With the arrival of the day of the single elimination bracket, there was a lot of speculation about what type of externality each person had. Some had openly shared their secret long since. Others wisely kept quiet. And though he didn't have expansive notes on who was believed to have what, Hector had a basic idea of what to expect in general from other Xian. There were only so many things they could do with an externality.

Item projection was by far the most common choice. Any solid item could be created from cosmic energy, but by convention spears were the preferred weapon. Its superior reach made it the strategic choice when combatants could fly. Some people bucked the trend and created shields or swords or axes. A key consideration when fighting someone with a projection externality was that their item was immune to foreign domains. Meaning Hector couldn't touch a spear with a force cable. The person who summoned the item, on the other hand, could use their domain on it.

Another option, one he did not think likely to be chosen by people who would agree to join a tournament, was that of energy radiation. It essentially meant emitting heat, light, or some other form of electromagnetic radiation. Xian, while not well versed on physics, knew that a radiator externality could be tuned to emit a type of energy that killed things. The primitive cultivators were working blindly with these things, but Hector suspected they were shooting gamma radiation. It was excellent at indiscriminately poisoning weak creatures. Useless for fighting cultivators of a similar level to yourself.

Then there were the so-called 'three noble talents'. The knowledge of how to create these types of externalities had long ago ceased to be a secret of the upper classes. Doing them well, however, often required dedicated mentorship from someone knowledgeable.

There was the transit sphere, of course. It would be of no direct use in a fight. There was also the suppression field, such as the Lord Platinum used. That ability was phenomenal at dominating weaker opponents. It didn't do much, if anything, to people on the same level. So it would be unlikely to make an appearance in the tournament.

The final noble talent was the Xian equivalent of a nuclear weapon. A chaos bolt didn't transfer cosmic energy into electromagnetic energy like an energy radiator. Its construction actually had a lot in common with a transit sphere, though the application varied quite drastically. A channel was created by the externality with one end in primordial chaos and the other breaching the membrane of a universe. It was a directed blast – for about half a second. Then it was just an explosion.

Most chaos bolts had a far smaller footprint than Jinn weapons. Lord Annihilator could take out an entire city with one blast, but nothing a Xian did operated on the scale of continents. Scale wasn't their strength. The chaos bolt, though, did something truly terrifying. The wild energies of primordial chaos ignored foreign influence. Jinn and Arahant spoke in hushed tones when they mentioned the Xian ability. They had no counter to it. Shields fueled by magic or technology were just so much hand-waving in the face of the primordial. Xian did somewhat better at resisting the violence of a chaos bolt. A strong enough aura could block it at the cost of a huge energy expenditure. None of the gladiators could possibly have a 'strong enough' aura at level five.

Hector didn't know much about chaos bolts. He wasn't even sure if the amount of energy required to use it was within reach of his peers at the moment. If it took a quarter of their reserves to fire, then it would effectively be a single use move for half of his potential opponents. For the rest, they would get two shots. That would be something to keep in reserve. On the other hand, if it was cheap to fire… well, then he was decidedly and thoroughly screwed.

They ate a light breakfast before walking to the arena. A large sign had been erected on scaffolding to show the bracket. It was single-elimination format with sixteen people, so there were four rounds. While looking over the names, Hector immediately understood the design. They had seeded top to bottom. Micah, first place finisher from the previous round, faced off against the guy who had come in dead last. Walt, second place finisher, faced the second worst guy. And Hector found himself paired with the third worst.

All the best contenders had easy first matches. More, if they continued performing as they had in the past, the top four should all meet up in the final four. It made a lot of sense when this was considered as an actual tournament. Judging by the packed stands, the Lord Platinum was making money on ticket sales. Why not? What was profiting from blood sport when you were literally murdering people for their blood?

Hector's eyes caught on Darius's bracket. Volithur's son was fighting some bottom feeder in the first round. After Darius won his first match, as Hector felt certain would happen, he would face off with Evan. That had been a bad match-up for Darius the first time.

He found Jasmine's name next. She faced Carob first round. If she won that – far from certain, in his estimation – then she would meet Micah in the next round. She would not win that one. Not unless Micah was a complete dud with his externality. Not great odds there. The rumors were pretty certain Micah had a chaos bolt.

Master Percival ushered them into the dugout. "This tournament will run as long as it takes to complete the bracket. Be prepared for it to run straight through lunch. Once someone loses, they will be escorted to medical for an examination."

Hector was watching for Jasmine's reaction and she glanced his way at the news. She looked away again, clearly dismissing her moment of concern. He clenched his teeth in frustration. At that moment the lords arrived and flew to their observation box. Attendants jogged to stand around the perimeter of the arena. He noticed stretchers situated at regular intervals.

