Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 864: Sneaking Into Top 8 [GT Ranking Bonus Chapter]

The spectators didn’t cheer. They sat speechless at what they had just witnessed. They had expected some sort of back-and-forth battle between Finch and Hilton. They knew about both parties’ strength, only for Hilton to get utterly dominated without a single chance to breathe.

People couldn’t help but look at Lior in a new light as they pitied Hilton. The match was over in less than five minutes, and even most of that time had been spent by Hilton talking to Finch.

But unknown to everyone, including Hilton himself, Lior had been holding back a great deal because of his After Damage ability. If he hadn’t been, Hilton wouldn’t have survived the first attack. He would have simply died outright, forcing the Crownstar Life Ranker to save him.

Many immediately wore wide smiles. After all, they had already placed stakes on the match, as the betting organisation was working overtime as usual. But of course, not everyone was a winner. After all, some people had thought that Finch’s luck was going to end here. What more could his luck possibly do against such monstrous students?

“FINCH!!!”

“FINCH!!!”

“SWORD SAVANT LIOR!!!”

“LIOR THE SWORD GOD!!!”

Cheers immediately erupted as the crowd chanted and clapped their hands. Although the battle had ended almost instantly, they all fucking loved it. The brutality, the efficiency, the mercilessness, they welcomed it all.

Lior turned and returned to Finch’s side. He turned invisible and vanished into Finch’s chest, sinking back into his soul. Finch turned around and waved at his fans with a smile on his face. Why wouldn’t he be happy? He had won without taking a single step, and that called for immense celebration. Even if he lost the next match, he wouldn’t care. After all, he had won at least one match and hadn’t gone out as a complete loser.

Surely, with this match alone, he had snuck into the top eight, right?

With that, he stepped onto his chain once again as he flew towards his throne-like chair. Hilton’s own seat immediately vanished from the sky following his defeat.

Thomasinho and AlyxAtlas floated downwards with smiles on their faces.

“This is what we are talking about. No mercy, just pure power and dominance. With just the first match, we are already off to a great start,” Thomasinho stated with a wide smile.

“It seems the Goblin, Lior, possesses far more power than it chooses to show. I hope we get to see more of that when Finch fights again,” AlyxAtlas stated as she analysed the situation.

Since the match had ended so swiftly, there was nothing to talk about aside from Finch’s overwhelming dominance, so they simply moved on to the next matchup.

“Let us see what the next match has in store for us,” Thomasinho stated as his eyes shifted towards the huge television, with the eyes of millions following as the names on the screen began to shuffle once more before suddenly coming to a halt.

ZIS ZAITSU VERSUS TEO SWIG.

The moment the names appeared, anticipation spiked. After all, these two were powerhouses within their respective Academies and Empires.

Zis Zaitsu’s green eyes shifted towards Teo Swig, but Teo Swig didn’t glance back at him, as though he couldn’t be bothered to do so.

“As usual, you both will draw cards from the box,” AlyxAtlas stated as a box appeared before the two students.

Neither Zis nor Teo reacted. They simply drew their cards, with Zis Zaitsu drawing the green card. With that, he channelled his thoughts into the Worldshaper’s Relic, but he didn’t really choose a different environment. He simply added more tall, jagged stone pillars.

With that, both of them shot towards the ground below, landing a few metres away from each other with their weapons in hand. Thomasinho and AlyxAtlas didn’t announce the commencement of the battle immediately. They allowed the people to place their bets first. After all, it seemed as though these two were equal in power.

“Begin,” AlyxAtlas immediately gave the signal.

Unlike Finch and Hilton, who had stood around gazing into each other’s eyes, Zis and Teo did no such thing. They moved the moment the signal was given. No hesitation, no second-guessing, just pure motion.

In a blur, they arrived at the same point in space, Teo’s glaive tearing towards Zis’ neck with chilling precision. But Zis’ reaction was anything but slow. He simply raised his guitar and blocked the incoming attack with ease. Concentric waves of wind pressure burst outwards, reducing everything within a couple of hundred metres to nothing but rubble and shattered stone.

Their eyes met, and the next moment they vanished, both of them becoming black blurs as their speed and strength climbed with each passing moment, as though they possessed limitless physical prowess.

Although Zis was a black man who naturally possessed greater base strength than most, Teo, being a genius, was able to take every attack without taking a single step backwards. And although Zis’ soul-bound weapon was a guitar, the man wielded it with the efficiency of a true Weapons Master, holding back Teo’s endless stream of attacks while unleashing devastating blunt-force strikes of his own.

He deflected the glaive to the side with the body of his guitar, a smile on his face as the instrument spun dexterously in his hand while he held it by the neck. Without missing a beat, he slammed the side of the guitar’s body towards Teo Swig’s head. But Teo Swig simply ducked, as though he had seen the attack coming from a mile away.

The moment Teo Swig ducked, the sole of his foot screamed upwards towards Zis’ jaw with battering force. Zis knew he couldn’t dodge or block in time, so he simply tapped into his Astra Energy, manipulating sound to create a thick barrier just beneath his jaw. As the attack connected with the barrier, the force still snapped his head backwards as his body shot upwards like a rocket.

Teo Swig immediately followed. His feet met the vertical side of a jagged pillar as he moved, and with one final step, he launched himself into the air. His figure appeared directly above Zis as his glaive, wrapped in swirling wind currents, shot downwards towards him.

Zis didn’t just stand there looking. His guitar appeared in his hands while he was still mid-air, and with a single thought, it expanded. In the next instant, with a cataclysmic burst, Teo Swig’s attack thundered against the enlarged guitar, unleashing another devastating shockwave that tore through the battlefield, sweeping away dust and stones while destroying countless pillars. Spectators were nearly blown off their feet by the impact once again.

Still holding his guitar, Zis flew backwards, creating distance between himself and the airborne Teo. He instantly detached the tuning pegs from his guitar, enlarged all six of them, then launched them towards Teo like bullets. Although Teo couldn’t fly, that didn’t mean he couldn’t perform aerial manoeuvres while suspended in the air. Manipulating the wind current around him, he effortlessly dodged to the side while simultaneously manipulating the wind current around each tuning peg to bend their trajectories off course.

With a flick of his wrist, the air immediately became scorching as the temperature soared. Hundreds of flame constructs floated around him, and without a shred of hesitation, he fired them towards Zis.

Zis didn’t panic. He simply smirked, thoroughly enjoying the aerial direction the battle was taking. His guitar immediately moved beneath his feet, allowing him to stand atop it like a skateboard as the constructs gave chase. But he didn’t merely evade; he defended. The strings of the guitar appeared in his hands, and without missing a beat, he lashed them outwards like a whip, destroying each construct the moment it came close.

Teo Swig, seeing this, immediately changed tactics as he directed his flame constructs to cut off every one of Zis’ paths of retreat. The moment he did so, he detonated every flame construct at once. The air immediately swelled as the temperature rose to unimaginable levels, sizzling violently as smoke and explosive shockwaves erupted across the battlefield.

The very next second, Zis could be seen falling from the sky without a single injury on his body, having wrapped himself inside a sound barrier with expert precision.

The audience was having the time of their lives as the temperature rose and sweat poured down their bodies, yet none of them complained. They welcomed it all with wide grins as the shockwaves and blast waves reached them next, knocking many of them off their feet and out of their seats.