Chapter 227: Fruit of the divine tree
In a blink of an eye, the remaining six hours left of the second phase passed, completing the twenty four hours that the second phase was supposed to take. And the moment the clock struck true, all participants without a sphere silently disappeared from the pocket realm without warning.
The participants that disappeared found themselves back in the hall they stood before being transported into the pocket realm. Among them, expressions of varies degrees that ranged from unwillingness, to anger, to relief, passed through their faces.
Most were unwilling to believe they had lost just like that and couldn’t obtain a sphere. Some were angry at not having obtained a sphere, and most were relieved that they were finally out of the game.
At that moment, a voice rang out through the hall.
"All of you lot may exit the building. Not far away from here, seats have been reserved for you all, where you can continue watching the competition from there." The voice finished.
The moment the voice was gone, the youths began exiting the hall in droves.
Meanwhile, on the outside, all the screens the spectators were watching turned blank all of a sudden. But before they could even think about what was going on,
"Do not worry dear viewers, we are just taking a five minutes break, we’ll be back in five minutes." The commentator’s voice rang out.
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Meanwhile, inside the pocket realm.
"CONGRATULATIONS ON OVERCOMING THE SECOND PHASE CHILDREN OF NAHAAR. THOSE WHO HAVE FAILED RO ACQUIRE A SPHERE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SENT OUT OF THIS POCKET REALM." The voice said letting it’s word sink in the youths’ minds.
"NOW, I HAVE A GOOD NEWS FOR YOU. THOSE RED SPHERES YOU ARE HOLDING HAVE A NAME."
"Here it comes." Damon muttered.
"THOSE RED SPHERES ARE CALLED, THE FRUIT OF THE DIVINE TREE. THE FRUIT OF THE DIVINE TREE IS PART OF THE REASON WHY THE CONVERGENCE OF RACES TAKE PLACE EVERY HUNDRED YEARS.
THE DIVINE TREE PRODUCES ONLY A HUNDRED FRUITS EVERY ONE HUNDRED YEARS, AND THESE FRUITS HAVE MIRACULOUS AND WONDEROUS EFFECTS. EVERY PERSON WHO CONSUMES A FRUIT, WOULD INSTANTLY BREAKTHROUGH AND BE PUSHED UP ONE RANK." The voice said, to the marvel of their youths.
"NOW, FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE ALREADY STARTED CONSIDERING SNATCHING FRUITS FROM OTHERS, I CAN ASSURE YOU IT WONT WORK. AN INDIVIDUAL CAN ONLY CONSUME A SINGLE FRUIT IN THEIR LIFETIME. NOT ONLY THAT, THE FRUIT ONLY WORKS FOR THOSE AT THE ZETA RANK AND BELOW. IT CAN MAKE A PERSON BREAKTHROUGH FROM THE ZETA RANK TO THE ZETA+ RANK, BUT NOT FROM THE ZETA+ RANK RO THE GAMMA- RANK."
Listening to what the voice was saying, most of those who had been thinking of snatching the fruits from others put that thought away. What was the point of making trouble for themselves if they wouldn’t even benefit from it?
"NOW, I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU. BUT WHETHER IT’S GOOD NEWS OR BAD NEWS, ITS UP TO YOU TO JUDGE. AMONGST YOU, THERE ARE ALREADY TWO YOUTHS IN THE ZETA RANK, AND AFTER TAKING THE FRUITS , THEY’LL BREAKTHROUGH TO THE ZETA+ RANK. NOW, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? CONSUME THE FRUIT, YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES."
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"Does that bastard think being at the Zeta rank will stop me from skinning him alive?" Sevas muttered to himself. He had peered into the pocket realm earlier, and sensed the brat’s aura. It was then he realized why the brat could toy with his daughter even given her abilities.
In fact, Sevas was the one who told the commentator to announce to the other youths that there were two individuals already at the Zeta rank.
"Now stay your hands Sevas, anything that happens in the competition stays in the competition." Lucas intervened. "You can’t just attack him just because he asked your daughter for a dance."
"That bastard tried to touch my daughter." Sevas growled.
"Still, like the chancellor said, you can’t lay a hand on him." Alexa replied. "He is still one of the talents competing for the human race."
"And who’s going to stop me? You?" Sevas’s tone took a dark tone as the gravity in the room reached levels beyond comprehension.
