Death... and me

Naturally, Oglico couldn't do anything but retreat. He still had the third test to take, just like the others. However, from now on, the longer Rean, Roan, Sansa, and Hudi allowed their plates to float, the further their score would be from them. In fact, the few others who also remained in the competition might even surpass their positions depending on how long they kept their plates afloat.

No more battles happened after that. Those who wanted to win by making others drop their plates had already done so. Any extra fight had a high risk of making things go south. Besides...it would be useless if none of them could deal with the twins, as well as Sansa's group.

The three-hour mark quickly arrived as more plates fell on the ground.

Three and half hours had soon passed, with the total of participants remaining not more than 7. Rean, Roan, Sansa, Hudi, and another three called Fingpi, Cloud, and Vermont. Sure enough, it was as Erfalis had mentioned. Just because one didn't have the strongest Soul Power, that didn't mean one didn't have much better control over what one had. Those three, who were not even in the top ten before, were proof of this.

When the fourth hour came up, another plate finally fell. Surprisingly, it was Hudi's plate. He couldn't keep up with the rate of changes. "Sigh...sorry, Sansa. I'm taking my leave already."

Sansa nodded, telling him, "It's fine. I'm still here." Although she looked calm, Hudi could feel the difficulty she was experiencing in keeping her plate afloat. In fact, that was the same for everyone, including the twins.

From there onward, one plate would fall every ten minutes when the speed spiked upward.

*Clang!*

Cloud lost at four hours and twelve minutes.

*Clang!*

Fingpi lost at four hours and twenty-five minutes.

*Clang!*

This time... Roan was out at four hours and thirty-seven minutes, leaving Rean, Sansa, and Vermont still in the test. 'As I expected.' Roan wasn't surprised at all since he knew Rean's Soul Power talent was higher from the very start.

Sansa, Rean, and Vermont couldn't even talk anymore. That's how much they had to concentrate on their Soul Power to keep their plates afloat. Nevertheless, the plate would still increase the speed at which the channels changed, regardless of how hard they felt it to be already.

Five hours and three minutes...

*Clang!*

Vermont finally dropped his own plate. However, he didn't look the least bit unhappy. 'Hehe! My sect will definitely reward me nicely for this,' he thought as he retreated back. 'Besides...Rean and Sansa definitely won't hold for any longer than ten minutes. The next spike at five hours and ten minutes will be the decisive moment.'

He wasn't the only one to think that way. Fabio, Erfalis, the elders who were watching, and the competitors who were outside. Everyone could easily tell by how much Rean and Sansa were sweating over it.

Five hours and ten minutes!

The speed of channels changing once again spiked. It always increased every minute, but the spike every ten minutes was much higher. Rean and Sansa narrowed their eyes and gritted their teeth. Their plates continued to float for a few more seconds until suddenly...

*Clang! Clang!*

Two plates fell on the ground at the same time! Rean and Sansa were the last ones.

*Wow!*

Immediately, an uproar came from the participants and those spectators. What were the chances of such a thing happening?

Rean sighed as he looked at Sansa, telling her, "To think that I have higher Soul Power but am in the same level at control."

Sansa didn't seem the least happy. "Even though you say that, I consider it my loss. I haven't forgotten that I'm already in the Saint Realm while you're still in the Soul Transformation Realm. In any case, I won't hold back in the last test."

Rean nodded with a smile as he used his Divine Energy to wipe out the sweat on his face.

Erfalis was satisfied with the results as he called everyone forth. "Very good. The first two places went much further than I expected. Now, we will take a thirty-minute break before we start the last test. Make sure to recover well."

Rean, Sansa, and everyone else nodded in response. Well, those thirty minutes were more for Sansa and Rean since most of the participants left the second test hours ago.

However, Roan narrowed his eyes as he used his Soul Connection with Rean to ask something. 'Why did you lose there? Don't pretend that you reached your limit since I know it better than anyone else. You could have definitely held on for at least another twenty minutes.'

Rean shrugged his shoulders as he told Roan, 'I didn't feel like destroying that girl's pride. We're basically cheating here because of my Light Element Affinity.'

Roan wasn't surprised by Rean's words. 'Soft as always.'

Rean didn't feel like it was an insult. He was him, and Roan was Roan. 'As long as I win, what's the problem?'

'If you win, right?' Roan asked.

Rean kept recovering his Soul Power before saying, 'Don't worry. I'll win. Besides...you're probably going to take second place, and you know that.'

Roan didn't say anything else in response.

Everyone then looked at the scoreboard.

-1st: Rean Larks, Lukimira Sect - 6355 Points.-

-2nd: Sansa Sil, Soul Guild - 6053 Points.-

-3rd: Roan Larks, Lukimira Sect - 5637 Points.-

-4th: Vermont Wafols, Wafols Clan - 4967 Points.-

-5th: Hudi Hadrin, Soul Guild - 4858

-6th: Cloud Sahagin, Sahagin Clan - 4612 Points.-

-7th: Fingpi Tuan, Distro Sect - 4358 Points.-

-8th: Ancel Yubao, Polivas Sect - 3551 Points.-

-9th: Oglico, Vintchi Sect - 3339 Points.-

-10th: Samu Kip, Kip Clan - 3165 Points.-

-11th...

Sure enough, because Difran and the others fell too early, they fell behind in score compared to Cloud, Vermont, and Fingpi. After all, those three kept up in the competition for at least two more hours. That was the same as at least 1200 extra points compared to them.

Many elders watching it were happy with the results. Others were fuming in anger because of their member's display. As one could expect, Difran, Oglico, and Ancel's elders were obviously the latter.

However, there was nothing they could do about it as they knew they would have tried a similar thing in their positions.

Fabio and Erfalis didn't care about any of that. Once thirty minutes were up, Efalis immediately called everyone. "Alright, the Soul Power and Divine Energy Synergy Test will start now."