The Tale of the Void Emperor

After the second round was over, The remaining five hundred competitors got a break. Every one of them was absorbed into the earth and appeared underground.

" Brother Athan! Hahaha, congratulations. "

Athan heard the voice of Shish and turned around.

Shish was walking towards him, but his clothes were a bit tattered. On the other hand, Celesti was fine as she smiled at Athan and nodded.

Athan also nodded back and then faintly smiled at Shish, who seems to be excited on his behalf for passing the round.

Shish laughed before saying with a grin, " I knew that brother Athan could pass the round. "

Athan smiled at him and asked, " Really? "

" Ehh...he..he...well, of course. Hahaha. " Shish turned awkward for a moment as he was unable to hide his false claim before he swept it up with a laugher.

Celesti smiled wryly and said, " Don't mind him, Athan. He was just...you know, a bit worried about you. "

Athan nodded as he was teasing Shish.

" Anyway, Brother Athan. Let's recover to the fullest before the third round starts. "

...

Outside, The spectators were waiting as one hour break was almost up.

After a minute, A middle-aged man appeared in the middle of the competition ground. His skin was blood red. He had two dark red horns on his forehead and wore a suit with boots.

He waved his right hand towards the competition ground as it started to tremble before three rings appeared that were of the same size.

They were positioned in a triangle shape inside the competition ground.

After doing this, The man's loud voice reverberated everywhere, " The third round starts! "

The spectators cheered loudly at this as a total of six people appeared on the competition ground—two people on each ring.

There were barriers around each ring, and the fight started when the middle-aged man said, " FIGHT....ON! "

...

Athan, Celesti, and Shish were still underground, and they noticed that a person near them was suddenly sucked into the soil and disappeared.

Shortly after that, A voice echoed in the underground, " Six competitors will be randomly picked after the current fight is over. You will not be informed of when the fights are finished. So, always be ready. Good luck. "

A small commotion occurred over this as this type of selection was slightly anxiety-inducing. They would suddenly be sucked into the ground and wouldn't even know who they were going to fight until the last moment.

Shish appeared a bit worried as usual, while Celesti seemed to be stable and confident than Shish. She looked at Athan, who still had his eyes closed even after this voice echoed, and thought curiously, ' Hmmm...not worth his attention, maybe? But...If he encountered someone above average, he might not pass this round. '

She was not confident about Athan and felt that this round might become his last one, depending on his luck.

If she had seen Athan's performance in the second round, Her opinions certainly would be different. But well, it doesn't matter anymore as the future will tell everything.

...

Two fights outside were finished, and the last battle was on the verge of ending.

After thirty seconds, The human race girl barely won the fight after fighting a neck-to-neck battle as she was also severely injured with her right hand cut off from the elbow and other internal serious injuries.

Her opponent didn't give up until the end and met his maker. But Her journey may also stop here depending on her state in the next round as her injuries were really serious.

The losers were disqualified and were sent to the resting area on the first floor of the stadium.

On the other hand, The winners appeared underground, but at a different place than those who had yet to fight, so no one noticed them.

After the fights were finished, Six competitors were sucked into the soil, and one of them was Shish.

Athan, who had closed his eyes this whole moment, opened them as he felt a slight movement near him and saw that Shish disappeared.

Celesti and Athan looked at each other before they smiled wryly.

Celesti shook her head with a sigh, " He is just as strong as me, but he needs to correct his attitude. He is more on a pessimistic side than optimistic, and that's his disadvantage. "

Athan nodded as he had already known about this after spending some days training together with the siblings.

Celesti was rational and would display a certain level of confidence in the things she does.

Outside, Shish looked at his opponent and started thinking rapidly, ' What should I do? Create defense first and counter-attack? or attack first? But if I can't successfully attack him, then I will be at a disadvantage. '

" FIGHT...ON! "

The fight started amidst Shish thinking about how to make his move while his opponent seemed to have taken the initiative and attacked Shish by releasing his technique before dashing towards Shish.

' Coming at me head-on? Damn...Anyway, I should focus on defense since he attacked me. '

...

After five minutes, The three fights were finished.

Six more people were absorbed into the soil from the underground before appearing on the rings of the competition stadium.

Drizzly and Roselin's eyes turned slightly active from lazy as they noticed Athan in one of the rings.

Even though they knew that Athan could pass this round after seeing his performance in the second round, They still paid attention as they wanted to know more about Athan's capabilities.

Athan's opponent was oozing out confidence and even smiled at Athan before saying, " My name is Kauburn. Good luck, human. "

He was not a pure human but had a head of ox with white skin and fur and two grey metal horns on his forehead. His body was buffy with explosive muscles that had little white hairs everywhere.

