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Chapter 543
Chapter 543
Chapter 543
On the 5th floor of the huge Russell Palace there was a relatively small arena, designed for a thousand spectators. Approximately half of the seats were occupied by people. All of them had an extremely high position in the empire: patriarchs, elders, their children, leaders of entire industries, and even some generals. They will act as witnesses to the upcoming tournament, in which the winner will receive the title of direct disciple of the empress.
Within Rosarrio, the importance of this tournament cannot be overestimated. It can be safely said that the last two tournaments were a hundred times inferior in importance to the current one. Lanatelle is an absolute authority in the empire, and today she will have a direct disciple. For any self-respecting master, a direct disciple is like a son or daughter, on whom the greatest hopes are pinned. He will be given expensive gifts, and the master, before his retirement, will undoubtedly pass on his legacy to the disciple. It would not be a mistake to say that today the second most powerful person will appear in the empire.
The tournament is divided into 2 stages: the battle of junior disciples for the title of senior disciple and the battle of senior disciples for the title of direct disciple. The bracket of participants has already been formed.
The appointed hour was approaching. The tension was growing.
The junior and senior disciples of the empress entered the arena.
Kyon managed to appear just in time, however, he looked slightly rumpled. He studied the situation. Well, wow, even the first general can be noticed among the audience. It's impressive. As for the participants, Rose and Juno were absent. The first one still hasn't recovered from his brother's beatings, but the girl suddenly "got sick", so her absence won't be considered an insult. The doctors will confirm this.
{«Elsa, congratulations on getting the second stage!»} – Kyon sincerely praised his sister, but the girl didn't seem to listen to him. She was looking somewhere with a gloomy look. Following her gaze, he also tensed up: Stein is now the imperial phaser at the 7th stage!
{Motherfucker…} – Lovr hated "the curse" even more, because the strengthening of Stein is not just a coincidence. And how can he defeat a bastard who has an advantage of 28 stages?! And the saddest thing is that Valentine wields a super-heavy hammer - one of the most unpleasant weapons. The heavy Scourge and carbon bones with skin are the least effective against it.
Finally, the blonde came out of apathy and paid attention to Kyon: {«Hi. Where have you been for so long?»}
{«Do you miss my feet?»}
{«Nonsense!»}
{«I immersed myself in training. You see the result.»}
The girl's eyebrows went up: {«You are already at the ninth stage! So fast?!»} – there was envy in her telepathic voice. A month ago, he was a noble phaser at the 6th stage, and now he has already reached the 9th stage. One can only envy such a pace.
{«I'm generally very nimble. Unless I'm insatiable in bed.»}
{«Not a word more!»} – Elsa accidentally remembered that episode with the foot massage and blushed.
At the appointed hour, an imperial representative came to the center of the arena and asked everyone present to pay their respects to the woman who has been holding power over the entire empire for more than 150 years.
The welcome hymn sounded.
Half a thousand spectators and all future participants almost simultaneously knelt down.
Lanatelle appeared on the upper balcony. Luxurious and beautiful. An intimidating domineering aura emanated from her, causing awe. The empress coldly surveyed the bowed subjects with a piercing gaze and nodded briefly.
The imperial representative got up from his knees and gave an opening speech, not forgetting to direct future participants to the stands to wait for their fights, then told the rules: they are completely identical to those that were at the last tournament.
A screen depicting the bracket of participants lit up on the ceiling.
Throwing back his head, Kyon found nothing unusual. Not at all, he was given strong opponents. No indulgences, no red carpet on the way to the title. As expected, he will have to win on his own. But he felt the invisible hand of the curse. If he hadn't made Juno sick, she would have closely watched Roman's first match against Dick, and might have suspected that the last one was Kyon.
The imperial representative spread his arms and solemnly announced: «First round, first fight! Dick Baker, the noble phaser at the finishing stage, vs. Roman Clinton, the royal phaser at the finishing stage!»
