Time passed, and finally, the final match of that opening tournament for the Arena of the Dry City had arrived.
One of the final participants was a woman, who had narrowly won her last fight, named Teri. As for her opponent, this was one of Minos' former guards, Elmer.
The two had managed to pass the semifinals with some difficulty, having had fights that impressed the audience present in this place.
Finally, the two went up to the arena stage while the audience returned their attention to that place. These thousands of people were already here for about 4 hours, and most of them had seen matches like never before.
Some of them even had a growing desire to fight in this place in the future...
"Finally, the ending is close!"
"Hmm, I'm cheering for Ms. Teri. She worked hard to get here."
"It's true, but Elmer has an innate battle ability. I doubt he will lose to her!"
"Huh, it's going to be a struggle for her. After all, innate skills expend less spiritual energy than spiritual techniques..."
That was the main advantage of innate abilities. Because it is something of the cultivator himself and not an external technique learned, the consumption of spiritual energy for natural skills was small.
Aside from these battle abilities, the characteristics of each innate ability were unique, and there was no general rule about them.
Of course, any innate ability that releases energy would have a consumption. But for skills that don't release energy, it could be different. In the case of Minos, his own body was continually affected by it, and there was no way to activate or deactivate it.
It was like physical property.
Anyway, the universe of innate skills was infinite, and almost anything was possible...
At this point, finally, Sergeant Pyke positioned himself in the corner of the stage, looked at Teri, who was wearing black female armor, already placed for the fight.
She did not use any weapons since she practiced an attack technique aimed at hand-to-hand combat.
After that, Pyle looked at Elmer, who had an open armor, which basically only protected some points on his body, such as his shoulders, parts of his arms, and legs.
That was the type of armor aimed at increasing the warrior's speed, who could use these few pieces of protection as a shield during the fight.
He also did not use any weapons since his innate ability focused on close combat, typical of boxers like him. And due to his skill, Elmer had chosen to follow this path with his techniques since he was more apt for this.
"Well, get started!"
Hidden Path!
After hearing the start of the fight, Teri immediately ran towards her opponent, activating her movement technique without second thoughts.
She was very clear about her opponent's strength, so she knew she was at a disadvantage in this match. Thus, she only had the initiative to do something to change this situation!
At the same time, Elmer smiled at his opponent's behavior and then started his movement.
He suddenly activated his innate ability when his two fists were covered, almost instantly, with red energy.
It was as if he had a red steel glove coated in his hands!
"He's going to use it from the beginning!" Someone shouted in the middle of the arena bleachers.
That was Elmer's innate ability, which made his fists as hard as a high-level grade-2 weapon because of the Warrior-grade Physique!
That was a fantastic skill, which could destroy enemy defenses very quickly. For this reason, Teri had used her movement technique since the beginning of the fight.
If she were hit, even if she weren't immediately defeated, Teri wouldn't be able to fight for long!
'Shit! I'll have to appeal and fight at a distance. I can't take any chances and get close to him...'
Meanwhile, Elmer finally started his move, trying to get closer to Teri. "Hehe, Sergeant Teri, don't take this seriously. I'm only interested in the prize of a thousand crystals!"
Pow!
After hearing these words, Teri wasted no more time and soon punched the air, sending a fist of energy in the direction where Elmer was coming.
Boom!
And contrary to what could be expected, Elmer did not deviate so much but also punched the fist created by Teri directly, using only his hands!
"If you don't take the chance to attack me, I will still beat you because you will run out of energy first!" Shortly after receiving the first attack, he said with a smile, being pushed two steps back.
...
As the fight continued, Minos and his group comfortably enjoyed this match from their VIP lounge.
"This skill is excellent. I fear that this Teri cannot win..." Butler Dillian commented to the group.
Minos nodded in agreement when he heard this and started to speak. "Hmm, for someone with Black-grade battle techniques and with an attack focused on hand-to-hand fighting, like Teri, Elmer is the worst type of opponent for her."
"I dare to say that, in addition to opponents with support and long-distance battle skills or techniques, it would be challenging for someone on the same level as Elmer to beat him!"
For Minos, beating Elmer would not be difficult since he had two techniques that could prevent Elmer from hitting him and that could finish his opponent. But there were other methods to achieve this.
For example, when Minos had had his first fights, he had had a hard time beating one of his opponents in those three weeks of battles.
That man, Grym, had an innate support-type ability, called Mental Caos, that could put his user's opponent in a state of temporary confusion.
That was another way to beat an opponent like Elmer. But for Teri's bad luck, she had none of these sorts of techniques or innate ability...
"Hehehe, this young man will be even more interesting when he reaches the Spiritual King stage!" Dillian said with a smile. Having a soldier with such a skill would make the Black Plain Army even stronger!
And when he reached the 6th stage of cultivation, there would undoubtedly be few opponents for someone like that in the future...
...
While Minos and Dillian talked on the balcony of the VIP room that they were in, the fight was already coming to an end.
That was not a quick fight, but from beginning to end, the confrontation was dominated by Sergeant Elmer's side. He had defended himself from Teri's various attacks using his innate ability.
At the same time, Teri was running back and forth on the stage, always trying to keep some distance from her opponent. However, her strategy didn't work...
As Elmer said before, if she didn't take a chance, her possibility of winning would be zero since innate skills were far more effective than spiritual techniques. So, while she was draining from her spiritual reserves, her opponent was very well, even after a few dozen blows.
And finally, Teri could not maintain her previous speed when Elmer managed to get closer and deliver a blow on his opponent.
That was the beginning of the end of this fight. After receiving the first blow, Teri could no longer dodge Elmer's attacks. All she could do was defend herself or counterattack!
Pow!
"Ahhh!"
Suddenly, another blow hit Teri's armor, spreading all the damage across her ribs, causing her to scream in pain at the spot. She took two steps back while her knees wobbled and made her fall to the floor, slowly.
She was not seriously injured, as this was a friendly match, but there were still strands of blood coming out of her mouth.
'Ahh! That will definitely leave a mark...' She lamented to herself as she looked at the crumpled armor on her body.
She could feel the part of her body that had received the blow. It was already starting to turn blue due to the intense pain she felt in that part...
"I give up!" She said it out loud.
There was no point in continuing. Teri was almost out of spiritual energy, and the pain she felt now was enough to make her lose focus on the battle.
With that, the fight has finally come to an end!
"Well, as competitor Teri has given up on the fight, Elmer will be the winner of this competition!" Pyke said excitedly.
...
And it didn't take long, and the audience was already discussing what had happened in this place.
"Ahh, that was one of the best afternoons of my life!" A young man in the middle of the crowd said to his friends.
"The same for me. After the opening of the Cultivation Tower, I never thought I would see anything that would make me so happy!"
"Hehe, when I reach the 4th stage of cultivation, I will compete in this place. I heard that the ranking here would pay as well as the ranking of cultivation..."
After that, little by little, the people of that place left, heading back to their homes, work, or whatever it was.
...
In the room they were in, Minos looked at the young woman who was with him and Dillian and said. "Secretary Mia, arrange for Sergeant Elmer to receive his award."
"Alright, young master!"
"Soon, I will be leaving to go to the City of Waters, then separate a group of five soldiers to go with me, grandpa Dillian."
"Hmm, okay."
...