Getting underestimated wasn't a bad thing. Especially if it's by enemies. Varian learned this long, long ago. So, when Avnir gave him a disdained sneer as they faced each other, he responded with a smile. "If we really went the normal way, you would've been eliminated without even entering top 4. Seems like you know your true worth and used her name to come so far." Avnir spat out the harsh words without even putting up any pretense of politeness.
Varian wanted to argue that he would've grown stronger and reached this stage anyway. But he decided not to debate with a fool. Avnir was selected by Varian to be his duel opponent. The gesture was blatantly pointing out that he's the weakest amongst the four. Even if it's the truth, Avnir was still pissed off after being called out. Whatever reasoning might be offered, he'd not be any less cruel.
So, Varian simply shrugged. "Yeah, you are right. I came here with nepotism. You are the only one who came here with your strength. Avnir, you are the shining beacon of meritocracy, the greatness who holds up the Jai Empire."
Avnir's soaring rage abruptly cooled down and he tilted his head in confusion. "Huh?"
Then his eyes widened. "Are you mocking me?!"
Varian contemplated for a moment and nodded with a hesitant expression. "…Yes?"
"Argh, arrogant bastard!" Avnir raised arm descended and with it, the world shook.
Light bent. The stage began to crack and collapse.
Everything around Varian turned pitch black. Through their perceptions, the ranked princes realized three super blackholes around Varian.
"This!" Even though gravity awakeners created blackholes once reaching the divine rank, these were not your normal blackholes. Only strong peak rank 1s would be able to control these cosmic structures. "Arghhh!" The sub-space Varian set up as a defense disintegrated almost instantly. He propped up a new sub-space and it fell just as quick. Even though he kept establishing new defense as fast as he could, the blackholes had a gap to exert their power over him.
That gap was enough for them to pull off a tenth of his body. Like someone pulled them away, Varian's arms ruptured and flew off into the blackholes.
Blood left his wounds and was about to splash on the floor. But not a single droplet managed to escape the suction and got devoured by the super gravitational structures.
What's worse was that whatever aura Varian conjured to set up sub-space or use his space powers to get out of the situation got sucked away by the blackholes. He tried harder and harder to draw out the divine aura, but the blackholes made it extremely difficult. As time passed, more and more of his body was devoured. Even though he regenerated his arms and legs a few times, he couldn't do it endlessly.
If he was able to use the power of life, however, he could simply create a bunch of clones, explode them around the blackholes, neutralize the strong gravity for a brief moment and use that instant to escape.
Unfortunately, he was posing as the blade of Eshala, as a pure space ranker.
Such an option did not exist.
And with his detoriating condition, even setting up the sub-space which he had been doing since the start grew difficult. Aura was running dry, vitality was thinning and defense was getting difficult.
It wasn't a favorable situation at all. 'Do I need to reveal my powers?'
Varian gnashed his teeth as he sensed the situation he was in.
The three blatant gazes on him couldn't be more obvious.
The 7th Prince's deep gaze, the 2nd Prince's predatory gaze and the 4th Princess'…
'Why is her gaze so creepy?'
Varian didn't have leisure to think. The only possible ways out of this situation was through revealing his power or using the slivers.
'Shards!'
Without hesitation, Varian took out the thin glowing strands. They were significantly different from mini-slivers in the sense they existed in a much more weaker form.
Unlike mini-slivers, shards were used only for the benefit of training. They'd let you grow faster. More shards meant more boost.
But that's it. No one really used shards like slivers.
'They wouldn't even know how to use them.' "Are you offering them as a bribe?" Outside the domain of darkness, Avnir frowned watching Varian's actions.
It's true that he's greedy for Varian's shards. Even though he had over a thousand shards, he didn't mind two hundred more.
He couldn't rob shards from the weaklings as that'd directly break some unwritten rules and give his opponents a chance to attack him.
But snatching them from Varian was something no one could fault him for.
"Why do I need to receive them when I can grab them from you? They are my rightful loot!" With a wave of his hand, the blackholes compressed and shot at Varian.
Even though killing was frowned upon, it's also important to know why. Killing any prince from a faction would anger the faction leaders. Killing any neutral person would offend the strongest neutral member.
But Varian?
'Princess Eshala is about to die off anyway!'
Some ranked princes realized what Avnir wanted to do. A couple agreed with his actions and others thought he was foolish. No matter what, they couldn't stop him.
Boom!
When the three blackholes reached a very close distance, they exploded due to the mutual pull before they could even collide.
Darkness receded as a brilliant light erupted out of the blackholes, bending at the edges and forming beautiful rainbows.
The stage built from divine reinforcement was obliterated.
All that was left was void, void and void.
And in that void…
"W-What?" Avnir's heart nearly stopped for a moment as he saw a silhouette in the bursts of light.
Varian, who was supposed to be gravely injured and knocked out if not outright dead, walked in steady steps.
There were some heavy injuries on his body, but nothing grave. Moreover, a light, a familiar light was glowing all over him, protecting and enhancing him. "S-Shards?"