Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The magic firearms developed in Y-City left an impression even on the well-versed people from the Chrona Empire. Although magical firearms were no new idea, as they were something every hextech engineer would work on at some point, the products produced coming from an age of technology that adapted to magic were something else. Especially the explosives.

His preliminaries played out like watching an action movie, where a single person with a host of guns and grenades, mowed down a field of opponents. However, it was questionable whether he would be able to stand against the cultivators who did something quite similar, but in a much shorter time.

Although many hoped for the marksman to continue on, so they could see him display more of his skills, it seemed questionable whether he would be able to defeat Choon Long, who outranked him in everything, judging on his skills in the preliminaries.

“That's him, right?” Seth asked Leana, when both contestants stepped into the arena, under Umi's moderation. Adam Clarke was not just any adventurer from Y-City. He was quite well-known during the time of the Scene's reign and belonged to the higher caste of their societal system.

“Yes, although we couldn't prove it so far, we suspect he is a candidate from the Scene,” the princess confirmed. Of course, they were not talking about the actual scene. They were the remnants that had not been in Ypselon at the time, which meant they evaded the district-wide eradication of their organization.

Minas Mar knew that they were still somewhere, hiding in the cracks and dark holes, waiting for a chance to take revenge. The problem was that not all of them were recipients of the immortal serum. Which meant they didn't have too hard of a time to enter as refugees.

With Leana's help, they tried to keep an eye on everyone that could be a part or a collaborator of these remnants. As princess of Chrona, Leana was educated and had more experience with this kind of stuff, which was why they left it to her.

The marksman was one of the suspects, but so far they couldn't find any definite clues. He had shown no reaction to the soul-whisking barrier when entering the city. he had also received no wounds during the preliminaries that could have betrayed the fact that he took the serum after entering. He also had not met anyone suspicious since entering Little Gamma. Still, they kept their eyes on him.

Against their initial suspicions, a different surprise waited for them and the audience, when the fight began. Adam Clarke had experienced an incredible power-up compared to the preliminaries. he was significantly faster and stronger as if all his attributes had received a massive boost. To the point that he was able to keep up with the vastly superior cultivator.

The fight was a firework of magical techniques, explosions, and raw melee combat. Clarke expertly wielded pistols, rifles, and fists, matching Choon Long's sword hit for hit and matching his bizarre magic shot for shot.

But in a battle of attrition, Choon Long still had the upper hand. Although their attributes seemed to be equal, their stamina wasn't. Seeing Clarke's power, Seth and Leana had initially thought that he had finally made a mistake and taken the serum, but it became clear what happened as the fight went on.

Pressured by his own fatigue, Adam started to release a demonic aura. Now this wasn't the evil energy cultivators would talk about, but literally the Aura of a demon. Clarke had made a pact with the devil to improve his powers, and now he started incorporating curses and dark magic into his original skills to make up for his lack of stamina.

His appearance also started changing, as half his face turned a pale gray and a dark-blue horn started growing from the right of his forehead. Who knew what price he paid for this power, but it seemed to work and wasn't against the rules. After all, why would a deal with the devil be worse than being sponsored by a sky daddy?

“I see, you have done well to have come this far. With an opponent like you, I feel no regrets going all out,” Choon Long suddenly stated and the cultivator's whole body started turning a light-green shade of jade green.

Choon Long stopped blocking Clarke's shots and attacks altogether. The magic bullets and cursed shots could not even put a nick on the man's jade skin anymore. Before Adam and the audience even realized what had happened, Choon Long had already charged past his opponent.

The marksman from Y-City, the likely spy from the scene, parted into four pieces amidst a fountain of blood. Not even the deal with a demon had been able to secure his victor against the jade-skinned Choon Long.

Up in the VIP booth of Minas Mar, everyone looked at Master Mountain. The sudden spike in speed and defense that definitely pushed the cultivator past the lv.100 cap they had set for the tournament, made them suspicious. Could Choon Long be similar to Dumm Ting? But Yu shook his head.

“This is a secret technique of the Jade Well Sect. As an inner sect disciple, it's no surprise for Choon Long to know it. It is only a temporary improvement and can't be compared to forbidden techniques like Dumm Ting used, “ he explained calmly, guessing what was on their minds.

As Adam Clarke's body vanished from the arena, to revive at the respawn point, Umi went ahead and declared Choon Long the winner of the duel. Unlike the clam Perl Would, Choon Long visibly enjoyed the attention and cheers of the crowd.

“Well, I guess that takes care of one potential spy...” Seth mumbled.

The next fight was one Seth had been personally interested in. Not because it was a fight between two women, but because one of them was the Saintess of Gatris, the Goddess of Dark Mercy. The leader of the same church, that had kidnapped children in Delta in an attempt to foster holy warriors, or summon an avatar of their goddess, or whatever it was they actually intended to do.

Despite his Ravenous Sog getting a power-up from foiling their plans, Seth still held a grudge, so he actually cheered for their opponent, a lady called Dowloon. She was the first female cultivator in the first round and had the moniker “Shadow under the Rosebushes”.

From what Seth heard this moniker had a layered meaning. On one hand, roses were beautiful but had thorns. Anyone in the stadium would attest that Dowloon was a breathtaking beauty. Yu had to explain the second part to him.

Calling her the Shadow under the Rosebushes was not as flattering as it sounded, as it called her a snake, waiting for her innocent victims to admire the roses, before striking them with her poisonous bite.

The reason why they called her a poisonous snake with a beautiful face didn't need any explanation, as Dowloon was the first truly terrifying poison cultivator Seth had witnessed. She was different from the wimp that was taken down by the Lizardman in the preliminaries.

She won the preliminaries by covering the whole arena in a poison mist, that melted her opponents within minutes. All the while laughing like a true demon. It was a battle between a maniac and a religious fanatic.

Seth was used to hanging around people with one or two loose screws, so he still choose to cheer for the poisonous lady to win.