It was amusing that the single combat tournament had ended up with a three person match due to a tie. However, unlike the group battles nobody was on different sides. If there were sides, John was going to lose. Because he certainly hadn't arranged to work with either of the combatants, and while he could reasonably say he had a path to victory against either Ursel or Yustina, both together would be pretty impossible.

Perhaps it was lame of him to not say he would strike down a million foes alone or tear apart the heavens, but it would be far worse to think too highly of himself. Perhaps if he had weeks or a year to put together a specific plan for this combination of people he might win, but John wasn't going to go further than that.

In short, he had to presume they weren't working together. They were also the sort to want to win properly, so they would ultimately be disappointed if they opted for an 'easier' option.

John did happen to have an elemental advantage. Then again, that was likely to happen with about half of the possible configurations. Of the unused setups, they had an air and darkness arena suited for Ascending Soul Phase cultivators. It wasn't a huge elemental advantage, unlike if it had been water and fire which would be dominant against both of his opponents, but having matching elements where they did not was still useful.

Floating platforms filled the area, while a thin outer shell represented a sort of 'cavern'. It wasn't fully dark inside, partially as a concession for the viewers and also because making an arena too infused with a single element went beyond advantage into unfairness. A worthy training scenario, perhaps, but tournaments were about performance more than practice.

As the three combatants sprang apart, John had to pick his first target. Ursel. He threw a dagger coated with Spectral Flames and the essence of his Spiritual Energy Absorption to sustain it. Unfortunately, for that to work he had to reach Ursel's spiritual energy. It was no good if he simply hit her armor, which he did. She didn't even try to avoid him, and his attack was deflected uselessly.

Well, John anticipated that was likely but he had to start somehow.

Yustina rapidly vaulted up to one of the floating platforms, leaving John as the easiest target for Ursel. As Ursel had already chosen to assault him first, he was in a tight spot. He threw himself to the side, calling upon earth element to gather a chunk of rock. He filled it with a decent helping of different sorts of spiritual energy and lobbed it at Ursel's chest. If it hit, it might knock her away and provide some space.

Ursel spun her club, smashing away the dense clump of material… but she seemed to pick up on the opportunity John had prepared. When there was a convenient option to work against the third party, why wouldn't she take it? The rock retained its form instead of shattering, flying up in the air as she batted it towards Yustina, who deflected it with a wave of flames that coiled around her.

Then Ursel reached John, taking a grand swing at his torso. She was fast enough that completely dodging her attack was problematic, and letting her hit his shoulder, thigh, or one of his limbs might actually be worse. So John took the hit… though obviously he did his best to absorb the impact by turning it into momentum as he went flying backwards. Ursel chased after him, but as he hit the outside edge of the arena's formations- the edge of the 'cavern'- he leapt off of it and well over Ursel's head to land on one of the platforms near Yustina.

Of course, she tossed a nice present in the form of a fireball towards where he was going to land, so he changed his trajectory. Since John could actually fly, altering his momentum in the air was pretty trivial. He actually pushed himself towards the middle of the arena, hoping to make Yustina a more desirable target for Ursel. While he had half a moment, John focused on his internal body, burning away the small roots of earth element Ursel left behind. They were miniscule and harmless in their current form, but if he allowed them to build up over a succession of strikes, even if he absorbed the entire impact he would eventually lose. And his ribs were already creaking from what had occurred, even with Diamond Defense at play.

For her part, Ursel didn't maintain a laser focus on John, instead swinging her club to sweep up some of the stone floor. The main chunk was just slightly larger than what John had tossed at her, but it also included a scattering of smaller pebbles around it in a spray. Yustina leapt away, her rapid movements leaving behind a trail of flame. She moved counterclockwise around the arena, trying to return the focus onto John.

Even as she dodged, Yustina gathered her spiritual energy to form a sheet of fire that she launched towards John, trying to cut off his movements away from Ursel. Ursel was a serious threat, but John also couldn't afford to let himself get worn down.

Rather than dodging, John cut away the rightmost section of the assault, separating the flames from Yustina's control and trying to recapture as much energy as possible. His spiritual energy came out slightly behind where it had been, but Yustina had expended quite a bit more in the last few moments.

John tossed out several more throwing daggers at both of his available targets, but instead of trying the same move on Ursel he created more of an empty shell of spiritual energy. It was easy enough to make a convincing attack with the darkness element surrounding them, making it seem like his focus was more on her. His attack on Yustina was more serious, water that fed into lightning suddenly boosting forward the throwing dagger at its final moment. He only caught her ankle, but he harmed her defenses.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Ursel was clearly debating whether to stay on the ground for a few moments, but she hopped up towards John. However, as she did so she brushed against the lingering flames from Yustina's escape. Rather than it being blasted away, it clung to her, the entire trail compressing towards her.

