"...Ngh!"

    With nothing blocking his opponent''s attack, Valyr was forced to cast shields in front of him, only to then cross his arms the moment the assassin broke through them.

    Whoosh!

    Enjoy new chapters from My Virtual Library Empire

    Although he''d gotten into the most stable stance before meeting the attack, the young man was still sent flying in the air just from the sheer strength behind the attack alone.

    With that, Valyr took that as an opportunity to mount a proper defense against his opponent while also sending out a counterattack of his own.

    "[Orb of Apyrhan]!"

    Casting a double-layered barrier around him in mid-air, Valyr went ahead and sent three fiery orbs towards his opponent without hesitation, deactivating [First Sky] after that in a bid to conserve his energy.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    Watching the assassin take on all three of the blazing orbs head-on, the young man felt a combination of excitement and nervousness as he landed not far away from the edge of the stage.

    ''Surely that would have stung at least a bit, right?'' thought Valyr to himself, knowing that the answer to his question would reveal itself the moment the energy behind the orbs fully disappeared.

    Whoosh!

    Yet, just as he thought that the aftereffects of the three blazing orbs would continue to wreak havoc on where his opponent stood, the latter merely swung his scimitars outward with all his strength, creating a strong gust that instantly put out the flames surrounding him.

    Thud. Thud. Thud.

    Then, moving away from his previous spot, the assassin took a few steps forward before looking at Valyr in the eyes.

    "...That hurt." Gripping onto his scimitars tighter than ever before, the man raised both scimitars up to the air before slashing down in a cross pattern.

    "My turn."

    Swoosh!

    Watching both scimitars manifest a sharp blade of energy towards him, Valyr immediately felt as if he were staring at death straight in the eyes.

    With his primal instincts telling him that he would die from the attack no matter what kind of defense he put up in front of it, the young man eventually decided to duck under it and roll forward.

    "Agh!" Though, just as he was thinking why the assassin hadn''t mounted another attack on him, Valyr immediately felt a sharp pain radiating from his back, with his opponent standing in front of him at the end of his roll.

    "[Lesser Heal]."

    "[Lesser Regeneration]."

    Because of that, the young man shifted gears as he renewed most of the plan he had in mind for the second part.

    ''[First Sky] is only effective on those who rely on magic as their combat style. It might be able to catch some of them off guard if they were to become my opponents in the second part.''

    ''However, for everyone else... the only way I could turn even a bit of tides to my favor is if I use physical attacks as well.''

    ''Well, if you can''t beat ''em... join ''em, I guess.''

    ...

    With the first part of the ninth round kicking off to an explosive start with the fight between Valyr and the assassin, the remaining battles more or less caught the attention of the entire crowd, with almost everyone holding their breaths in preparation for the outcome.

    Unsurprisingly, just like Valyr first thought, almost everyone else who fought after them had been saving their true strength for the finale, with most of them showcasing strength that hovered around the peak Rank 3 to early Rank 4 level.

    The only exception to this was a young man nicknamed Nightingale who relied on a combination of throwing weapons to disorient and make the opponent submit.

    Just like him, Nightingale was also someone who was stronger than his peers by a great degree. Unfortunately, he also joined the tournament at the minimum level requirement.

    With that, it was no surprise that his opponent readily gave Nightingale the bitter experience of defeat, sending him flying out of the stage with a couple of heavy punches to the upper torso.

    Though a number of people in the crowd began to talk ill of the young man''s opponent after that, almost everyone quickly moved on from that as the second part of the ninth round began.

    "With our temporary top 6 being chosen, we shall now move onto choosing the three that will make up our temporary top 9!"

    As these words left the announcer''s mouth, Clive''s smile became wider as he briefly glanced at the six that would participate in the next three battles.

    "Unlike the first part where the participants would select their opponents through numbers, the match-up for this second part has already been chosen by the tournament officials beforehand."

    "With that being said, let''s get on with the battles!"

    With the crowd roaring with excitement in response to those words, the second part of the ninth round quickly kicked off into high gear as the first match was between two people who hid their strength.

    Holding nothing back against each other for the sake of getting onto the top 9, the two went all out in both skills and attacks, with both of them even tacitly agreeing on using unscrupulous attacks on each other to achieve their goals.

    On the other hand, the fight against Nightingale and his opponent more or less played out just like it did for the young man in the first part.

    Although he was able to gain a slight edge over his opponent due to his attacks having a greater range, his luck eventually ran out the moment his opponent made use of a couple more buffing skills, quickly turning the tides away from Nightingale''s favor.

    ''...Huu.'' Letting out a long exhale as he went up the stage for the third and final battle, Valyr slowly gazed at the person who would soon become his opponent, a man who he felt was the spitting image of what media considered as a warrior.

    Watching the man unsheathe his axe as he activated a series of buffing skills, the young man decided to respond in turn by retrieving a spear he kept in his spatial bracelet before doing the same thing, which immediately elicited a series of gasps from the crowd because of it.

    Feeling as if he''d caught both the crowd and his opponent off guard with his reveal of the spear, Valyr felt confident that he''d be able to beat the man in front of him and successfully enter the top 9.

    Sadly, there was one thing he''d forgotten to take into consideration.

    His skills.