2 Weeks Later
JacQuarius and Tela arrived at the Tournament location's entrance.
There were countless cultivators and people that came to either sign up or watch.
The environment was bustling every minute.
JacQuarius and Tela immediately signed up, then they were assigned a room in a nearby hotel with the rest of the participating cultivators.
The tournament is a multi-day event, lasting a total of 5 days.
Day 1: Sign up/last-minute preparations.
Day 2: Qualifiers
Day 3: Quarter Finals
Day 4: Semi Finals
Day 5: Finals
Only 128 Cultivators could sign up, anyone after that would be put on the replacement list which was the same as the signup procedure: first come, first serve.
Basically, if any of the 128 Cultivators did not participate or decided to leave, the first person from the replacement list would take that person's spot.
The qualifiers were 8 groups of 16 cultivators, winner was chosen by last man standing!
Quarter, Semi, and Finals were all one-on-one matches, with no 2nd or 3rd place rewards, it's a winner-takes-all type tournament.
JacQuarius and Tela were walking to the Hotel, staying vigilant when suddenly a flying kick came at him!
JacQuarius dodged it, and Tela returned a punch of his own but the man weaved it.
JacQuarius managed to get a good look at his face.
It was Daniel!
His face had no expression but you could feel the overwhelming killing intent, and anger protruding from him.
He then pulled out a sword, it began to radiate a holy aura.
People were crowding around the three, waiting to watch a fight, eventually, someone realized what artifact it was.
Advanced Rank Offensive Artifact: Wyrmcleaver!
"This artifact is a sword that was made and used by a Diamond Rank Cultivator. His name was the Xiong Hi, The Draconic Conqueror! He made that sword, solely to kill dragons, it does enhanced damage to dragons! There's a rumor that this sword has slayed over 100 dragons. But why does this guy have it? And why is he using it against a human?"
After hearing a man's explanation, everyone in the crowd began to wonder.
JacQuarius paid no mind to it, he only worried about Jimmy's safety, that sword could immediately break his promise.
"Back up Tela, let me handle this."
Tela immediately backed up, leaving JacQuarius and Daniel in a stare-off!
Daniel took advantage of the event and immediately charged at JacQuarius.
JacQuarius dodged to the left and immediately activated his defensive artifact.
Legionnaire Armor!
Daniel slashed 3 times at JacQuarius, sending 3 slashed ranged attacks at him.
JacQuarius dodged 1 but was hit by the other 2!
Jimmy sensed the danger and attempted to escape JacQuarius's storage ring to help in the fight, JacQuarius had to stop moving to prevent him from escaping, taking Daniel's attacks head-on!
Jimmy was still naive like a child, he had no clue that his attempt to help did the complete opposite.
JacQuarius didn't want Jimmy to be exposed or at least not yet, if he was then that would be a huge trump card revealed too early.
Once others realized he had a Sacred Rank Heaven Animal, they would either try to steal it or kill it out of jealousy and greed.
Thus also if they knew, they could also plan ahead and form strategies to counter him, capture him, or worse!
After taking the attack, JacQuarius's arm and chest were damaged.
His arm's armor plate was broken, and part of the chest plate was destroyed as well.
This is why artifacts aren't used in Spars, they're strong but fragile!
JacQuarius had never expected him to be sneak attacked this early, he doesn't have any other techniques but his Tenfold Draconic Style, and he didn't want to expose it now.
JacQuarius was as the saying goes," stuck between a rock and a hard place."
"So you're not going to fight back? You got the balls to kill my mom, but not fight me? Monkeys will always be monkeys, retarded, and pick on weaklings."
Daniel was completely insulting him in front of everyone!
The crowd all watched in anticipation.
But all JacQuarius was thinking about was the officials' location.
Where are they? Are they really going to let Daniel and him fight an all-out fight before the tournament? Maybe they were the ones who set this up.
He had a ton of thoughts, but no answers!
"Senior, JacQuarius isn't fighting back, he's just dodging and defending. It's quite obvious, he intends to preserve his strength and hide his techniques early on. Should I break it up or let them continue?"
An old man was flying in the air, invisible to the naked eye and to everyone below his cultivation level.
"Release the video and then inform the officials a fight is breaking out."
The man followed his orders, activating an unknown skill to make a video appear large in the air.
It caught everyone's attention and they began to watch, including JacQuarius and Daniel.
The video displayed Daniel arriving at a cemetery.
Daniel walked straight over to a grave that read: Jonathan Smith.
Lil Joey's grave!
He then used an attack and destroyed the entire grave!
Seeing this, tears began to roll down JacQuarius's face.
Not sad tears, but tears of Anger!
He immediately activated his transformation skill.
Tenfold Draconic Style: Malevolent Wyvern!
The Wyvern gave off a maleficient aura, spreading fear all across the crowd!
Tela retreated far away, knowing things were about to get intense.
Daniel, even when up against a 60-foot tall Wyvern weighing several tons, still remained expressionless with no fear.
He actually smiled, this is exactly what he wanted.
He began concentrating all his Heaven Qi into the sword, his hair began to stand up, and a white aura began radiating from his entire body!
"Nigga's keep treating me like I'm a bitch or sum. I got sum for you nigga!"
He flew into the air, creating a huge sphere of draconic energy!
It began to expand at a rapid rate, a destructive aura began to fill the air!
Everyone in the crowd began to retreat, they knew staying here would lead them to being damaged from the crossfire.
Tela remained still, watching with keen intent.
Tenfold Draconic Style: Wyrm's Ascendancy!
Order Style: Holy Vengeance!
The sphere of draconic energy collided with the slash from Daniel's sword!
Both attacks struggled against each other, fighting intensely to overpower the other.
But eventually, The slash won!
It slashed intensely through the draconic sphere, and begun to fly at JacQuarius!
"ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
A loud shout heard throughout the vast area, immediately destroying the slash and causing Daniel and JacQuarius to kneel on the ground.
JacQuarius's transformation ended as well.
"What the hell are you two doing fighting? The tournament hasn't started, no one should be fighting. I'll be letting you two off with a warning, further fighting will result in an elimination from the tournament for both parties! Am I understood?"
They both replied," Yes Sir!"
They were feeling extreme fear from the man, he is a Platinum Rank Cultivator!
His shout easily countered their ultimate attacks!
They both retreated in opposite directions, feeling completely different.
Daniel felt as his victory was set in stone, his ultimate attack easily Defeated JacQuarius's ultimate attack and he had every advantage.
He had the cultivation advantage, he was Silver 5th layer and JacQuarius was only Silver Layer 3.
He had a sword that completely countered JacQuarius's entire style!
Meanwhile, JacQuarius felt utterly defeated and intense anger.
His ultimate attack was easily countered, and his best friend's grave was destroyed.
He knew he couldn't let that get to his head, so he immediately traveled to his room, attempting to come up with a strategy to turn the situation around!
"Senior, did you see that? We've overestimated him, he doesn't have a chance. Should I go kill him now and capture his soul?"
"No! This is exactly why you're still considered an agent and haven't received a promotion yet! The show is just starting to begin, the finals will be the main event, we'll see how he fares then, and after that, we'll decide our course of action! I'll send word to release Agent Ian from the torture room and have him escorted to the tournament, you remain there and watch everything."
"Yes Sir!"