Avnir didn't have to guess as the space-time fabric which was just recovering from the blackhole explosion bent once again. Before he could even act, the space between him and Varian shrunk.
The well trained instincts kicked into actions before his consciousness could notice and put up a defensive. But Varian's spear, formed with the power of space and infused with the power of shards broke it with ease.
"Kuh!" Blood spilled from the huge cavity the spear drilled in his chest and the invasive space power threw his aura into a multitude of spaces, hindering him from gathering it for any significant attacks.
It's an incredible tough job to do for any space awakener because it needed not just the understanding of space but also gravity.
Varian didn't have the path of gravity but he did study it from Enigma and gained his own insights from space and time.
Avnir got no chance from there. Varian's spear moved in a fashion that gave some princes the illusion that this man was a life ranker excelling in close combat and not a space ranker.
"Arghh!" "No!" "Graaah!" The number two powerhouse of neutral faction, Avnir, collapsed helplessly.
Varian grabbed the shards from him. [Shards: 1299]
No one really understood how he was able to use the shards to enhance his attacks. Even the leaders of the faction were dumbfounded.
How? Just how?
'If they are parts of slivers, they can fuse again to become partial slivers.' Individual shards couldn't help in the battle. So, he simply fused them in the middle of a battle for a brief period.
[I hope you realize how absurd it sounds. Slivers can't just be fused as one liked. M-My case was special but fusing any slivers is exceedingly difficult. It's as hard as reaching rank 3.]
Even though he only fused shards and not slivers, doing it in such a tiny period of time was scary. It was beyond even Logos' expectations.
Varian didn't fully understand the implications of his prowess. 'Status'
[Dragon: 51/100
Titan: 51/100 Phoenix: 51/100 Order: 51/100 Chaos: 51/100 Space: 61/100 (+21)
Time: 61/100 (+21)]
A thousand shards were enough for him to boost his space-time paths with others all the way until peak rank 1.
'I can hunt the rest after I mark them.'
Varian nodded in satisfaction. There's no way he could win the next match. Even though all his paths reached high rank 1, his strength would only reach the early stages of peak rank 1. To give an estimate, he'd be able to take on peak rank 1s until [93] or [94].
If he had to calculate, the 7th Prince and 2nd Prince were both at [99].
Guan was at [98].
Tegya was were at [97].
Samus at [96].
Avnir was at [93] and was the weakest among them.
Even then, he had to struggle to win. 'I have a thousand more shards now and should be exert their strength. Even if I try my luck, [95] is the highest I can go.'
The referee didn't know Varian's thoughts. So, giving him a look of admiration, he had the stage quickly replaced.
"Tegya won against Samus. Blade won against Avnir. The semi-finals are between Tegya and Blade. The winner will face Guan in the finals. The champion will gain the right to challenge."
Guan smirked with confidence and looked up at Eshala to see if she's panicking. 'No, what is she…?'
After a considerable period of rest and recovering to his peak after taking all the supplements they provided, Varian was called onto the stage once again.
A barbaric woman in animal skins stood in front of him, her eyes looking at him like a hunter sizing up the prey.
Varian didn't even want to fight her. There's no way of winning. Not without showing his full power, prolonging the fight long enough for his paths to catch up and then defeating her.
'I'll pretend to be incapacitated and surrender.'
But Avnir already tried to kill him. This woman might do it too. "Hey."
"Hm?"
"Your tendons will make for good bow strings." Tegya licked her lips.
She'd definitely try to kill him. 'I'll have to escape if things go south.'
Varian expanded his senses and locked onto the formations of this avenue. He already studied and found their loopholes.
If he really wanted to, he could teleport away exploiting those loopholes. Even the 7th Prince wouldn't be able to catch him. Without proper knowledge of Order and Chaos, breaking these formations wouldn't be easy. And the key to open these formations was shared by the three leaders.
'I'll get enough gap to slip away.'
Of course, Varian didn't wish to flee if he could help it. He wanted to stay and mark the ranked princes. 'I want more shards.'
[How greedy.]
"The match between Tegya and Blade will no—"
The black sky flashed white and Varian's instincts screamed at the highest they ever did.
He didn't even know what's happening or why it's happening. But he acted without letting his thoughts slow him down. The space-time fabric cracked open. The laws of order-chaos were broken apart. His soul and vitality were compressed before being thrown out of the formation loopholes.
Boom!
Varian teleported right away, falling into a barren space between galaxies. He did so while erasing his aura and life force completely. Not even the 7th Prince and 2nd Prince who were at their peak would be able to sense him.
"Haa! Haa! Haaa!" When he stopped after teleporting a few more times, far away from Andromeda, Varian panted heavily.
Only then did he have the chance to check his body. Half of it was frozen in time and was trying to corrupt the other half.
He quickly destroyed the half to regenerate it again. But doing so, he paid a heavy price in the form of losing a great deal of vitality. "Time power…but why?"
Varian had an ominous premonition and wanted to teleport further away. "Varian!" A shrill voice bombarded the region and Eshala Starlight descended.