The silver-robed adept waiting by the stage spoke, seeing that both parties had arrived.
"Now that you have both arrived, please let your chosen esoteric adept enter the stage! Remember, adepts are not allowed the attack each other. Only your golems are allowed to fight with each other. Any party that violates the rules will be awarded the loss. Please be careful with your spells! Very well, you may enter the stage now!"
The silver-robed adept might only be First Grade, but he represented the Silver Union. Even the Second Grade adepts of the two clans didn't dare to be disrespectful to him. Greem and Rouneau quickly stepped up and stood before the silver-robed adept.
The silver-robed adept looked at the Golem Knight first. An expression of great desire and admiration appeared on his face. However he couldn't help but be stunned for a second when he looked towards Greem "You are Greem? Representing the Byron Clan? Where's your golem?"
Greem took a summoning core out of his belt and threw it to the ground. The sound of a fiery explosion rang out, and a massive and powerful giant rose from the flames, standing silently beside Greem.
"An elementium golem!"
"To fight an magical puppet with an elementium golem. The Byrons must have gone mad… "
"Indeed. Are the Byrons such fools? To use an elementium golem against a magical puppet… "
A wave of noise rose as chattering and murmuring spread throughout the crowd, quickly drowning the Byron Clan adepts with their voices.
Adept Nunnally coldly scanned the entire place with her Spiritual flux. All the clamoring died down instantly. A Second Grade adept was almost always respected, regardless of where they went. Before they humiliated and insulted the Byron Clan, they would have to consider whether they had the ability to endure the wrath of a Second Grade adept.
Everyone had a clear understanding of the situation.
The Byron Clan had clearly sent an elementium adept to this duel. The golem he used for the duel was even an elementium golem. Either of these factors alone were enough to lose them the duel. Both of these factors together probably spelled certain defeat.
So what if an elementium adept was good at a fight? The adepts weren't allowed to cast spells at any target but their own golems in an esoteric duel. The strength and prowess of an elementium adept was completely wasted here. Moreover, the elementium golem had too weak of a body. It wouldn't be able to endure the violent and brutal blows of the magical puppet. It seemed that today's outcome had already been sealed in fate.
The silver-robed adept couldn't help but let out a sigh and waved his hands to have the two enter the stage.
Rouneau led the Golem Knight onto the stage and Greem brought his Infernal Tyrant along with him. A temporary entrance had been made in the barrier, and the two entered from there.
As the entrance slowly disappeared, the arena once again became an enclosed space.
When looking from the inside, a grey barrier of light had completely covered the place. The view of the outside had also been obscured by a layer of mist. Neither Greem nor Rouneau could see the spectators nor hear any of their noise.
This was set up to prevent outside interference in the duel!
Greem brought the Infernal Tyrant to one side of the barrier and waited for the start of the duel. He turned just in time to catch the sinister smile on Rouneau's face.
"Kid, you had best yield quickly! Don't get too heartbroken when your golem is torn to pieces!"
Greem shook his head as he laughed. He had no intention of talking to someone that was about to lose to him.
"I hereby announce, that the duel has started!" The silver-robed adept's voice rang out within the stage.
Greem instantly took out a vial of grey potion and swallowed everything in one gulp.
Chapter 286
Everything went black for a short two seconds.
When he finally regained consciousness, he was placed within a crimson sea of fire.
No, he hadn't been thrown into a fire, but… it was his spirit consciousness had been inserted into the Infernal Tyrant's control core. He had become an actual Infernal Tyrant!
The crisp mechanical voice of the chip rang out in his mind the moment he woke up.
"Beep. Spirit relocation completed. Connection passage stable. Consciousness relocation complete. Compatible affinity.… all factors have reached expected targets. Requesting instructions from host. Begin control? Warning. Amount of Dead Soul's Water protecting spirit consciousness is limited. Estimated time remaining for spirit relocation: 2 hours, 17 minutes, 39 seconds. Countdown begins… "
A giant screen of light filled with numbers appeared in his mind. The countdown timer until the effect of the Dead Soul's Water was lost was written in the notification.
"Assert complete control over this body. Prepare for battle!" Greem calmly replied.
His Spirit frequency quickly adjusted and Greem was finally able to 'see' everything that was happening.
The 'Greem' right now was no longer in his original body. He had transferred all of his spiritual consciousness into the control core of the Infernal Tyrant.
Without the nurturing of the body's flesh and blood, a human's soul would typically fall into a state of constant weakening and withering. The reason Greem had to obtain the Dead Soul's Water was to protect his soul from the cold chill of the crystal core. Without it, he probably wouldn’t have been able to exert enough strength to win the battle!
It was a patch of bright red the moment Greem relocated his consciousness. He couldn't see anything or hear anything. It wasn’t until he adjusted his Spirit frequency to that of the Tyrant's that he was able to sense anything.
The Infernal Tyrant was an elementium golem. The way it 'sees' and 'listens' had massive fundamental differences compared to human beings. They might have humanoid features such as a mouth, ears, and nose. But these were just appearances that the Tyrant imitated with the use of its flames. The main way it sensed the outside world was with the use of Spirit.