Two young men entered the arena. The unsightly fat man stood up on one side. He looked completely calm and was lazily chewing gum. The short-haired brunette with the appearance of a typical bully stood in front of him. He seemed tense. Well, no wonder, because everyone knew for a long time that Baker lasted a few minutes in the duel with Elsa, the imperial phaser at the 1st stage.
The audience was afraid to even squeak in the presence of the empress, let alone applause, but suddenly loud and distinct clapping was heard. As everyone immediately realized, the great 1st general of Rosarrio - Richard Clinton was clapping! The black-bearded stocky warrior with a wide smile looked at his grandson and applauded.
The audience, noticing that the empress did not pay any attention to this, clapped uncertainly, and soon loud applause resounded through the arena.
«Fight like a lion! Your grandfather wants to see how strong his grandson has become!» – Richard shouted cheerfully. He came to watch his grandchildren fight for the title of the empress' senior disciple. At least Artemis has every chance. He did not know all the details of the tournament of the best, so he did not know about the real strength of Dick.
The presence of his grandfather made Roman even more nervous. How will he then look him in the eye if he crashes in the first round? He must win! But how to do that?
At a recent council of elders, Clinton was fully informed about the most dangerous opponents in the tournament and effective strategies for fighting against them. The masters told him that Dick was extremely strong and skilled in close combat, so he would have to fight at a distance… Just like with Juno.
Elsa couldn't sit still because of curiosity. She knew that Kyon had not fought against her in full force at the tournament, and she was interested to find out what secrets he was hiding in himself. The girl remembered how the messenger of the goddess fought with Kiyan at the tournament of families in Boston. At that time he could not oppose anything against the geysers of water. They constantly pushed him away, almost depriving him of balance. Now he has to fight with the most inconvenient opponent: Roman, using geysers!
~ding~
After the signal to start the battle, an invisible protective barrier formed over the arena.
Kyon took out the Scourge and, putting it on his shoulder, slowly walked towards the opponent.
Roman clenched his fists with burning hatred. He couldn't stand that fat bastard: he took away half a million points from him for winning arm wrestling, and also poisoned him with narcotic gas, because of this he raped the hive in the most unsightly way! No mercy for him!
Clinton threw up his hands, and his body was instantly enveloped in a water sphere with a diameter of 5 meters, blinking with a bioluminescent glow. 10 transparent tentacles stretched from it.
«Unbelievable, he activated "The Water Squid" so quickly!» – the audience whispered in surprise. General Richard frowned in puzzlement. Does the fat puppy deserve such a serious approach?..
«Take that!» – barked Roman, straightening his finger. A glowing tentacle, boiling inside from the overflowing heat energy, burst out from him towards the opponent. It will instantly strip all the flesh down to the bones even from the lord phaser at the finishing stage.
However, Kyon was still calmly walking forward with his sword at the ready, lazily chewing gum, when suddenly glowing azure clouds began to come out of his body, like puffs of smoke from a smoking pipe. Their size sometimes reached the palm of an adult, and the number was rapidly increasing, and they were not going to disappear.
Elsa, Clementine and Seraphima raised their eyebrows in surprise. The aura emanating from the clouds seemed deceptively gentle and elegant, like a cool autumn breeze. Is Baker really going to beat off the geyser with this weak technique?!
As soon as the geyser got closer, it collided with three azure clouds, and they instantly burst, releasing such a dense ice aura that the air temperature instantly dropped by 10 degrees. The surface of the arena froze, and the geyser turned into an icicle, rushing forward by inertia.
The cold energy displaced Roman's energy from the geyser, giving Kyon full control over the icicle flying at him. As soon as it got close, it turned into ordinary water, which broke against the body, like a wave against an indestructible rock.
Surprised oohs were heard in the stands. Many people caught their breath. They really witnessed an unprecedented event - the noble phaser suppressed the attack of the royal phaser!
