Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 306: The Round of 32 Begins

"Do we at least have an estimate of his strength? The power of his summon? Tell me."

When Orikar asked this, the subordinate swiped the touchpad of the laptop, bringing up a detailed analysis from the free-for-all round.

"The man’s full strength remains unknown, but he was able to withstand attacks from Superior Transcendents without much effort.

As for his summon, it is a Level 966 Superior Transcendent, and it utilizes a strange, mutated version of Life Law energy."

The concept of ’Negative Life’ was entirely foreign to the Kaelithians, so it was only natural they viewed Glox’s abilities as strange or mutated.

"The summon also wields darkness laws and can manipulate plant life. It possesses draconic features, meaning it likely has abilities such as dragon breath and powerful natural defences.

And lastly... he’s only summoned one creature so far, meaning we should assume he has more."

When the subordinate finished, Orikar pressed his fingers against his temple.

’What sort of enigma is this?’

His headache worsened with every new revelation. After, taking a deep breath to compose himself, he spoke.

"No matter where he’s hiding, if he wants to continue in the tournament, he’ll have to show up for the Round of 32.

How many of our men are still in the tournament?"

"Just eight, sir."

"..."

Out of the remaining 32 contestants, only eight were Orikar’s inside men.

He had originally sent in hundreds, instructing them to gang up on and eliminate the tournament favourites—the elite contestants from major worldwide powers and prestigious organizations.

The plan was simple: by removing these strong competitors, the high-quality magic power extracted from their summons would fill up the reserves needed for their greater objective.

But Jamie had single-handedly wiped out 90% of his men. The remaining 9% were eliminated by other contestants, leaving a mere 1%.

Just eight.

Orikar clenched his jaw.

"If we want to get rid of him, we need to deal with his summon first. Eliminating it will force him out of the tournament.

He may have other summons we don’t know about, but if we don’t give him the opportunity to call them out, it won’t matter.

I’ll rig the matchups and have Gauxor handle him. His summons have Death abilities—he’s the perfect counter for Life types.

Also, station people in the return area. The moment he’s eliminated, we’ll hound him and capture him immediately."

His subordinate nodded, then asked. "And if the Royal Family demands an explanation?"

"Cite the irregularities in his registration. Claim he’s a spy from another planet, sent to sabotage our tournament."

Just as Orikar finished giving his orders, the doors slammed open. Another subordinate rushed in, his expression grim.

"Lord Orikar! There’s a problem with the accumulated energy!"

"What?!" Orikar snapped. "Where?!"

"The warehouse! The absorption formation! It’s not working properly!"

Without hesitation, Orikar vanished, teleporting straight to the warehouse.

It wasn’t the same one Wanete had infiltrated—that place had already been completely wiped clean. There was nothing left there.

They had moved operations to an entirely different warehouse, located in a separate storage zone, in an entirely different wing of the arena.

Considering the arena’s sheer size, it was like moving from one end of a country to another.

Yet, the moment Orikar arrived, his expression darkened.

Of the four massive magic power storage tanks he had prepared, only one was barely filled.

In other words, from the entire first round of the tournament, they hadn’t even gathered a quarter of the magic power they needed.

"What the hell is going on here?! Why is there so little magic power?!"

The workers stationed at the equipment flinched at Orikar’s furious outburst. Fear flickered across their faces as they scrambled to respond.

"W-We don’t know!"

"Lord Orikar, it’s not our fault!"

"For some reason, the absorption technique didn’t work on more than half of today’s eliminated summons!"

"We sent someone to check, and many of the eliminated summons still have their magic power—even the special targets!"

Orikar’s rage boiled over.

With a furious yell, he slammed his fist into the wall beside him, shattering it completely. The sheer force of the impact obliterated the barriers designed to prevent magic power from leaking out of the building.

He was that pissed.

They were way short on the magic power needed to open the gate.

If it had been a matter of simply gathering magic power, he could have handled it himself. But they didn’t just need any magic power.

They needed high-quality magic power from summons—from creatures that had been summoned from other spaces.

If it weren’t for that restriction, Orikar could have just used his own magic power to fill the tanks. As a Deity, he had more than enough. But he simply didn’t have the right type.

Now, he did have his own summons. But he needed them for potential battles so sacrificing them wasn’t an option.

Orikar clicked his tongue in frustration, his mind racing.

