1244 Earth's First Challenge Author's Note: Unedited Chapter ------------- "I don't need to tell you guys how physically strong the Klaxosapes are," Gustav voiced as they stared at the screens. "But strength is the only thing they have going for them... I'll squash any one of them," Yonda stated from the side. "Don't underestimate them just because they only have immense physical strength. They also have very high defense and are not in anyway slow. Not to mention that each of them vary in strength, their captain is an opponent I trust only three amongst all of you to be able to deal with... and you Yonda, are not amongst that three," Gustav explained with a candid expression. "Tch, you overestimate them and underestimate me," Yonda responded with an irritated expression. "Do not go against the Klaxosapes unless I tell you to," Gustav stated. Yonda responded by looking away. It was unclear if this was a reaction of agreement or defiance. Gustav overlooked it and kept his eyes on the battles ongoing all across other stages. With perception, he could have a sensory view of all the battles ongoing at the same time but Gustav still decided to activate God Eyes occasionally. [God Eyes Have Been Activated] With God Eyes he was taking note of the internal strength of participants he found spectacular and comparing them to his teammates. He had initially gauged the strength of planets based on the information he read about them and how they had performed since the start of IYSOP. Now gauging individual strengths since this was a versus battle and wouldn't want any of his teammates taking on participants that they couldn't defeat. As the versus battle challenge continued, more participants who were initially unknown, rose to prominence. They hadn't gotten the chance to display their real capabilities due to the initial challenges but now the spectators could see that they had truly been sleeping on a number of participants. < Tevirqk (Planet Roidinstack) Wins > < 500 Points Attained > < Yikiwo (Planet Ustanbid) Wins > < 500 Points Attained > < Destom (Planet Ezretil) Wins > < 700 points Attained > < Gorim (Planet Riz) Loses > < 500 points Deducted > The first batch happened to be very intense as more than fifty participants won as well as lost fights in twenty minutes. Gustav kept pointing out things to take note of to the group as the numbers kept reducing. The battles were so intense that the terrains within the stages were getting destroyed. Fortunately, the environment would repair itself after a fight ended so there was no doubt that these stages would be reused for the next batch regardless of how much it was destroyed. After another thirty minutes had gone by, only three set of participants seemed to remain. At this time, everyone could properly focus on the fights since thsre was a lesser number left. -"Who do you think is winning between Zia and Runphold?" --"I'm going with Runphold even though he's from planet Ilk," -"I'm going with Zia... Planet Thrizhta has done well so far," -"But they've been fighting for nearly an hour already," -"They seem to be evenly matched," The battle between Zia of Planet Thrizhta and Runphold of Ilk seemed to be more interesting to the spectators than the other two. This was mostly because Planet Thrizhta happened to be top hundred overall in IYSOP whereas Planet Ilk was ranked around the four hundreds based on their differences in total points. Yet, Zia and Runphold had been going at it for nearly an hour without anyone really getting the upper hand. What made this even more interesting was the similarities between both parties. They were both using weapons and dressed like warriors. Zia was a female with completely red skin and blue helmet covering her face. Her skin tight white jumpsuit like wear, made it so her fluid movements were undiluted as she swung a glowing green blade repeatedly. Randolph on the other side who was clad in metallic black like wear that covered his entire being like a giant Knight also retaliated by parrying her attacks with a broadsword like weapon in his grasp. The blade emitted a bright red glow as they clashed repeatedly blasting shockwaves across the vicinity. Trees were uprooted as every swing of their blade evaded by the other, sent sharp energy ripping through the environment. While their battle continued, the other two had already concluded their battles, leaving only Zia and Runphold as the last participants left in the arena. "Who do you think will win Gus?" E.E questioned from the side. "Randolph," Gustav answered with a look of certainty. "That's... but Planet Thrizhta seems to be more powerful overall," Matilda voiced in surprise.𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖 "They are... but not in the case of these two battle. They are almost evenly matched but Randolph had been chipping away her energy all this time by slightly holding back. This isn't his full strength. He plans to unleash his full strength and take her by surprise when she is nearly out of energy so she will be unable to evade. While she also has a few tricks up her sleeves that she hasn't tried, Runphold has a higher chance of evasion that she does," Gustav analysed lengthily causing everyone around him to slightly open their mouths in disbelief. "You're able to tell just from watching?" Since this was Yuhiko's first time of witnessing Gustav do something like this, shs was more shocked than the others. "Pfft he is definitely wrong," A team member of Planet Thrizhta yelled from the east. It seemed they had heard Gustav. "He had a bet with an Osiris due a similar occurrence and won... I don't think he is wrong," Another participant from a different planetary group voiced. "Shut it clown, Zia would never lose to that..." Just as they were speaking a loud yell was heard from the middle of the arena. Runphold who had been on the defensive for sometime had suddenly turned aggressive charging at Zia recklessly or so it seemed. "Thousand seering falls..." Runphold leapt into the air spinning repeatedly with his red blade swinging forth. The sky suddenly darkened above like a storm was coming and what appeared next was a rain of thousands upon thousands of red blades. Thiinnghhh~ Thhhiinnhh~ Thiiinnghh~ Zia swung repeatedly with as much strength and speed as she could muster, repeatedly hitting away the hundreds of blades shooting at her. Fwwhiii~ Runphold suddenly appeared behind her while she was busy with this. Swwwiiihhh~ Stretching his blade sideways and swinging forward with all of his might, Zia noticed the attack almost too late. She turned to the side to parry but the instant their blades collided an insurmountable force rocked her entire being. She only realised that this attack was ten times more powerful than normal when her entire body was spiralling across the air with blood oozing out of body. Runphold charged forward and leapt upwards with his blade raised once more. "Yaaahhhhh!" He roared as he swung the blade downwards with intensity at the spiralling body.. < Runphold (Planet Ilk Wins) > < 700 Points Attained > The announcement rang loudly causing cheers to ring out from a particular part of the spectators area. Gustav didn't even need to say, 'I told you so'. The look of defeat on the faces of planet Thrizhta team members as their eyes widened was a pleasant enough sight. He didn't really care and was glad that the first batch had finally ended. Not a single earthling was challenged during this or even picked so he was already looking forward to the next. The screens above displayed the highlights of the first batch for about a minute before showing the list of all the winners as well as the points they had acquired. In about a minute more the computerised system had began picking out participants for the next batch. Soon a new set of one hundred and fifty participants were picked once more and unsurprisingly not a single earth participant could be spotted. However, this time there were a few participants from planets who were top fifty and amongst them was Planet Ghundabault. Gustav recognised the exact participant that had been picked amongst them. The Ghundabault's were relatively small sized in structure. The biggest amongst them was only a little over three feet tall yet they were very powerful. Due to size no one had noticed the glare that the Ghundabault participant had shot in the direction of the earthlings but Gustav spotted it. 'Looks like we finally have an opposition,' His face nearly broke a smirk as the small structure female with a multicolored hair floating above her head moved towards the stage with streets and multiple high-rise buildings. She wasted no time in heading to the middle to pick out her opponent and soon enough the beam of light that appeared in the area where earth's participants were seated confirmed Gustav's theory. "Someone challenged one of us," Angy was the first to voice out as they stared at the person who had been challenged with looks of astonishment. On the side of the Ghundabault, their captain displayed an expression of disbelief as she stood to her feet, "Is Navira stupid? How could she challenge him of all people?" She voiced with a tone of anguish. ---------------------