The colossal gong atop the palace tower struck with an earth-shattering boom, officially marking the commencement of the first match in the main arena.
“Pretty boy, you better surrender right now before my axe ruins that cute face of yours!” the hulking warrior named Boros bellowed mockingly.
He hoisted his massive plasma battle-axe high into the air, unleashing a violent aura of crackling red electricity.
With heavy, thundering steps, he charged toward Xavier like a raging rhino, intent on splitting the silver-haired youth clean in half.
The spectators in the grand stadium held their breath collective.
Some even covered their eyes, unable to watch Lord Alden’s beautiful adopted son get utterly crushed.
Yet, Xavier remained standing perfectly still, not shifting an inch.
His striking purple-and-gold heterochromia eyes didn’t even flinch.
‘Too slow,’ Xavier’s mature mind observed coldly.
The exact moment Boros closed the distance to a mere three paces, Xavier placed his right hand firmly onto the hilt of his sheathed silver blade.
The counterfeit cosmic wind energy he covertly manipulated began to compress around the blade with extreme density, forming an invisible, razor-sharp edge of compressed air.
*Flash—Swish!* A blinding streak of white light ignited within the arena for a fraction of a second.
The audience only managed to catch a glimpse of Xavier executing an impossibly fast iaido draw, before his blade snapped cleanly back into its scabbard with a soft click.
Xavier stood in his exact starting position, completely untouched.
*CRASH!* Boros’s massive battle-axe suddenly severed into two clean pieces, clattering heavily onto the stone floor.
At that precise microsecond, a devastating shockwave of vacuum wind pressure exploded from front of Xavier, blasting Boros’s towering frame completely out of the arena bounds until he slammed violently against the reinforced spectator wall.
Boros blacked out instantly with his eyes rolled back, entirely oblivious to how he had even been defeated.
The entire colossal stadium fell into a dead, absolute silence.
The rowdy, mocking cheers vanished in a single breath, replaced by expressions of sheer horror and utter disbelief from the tens of thousands of onlookers—including Lord Alden, who stood up from the royal box with his jaw dropped.
The noble youth they had collectively dismissed as a fragile decorative doll had just one-shot the region’s heaviest vanguard without fully unsheathing his weapon.
*[Side Quest: Palace Tournament Progress (1/5) Updated.
Counterfeit Wind Blade Mastery Level Increased.]* Xavier casually adjusted the collar of his sharp black noble coat, letting his silver hair drift slightly in the fading draft of the arena while his eyes locked onto the next bracket of participants with a cold, vacant stare.
Xavier’s absolute victory over Boros had altered the stadium’s atmosphere drastically.
The mocking commentary regarding his unique androgynous looks and shimmering silver hair dissolved completely.
Now, the remaining participants in his bracket stared at him with cold sweat and sheer terror written all over their faces.
They recognized that in a straight, honorable duel, they would all inevitably suffer the exact same fate as Boros.
“We can’t let that Von Sterling brat advance any further.
We need to form an alliance and take him down together!” a fire-element mage whispered urgently to three mercenary assassins wielding poisoned daggers in the staging corner.
As the subsequent elimination rounds commenced, Xavier stepped into a much wider stone arena layout.
This time, the regulations permitted open, multi-combatant group skirmishes.
The exact millisecond the starting signal blared, the four conspirators charged toward Xavier from multiple vectors simultaneously, completely abandoning the standard etiquette of individual combat.
The mage in the rear unleashed a barrage of roaring fireballs to completely obscure Xavier’s field of vision, while the three assassins vaulted through the air, raining hundreds of micro-needles coated in paralytic nerve poison down upon his position.
They intended to ruin his breathtaking face and immobilize his movements using these foul tactics.
“Die, you arrogant brat!” they roared, their voices laced with deep envy.
Lord Alden, witnessing the blatant cheating from the VIP stands, slammed his hands onto the iron railing in pure fury.
Yet, before he could call for a disqualification, Xavier’s tall figure standing in the center of the arena suddenly turned blurred.
*Swish!
Snap—* The torrent of poisoned needles and blazing fireballs merely pierced through an empty afterimage of Xavier.
To the mature mind of a hidden Void Eater, low-tier trickery of this caliber could never escape his sharpened cosmic senses.
