Chapter 18. The Battle(2).

Indraksha's injuries from the last arrow that hit him were severe. He was struggling to even maintain control over his consciousness. There was one loophole in the tournament that Asmodeus never told anyone about — the food.

If someone consumes the meat of celestial beasts, they will regain their health. All wounds will automatically heal, like in video games.

Indraksha had the resources to cook the meat. He took a slice from a dead celestial beast's body and started cooking it.

Indraksha just hoped that no one would attack him now, especially not with a stealth attack.

He used his Ice Domain to form a protective layer of ice on the ground around him. If anyone stepped on the ice, it would freeze immediately. The only danger for Indraksha now was ranged attacks.

Meanwhile, Ignis was struggling to defeat Jalzar because it seemed impossible to even touch Jalzar without his permission. However, Ignis realized something. He had been fighting Jalzar for 20 minutes now. He said to Jalzar, "Your technique is amazing, but it has a loophole. You can't use the same element power continuously, right? If you want to use the same element power, you can do it, but after an interval of 10 minutes, am I right?"

Jalzar was astonished because no opponent had ever figured out his technique's biggest flaw.

Ignis continued, "That's not all. If you use an element's power, there's a 1.5-second interval before you can use any other element."

Jalzar praised Ignis, "You are amazing, demon. I am impressed by your brain. But it's the end for you now that I know all your techniques. I can easily defeat you."

One Week Before the Tournament

"Your crimson flames are really powerful, but I don't think you can do anything against beings you can't touch," said Alina to Ignis.

"Wait, beings like that exist? Ones we can't touch?" asked Ignis.

Alina replied, "Yes, they do. There are several techniques to defeat them. For example, in the dragon race, there's a move called Dragon Roar, through which they come into their physical form for a time limit, and we can harm them. But techniques vary in different races, and in some races, there's no technique to counter such enemies." She continued, "Your crimson flame can't touch them, Ignis. You need a different technique for them. Well, there's one technique for fire elementals I've read about, but I think it's just a myth."

Just after she finished speaking, Ignis summoned his blue flames and asked, "Will this work?"

Alina gasped, "Yes, they will, and this is the technique I read about, but... TF? HOW CAN YOU USE IT? THE LEGENDARY BLUE FLAMES? THEY REALLY DO EXIST?!"

She was astonished to see the legendary blue flames. She had always thought blue flames were just a myth.

"You... you, who are you?" Alina asked, stunned.

Ignis replied, "A fire elemental. Ignis." He gave her a warm smile.

Alina smiled and said, "I think I'm falling in love with you."

Ignis asked, "Did you say something?"

Alina quickly denied, then smiled warmly again.

Present Time

"You really think you know all my techniques?" Ignis asked Jalzar.

Jalzar laughed mockingly, "Are you going to cry, kid?"

As soon as he finished his sentence, Ignis charged toward Jalzar, but this time, it was not the crimson flame that struck him—it was the blue flame. Jalzar's chest was burned by the blue flames.

Jalzar was thrown back, blood coming from his mouth. He asked, "You... what the hell did you do?"

Ignis replied sarcastically, "Nothing, I just cried about it."

He charged again and cut off Jalzar's left hand.

This was the first time Jalzar had experienced such pain. He summoned a Leviathan made of water and launched it at Ignis.

The temperature of the blue flame was 7 million degrees Celsius. Ignis launched a fire wave made of blue flames, vaporizing the entire Leviathan in an instant.

But before Ignis could act again, Jalzar had already escaped.

Jalzar wished for the power of Paratarsotomus macropalpis, the Southern Californian mite, which could cover a distance of 322 body lengths per second, making it the fastest animal relative to body size. For comparison, if a human could do this, they would be running at over 1,300 mph (2,092 km/h).

The devils had the same body structure as humans, so Jalzar was able to utilize the power of Paratarsotomus macropalpis and escape.

Suddenly, an announcement echoed through the arena: "Hello, my fellow devil soldiers. There are only 20 million devil soldiers remaining in round 1. Now, I will combine all the cages, and all 20 million soldiers will be in the same cage. Have fun!" The announcement came from Asmodeus.

"Oh Ignis, you are so amazing," said Alina, blushing.

