36 BATTLE ROYALE

I took Ran Sori to a different inn than the one that my group was staying at. I didn't have much time because I needed to get back, receive my paper, and then get plenty of rest for the first round which was a battle royale elimination.

The further we got away from the music, the more we were reentering the world of typical Korean wuxia with the traditional clothes, the etiquette, the modesty, and the subtle beauty. 

The less skin we saw, the less movement, and less horny people.

Need I say more about what we did in the inn? No. Okay, good.

Let's just say I left her body limp and there may or may not be a baby me inside her womb. Since I wasn't going to see her again anyway, I had no need to worry about pulling out.

Yes, I'm being a deadbeat and contributing to the single mother epidemic.

Very fitting of a villain, don't you think?

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I was a part of group C.

The first round was a battle royale elimination where out of a thousand people in a single group, only 32 people would be making it through (this number was chosen so that the bracket would be perfect).

Did I forget to mention that although the tournament between the outer disciples of the Mount Hua Sect and the Hua Shan Sect, other smaller schools and sects are also able to enter?

This was to promote competition and growth.

How are a thousand people going to fight all at once? Let's just say that the size of the stadium was larger than the largest one back on Earth.

More than 200,000 people could be seated to watch the tournament taking place.

For a lot of the participants, nerves, fear of failure, and the pressure would get to them before their opponent does.

"Good luck," I told Kim Taeyang who was a part of group A.

There were a total of four groups and the order was A, B, C, and D.

If my calculations were correct, Kim Taeyang would do decently in battle royale despite the fact that he was younger and less experienced than most of the participants.

However, he would be eliminated by those with more experience than him.

He was also at a disadvantage because he had to stick strictly to the moves of the first book while others were already deeper into their training and their arsenal was far more versatile.

"Thank you. I'll try my best not to disappoint," he said as he took a deep breath and stepped forward.

He handed his paper over and was allowed to enter the stage.

One by one, people from all over the stadium began to enter the stage, a lot of them wielding weapons. 

Unless you killed someone, you were allowed to use your weapon to your heart's desire meaning that you could stab them, cut their arms off, paralyze their body by striking their spine, etc.

The tournament was a dangerous place and the only way to escape was to get knocked out, knocked off the stage, or yell the words, "I concede".

It took a little while for everyone to get on the stage but eventually, the announcer began addressing the audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to the Outer Grand Tournament hosted by the Mount Hua Sect and the Hua Shan Sect. We are here today to see the future generation show the results of their training, their diligence, and their passion."

The speech was a little long but it did get the audience hyped for it.

People began to cheer as the announcer yelled for the fighting to begin.

It would roughly take about one to two hours for the numbers to dwindle down to 32 so I had plenty of time to just sit back, relax, and observe the style of the Hua Shan Sect. 

Even though it's a free-for-all, one thing was obvious.

Members of the same school or sect would group up together to take on the others because that was just the nature of these sorts of things.

I watched as Kim Taeyang went along with this sect member who wielded a spear and their group began to make their way to the edge of the stage.

'Smart. Fewer directions to worry about.'

But it was also risky play because they were putting themselves in a better position to get knocked off stage.

Quickly, all the weaklings who were only there because they were the best their schools had to offer were eliminated.

In the span of five minutes, the number had been cut down to 500 but that was when the eliminations would start to slow down because everyone that was left was proficient enough to stand their ground at least for a little while.

An hour later, I got bored because Kim Taeyang had been eliminated so I took a short nap, asking one of my group members to wake me up when the battle was over.

I wasn't actually taking a short nap.

I was using my stalking ability to see what the female lead, Yeon Hwang, was up to. 

She was sitting beside her grandfather at this extremely long table. Everyone was dressed for the occasion and they were all discussing the revival of the Demonic Cult.

The cult had been in hiding for over a hundred years but in recent months, there have been sightings of them throughout the entire country.

It was information that I already knew so I moved on. I wanted to see what Mae Jaesun was up to.

