Chapter 499 — Rank 1 Guardian

A few hours later, Liora reappeared within the Information World. More specifically, she appeared inside the Battle Arena.

Following a move of her mind, she communicated with the world around her, conveying her will to conduct another battle within the Blood Arena.

Originally, Liora expected the familiar teleportation force to arrive and transfer her away.

Yet even after several moments passed, nothing of that sort occurred.

Instead, a lone phantom appeared on the opposite side of her own arena.

It was a man with a slightly illusory body and medium-length blonde hair.

Combined with the golden armor adorning his body and the sword hanging on his waist, he looked more like the Knights Liora had encountered before than a person of this futuristic cosmic world.

Looking at the way he observed his surroundings, as well as his current state, Liora quickly realized something.

This man was not a human Awakener like her. Or rather, he was not a person at all.

Similar to the blue-haired woman she had met during the College Examination, this man was also a creature born within the Information World.

Seemingly sensing her doubts, the blonde man smiled faintly and spoke up.

"It seems that you don’t have a powerful background in the real world. It’s quite surprising to have reached this point without a powerhouse guiding you.", he calmly stated before continuing:

"Contrary to the previous stages, you don’t have to fight against other challengers to obtain a 10-Star Rating. Instead, you have to fight me—the Rank 1 Guardian."

Saying this, a trace of pride flashed across the man’s face, and he pointed at himself.

"What you see is not my real self. In fact, I’m just a mere remnant left behind in the Information World. I was once a challenger like you. In my era, I was considered the strongest Awakener at Rank 1."

Saying this, he softly exhaled, sighing in nostalgia.

"The final ten matches are not against other challengers, but against remnants of previous challengers like me. I reached 10 Stars in the past and thus replaced the previous Guardian."

"If you succeed in defeating me, you will also leave a stream of information behind and become the next generation of Guardians."

"So... Do you understand the difficulty?", the man questioned, the smile on his face vanishing and replaced by seriousness.

Liora nodded her head.

She understood his implicit implication.

Essentially, one had to defeat the Guardian ten consecutive times in order to reach the 10-Star Rating.

Only the strongest being within a certain Rank could enjoy such a status.

It was exactly because of this that the difficulty of achieving this was immense.

The longer the Blood Arena existed and the higher the number of Awakeners got, the harder it became to complete this achievement.

The blonde man was obviously stronger than the Guardian before him, and, in turn, that person was more powerful than the one before.

It could be understood that the threshold to reach 10 Stars was constantly becoming more difficult. Once it reached a certain point, it would be nearly impossible to obtain this Rating.

Liora opened her mouth to speak, but she was suddenly interrupted.

The phantom opposite her shook his head.

"Alright, that’s far away from the current you. First, you’ll have to defeat this version of me."

"At the first level, I possess only ten percent of my peak strength. Don’t be misled by this fact. Such power is enough for me to easily win 80 consecutive victorie—"

Before the man could finish his sentence, Liora’s figure had vanished.

She blurred one moment and appeared beside him the very next, as flames erupted from her body and threatened to engulf him.

The phantom was caught off guard.

He had been alone for a long time and wished to spend some more time speaking to this junior.

How come she suddenly attacked him? Was she looking down at him?

"Hmph! It seems the world outside has changed. How can you lack the demeanor of a strong person?", he snorted and moved his hand to unsheathe the sword on his waist.

Yet before his hand could reach its handle, his expression froze.

The floor beneath him parted.

A metal spike grew out from within and aimed at the space between his legs.

Though he was merely a phantom and not an actual person, the man couldn’t help but grow pale.

He was furious.

"You—", he tried to speak.

Unfortunately, he could not finish that sentence either.

Liora seemed to have predicted the future.

The moment the phantom stepped to the side to dodge the metal spike, a hand emerged and pierced through the left side of his chest.

It penetrated his skin and dug into his flesh, pulling his heart out before crushing it.

The man was merely a stream of information, a projection, if you will.

Yet, the Blood Arena fully simulated the real environment.

A Rank 1 Awakener losing their heart meant certain death.

Indeed, a moment later, the phantom of the blonde man dissipated.

It exploded like a firework, blending into the surrounding arena.

"Awakener Liora Augustus has emerged victorious! Contribution Points +10000."

"Score: Wins: 91, Defeats: 0."

"Overall Rating: 9 Stars."

"Please continue your victory streak to upgrade to 10 Stars. Wins required: 9."

The final stage was fundamentally different from the ones before it. The difficulty had increased dramatically.

Similarly, the Contribution Points the challenger gained had also been adjusted accordingly.

From a mere 100, it had turned into 10,000.

Just this was enough to make everything worth it.

With ten battles, the challenger would be able to gain 100,000 Contribution Points, enough to purchase the fourth level of the Elemental World or an equivalent technique.

Unfortunately, Liora had no time to celebrate.

The moment the mechanical voice finished speaking, a familiar phantom materialized before her.

"You—you, shameless! How could you suddenly attack without saying a word? I didn’t even announce the challenge’s beginning!"

"Don’t you have any pride as the genius of this era?", the Guardian glared at Liora with hatred.

He looked truly aggrieved.

Such a reaction made Liora speechless. However, she forced herself to ignore it.

She took a deeper look at the blonde man, trying to guess his true identity.

Just like he said, the man before her was just a phantom left behind after he reached 10 Stars.

However, his identity in reality was bound to be extraordinary.

"Based on his earlier words, this guy must have existed as a phantom for many years. By now, his true body has either reached the apex of the Human Federation or perished long ago.", Liora deduced.

If it were the latter, she would never be able to guess his identity. But if it were the former, there should always be some clues.

Such a genius would surely have a great reputation.

Without a doubt, he must have risen to the upper ranks of the Human Federation. With some digging, it was fully possible to guess his identity.

While Liora was going through her memories, the phantom finally succeeded in calming himself down.

"Junior, in the second battle, my power has increased to 20%. Be careful. I’ll use my full strength this time—"

Just like before, the man’s words were cut off abruptly.

Yet this time, it didn’t happen because Liora had sneaked up on him.

Rather, he was the one who took the initiative. With a sudden move, he unsheathed his sword and lunged at her.