Guild Wars

Shadowheart felt the damage strike him and his face changed. He wanted to raise his staff and use eternity on himself, to prevent his death from occurring and to extend his own life.

However, that idea came a bit too late, and would not even work since he was a being of eternity anyway. Besides, it was the usual argument that immortality does not equate invincibility.

Shadowheart sighed as he turned to pixels, nodding to Ghost who was roaring as Orochi with respect.

If he also had the ability to transform into Ouroboros, this battle would have had a way different ending, but as it were, it was fine with him.

3rd Battle: Ghostprotokill wins!

4th battle begin!

The Showman grinned widely as he walked onto the stage, adjusting his hat suavely. Kiran, by comparison, went up the stage already in his Base Warrior form, his three different energies circulating around him in a strangely unique way compared to before.

Despite this, everyone shook their heads.

There was no chance for Kiran to win against The Showman. He could win against Krona due to the uniqueness of his power, Krona's newness to battle, his own martial skill and a bit of wit and luck, but here, none of that would help.

The showman embodied the greatest weakness of melee fighters, the ability to attack the mind. Before Kiran even fired one beam, he would be dragged into an illusion by The Showman and killed before he could even fart once.

As such, even The Showman was quite calm and unconcerned despite the martial strength of his foe. If he could even trap Pedro, a fellow with both Horned Demon and Dark Angle bloodlines, the perfect combination to break out of any mental attack, in an illusion, then Kiran had no chance.

Yeah, he might have the Merlin and Buddha bloodline, but their effectiveness in blocking him would not be as great as the Lucifer bloodline which encoded mental defenses for its own abilities.

The Showman remained where he was, looking as if he wanted to try something, while Kiran directly entered Super Warrior 1 form after unlocking the first hidden gate. He then entered Super Warrior 2 form after roaring for a bit and letting his energy explode, his power shattering parts of the arena.

Even The Showman had to admit that his heart was palpitating with fear, his instincts telling him to crush Kiran immediately. However, he was not a fighter nor a warrior, and had never been.

He was first and foremost, a Broker. He loved the art of making deals, whether they benefited him or not, because it was always interesting to see the choices others would make in different circumstances, and especially how they dealt with the aftermath.

When a person wins a case in court, everyone celebrates the win or lament the loss, but that is usually the end of the involvement of others. Most people do not bother to know what happens next, but such thing were far more interesting in the eyes of this bloke compared to watching the overly dramatic and tense trial proceedings.

He only fought in this core member battle at the request of Eden, because he wisely listened to Draco's advice and wanted to mend his relationship with his God Serpent.

If left to The Showman, he would be among the spectators, taking bets, asking for opinions and setting up rankings. That was more in line with his interested as a person, but one must make sacrifices in life to have a peaceful life.

However, unlike the fight with Pedro where Eden was raring to go to test itself, it only gave Kiran one look and turned away. It did not even want to manifest to deal with him, feeling that The Showman should handle this on his own.

And, hoe best to handle this than but making a show?!

As such, the Showman whipped a handkerchief about and waved it with a smile, making Kiran who was about to brazenly charge forward and risk his life, stop in place.

"Rather than engage in boorish fisticuffs, why not make a series of bets? I have some class and bloodline related abilities relating to brokerage, so lets put aside the illusion stuff and make deals! What do you say?"

Kiran paused and then nodded, detransforming from his Super Warrior 2 form back into his normal human being state. He panted a little and had to rest for a while to deal with the severe effects of transformation, but soon came to where the Showman directed.

The Showman created some seats through worldly energy and both parties sat down.

"Well, lets start by setting the bar for our abilities and measuring each other up." The Showman stated as he snapped a finger.

Measuring Scale!

｢Measuring Scale – Active skill

Effect: Place yourself and your opponent on a balancing scale. Depending on the Luck value of both parties, the stats and combat power of each party are either deducted or added based on the net total.

Duration: For the entire battle

Cooldown: Once per battle.｣

Immediately, the insane stat difference between the two balanced out. Kiran felt his physical strength, speed and endurance draining while his intelligence, spirit and charisma (and Luck) grew to match the new standard.

The Showman seemed to be undergoing the same restructuring as his Intelligence, Spirit, Charisma and Luck decreased while his physical stats rose to match. The stat distribution between them became relatively equal.

However, Kiran's expression became strange and distrustful. How was it possible for his Luck to be anywhere near the Showman's? After all, he only invested stats in his physical areas in order to enhance his martial strength, with a little bit in spirit to help cultivating and controlling Worldly Energy.

