Apex Star

In front of Nova's guest room, there were his parents and Orion as well as Elura and Melissa present, all of them were waiting for him.

"What are you all doing here?" Asked Nova seeing the strange combination of individuals present on front of his room.

"Brother Nova, you look exhausted. Where have you been?" Said Melissa making the others laugh at her remark.

Even Orion was letting out a chuckle or two.

"We wanted to tell you that the youths' tournament will begin in a few hours at noon."

Elura started to explain to Nova things that were discussed at the banquet and that he missed.

"Okay, now I and Melissa will go to our rooms to rest for a few hours." Said Elura before departing with Melissa.

Nova's parents and Orion started questioning him about what happened with Imperia.

"We clarified our feelings for each other, now, I guess we could be considered a couple." Nova was just BS them for a while before they stopped questioning him.

"Ah, look at the time! Mom, Dad, and father-in-law, please excuse I have to rest too.

The trio was giving him weird looks knowing that he wanted to make them leave and stop the interrogation. Still, they bade each other goodbyes and left for their rooms.

Nova breathed a sigh of relief when he saw their figures slowly disappear from his view.

'I hope they will stop bombarding me with questions..." Thought a foolishly Nova.

.....

After a few hours of sleep, Nova felt brand new and ready to go.

Meeting with Elura and the others they made their way to the arenas where the competition was taking place.

It was a huge Colosseum with 10 battlegrounds inside of it. Every battleground was one hundred meters square, giving the participants enough space for using their abilities to the fullest.

There were almost 5000 participants in total, first was the elimination round, to determine the top 100 before switching to the group stage that will randomly choose 10 participants from the top 100 to form a group.

It was a simple but practical method for a tournament to be held. Nova had the honor to be in the opening match with a random person because he was the only core disciple of the Star Sect participating.

He was wearing a basic battlesuit given to him by Elura before the competition's start. Slowly making his way to Battle Arena number one, he was immediately amazed by the sheer number of spectators. There were probably hundreds of thousands of them.

Well, it was only to be expected as this Regional Youths Tournament was going to decide the Number One Prodigy of the sub-region.

Nova's unlucky opponent was a stoic middle-aged man that was clearly above his shown age. He wasn't part of a superpower but a lonely cultivator.

Despite his stoic look, he was panicking inside of him and lamented his bad luck for meeting a Middle Stage 7 who was also a core disciple of the Star Sect.

Without suspense, Nova disappeared from his position and lightly punched the man before he could react and won the first match under the crowd's applause.

The man was a Stage 6 cultivator and he posed no threat to Nova.

After a few hours, it was Nova's turn again. This time he was facing a Stage 5 opponent, it was an easy ride for Nova to win against these easy opponents.

At one point he even wondered if he will fight someone who could pressure him a little. Maybe even to force him to use the new techniques he learned from the Apex.

He didn't even watch others fights and only focused on Imperia's next match. Still, it was clear she was having it easy too, being a Stage 8 she breezed through the next competitionor.

Nova's next opponent was a girl holding a sword and was wearing Chinese clothes with sword symbols all over her. She was Nina from the Sword clan and just like Nova, she was Middle Stage 7.

"You may be from the Star Sect but I won't give you an easy time, draw your weapon!" she declared stunning Nova.

Not knowing whether to laugh or not, Nova took a pose and beckoned her to come.

In the crowd stand there was a group of people wearing similar clothes to Nina. They were the elders and the sect master of the Sword Clan.

"Sword Master, Nina will probably lose, but at least she will put up a decent fight against this Star Sect genius." said an elder.

"Jin, please don't forget that this youth is not only a Core disciple of the Star Sect but also has a Space-Time Bloodline from the Space-Time Shrine. " said another elder.

"Indeed his parents are also almost on the top of the sub-region. If Nina won't succeed in defeating him then there is also Sania. And I don't believe this kid will beat Sania, because she is a Stage 8.

The Sword Master didn't say anything but had a weird glint in his eyes. He didn't know why but he remembered the moment he was looking at Nova at the banquet and when Imperia just entered the hall.

At that moment when focusing on Nova he suddenly lost him and saw him again at the entrance in front of Imperia and Orion. It made him think that there was more to this kid than it was shown, also he wasn't stupid.

For the legendary Star Sect to only send a Core Stage 7 youth? How could they keep their face if they lost the first spot? There was something more that he wasn't aware of.

And just like he thought, what happened next shocked everyone.

Nina almost disappeared from her spot with speed so fast the majority of people here couldn't see it. "First Sword: Rapid Slash!"

She appeared in front of Nova and slashed at him, her sword gaining a red aura that strengthened it considerably. But it wasn't enough.

Without a bit of fear in his eyes Nova simply let the sword hit his body. Everybody was shocked and thought he was crazy. Even Imperia almost leaped from her resting seat and jumped on the arena.

The sword hit Nova's body and let out a metal-hitting-metal sound. At that moment Nina was shocked beyond words like everybody else.

Nova simply stared at the sword that rebounded his body before once again looking at Nina and giving her goosebumps.

"You want me to use weapons against you?" The arrogant tone sends chills down Nina's spine.

Pointing a finger before him, Nova simply pressed Nina's stomach and launched her almost 30 meters.

When the emergency team checked on her, they were surprised to see that she simply passed out without additional injuries.

Slowly stepping down the stage, Nova raised his head and looked straight at the Sword Clan's booth.

All of the elders were taken aback seeing his golden eyes locked on them and they all felt a terrifying pressure creeping.

Even the Sword Master wasn't an exception and had cold sweat on his back even making him forget to check on his daughter Nina.

Without saying anything Nova returned to the Star Sect's resting place.