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“Who are you hoping to fight?” Yeter asked Oli while scouring over his competition in the stands.

Shrugging, Oli sighed, “I’ll take whoever I can get. At this point, it’s pretty much just team leaders and you, Yeter.”

“I want that idiot Hiztor!” whinnied Yeter, clacking his hooves against the stone floor. “He thinks he’s so high and mighty just because of he was born into a century-old clan.”

“And because no one’s been able to injure him throughout the qualifier,” Oli added.

With a pouting lip, the stallion sharply exhaled out of his nostrils. “So what? Just wait till I get my hooves on him!”

“If you do go against him, surrendering might be the best option–”

“OLI-VER!” Yeter yelled, barely catching his slip-up. “I want to fight him, so I want to fight him!”

A small smile crept onto Oli’s face. “I’m not saying to give up right away. But give up the moment you lose control of the fight. Against Hiztor’s strange one-v-one fighting strategy, that would be best. Because we both know Hiztor will aim to cripple or kill, not just to defeat you.”

.....

Oli quickly dropped the tense talk and relaxed with his teammates. Though most of them were already out, they were still talkative whenever Oli wasn’t too focused on the arena.

Remembering their guest, Oli asked, “So, Trantor, what do you think? Who would you want to fight?”

“Personally? I would want to fight anyone not the Sardin Captain or Hiztor. Or you,” answered Trantor. “Too bad only three can move on. Good thing I already qualified for the prefecture!”

While Oli laughed, Trenk sighed and teasingly leered at his older brother.

Trantor was also leaning on the back of Freel’s chair, putting his arms around her. He whispered, “Thanks for not fighting Oliver. It saved us both a lot of pain.”

Freele sighed but said nothing. She didn’t like the idea of surrendering but there was an obvious winner between Oli and Freele. Also, Freele had a suspicion that Oli wouldn’t have even gone all-out against her anyway. And now that she knew how Oli was connected to both Zelsh and Iron Territory, it wasn’t hard for her to accept that Oli was just that much stronger than her.

Soon, the final intermission came to an end. It was time to find out the final three pairings.

“Surviving candidates, come draw your stones!”

Kelna’s shout filled the colosseum, silencing everyone and everything for a few moments. It allowed the six final candidates to draw their stones in complete silence.

The moment they got back to their seats, the first two stones lit up. Those two bestial candidates leaped into the arena with a quick bow. They also wasted no time introducing themselves.

“Fuux from Cliff Territory in Cave Region,” the first beast stated. He was a bear with extra broad shoulders that could stand at four krin while on its hind legs. “It’s an honor to fight you.”

The Saber-tooth Baboon smiled and nodded. “Kako, from the Sabertooth Baboon Clan in Sardin Territory. I look forward to a good fight.”

“... FIGHT!” Kelna shouted.

Both the baboon and the bear activated their earth essence armor first. Neither dared to charge in unprotected.

While they clashed for the first time, Freele threw out a question for everyone to hear, “Why are there so many earth essence users left in the finals?”

Oli just sighed and kept a subtle smile.

It was one of the security staff that answered, saying, “Well, what are the advantages of earth essence compared to other essence types? It’s one of the most all-around essence types that can have good offensive abilities and arguably the best defensive abilities. While some essence types might have more aggressive power, they can’t retain strong defenses. So, if someone can build a defense to last at least a few blows against anything, that would allow an earth cultivator the chance to retaliate against someone with relatively weak defenses.”

Nodding, Oli stated, “Look at Trenk’s fight against Hiztor. Since Hiztor found a way to use his defensively stacked abilities within his offense, he didn’t care what Trenk did. He could commit to trading blows because his defense is that good. But are earth cultivators still that broken in group combat? I would say no. They’re the slowest cultivators the majority of the time and Hiztor’s tactics wouldn’t work as well when he’s fighting a group with his mobility drastically lessened.”

“I agree with Oliver,” Trantor added. “That’s why Hiztor didn’t use that tactic during your team fight. Because it puts his own teammates at risk too. And you all saw what happened when Oli limited Hiztor’s mobility and Yeter charged at him to not let Hiztor get in his rhythm. Hiztor’s just got a good build for one-on-one fights in uninterrupted combat.”

“If anything, I almost want to guess that Hiztor’s clan specializes in solo combat,” Oli remarked. “It would explain why Hiztor is such a bad team leader too.”

However, the second member of the security staff said, “But the higher you go in the Mortal Championship, the harder it gets for one-trick ponies like Hiztor. I would be amazed if he made it past the prefecture qualifier. Why else would he be here if not for him losing his regional qualifier in the first place?”

While the Rot Team all came to agree with those conclusions, the bear and baboon were done testing each other.

Smirking, the baboon asked, “What kind of bear are you?”

“A Cave Bear, able to interact with the world even in complete darkness. And you’re a Saber-tooth Baboon,” replied Fuux, the bear.

Kako nodded and took out a long, double-sided axe. “Since we’re getting serious, I’ll warn you now. With this out, I try to end things fast by going for the kill.”

“Thanks for the head’s up but I don’t need it. I’m using the same strategy!” laughed the bear, finding it humorous for its opponent to say such a thing.

“Okay. You’ve been warned!”

Kako rushed forward with a merciless glare. The huge axe swung forward but missed as the bear reared back on his hind legs. Yet Kako was unfazed. When the axe buried itself in the ground, Kako leaped and leaned into the shaft of the axe. He used the grounded axehead as a fulcrum to retain all that momentum and launch himself into the bear even faster.

Crack!

Before he could come back down on all four legs, the bear was kicked in the gut by the self-launched baboon. And Kako bounced to the side before the bear could slam down on his prey.

“Not bad! Great defenses,” Kako commented while unearthing the axe and getting ready for another strike. “At this rate, bringing you down will take more hits than I expected.”

Scoffing, Fuux scratched at the dirt ground and pondered how to retaliate.

“Well, I guess I’ll just keep it coming!” Kako cried, lashing out with another heavy swing of the axe.

Considering how hard the baboon had hit him with a kick, Fuux ruled out blocking the axe with his body. It was somewhat disgusted by the fact a beast had resorted to using human weapons. But there was no time to complain while fighting in the Mortal Championship. Complaining in what the rules determined was a “fair fight” would only leave the bear open for a follow-up strike.

Crunch! Crack!

The moment the axe hit the ground, Kako propelled himself forward yet again. Though the bear had anticipated the attack, Kako had also anticipated the bear’s reaction. Kako turned his body into a bullet by flattening out mid-air. This made him move even faster than the bear was expecting. It was Kako letting go of the axe that gave him the ultimate boost of speed. It also allowed Kako to curl into a side flip at the last moment. And the moment Kako sprung out of the flip, his legs were driven straight into the bear’s jaw.

While Fuux was forced to backstep away to lessen the striking power of the kick, Kako bounced back to retake his axe. There was a cut on his back but it was nothing compared to the fractured jaw of his bear opponent.

Fuux’s cockiness faded. He was still able to talk with projected telepathy but that wouldn’t stop the shooting pain Fuux felt every time his head moved. “You…”

“I warned you, didn’t I?” the baboon half-chuckled. “If it’s so easy to stop me, do it already. But if it’s not, then I would consider surrendering while you’re still alive and well.”

The axe was swung for the third time but Fuux was determined to change the outcome. This time, Fuux rushed forward to get as close to the baboon as possible. The closer Fuux was, the less momentum the baboon would be able to generate.”