Armipotent

Tang Shaoyang rolled his eyes, "It was your assumption, and I never said that I would agree to it as well."

Lunea was attending with them as well. It was more like she was curious about how games progressed in this world since they started differently. Hearing the conversation, she shrunk and ensured no one looked at her.

Kang Xue, Li Shuang, and Zhang Mengyao stared at him and Rosalie. The banter was out of line to say in front of others. Rosalie pretended not to see their glares. Tang Shaoyang was saved by a screen that displayed the team from The Tang Empire that appeared in front of them.

There were five exclusive screens in his section. Three screens displayed the teams from The Tang Empire. The fourth screen was the map of the arena along with the rules of the battlefield. The fifth was the list of the participants, including their factions and the names who joined the Earth Tournament.

Ashley Ambrose with her knight order, Ash Rose Order was on the top. She did not include the student from an academy since she had a complete line-up from her order.

The screen below showed the second team, Zaneos, The Demon Swordsman. They won the little tournament with Zowen, Areth, Chang Jie, and an Epic Rank student from the academy.

Zaneos had reached the Demi-God Rank. Zowen was at Legend Rank, she just needed to take the trial to reach The Demi-God Rank, but she delayed the trial for the tournament. He heard from Zaneos that she was tempted by his reward for Primordial or Legend Rank equipment. That would increase her chances of finishing the trial perfectly, and she might even clear the bonus wave.

Tang Shaoyang recognized Chang Jie. The young man he gave the Drake Bloodline. He let the young man learn under Zaneos. Areth was the young man he saved from The Dimensional Tower. Zowen took her in as a little brother. The only one he did not recognize was the student. The student looked nervous, but Chang Jie helped him out.

The third team that won the little tournament was from The Moonlight Tribe. The Chief of the Moonlight Tribe directly led the team. Moonsong won the whole little tournament, defeating even a combination of Zaneos and Zowen.

"If not for the condition, I will join Zaneos' team," Rosalie remarked, "With Lilliana and Crystal, we should win this tournament easily."

She was close with Zaneos and Zowen because they were spirits. Lilliana and Crystal were also spirits, her former subordinates during her reign as Empress.

"We are not here for the win. If we are really desperate for the win, we can have Forlan, Hemlin, and Lunea to lead our teams."

Cao Jingyi interjected. She might be one of the few who were close to Tang Shaoyang and his wives to join the conversation. The others listened to the conversation in silence.

"If we are not here for the win, why would we join then?" Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"For the experience. Especially for the students. This might be a good event for the student to gain real battle experience."

Tang Shaoyang glanced at Kang Xue. Usually, Cao Jingyi would argue with him, but it seemed she had found a new friend to have a discussion with. Rosalie and Cao Jingyi kept arguing, about which was more important winning and the actual experience from the tournament.

He let them be and read the rules for the battle royal instead. The place for the battleground was a massive island. The island was surrounded by a sea of lava. The lava actively eroded the land and made the island smaller. The participants could not hide and camp in one spot for the entire tournament. They had to keep moving or they would lose their foothold.

Flying skill was allowed, but they could not fly above the sea of lava. The skill would automatically turn off if a participant flew above the lava and fell.

The team or an individual could surrender, amidst fight or not. That was a mechanism to avoid getting killed. That was right, killing other participants was not prohibited as long as the opponent did not surrender.

The battle royal would last for seven days. The lava would eat the island and leave with a small foothold where no one could hide anymore. The participants would be forced to fight and decide the winner.

The interesting part about the rule was that the last team standing was not the winner of the tournament. But the team with the most points.

A team would get two points for an individual elimination. Knocking out a team would grant ten points. The last point would come from placement. The first place got three hundred points, the second place got two hundred points, and the third place got one hundred and fifty points. Fourth to fifth place got a hundred points and so on.

Surviving until the end did not mean they won the tournament. It was a battle royal, not a survival battle. They needed to fight to win the tournament. It was a design where the participants were encouraged to fight instead of hiding and running.

"I should have joined, so we can have an early World Congress," Tang Shaoyang muttered after reading the rules.

He could end the tournament earlier, then he could have an early World Congress.

Rosalie heard it and could not help but ask, "How long will it take for you to finish the tournament?" She was curious, and so were the others as well.

