Back inside the arena, Rakan slowly lowered his fists, and his bronze aura began to settle. Max watched him calmly and made no move to attack.
Rakan drew a deep breath, and then he laughed once. The laugh was not loud, and it was not arrogant. It was a rough sound woven from helplessness, admiration, and a warrior’s honest acceptance.
"I lose."
The words carried across the stage, and the entire Divine Realm fell silent once more. Rakan Thorne, the first Warlord of the War God Palace, had just admitted defeat in a battle of pure body strength.
Max lowered his hand. "You are strong," he said calmly.
Rakan looked at him and shook his head. "Not strong enough."
Max did not mock him.
Rakan stared down at his trembling fists and smiled bitterly. "I opened three limits of the War God Body, and I still could not move a single finger. If this had been a fight to the death, you would have crushed me the moment you brought out that dragon power."
Max remained silent. Rakan lifted his head again, and though his eyes still burned, the battle inside him had already ended.
"I accept defeat."
Angelina Valerius looked at the two of them and made the announcement in a calm voice.
[Winner: Max Morgan.]
[Rakan Thorne Defeated.]
The screen above the arena changed immediately.
[Battle Record Updated.]
[Max Morgan]
[Total Battles Fought: 2]
[Total Wins: 2]
[Battle Record Updated.]
[Rakan Thorne]
[Total Battles Fought: 3]
[Total Wins: 2]
The result appeared before everyone, and for a moment no one reacted at all. Then the Divine Realm erupted.
At the Black Dragon Clan, countless disciples screamed Max’s name with everything their lungs could give, and some grew so excited that their voices cracked. Lady Virelia gazed at the screen with a faint smile, though her eyes held an emotion that ran far deeper than simple pride.
The seven family heads stood in silence for a few breaths until one of them finally burst out laughing, and soon the rest of them followed.
At the War God Palace, the disciples stayed quiet. No one blamed Rakan, and no one would have dared to. They had watched the entire battle unfold. Rakan had opened three limits and had fought with every ounce of power his body could release at this stage of his cultivation, yet Max had surpassed him in the very field that was the War God Palace’s greatest pride.
A defeat of that kind could not be waved away with excuses. It could only be swallowed.
On the central stage, Rakan looked at Max one final time as the transfer light began to descend.
"Next time," he said, "I will have broken the fourth limit."
Max smiled faintly. "We will see."
Rakan stared at him for a moment, and then he laughed loudly as the transfer light carried him back to his pillar.
Max returned to his own pillar a moment later, the Vein of Origin gradually quieting within his body while the power of the two thousand Draconic Essences settled back into his flesh.
The other participants looked at him differently now. Before this battle, they had known Max was dangerous. After this battle, they understood something far more unsettling.
Even when he set aside Dragonheart, the Emotion Severing Path, the Divine King Punishment, the Heavenly Luminance Divine Bloodline, his dragon scales, and every other hidden power he carried, his body alone was enough to crush one of the strongest body cultivators of the entire younger generation.
The final petitive stage had only just begun, but Max Morgan had already shaken the Divine Realm.
After Max and Rakan returned to their pillars, the entire Eternal Hourglass arena remained restless for a long while.
Rakan Thorne had lost, and he had not lost through swordsmanship, nor through a Pseudo Cosmic Path, nor through soul power, lightning, space, or bloodline suppression. He had lost in a battle of pure body strength, and that fact made the result far more shocking than any ordinary defeat.
The first Warlord of the War God Palace had opened the first three limits of the War God Body, yet Max had stopped his full-strength attacks with a single finger after bining the Vein of Origin with the power of two thousand Draconic Essences.
That one scene had swept across the Divine Realm like a thunderclap, and countless forces watching the conference quietly began recalculating Max Morgan’s position in their plans.
Inside the arena, the remaining participants also looked at Max with new eyes. Damian Voss’s gaze toward him had grown sharper, and Orion Starfall’s smile now carried a deeper layer of interest. Kaiden Voidmere watched him as though attempting to decipher a plicated secret, while Ervin remained silent, though his eyes no longer drifted away from Max casually.
Revona’s Void Origin Eyes opened and closed from time to time, as if even she was weighing how her nullification would fare against a body foundation of that kind.
Angelina Valerius did not allow the arena to linger in its shock for long, because the final petitive stage had to continue.
"The next battle will now begin," she said calmly.
The screen above the arena spun once more.
[Final petitive Stage, Battle Twenty-Four]
[Selene Vaeloria vs Hadeon Granite]
Selene stepped onto the stage wearing a cold expression. She had already lost to Ervin, and that defeat plainly weighed on her pride. Hadeon Granite, by contrast, was a defensive fighter who had already endured several punishing matchups. The moment the battle began, he wrapped himself in layers of gray stone armor and tried to hold out while waiting for an opening.
Selene refused to give him one. Heavenly Luminance light flooded across the stage, and the Heavenly Luminance Queen Avatar materialized behind her in a flash. She raised one hand, and twelve radiant edicts descended at once. Hadeon’s stone armor cracked beneath the pressure and his barriers dimmed, and before he could reinforce them, a spear of golden white light came to a halt before his forehead.
"I surrender," Hadeon said bitterly.
[Winner: Selene Vaeloria.]
[Hadeon Granite Defeated.]
[Battle Record Updated.]
[Selene Vaeloria]
[Total Battles Fought: 3]
[Total Wins: 2]
[Battle Record Updated.]
[Hadeon Granite]
[Total Battles Fought: 2]
[Total Wins: 0]
Selene returned to her pillar, but her expression did not soften. A victory over Hadeon could not erase her loss to Ervin, nor could it wash away the humiliation of having been defeated by Max before the final stage had even begun.
The next battle arrived quickly.
[Final petitive Stage, Battle Twenty-Five]
[Damian Voss vs Yelric Flamehorn]
Yelric Flamehorn’s face went stiff the instant he saw Damian’s name. He had already lost to Revona, and now he faced the strongest genius of the Sword God Palace. Even so, he did not surrender on the spot, for his pride would not permit it. Flames erupted across his body, and he charged forward with a blazing halberd in hand.
Damian drew his sword. His first slash cut the flames apart, his second slash severed the halberd’s head from its shaft, and his third stroke of sword light came to rest at Yelric’s throat. The battle ended so cleanly that many spectators had barely begun to cheer before Angelina announced the result.
[Winner: Damian Voss.]
[Yelric Flamehorn Defeated.]
[Battle Record Updated.]
[Damian Voss]
[Total Battles Fought: 4]
[Total Wins: 4]
[Battle Record Updated.]
[Yelric Flamehorn]
[Total Battles Fought: 2]
[Total Wins: 0]
Damian returned to his pillar with the same posed expression, still keeping his Pseudo Cosmic Path hidden. Max watched him quietly. Damian’s swordsmanship remained simple, direct, and terrifyingly refined, and every time he fought, he revealed only enough to win and not a fraction more.
The battles pressed onward.
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