General Richard blinked in shock, as if he could not believe his eyes.
The beautiful faces of the twins twisted as if they had swallowed a fat fly at the same time.
A pit opened in Elsa's stomach involuntarily: {What an incredible cold technique?! Just three bubbles stopped Roman's geyser! And he can create hundreds of them every second! Oh goddess, what a monster you have created…} – the girl had a chill on her skin. But the scariest thing was that he didn't have this technique at the tournament of families.
Kyon just realized plasma fire for the first time. It worked on the principle of ball lightning. Cold fusion took place inside the stable plasma shell, due to which the cold energy reached an exorbitant level. Moreover, as long as the shell of the bubble retains its integrity, not a drop of energy will come out.
Roman's face twisted hideously: «H-how is that possible… Shit!» – gritting his teeth, he, without holding back, immediately released 10 geysers as thick as a thousand-year-old oak…
Three dozen azure clouds rushed forward and collided with water tentacles. The dense energy of cold instantly turned 10 geysers into icicles, which then unsuccessfully crashed against Baker, and he, still with a sword on his shoulder, rhythmically moving his jaws, was serenely approaching the enemy.
There was dead silence in the stands. General Richard jumped to his feet in outrage. Elsa shrugged her shoulders. What was happening did not fit into people's minds. What a monstrous cold technique! Dick seems to be able to ignore common sense!
{Damn it! DAMN IT!} – Roman turned deathly pale. Even if this is all his vile technique is capable of, this imperturbable appearance of an ugly fat man is getting on his nerves. The monster didn't even blink! The messenger of death is already very close, and it cannot be stopped! And what will happen when he comes up? Instant defeat?!
Under the yoke of emotional pressure, Clinton got out of the water squid and, hitting his chest, activated the ultimate technique. A thick hot steam burst out of him, filling the entire space of the arena. It was impossible to see anything even at arm's length. But this is just the beginning.
«My grandson is fighting in earnest! Then why hasn't he won yet?.. How can the noble phaser fight him on equal terms?!» – General Richard asked, puzzled.
{On equal terms?! In what way does this fight look like a duel "on equal terms"?!} – all the viewers wondered. Total suppression - that's what's happening now!
Kyon snorted coldly and with a snap of his fingers made all the accumulated clouds burst in the blink of an eye. The cold energy flooded the arena like a tsunami. It turned out to be so great that it instantly suppressed and dispersed Clinton's technique, and then even got out through the protective barrier, because of this, the temperature in the hall dropped to -30.
Some onlookers shivered from the sudden cold snap. They saw a completely unharmed Baker inflating a bubble of gum, and a chalk-pale Roman, covered with a thin layer of ice, was standing 3 meters away from him. Suddenly his eyes rolled back and he fell backwards, losing consciousness. Here it is, the recoil from the destruction of the ultimate technique.
~pop~
The bubble of the gum burst, and the fat man went back with the same bored look. He never swung his sword. He didn't make a single move at all. His victory seemed absolute and unconditional. Such a brilliant victory caused awe, especially when realizing that the participant who won was the noble phaser at the finishing stage.
The audience could not come to their senses for a long time. Clementine and Seraphima frowned grimly. Elsa was biting her lip. She did not expect such a cool performance from Kyon. For some reason, his behavior did not seem arrogant and pompous, as in the case of Rose at that tournament. Why? Obviously, the fact is that Valentine always had an advantage in development over his opponents, while the messenger of the goddess, by no means, was inferior to Roman by 18 stages!
A mysterious gleam appeared in the eyes of the empress.
«Dick Baker has won unconditionally!» – the imperial representative announced.
As soon as the protective barrier disappeared, General Richard instantly found himself near Roman. With a worried look, he examined his grandson for injuries and breathed a sigh of relief, then pierced Baker's back with a ferocious look. If the empress wasn't here, he would have torn the bastard to pieces! Some rootless scum dared to humiliate his grandson so mercilessly!