Reborn as the Genius Son of the Richest Family - Chapter 1164 Unresolved

Huntrax strolled through the now empty Stronghold, his dirty and raggedy clothes whipping in the wind.

The entire court was filled with cold, dead bodies of the Ersatz members. Zombies, anyway. The moment they put the Artifice in their hearts, they became something beneath a human, beneath a living being.

Now, they were dead. Huntrax did them a service.

He strolled through inside, through the endless, twisting hallways that would have confused most people. But for Huntrax, all he had to do was follow the scent of Erstaz’s stench.

Eventually, he found himself in the heart of the Stronghold. Their king’s court.

Inside, he saw the body of a Nascent Spirit cultivator. An Emerald leader. Probably in the 3rd stage of the Body Formation.

He kneeled beside the corpse, turning it over. And with deft hands, he began to search the Ersatz leader for any important artifacts in his body. Aside from some cultivation artifacts and parchment paper, he found nothing of note.

At least, not something that would tell him why they were here. What they were planning.

He scanned his eyes around the entire room. They were careful. They picked this place clean, making sure that they didn’t leak any kind of information that would be useful to their enemies.

But of course, Huntrax was not a normal person. He was a Heavenly Knight.

He raised his head, flared his nostrils, and sniffed the air. And immediately, amidst the scent of blood and death, he sensed something dark. Something hidden.

Smiling, Huntrax turned towards one of the walls. It had a simple painting depicting horror: human civilizations getting wiped out with a flood. Other paintings of this kind of ilk littered the other walls.

But Huntrax knew this was different. He narrowed his eyes.

Nascent Influence came out of his body, turning solid, and made contact with the real world.

The wall began to turn, its hinge splitting the wall from top to bottom at the middle.

Huntrax went inside. And there, he saw a sheathe of papers.

He hurried and began reading its contents.

And as he did, his eyes widened. Written in these papers were the very reason why the Ersatz were doing what they were doing. It detailed not their plan, but their intended effects.

Huntrax knew what they were trying to do. And he knew he had to stop it. He had to warn everyone.

He quickly hurried back the way he came. And as soon as the wall turned, a shadow cast over his entire body.

Huntrax looked up, his eyes widening once more. Shock, fear, and recognition flashed through his entire body.

“… Grandmaster…,” he muttered.

And then, a dark shadow blasted him across the face.

…

…

…

Michael returned to New Sparta. Things had slowed down in the Garrison, with the Ersatz retreating off into their holes after the initial attacks from the six factions.

He left the Royalblood Vampires in charge. Rather them than the mischievous violet slime. He’d learned that lesson the hard way a lot of times already.

And besides, it looked like nothing of importance was happening there. And in comparison, things were heating up in the Exhibition Tournament.

Jaku and Fenix had successfully won their respective bouts and advanced to the top 4. They were now semi-finalists.

Michael expected Jaku to reach this far, but he didn’t expect Fenix to also display a similar level to him. They truly lucked out when they found him. Maybe if things went well, he’d shoot him an offer to become a Rebornian. He should serve as a good competitor against Jaku. Hopefully, one that would push him to become better.

Or, push him to become more complacent, since Reborn would gain another competent swordsman.

Hopefully not.

Anyway, the standings were announced.

And they drew the short end of the stick. Jaku and Fenix would be facing each other in the semi-finals.

Michael hoped that they’d have both Rebornian representatives in the Finals, but that was a futile dream. The other Upper Echelon companies probably rallied for Jaku and Fenix to be paired together, giving their swordsmen more chances.

Jaku and Fenix both walked into the hallways leading to the arena, one showing complete focus and readiness. The other, not so much.

“Please, do not hold back,” said Fenix. “I want to see where I fit.”

Fenix had only heard about Jaku’s power. Never actually saw it himself. It made him curious after the Rebornians around him kept telling stories about the Lightning from Jaku.

“Okay, sure!” Jaku said, signalling an okay with both of his hands.

And just as they were about to exit the tunnels, a figure walked in front of them.

