The referee confirmed that both of them were ready, and the battle started. Pesque was very confident in himself, so he didn't charge at Ao straight away. He focused on his Earth and Fire elements to create some kind of lava chains. It was quite ingenious: he used his spiritual energy to keep the connection between the segments. It was also the spiritual energy and his Divine Sense that controlled them. Impressively, he could control several of them like tentacles. Some were used for defense, while others for attack. Only after he finished setting them up did he started to slowly walk in Ao's direction.
"You can give up now, you know? There is no need to get hurt for a hopeless battle."
He then noticed that Ao didn't seem the least bit impressed with that skill, which ruined his mood quite a bit. It didn't seem Ao was going to give up anytime soon. In fact, Ao wasn't even paying attention to him.
"Since that's the case, don't blame me for not being polite."
That time, he charged forward without care. He didn't believe Ao would be able to do anything to him after all. Suddenly, Ao's face turned serious.
"He! You finally noticed the danger, too late, though."
On the other side, Ao was having an extremely important Divine Sense conversation with Yusa and Krune. That conversation had started after they finished their lunch.
"It's like, I said, you should put a little more salt in my meat. I like it saltier."
Krune shook his head.
"That would ruin the seasoning I made. You can't do that with my food."
Yusa then intervened.
"That's the part where you are wrong. It might taste worse for you, but for Ao, it might, in fact, taste better. You need to understand that not everyone has the same tastes."
Ao, who was dodging the attack as if they didn't exist, continued his argument with Krune. Krune was very stubborn about the food he prepared.
Finally, Krune let it go. He would make the next meals the same as always. It was just that he wouldn't care anymore if Ao put anything else on it after it was done. However, on the condition that he wouldn't waste anything if it turned out not to be good.
After over ten minutes of 'battle,' Ao finally got a happy face. He then turned to Pesque, who was panting and sweating all over.
"Oh, right, I was supposed to battle you. Sorry for the delay, I will finish it in a second."
Pesque thought Ao was making fun of the fact he couldn't catch him with his attacks. Just as he was about to retort and say that Ao couldn't do anything to him either, Ao raised his swords and made a slashing movement. Right at that moment, someone appeared in front of Pesque.
Pesque was alarmed because he didn't know from where those guys had come from. Only after he jumped back in a fright, did he take a good look at who it was. It turns out that no other than the referee, who puzzled Pesque greatly. Why did the Divine Soul Referee appear out of nowhere in front of him? What really made his head spin was the referee's next words.
"Ao Sulian wins."
Pesque thought it was some kind of joke.
"He won? What are you talking about? He didn't make anything at all. Why did I lose?"
The referee just gave him a side glance and commented.
"Ask that again after you take a look at your lava chains."
Only then did Pesque stop to pay attention to his surroundings. His lava chains… disappeared, or to be more exact, they were all over the ground. Hundreds of small puddles of lava could be seen around Pesque.
He was taken aback. When did his lava chains become like that?
The answer was in the slash Ao made a moment ago. It was a fusion of the Metal Element Sharpness and the Wind Element Swiftness. Even the seeded mercenaries got quite impressed with that attack. It was really fast and deadly. But that was all they thought, with exception for Arlan and a few of the Divine Soul cultivators.
'Was that sword intent?'
In fact, the few who perceived it weren't sure either since it was very subtle. In the end, they made a mental note to pay attention to Ao's next fight to check whether they were right or wrong.
Arlan smiled again. He couldn't help but think how strange it was for three dark horses to appear in the Yule Continent at the same time. The Mercenary Selection, which looked so obvious before, had suddenly become impossible to predict, and Arlan was very happy with that.
Ao came down from the arena and seemed to be in a very good mood. Everyone who looked at that thought it was because he got his first victory in the Mercenary Selection. Little did they know he was happy simply because Krune agreed to let him use more salt in his food. Compared to that, what a simple victory against Pesque could amount for?
The battle continued. Seed players came and went. None of them had lost so far. Krune and Yusa passed through their opponents with ease as well. It was only in the third round that an exciting battle took place. It was Tasier against the dark horse from the Sky Fall Continent, Deno Baril.
Tasier used his same strategy as before. He immediately took off and bombarded Deno from high above. But Deno was an earth and wood element cultivator, the best element to use against a lightning specialized demon beast like the Thunder Hawk. He didn't pursue the thunder hawk, he just used his techniques to defend against all the Hawk's attacks. After around a minute of battle, Tasier noticed that things weren't good on his side. Deno could defend against anything he sent down while using a lot less spiritual energy.
"Hmph! You asked for it."
Tasier wings started to shine. If people looked closely, they would be able to see an enormous amount of lightning element, and spiritual energy began to accumulate inside Tasier's feathers. Not only that, but they also looked like to have turned into metal. After enough energy was accumulated, Tasier charged down.