"What's wrong, Princess? Are you feeling sick?" asked Kael, panicking.

Alina replied, "I'm okay, Sir Kael. It's just that I'm falling in love with Ignis so much that it's hard to express. I want to take him to Dragoon right now."

Kael assured her that after the tournament, they would take Ignis with them to Dragoon, where he could stay as long as Princess Alina desired.

Now, all the cages were combined, and Kharos, Indraksha, and Ignis were in the same cage. The likelihood of them encountering each other had increased.

Suddenly, an explosion occurred in the cave of the celestial beasts.

Kharos was the nearest to the celestial cave among the remaining members of the Shadow Reapers.

He rushed toward the cave and what he saw was terrifying. Multiple Apex creatures were feasting on millions of dead devil soldiers.

When the cages were combined, all the celestial beasts, commanders, and the Apex creatures were now in the same cage.

Suddenly, a bomb fell on one of the Apex. It was an elite soldier, Crateris. His element allowed him to summon any type of bomb, from grenades to nuclear bombs and various missiles. But their strength was directly proportional to the caster's power level.

If Crateris's power level was at the planetary level, then even a grenade could destroy a whole planet. However, there was a unique condition. If he wanted to destroy a city like Vulkaris, his power level needed to be equal to all the living beings in Vulkaris, whose power was equal to a commander of the Infernal Legion.

The Apex that Crateris targeted used his right hand to block the grenade. The explosion destroyed his right hand.

The Apex picked up the skull of a dead devil soldier and threw it at Crateris, who easily destroyed it using his element. But before Crateris could launch another attack, someone wounded him from behind with a sharp object.

A few minutes earlier, Kharos had been watching the battle between the Apex and Crateris. He realized that if Crateris could summon grenades, he might be able to summon greater explosives as well.

He had sneaked toward Crateris but saw something terrifying. Someone had already snuck up behind Crateris and wounded him. It was a werewolf.

A werewolf's strength was equal to 20 Apex combined.

The werewolf grabbed Crateris's head and beheaded him. Crateris was eliminated.

Kharos, watching everything, knew that if he made the slightest move, the werewolf would kill him.

The werewolf attacked the Apex, and all eight Apex went berserk, charging toward the werewolf. In the blink of an eye, all the Apex lost their heads. The werewolf exceeded Kharos's expectations.

Kharos decided not to fight the werewolf. But then, suddenly, someone challenged the werewolf—a demon rank soldier, Aelrion.

Aelrion controlled the wind element, which allowed him to create different weapons from wind and manipulate the air in a 2-meter radius around himself and his enemies.

The werewolf charged toward Aelrion, but his feet got stuck in a trap created by Aelrion. Aelrion summoned a sword made of wind and called it, "Excalibur!"

He charged in full speed toward the werewolf and wounded its chest with the Excalibur.

The werewolf broke free from the trap, grabbed Aelrion's neck, threw him into the sky, and then punched him toward the ground.

The werewolf charged again, but Aelrion created a wind shield, countering the werewolf's tackle. Aelrion and the werewolf were now within a 4-meter radius of each other, the perfect distance for Aelrion to manipulate the air around his opponent.

Aelrion extracted all the oxygen from the 2-meter radius around the werewolf.

Without oxygen, the body experiences rapid and severe effects:

0-1 minute: Dizziness, confusion, and loss of consciousness as the brain depletes its oxygen supply.

1-3 minutes: Brain cells begin to die, skin turns blue (cyanosis), and heart rate increases.

4-6 minutes: Organ failure starts, with irreversible brain damage occurring.

Beyond 6 minutes: Cardiac arrest leads to death unless resuscitation occurs.

The werewolf was now in intense pain, unable to escape the 2-meter radius due to losing its balance. Aelrion then summoned a crossbow and pierced the werewolf's brain, leading to its death.

Aelrion didn't know about the core. He left the werewolf's body behind and continued on his way.

Kharos came out of hiding and chanted a word while facing the palm of his right hand toward the center of the werewolf's chest. "Extraction."

The werewolf's core came out, and Kharos touched it to his own chest, absorbing it into his core. Kharos's overall stats were increased due to the absorption.