Chapter 824: Core Members Tournament 2

Of course, before they fight, we must naturally check their updated stats.

｢Heaven's Devourer - Divine Class (Rank 4)

Rank 1: Black Hole (Passive), Infinite Absorption (Passive), Energy Devour (Active), Energy Conversion (Active).

Rank 2: Spirit Devour (Active), Spirit Conversion (Active)

Rank 3: Darkness Manipulation (Passive), Energy Seal (Passive)

Rank 4: Strength Devour (Active), Strength Conversion (Active).

Exp gain rate: 0.5%

Rank up difficulty: 50%

Class weapons: All.

Class skills: Any Darkness.｣

｢Spirit Devour – Active skill

Effect: When in physical contact with any entity/organism that possesses Spirit, you can absorb their Spirit at a variable rate depending on your own Spirit stat x20.

Cooldown: 1 day.｣

｢Spirit Conversion – Active skill

Effect: Convert all the absorbed Spirit from your absorption into your own, increasing your Spirit stat.

Cooldown: 1 month.｣

｢Darkness Manipulation – Passive skill

Effect: The user possesses the ability to mentally control Darkness Energy either created through their own means or ambient in the world. This consumes neither mana nor stamina, but rather stored energy.｣

｢Energy Seal – Passive skill

Effect: The user has full immunity to any energy dispelling or devouring techniques from other entities, as the energy within their black hole is sealed using a secretive method.｣

｢Strength Devour – Active skill

Effect: When in physical contact with any entity/organism in possession of Strength, you can absorb their Strength at a variable rate depending on your current Spirit stat x10.

Cooldown: 3 days.｣

｢Strength Conversion – Active skill

Effect: Convert all the absorbed Strength from your absorption into your own, increasing your Strength stat.

Cooldown: 3 months.｣

｢Pugilist - Legendary Class (Rank 4)

Skills: Second Wind (Active), Flurry of Kicks (Active).

Exp gain rate: 80%

Rank up difficulty: 85%

Class weapons: Any unarmed.

Class skills: Any Fighter, Unarmed, Aura.｣

｢Second Wind – Active skill

Effect: Consume all your charged Aura to recover the totality of your HP at once. This reduces your aura potency by 100%!

Cooldown: None｣

｢Aura Charge – Active skill

Effect: Manually condense and charge up your aura. Each point of aura requires 5 points of mana, 3 points of stamina and 2 points of focus.

Note: While charging, you cannot be harmed by projectile attacks. ]

Duration: Variable.

Cooldown: None.｣

BOOM!

The clash between Hades' kick and Keira's punch shook the entire area, releasing a single shockwave that passed through everyone. The other core members who were watching with smug or amused expressions suddenly wore expressions of seriousness.

Why did it feel less like two powerhouses were fighting and rather that two behemoths were clashing?

Hades raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I have yet to encounter someone who can handle my level of power. Seems like you're quite the powerhouse, Killer Queen."

Keira grinned widely and activated her skill, Fists of Fury while roaring: "The same could be said of you, Hades!"

Keira's body exploded with a whitish-orange aura that burned around her like flames, her ferocious expression firming as she threw out a barrage of punches with unparalleled force. According to the skill, she was invincible during its duration too.

Hades calmly received the flurry of attacks, keeping his stance of only using his legs to block as he still did not deem Keira fit for him to remove his hands from his pockets. Hades was also like a hurricane, raining down preventative kicks and using his knees, calves and thighs to block powerful blows from Keira.

Each strike released a new shockwave into the crowd, making the other core members feel sweat line their brows.

Damn boy, this is some intense shit!

Was this how the humans in giant robot/giant monster movies felt?

Keira's attack rush came to an end and she breathed out lightly before stepping back. Hades, who had his right leg raised to defend a blow, slowly lowered it and glanced at Keira confidently.

However, when one saw Hades' HP bar which was flashing in the red, they couldn't help but be speechless.

