Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 860: Life Guard

As Asher slept, the familiar chime of his system echoed within his consciousness, pulling him out of the dream realm.

[Host, you’ve been sleeping for the past nine hours. Only twenty minutes remain before the next round starts]

Asher’s eyes fluttered open as the light filling the room flooded his vision. He yawned as he stretched without a care in the world. His purple eyes shifted to the side, and there, Teo Swig and Lawrence Shade were seated with their backs against the bed’s headboard, their hands folded across their chests as they simply stared at him as though he were some rare mythical creature.

It seemed that neither of them had slept at all.

Asher’s eyes turned to the other side, where Finch could be seen sitting calmly. He had already woken up a few hours earlier and had simply been chatting with Teo Swig and Lawrence Shade. He, too, stared at Asher with the same expression.

“Why are the three of you looking at me like that?” Asher asked, confused.

Finch shook his head with a sigh as he spoke. “You know, with how ridiculously powerful you are, I thought you always slept less and spent all your time training. But sleeping for nine whole hours, and to top it off, during the Inter-Empire Competition, is simply crazy to me.”

Asher sat there, stunned, as he realized that these people were looking at him this way simply because he had slept for a couple of hours longer than they expected.

“We were given enough time to rest. I’m simply doing exactly what I’m supposed to do,” Asher replied with a shake of his head before yawning again.

Teo Swig and Lawrence Shade seemed like they wanted to say something but decided not to cross any lines. After all, they weren’t friends with Asher, and they had to remember that he was a Wargrave, despite the fact that he didn’t walk around with an expressionless face.

So Asher’s words, they simply shook their heads and decided not to speak.

Twenty minutes swiftly went by, and soon, the staff member who had led each Empire’s students to their designated specialized locations arrived. She simply knocked before opening the door without waiting for their permission.

Asher, Finch, Lawrence, and Teo rose to their feet as they stepped out of the room with calm eyes and confident expressions. Around them, the other students also stepped out, each of them gazing at one another before simply following behind the staff members as they headed toward the familiar open space of the Coliseum.

Asher and the rest of the fifteen students stepped into the open arena, and the moment they did, the fans who had been restless earlier erupted with deafening cheers as the final round was finally about to begin. The last ten hours had been more agonizing than anything else for them. They whistled, waved various flags bearing different names, and held up placards of all kinds.

All in all, the atmosphere was electric.

Thomasinho and AlyxAtlas appeared in a blur, microphones already in hand as they both screamed into them at the same time.

“WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK!!!”

The crowd matched their energy as they broke into countless chants, cheers, and thunderous roars.

Asher, who was standing amongst the students, remained expressionless, but his mind wandered in an entirely different direction.

‘I wonder if there are racist people or groups in this world,’ he thought to himself in silence. Then he shook his head. ‘I should stop thinking about useless and negative things.’

Thomasinho and AlyxAtlas waited for the noise to die down and for the crowd to settle before they began speaking once more. With that, AlyxAtlas stepped forward with a bright smile plastered across her face.

“In case you’ve somehow been oblivious, the round we are about to enter is the final round of the Inter-Empire Competition,” she announced in a high-pitched tone.

“And the format of this next round is a one-versus-one battle. No teams, no monsters, no distractions. Just power against power. Talent against talent. Ability against ability. Genius against genius. Scheme against scheme,” Thomasinho followed with a smirk.

“So I ask,” AlyxAtlas declared once again, “ARE WE READY FOR THE ULTIMATE PEAK OF THE INTER-EMPIRE COMPETITION?” Her voice was no different from the roar of a beast.

“WE ARE!!!”

The crowd thundered in unison, their voices echoing throughout the colossal Coliseum like a deafening thunderclap.

“Now, the rules of this round,” Thomasinho began, his eyes shifting toward the students below, “we are all warriors here. Therefore, we are not going to pamper any of you simply because you’re students. Absolutely not.”

“In this round, everything goes. No holding back. There is no such thing as avoiding your opponent’s vital organs to prevent death. You fight as though this is a true death match. Simply fight to kill. Fight until your opponent can no longer move. Attack the heart, the eyes, the brain, or any organ or vital point you can think of,” Thomasinho stated with a grin.

“But of course, that doesn’t mean we would actually allow you to kill one another. No Empire would ever allow that,” AlyxAtlas continued. “So, for this round, the Inter-Empire Competition has deployed a Radiant Crownstar Life Ranker to act as your life guard. Simply put, whenever any one of you is genuinely about to die from an attack, an injury, or anything else, the Crownstar Life Ranker will immediately intervene and save you. And needless to say, that intervention will result in your defeat,” she explained calmly, her black eyes focused intently on the students.

Thomasinho didn’t speak immediately afterward. Instead, he simply waited for a few seconds, allowing both the students and the audience to fully process everything they had just heard.

“And for clarification, no complaints will be entertained when the Crownstar Life Ranker saves you. Your perception and theirs aren’t even remotely comparable. Hell, there are dozens of Crownstar Life Rankers present at this very moment, so we certainly hope we don’t have to witness the disgraceful sight of someone claiming they could have dodged an attack or saved themselves after a Crownstar Life Ranker intervenes. After all, I’m sure the Crownstar Life Rankers from the other Empires won’t simply sit back and watch if that were truly the case,” Thomasinho stated as though he were speaking from experience. After all, some people were simply sore losers who couldn’t accept defeat.

AlyxAtlas, who floated beside Thomasinho, added, “And before you accuse a Crownstar Life Ranker of anything, I sincerely hope you have a Crownstar Life Ranker backing you or your family. After all, accusing a World Powerhouse is definitely… a life-changing event.” Her tone was almost amused, as though she secretly wished someone would actually do it just so she could watch the inevitable chaos unfold.

Asher’s purple eyes shifted to the side as he observed the other students, wondering if there was anyone foolish enough to actually do such a thing. After all, such behavior would simply make others look down upon both your Academy and your Empire.

‘I wonder which Empire the Crownstar Life Ranker is from,’ Asher thought to himself, curious but not particularly bothered.

With that, he shook his head, choosing to stop thinking about it and instead focus on what was being said. After all, everyone, even the crowd, was listening with rapt attention.

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