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They seemed like a hidden coven of vampires gathered to feast on the unsuspecting. He knew a form of actual vampire existed in the multiverse. One of his subordinates at the warehouse had dreamed the life of one. The Xian might not directly drain life from other people, but the lords were murdering the contestants so that they could consume the cultivation from their flesh.

Micah's match was first. Everyone on the bench leaned forward when he faced off against his opponent. The top ranked seed versus the lowest ranked seed. How close to expectation would this match hew? They'd been suppressed before, forced to brawl like mundane humans. Now they would fight with everything they had.

Suppressed, a physically strong combatant with weak abilities might do better against a physically weak opponent with strong abilities. The outcome would go the other way without the suppression. What worried Hector was the fact that he qualified as physically strong with weak abilities. Transit spheres weren't weapons. His domain statistic had only been two point nine when he left Union Central and he had done nothing to strengthen it since then.

Surrounded by his peers on the bench, Hector had no chance of escape in that moment.

Micah's opponent summoned a spear. The weapon glowed faintly in the physical band and blazed with cosmic energy to other senses. It would be supernaturally powerful, Hector knew, being composed from part of an energy-filled human soul. The man screamed as he charged forward, spear held expertly.

Maybe the guy had a chance after all.

A cable of force formed and struck in a heartbeat. Micah's opponent dropped dead with a spray of brains, a hole drilled through his forehead and out the rear of his head. The crowd roared in excitement as the temperature inside the dugout plunged. Hector heard someone issue a string of vulgarities. Another fighter began to pray to a god Hector had never heard of.

Darius dug his elbow into Hector and made a 'hurry up' gesture. Hector gestured, trying to point out all the people around them making escape impossible. Darius gave an angry huff in response. Meanwhile, Attendants carried the body away on a stretcher, head concealed by a bag.

Carob and Jasmine were called up next. Without realizing it, Hector reached out and squeezed the hand of Darius. The two combatants didn't waste any time. Carob summoned a two-handed sword and rushed forward. Jasmine began her usual circling, causing Hector's heart to clench in his chest. Did she not have any other tricks?

Carob swung tightly across as he charged, his blade a line of brilliant white. Jasmine's aura flared and she threw up her forearms to take the attack on them. It was a near thing, but she entered close enough to block at his wrists instead of directly testing herself against the sharp edge of his externality.

At the same time she was doing that, a loop of force cable wrapped around Carob's neck. He was yanked to the ground back first. Carob attempted to use his sword from there, but he was pinned by the neck and Jasmine gave every sign of respecting the danger of his weapon. Soon he changed his focus from attacking her to trying to break the cable with his own domain. That feeble attempt failed when he passed out. Master Percival announced the winner and then attendants led the upset Carob away.

"You can let go of me now. Your girlfriend survived."

Hector released the hand of Darius. "Sorry."

"I think it's your turn anyway. We're going down the left side of the bracket."

Sure enough, he was up next. So far the matches had not lasted long. That might be a product of the way these first matches were seeded. Hector certainly hoped he would have a quick win. Sending someone to be butchered like a farm animal by Platinum might not be his finest moment, but he didn't intend to sacrifice himself.

The man across the arena from Hector was shivering in fear. No one knew what Hector could do. What they did know was that he had as much cosmic energy waiting to be used as any two other fighters. That was intimidating. They didn't know his limitations. Not only the unsuitability of his abilities but also the need to save energy for other things.

A spear manifested in his opponent's hands and he stood waiting, too fearful to come forward. Hector walked to meet him. He pushed out his domain, preparing to take action. He readied his aura for defense. His breathing was coming harsher as he faced his own mortality. A weapon projection of even moderate strength would slice through him like he was a baseline human.

His opponent stabbed forward with his spear a few times. Hector reversed his forward walk, gaining some distance. That emboldened his opponent a little and the man hesitantly followed. Hector moved to the side a bit, giving the man room to cut him off. Worst case, he'd let himself fall out of bounds so the fight could be reset. But he had an idea.

When he'd been successfully herded up against the curved edge of the arena, Hector's opponent became more assertive with his spear craft. Hector darted to one side, nearly escaping the entrapment, only to be blocked by quick footwork. Good.

He lunged back into a run in the opposite direction. His opponent moved to chase, concentrating on lining up his next stab. And his foot was caught in the loop of a force cable Hector had laid down like a snare. Hector yanked it into the air, sending his opponent falling to the clay.

Hector dove onto the man. The spear wasn't a good weapon for such close quarters. He stapled the man's wrist to the ground with his shin and began punching. The man let the spear vanish from that hand. Hector felt as the spear began to appear in the other hand, growing rapidly. He jumped to his feet and stomped down on the face three times.

The spear evaporated before it could finish manifesting. His unconscious opponent was taken away on a stretcher by the attendants.

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