Although the arenas were set in the void, each battlefield contained mountains, rivers, and lakes, simulated as small spaces for the contestants to battle.
As Kimimaro unleashed his "Saburaku no Mai," dense bone spurs erupted from beneath the Octopus Demon's body, growing wildly and quickly forming a forest of bones, puncturing countless small holes in the octopus's base.
"Roar!"
The Octopus Demon let out a piercing scream, its primordial demonic energy surging forth without restraint to resist the subsequent damage from the bone spurs. It then channeled its immortal energy into the thickest tentacle, bestowing it with resilience and hardness. With a forceful slam against the ground, resonating with the demonic energy of heaven and earth, its colossal body shot into the sky.
After gaining control of immortal energy and undergoing nuclear radiation mutation, the octopus demon's vitality had reached a terrifying level of tenacity. Despite its agonizing cries, there were no signs of its demise.
Instead, during its ascent into the sky, its primordial power rapidly repaired its demonic body, quickly rendering it completely unharmed.
However, the smaller octopuses that had split from its tentacles on the ground were not as fortunate, swiftly losing all life under the attack of the bone forest.
Deep within the earth, tens of meters below, Kimimaro's divine sense swept over the battlefield above, his brow furrowing slightly:
"Indeed, while the Shikotsumyaku is powerful, it is easily countered by enemies with aerial abilities. Once one reaches B-class, both espers and other extraordinary beings possess the ability to fly, which is very unfavorable for the Shikotsumyaku!"
"Fortunately, I am much stronger than the Kimimaro from the anime!"
Whispering softly, Kimimaro clapped his hands together. As his core sequence operated, veins bulged on his forehead: "Shikotsumyaku: Jigoku Hone Ken!"
As his self-created technique was unleashed, the bone forest that had originally grown from the ground detached itself and surged into the sky, transforming into a torrent of white bone swords that shot towards the giant octopus in the sky.
The countless bone swords converging into a single point created a terrifying visual impact. The void distorted and nearly shattered wherever they passed, carrying boundless might and rapidly enlarging in the pupils of the octopus demon's dozens of mutated eyes.
"How is this possible!" the Octopus Demon shrieked, its voice laced with fear.
Instinctively, it opened its massive mouth, filled with fine, sharp teeth, and spewed a large amount of ink-black liquid. This liquid, carrying powerful pollution and viscosity, was intended to disrupt the primordial energy attached to the bone sword torrent and simultaneously slow its speed, thereby mitigating the attack.
But it was futile.
The bone sword torrent was too fast. Each sword was like a flying sword propelled by a telekinetic esper, piercing the ink defense in an instant and arriving before it.
The Octopus Demon could only instinctively gather its sixty-four tentacles together, forming a spiral shield to face the bone sword torrent head-on.
The next second, the sound of blades piercing flesh rang out repeatedly.
Ching, ching, ching!
Accompanied by shrill screams.
The bone sword torrent easily penetrated its defense, engulfing its massive demonic body.
Morsels of flesh and blue blood bloomed in the sky. The octopus demon's hundreds of meters large body was cut into mincemeat by the bone sword torrent, thus perishing.
"Victor, Kimimaro of the Dragon Country!"
A hollow, deep voice announced. The speaker was a law-level powerhouse serving as the judge for Zone A of the Ghost Country. It was a skeleton burning with white flames.
This powerhouse was none other than the White Bone Marquis, one of the Twelve Marquees of the Four Kings of the Ghost Country.
Tilting its head, it looked at Kimimaro on the ground with interest and said, "Your ability is quite compatible with my White Bone Path, but your application of it is too crude. How about it, little one, are you interested in joining me? If you agree, I am confident I can increase your strength by more than three times within a year!"
Kimimaro snorted dismissively. Without speaking, he slowly raised his middle finger towards the White Bone Marquis, his meaning self-evident.
"You..."
As one of the Twelve Marquees of the Ghost Country, the White Bone Marquis held a prestigious position. Furthermore, with the strict hierarchy within the Ghost Country, it had never been humiliated by someone of a lower rank. It immediately couldn't help but want to teach Kimimaro a lesson.
However, the next moment, a terrifying sense of crisis enveloped it. Even though its bone body was incredibly tough, tempered by bone fire, it couldn't help but shiver.
It turned its head and saw Wu Boyue, also a judge for Zone A, standing not far away, holding his saber. A few strands of dragon-beard hair on his forehead fluttered in the wind as he glanced at it indifferently.
Meeting Wu Boyue's gaze, the White Bone Marquis forcefully suppressed its anger.
Wu Boyue let out a cold snort. Seeing Kimimaro leave the battlefield directly without dealing with the octopus's remains, he picked up the gourd at his waist, aimed it at the remnants of the octopus demon, and sucked them into the gourd.
He shook the gourd a few times, and when he poured it out again, it had transformed into a beautiful wine of crimson and green. He took a sip, a look of intoxication appearing on his face. "This nuclear radiation wine tastes different, a bit spicy, and potent!"
He then looked at the White Bone Marquis and said lazily, "My gourd has brewed many wines, ghost wine, bone wine, but never ghost-bone wine. How about we spar sometime? Let me taste your flavor, I imagine it would be more delicious than normal bone wine."
The White Bone Marquis's face darkened. It knew Wu Boyue, a wine-type esper who had mastered the way of the saber, had directly leaped from B-class to over level 50 of A-class in just a few months, and was listed as an extremely dangerous individual by the Ghost Country's intelligence department.
The Ghost Emperor, sensing this person's immense potential, had once dispatched the previous two law-level Ghost Marquises to assassinate him, but they were instead killed. This matter was then dropped.
After the battle between Kimimaro and the Octopus Demon concluded, a shrill scream echoed from another arena. It was Hidan of Zone A2 fighting a Sea Horse Demon from the Demon Race, and Hidan had emerged victorious.
Simultaneously, there were casualties among the Dragon Country's A-class contestants. Several human espers encountered demons with abilities that countered them, and they were killed and devoured in the demon realm, leaving no trace behind.
However, Wu Boyue did not feel particularly distressed by this. After all, the contestants from the other three forces were not made of clay, and casualties were normal. Moreover, these defeated espers had already lit soul lamps at the Shenhua General Bureau. Even in death, they could be resurrected using the improved Immortal-Demon Source and eventually return to their peak.
There was good news as well. Chiyo of Zone A2 had already concluded three battles. In the first two, he had used the Hundred Puppets Performance to slaughter two contestants from the Demon Country. In the final battle against a Demon Race contestant, due to the puppet technique failing, he directly used Lightning Release: Superhuman Shinjutsu to cover the battlefield and achieve victory.
In addition, an A-class level 28 military dog from the Dragon Country's military had also won two consecutive matches. This military dog was adopted by Zhi Chengyi, the commander of the Dragon Country's General Army, after its retirement. After the spiritual energy revival, it had experienced a second spring. Its abilities were insight and consumption, making it one of the lawful demons, aside from Xiong Gun.
As the arena battles entered their climax, the number of live viewers on the Shenhua app was increasing at an extremely rapid pace, almost reaching a point where the entire city was empty.
And it was under the gaze of numerous spectators that the battle on Arena 18 in Zone A3 attracted a large audience.
"Hah!"
Boom!