Chapter 12- Semifinals

"Come, place your bet! Who will qualify for the finals? The odds are 3:1 for Maxwell Windsor to Richard Weaver."

A betting area had been set up to take advantage of the large crowd gathered to watch the semifinals. People poured in to bet with both sides having a lot of supporters.

"1000 Earth Grade Spirit Stones on Maxwell." Orphelia placed a bet confident that she would win.

"Going in big? Here is your token proving your bet."

She took it and returned to the platform where her fellow disciples were at.

"You bet on your handsome fiancé?" Laura asked while giggling with Alexia.

"I'm confident in his abilities, I can get some quick Spirit Stones."

Once all the bets had been placed there was a clear support for Maxwell who was mysterious in everyone's eyes. None of the audience knew his cultivation level or his affinities so they were mainly in the dark about him other than the fact that he was a General's son.

The referee then called, "Number 3, Maxwell Windsor Vs Number 26, Richard Weaver."

They both walked onto the stage. Richard had a fierce glint in his eyes, ready to assault Maxwell. Maxwell, on the other hand, looked calm and cold as if he didn't acknowledge Richard as a worthy opponent.

"Start!" The referee yelled.

Richard charged at Maxwell with his sword in hand. The sword was not a bad one, but it was a piece of scrap metal compared to the red masterpiece of a spear that belonged to Maxwell.

Every sword attack Richard used were strong and exerted a large force but it was easy for Maxwell to endure against it.

With every blocked strike Richard grew angrier. He poured his qi into the sword and continued his barrage. To an inexperienced eye it seemed that Maxwell was being dominated but to others he was casually defending all the attacks.

Maxwell slashed with his spear causing Richard to block it with the edge of his sword. The attack sent Richard sliding back a meter and it caused a mark on Richard's sword.

"You can't beat me, just give up," Maxwell said while staring into Richard's eyes.

"Shut up!" Richard lashed out with a flurry of blows, "I will prove you wrong along. Even the betting counter felt that I would lose."

"Fine if you want it the hard way."

Maxwell poured his destructive qi into his spear. The head of the spear seemed to glow brighter. He then swapped to an offensive stance and attacked Richard. The dragon in Maxwell's dantian leaped forward and charged at Richard, enlarging with its mouth open, roaring. A barrier was quickly set up by the referee before the roar could hurt anybody. The roar shook the platform greatly. The main body of the lightning dragon returned to Maxwell's dantian.

Everyone was shocked after seeing he was only at Stage 3 of Foundation Establishment, yet his lightning qi seemed to be already cultivated to the beginner stage of level 3. It was extremely rare for someone to have Level 2 element cultivation in Foundation Establishment realm yet Maxwell had reached Level 3, defying all sense of normalcy. A normal Foundation Establishment would not be able to handle such qi at all and their body would have been torn apart instantly.

The appearance of the dragon caught Richard off guard, and he froze for a second before slashing out at the illusionary dragon with a slash formed using the beginner stage of Sword Essence. The slash barely damaged the dragon. He then retreated while unleashing a multitude of attacks. He was too focused on countering the dragon to realize Maxwell had appeared next to him. Maxwell sent a kick straight at the side of Richard's chest, sending him flying and coughing.

"Why do you even try so hard? You can't beat me with such terrible Sword Intent."

"If I didn't, I would be humiliated like all those times," Richard replied while wiping blood off his lips.

"There's no humiliation in losing to someone stronger than you."

"You're not stronger than me." With those words Richard unleashed the full aura of his cultivation. The aura around him was like a giant fire, giving out immense heat. With his free left hand, he threw fireballs at Maxwell.

"Do you know how many insults were hurled at me after each humiliating loss to you?" Richard yelled in rage while lobbing fireballs.

"Nobody was ever satisfied with my level, no matter how hard I tried I would always be compared to you." He continued to attack with increasing fury.

"Even now you continue to ignore me. I'll show you who is the stronger one."

Maxwell dodged through all the fireballs and struck his face. Richard dodged, but not in time. A cut formed on his right cheek with blood flowing down. The spear seemed to glow slightly on contact with the blood and absorbed it all immediately.

Maxwell then sliced to the right, where Richard was. Richard ducked under the spear and unleashed a fireball the size of his face towards his chest. Maxwell responded by sending lightning qi through his legs and released it explosively with a kick towards the fireball. The mass of lightning that was sent by Maxwell tore through the fireball causing an explosion and continued to head forward till it was diffused by the barrier.

