A glint flashed through the eyes of the person on the 20th step as he stared at Kailen. This a competition; there was no way he would allow someone behind to bypass him. The audience knew that a fight between the two was imminent.

An extremely large scythe formed in front of him. It was brownish in color and had an ethereal greenish hue around it. He had the principle of earth. Although the gravitational field limited his movements, he was still able to move around. With the scythe in hand, he shot towards Kailen with lightning speed. The scythe cleaved through the air, coming down on Kailen. Its movements were overbearing, as if it could destroy everything.

Kailen’s gaze was calm. But he knew the attack was powerful. As expected, none of these geniuses were simple. Looks like he had to use a bit of his strength.

A colossal ethereal bell appeared before Kailen as Kailen waved his hand. The ethereal bell span and shot forward, rippling in and out of the void, causing space to meld and twist. The ethereal bell came into contact with the scythe descending towards it. Everybody watched with bated breath. Who among these two would fall and who would proceed? Also, the attacks unleashed by these two were far from ordinary.

For a moment, it was as if time had slowed down. The scythe twisted and bended the moment it sunk into the bell. Its shape started to distort and grow unstable. Then, it disappeared. The bell didn’t stop; it melded with the void then reappeared before the person on the 20th step. The last thing he saw in his line of vision was an ethereal bell. He felt a lethal threat encumber him. Was he going to die?

As for the audience, they saw the spatial bell come into contact with the body of the person on the 20th step. The person’s body simply bended and twisted unnaturally until, under their collective gazes, he faded out of existence, his dying screams ceasing.

Silence.

Kailen Darkhaven had killed a participant. And he was the first person to do it. He had done it so effortlessly.

The other participants right ahead had already noticed what had happened. Several stared at one another with cold glints. It seemed clashes were now inevitable. Chaos ensued. Principle attacks flew everywhere. No one wanted someone behind to advance ahead of them. Those ahead didn’t want those behind to also catch up to them. The attacks were from above and beneath. It was mayhem.

Kailen didn’t care about the commotion his actions had caused. Neither did he care about the audience going wild because of him. He advanced to the next step using his previous method of advancing. Eventually, he reached another person. He didn’t even wait for the person to attack. He didn’t have time to waste.

Kailen simply waved his hand. Spatial ripples spread across the person’s neck. His neck seemed to warp in and out of existence. The person’s head was hollowed from the rest of his body. He didn’t even know how he died as his headless body lay on the step, a few walks away from his head, full of terror, even in death, in a pool of his blood.

"This fellow is too ruthless. And why does it look like he has not even used a bit of his power?" Many noticed Kailen’s fights. They were starting to realize that he was not simple at all, and they had underestimated him. Although he was still weaker compared to Ezerisia, he was terrifying.

Ahead, Julian’s obsidian darkness principle hammer cleaved towards an opponent. The opponent met his attack with a lightning principle staff. Shockwaves spread across their current step. The opponent felt suppressed. The hammer cleaved through the staff and destroyed it. The hammer hammered the opponent. The opponent screamed and breathed her last. She turned into a husky corpse.

"Looks like Kailen is finally baring his fangs. Although he’s behind, it’s only a matter of time before he catches up. This guy is too low-key. He should learn to show off a bit," Julian smiled. Ahead, he saw the battles ongoing.

Thanks to Kailen, battles had broken out like a dam. This fellow really had a knack for causing trouble everywhere he went. No. It was more like Kailen had a knack for attracting it. He was like some main character of a novel. Julian shook his head. He smiled maniacally, shooting towards the next step, the next step’s weight of gravity bearing on him.

The audience watched everything with palpable tensions and an emotional rollercoaster. This competition was unlike anything they had seen the previous years. These participants were all monsters.

The person currently in the lead was Ezerisia.

At this point, a figure cloaked in a whirlwind appeared on the step she was on. The weight of gravity bore down on him. But he managed to lessen its impact with his wind principle activated. Cloaked in the cloak of darkness, Ezerisia decided not to take a step forward. She had to deal with this threat, else he would become a problem in the future. She snorted as she exchanged looks with the person. Brown hair, brown eyes. Fair skin.

Tawaki Xi, from the 30th Continent.

Did this person want to die? Tendrils of darkness shot out of her figure, headed towards the person.

"I don’t have time for your nonsense," Tawaki’s voice was heard by all.

Before Ezerisia’s attack could even land, he appeared on the next step, then the next, then the next. He had just widened the gap between Ezerisia and him by three steps. Ezerisia’s face was a sight to behold.

The occurrence caused an uproar in the stadium, across the city and the empire. The audience was shocked. Another dark horse. It seemed Ezerisia was not invincible. They had been wrong about her becoming the winner of the intercontinental competition, and the national competition which would commence after the intercontinental competition was over. Some geniuses were just low-key and didn’t like to throw their weight around. What kind of surprises would they see?

The VIPs watched in amusement. Everyone stared at Austere to see her expression. She was smiling?

"That girl is too arrogant. Serves her right. If no one kills her eventually, she will learn from this competition and become better. But if someone kills her, then she is simply too weak," she thought.

Everyone’s focus returned to the competition. As expected, this was unlike anything they had seen for the previous years. The participants were all terrifying.

At this moment, Kailen was ascending with swift speed, the ethereal hue around him branching out like leaflets whenever he appeared on a step. When someone tried to be hostile, he would simply hollow their head from their body and move forward.

Eventually, he reached Julian. Kailen nodded towards Julian.

"Go on ahead," Julian sent him a thought transmission.

Julian was confident in his strength. This is all the more reason why he had accepted a long time ago that Kailen was more powerful than him. He didn’t compare himself to others. But his pride would not let him deny the fact that someone was more powerful. He had decided to tag along with Kailen because he wanted to seek thrill, as he knew Kailen was a calamity magnet. Plus, they had similar ideals, although they operated from different perspectives. He didn’t feel jealous or anything concerning Kailen. Julian was carefree and unrestrained. He did what he wanted, when he wanted, not caring about comparing himself to others.

Kailen naturally understood this. This was why he had commented a while back that Julian was a lot like Charles.

Kailen nodded, "Looks like you are showing off a lot." After that, Kailen moved towards the next step. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Julian shook his head at Kailen’s words and chuckled inwardly, "That bastard."

Kailen looked ahead. No one was on the step he was on. There were two days left for the competition to come to an end. He had to intensify his movements. The ethereal glow surrounding him became more intense. Why was the ethereal glow surrounding him increasing? Many noticed.

Kailen moved from one step to another too effortlessly. When he reached a step someone was on, he would move to the next step before the person could even attack him. Those watching and even the participants could not even believe their eyes. Had this fellow been keeping a low profile all this while?

Eventually, Kailen arrived at one of the steps far off in the skies. Several felt tension rise as they stared at the person whose step Kailen had just arrived on.

Ezerisia.

Ezerisia herself was shocked. How had this fellow caught up to her? She was already in a bad mood that someone had advanced ahead of her. To think she would meet this person she has vowed to kill in a very humiliating manner here.

A glint of coldness flashed through her eyes as she stared at Kailen.