Why was it that even a cold metallic golem needed the Spirit attribute? That was because Spirit was the only thing that allowed them to sense the material world, to differentiate between enemies and allow them to carry out the orders of their creators. Without Spirit, a metallic golem would be nothing more than a deaf and blind golem with no ability to see or hear!
Greem had been put into an elementium body, and removed from his familiar human shell. Without his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth, he could only rely on the powerful Spiritual senses of an adept.
Greem's spiritual appendages extended from the control core, following along the energy network within the Infernal Tyrant's elementium body, and finally reached out of the Tyrant's head, where the eyes were supposed to be. Every single material object was revealed in their most basic and original forms.
The world that had lost its color, feeling, taste, and temperature was presented in Greem's mind in a completely different form.
He 'saw' the floor beneath him in a different manner, he 'saw' the various elementium particles wandering about in the air in a different light, and he 'saw' the enemy waiting on the other side of the stage– the Golem Knight!
A intense and brilliant shroud of light enveloped the Golem Knight's body. Powerful energy radiated colorful and blinding lights, preventing Greem's spiritual appendages from probing into its body.
However, with the elementium sight's powerful ability to see through energy and the chip's detailed recording of every single piece of data, Greem slowly became able to see through the body of the Golem Knight. The metallic armor started to become semi-translucent. Some energy passages flowing within the runic circuits were revealed.
Bright surges of energy were flowing through the numerous circuits. They continued to surge and circulate throughout the body, providing needed energy to all parts of the golem's metallic form. There were even some small energy hubs functioning and outputting energy in certain crucial body parts. These hubs stored the energy and then outp
ut energy to entirety of the golem's body. Pure and bright yellow energy coursed through these artificial 'blood vessels', allowing the Golem Knight to exhibit terrifying combat prowess!
The Golem Knight's main energy reaction was located slightly below the middle of its chest, while its consciousness control hub was located where a human heart would be. That part of its body was protected by the thickest pieces of armor. Trying to break through the armor with physical and magical attacks from the outside was destined to be an arduous and futile task.
Still, someone had to do the job, regardless of how difficult it was!
Greem's consciousness moved slightly, and the huge Infernal Tyrant instantly took two steps forward. Its giant fists of flame were gripped tightly into a fiery ball of destruction as it bent its body and let out a warcry at the Golem Knight.
As Greem completed his battle preparations, Rouneau in the distance had also given a series of commands to the Golem Knight before him. He patted the golem's cold steel back and shouted excitedly, "Fight, my warrior! Defeat the enemy and tear that flame giant to pieces… "
The Golem Knight reached backwards with its hands as Rouneau shouted. It grabbed the massive tower shield and sharp knight's sword and readied itself. The Golem Knight then bent its body and charged at the Infernal Tyrant like an actual human knight.
A three meter tall metallic magical puppet and a four meter tall flame golem charged at each other simultaneously. The overwhelmingly ferocious momentum of the fight instantly lit up the atmosphere in the arena. Even the apprentices in the spectator's seats were gripping their fists in excitement, gritting their teeth and waiting in anticipation of a fiery fight! A tremendous clash the likes of two planets crashing into each other!
The distance between the two rapidly closed.
The Infernal Tyrant, with its mastery over the elementium, quickly extended one of its hands. A chain of Explosive Fireballs fired off, shooting towards the charging Golem Knight. This chain of fireballs were all the size of washbasins. The temperature at their cores reached a terrifying two thousand degrees. The surrounding air had already been twisted and the light refracted by the sheer heat of the fireballs shooting through the air.
The Golem Knight raised the tower shield in its left hand and braved the gauntlet of fireballs, recklessly continuing its crusade towards the enemy.
Beng. Beng. Beng.…
The Explosive Fireballs crashed against the shield and exploded. Violent and oppressive flame shockwaves formed as they blew up in the air. Again and again, the shockwaves spread across the air between the two golems. The shattered fragments of the fireballs landed on the hardened stone floor and continued to burn stubbornly.
Dong. Dong. Dong…
Muffled explosions rang out repeatedly, but the Golem Knight had made it. It stepped through the sea of fire, enduring the violent storm of flames, and charged at the Tyrant.
The very next second, a blinding and fearsome blade light sliced through the air. The giant flame humanoid had been cut into shreds of fire.
Boom. The sound of a fire coming to life.
The Infernal Tyrant appeared far behind the Golem Knight, under Greem's control. The Infernal Tyrant continued staring at the enemy a hundred meters away. It was still following through its downward slash. The Tyrant raised a magma hand shrouded in flames as an unstable Magma Fireball formed in less than half a second.
It shook its hand lightly, and this enhanced Magma Fireball launched towards the Golem Knight's back. The Tyrant then took a step backwards and made a grabbing motion with its hands. Several spears of flames with mesmerizing patterns across their shafts quickly formed as the flames gathered. The Infernal Tyrant ceaselessly threw the spears at its opponent.
The Golem Knight quickly locked onto the Infernal Tyrant once more, with the help of Rouneau's remote control of the puppet. It turned around and easily deflected the rain of spears, then readied its sword and walked towards its enemy.
