Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Pierre merely watched them all discuss among themselves.

He would have actually preferred if they did not go about searching for powerful groups to antagonize and fight against but the ladies all wanted a tougher challenge and Hal seemed only too happy to oblige.

"I just want to pass" he said in a low tone of voice.

A tone his sister heard and acknowledged,

"And you will. We all will. But what would be the point of simply passing without passing with flair."

"Couldn't have said it better myself" Nicole said with a smile.

Han Doe frowned at being ignored and then he began to chuckle,

"Very well, very well. It's just another group to eliminate. No biggie" he said.

That caught Hal's attention,

"You've eliminated other groups?" He asked

"Of course" Han Doe answered as he wondered what was so unclear in what he had said.

"And you, you had a personal hand in it?" Melinda asked understanding what Hal was getting at.

"Of course I did. I crushed the dreams of many group leaders with my own hands" Han Doe replied.

"Uh. Have you at some point over the course of the exam changed your clothes" Hal asked and Melinda nodded along.

Han Doe shook his head,

"No. And what the hell is with this many questions?"

Hal and Melinda shared a look and together said,

"Unacceptable!"

"What is unacceptable?" Han Doe asked with a frown and Melinda and Hal gestured at his clothes.

"Your clothes are so clean. How dare you still be clean?" Hal asked in annoyance.

"The better question is, who the hell wears white clothes to a battle?" Melinda asked.

Hal raised his hand,

"I know, I know. A cocky bastard called Han Doe of the Golden chicken Sect" he said to which Melinda sniggered.

"Exactly."

"Enough!" Han Doe said and suddenly blasted the pressure of his cultivation but neither Hal nor Melinda were fazed,

"You have insulted my Golden crow sect for the last time" he said and summoned a blue halberd that was his cosmic Armament.

Hal looked sideways at Melinda,

"He really is proud of that sect of his"

Melinda sneered at Han Doe,

"Stain his robes. I'll be really disappointed if you don't" she said.

Hal grinned,

"Well, I can't very well disappoint you now, can I?" He said as he summoned his Cosmic Armament and veiled it thinly with a comic aurora while Melinda returned to the other three in their group so that together, they could attack the rest of Han Doe's group members.

Even as Han Doe watched Melinda, Adeline, Nicole, and Pierre dash towards his group members, he was not worried.

He knew how capable they were and did not see them losing.

Then he looked back at Hal who was stretching right in front of him,

"What the hell are you doing?" Han Doe asked.

"Getting into tip-top shape. Staining your clothes won't be easy especially with all those runes engraved on it."

Han Doe's eyes widened,

"You know about the runes?" He asked.

Hal chuckled,

"Of course. What, was I supposed to just believe you were that good not to let your clothes be stained? Clearly, the runes on your robes are not only anti-stain, they also serve as a kind of body armor. Increasing your durability in the case that you actually get attacked." He said.

"You're a runemaster, aren't you? You read the runes and determined what they were for" Han Doe said with furrowed brows.

Hal nodded with a smile before he dashed towards his opponent, the pressure of his mid-stage cosmic Aurora realm cultivation radiating out of him but not in an aggressive manner Han Doe's had been.

He struck at Han Doe who held up his halberd in defense with a smile... that slipped from his face when Hal's strike forced him to slide a couple of steps back even though he had been fairly prepared for the attack and defended it well.

In retaliation, Han Doe blast Hal with his pressure that was already been aggressively radiated but Hal met the pressure with his own that not only held up but even looked close to overwhelming the brown-haired Golden crow sect genius.

However, Han Doe was not worried as the pressure had only been to buy time to charge a Cosmic aurora which he blast Hal with, in full confidence that the blue-eyed young man would not be able to avoid.

But why would Hal need to avoid it when he had been charging a Cosmic Aurora as well.

A cosmic aurora he let loose at about the same time as Han Doe only for the two to meet in a collision of fairly equal forces and blast the two young men apart.

*BANG!*

Han Doe did not let the blast keep him down for too long as he made to pursue a prone Hal only for Hal to suddenly appear in front of him.

Having had the same idea but recovering from the blast much faster.

Hal spun and aimed a kick at Han Doe's head which the brown-haired young man quickly raised his hand in defense.

Even then, the kick remained heavy.

Hal looked down at Han Doe's clothes and saw they were still spotless despite him having just rolled on dirt so he projected runes on the robe before Han Doe slid away due to the force of his kick.

When Han Doe was away from Hal, happy to be away from him as he needed some time to regroup and get himself back in the game, his robe exploded.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

Not Han Doe himself, just his robe.

They released sparks having reacted to Hal's runes and with it came a speck of dust on the previously immaculate white robe.

Hal smiled with satisfaction.

He had imbued those runes with so much Astral energy to let the robe get stained with a tiny dot and that had told him what he needed to do to that robe that was engraved with powerful runes;

He needed to overwhelm both the wearer and the robe itself.

He needed to hit Han Doe so much that he rendered the anti-stain and armoring runes useless and void.

The thought had Hal grinning as he closed his eyes and made use of his shadow demon bloodline.

His eyes were closed so that no one noticed the use other than the dramatic increase in speed that was the objective of using the bloodline in the first place,

"Bastard..." Han Doe began as he stared at the dirt on his robes and made to glare at Hal only to see Hal was already in front of him.

Having crossed the distance much faster than should have been possible.

Hal's eyes were still closed but he could sense Han Doe's attempt to leap away and he was not having that as he used his speed advantage to rain a barrage of punches on the brown-haired genius.

Ending it by leaping upward, kneeing Han Doe's nose...

*Crack*

... And breaking it.

"Arrghhhhh" Han Doe yelled in pain.

Hal made to follow up but Han Doe had finally put his defense in place by surrounding himself with Cosmic energy that not only defended against Hal's punch, it also blasted Hal away from him.

Han Doe quickly took a mending pill that stopped his bleeding and prevented any swelling but a drop of the blood that was already running down his face stained his robes even further.

The fact that it was only one drop did not stop him from exclaiming,

"Oh come on!"