Utilizing the remnants of his counterfeit wind magic, Xavier had shifted at an extreme velocity that produced a perfect optical illusion.
Before his enemies could comprehend where he had gone, the slender youth with cascading silver hair materialized directly behind them.
Xavier didn’t even bother to draw his silver blade this time.
He casually flicked two fingers of his right hand through the air, unleashing a compressed wave of violent wind pressure that mirrored invisible blades.
*Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!* Four heavy impacts echoed across the stadium floor.
In the blink of an eye, the armor and weaponry of all four contestants shattered into pieces, and their bodies were driven forcefully into the stone floor, knocking them unconscious with blood pooling at their lips.
A carefully orchestrated ambush was dismantled by Xavier in less than three seconds without leaving a single speck of dust on his sharp black coat.
The entire audience rose to their feet, delivering a deafening, thunderous roar that shook the very foundations of the palace.
Xavier casually brushed a non-existent speck of dust off his shoulder, his brilliant purple-and-gold heterochromia eyes locking onto the holographic leaderboard as it updated his match status.
*[Side Quest: Palace Tournament Progress (4/5) Updated.
1 Match Remaining Before the Grand Finals.]* The roar of the crowd grew increasingly deafening as the arena announcer proclaimed the start of the semi-final match.
Stepping into the arena layout, Xavier’s path was blocked by a young man with cropped hair clad in heavy, dull-gray steel armor.
This was Kaelen, the son of the Supreme Commander of the Exoplanet Palace Guards.
Unlike the previous participants, Kaelen did not dismiss Xavier’s beautifully androgynous looks.
His gaze reflected the iron discipline of a true soldier.
“I know very well you are concealing your true strength, Xavier Von Sterling,” Kaelen stated, drawing a massive two-handed greatsword that crackled with arcs of blue lightning magic.
“But as the commander’s son, I will not be toppled so easily.” Xavier offered no verbal reply, but instead gave a highly graceful, flawless noble bow.
The evening draft blew past, causing a few strands of his shimmering silver hair to flutter.
His striking heterochromia eyes—one deep purple, the other burning gold—locked onto the tip of Kaelen’s heavy blade.
*BOOM!* The starting gong reverberated.
Kaelen moved like a flash of lightning.
His greatsword swung with immaculate military precision, unleashing a crescent wave of lightning that cleaved the stone floor.
Xavier dodged fluidly, vaulting into the air with his silver locks flowing beautifully.
However, Kaelen had anticipated the retreat.
He leapt just as high, raining down a relentless chain of lightning strikes upon Xavier’s position.
*Clang!
Sparks!
Clash!* For the absolute first time in this entire tournament, Xavier was forced to fully draw his silver blade to parry the onslaught.
Showers of magical sparks illuminated Xavier’s breathtaking visage mid-air.
Kaelen’s combat proficiency was indeed worthy of elite palace training.
Yet, to the mature mind and cosmic senses of a hidden Void Eater, Kaelen’s forms still possessed microscopic openings.
Twisting his body mid-air with absolute grace, Xavier compressed his counterfeit wind energy to its absolute threshold at the tip of his silver blade, forming a vacuum vortex.
“Cosmic Wind Style: Tempest Dance!” Xavier drove his blade downward.
A massive, swirling gale of compressed air manifested instantly, tearing through Kaelen’s lightning grid and slamming the commander’s son back down to the earth with crushing force.
Kaelen desperately tried to anchor himself by driving his greatsword into the stone platform, but Xavier’s wind pressure was so immense that it fractured Kaelen’s steel armor.
Kaelen fell to his knees, completely out of breath, and finally lowered his blade in surrender.
The entire stadium vibrated with the loudest, most thunderous applause yet.
Kaelen managed to stand up despite his exhaustion, bowing deeply to Xavier with profound respect.
“You…
are truly an unmatched genius.” Xavier merely offered a polite, silent nod, keeping his perfect mask entirely intact.
The transparent system window before his eyes flashed brightly: *[Side Quest: Palace Tournament Progress (5/5) Completed!
You Have Qualified For the Grand Finals.
Reward: Cosmic Spirit Weapon Phase 1 Unlocked and Claimed.]* CREATORS’ THOUGHTS UUL What do you think of chapter 3?
Give your opinion.