The cyclops grew louder, marching around and blasting his challenges across the hallway.

  Voidrin Vox [ Level 84 ]

  Titles: [ Giant Slayer ] [ Stamina Control Prodigy ]

  This guy was no chump, Aaron knew. Achieving stamina control before E-grade was no small achievement. Made that much more worrying by the fact that and he was level 84.

  “You call yourself an emperor, but you won’t accept my challenge? What about your buddies? Any of them have a spine?”

  Aaron’s brows perked slightly. The fact that Pentival was talking to this guy meant that he had likely grabbed a Lingua Multiversa. Then again, he wouldn’t be surprised if he made his minions hand over any good prizes they got, so it wasn’t necessarily indicative of his own achievements.

  “Cairon?” Pentival turned to his people.

  A big, brawny bear of a man with a massive double axe over his back and clad in thick, dark furs stepped forward. “I’d be happy to, my lord.”

  “Don’t underestimate him.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  “Bah! Finally,” A glimmer of excitement filled the cyclops’ massive eye. “Come on, then. I invite everyone to watch as I humiliate this puny man.”

  Puny? The big hairy man was at least six five, and was far from puny. Then again, he did look a little small besides the cyclops.

  Aaron decided to follow, and the group headed to the training hall. Apparently, the cyclops had already unlocked the first stage, making Aaron wonder when the guy had arrived.

  He also wondered if the guy was all okay upstairs, as he invited everyone to watch. Surely that wasn’t wise? What did he have to gain by letting the sector’s strongest people know his combat secrets?

  On the way to the training hall, Aaron caught Mo’han and Talia leaving the viewing room, and waved them over.

  “What’s all this, A-ran?”

  “A fight. Should be entertaining.”

  Once everyone had gathered in the training hall, Pentival made them wait. The wannabe emperor told his minion to hold on accepting the duel until more of his crew arrived, and so by the time the fight actually started, quite a little crowd had gathered to watch.

  It seemed obvious that the confident leader wanted an audience for the fight. Then, the silver fox of an emperor turned his gaze across the crowd, but his face betrayed none of whatever underlying emotions he felt. It remained still and stony as he turned back to the arena below.

  “Ready for a beating?” Cairon said as he stepped into the arena, swirling his massive axe through the air.

  “Yeah, yeah, show me what you’ve got, you hairy primate. You’d had better make this interesting after all that talk.”

  “Ha, you’ll see!”

  Grunting, the hairy man flashed forward, engulfed in some kind of rage. He was clearly some kind of berserker class, and a film of red energy enveloped him as he fought.

  The Voidrin, the cyclops, simply stood there, arms crossed over his chest, up until the last second, when his cutlass flashed out and intercepted the blow, as if wielded by an invisible hand.

  It was incredibly fast, and the two weapons colliding caused a shockwave to blast out, but it was the berserker who was pushed back, and sent hurtling across to the other side of the arena.

  “Is that all you got?”

  “Bah!” Cairon spat. “I haven’t even gotten started!”

  Some kind of Skill activated, and his already stupidly large axe grew even bigger, until it reached a comical size, and the man charged back into battle.

  This time, when the axe came swinging, Voidrin dodged the massive blade, the sharpened edge of which was bigger than his entire sword, and flew toward the berserker who was several meters back thanks to the sheer size of his giant weapon. But just as the man looked out of position, and with no means to defend, his huge axe instantly shrunk down into a hatchet, which he used to furiously block the barrage of sword strikes coming down upon him.

  “Not bad! An interesting weapon!” Voidrin cheered, but it was obvious he wasn’t done.

  “Not bad? I’ll show you not bad!” Cairon roared, and his swings became impossibly fast, whilst his axe increased and decreased in size at will, making it almost impossible to find the perfect range against him.

  But that wasn’t all, the berserker's rage reached out with red tendrils of energy that wrapped around the cyclops, holding it in place. All he could do was block as the rage and speed of the berserker's attacks grew increasingly powerful and fast.

  Damn, he is strong. Looks like that guy is done for. But just as Aaron had that thought, he felt something odd. A spark of energy. A Skill.

  The cyclops blocked the first hundred or so strikes, but it was too much, and eventually, the axe made its way through his defenses, but instead of drawing blood, the cyclops exploded into mist.

  “Gotcha!”

  A cutlass swung from below, slicing the berserker’s unguarded side from behind.

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  Grunting, he flung his axe to the side, and flashed away, gripping at his blood soaked side.

  “Coward! Such insidious techniques won’t work twice! You die now!”

  “Won’t they?” Voidrin shrugged. “Oh, I dunno about that. I kinda got a feeling they will. Y’know, everyone says that, and every time I prove them wrong.”

  “Shut up! You ain’t ever fought somebody like me!” The berserker roared and charged forward again. In an instant, his axe grew massive once more, and slammed down on the cyclops, who once more exploded into mist.

  “Aaargh!” Cairon groaned as another cutlass slash struck his back, and swung around to counter, but once more, the same scene played out.

  “Stay still, you coward!”

  The berserker swung wildly, but every hit he landed was fruitless. Voidrin, if he was ever there in the first place, was gone and replaced by whatever the mist clone thing was, and every time he reappeared slashing at one of Cairon’s unguarded spots.

  The berserker attempted to counter this, trying to predict where the cyclops would appear, and swinging there. However, even when this worked, his blade met more mist, and another slash flashed out and cut him.

  Within less than a minute, the berserker was completely covered in wounds and panting heavily.

  “Stand still, dammit! Fight like a man!”

  “Y’know that really wouldn’t make a difference, don’t you?” Voidrin threw his hands up. “You can’t hit me. It really is as simple as that.”

  “BAAAHHH!! I’ll show you!” Cairon flashed forward, violently swinging all over the place, and this time, Voidrin did exactly as he had promised, and stood in one place.