" FIGHT...ON! "

Kauburn took the initiative to attack Athan by releasing an essence order technique, and right after he did that, He also dashed forward towards Athan.

Athan sensed the pressure of this chaotic essence power and slightly frowned because this was on par with pressure released by Shish and Celesti's chaotic essence power.

But after a second, Athan revealed a grin at Kaurbun, who felt confused seeing the grin.

Athan released Skyline blows from his gloves, but they failed to completely diffuse the circling wave attack of Kauburn that was burning in orange flame.

But he had weakened and consumed the potency of the attack, so he took the attack head-on, which burned his skin, and the damage also tried to seep inside him in the form of shockwaves.

Unfortunately, Athan's armor was bombarded in the previous round; otherwise, with its property of high defense against shockwaves, It could completely block these shockwaves type attacks from seeping inside his body.

Though, he didn't care because this weakened attack was of no threat to him.

He was pushed back two meters, and Kauburn also arrived after his technique hit Athan.

But Athan was waiting for this moment as he released Sumireas Slash by making a horizontal chopping motion with his right hand.

Kauburn laughed out loud because he found out that Athan's order base was way weaker than him after seeing the pressure from this Sumireas Slash that had the nature of his chaotic essence power, Lightning Dust.

But nobody noticed a small part of the Sumireas Slash that had a black color.

Athan had added a small amount of his Abyssal Darkness in the Sumireas Slash.

Kauburn, who totally underestimated Athan's Sumireas Slash, let it hit his chest as he didn't even put up a defense.

He felt that it wouldn't scratch his Red realm 2nd-step body strength after discovering that Athan was likely in the third stage or fourth stage in the Tier-1 order base.

But when the Sumireas Slash hit him, He realized that something was wrong as he felt intense pain over his chest and started screaming as his flesh began to disappear.

Athan didn't let this chance go as he created some distance before releasing two empowered Skyline Blows from his hands.

*Shuaa...BOOOM*

He targetted the chest of Kauburn, and he had also added a very small amount of Abyssal darkness inside one of his Skyline Blows.

The abyssal darkness inside the Sumireas Slash was consumed after it devoured some of the flesh of Kauburn before it was consumed.

Athan didn't plan to add more amount of abyssal darkness because it would cause a needless commotion if this tall ox man suddenly disappeared after getting devoured by a black aura. So, He kept it small and only released a very small amount of it, enough to devour a bit of his flesh and to touch his bones and give it a taste of his abyssal darkness.

Before Athan's Skyline Blows were going to hit Kauburn, He barely put up a simple barrier around him with his chaotic essence power by consuming chaos essence.

But since Athan has added a small amount of abyssal darkness in one Skyline Blow, It created a hole in the barrier that was spreading more.

Athan once again released skyline blows as they went through the holes and hit the chest of Kauburn, who screamed loudly once again.

It was because these two Skyline blows hit the exact spot where the abyssal darkness devour his flesh and a bit of his bone in that place.

The spectators were shocked because Kauburn was a somewhat well-known contender for the top thirty in the competition, and he was beaten up an unknown...pretty boy human. It was unthinkable.

The middle-aged man floating in the sky was also surprised at seeing this as he didn't expect that Athan could win. According to him, Athan should have lost easily and quickly but he was seeing a different story in front of him.

' That black aura...Strange. ' The middle-aged man noticed the black aura and was confused about it, ' Maybe, he is one of those who has a special physique? From the looks of it, This whatever physique has given him quite an offensive ability. '

Kauburn had slight fear in his eyes as he asked Athan, " " HUMAN! Wh-what is this power? "

Athan didn't answer and released two more Skyline blows from his hands at a perfect distance of ten meters.

Kauburn clearly saw the black aura in front of the punch projectiles, and hurridly shouted, " I GIVE UP. I GIVE UP. "

Athan grinned as he hurridly diffused the Skyline Blows along with the abyssal darkness.

" WOAAAAAAAAAA..."

" Who is that human? Can anyone sense past that barrier and check his strength? "

" His order base...seems to be the third stage of Tier-1 order base. What the hell? "

" What!! "

" Looks like he is one of those who has a unique physique of some type. "

The middle-aged man with blood-red skin and dark red horns floating in the sky looked deeply at Athan as he waved his hands and sent both him and Kauburn to their respective place.

Athan was transported to the place where previous winners appeared.

Though, right after appearing there, He heard a familiar voice calling out to him.