It couldn't be helped, in a battle of system skill and external power/technique, obviously the system would prioritize its own skill system. It was acknowledge that Hades had the raw power to negate the physical effects of the punches but the stats and skill effects were still valid and chipped away at him.

Hades noticed this and realized his HP was low. Frowning, he noticed the problem with his fighting style, he relied too much on his external power and never considered what the game gave him.

Tilting his head, he smiled. "I took you for granted and almost paid the price. Had your barrage lasted a few seconds longer, I would have been turned into pixels and disappeared without even knowing why."

Hades lowered his body and slowly removed his hands from his pockets. In them were two small black vortexes, and any living beings that looked at them would feel an instinctive fear of getting too close to them.

Keira began to sweat as she retreated slightly, but Hades was like a viper. The moment she showed hesitation, his eyes narrowed into serpentine slits similar to Nidhogg's as he blasted forward. He had released the entirety of his physical potential, and it was certainly terrifying.

Swoosh!

Hades tried to grab Keira tightly but the Pugilist was proving to as slippery as she had been aggressive. Her whole body was strained as she moved to her best ability, avoiding getting captured by Hades for her instincts told her that the vortex in his palms would spell her end.

Swosh! Swish! Whoosh!

Hades was moving so fast that his grabs were causing the air to displace loudly, creating disturbing sounds. Keira had already utilized all of her battle instinct and fighting experience to predict Hades' movements and avoid them ahead of time.

Hades tsked and used both hands to try and grab her at the same time, which doubled Keira's difficulties. She gritted her teeth and struck Hades in the jaw with a power packed punch, sending his head reeling backward.

Just when she thought she had stunned him, he pulled his head aback and smiled strangely, blood flowing down the side of his face.

"Not bad."

Ignoring her attack he continually tried to grapple Keira, to which she responded with dodges and counterattacks that caused shockwaves, but Hades ignored it all as if he couldn't feel any pain.

Keira was now racing against the clock, hoping her blows would empty Hades' already poor HP bar before he managed to grab her. All this was only possible because Keira had years of fighting experience playing other FIVR games whereas Hades was previously just a lovestruck youth.

Just when she saw hope and channeled all her power into a final punch, Hades suddenly dodged the punch and grabbed her outstretched fist. He then pulled her in before he used his right hand to grab her throat and lift her in the air.

Keira, in her desperation, had forgotten that everyone here had Control at various tiers, even herself at Tier 3. Combat experience advantage was trash in front of a Control expert whose domain could envelop the very space around them.

Fighting a Control expert was like fighting Taskmaster, the fellow would just soak up all your skills and techniques in record time and spit them back out at you.

That was exactly why when two Control masters were fighting, they never actually used Control to fight each other but any other power they had. Using Control to fight Control was like trying to drown a fish in the sea.

Control was not a 'main' technique but a 'supplementary' one. It was used to boost other techniques and abilities, which was how Draco and Eva used it mostly. However, most people didn't know that because most people didn't have Control yet in this timeline.

Aware of that issue, Draco had obviously embedded their experience for his people when he unlocked Control for them.

"Surrender. The effects of my ability are harrowing and permanent, and I don't want to harm a fellow core member." Hades advised honestly as he held the Pugilist up.

Keira knew that she was already screwed and that the God Serpent Inheritor had no need to lie to her in this situation. As such, she stopped struggling and sighed before accepting her fate.

There was no shame in giving up after such a performance and the other core members applauded her decision. Rather than being obstinate, which would be foolish and childish, it was better to accept the scenario and the result of it.

2st Battle: Hades wins!

3rd Battle: Essence Stalker vs Dreary Traveler, begin!

Essence Stalker flexed his muscles as he laughed. He manifested a green cube in his palm as he lazily gazed at his undead foe, Dreary Traveler, who was casting gloomy gazes at his tough quarry.

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｢Heaven's Devourer - Divine Class (Rank 4)

Rank 1: Black Hole (Passive), Infinite Absorption (Passive), Energy Devour (Active), Energy Conversion (Active).

