Divine Beast Ascension

Chapter 406: Nova vs Razor

But the Magma Ape never panicked. He pumped out more molten essence to defend from the knives while rushing to meet Tilgron head-on. The ape roared and threw a massive, lava-crusted punch.

Tilgron roared in turn, accepting the challenge. But, just before the attacks would collide, Tilgron retracted his claw attack and tucked into a tight front flip. The tiger’s tail became an icy morning star and was whipped forward with incredible momentum.

The tail and fist crashed into each other, setting off another steam explosion.

However, one of the beasts was pushed outside of the steam cloud.

Blood dripped and trickled, stunning the audience. The beast panted but was grinning with pride, ignoring the glacial blue knives jutting out of his back. They were melting away but the knives managed to hit their target before evaporating.

“It’s over!” Slazza shouted, walking up to the ape. “With three wins and one loss, Toxic-shadow is the victor of the duel! Toxic-shadow Prefecture will join Thunder Prefecture in the second round!”

Nodding to Tilgron, the ape asked for a second salve, then personally handed it to Tilgron. “Great fight!”

.....

“You too,” Tilgron replied, panting heavily while licking his broken leg. “Apart from perfect candidates, you’re certainly the greatest opponent I’ve had.”

“Same to you,” laughed the ape. “I hope I’m lucky enough to have a rematch in a few years.”

“I would be honored if we’re that lucky.”

The two beasts chuckled and bantered while walking up the steps together. The Magma Ape even applied the healing salve to Tilgron, accepting the Tundra Tiger as a new rival.

Though the crowd was going wild, the prefecture lords were mostly quiet. Mostly.

“Ha! HA!” Warak bellowed. “Amazingly handled, Treeda! Your candidates this time around are something special.”

Smiling and nodding, Treeda replied, “Thank you, Warak. And, again, no hard feelings, Isla.”

Crack... “Yeah... no hard feelings...” Isla clenched the armrests with fury, passing some of her rage into the chair to keep herself from acting out.

“Then, shall I have copies of the losing techniques made, or do you have extras on hand?” Toseko bluntly asked.

Peimar was the first to reply, “Please, make copies.”

“Make copies,” Isla stated, bowing her head but not opening her eyes.

“Very well. I’ll personally create the copies and have them later delivered to the winners. Speaking of the winners, please, take back your techniques.” As Toseko handed back the sealed scrolls, he commented, “Treeda, you were right. You didn’t disappoint and nearly got your predicted four wins.”

“Please, God Toseko, there’s no need to flatter me. It was my candidates that did everything. I merely supported them, along with their other masters,” Treeda insisted. “I’m just glad they’ll be in the second round. And I hope they’re able to give your personal candidate a proper challenge.”

“If anyone here can offer my candidate a proper challenge, then preparing this exhibition will not have been in vain,” commented Toseko, somewhat startling the prefecture lords.

Warak then spoke up, “If only I’d gotten Isla’s technique sooner. Then one of my candidates would’ve been even stronger for today’s competition, but they’ll have it ready for the actual tournament.”

Straight-faced, Isla asked, “You... have someone that wields lava?”

“You’ll see soon enough. For now, let’s find out the order of our candidates,” teased Warak, watching the seats below.

Slazza got the signal from Toseko and announced, “Now, we’ll begin the third and final duel of prefectures! We already know that it will be Razor Prefecture facing off with Nova Prefecture, so let’s keep the exhibition moving! Contestants numbered one, come down!”

To everyone’s surprise, the larger of the Razor-hide Dragons took off and landed in the arena, pinching the tiny slip of paper between her claws.

“HA! It’s her right off the bat!” Warak cheered.

At the same time, Isaac flinched. Watching his own candidate enter the arena to face the massive dragon wasn’t a pleasant sight for him. And all the prefecture lords could tell thanks to Isaac’s silent, disillusioned stare. It was too stark a contrast compared to the bombastic dragon lord’s mad grin.

Scoffing, Isla leaned forward in her seat, “Oh? So we see the top candidates going at it in the first round?”

“Top candidate?” Warak looked at Isaac, asking, “Who’s that human? Is she your best?”

Though Isaac hesitated to answer, Isla spoke up again, trying to make her brother suffer like she now was, “She’s one of his daughters. But to think her luck is as bad as yours, Isaac, I feel sorry for her...”

“So it’s the daughter of a lord against the granddaughter of a lord? This should be a wonderful fight,” chuckled Toseko, giving a subtle nod to Slazza below.

Following that command, Slazza glanced at the contestants. “Are you two ready?”

The dragon nodded and made no comment. The human woman, however, retrieved a sword in response. It was a double-edged war golok, with a wide, flat, and dull tip. Then, she too nodded.

“FIGHT!”

Immediately, the dragon spat fire at her opponent. She flapped her wings and charged the human, utilizing her razor-sharp body as a natural weapon.

The human leaped into the air, narrowly evading the charge. At the same time, wind and fire essence coated her sword, slashing into the charging dragon.

As the two candidates were separated, they both reevaluated each other. They had a split second to readjust before the fight resumed and the human charged the dragon. She stayed in the air, able to float with little to no effort, letting her speeding charge be as agile and flexible as the wind.

Impressed the dragon gave a teasing roar in response. She breathed fire and met the human head-on, unafraid with her jagged essence armor layered on top of her natural defenses.

But the human girl was unfazed by the flames. Her sword cut through the fiery breath to clear a path to the dragon.

Again, the human evaded the collision by a few hairs and used that contrasting momentum to her advantage, slashing into the dragon’s underbelly while they passed each other with great speed.