Tang Shaoyang never really fought in front of his people ever since he reached The God Rank. A few had witnessed how he fought. The people who followed to the Demi-God Dungeon.

"A few hours," Zhang Mengyao recalled of how they finished the Demi-God Dungeon in The Africa Nation's territory.

Her answer was enough to shock the others, not expecting the gap between the Demi-God Rank and God Rank would be that big.

"Less than an hour," Tang Shaoyang corrected her. Zhang Mengyao did not know that his spirit was doubled in numbers and all of them were High Archaic Spirits. They easily crushed all the participants.

"I believe you can beat the combination of Zaneos and Zowen, but I don't think you can beat them so easily," Rosalie who had witnessed the swordsman and the magus's teamwork believed that they could last longer even if they fought Tang Shaoyang.

Tang Shaoyang smiled and turned back, not just at Rosalie but all of his people. They were the head divisions and high-ranking officers from Tarrior and the other Divisions. They were the elite of The Tang Empire.

"I don't mean to discourage you all, but I can beat you all in less than ten minutes of a fight. The gap between The God Rank and The Demi-God Rank is that big."

The moment he said that all of his people riled up. They admitted that Tang Shaoyang was stronger than them, but they could not accept that they would be beaten in less than ten minutes.

"We can try if you guys don't believe me. Let's go to the God Realm and fight there. We don't need to worry about destroying anything there. Forlan, Hemlin, and Lunea can join your side to make it fair."

"What do we get if we last more than ten minutes?" Rosalie was fired up.

"You can ask me anything. Because you will not last more than ten minutes. We will schedule the spar after the World Congress."

Zhang Mengyao looked at the others, excited about fighting Tang Shaoyang. They never really had the chance to see Tang Shaoyang fight. They just want to fight her husband to prove their effort to him that they also worked hard to catch up.

"You are going to crush their spirit," She reminded me that the spar might backfire.

"I don't think my people are weak-willed. It should encourage them to work harder. We rarely encountered a challenge because no faction dared to attack us anymore. I don't want them getting complacent."

Tang Shaoyang thought this might be good. The spar would tell them that they were still nothing in this large universe. There were monsters and other players that were stronger than them.

"It's starting!"

The giant screen at the center slashed and revealed the participants from many teams. There were more than two hundred teams since each faction could send three teams. Most of the leaders from the other factions participated in the tournament.

King Herman Bonivido from The United Sovereign, Gaius Barbarossa from The Africa Nation, Vaso Galliades from The Olympus, and all leaders from the big factions joined the tournament, excluding The Duchy of Michalina and The Tang Empire.

*** ***

Zaneos, Ashley, and Moonsong were staying in one room with their team members. Even though they were from the same side, the atmosphere around them was quite intense. They might be an ally, but they were rivals in the tournament.

That was right, it was a competition between the teams, not factions. While it was not prohibited for the teams from the same faction to work together, only one team could win the tournament.

"How are we going to settle for the winner? Do we beat them all and only fight when just the three of us left?" Moonsong broke the silence.

"Are you suggesting for us to work together?" Ashley furrowed her brow and asked.

"No, Lady Ashley. It would be unfair for the others if we work together. We must at least give them a chance to win," Moonsong shook his head.

"How about this, we will not fight unless we are the three last teams. If we meet before that, then we will split in the opposite direction. We will only fight if we are the last surviving team."

"Let's do that then," Ashley nodded.

Zaneos also nodded in agreement, "I will say it right now, Lady Ashley. I will not go easy on you."

"That's what I want."

The atmosphere in The Tang Empire's waiting room was totally different than the other factions. The growing rivalry between the three teams made the students from the academy nervous. This was totally different than what they thought.

Meanwhile, the other factions were planning and working together. They worked together, like how they would meet up later, and pushed one team to get most of the points.

After the three made an agreement, a minute countdown appeared along with the map of the island for all the teams. The big island was divided into four different areas, desert, forest, swamp, and an open grassland.

As the countdown reached zero, all the teams were teleported into the battleground. The team could not choose where they would be teleported. It was a random teleportation.

Moonsong's team was teleported into the forest area. Zaneos' team was teleported into the desert area. Ashley's team was teleported into the open grassland.

Between the three teams, Moonsong was the team with the most benefit from the random teleportation. The forest area was the Moonlight Rabbit's home turf.