"Don't think that I'm like any normal Thunder Hawk. I can also control three elements."
It was true. Lightning and Wind were a must-have element for Thunder Hawks, and very easy to specialize too in their case. But Tasier could also control the metal element, using the lightning element in his feathers for speed, wind element for swiftness and maneuvers, and metal element for sharpness. In an instant, Tasier turned from a ranged attacker into a close combat meat slicer.
Deno noticed the change and that Tasier wouldn't work anymore on his plans of worn-out. Initially, he would wait for Tasier to run out of steam and only then would start his assault. But the Thunder Hawk noticed that and changed its tactics. Deno then switched from defense to attack as well. The Thunder Hawk might be confident in its attack power, but so is himself, he immediately took out his spear and met the Hawk head-on.
And just like that, the two started to exchange blow after blow. The Hawk had the advantage in speed while Deno exceeded in attack power. It was hard to say which one of them would end up as the victor. But, as one of the seeded players, the Hawk wasn't to be trifled with the lightning element being used for speed. A second after it, it started to discharge a tremendous amount of lightning attacks every time both exchanged blows.
The balance was finally broken, and Deno started to receive several injuries. His face didn't show any fear, it seemed like he was waiting for something. The Hawk and Deno were about to exchange another blow when, suddenly, hundreds of roots came from the ground and tried to bind Tasier. Noticing he couldn't dodge, Tasier decided to slash through all the roots. He refused to believe they could resist the power of his wings.
Deno saw that and smiled. This was his chance! He immediately focused all the power of his spiritual energy on the tip of his spear. He aimed the attack at the belly of the Hawk. As long as it connected, there would be no way for the Hawk to leave unscratched.
"He-he! Aren't you a sly one?"
Deno's eyes widened. His spear was just about to hit the hawks belly, when, suddenly, it passed through it. Instead of the blood and flesh, the Hawk's body transformed into a sea of lightning that attacked Deno from all sides. With nowhere to run, Deno could only do his best to defend against the lightning attack. Unfortunately, the Hawk's real body appeared right behind. As long as the wings connected, Deno would be cut in half. But the Hawk didn't have the chance, because the referee intervened just in the nick of time.
The thunder hawk seemed displeased that the referee stopped his attack. But there was nothing more to do. It retracted the metal power from its wings, and the lightning element around its body disappeared. It then flew back to his waiting place and closed its eyes. That battle, at that moment, had really forced it to use a lot of its spiritual energy, and it had to show even its trump cards prematurely. It really pissed off the Thunder Hawk Tasier.
As for Deno, he came down from the arena with a gloomy face, although the injuries on his body hurt quite a bit. It wasn't as annoying as having his chance of entering the Martial Gathering disappearing here. Yulie Forgon came forward and gave him some encouraging words. He didn't expect this dark horse would appear in his Sky Fall Continent. Although his chance to participate in the Martial Gathering was gone, he would still become one of the Sky Fall Mercenary Guild pillars in the future.
However, Deno hasn't given up yet. He wanted to go further: to leave the Makui Planet. The Divine Path Sect was the opportunity he was waiting for since he couldn't participate in it through the Foundation Establishment selection. He would then attempt to enter the Core Formation Realm. He was under forty years old, after all. He just thought that with the Divine Path Sect heritage, it would be a lot safer to do that in the sect. Since it was not possible anymore, then there was nothing to hold back. Deno had made his mind. Even if what was waiting for him was death through the Heavenly Tribulation, he would not regret it.
The seeded mercenaries who watched the previous battle understood the Tasier wasn't just some headless demon beast that only knew how to attack. Most of them hadn't even noticed when his real body separated from the lightning copy. But that was to be expected. Anyone who had come that far would definitely have one or two trump cards in their pockets, and they still had their own confidence in getting one of the five slots.
Krune's group saw the battle too, and Ao commented.
"That Hawk is very strong. Even with my Sword Intent, I'm not completely sure that I can defeat it without paying some price."
Yusa nodded her head.
"My lightning element would be useless against it too. Although I'm confident that I wouldn't lose, I can't say that I would win for sure either. I guess only Krune would be able to beat it with certainty."
Krune then shook his head.
"It's true I believe I'm stronger than it. But it might still have some skills that it hasn't shown yet. If I was not careful, I might be caught off guard. But in the end, the most dangerous person in this selection is definitely that Arlan guy. But we don't need to care about that for the moment. After all, we just need to get one of the five slots, as for which position we finish at, that doesn't matter."
Ao and Yusa nodded. They also had the same thought. A battle against Arlan wasn't totally necessary in the end.