The arena was louder than the first day. Everyone thought the first round would be boring yet all of them were proven wrong. Because of Ghost, everyone was thrilled to witness the Core Formation tournament rather than the Body Strengthening one. As the time passed by, the crowd was settling into their seats. Just in a couple of minutes, the entire arena was filled once again. There wasn't a single empty chair in the arena.
"Welcome back to the championship tournaments ladies and gentlemen" Ishihara's sweet voice echoed through the arena.
"Without further adieu, let's get into the structure of the third round" James Hall commented looking at Darius.
"As you all know, twenty participants qualified for the third round. Among the twenty, just like the second round, we will have one on one battles. Ten participants will face the other ten. The winners will be qualified for the quarter-final" Darius stopped commentating for a few moments to let the information sink into their heads.
"Until now, the rounds were designed to simulate the environment of the Southern continent. Moving forward, the participants won't be restricted from using spells, pills, and potions. In a real battle, you must use every opportunity to enhance your prowess. A single potion might decide the outcome of a battle between two equally powerful cultivators"
Darius started to explain the rules and regulations of the third round.
"Can't hear truer words. When two cultivators at the same cultivation stage and level fight, what would decide the victory is who has a better spell, who has a better weapon, and who has better armor. You'd either need money or luck to get better things. It's not fair for everyone but life's not fair"
Michael leaned on the wall, listening to James Hall's words. What he said was indeed true, life is not far. He agreed with everything James Hall said except the part where he made it seem like one could get anything with money or luck. It was not true at all because without hard work, money and luck meant shit.
When Michael came to this world he had nothing, now he had an empire in the making. Of course, the system played a crucial role but even if he hadn't gotten the system, he would have still reached the top. What system he had when he became the number one hitman in the world?
"After recent events, the tournament committee decided to put a healing array on the battle stage," Darius said. His words caused a commotion among the crowd. Some knew about the healing array while most of the commoners didn't even hear about a healing array before.
"Can you explain to people like me who have no idea what you are talking about Darius?" Ishihara chuckled,
"It performs a simple action actually. It'll keep the participants from dying. If you're badly injured and only a few inches away from walking into the death's door, the healing array will provide just enough healing to keep you alive until helps arrives"
After Darius explained about the healing array's function, Ishihara question,
"What about killing blows? If a participant tried to cleave the head off of another participant, will the healing array stop him or her?"
"Preventing that from happening is the coordinators' job. Although sometimes death is inevitable in competitions like this, we still need to do everything in our power to stop the participants from killing each other. This is a competition, not a gladiator arena" Darius looked at the Morning Star pavilion and Sunrise sect pavilion when he spoke those words. It was obvious he was telling this to Ghost and Celina who was burning in rage.
The commentators gave the crowd a few moments to chit-chat and become silent. After the noises died down, they moved onto the next thing
"Our VIPs and judges will determine who fights who" Michael smiled. As a small favor for killing Alex, Michael already told Ashton who he wants to fight. However, unlike his battle with Alex, the upcoming battle wouldn't be very long. Michael was thinking of wiping the floor with his opponent.
Through the crowd cheering in front of him, Michael saw Lailah standing among the commoners with her cloak covering her face. Since no one could see a person's cultivation level anymore, the people were thinking that Ashton was the only Fusion Stage cultivator in the arena.
"We will name the participants who will face each other. Please come to the battle stage after hearing your name" Ishihara said.
Everyone who was seated leaned forward in anticipation. All of their eyes were on the commentators to see who they were going to call first.
"Mareese from Aragoth and Sabrina from Holdy Trident Academy"
The crowd erupted hearing the names. Both Aragoth and Holy Trident were prominent sects in their continents. Aragoth was on par with either of the three big sects in Elon while Holy Trident Academy was one of the powerful sects for girls in Ozer Continent.
