"Normal light sources won't work!" Ignatia shouted in frustration and fear. "The darkness is literally eating the light""Then we fight blind," Grendel replied, refusing to give up. "Champions, call out enemy positions! Normal fighters, defensive circles!"It was a chaos trying to organize any kind of formation in the complete darkness. People continually bumped to each other, screaming in panic, and swung their weapons wildly at any shadows that might or might not be actual enemies.Different with Devon who could clearly see the auras of all his allies, and he could accurately track the darkness minions' darting movements. The minions themselves looked like smaller version of the main Titan's body, vaguely humanoid but made of condensed darkness.And they moved incredibly fast, darting between the humans and stroke from unexpected angles."Three o'clock, ten meters!" Devon shouted the warning to his people, trying to help those around him who couldn't see anything. A quick volley of

The first lightning bolt struck the arena floor with destructive power.Then the second followed immediately after the first one.Then literally a thousand more struck the entire arena all at once in horrifying cascade.The darkness realm lit up brighter than daytime as lightning pouring out from Zeus's champion like a waterfall of pure destruction. It struck everywhere, filling every inch of the darkness realm with furry.The darkness screamed out loud in pain.Devon had never heard the darkness make any kind of sound before, but it was screaming right now. The shadow realm was being burned away, forced to retreat, and it howled like a wounded animal.[Health: 201,445/250,000][Health: 156,223/250,000][Health: 98,772/250,000]But not only the darkness got the effect from the bolts, the safe zone was also shuddered violently under the assault. Lightning hammered against the death magic barrier from all sides.Devon gritted his teeth, feeling his ME draining rapidly to maintain the pr

The Titan seemed to realize what they were doing. It raised one elegant hand and made a grasping motion with its fingers.Every spectral construct, every summon, every animated object in the arena suddenly froze in place. Then they all exploded simultaneously into motes of light and vanished.[CORRUPTION TITAN ABILITY][BANISH SUMMONS][All proxy attacks nullified]"Well, shit," Devon said, seeing the failure.The Titan pointed at Devon specifically, that single vertical eye-slit glowing brighter. It had identified him as the one who figured out the proxy strategy. And it wasn't happy about it.The Void Blade swung toward him from across the arena, the blade extending impossibly far, stretching and ripping through space itself to reach him.With Death Realm Step, the Void Blade passed through his incorporeal form. But when he rematerialized, the blade was already coming back for a second strike. He couldn't phase again as the ability was on cooldown."Essence Barrier!" he shouted, act

For some moments, nobody moved or spoke. Then suddenly, someone laughed hysterically, followed by the other who started crying with relief and exhaustion altogether.More sounds joined in crying, laughing, and cheering. Those were the noises of people who had just survived the impossible.[FIRST ELIMINATION ROUND COMPLETED][Surviving Participants: 472][Congratulations on your survival]Devon fell to his knees as the utter exhaustion hit him all at once. His muscles gave out, his vision swarm, and even his breathing felt like a work he was obliged to do.‘We did it… we survived..’ His thoughts were churning on those words, not believing it.Out from his state, he could hear footsteps rushing toward him and someone was calling out his name. In the next moment, he felt someone hug him tight.“You idiot.”It was Raline. She sobbed and dug her face onto his shoulder. “You reckless idiot.”Her whole body shook with crying, feeling relief and fear and anger inside her. Devon finally realiz

An hour later, all 472 participants, which Grendel now called them as the alliance, gathered in one particular spot in one of the arena’s sides.Devon stood with the other champions at the front, looking out at the faces of people who had fought against the Corrupted Titan beside him.Grendel was the one who did the talking, his voice could be heard in the entire arena easily with one of his abilities.“First, congratulations everyone. We all have survived the First Round and that puts all of us in the top ninety percent of all participants.”A few weak cheers rose up, but most were just listening. Everyone was exhausted to give any cheering applause right now.Grendel ignored the silence and continued. “Second, we will tell you some information. This tournament is bigger than we all may have thought. We're probably not just fighting humans, we will fight other races, with perhaps thousands of champions. But that's a guess.”Murmurs started to spread through the gathered crowd.“The g