger had made in the air was the cause behind this. He had set up an array of light, which would absorb all the light within its vicinity. And thus, the entire stage had now turned to darkness!!