As the two golems were playing catch-up, Rouneau raised his head to look at Greem, who was standing still at the edge of the stage. He let out a cold laugh in his heart, "Spirit transfer? Heh. This might make your golem a little more agile, but the golem core will be destroyed when you lose this battle. The spirit consciousness nested within will take tremendous backlash damage when that happens. The effects are severe for a newly advanced adept like yourself. If you are lucky that might mean a reduction in your Spirit, and if you are unlucky, your spirit consciousness might just be shattered, turning you into a madman. Hmph! What an ignorant young man. I'll teach you a lesson you will never forget!"
Greem once again used his Fire Teleportation to put some distance between himself and the Golem Knight. The originally clumsy fellow suddenly made a sharp turn and quickly locked onto the Infernal Tyrant's location. A massive amount of energy was ejected from its back.
The energy blast pushed the Golem Knight forward, and its clumsy body suddenly became quick as a bird in flight. It shot through the air like a cannonball, carving two ditches into the ground as its leg dragged against the floor. It was almost upon the Tyrant in less than a few seconds.
Five meters!
In all seriousness, this was the first time the two golems had been so close to each other since the start of the fight.
The next moment, the Golem Knight placed the shield on its back and gripped the sword with both of its hands. It unleashed a ferocious series of blows towards the Infernal Tyrant.
Greem slowly retreated.
As he retreated, he used the roaring flames to slowly roast the metal body of the opponent. He continued to dodge the storm of lightning-fast attacks as he did so.
Any other golem might have been able to rely on their resilient steel bodies to trade blows with the Golem Knight. However, the Tyrant only had a body made of elementium. It didn't matter how resilient the body was, it would never be able to compare to the true steel of the opponent.
The Infernal Tyrant lost one-tenth of its elementium body in a few seconds.
The intense flames and scorching heat from the Tyrant's body had also started to soften the golem's body. The decorations and delicate patterns at the borders of the armor had already been marred and damaged.
That said, the damage wasn't significant at all. The Golem Knight had a metallic body as thick as four fingers put together. The magical alloy also had decent elementium resistance. The Infernal Tyrant would probably have to keep at it for another fifteen to thirty minutes before it could melt through the armor with its flames.
And so, the two gigantic adept golems crashed together in a deathly battle under the excited gazes of the crowd!
Chapter 287
The ravaging flames continued to spread across the stage into a sea of fire.
Two massive creatures fought with each other in the middle of the flames.
Both of them were golems without a single piece of flesh on their bodies, yet the intensity of their fight was still enough to excite the audience.
The Golem Knight was a melee golem. It might have had some mid-ranged attacks, but against a powerful opponent like the Infernal Tyrant, it would have to connect with its blade to deal any significant damage. The Golem Knight gave up on its defensive tower shield. It had to prevent the opponent from using Fire Teleportation to leave its attack range, and the only way to do that was to stall the Tyrant by going all out with its sword techniques.
Every time the Infernal Tyrant wanted to disengage with a Fire Teleportation, it would be interrupted by a savage battle technique. The Tyrant would then be forced to stay in place and endure the ceaseless blows from the Knight's sword.
Its flaming left arm was severed and instantly regenerated…
The two legs below its body were cleaved into two and instantly regenerated…
The blade cut right through the Tyrant’s right shoulder, sending flaming sparks through the air, and it instantly regenerated…
A massive hole stabbed into its stomach and it instantly re
generated…
The Infernal Tyrant was the most loyal and resilient target practice. One by one, it used its flame body to endure the slashes from the rampaging knight. It did so even as flames went flying everywhere and sparks filled the air.
As expected of a terrifying golem born from fire; the Infernal Tyrant bled flames even as it was repeatedly injured. Its severed arm fell to the ground and burst into a massive fire. Its legs exploded into a sea of flames. Even the 'blood' flowing out of its wounds was boiling magma.
Fire!
Fire everywhere!
Extreme flames that burned without fuel. The Tyrant's severed body parts became a fearsome threat when paired with the Ring of Fire, which had been activated around the Infernal Tyrant. A hundred meter section of the battlefield had already turned into a black and red world of perpetual magma.
The hardened stone floor had been scorched into viscous magma. The temperature of the air rapidly rose as the fires continued to burn. The temperature surrounding the two golems had reached a shocking seven thousand degrees.
All substances unprotected by magic would instantly vaporize at this terrifying level of heat. Even the stone floor, enhanced with magic, couldn't endure the heat. It started to become magma. The two golems were practically fighting in fire and lava.
In truth, the Infernal Tyrant could probably still escape from the Golem Knight's harassment by using both Greem and the chip's precise controls. Still, Greem gritted his teeth and stood his ground in order to reach for the final victory.
Indeed, at this point, it was hard to tell who had the upper hand!
The Golem Knight boldly hacked away at the Infernal Tyrant. Every slash of its longsword, and every punch of its massive fists, would bring tremendous destruction to the Tyrant's flame body. The severed body parts might be able to regenerate using flame elementium reserves within its core, but the loss of flame energy was certain. It was hard to replenish these energies from the air in a short period of time.
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