’Why didn’t the technique work?

I have the highest Summoning Law Authority on this planet, nothing should be able to break past my absorption technique.’

The only other person with an Authority on par with his was the Planet Lord. But Orikar was certain that the Planet Lord hadn’t interfered in the tournament—he’d been sitting right next to the man the entire time!

And yet, despite all his calculations, Orikar never could have expected that the same person he had just finished plotting to eliminate from the tournament...

Was also the one responsible for this.

◇　◇　◇

The flow of time continued forward, and despite the day’s irregularities, the tournament had to go on.

It was now Time for the Round of 32 and the remaining contestants were matched against one another.

As Orikar had intended, Jamie was matched with the person he had prepared, Gauxor.

Despite the lookouts stationed around the arena entrance, none of them saw Jamie arrive.

One moment, the space was empty. The next, he was already inside the arena, comfortably seated on a stool he had pulled from his subspace.

His attention wasn’t even on the match—he was casually playing ’Ruins Run’ on his phone.

Beside him, Glox sat on the floor, looking utterly bored. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The sudden appearance of Jamie—completely unnoticed until he was already there—left both the spectators and tournament officials visibly stunned. But he was present, and that meant the match had to proceed.

Opposite him stood his opponent, Gauxor.

The man wore a flowing black robe adorned with intricate runic inscriptions. In his hands, he wielded a long staff, topped with a black orb that radiated powerful Death energy.

Jamie, still fixated on his game, briefly glanced up upon sensing the death energy.

"Dude, look," he said, nudging Glox. "They saw you use Life Law energy, so they brought in someone with Death laws to counter you."

Glox turned his gaze toward Gauxor, his expression unimpressed.

"Are they dumb?" he asked flatly.

"It’d make sense if I used normal Life energy, but I use Negative Life. Death energy is also a negative energy. That means its effectiveness against my life energy is reduced by fifty percent."

He shook his head with a sigh.

"They’d have a better chance countering me by using someone with Light energy, or even Positive Life energy."

Jamie chuckled at his reaction, tilting his phone slightly to dodge an obstacle in-game.

"Maybe they’ve never seen Negative Life before," he mused. "It is pretty rare."

He had a point. The people of Kaelithis didn’t know what Negative Life was. But Jamie wasn’t aware of that.

As they chatted, the referee arrived, hovering on a board as he addressed both contestants.

"Are you ready?"

Jamie nodded absentmindedly, and the moment the referee signalled the start of the match, Gauxor instantly leapt backwards to create distance.

However, neither Glox nor Jamie moved from their positions.

Jamie closed his game, finally looking up at his opponent before laughing at his actions.

"Classic non-close-range combatant move," he remarked. "Hold on a sec, Glox. Let’s see what this guy’s gonna pull out."

Glox said nothing. He simply watched as Gauxor gathered his magic power, weaving it together with the Laws of Death and Summoning to call forth his summon.

"Shadows linger where life departs, bone and ash, rise from the dark.

By my will and Death’s decree, from the underworld, return to me,

Arch Lich of Destruction, awaken!"

A surge of magic erupted from Gauxor, his death law energy intertwining with the summoning laws as the space before him distorted.

A robed skeleton emerged from the distortion, exuding a suffocating aura that sent a chill through the spectators.

A quick appraisal from the tournament officials placed the Arch Lich’s level at 970.

Wasting no time, Gauxor slammed his palm onto the ground. Magic power surged into the earth, intertwining with Death Laws.

The Arch Lich raised its skeletal hand, channelling the energy, and in an instant, Undead Summoning was cast.

From the death-infused terrain, an army of the dead clawed their way up, skeletal warriors and ghastly wraiths emerging in droves.

Jamie, watching the scene unfold, muttered under his breath.

"What’s the difference between this guy and a Necromancer?"

A moment later, he turned his gaze toward Gauxor and shouted aloud—

[Dude! What’s the difference between you and a Necromancer?! Are Necromancers considered ’Summoners’ here as well? I personally think they should be separate.]

Then, tilting his head slightly, he added,

[But since you summoned a ’Skeleton Mage,’ I guess they’re not.]

The moment those words left his mouth, the inferno sights burning in the Arch Lich’s eye sockets flared with fury.

A piercing, enraged shriek echoed across the arena as it bellowed.

[How dare you liken me to a mere Skeleton Mage?!]