The moment the Grand Devil’s voice declared the match’s beginning...
With a roar, the Twin Dragon Spear in his hand surged forward like a golden river breaking its dam. His qi exploded, forming the image of twin celestial dragons behind him roaring, clawing, coiling toward the heavens. His body vanished into a streak of light, heading straight for Damon’s chest.
"[Twin Dragon Sky-Piercing Art]!"
A hundred strikes in one breath.
A technique known to pierce through mountain walls and dissolve defensive arrays in one sweep.
The audience gasped. Some elders from other Universes nodded with approval. The sheer ferocity of the technique left after images in the sky.
He stood there like a mountain unmoved by storms.
When the first spear strike hit...
It sounded like metal striking a divine monument.
Yin Tu’s eyes widened.
Before he could retreat, Damon raised one arm, fingers coated in dark ki. He caught the spear.
Caught it. With two fingers.
"You rely too much on your weapon," Damon said quietly. "And too little on your mind."
With a sudden motion, Damon twisted, and the Twin Dragon Spear snapped clean in half like dried wood.
The arena erupted into chaos.
"He broke it... with bare hands?"
"That spear was soul-bound! A Heaven-tier weapon!"
Yin Tu stumbled back, blood leaking from his mouth as his soul connection was torn.
Before he could recover...
Damon appeared behind him in an instant and struck his back with an open palm.
Yin Tu was launched forward like a falling star. He crashed into the arena wall, carving a deep crater as dust and rubble exploded outward.
Damon walked slowly, like the reaper coming for the soul that dared speak too loudly.
From the crater, Yin Tu rose, shaking.
His proud robes were in tatters.
Half his face was swollen.
His dantian was trembling under the pressure of Damon’s palm strike.
His confidence had shattered.
"You..." Yin Tu coughed blood, "You dared break my soul weapon..."
Damon tilted his head.
"You dared talk down to Universe One."
Yin Tu’s fury ignited. His body shone with golden flames as he activated a forbidden art.
His pupils turned to slits.
His skin cracked with glowing marks.
"Twin Dragon Ancestral Form!" he bellowed.
His power surged, doubled, no, triple what it was before.
His broken spear reformed from qi alone, burning like molten gold.
He rushed forward, screaming like a mad beast, tearing through the stage with his transformed form.
Even Kaelra narrowed her eyes.
But Damon only exhaled slowly.
And then, he raised his hand to the sky.
A deep black circle opened behind his back. Thunderclouds gathered above the arena. Lightning coiled and shrieked. The wind turned cold.
From the black circle, a dark flame emerged, slowly spinning, devouring the air around it.
The ground beneath Damon’s feet cracked and caved in.
Barseagle’s face turned grim.
The Grand Elder stood. "He’s activating it already..."
Kaelra frowned. "The annihilation ki... so early?"
He whispered: "Damon... don’t go too far."
Back on the stage, Damon’s calm eyes locked onto the charging Yin Tu.
He lifted his hand, and the black flame fused into his arm.
From calm and heavy...
Into devastating and absolute...
His voice was calm, but it echoed like thunder:
"Annihilation Transformation — First Gate: Soul Severing."
Yin Tu’s face twisted in horror.
The arena turned black and white.
A pillar of dark energy exploded upward.
And the crowd could only watch in stunned silence as Yin Tu’s golden spear shattered, his qi collapsed, and his body...
disappeared into the storm.
The dust had not even cleared...
And Damon stood in the center, his eyes now glowing with pure black light, his form wrapped in annihilation ki.
Right at Universe Twelve’s team.
He raised a single finger and pointed at the next.
The Grand Devil smiled.
"...It seems Universe One has been underestimated."
The crowd had yet to recover from the chaos Damon had unleashed. The golden prodigy of Universe Twelve, Yin Tu, was not just defeated... He was erased. His soul aura had vanished completely. Only smoldering fragments of his shattered qi lingered like ash on the wind.
The cultivators of Universe Twelve stood frozen in disbelief.