He didn't come to the tournament because he told me that he had business to attend to.

I saw him sitting in the stadium, wearing a disguise.

'I guess he just didn't want to put pressure on me by pretending that he wasn't going to be in attendance.'

I was watching Ran Sori masturbate, when someone tapped my shoulder and I woke up.

"Group A just finished."

"Thank you," I said as I rubbed my eyes and looked down at the stage.

I took note of the 32 people. 

'He's not a part of Group A then.'

I was looking for the childhood friend of Yeon Hwang. He made a name for himself by doing really well in the tournament and that's how he was able to reunite with Yeon Hwang in the first place.

I just didn't know which group he was a part of.

That information was never relayed to me by the devil since it was too trivial.

Kan Hyojoo was up next as a member of group B and I had a lot of confidence that she was going to be a part of the 32 people to move on in that group.

Ever since I got a lot stronger due to all the drugs that Mae Jaesun pumped into me, her motivation skyrocketed to the extreme, and she not only mastered the first book but she was almost done with the second book.

I was ahead of her earlier on but now, I was a few pages behind.

She was so talented that I could only assume once again that something unfortunate happened to her which led to her not being able a part of the story told by the canonical path.

I looked around the thousand people on the stage and she was one of the youngest — if not, the youngest person there.

Only 13 years old, I watched as she went on a solo mission on the stage.

It didn't matter if you were Mount Hua, Hua Shan, or a poor kid trying to make a name for themself in order to feed their family — she was beating everyone up left and right.

If she encountered someone who was too strong, she simply disappeared into the crowd, moving on.

It seemed she was aiming to cut down the numbers as quickly as possible rather than spend her energy on a single fight.

It made sense because, from her perspective, she'd much rather move on to the bracket where it would be 1v1 battles and she'd get the luxury of exerting all her energy on a single person without any third-party interference.

'I guess there's nothing to worry about then.'

She was like a lightning bolt just dashing through the stage.

No one was able to stop it from moving forward.

I don't know if she inspired people around her but a few people also began copying her method of just ignoring the strong people and just focusing on the weaklings.

In the span of 45 minutes, the 32 had been selected.

Kan Hyojoo was obviously one of them. And so was another person I was interested in.

'There you are, Mr. Childhood Friend.'

I recognized him because of three things.

Firstly, his long brown hair was a mess from the training his master made him do in the forest for a year straight. He didn't have time to clean up as he was almost late for the tournament.

Secondly, the weapon of choice. It was a long double-sided spear that could be separated into two shorter spears.

Thirdly, he just had the aura of one of the protagonists of the story; not the main one obviously since that belonged to the villain, who was the successor to the Demonic Cult that was the focus of the conversation amongst the Mount Hua Sect at the moment.

I don't really know how to explain it. It's just like how I knew Liam was the male lead and that Isabella was the female lead.

I just — knew.

"It's your turn," said Kan Hyojoo who had worked up a sweat.

It wasn't just me who was a part of group C. There were three other members of our group who were heading down to the stage with me.

I told them that even though I didn't want to do it, they would have to group up without me because of reasons I couldn't tell them (I needed to impress in order to achieve Mae Jaesun's plans. Moving around as a group would make that harder).

As soon as the battle royale began, I didn't attack those near me.

No.

I began dashing toward where most Hua Shan Sect members were gathered.

I didn't actually care about the rivalry between the two sects.

It's just that I wanted to test out their style of martial arts for myself so that I would get accustomed to it by the time I needed to face off against them in the bracket half of the tournament.

"Woah!" screamed the person who barely reacted to my punch in time.

He was pushed back and before he could react with a counter with his daggers, I kicked him in the temple and he was knocked out.

"Good night," I said while weaving the attacks of this whip that was trying to cut me.

I got into close combat range of the whip user and before she could even shriek in fear, I used the bottom of my palm and smashed it into her chin.

I could hear her bone literally breaking.

"Ouch," I muttered.