  The axe passed straight through him, mist bursting out with each hit. This quickly became a humiliating display that continued for minutes as the berserker bled all over the place, throwing everything he had into his wild strikes. And the moment he let up, slowing to pant and catch his breath, Voidrin materialized before him and nonchalantly slashed a deep wound down his chest.

  “See? Told ya.”

  “Blech!” Cairon toppled to the ground, coughing blood. It wasn’t just the new wound that had knocked him down. He had pushed himself hard, and his deep wounds earlier hadn’t a chance to heal.

  “You don’t look to fresh, buddy. Wanna take a break? We can go again in five, if ya like.”

  “Bastard… DIE!” Cairon spat and leaped back up and into battle, but it was hopeless.

  No matter what he did—including a Skill that seemed to harness his own blood, and wrap it around his axe to create a destructive aura—none of it made any difference.

  It got worse, too. Voidrin was actually chuckling and shaking his head as the attacks continued to have no effect. It was getting sad to watch.

  “Oh, c’mon. Is this really all you got? I expected more. I mean, really. You beat me to this place. Shouldn’t you have like some hidden special or something? Y’know, like something to wow me with? To be honest, this is all a bit meh,” Voidrin said as Cairon continued to cut through him with zero effect.

  “SHUT UP AND DIE!!!”

  Cairon’s muscles tensed as he activated another Skill, and blood was sucked in from across the arena, and sent swirling around his axe which grew by the second. Not only that, but he seemed to almost become more bear-like, his hair thickening like fur, and he roared like a beast as he lunged at the cyclops.

  *Poof* Voidrin exploded into mist again.

  “Oh, so that was your special, was it?” Voidrin shook his head as he reformed. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Well, I’m sure it’ll impress somebody… maybe.”

  “No… it can’t be. How in the—”

  In a flash, Cairon’s head was severed from his body, and with a single shake of his blade, Voidrin spattered the blood from it and sheathed it.

  Seconds later, the barrier enclosing the arena dropped and the cyclops turned to the crowd, raising his arms victoriously. Behind him, Cairon’s body disappeared, then reformed at the edge of the arena. As soon as he was back, Cairon collapsed to his knees, gasping and clutching his throat.

  Aaron looked up at Pentival, noticing a slight frown. Pentival turned slightly back to his followers, focusing on the tan woman Aaron had seen before. She gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head, then Pentival turned back to face the arena, just in time for Voidrin to speak.

  “That wasn’t your best champion was it, Mr. Emperor?”

  “My followers all have unique skills and talents. I could not pick one to unequivocally call the best.”

  “C’mon, you got another one don't you? I’m feeling a little rusty to be honest,” Voidrin rotated his shoulders.

  “I’m afraid not,” said Pentival with a sigh. “While I am confident that my followers are among the new universe’s best, I’m afraid none would quite be a match for you.”

  “Ha!” said Voidrin with a smile, clearly enjoying the flattery.

  “Perhaps one of these other fine folk will take you up though,” continued Pentival, gesturing toward the rest of the crowd.

  Aaron noticed that when his hand stopped, it was pointing vaguely to where he and Mo’han were standing. He frowned slightly. Aaron wasn’t what he would call politically astute, but he didn’t miss the implications behind Pentival’s gesture. He had seen what the cyclops was capable of. Now he wanted to see what the others could do, and without revealing too many of his own cards.

  “I think you might be underselling a couple of your servants, but you know better than I…” Voidrin sighed. “I guess we’ll have to save it for another time. Oh well, maybe later when you get a level or something you’ll gain some confidence. Lemme know. And what about the rest of you? Surely someone else is up for it, aren’t they? I’m that intimidating am I? Not when faced against our sector’s greatest warriors. Surely not?”

  As he spoke, Aaron was seriously considering accepting the offer. Voidrin was far stronger than he was. Their stats were obviously incomparable, and whatever Skill Voidrin used to turn into mist was incredibly powerful. Even with all of Aaron’s training with Yendal, and his bonuses from his Blessings and achievements, it would be very difficult. Still, he was itching to go up. It would be tough, yes, but what about this apocalypse hadn’t been for him? Tough fights were how he grew the best.

  Besides, he felt like he would stand a good chance. Unlike Cairon, he could actually see what Voidrin was doing. The mist Skill was powerful, but it had nothing to block Fate Weaver.

  He glanced around the room to see if anyone else was taking it up. A couple had thoughtful expressions, but no one was stepping forward yet.

  Fuck it, he thought.

  At that moment, Mo’han started moving beside him, but Aaron stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

  “What is it, A-ran?”

  “Wait.”

  “Why? This one seems to think a little highly of himself. Sometimes it’s best to put people like this in their place.”

  “Yeah, I know, big fella,” Aaron exhaled. “But you know, I’ve kinda got a few things I’ve been wanting to test out.”

  “Huh?”

  A smile creased Aaron’s lips. He had wanted to challenge himself against somebody truly strong for a while. It would be a good gauge for what was coming after the trials, and who better than this guy?

  “I’m game,” Aaron waved and stepped forward.

  For a moment, he considered that he was giving Pentival exactly what he wanted by showing off his abilities, but he quickly decided that he didn’t care. Aaron wanted to be strong. His abilities would get found out eventually. Especially by people like Pentival who would no doubt have lots of informants. What did it matter? Let him see.

  “You?” Voidrin said, clearly amused as he was no doubt inspecting Aaron. “You’ve got a lot of confidence for someone at such a low level. I like it! You kinda remind me of myself, y’know? Problem is, I’m me and you’re you. But if you’re down to die, don’t let me stop you.”

  “Oh, you have no idea how ready I am,” Aaron said, stepping into the arena.

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