Michael wasn't even slightly interested in the battle regardless of knowing Sabrina. As Sabrina and Mareese, who was a brown-haired youngster in his late twenties walking towards the battle stage, the runes captured everyone's expressions and broadcasted them in the giant mirrors.
"GHOST!"
"GHOST!"
"GHOST!"
"GHOST!"
"GHOST!"
"GHOST!"
Despite the battle being between Sabrina and Mareese, when the mirror broadcasted Michael's face, the crowd let out thunderous cheers. Even Michael was surprised by their cheers.
"It seems like they are really loving what I'm giving them"
The badass points rapidly increased without even him lifting a finger.
"Man, I love this tournament" He reminded himself.
Standing on the opposite side of the arena, Andrews sulked seeing the response Ghost was getting. The battle prowess and brutality he showed during the fight with Alex made Andrews shudder. Yet he knew he couldn't back down. The only thing that kept Andrews calm was the promise Lailah Alden made to him.
Although Ghost was powerful, Andrews had some things that Ghost lacked, a supportive family behind him and true love. Andrews believed his love would give him the strength to defeat Ghost if he was to meet him on the battle stage.
"Let the battle begin" When Sabrina and Mareese reached the battle stage, the commentators announced. The cheers died down as the crowd stared at the fight making less noise.
*******************************
After the response Michael's last fight received, the tournament committee put Ghost's fight at last. This kept the crowd on the edge of their seats. Each fight lasted longer than everyone expected. Hence, by the time for the last fight of the Core Formation stage, the sun had already fallen into the horizon, letting the darkness paint the sky black.
"GHOST!"
"GHOST!"
"GHOST!"
"GHOST!"
"GHOST!"
The crowd couldn't wait any longer as they started to chant the name 'Ghost'. Except for MorningStar fans, everyone else joined in the chant to produce thunderous cheers for Michael. It was evident that after this tournament, everyone would come to know the name 'Ghost' if they hadn't heard it before. Plus, he would become an exception among the Alchemists.
Never before in the history of the championship tournaments has an Alchemist won the title. After all, Alchemists were believed to be weak in combat, just like the other specialists such as rune masters, healers, blacksmiths.
On the VIP seatings, Alicia was shaking her legs as she felt extremely nervous despite her efforts to stay calm. Norvin liked to annoy Alicia all the time but at this moment, even he stayed quiet.
Everyone who loved Alicia shared the same nervousness. Finally, after so much wait, James Hall announced the next battle as the crowd erupted and jumped up from their seats in excitement
"Peter Stone and Ghost, please come to the battle stage" Even James Hall rushed the name announcing as he never even said the name Sunrise sect.
Alicia's heart shuddered. She looked up to see her brother landing on the battle stage. She searched the sky for Ghost. It took her several seconds to see him slowly descending onto the battle stage. His black long coat fluttered in the wind as he still wasn't in battle armor but wore his usual black clothes.
When Michael landed on the battle stage, he ignored all the cheers and focused his gaze on Peter. Although Michael stunned everyone with his power, Peter seemed indifferent. He seemed like he was bored.
"I always knew Alex was just all bark and no bite" Peter sounded extremely prideful. He never even showed a shred of respect towards Alex. Even Michael respected Alex as a warrior.
If these words were spoken by someone else, the crowd would have become crazy and booed Peter. However, they all witnessed Alex's battles. Peter held the highest number of knockouts in the first round and finished the battle in just one minute in the second round. He was the dark horse in the competition.
"Unlike you, Alex was a true warrior. He never ambushed people in the dark and gathered information about strengths and weaknesses"
Peter's nonchalant look completely took a 180 turn when he heard Ghost's words.
"I did my research after your little visit. People call you the Young Master"
The moment Michael said this, Alicia felt a chill running through her spine.
As a Guardian, she knew about the mysterious 'Young Master'. There was a file on the young master in the Guardian Guild.
Many nobles who got ambushed and defeated by the young master were looking for his real identity. If Peter was the Young Master, he was in deep trouble.
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