The Showman saw this and laughed. "I have a passive skill that allows me to alter the probability of any skill check or item check. I used it to lower my own chances in order for the skill to work."

Kiran was left speechless by this. What a strange and eccentric fellow. At the same time too, Kiran couldn't help but become interested in what this fellow was about.

"Now that we have set the stage and everything is ready, I'll first use my own bloodline based Broker abilities to make a deal with you. If you win, you get a chance to secure victory despite the odds and if you lose, you lose." The Showman explained as his bloodline roiled.

This familiar black aura burst out of his body, enveloping the area around them like a thick miasma. Behind The Showman, the image of a giant balancing scale appeared.

Kiran took this in with sharp eyes, but did not move. Three cards formed in mid-air between The Showman and Kiran, their fronts facing the broker and their devilishly design backs facing Kiran.

The Showman read the details of the three cards and his eyes brightened.

"What an interesting selection! So essentially, since the subject matter is the same throughout, there are only the consequences that differ between the three available choices! In essence, you have to chose the price you would pay to win this confrontation!"

"Are you ready?" The Showman confirmed.

Kiran nodded. "I am."

"Great, here are your choices. Firstly, you can win this battle against me but you will have to share a terribly shameful secret with the world. Secondly, you can win this battle against me, but you have to taken an oath of silence for 1 year. Finally, you can win this battle against me, bit you will lost control of your precious trump card for the matches going forward." The Showman divulged with a raised eyebrow.

He raised his head and gazed at Kiran who was shocked. "So, what do you choose?"

Kiran calmed himself down and weighed his three choices. None of them were particularly great, but then again, that was precisely the point of making a deal with the devil.

It was up to him to find the choice that would hinder him the least and fit with his preferences. In terms of sharing a secret, he wouldn't mind if it was a few trusted people, but he world? No way.

It wasn't about his own pride, but anyone with sense and who understood society knew that when a damning rumor or fact came about on someone, it wasn't just that person who suffered, but those who befriended them, endorsed them and helped them in the past.

It didn't matter whether these people were affiliated with the damning fact or not, or whether they knew about it, nor how long ago it was. As long as it came out, everyone close to them would take the fall to varying degrees.

Just as the saying went 'when a man is enlightened to the Dao, even his dogs and chicken will rise', so too would a man who was 'cast away' by the Dao have his dogs and chickens sent into oblivion.

Long and short, no. This choice affected more than himself despite seeming to be the least damaging consequence in the eyes of some. Maybe only those who had never been loved or did not care about the effects their actions had on others would take this.

So that one was out.

To take an oath of silence…

In truth, Kiran could do it. He was already a very reticent and reserved fellow who only spoke a countable amount of words per day, and that was even in the presence of friends. Alone, he would be silent like a stone, not making a sound until absolutely required to.

Even when he was staying at the Buddha Lineage all these years, he hardly ever spoke to anyone and mostly grunted or nodded. Even then, that was banned by an oath of silence, so he would not be allowed to make any sound whatsoever.

People would underestimate the difficulty so such a penalty. To not make a sound at all, even when in pain, in pleasure or just in response to any form of stimuli, required the kind of mental strength that only one person in both fictional and real history could achieve.

Besides, he enjoyed talking to his friends and - despite it all - bickering with Sublime. Not to mention that if he was silenced, he couldn't talk to his uncle who was like his main pillar in his life now, being his most direct family apart from the slumbering Juno.

That was intolerable.

As for the final choice… was it really his only choice?

It was the choice with the least consequences. After all, it lasted for only the duration of the competition, while the other choices lasted longer periods, the first one being technically for life.

His trump card was something he had been saving to fight Essence Stalker if he could aiming to get a rematch with the most powerful core member who defeated him in the semi-finals through a tough match like no other.

He had to redeem himself as he had taken Essence as his rival, and Essence also grimly viewed Kiran as the main threat to his power. Even though he had ascended to a divine class, he knew Kiran would not be far behind after this tournament.

If he couldn't use that trump card… his chances of winning were slim. However, he was not even supposed to logically win this battle anyway, only having a chance thanks to the whims of The Showman.

He should be grateful he would pay such a small price to inch towards the finals, but even then, he was up against Ghostpro next. Whether he could win or not… he couldn't tell you from the bottom of his heart.

But he would surely try.

"I choose the third option." Kiran stated firmly, the stylish card moving over to the balancing scale. It entered the left side while a strange contracted entered the right and the two sighed exactly the same.

Kiran suddenly felt like his body was being pierced by a nomological power he could not fathom, and he instinctively knew that if he dared use that trump card of his, he would suffer from a severe lack of control.