Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Hannibal Cho felt conflicted about his opponent. He didn’t wish to look down on the man, but he couldn’t help thinking less of him, after analyzing the Chosen of Balder.

He had seen the man fight in the preliminaries. Although his physique was impressive, his technique was basic. There were some signs of a systematic skill, but his fighting style didn’t implement any principles or circulation techniques.

It felt like he was disparaging the man, though he simply tried to make an objective judgment. However, his verdict was, that his opponent relied mostly on this exotic power granted to him by some Idol or totem beast.

If it was like this, then he wouldn’t be much more than a very tough punching bag. It saddened the cultivator because he had been looking forward to hard fights, that would help him widen his horizon.

His eyes wandered once again over his opponent, as he readied himself for the fight, waiting for the lady with the loud voice to announce the start of the fight. Mathias Bartholomew only wore a pair of trousers. The bare chest was decorated by some tribal tattoos, and he displayed a beard of such girth, that nobody from the Cloud Continent could have copied.

“Let the fight, begin!” Umi gave the signal, and Bartholomew vanished from his sight for just a moment. Hannibal just managed to block the sudden attack with his forearms. A smile played around his lips. Fortunately, it seemed like he ended up underestimating his opponent.

A quick back-and-forth of punches and blocks forced Cho to focus on the battle at hand. Although his technique didn’t improve, the Chosen of Balder surely made sure not to show the full extent of his power during the preliminaries.

The cultivator had to admit, the man’s physical prowess was even slightly above his own, despite already using qi to reinforce his body. A certain light appeared in Hannibal Cho’s eyes. If things were like this, maybe he would be able to go all out for a little while.

…

As expected, the fight between the two hand-to-hand-to-foot combatants was a high-speed exchange of brutal punches. Although Seth himself had little interest in weaponless fighting skills, like the audience, he couldn’t help to be intrigued by the brutal and fat battle between two men, who had become human murder weapons.

At first, the fight was mostly silent, only the smacking of their slaps, punches, and kicks, echoed across the arena. Then it became faster, the staccato of meat being tenderized as the two combatants battled it out held the audience in suspense.

Hannibal Cho finally showed signs of using his powers, as a dark, yellow aura enveloped his body and at this point, Mathias Bartholomew actually started laughing. As the bruises, burns, and lacerations on his body kept accumulating, the sound of slaps was accompanied by his crazed cackle.

At first, the audience was confused. Why was the man laughing? But viewers like Seth knew, that Bartholomew also started going all out. The tide turned, and he stopped accumulating wounds, instead his body started rapidly healing as he started to shine, brighter than the sun. That wasn’t that hard since it was a cloudy day, but still, he finally showed what it meant to be the chosen of the God of Light.

From this point on, their roles were reversed. Mathias Bartholomew kept becoming faster and stronger, while Hannibal Cho accumulated wounds. Despite having the superior technique, albeit a weird one that used his feet to punch, it actually looked like the cultivator was going to lose this one.

Seth was especially surprised. The blacksmith had honestly expected for Hannibal Cho to get at least to the half-finals Mathias Bartholomew on the other hand was a wildcard. He was originally someone who fled from Gamma during the first time when Leana evacuated them.

It had not been that long since he made a name for himself in the worsening Delta. It was inconclusive whether he was part of a faction. They simply knew too little about him, so Minas Mar had not approached him.

Of course, they also didn’t know too much about Joannia or Hannibal Cho, but they had proven themselves through their deeds. Even if Seth didn’t know the commander of Epsilon’s Fleet, she had brought people from New Hope, and some of those…Pip knew. Seth didn’t stay long enough, but there were people among those she brought with her, that knew the girl from the time before the apocalypse.

Seeing Bartholomew pummel the cultivator, accompanied by joyful laughter, Seth hoped he at least wouldn’t be an enemy in the future. Although he had yet to cross the lv.100 threshold, he definitely had the potential to go up against his friends, had they met before they entered the Path to Legend.

Of course, this was on the basis that none of them used their legendary equipment. Still, that was quite a feat. But the greatest surprise of this match was that Hannibal Cho didn't experience a second wind. It seemed like tried to make a comeback, but ultimately, Mathias Bartholomew won the final match of the first round.

“This concludes the first round of the Pythian Games' Great Tournament! We will now have a short break before drawing our match-ups for the second round. But before we go into the break, can I have another great applause for all contestants?” Umi motivated the audience. On the big screens in the stadium, pictures of all 41 participants kept showing up.

Mary fell into her seat beside him. During the break, she had made her way to the participants’ rooms to meet Hannibal Cho. They had talked with Hannibal Cho about joining Minas Mar if there was to be a fight after or during the finale.

Mary wanted to see for himself, whether the cultivator was still in the mood to keep his word. Seth wouldn’t have blamed him if he wanted to leave after receiving such a brutal beating. The man was literally beaten to death in front of a live audience.

“So, what did he say?” the blacksmith asked curiously.

“What did he say? He simply laughed. This guy actually thanked me for the chance to experience such a death and went on to babble about some kind of closed-door training…” Mary complained tired. “I allowed him to stay in the room in the arena for now, but I don’t know if he is still in the right state of mind…”

“Hoho, my guess would be that the little friend had an enlightenment during the fight,” Master Mountain commented on Mary’s report.f𝗿e𝗲𝘄𝗲bn𝐨𝚟𝚎l.com

“He definitely saw a lot of lights in that fight with the Chosen of a God of Light, but what does have to do with his mental state?” Fin asked half-jokingly. Yu smiled amused.

“Us cultivators rely on the understanding of our techniques. We grow through experience and knowledge, but sometimes we get stuck at things we can’t wrap our head around. A good rattling, like the one he experienced, can get these thoughts unstuck. I believe, once he sorted his thoughts and comes back out, he will be a lot stronger than before,” Master Mountain gave a short lecture, ignoring whether Fin made a joke, or genuinely asked.

Of course, the others had also listened in on their conversation. Some were left with thoughtful expressions when Yu ended his explanation. It was good that their ally would grow stronger, but on the other hand, it was concerning that cultivators had the potential for sudden power-ups. That was different from the temporary improvement they had seen so far.

“Don’t worry, it’s not that common to have an enlightenment. It is a rare chance, often only attained in a life-or-death battle at the brink of destruction,” Yu tried to calm them down, seeing their concerned faces.

“So, you are saying there is always a chance that a really tough opponent has a sudden burst of power just before we can defeat them?” Seth asked mischievously. He understood what Yu was trying to do, but he couldn’t help rain on his parade.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Yu said hurriedly, but he realized the blacksmith was just joking with him when everyone around started chuckling. As tough opponent suddenly becoming stronger just before their imminent demise? It stopped being something unusual to them. Especially Dungeon bosses loved to pull such stunts.

They talked a little longer about the enlightenment of cultivators before the break finally ended. It was time to draw the pairings for the second round.