Guild Wars

He almost couldn't help but cough out a wad of blood, but swallowed it back down. As for The Showman, he simply smiled and stood up.

"Well, our business here is done. I'm happy to see you've made a choice that suits you, friend Kiran, and I will look forward to what happens next. Feel free to come to me, if you're ever interested in a nice deal that will benefit you!"

After doing some shameless self promo, The Showman hummed while he walked off the stage, automatically forfeiting the battle.

Kiran, who was still seated and feeling suppressed, could only look on with mixed feelings. He was naturally happy to progress, but at the same time, he felt bitter about advancing in this way.

Not to mention, his chances of winning were now greatly reduced.

4th Battle: Kiran wins!

End of the third round! Onto the group finals!

Group A!

1st Match: Essence Stalker vs Nil

Group B!

1st Match: Ghostprotokill vs Kiran

Well, Essence was initially supposed to fight against Nightwalker, but due to his own actions, the fellow had been managed to taunt the enemy forces into action. Under the pretense of Justice and Righteousness, Misery and AP_Berzerker were currently taking turns to waterboard the fellow in premium alcohol while laughing like highschool bullies.

So, in absence of a suitable foe, Essence was given a pass for the fight, making him the winner of Group A by default.

Sigh, Essence himself was not happy winning this way, but it couldn't be helped. All those meant to fight him looked entirely reluctant to do so, and probably preferred it this way.

If Nightwalker had REALLY wanted to fight, there was no way he'd allow himself to be captured so easily and put through """torture""" like this. However, one thing about being an old fogey like him was knowing when to advance and when to retreat. Say what you will, but at least he had retreated in style.

As such, the only fight that could happen at this stage was Ghostpro versus Kiran. This match was one without suspense, as a melee fighter like Kiran could simply not beat a power all rounder like Ghost.

Heck, Ghost had even won against Shadowheart, who was arguably the strongest among the God Serpent Inheritors overall. Despite this, Ghost had an excited expression on his face when he came on.

"Hey there bro, do you watch DBZ?" Ghost asked with a smile as he came on the stage.

Kiran looked left and right, making sure the copyright police were not around before he answered. "I do, what's it to you?"

Ghostpro smirked. "Heh, well, let's just say I'm a fan as well. Since it's rare to meet a fellow gentleman, I won't bully you with my class. Rather, I'm going to borrow your own class and mimic your transformations as you go, mixing it with my own powers so we can have a good fight."

Kiran hummed at this and seemed intrigued. "You can actually manifest Gate Force?"

"Not naturally like you and nowhere near in the same way. However, ever since I first saw you transform, I've had Orochi's sixth head calculate how to achieve it in tandem with my Void of Perfection, and we managed to come with a preliminary method." Ghost answered with a shake of his head.

(Author's Note: The sixth head is the one that grants Orochi the intelligence of 100 dragons, so basically a supercomputer sort of thing.)

Kiran entered a fighting stance as his trifold energies manifested and swirled around him to form his Base Warrior transformation. Ghost saw this and smirked, activating the Provisional Class skill!

Immediately, he shifted from Classmaster temporally to Martial Artist at Rank 4. Unfortunately, this did not give him the huge stores of Internal Force Kiran had by comparison, as the fellow had painstakingly cultivated all that.

Ghost was forced to actively convert all Worldly Energy to Internal Force in real time using Orochi's sixth head. But since its value was that of 100 Dragons, the speed at which he was accumulating the special energy was unfathomable.

Kiran by the side could only sigh in lament. If he had a power like that, his Internal Force would be several times more than what he had now okay?

Kiran had watched Ghost fight, outwit and beat his foes, having felt like such a person would be a troublesome foe with his all round abilities and extreme control, but now that he was facing Ghost, he could sympathize with those who came before.

This guy was unreasonably OP!

Immediately, a green light emerged from Ghost much in the same way it did Kiran, proof that he was manifesting Internal Force directly. Then, Ghost's expression became grim as a black energy emerged from his body and merged with the green light, forming a swirl around his body.

While Ghost only used two energies, Internal Force and what seemed to be Serpent God Energy, his aura was in no way weaker than Kiran who had three energies combined into one.

Seeing that they had both powered up suitably, they charged at each other and struck out a fist. When their fists collided, a shockwave of a unique kind emerged that swept through the entire arena space.

This shockwave did not cause pain, nor did it blow back anyone or anything, but simply passed through their bodies like harmless soundwaves or radiowaves.

However, the interested core members who were watching with both their eyes and their VoP had their expression change greatly. Many flinched and either screamed or coughed blood as their VoP inadvertently caught the incoming wave.

As such, just like how a person who was burned would retract their hand speedily, they instantly called their Void of Perfections back as they tried to calm themselves down. They were shocked that something could directly harm their sensory abilities like that, which didn't make sense.