"Sevas." Amon called. "Stop creating a scene." He said as his aura also rose to match Sevas’ while being careful not to annihilate the very hall they were in. His aura had the attribute of destruction after all.
"Please, if you humans are going into conflict with yourselves, make sure you go back to your human domain before continuing." Rhudeus’ aura rose up, conflicting with the other two.
So three auras stood in confrontation, a blood red aura, a scarlet red aura, and a dark purplish aura.
The realm they were inside of in itself, started to break down from their conflicting auras. It was only when they saw that the realm wouldn’t be able to take it if they kept at it, did they disperse their auras.
"Hmph!" Sevas scoffed and turned away. Amon didn’t have a change in expression, while Rhudeus had a satisfied smile on his face.
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Meanwhile, even after listening to the voice say they had only three minutes, none of the youths moved to consume the fruits, except for two individuals. Apart from those two, the words; ’There are two among you are already at the Zeta rank’ kept ringing in everyone’s minds.
"At least this hasn’t changed." Damon muttered. He knew the two people who were at the Zeta rank. One of them was Kaal, that much Damon knew of, and the other was of course Damon himself.
A week since they arrived on the demon continent, Damon broke through to the Zeta- rank, and then he broke through to the Zeta rank two days after he arrived in the capital city of Valon. If you asked him, the breakthrough was much overdue.
"Anyway, let’s get this started." Damon muttered, before bringing the red fruit to his mouth, and took one bite out of it. The flesh was soft and it had a sweet juice. However, the moment Damon took that bite, the rest of the fruit dissolved into a red energy that surgeon into his body.
Damon then felt a warm soothing energy running through his body, and mixing with his silver hued aether. When one reached the Zeta- rank, their aether transformed into the color of their attribute. And Damon’s attribute was reflection, so his aether got a reflective silver hue.
As the warm soothing energy mixed with his aether, Damon’s aether shot towards the barrier keeping him from breaking into the Zeta+ rank.
The moment the aether came in contact with the barrier, the barrier crumbled out of existence instantly. Damon’s aura shot up instantly, his aura surpassing the ranks of the Zeta rank, and breaking into the Zeta+ rank.
"Wow, that was wonderful." Damon muttered, opening his eyes which were shining with a silver hue. He clenched his fist, feeling the new degree of strength coursing through his being.
"How could this not be addicting? the feeling of growing stronger." He smiled.
He clenched his fist, and the air popped like a small shockwave had been detonated. ’As I am now, could I tank a nuclear warhead?’ Damon thought of the pinnacle of weapons in his past life,
’Probably not.’ He soon shook his head. ’Perhaps when I breakthrough to the Delta rank.’ he mused.
Damon wasn’t the only one, all around the pocket realm, the youths were consuming the fruit and breaking through to the next rank.
Anastasia, Namor, and Alistair all broke through to the Zeta rank. Rose, Aric, Delilah, Fabian, Levi, and Calum all broke through to the Zeta- rank. So did Isolde, Nymeria, and Vael, all broke through to the Zeta- rank.
Kaal meanwhile, just like Damon, had broken through to the Zeta+ rank. The ground beneath him caved in as a brilliant blood hued aura burst out from Kaal’s body.
The aura soon calmed down as he opened his blood red eyes.
"A second Zeta+ huh? This will be very interesting, I suppose."
Just then, the voice giving the instructions returned.
"I HOPE YOU ALL ARE READY CHILDREN.OF NAHAAR, BECAUSE THE THIRD PHASE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN. IN THIS PHASE, WE WILL BE ELIMINATING 36 OF YOU, MEANING, ONLY SIXTY FOUR OF YOU WOULD MOVE ON TO THE FINAL ROUND..."
"What?! they are still eliminating some of them?!" A girl exclaimed.
"Duh, did you think they were all going to win?" Her friend replied.
"I wonder how this third phase would be." Someone spoke.
"I bet it would be even more awesome than the first and second."
"Are you kidding, nothing beats the first."
"No, nothing beats the second."
The spectators began arguing and placing beta on what the third phase could be about, while those actually in the competition were dreading what horror would the game unleash in them next.
"IT IS SIMPLE ACTUALLY." The voice said. "THE THIRD PHASE IS A... GAME OF TAG."
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