The Tale of the Void Emperor

" The fourth round is over. The next round will start after two hours break. "

...

In the underground hall, The top 50 competitors were resting. Some were recovering from their injuries, while some meditating.

Celesti's match was the last one, so she just arrived, and she also suffered a certain amount of injuries but not as serious as Shish's injuries.

Athan didn't tell Erina or Celesti about his guess on Shish. That big guy also had cleaned himself, so there wasn't even a chance that they would sense Shish's aura from the blood.

When Celesti arrived, She noticed Athan and Erina, but after looking around and not finding Shish, She sighed. Actually, She knew Shish failed after not seeing him standing near Athan and Erina, but she couldn't help but glance around.

After talking for a bit with Athan and Erina, Celesti ate two blood recovery pills and two alignment cure pills before closing her eyes.

Athan and Erina also returned to their meditation self as they closed their eyes.

Of course, Athan wasn't wasting time by simply closing his eyes as whenever he had time, he would fill up his essence core of lightning dust order ken and try to comprehend the four stances of destruction at the same time.

Filling up the essence core didn't require that much effort, so he tried to make it an automatic process of his subconsciousness while mainly focusing on comprehending the four stances of destruction.

But results were nowhere near completion for these two things. He felt like he was sixty percent done with essence core while he couldn't even see how to get started to practice four stances of destruction.

Well, It was expected because it's only been several hours since he started to comprehend the four stances of destruction. Its set of order force was the most complicated he had seen so far, and he felt that it would take a long time for him to finally comprehend and grasp its first level.

...

The two-hour break was almost over as a voice echoed in the underground hall that explained to them about the fifth round.

" The fifth round is a bit different. In this round, no one will fight against anyone. After two minutes, Everyone will be transported on the competition ground but the scenery you will see at that time will be different. You will be directly put under a deep illusion, and the first thirty people who can break free from the illusion will proceed to the next round, while the remaining twenty will get the reward of top fifty and join the spectators to watch the competition. "

Everyone nodded and waited.

The spectators were also informed about the fifth round's details as they waited.

Unfortunately for them, This round will be a bit dull because they won't be able to see what these competitors would experience in the illusion.

The two minutes soon passed as all fifty competitors were absorbed in the soil. This time, Athan felt a powerful force that was similar to soul power enveloping him before he appeared in a hellish place where giant creatures were running amok and eating people left and right.

All fifty competitors appeared on the competition ground with their eyes closed.

Most of them were in a standing position while experiencing the illusion, but some of them fell to the ground. Though falling to the ground didn't wake them up from their illusion.

...

Athan's eyes were indifferent as he looked at the loose hell in front of him. He knew it was an illusion, and he needed to find the way out.

But after a few seconds, He was slightly stunned as this was really a powerful illusion.

' I can't sense my body or even my void region. It seems that my soul sense and whole consciousness itself are trapped into this illusion. '

A frown appeared on his face thinking about it. This illusion was actually more powerful as it could also seal the main memory and grant them temporary different memory of the resident of this hellish place. But that power was one that affected the soul, and Athan's soul readily resisted that, so his memory was still intact.

He started walking forward to roam this place. The giants were ten meters tall with bronze skin.

They were currently destroying a town filled with various types of people that included humans and eating them.

Athan was also in the town, and while walking, one the giant suddenly stretched his hand towards him to grab him.

Athan didn't have any kind of powers, so he was unable to resist and got caught.

" Jejejejeje. Delicious human. "

*Thud...*

" Hey give that human. There are very low amount of humans here and they are the most tasty. "

Another giant suddenly punched the shoulder of the giant that caught Athan and said.

Just like that, Two giants started fighting, but Athan was squeezed tight by the giant that caught him and was unable to break free.

' Stupid farce. '

Thinking of this, Athan closed his eyes and tried to make a connection with his soul.

...

On the competition ground, Athan was standing still with his eyes closed.

A light pink force with a golden hue in it had invaded his void region. It looked like a bright cloud, and Athan's soul sense was trapped inside it. There was also a string extended from this cloud that was connected to his soul.

This string prevented Athan's subconsciousness that was inside the illusion to make a connection with his soul and main consciousness that were trapped in the cloud.

But suddenly, His soul pulsed with a black and white glow as Athan used his Abyssal void of darkness. His 3% comprehension of this power just slightly activated his soul that released a wave of soul energy from it, and destroyed the string and cloud both.

Right at the moment, Athan broke free from the illusion but didn't open his eyes. He didn't want to wake up this early, so he just kept his eyes closed.

But he didn't know that someone already knew that he broke free from the illusion.

In the underground palace, There was a middle-aged woman. She was completely human.

After Athan broke free from the illusion, she chuckled with a curious face, " Interesting. The plan was to lower the power of this chaotic illusion formation so that competitors would slowly be able to use the power of their soul to break free but that little guy somehow broke free already. "

At this time, Another voice arrived. This voice was the one that always echoed in the underground to let the competitors know about the information of the rounds.

" Madam Gishi. What happened? "

" Nothing. Just found an interesting competitor among this batch. He seems to have a rare soul physique and its powerful enough to even resist this formation at its 50% power. "