Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

The true implications of Hal's words did not really hit Akon despite the appearance of the Scepter but when Hal began the beat down, he understood, probably for the first time in his life, the true meaning of helplessness.

The scepter was a physical manifestation of Hal's Sovereign Dao and its presence was the absolute height of Hal commanding the fundamental element that was Cosmic energy.

He stripped the energy of its powers and effectiveness and while that was disheartening to Akon, the Silva man refused to lay down in surrender.

He still had the physical prowess of his peak stage Cosmic Pagoda realm cultivation and vowed at that moment to use that to the absolute limit and somehow come out on top despite the peculiar scepter that was floating beside grinning Hal.

Hal was unbothered by Akon's determination and simply charged a cosmic aurora that he dashed towards Akon to strike him with.

Akon waited until the last minute before he attempted to dodge Hal's attack and the fact he was successful in evading Hal was clear evidence of his greater experience compared to Hal.

There was no time for Akon to be cocky at the evidence of his experience and he focused on the task at hand.

The task was getting rid of the scepter.

Akon was no idiot (so says he)...

He knew the scepter was the reason for the loss of cosmic energy potency and he also knew that it was not an Artifact. 

The scepter did not feel like an Artifact...

It felt like something more...

Whatever it was though, taking it out was the first and most important step towards Victory.

Even as he moved towards the scepter, Akon vowed to put an end to this battle the instant he got the chance and would end it as brutally as he possibly could.

The members of the Sapphirine Guild watched the fight with attentive eyes while many of them wondered what was the nature of this new ability Hal showed himself to be capable of.

Akon got past Hal and avoided getting hit by the Cosmic Aurora and he stretched towards the scepter floating beside Hal.

His hand was an inch away from the scepter stem when a loud *crack!* sounded all about the courtyard.

"Arrrrrgggghhhhh"

The crack had sounded from the shattering of the bones in Akon's hand right before he could make contact with the scepter and the pain was not on a level that he could keep in.

Hal looked mostly unbothered and simply turned his body so that he was facing Akon, who was 

cradling his broken hand, to tell him with a light smile,

"I told you... You never had a chance" he said.

Had he expected Akon to go after the scepter? No, he had not.

But he had known that it would not matter what Akon did, the result would b the same nonetheless.

The result being Akon down on his knees by the magnificence and totality of Hal's superiority.

Akon suddenly felt a pressure boring down on him and forcing him to his knees in front of Hal and he could not get back up no matter how hard he tried.

Hal still had the cosmic Aurora and he struck down the Guild leader with it.

*Boom!!!*

Even if anyone had the intention of interfering before Hal made contact with the Aurora, no one would be able to interfere quickly enough.

The battle was over...

The explosion marked the end of not just this battle but the entire two-weeks long Guild war.

When the explosion cleared, Hal stood in the depression that the explosion had caused in the courtyard of the Sensual Guild headquarters, still looking as well as before but the target of the explosion lay there with his eyes rolled into the back of his head. 

Hal's Scepter was gone.

Akon's clothes had been reduced to rags by the explosion and in surface view alone, he was sporting injuries.

When the Officials checked on him, they found that 'unconscious' did not do his extremely vegetative state justice.

Awe was evident in the faces of all those present but it was mixed with fear in the faces of the Silver ax Guild members.

There was a sort of unnatural ease to the battle in Hal's favor and none of them wished to cross paths with him at the moment.

Especially since, incredibly, he did not look fatigued despite taking out two top Guilds one after another.

Hal ignored the looks on their faces and walked over to Adeline who was the only Silver Ax Guild member not looking at him with fear.

There was worry... There was calculation... Mostly all aimed at what a threat h could prove to be to her but there was no fear.

"Impressed?" Hal asked her with a smile while he gestured for the members of the Sapphirine Guild to prepare to leave.

Adeline shrugged,

"No, not really," she said.

"You're really bad at lying," Hal said with a chuckled as he leaned his face closer to hers.

He held the position for a few seconds all through which Adeline did not voice any protest or say a word for that matter, and then Hal straightened and made to turn away from her with a smile.

Adeline opened her mouth and then she shut it just as Hal turned back to face her and say,

"I heard you won the Alchemist convention while I was away" 

Adeline drew herself to full height with pride while the other members of the Silver Ax Guild went over to help move Akon's body away.

"Yes, I did. It's a shame you missed it" she said with a bit of sarcasm to indicate that she either did not care that he missed the convention or did care just enough to be glad he missed the convention.

"Is it though?" Hal asked with a comical and exaggerated raise of his voice which Adeline quickly interpreted as him stating he would have won the convention if he had been present.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked with indignation but Hal just patted her on the shoulder before walking past her and leading the group of Sapphirine Guild members with him out of the headquarters of the Sensual Guild.

She tried her best to ignore the thrill that Hal's touch on her shoulders had given her as she yelled after him,

"Stick to trashy Runemastering... You can't beat me in Alchemy" 

"If you say so," Hal said nonchalantly and it only served to infuriate the Silva lady even more.

The fact that Hal just defeated that leader of her Guild and by extension, the Sapphirine Guild defeated the Silver Ax Guild, took a backseat in priorities for her and what was on the fore of her mind was Hal's insinuation that he was better at Alchemy...

... That was not the case for the rest of the Royal Academy though.

The main topic for discussion was the fact that a small Guild, the smallest Guild in the entire Royal Academy had won the Guild war.

And they did not win by forming alliances and systematically wracking up points, no... They won by downright beating up every other Guild.

And then came the evaluation with every single Guild agreeing that this year, they had all been absolute idiots.

Every single one of them.

Because after they had bought into the agenda of the Elders, they had all turned their attention to defeating the Sapphirine Guild and they did not fight each other and did not win points.

Only a few, a very few Guilds had fought other Guilds besides the Sapphirine Guild and it was only them who actually have enough point tallies to speak of.

Every other Guild, especially the top four Guilds had absolutely no point tallies to speak of due to having saved themselves for the Sapphirine Guild.

Now, at the time, none of them had been bothered by this because after the Elders made Sapphirine Guild everyone's number one enemy to take down, they had all accepted that points were secondary in the Guild war this year.

Their primary goal was the defeat and disbanding of the Sapphirine Guild... They had been okay with barely having any actual points to speak of as long as their primary goal was accomplished but now that they had failed, it all felt more foolish as there was nothing to fall back on.

Every Guild that went against the Sapphirine Guild in battle this year had been absolutely brutalized to the point that had no hope of participating in the Guild war further.

Facing the Sapphirine Guild was a sure ticket to pulling out of the Guild war early so there was no hope of following through with mini rivalries after they put the Sapphirine Guild behind them as they had no strength left at that point.

As for those who had quickly surrendered and not gotten damaged all that much, they had no one to face because, as stated before, all other Guilds had pulled out of the war after facing the Sapphirine Guild.

Not only did the Sapphirine Guild win against the other Guilds, but they also wracked up so many points that they were going to be the undisputed strongest Guild when overall points are taken together.

Worse yet for the top Guilds and adding insult to their injury, the difference between points would be the largest that had ever been seen in the last millennia.