Divine Beast Ascension

Chapter 400: Tempest vs Thunder

The Gust Cane nodded, glaring back at the larger bird. But, while the electricity running over the Thunderbird’s body was intimidating, the Thunderbird’s gaze was filled with disinterest. Eventually, the Thunderbird nodded slightly.

Leaping to the edge of the arena, Slazza shouted, “FIGHT!”

Determined, the crane rushed the Thunderbird with blades of wind slashing into the electrified feathers.

But nothing happened. The Thunderbird flapped its wings and waited for the crane to make another move. He didn’t even look at his wings to see if they had been damaged, certain the attack had no effect.

The crane cawed and charged again. This time, the crane circled their foe and engulfed the Thunderbird in a small twister.

Again, nothing happened. Calm and unfazed, the Thunderbird finally turned their head to look the crane in the eye. Then, with a single flap, a torrent of wind and lightning shredded through the twister and crashed into the crane. Electricity stunned the crane while the wind slashes cut through the crane’s wings.

As the crane plummeted, the Thunderbird dove with incredible speed to wait for the crane below.

.....

The crowd was shocked when the Thunderbird didn’t attack the crane but caught the crane. The Thunderbird laid the crane on the ground and bowed to Slazza. “I believe he’s unable to continue.”

Nodding, Slazza came forward and applied a healing salve to the crane. “The second match is over. The winner is Thunder Prefecture!”

“... I-I... can’t lose,” the crane stammered as the salve kicked in, letting his fully-flexed body relax.

“Sorry, kid. This is reality. Either get stronger or accept it,” Slazza remarked, pointing the crane to the contestant seating.

Defeated, the crane had no choice but to pick up his damaged pride and fly back to his seat, albeit slowly.

“Contestants numbered three, come forward!”

Chuckling lowly, Tempest’s Blazing Jaguar passed by the crane on his way to the arena. “Nice try...”

The crane turned aside and ignored the comment. But the other contestants and surrounding kings noticed. Even the prefecture lords spotted the unusual banter.

“Forgive his manners. He’s one of Brak’s, if that wasn’t obvious...” Inka sighed softly.

“Ahhh, that explains it,” Warak chuckled. “Hopefully, my brat didn’t offer you a weak candidate.”

The other lords disregarded the conversation and waited like everyone else to see the match begin.

Standing across from the Blazing Jaguar was a large Thundercat. Even Slazza was a little excited to see how this match would end. “Are you two ready? FIGHT!”

One cat doused himself in flames and the other coated himself in lightning. They pounced without hesitation, offering another straightforward brawl.

“Again, another lucky pairing...” Peimar sighed.

Shrugging, Inka chuckled, “True, but a win is a win.”

Not even a minute later, the Blazing Jaguar’s paw was at the Thundercat’s throat. The Blazing Jaguar also wielded lightning, rendering most of the Thundercat’s attacks and battle arts useless, all while the Blazing Jaguar’s additional flames became inescapable for the Thundercat.

“It’s over. The winner is Tempest Prefecture!”

With his same confidence, the Blazing Cat helped the Thundercat back up. “Good try. But too bad...”

Once the cats were back in their seats, Slazza made the call. “Contestants numbered four, enter the stage! ... A Flaming Jackal versus a Holy Bat! And, a reminder. The score is Tempest with two wins and Thunder with one. Should the Holy Bat claim victory, Tempest will be the first prefecture to participate in the second round. Should the Flaming Jackal win, the final match will determine which prefecture participates...

“Are you two ready? ... FIGHT!”

The large white bat flapped their wings, making sure to keep a great distance between them. At the same time, a resounding screech filled the arena

The jackal winced from the sound but activated their flames all the same. Fire filled the eyes of the one-krin beast, also coating the jackal’s claws and fangs. It struggled to shake off the grinding noise in its ears, but the jackal howled and spat flames at the bat.

Evasion wasn’t too difficult for the bat. Its agility was high enough to brush the attack off. However, the bat was surprised to see the number of fireballs drastically increasing.

Without end, the Flaming Jackal poured all of its essence into its mouth. The jackal understood that its only shot at success was long-range combat. So, that’s what the jackal did, using every morsel of their strength to bring the bat down.

What was easy at first was quickly becoming impossible. The bat’s aerial acrobatics were incredible, but the sheer number of fireballs was too much.

Perhaps if the bat was willing to get closer to the arena floor it could speed by and flank the jackal. But that was too risky. The bat didn’t specialize in close combat but ranged sound and light attacks.

Yet the fireballs would eradicate any light projectiles the bat threw out. It would barely buy the bat time, let alone give it a respite from the flaming barrage.

Inevitably, the bat’s screeches weren’t very effective as the jackal wasn’t aiming precisely but spewing fire everywhere. And a fireball eventually crashed into the bat’s giant wingspan.

“It’s over,” Slazza announced, appearing beside the jackal.

The jackal dispersed her essence. And Narja swiped her hand through the air, erasing the fireballs without batting an eye.

Two healing salves were handed out, to help the bat’s burn and the jackal’s depleted energy. Then, Slazza smiled and declared, “It all comes down to the final match! Now, we’ll find out who will enter the second round! Please, enter the arena, final contestants.”

It was no longer a mystery as to who would be fighting. With only one candidate left on each side, the prefecture lords were already making predictions before the contestants were on the arena floor.

“Sorry, Inka. I acknowledge that your prefecture is quite talented, especially considering your perfect candidate back home,” Peimar commented with a subtle smile. “I’ll tell you right now. This candidate is only second to my grandson.”

“So your Sea Monkey is stronger than your Flaming Jackal? Interesting...” Inka nodded and leaned against her arm, uninterested. Unlike Peimar, she wasn’t showing much confidence in her final contestant.