"Just give up. You can't beat me."

Richard's eyes blazed with anger as Maxwell had not yet released his aura and was going easy on him. Realizing that he was no match for Maxwell, he quickly put a red pill in his mouth.

"Now that it has come to this, you will suffer."

'Shit! That's a Level 2 Blood Burning pill.'

Richard's aura then surged and grew much larger. It glowed with more profound colors. His eyes had turned red and his life essence was being depleted slowly to increase his cultivation.

"You would really use that and turn into a cripple than admit defeat?"

Richard had lost all rationality and did not respond, only growled like a feral dog. He had no form of any such and attacked rabidly with no sense of conservation of his qi. He used a large force in each attack and every time Maxwell blocked it, Maxwell's arms shook. The sword was quickly breaking and falling apart with the force.

Richard hacked away at Maxwell, unable to get an attack through. The sword was in a terrible condition and was now blunt.

Maxwell leaped backwards while striking the weakest point of the sword. It shattered and shrapnel hit Richard and bounced off, impaling the ground. The pill had raised Richard's cultivation to Stage 5 so a broken sword could not hurt him.

Richard then started attacking with his fists, trying to hit Maxwell in the face.

*woosh*

Maxwell ducked below the fist and heard it go past his head, nearly grazing his hair. He then hit Richard on the jaw with the shaft of his spear, stunning him.

Maxwell then sighed before releasing his aura. He disappeared and reappeared a moment later behind Richard and slashed his back. The spear absorbed the blood and deprived him of a huge amount of his blood that would have poured out from the giant cut. Maxwell then knocked Richard out with the butt of his spear and held him in place with his foot and spear.

"Number 3 Maxwell Windsor wins!" The referee announced it to the amazed crowd. Richard was carried away for immediate healing. The crowd went wild with cheers and shouts after seeing Maxwell defeat Richard almost instantly.

'This much should have gotten a lot of attention from the elders.'

Maxwell looked towards the platform where the elders and the disciples sat. Many elders were amazed and Orphelia was smiling brightly while looking at him. He then stared straight into Bruce's eyes with a fearsome look in his eyes.

At the same time Bruce was sweating profusely.

'His eyes make me feel terror. He isn't even my cultivation level nor is he unleashing Killing Intent. Why am I scared of that trash?' Bruce was very confused and scared. He panicked for a second and unleashed his killing intent at Maxwell.

"Brat! Why are you releasing your killing intent, are you trying to interfere?" An elder spoke up, bringing him back to his senses.

"Elder, I'm sorry, I lost my senses."

"Hmph, go back to the inn and calm down, there's no point staying here if you are going to be moody." The elder spoke these words while amazed that Maxwell had endured his killing intent.

'Such pathetic killing intent. Even from what I saw in my memories I developed much more terrifying killing intent. If I felt everything that happened in those memories, my killing intent would be much sharper and terrifying.'

Maxwell met up with Orphelia below the arena.

"Hello. What are you here for?"

"I'm going to collect my winnings." Orphelia responded while walking to the betting counter.

Orphelia handed over her token and got her earnings back before she happily walked away.

"You should reward me for getting you some spirit stones," Maxwell said cheekily.

"How does this much matter to you, you have much more than me," She responded while keeping her spirit stone bag away from Maxwell.

"I never said it had to be Spirit Stones."

"I'll see if you win."

"I'll be waiting for the reward," he replied before leaving to spectate the other semifinal.

'Both of them are at stage 4? Most of the bets will be against me then. That means they have unblocked the meridians in both their legs. They will spend less qi in reinforcing both their legs than me, but I will be faster because of my training.'

After a long bout, the other finalist was decided. It was a 15-year-old boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was from the Bright Family, another of the top 4 families that specialized in fire attacks that were very blinding and fast. He had a large following because of his handsome face and talent. Many girls in the capital desired to become his wife but he ignored all those who approached him.

Maxwell considered him a good opponent for him to show his abilities as much as he wanted to. There was an hour break before the highly anticipated finals, between the well known and popular Lucius Bright and the rising star who had shocked everyone Maxwell Windsor. The bets were all much larger amounts and there were even a few bets among the elders debating which sect they would join.