Chapter 535: The Final Treasure Is Revealed
Roar!
Just as the golden sphere was about to be shattered by Joe Tlian's stand, a figure shot past the Dragon of Hades. Blood sprayed through the air as if under immense pressure, and the figure coughed violently.
This figure was none other than Katakuri.
At this moment, the Sky-Bound Crystal in his hand had vanished, either destroyed or gone.
When he had attempted to seal the Dragon of Hades, the activation of the Sky-Bound Crystal caused a collision between flowing and solidified time and space. The Dragon of Hades' own principles leaned toward the realms of soul and time-space, both highly sensitive to such disturbances.
This clash of time streams jolted the Dragon of Hades awake.
As it regained awareness, it found itself being twisted and gradually sealed into the Sky-Bound Crystal.
The experience was jarring, one moment it was casually conversing, the next it was being treated as a corpse and stuffed into a coffin.
This shock caused the Dragon of Hades' mentality to erupt.
Naturally, the Mythical Beast's power surged within it, instantly shattering the precious Sky-Bound Crystal into fragments.
Before the seal completed, the crystal explosed.
Following the explosion, the Dragon of Hades lashed out with a claw at Katakuri.
If not for Orochimaru's sudden message, Katakuri might have been incinerated by its dragon breath.
Joe Tlian, in the center, paid little attention to the commotion on Katakuri's side.
He was more focused on the treasure before him.
Click! Click!
With a series of breaking sounds, the golden sphere shattered, revealing its contents.
A golden scepter, as tall as a person, came into view.
Black lines, like snakes, intertwined from the base and extended across the entire scepter.
Its crown resembled a small coronet with eight edges.
Around the head of the ornate scepter floated eight spheres, each about ten centimeters in diameter, four black and four white.
"Is this the final treasure? A scepter?"
"It looks like something a good salesman would carry."
Observing the scepter, Joe Tlian sighed inwardly.
He stepped forward and reached out to grasp the suspended scepter.
Roar!
A massive roar followed, accompanied by a dark wave of death.
The Black Death Dragon King unleashed a tide of death, engulfing Joe Tlian.
"Euler! Euler! Euler!" Joe Tlian's stand shouted.
Facing the relentless tide, Joe Tlian's stand did its duty, striking repeatedly to block the onslaught.
"These guys are really troublesome!" Joe Tlian said, eyeing the death wave around him.
He refrained from forcibly taking the scepter.
Beyond the Black Death Dragon King's threat, Aizen watched him with a smile from nearby.
The terrifying female knight from the Kingdom of Miracles and others were also observing.
The pressure to seize the scepter was too great.
It seemed he could only wait for the right moment.
Joe Tlian thought silently in his mind that he could still use Time Stop again.
He planned to let these opponents reach a stalemate first, then stop time at the opportune moment.
He noticed that these individuals were not entirely unaffected by the time stop. If used wisely, he still had a chance.
He wondered if the scepter could be wielded effectively once taken.
To be honest, Joe Tlian wasn't sure if it was his perception or something else, but the scepter didn't exude overwhelming power. It felt ordinary.
He couldn't understand why and attributed it to a flaw in his own perception.
Hoo ho ho!
Time began to flow again. Joe Tlian's current time stop lasted one minute.
Ordinarily, one minute was enough to decide a battle with his stand's strength and speed.
However, so many individuals on the field could act within the time stop, which put him in an awkward position.
Rumble!
As time resumed, a massive roar echoed from the sky.
Many contestants at the scene were bewildered, unaware of what had happened.
They only saw a vast crack spreading across the sky.
After a moment, a long, narrow gap appeared, resembling a scar in the heavens.
"What is that?" someone asked.
"The sky, the sky is broken! Such a long crack!" another exclaimed.
Many contestants were shocked.
They had seen the sky split before, caused by clashes between powerful beings wielding Conqueror's Haki.
But those were confined to specific areas.
The sight before them, with the sky fractured in front of the female knight, was unprecedented.
"So strong! That knight's swordsmanship must be at the highest level!" a swordsman remarked.
Some swordsmen on the scene gazed at Hikari, standing before the Sun Golden Crow, with burning eyes.
Since Hikari's earlier moves were too swift, they couldn't see clearly.
Thus, they had no sense of the time stop, as her speed was too fast for them to perceive.
They ignored everything else and fixated on the crack in the sky.
The Kendo Association classified swordsmanship into twelve levels, with the tenth level marking great swordsmen.
Most great swordsmen could establish their own kendo styles.
Eleventh-rank great swordsmen were rare, capable of slicing through mountains and islands with a single strike.
Twelfth-rank great swordsmen were even more formidable.
In the past, the Kendo Association had invited sword masters from sister societies to set the twelfth-level standard.
They established it as cutting a kilometer-high mountain from fifty kilometers away.
This standard was staggering.
Yet, no one objected when a sword master casually cleaved a 3,000-meter-high mountain on a deserted island chosen by the association.
With the sky scarred like this, none doubted the female knight's swordsmanship.
While everyone stared at the sky in shock, Morgans, ever perceptive, sensed something amiss.
At some point, two striking companion beasts had appeared, and the golden sphere's seal had slowly broken, revealing its contents in an instant.
Observing Time King Joe Tlian near the final treasure, Morgans was thoughtful.
But he refrained from saying much.
To be honest, he dared not offend Joe Tlian, whose ability to stop time was both terrifying and eerie.
Morgans had no means to resist it.
If he spoke too much and Joe Tlian took offense, Morgans wouldn't sleep well at night.
So, he turned his attention to the ultimate treasure.
That was the focal point now.
"Kwahahaha! Dear viewers and contestants, the final prize of our Mythical Beast Conference is finally being revealed!" Morgans shouted with passion.
His position shielded him from the Sun Golden Crow's residual heat, allowing him to remain energetic.
"Now, let me share the big news with you."
"The ultimate prize..."
With Morgans' booming voice, the eyes of the audience and contestants turned to the center of the Competitive Canyon.
They gazed at the suspended scepter, glowing with a faint golden halo.
Many eyes burned with desire.
(End of this chapter)