But high above the arena, in the VIP platform reserved for divine beings, a chilling pressure suddenly descended.
The clouds above the Arena of Supremacy twisted violently.
A terrifying wave of Divine Might surged from the heavens.
"YOU DARE KILL A CHOSEN OF MY UNIVERSE?!"
A streak of golden lightning shot down from the sky. A figure wrapped in divine light descended, standing mid-air with one hand raised.
It was none other than the True God of Universe Twelve, a being whose power level had reached Universe level long ago. His gaze burned with fury, his robes fluttering from the sheer pressure of his Divine Ki.
"Ant from Universe One!" he roared. "You’ve gone too far!"
With a single gesture, he summoned a divine sword of judgment... radiant, ancient, and carved with the Laws of Heaven itself.
It descended straight toward Damon’s head.
The audience cried out in panic.
Even the other Universes’ envoys stood in alarm. A True God had acted against a participant? This was not just arrogance. It was blasphemy against the rules of the Tournament!
Just as the divine sword was about to strike...
A vast ripple of void space swallowed the attack whole. A massive black gate appeared midair, snapping the divine sword into fragments.
A cold and ancient force bound the True God in place like chains forged from the laws of space.
The Grand Devil had moved.
She stood atop the arena’s floating throne, eyes narrowed, one hand glowing with the power of spatial dominion. In her other hand was a long scepter made from collapsed galaxies, her Space Law Armament.
"True Gods are forbidden from interfering," she said icily. "Have you forgotten where you stand? This is not your universe. This is the Arena of Supremacy."
The bound True God struggled, his eyes full of disbelief. "You would restrain me for a mere mortal?!"
But he could not finish.
A terrifying wave of destructive black-red energy crashed across the arena.
The clouds evaporated.
Even the dimensional boundaries screamed.
Everyone instinctively turned toward the source...
His robes fluttered slightly, his hand raised lazily, wrapped in a cyclone of Destruction Ki.
His eyes, indifferent.
"I was willing to overlook your universe’s barking," Ian said. "But attacking my friend...?"
He stepped forward once, and space shattered beneath his feet like glass.
"I don’t care if you’re a True God," Ian said. "You touch what’s mine, you face annihilation."
The True God’s eyes went wide.
But Ian had already raised two fingers, channeling his Destruction Laws.
[True Art: World-End Severing Light].
The entire sky turned dark.
A beam of destruction pierced through the heavens and tore through the bound True God’s divine body.
With a single cry, the True God was erased, body, soul, and Divine Will, gone.
Only silence followed.
The crowd was frozen in fear.
Even the other True Gods of different Universes dared not move.
The Grand Devil stood still.
She simply gave a slow nod, her eyes calm, respectful. Ian’s status, the Grand God of Destruction, was not a name.
It was an absolute truth.
Only she stood equal to him.
And even she did not want to test that balance.
But the silence broke again, this time from Universe Eight.
One of their envoys rose.
"Why was Ian allowed to interfere directly in battle?"
Another from Universe Nine added, "If a Grand God can act so freely, is this still a fair tournament?"
Then, from Universe Three: "Is this tournament not rigged for Universe One?"
The air turned tense again.
But before the Grand Devil could speak, Ian slowly turned to the questioning gods.
That alone made them flinch.
The Grand Devil’s lips curled slightly, her voice sharp and cold.
"Do you think fairness means anything when faced with power?"
She looked around the arena.
"Ian is the Grand God of Destruction. Equal to me. If any of you feel wronged, fight him. If you think the tournament is unfair, stop him."
Her voice rang like a divine decree.
"Otherwise, shut your mouths."
The arena fell into silence again.
Because they had seen the truth.
That even the heavens feared Ian.
Among the silent crowd, a young man from Universe Nine narrowed his eyes.
A girl from Universe Ten clenched her fists.
A hidden clan elder from Universe Twelve turned and whispered, "So... that’s the real power, only equal to the Grand Devil."