Lord of the Sky City

The longsword was cleaved in two, stunning the opponent momentarily as he clearly hadn't anticipated such an outcome; however, Rocky didn't give him a chance to react. He landed a direct kick to the chest and neatly booted him off the platform.

With one man down, the trio of brothers' encirclement was broken. The remaining two were quickly laid out on the ground by Rocky, who defeated them in quick succession and knocked them off the arena, eliminating them.

"Two left."

After defeating the three brothers, Rocky then turned towards the only two remaining on the platform, setting his sights on Peter, the strongest of them all!

"Bring it on! Bring it on!"

Seeing Rocky look his way, Peter roared twice and, raising his shield, began a full-power sprint, while Rocky, not to be outdone, likewise hoisted his shield and met him head-on, Armor propulsion at full throttle!

The two rushing towards each other were like two bulls charging or two meteors colliding; moments later, they collided head-to-head!

With a loud boom, the immense force of their collision at full speed even generated a shockwave that swept across the arena; in this all-out crash, Rocky took several steps back before he could barely stop himself, and Peter did the same.

It must be said, Peter truly had natural superhuman strength. Even with Armor that was a level weaker, his method of simple and brutal head-to-head confrontation with Rocky didn't put him at a disadvantage. It was definitely not the Armor doing the work, but his own monstrous strength.

But the more such head-to-head confrontations occurred, sometimes the more ferocity they brought out!

How does that saying go?

A man, must face things head-on!

"Again!"

After one collision, Rocky and Peter almost simultaneously roared, then raised their shields again and sprinted full force towards each other!

With another loud boom!

After a blink, the two collided once again, and like before, the massive force created a shockwave that swept across the arena. The two men, slamming into each other fiercely, both inexorably staggered back, even further this time, clearly indicating that the impact was even greater than before.

Once they had both regained their footing, just like before, they raised their shields and sprinted towards each other again!

Rocky and Peter thus engaged in the most primitive of contests, devoid of technique, devoid of tactics, only comparing the most brutal form of physical power. They collided time after time on the arena, separated, and then charged again.

"Oh...!"

"Oh...!!"

"Oh...!!!"

In this series of fierce collisions, the cheers of the spectators ceased, everyone gawking dumbfoundedly as the two on the platform clashed repeatedly, each collision eliciting an involuntary exclamation of awe as if everyone had lost their minds.

Indeed, all the spectators had lost their wits at this moment. They had never seen a match like this. The combat arena preliminaries happened every season with all sorts of chaos: nine against one, one against nine, cunning ploys, various scenarios. But they had never seen a contest like the present one, which stunned every spectator and even left the commentator, specifically tasked with narrating the match, speechless and gawking at the platform, unable to utter a word.

With another loud bang following another collision, Rocky and Peter again separated, staggering back for a long while before stopping. However, this time, instead of rushing towards each other like before, they stood panting on opposite sides of the arena.

The continuous collisions, though wildly entertaining to watch, imposed a tremendous burden on them both. Peter, it goes without saying, was relying entirely on his monstrous strength to compete with Rocky, while Rocky, though supported by the White Demon Armor which could withstand the force of the collisions, was still heavily impacted by each crash.

In this state, both had clearly reached their limits.

Though the limit had been reached, a winner still had to be decided; thus, after a brief moment to catch their breath, Rocky and Peter looked at each other once more.

One last time, to decide the winner!

Looking at each other, even through their helmets, they both knew this was their last collision, in which they had to determine a victor.

Then, instead of sprinting immediately, they adjusted their Armor's propulsion while on the spot. Once the propulsion of the Armor was maxed out, they suddenly dashed forward!

In an instant, Rocky and Peter transformed into two streaks of light and shadow, crossing the intervening distance in the blink of an eye and colliding in the center of the arena.

A loud bang erupted as the two collided, but this time there was no shockwave, and the colliding figures did not separate...

They were grappling!

The two, shield against shield upon collision, neither retreated nor shrank back, both continuously exerting force through their Armor.

Who could win...

Who would it be...

As the two continued to grapple, the same question popped into the minds of all the spectators, including Orton, wondering who would ultimately win.

Logically, Rocky should have easily won this preliminary match because of his strength and the advantage provided by his Armor, but he had forsaken these advantages for a blood-boiling yet perilous method of facing Peter: a contest of strength in the most primitive and brutal form.

As a result, his experience, his skills, even the advantages of the White Demon Armor, were all greatly reduced, so no one would be surprised even if he lost, since strength was never Rocky's forte, nor was it the White Demon Armor's strong suit.

Thus, at this final moment, the arena fell silent, and everyone held their breath, fixating on the two competitors on the stage. Not just Orton and Liliya, but all spectators, including the commentators, clenched their fists.

Just then, a crisp sound suddenly rang out!

Crack...

In the profound silence of the arena, this crisp sound was eerily clear, and then people located the source of the sound—Peter's shield!

In this enduring grapple, it was the Firepower 4-Type Armor that first gave in, unable to withstand the force of the contest between the two, the shield of the Armor cracked first...

Along with the sound of cracking, a spider web of fractures rapidly spread across the shield in Peter's hand, followed by a crack, the entire shield shattered completely.

The sudden shattering of the shield caused Peter to lose his leverage point, and before he could react, he was struck hard in the chest by Rocky's Magic Energy Shield, sending him flying backward while spewing a mouthful of blood!

With a thunderous crash, Peter landed heavily below the stage...eliminated!

"He won!"

"Beautiful!"

"Thrilling! It was so thrilling!"

"This match was incredible!"

When Peter was eliminated in that final contest, the audience, which had been quiet for a long while, finally erupted, everyone stood up, everyone started cheering for Rocky with both arms raised.

"This, this is just fantastic, the match was truly incredible, contestant number 1021 defeated Peter, defeated his opponent in his own strongest area, it's just fantastic!"

A clever commentator, at this moment seemed to run out of words, continuously repeating the same phrase to describe the confrontation between Rocky and Peter, that it was incredible.

"Ladies and gentlemen, with the three hot favorites and Peter successively eliminated, contestant number 1021 has undoubtedly secured...watch out!"

Just as the commentator excitedly wanted to announce that Rocky had secured the victory, he suddenly let out a loud cry, and simultaneously, a wave of gasps arose from the spectators!

Because just at that moment, someone suddenly appeared behind Rocky!

The final contestant on the stage!

While Rocky and Peter were competing, there wasn't just the two of them on the stage; in fact, there was one more contestant present, but the duel between them was so riveting that everyone had ignored the existence of this contestant.

But now, just as Rocky had just eliminated Peter and the entire audience hadn't even fully expressed their excitement, this last contestant suddenly appeared behind Rocky, swinging a brilliantly shining long sword, viciously aiming for his neck!