Armipotent

The last match of group A was suspenseful, intense, and bloody. As Zhang Mengyao predicted, these people saved their trump cards for the deciding match. Izuhara Tachibana had reached Epic Rank and had a bloodline related to the black fox. The black fur covered his skin, and even his face transformed similar to a fox's face.

It was rather unlucky for his opponent, who was not an Epic Rank. Izuhara secured the first win after less than a minute of fighting. Since the fighter from the Houston Legacy did not give up, he suffered many cuts all over his body before getting knocked out of the arena. In the second round, the leader of the Houston Legacy stepped up.

The Houston Legacy's leader, Shane Manning did the same thing as The Tachibana Clan's leader, activating the bloodline transformation from the start of the fight. Shane Manning's bloodline was related to big cat species, similar to the leopard. The yellow-cream fur with black spots all over his body. Both leaders managed to avoid the battle between the Epic Ranks for the first time in the arena. Since Shane Manning's opponent was not an Epic Rank, the fight ended quickly with a 1-1 score.

In the third round, the dying Izuhara Tachibana's nephew, Nomiya Tachibana fought again after almost losing his life earlier. To everyone's surprise, Nomiya Tachibana was an Epic Rank, and he had a similar fox bloodline as his uncle. However, his fur color was bright blue instead of black, and he had lightning affinity as the fur discharged spark of lighting from time to time.

However, the Houston Legacy's fighter was also an Epic Rank. The two factions sent two Epic Ranks for the third round of the match. O'neal Blevin had a bloodline related to the snake as deep black scales covered his outer appearance. For some reason, O'neal Blevin followed the snake's habit, hissing at his opponent with his long tongue.

The atmosphere in the arena heated up as the first Epic Rank clash started. They lived up to their rank, the fierce and suspenseful battle happened in the arena. Fortunately, a barrier protected the spectators as Nomiya's lightning reached the spectator seat. The battle lasted for an hour, the longest battle so far. Nomiya Tachibana failed to secure a point for the Tachibana Clan despite the fierce lightning.

O'neal Blevin's poison wore out his opponent, causing Nomiya Tachibana to lose the battle. In fact, it was a miracle that Nomiya Tachibana managed to hold out that long as he was poisoned fifteen minutes into the battle. At the end of the battle, O'neal Blevin limped his way to the portal while his body swayed to the right and left as if he would fall at any moment.

Meanwhile, Nomiya Tachibana laid down on the broken arena as his transformation wore out. Without the transformation, everyone could see Nomiya's face turned deep purple from the poison, and his red veins appeared on his neck up to his face. The young man endured the pain while his eyes turned white.

Izuhara Tachibana retrieved his nephew and immediately rushed toward the Tang Empire booth. He did not even care about the next round as he immediately sought the help of the Tang Empire. "Can you heal my nephew again?" While Izuhara was concerned, he was not anxious as he thought the Tang Empire's healer could save his nephew.

Arina shook her head. "I am sorry, Sir Izuhara, but I can't cure your nephew this time. I can heal his injuries, but I can't expel the poison from his body. I am a healer, and we are healing wounds, so you need an antidote to save your nephew, not a healer."

Izuhara Tachibana's eyes widened as he was caught off guard by the information. However, he immediately realized that it made sense. Even if they healed the injuries, the poison was not an injury but a harmful foreign substance in his nephew's body. Izuhara Tachibana then looked toward the Houston Legacy's booth. "Guild Leader Shane, can you sell us the antidote for my nephew?"

That was the right step to take. The poisoner must have the antidote, so buying the antidote from the Houston Legacy was the only way to save his nephew. Shane Manning smiled when he heard the request from the Tachibana Clan's leader. "It's easy. Give up this match, and then we will give you the antidote."

Izuhara Tachibana clenched his hand into a fist as he looked toward the arena. While the Tachibana Clan was not a major faction, they had four Epic Ranks including the clan leader. So, the fourth and fifth round representatives of the Tachibana Clan were an Epic Rank. The chance of them passing into the playoff stage was big.

Izuhara realized it was impossible to aim for first place with the major factions in the race. However, they could still aim for the prize for the top sixteen. It was better than nothing, but he weighed it whether it was worth losing an Epic Rank to reach the top sixteen? He could not decide it and looked toward his friend in the arena.

His friend nodded his head, telling him that he was willing to surrender in exchange for the antidote. Izuhara made a difficult decision and decided to forfeit the match. "We will give up the match." As soon as he gave the answer, the fighter from the Tachibana Clan forfeited the fight. It was an anti-climax end with the Houston Legacy coming up as the winner with a 3-1 score.

The Tachibana Clan seemed too naive to accept the terms easily, or maybe Izuhara Tachibana panicked as his nephew was at the death door. "Thank you for your generosity, Clan Leader Izuhara. However, we don't have the antidote. We are very sorry to inform you this late." Shane Manning bowed his head toward Izuhara Tachibana.

"Woah!" The audience was shocked to hear that from Shane Manning's mouth. They did not expect the Houston Legacy would go back on their words. The Tachibana Clan went into ruckus as they tried to go to the Houston Legacy's booth. At the same time, Izuhara Tachibana activated his bloodline transformation.