Kai’s heart began to beat furiously against his ribs. He could hear his own blood rushing in his ears. The exhaustion from the morning fights completely, instantly vanished. His muscles twitched with raw, explosive power. He felt like he could lift a mountain. He felt like he could run across the ocean. He felt absolutely, incredibly invincible. "Do you guys feel that?" Kai asked. His voice was deeper, slightly hoarse. His hands shook, not with fear, but with pure, uncontainable energy. "I feel like I am going to explode," Jian smiled. It was a wide, wild, almost crazy smile. Seraphina turned away from the door. She looked at her students. She immediately sensed the massive, sudden spike in their auras. The air around the teenagers was vibrating. Tiny sparks of blue static electricity literally danced across Kai’s plain steel sword. "What is happening to you?" Seraphina asked, stepping forward in alarm. "Your mana... it is spiking dangerously high! Did you take forbidden pills?

The afternoon sun burned hotly in the bright blue sky above the Imperial Capital. Down on the white sand of the Grand Arena, the broken, unconscious bodies of the Golden Talons had just been carried away by the healers. The millions of people in the crowd were completely silent. They were still in absolute shock. The "Monsters in Sheep's Clothing" from the Cloud-Soaring Sect had just finished destroying every single junior fighter placed in front of them. But the junior matches were only the beginning of the tournament. The real power was about to step onto the sand. In the center of the arena, the Imperial Herald raised his glowing magical staff. "Citizens of the Empire!" the Herald shouted. His magically amplified voice echoed loudly off the high marble walls. "The Junior division matches are finished for the day! Now, we move to the true test of power! It is time for the Sovereign Tier!"The crowd suddenly woke up from their shock. They erupted into a massive, deafening cheer.

A loud, piercing, beautiful sound echoed from inside the dome of fire. It was the sound of a dark sword being drawn from a clear scabbard. A massive, incredibly thick wave of pitch-black, freezing fog erupted from the very center of the inferno. It was the Abyssal Frost. The dark fog rolled outward, moving like a wild, chaotic winter storm. It crashed directly into the walls of roaring orange fire. The crowd watched in absolute, jaw-dropping disbelief. The black ice did not melt when it touched the fire. It did the exact opposite. It consumed the heat. The dark fog wrapped around the tall, dancing flames. The loud, roaring sound of the fire suddenly turned into a strange, sharp crackling noise. The fifty-foot-tall flames literally froze solid. The fire stopped dancing. The orange and yellow colors were trapped inside thick, jagged blocks of black and blue ice. It was a physics-defying, impossible sight. A giant dome of actual, physical fire had been completely frozen in place,

The second day of the Grand Tournament of Sovereigns began with a heavy, nervous energy. The bright morning sun shined down on the giant white marble arena. Millions of people sat in the tall stadium seats. But they were not loud and happy like yesterday. They were whispering. They were looking nervously at the Royal Box, and then looking down at the dirty Coach's Box where the Cloud-Soaring Sect sat. Yesterday, Acting Sect Master Seraphina had pointed her black ice sword directly at the Emperor. It was a massive insult. It was a declaration of war. Everyone in the capital city knew that the Emperor was furious. They knew that the Saint-Aurelius Clan was going to punish the mountain kids today. They were waiting for a bloody execution. "The Quarter-Finals of the Junior Division!" the Imperial Herald shouted into his glowing magical staff. His voice echoed across the white sand. The Herald pointed his staff at the giant, floating blue screens in the sky. "This is the match the wh

Kai, Lin, and Jian surrounded the three golden princes. They did not try to pierce the shields. They just hit them. They kicked the golden barriers with their heavy boots. They smashed them with their elbows. They swung their sheathed swords like heavy iron hammers. The entire arena echoed with the loud, ringing sounds of heavy impacts. The millions of people in the crowd stared in absolute, jaw-dropping shock. Inside the golden bubbles, the arrogant princes were falling apart. Titus fell to his knees. His nose was bleeding. His ears were ringing so loudly he could not hear himself screaming. His vision was spinning. The constant, brutal kinetic shockwaves were rattling his organs. He was trapped inside his own defensive shield, being beaten to death by vibrations. "Make it stop!" Titus cried, dropping to his hands and knees in the sand. "My head!"Up in the Royal Box, the Emperor stood up from his golden throne. His face was twisted with pure, absolute fury. "What are they doin