Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Many eyes turned towards Ehrlich and the look in those eyes told Hal they thought Ehrlich might be insane and to be fair, the way he was looking at the supplier was so crazed that Hal opted to agree with the crazy assessment.

He looked to the supplier and was a little surprised to see that there was not even a hint of worry or fear in his expression. In fact, the slight smile on his face told Hal he saw this as an opportunity.

"This can't be good" he said in a low voice that Lucile caught and looked over at him.

She said nothing though. As though she agreed with his words.

Meanwhile, the Sheik sat up in his chair just as Ehrlich leaped away from his seat and towards the supplier on the stage.

At this moment, Elsa had already moved away from the supplier and was watching the proceedings like a bystander with nothing to do with what was happening. Which was accurate.

Ehrlich tossed the runes he held at the supplier and while he tossed it, he sent cosmic attacks ahead as well so as to give the supplier nowhere to run.

The cosmic attacks however were unnecessary as the brown-haired man did not make an attempt to defend himself even as the cosmic attacks hit his surroundings.

*Boom!!!*

While the wind pressure of the cosmic attack was still moving the clothes of the supplier violently while he stood as stiff as a statue, the runes attached to his body and froze him in that position as stiff as a board.

Ehrlich then landed in front of him with a satisfied smile on his face.

Hal on the other hand felt it happened so easily and once again reiterated what he had said earlier said about how this could not end well.

The Sheik made to move, after all, what else was he to do when an insane fellow leaped out of the crowd and towards his most lucrative sale of the day.

However before he could take action, the brown supplier looked up and locked eyes with him before shaking his head.

Clearly, he felt he had things handled.

Ehrlich sneered, 

"You will be coming with me and no one can save you" he said and his voice was dripping with confidence.

Ehrlich had been given a lot of runes drawn personally by the princess and he did not fear anyone in the room.

He was absolutely sure he could get the supplier out of here without anyone being able to stop him and that included the Sheik and his advisor who were at the Cosmic Aurora realm.

Also, he did not fear those few in the crowd (mostly Lucile whose cultivation and identity he knew) who were already at the Cosmic Pagoda realm.

He had been graced by the princess and there was no way he could fail.

Or so he thought.

The brown-haired supplier suddenly chuckled, 

"I don't need anyone to save me." He said before looking up at the crowd who mostly wondered what the hell was going on?

"You have all seen what the mutating technique can do to those you decide to use it on. But you have not seen what it can do to you. Let me demonstrate" he said and closed his eyes.

Ehrlich realized something dubious was about to happen and burst out his early stage of the Cosmic Aurora realm cultivation but it was of no consequence.

A grey fog suddenly seeped out of the scroll which contained the mutating technique and merged with the brown haired man.

The supplier's right hand suddenly became encrusted in thick grey hardening while its size doubled and it kind of pulsed with power.

After that, he let out his peak stage cosmic phenomenon realm cultivation which he somehow merged with his monstrous arm's power. Thereby boosting the two.

And then...

*Bang!*

... one loud sound later and he was free of the runes to the widening of Ehrlich's eyes at how impossible this was.

"What the...? That's a Rank 7 rune. How could you free yourself?" He asked with incredulity coloring his voice.

The brown-haired supplier shrugged, 

"Simple. I borrowed a little of the power that makes runes useless against a cultivator. You know the power I refer to don't you?" 

Ehrlich's eyes narrowed, 

"The power of a semi-saint" he said.

Once at the Semi-saint realm, direct contact with runes no longer affect cultivators, and the mode to battle at that time will be to use the runes to manipulate surroundings. 

"Exactly" the supplier said with a smile and nodded before blasting Ehrlich with his pressure.

Ehrlich leaped back fast enough to evade the pseudo-attack. Moving quite fast despite his large frame.

He frowned but did not take the opportunity to make a quick getaway. It was clear that he had not given up on his plan to capture the supplier.

The supplier grinned and followed after him with his monstrous hand raised for an attack. An attack Ehrlich knew with certainty would be dangerous if it made contact.

His instincts took over and he successfully avoided getting hit while also blasting against his opponent with cosmic attacks and phenomenon.

The stage had been damaged so much by the less than successful hits and even though he had not managed to land any solid hit, the supplier was smiling.

In fact, he occasionally played to the audience who clapped appreciatively at what they now considered as part of the show.

This must be another planned demonstration just like the one at the Shek's home the day before, They thought.

Hal on the other hand frowned at what was happening and sighed as he predicted the winner.

There was no way Ehrlich could come out on top anymore. Especially not now that he had lost the element of surprise.

This was an assessment Hal felt Ehrlich was not too dumb to know about.

He must have realized how slim his chances of victory was so why was he not trying his best to escape.

To that question, Hal could only think of one answer which was that Ehrlich must have something more up his sleeve.

He had just thought about this when Ehrlich retrieved a token from his spatial ring and injected cosmic energy into it to activate its effects.

Suddenly, a pressure blasted out of the token, a pressure that terrified Hal immensely despite him not being close to the token itself.

*Bang!!!*

The supplier who felt the brunt of the token's pressure found himself blasted far away from Ehrlich and for the first time since their battle began, he seemed to be taking things seriously.

"That..." The supplier began as he sat up.

Ehrlich took a few seconds to gloat with the token still in hand, 

"It's the harnessed pressure of a Cosmic Semi-saint" he said with a grin.

Hal's eyes widened as this confirmed his thoughts on how strong the princess was even though he had long guessed since when they first met, Grimoire had told him in the forest that she and the elder were past the realm of power that could be affected by runes.

The princess was a Semi-saint!

With this trump card, Ehrlich was finally ready to put an end to all this.

He no longer planned to capture the supplier, mostly because he had no assurance of being able to leave with him now that this token had been used, when he attacked next, it was to kill.

The supplier smiled, 

"So what? Haven't you been listening? This arm borrows the power of a semi-saint, surely you did not expect that to end with just breaking the hold of Runes." He said and stood to his feet before dashing right towards the token's pressure.

His monstrous arm was pointed right at it and he broke through the pressure with it and...

*Bam!*

... he smacked Ehrlich's hand away before sinking his hand into his midsection and releasing the height of energy the arm held...

*Bam!*

*Bang!*

*Boom!*

The attack sent Ehrlich flying away from the stage and the auction Hall altogether as he broke through the ceiling to land in the Sheik's compound!