Rank 2: Spirit Devour (Active), Spirit Conversion (Active)

Rank 3: Darkness Manipulation (Passive), Energy Seal (Passive)

Rank 4: Strength Devour (Active), Strength Conversion (Active).

｢Aurora Lord - Divine Class (Rank 4)

Rank 1: Skills: Aurora Control (Passive), Essence of Creation (Passive), Aurora Blast (Active), Aurora's Blessing (Active).

Rank 2: Aurora Shield (Active), Origin Seeking (Active)

Rank 3: Aurora Stability (Passive), Aurora Generation (Passive)

Rank 4: Aurora Summon (Active), Aurora Body (Active).

Exp gain rate: 0.5%

Rank up difficulty: 50%

Class weapons: All.

Class skills: Any Elemental, Energy or Magic.｣

｢Aurora Sheild – Active skill

Effect: Manifest a circular full body shield made of Aurora Energy. This actively drains your stored stock of Aurora Energy, but grants you invincibility to all attacks below Origin Rank for the duration.

Note: Any attack that lands on the shield will be broken down into ambient Aurora Energy that can be collected.

Duration: Variable.

Cooldown: 10 minutes.｣

｢Origin Seeking – Active skill

Effect: Turn your Aurora Energy into a temporary locater of its counterpart, Origin Energy, allowing you to locate sources of Origin Energy/Origin items/Origin Existences within a range of 3 kilometers.

Cooldown: 10 seconds｣

｢Aurora Stability – Passive skill

Effect: Aurora Energy is no longer caustic and volatile to the universe. As the Aurora Lord, you have gained a preliminary mastery over the energy form, allowing you to use, abuse and reuse Aurora Energy freely without fear of harming your surroundings permanently.｣

｢Aurora Generation – Passive skill

Effect: Aurora Energy has so far been created by breaking down other energies and converting them into what you need, but the Aurora Lord now generates Aurora Energy passively as one would mana or stamina, opening a new pseudo-stat.

Note: Speed of generation depends on Spirit.｣

｢Aurora Summon – Active skill

Effect: Channel Aurora Energy into the fabric of the universe's laws and draw out a random species from the pre-Origin era of the universe to fight for you. Its Rank is capped at yours, but it retains its relevant power at that Rank.

Duration: 30 minutes.

Cooldown: 12 hours｣

｢Aurora Body – Active skill

Effect: Elementalize your body and convert yourself into a being made of Aurora Energy, becoming invincible to all attacks below the Origin Rank. All attacks in this form are fatal to all species below Origin Rank and can convert them into living energy.

Duration: 3 seconds.

Cooldown: 1 month.｣

｢Lich - Legendary Class (Rank 4)

Skills: Netherworld Gate (Active), Hell's Passage (Active).

Exp gain rate: 50%

Rank up difficulty: 90%

Class weapons: None

Class skills: Any undead｣

｢Netheworld Gate – Active skill

Effect: Deploy a gate that leads right into the heart of the Netherworld, allowing endless amounts of undead to rush through the passage into the world of the living.

Note: You do not own or control these undead, so they will not heed your orders, nor will they be added to your personal army!

Duration: 1 hour

Cooldown: 1 day.｣

｢Hell's Passage – Active skill

Effect: Create a one-way portal into the Side Realm of Hell, where you will be received as an Envoy of Death for the duration of your stay.

Note: Any decision you make in this status reflects on the relationship between Hell and the Netherworld, so tread carefully!

Cooldown: 1 month.｣

Dreary Traveler simply waved a hand and manifested a giant gate which had two wooden doors painted with blood and a glowing skull at the pinnacle of the arch. The skull laughed in a echoing voice before the doors burst wide open, releasing hundreds of undead which rushed through crazily.

The undead were of various types and kinds, from skeletons over wraiths, wights, crawlers, to zombies. They all mindlessly rushed out and forward, spilling out like rotten water from a burst bottle.

The direction they were rushing? Right towards the strangely smiling Essence who scattered green cubes of Aurora Energy around his body!

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