Chapter 702 - Explosion in the Waiting Chamber?!

"Gem?"

"Bingo…" Oli sighed with a nod. "This would give those Sicabor twins a field day. I'm sure they'll be happy to have evidence of Gem's illegal activity."

"What activity? Then Halmut will be punished?" Alcahain asked, being swayed further and further from siding with the Sun God.

With a slight smile, Oli replied, "Maybe… That depends if he can escape punishment. Once the Sicabor twins learn about faux-ore being on Kartonia, I'm sure their father will start his long-awaited investigation. The moment evidence is found to incriminate Gem, Halmut and those that aided him will have no chance but to flee the entire district."

"It's that bad… What's a district?"

Laughing, Oli succinctly explained, "Think of it like this. You come from Kartonia, one planet among hundreds of thousands within the Emerald Zone. But the Emerald Zone is only one of more than a hundred zones inside the Fate District, which is managed by none other than Daruun."

"WHAT?!?!" Alcahain's mind nearly broke taking in that wide perspective, along with the dragons beside him. "Then, this whole time--"

"Did Halmut never tell you that?" asked Oli, stifling the brawler's mental momentum. "I know for a fact that both Halmut and Skaryn knew about this, not to mention Sterfen and Jack who work directly under him."

"WHAT?!?!" a new voice suddenly shouted from among the crowd of failures. "Jack works for Daruun directly?!"

Oli chuckled, "Perhaps… considering that Daruun created Kartonia, wouldn't it make sense that he select some of its inhabitants as subordinates to raise personally?"

"Th-that makes sense… But Jack?! The same person in the challenge right now!" another cosmician shouted.

The few dozen failures so-far were in awe to know that Jack's team was hand-selected by their almighty district leader. On the other hand, those that disgracefully called themselves the legendary gods were shocked to learn the truth behind Halmut's secret source of power.

"District Leader Daruun is personally coming to inspect Kartonia, so, for the time being, no spatial gate will be opened even if the challenge comes to an end. Everyone will need to stay on Kartonia until he finished his evaluation."

Suddenly, a spatial rift was opened up near the back of the crowd a group of four people in black robes were darting to escape without waiting any longer.

SNAP!

But before any of those four could fully enter the rift, all four of them crashed to the ground with an echoing thud.

"Oh? We have some who dared infiltrate the keep's challenge but they're not willing to play nicely and wait for the results?" Oli spoke casually but he was popping his knuckles and neck as he walked. Approaching the four figures smashed into the ground, Oli watched their scroll fade away and the spatial rift close. "I wonder…"

Oli squatted down to take the rings and storage items on the four but something was wrong.

"Everyone, back up!" Oli shouted as he sent out a pulse of silvery energy, effectively repelling all cosmicians around him and the pinned cosmicians.

Everyone was tense as they skid across the roxite floors and saw a vicious burst of raw cosmic energy erupt from the team of cosmicians. Those four were vaporized as their raw energy was eaten to produce the terrifying explosion that encompassed Oli and rushed towards the others in the waiting chamber.

But just as the energy was about to reach the trembling crowd, a barrier of dense earth energy appeared to contain the explosion. The roxite floor moved as well, crawling up the earth energy barrier with incredible speed to form a containment wall with a ceiling of earthen energy. Though the earth energy at the top shook, it didn't give way to the violent explosion of raw energy.

A few seconds passed as the explosion dissipated, failing to break free of its containment.

"CRAX!"

All of the foreign cosmicians were forced out of their entrancing fear, distracted by Oli's cursing.

STOMP!

As Oli slammed his foot on the ground, the roxite walls crumbled. They were already brittle from taking the brunt of the explosion and Oli's rage was now unstoppable. For the first time, everyone got a good look at why Oli hadn't called himself a human.

The man had taken up his true form to better face the explosion in his face, allowing Oli to better manipulate energy in the process to best contain the explosion and protect the other competitors. Now standing at three meters tall, Oli leaned back and furiously pounded on his chest. On his back was a metal plate embedded in his skin, reminiscent of the roxite floor everyone stood on. Pitch-black fur covered Oli's brawny body, as did dark purple, draconic scales beneath the fur. A set of wings darker than the night sky expanded as Oli cried loudly in anger. While his giant hands pounded his chest, Oli's opposable toes tore through the roxite floor and gripped it in frustration.

"How dare they interfere?! What a load of crax!" Oli howled, scaring the contestants even more than the explosion moments ago. They all felt a tinge of that silvery energy from earlier lingering in the air, making them all feel heavier. Any mortal would have been crushed to death under such pressure, let alone the one-star cosmicians that struggled to stand up.

"DARUUN!" Oli shouted verbally while sharing his out-spoken thoughts telepathically. "They've infiltrated the challenge and dared use a sacrificial explosion when their team failed to escape!"

"WHAT?!?!"

Daruun's telepathic reply was so powerful that everyone in the chamber could hear it and felt an additional pressure shake the room.

"Inspect every contestant carefully. The moment you see them try something contrasting the keep's rules, eliminate them without warning! I'll send him to probe right now. My fifth body is practically in position. Thank you, Oli!"

Everyone was shaking as both Daruun's leftover pressure and Oli's dissipated. They all fell to the ground with trembling knees. Glancing at the sight of the explosion, everyone was both terrified and relieved. Relief came from knowing that Oli had managed to protect them from something that would've killed them all. Terror came from realizing that Oli had just tanked four self-destructing, one-star explosions without a scratch while having the energy to curse at the failed kamikaze cosmicians.