As for the two combatants, when their fists connected, they didn't stop there. Rather, they sped up and continued to clash head on, fist after fist meeting the end of another. This caused more of those shockwaves to emerge that passed through them, but it was no longer hurting them.

However, all of them couldn't help but wonder what caused such a phenomenon? This wasn't Kiran or Ghost's first time fighting on stage. Neither of them had produced such effects in their individual battles, and there was a huge difference between them that made any similarities vague.

Of course, there was a blatant one, namely the fact that both of them were fighting using Internal Force in tandem with other forms of energy!

Could the shockwaves be caused by two different sources of Internal Force clashing? Or could it be because of the Serpent God Energy clashing with either Buddha's Noble Energy of Buddha or the Merlin's Knight Energy? Perhaps it was both?

It could even be that the combination of multiples types of different energies clashing caused that shockwave phenomenon.

There were many assumptions, but no clear answers. After all, their main way of investigating was cut off due to the side effects of the shockwave. Apart from directly rushing up to question the two fellows directly or battle them themselves, it would be hard to tell what was going on.

That also begot the question, if the harm to their VoP was a side effect, then what was the main effect of these shockwaves?

Ghost and Kiran continued to clash all over the stage, their strikes becoming less monotonous and full of variations as they continued, their attacks ranging from palm attacks, to kicks, to finger strikes and more, they were fighting like two actual martial artists going at it.

It felt more like watching a fight in The Matrix rather than two chuuni fellows fulfilling their childhood dream through this fight. Despite having super speed and power, they fought at normal speed, utilizing only quick reflexes and normal power.

However, if the core members could use their VoP, they would notice that there was a strange rhythm to their fight, one that seemed to transcend physicality. Not to mention that even though they were moving at normal speed, there was this strange blur around their bodies that made it like some low quality version of motion blur.

Eventually, Ghost and Kiran performed a simultaneous round kick uppercut kick which connected in the middle. They then leaped back and separated, staring at each other while panting slightly.

"Not bad, this is much better than I expected. Why don't you take the lead and kick this up a notch?" Ghostpro prompted with a slight smile.

"I'll show you true power! Super Warrior 1 form!" Kiran roared as his trio of energies merged into a fourth that was generated from his activation of his Eight Inner Gates skill, forming a red colored aura that changed his looks as well.

"Hoh? Well then, its my turn." Ghost remarked as he also copied Kiran's actions while using the method Orochi had deducted, which was to extract the force released from the body when the Eight Inner Hidden gates skill was opened.

Ghost was already used to managing Bloodline Energy, so how could he not sense the Gate Force in his body? Even if he was a noob at controlling energies, his Tier 4 Control was not for fun. Both his Body of Godliness and Void of Perfection would enable him to control this energy.

Immediately, he merged this energy with his Internal Force and Serpent God Energy, which caused the two to merge into a new power. However, an accident happened when the Gate Force was subduing the Serpent God Energy.

The docile energy suddenly became arrogant and rampant, refusing to be submerged by another and rather forcibly took control after 'beating up' the Gate Force. As such, instead of a bright red color, the energy that formed around Ghost was purple-black.

Not only that, but one could see the red eyes and outline of Orochi in his billowing aura that looked like purple flames. Ghost's brown hair became purple black and so did his eyes, his hair becoming somewhat spiky and unruly.

Most importantly, the size of his aura was 1.5 times that of Kiran!

Kiran, who saw this, blanched. He had never felt so much martial prowess before, and he could now understand how the others felt when they saw him transform. However, unlike Ghost, Kiran had more flexibility and versatility in this form, not to mention more techniques and expertise.

Ghost, who was new to this form, suffered from the same issue as Kiran when he had first breached Super Warrior 2 during a fight, which was a lack of control over his mental state. He was currently locked in a twisted grimace of pain and anger, making him want to destroy the entire world.

Unlike when Kiran lost control, Ghosts actually made the core members by the side feel slight fear. If this fellow went off the rails, would they be able to subdue him with this level of power he had reached?

After all, Ghost had already proven that his combat power was likely the highest among the God Serpents in terms of raw killing force, and only Essence could probably put him down in a one on one fight.

Kiran immediately knew that he had an advantage while Ghost was struggling to control the new raging energy within him, so he directly flew over and threw a punch.

Ghost mustered enough sanity to punch back, and their clash once again created those strange shockwaves. Kiran took three steps back from the clash while Ghost only wobbled on the spot.

Kiran face changed. "You!!!"

He couldn't help but point at Ghost in shock, not understanding how he could do what he just did. If the others knew what Ghost had just done, they too would be dumbfounded and horrified.

After retracting his fist, Ghost closed his eyes and seemed to gather himself. His raging aura condensed further and lowered itself to Kiran's size, but it was obviously far thicker and purer than what Kiran manifested.

Ghost opened his eyes to show that he achieved perfect clarity of mind, and he gazed at his fist with a strange smile.

"As much as I hate you Orochi, I have to admit, you're fucking overpowered."