She concentrated a bit of her spiritual energy outside of her body, letting the flames cling to that as she tossed it towards Yustina. While it didn't really have any hope of harming the other woman, it did free her from the danger. Her armor was durable, but even if it could endure nearly endless heat it couldn't really provide the same to Ursel. She was durable, of course, but fire was still her weakness.

Her momentum still carried her towards John, who had barely recovered from her previous strike. He wasn't interested in repeatedly clashing with his daughter, so he tilted the platform he was standing on and jumped off.

The floating platforms weren't meant to tilt, of course. They had an intended orientation, but a little elemental manipulation went a long way. John put more force than he absolutely needed to move out of the way. Indeed, he treated it more as an attack… launching the platform at Yustina.

She probably didn't expect it, but she was able to react by moving further along the edge of the arena. However, when things settled Ursel was in the middle of the arena, with the other two not quite on opposite sides of her.

John tossed more throwing daggers towards Ursel… some of which were filled with insidious combinations of elements and others that were practically nothing. Ursel had to block them all, not able to pick and choose which ones would be dangerous.

At the same moment, Ursel and Yustina leapt towards each other. Perhaps Yustina expected Ursel to move against John, or perhaps she envisioned things going differently. Either way, as Yustina tried to launch an attack- perhaps beyond Ursel to target John- Ursel was fully focused on her. She pushed through the flames surrounding Yustina, striking her in the thighs with her stone club and blocking her momentum.

Yustina was out, as even if the blow wouldn't have been lethal it would have incapacitated her. John was already making his move… which was rather boring but his best use of his abilities at the moment.

When Ursel turned to find him, he was gone. Ursel didn't let that stop her, though. She leapt up towards the platform John had been standing on to catch a trace of him. The way her stone club swept through the area, she was probably hoping he hadn't moved.

It wasn't unreasonable, as that was a ploy he liked to use. However, he was one step beyond that. Not far, though. He knew how his daughter usually reacted as well. Ursel managed to figure it out from a slight shift as he pulled himself back onto the platform, but as she spun towards him John used the most light element he could control at once to blind her with a flash. That was one thing he could guarantee to bypass her armor, if she could see him.

He still was clipped by her blind swing, but he tagged her wrist with Spectral Flames, the nearly undetectable heat clinging to her. John let himself be seen as he slid down the wall of the arena, finding it impractical to further hide himself. Especially with Ursel's energy in him. He needed to avoid taking repetitive strikes, but with Ursel able to focus fully on him… it was difficult.

John called upon the utmost of his mobility, trying to land hits on Ursel without being crushed himself. Clash after clash, neither gained much advantage. However, both of them were building up towards a greater result. Ursel's strikes all carried the power of Roots Cracking Boulders- for those rare occasions when brute force wouldn't do. John kept building up Ethereal Flames, though of course his daughter was already well aware of their existence.

She repeatedly shed her earth elemental spiritual energy to stave off his attacks, but that was still useful for John to some extent. They continued to clash, until finally John ducked under one of Ursel's decisive strikes… and her club shattered.

John took his chance, diving for her legs. He was well aware of the grappling prowess of his daughter, but he shielded himself with four elements while earth fed into fire, boosting it. As usual, John's cycle of elements enhanced all of his abilities. His total quantity was greater, though Ursel's advanced body tempering certainly made up much of the difference.

He forced heat through her armor as they shattered the ground around them. The one to collapse first was Ursel, drenched in sweat- though it was sizzling inside her armor and not helping her situation. "... You win."

John wondered what they should do with the prizes. They never went to him, as it was inappropriate as the organizer of the tournament. Despite them being close to him, however, nobody could deny that Ursel and Yustina deserved their positions in the finals. They could undoubtedly come up with a reasonable way to split the rewards after the unique circumstances.

Most likely, Ursel's club would be replaced first. The weapon had actually been John's target for the final stretch of their clashes- it wouldn't have broken through Ursel striking the outer barriers otherwise.

It was made of rare and enchanted stone, but the workmanship simply wasn't up to the same standards as Ursel's armor. Mountain Steel, constantly being tempered with her usage. Soon, it might reach the Continent level- the earth specific name for the Ascending Soul Phase. As she was in the Ascending Soul Phase herself, it was only reasonable- but John found that was one area the continent was lacking. Even Abritt only had tolerably good equipment.

The problem was that even slight upgrades to equipment rapidly became cost prohibitive. Despite various potent regions on the continent, there were limits to rate materials and enhancing more modest ones had their limits.

But all that was for after the tournament. John still had to pick himself back up and finish the ceremonies.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.