Fenix’s eyes widened. “Arthur!”

He didn’t expect to see an old friend here. “Fenix,” greeted Arthur with a curt nod. Then, he quickly turned to the blue-scaled Dragonborn. “Jaku.”

Jaku lazily picked at his ears. “Do we know each other? You look familiar…”

Fenix watched the interaction between the two and cringed. He knew Arthur to be an impatient man. A man full of honor, but was vainly too confident of his own powers. He would not appreciate Jaku’s lazy responses.

“Don’t pretend. We’ve clashed swords. But you escaped before I could capture you.”

This surprised Fenix and he looked at his friend/competitor. Jaku was able to clash swords with Arthur and live to tell the tale?

He could tell Arthur had no positive sentiments about the demi-human. He wouldn’t have gone lightly on him.

Yet, Jaku still stood. Without any scars to remind him of their battle like most who experienced battle with Arthur.

“Did we?” Jaku asked, laughing with mirth. “I guess we did. I totally would have probably lost to you hahahaha!”

Arthur frowned when he heard that. Jaku’s words were an admittance of weakness. Yet, Arthur didn’t feel good when he heard that. It was as if Jaku was just saying that simply because he had to. Like, he was too lazy to continue with this conversation and would rather admit to something rather than continue to talk for longer.

Because of this kind of thinking, Arthur shouldn’t even consider Jaku as a competitor. He was not serious about the sword.

Yet, he suddenly remembered the Heavenly Swordmistress’ words.

“Sharpen your swords, and even your words will not matter. It cuts everything.”

Was Jaku admitting those words because he knew he was stronger, and therefore the words didn’t matter?

Arthur wasn’t sure. But the fact that he even had to think about it meant that Jaku was not as simple as he was presenting himself to be.

“It doesn’t matter. We’ll meet in the finals. I will show you that the sword is not meant to be taken lightly.”

And with those words, Arthur walked past them, bumping shoulders with Jaku.

“What was that?” Fenix asked.

Jaku shrugged. “Does it matter?”

Fenix’s eyebrows turned uneven with Jaku’s words, before he shook his head. He had to have complete focus in this battle.

The two of them walked out into the arena, hearing the crowds chant and cheer. They felt the ground shake. “Take your positions,” said the referee.

Fenix took out a cone of chocolate ice cream and began eating it. As he did, thousands of spectators waved their chocolate ice cream in solidarity. They’d seen him eat it every battle. They saw him win every battle with it. Because of it.

Once he was done with his preparations, he faced Jaku.

The blue-scaled Dragonborn stood with a smile on his face. He looked at Fenix with a knowing smile.

This weirded him out. Somehow, he had a feeling that Jaku was planning something, but he just couldn’t understand what.

Then, it dawned on him.

Jaku was planning on surrendering!

“Three… two… one… fight!”

After realizing this, Fenix knew that he had to blitz Jaku and fight him so fast that the demi-human wouldn’t have the chance to say those final two words.

His body turned into a fiery eagle as he dashed forwards. The power of his Diva burst out with its strength at its peak. He’d grown tremendously over the course of the tournament, and this was the strongest he’d ever been.

In an instant, he reached Jaku. and just like he thought, the demi-human wasn’t even planning on unsheathing his sword. His mouth was already open.

And in this moment, Fenix looked at Jaku. He saw his eyes. And those eyes were tracking his every movement.

Fenix felt a chill. In Jaku’s eyes, he was as slow as a snail!

Fenix finished his swing, the fiery eagle rushing towards Jaku at near point-blank.

But at the last second, blue lightning coursed through the air. Jaku disappeared.

The referee was startled as he saw Jaku right beside him.

“I surrender,” Jaku said.

“No!” Fenix shouted in defeat.

“NO!” Arthur bellowed out in anger.

And while everyone was still wondering what happened, Jaku strolled out of the arena, itching to return to his bed.

But at that moment, Arthur disappeared from his place, reappearing in front of Jaku with his sword just inches away from the demi-human’s neck.