After the challengers were chosen, everyone returned to their rooms to prepare for the third round... Levi’s choices for the challenge were: Drayven, The Ruiner, The Light Eater, and Madam Future.
’The obvious choice is Drayven... everyone will take advantage of his challengee status to finish him off once and for all.’ Levi pondered, his index finger tapping on the screen that was showing the Rifters’ names.
’But... this is the angle used against common enemies... not Drayven, not these monsters.’ Levi knitted his brows, having a tingling feeling that something wasn’t right with Drayven’s situation.
He was just like the rest, blinded by Drayven’s heavily wounded status to think about anything else... but, after his session with the Dealer, he realised that such a thought process was too naive against these monsters.
Every one of them deserved his fullest attention.
’What if... just, what if Drayven’s wounds are intentional?’
A shocking theory... but Levi didn’t dismiss it right away. He had watched and studied Drayven’s prowess in his previous two games. He knew that he wasn’t so weak that he would be left heavily wounded in both rounds.
It just didn’t add up... he could understand the first round since there was a possibility of Drayven being too arrogant and not taking any special cards with him, but what about the second round?
If he played it smart, he would choose the Joker card and a defensive card besides the Queen... this would allow him to survive Madam Future’s challenge without any additional wounds. Instead, he came out much worse than in the first round.
This made Levi realise that either Drayven didn’t pick a Joker card or... he did use it and survived Madam Future’s round. In his free time, he wounded himself behind closed doors to attract him, the Dealer, or anyone with a high number of Joker cards!
Although this theory implied having Drayven waste a Joker card... if he succeeded, he would be getting two from them while saving his other special cards!
Since everyone was enemies... Madam Future or Hollow Titan wouldn’t snitch on him, wishing that his plan succeeded, and he took down another Rifter.
Whether he succeeded or not, they knew that the battle was going to leave them both heavily wounded... this time for real, and they could reap the rewards later.
’If I am right... Then, Drayven is more shrewd than I thought...’ Levi frowned, ’He isn’t playing the game like us... he decided to be a wolf in a sheep disguise to lower our guards and pick average cards to finish him off... no one will risk wasting special cards on a wounded opponent. Since he is heavily injured, this puts a false sense of security when fighting him... but, the moment I challenge him or the Dealer, he will bare his fangs at us.’
Levi didn’t know if Drayven had a powerful recovery technique that could heal him passively without wasting the Queen card... but, if he did, then... his current state shouldn’t be taken as an advantage.
Of course, all of this was mere speculation, and Levi had no clue if he was overthinking it or not... but he had no plans to be the scapegoat.
’I will challenge someone else... if Drayven really was putting on an act, then he is bound to bare his fangs in this round whether he liked it or not.’
Levi understood that Drayven couldn’t keep up the act beyond the third round... after all, he couldn’t afford to remain weakened for too long since it forced him to waste special cards or at least high-numbered cards to ensure his survival.
’If I am right... Then, he must still be holding onto the King Card or the Jack Card... that’s all he will need to finish the job if his challenger wasn’t suspecting anything weird.’
’I can only wait until the third round’s end to see the truth...’
For now... Levi left Drayven’s situation in the back of his head and focused on his next target... he scanned the remaining names and couldn’t help but tighten his lips.
All three Rifters were powerful and difficult to deal with... which made him understand that if he didn’t play this right, he might end up leaving the combat room heavily injured.
’Madam Future’s spiritual prowess is as freakish as mine... with her ability to see the future, challenging her will result in nothing good to show for.’
’The Ruiner, on the other hand, is quite terrifying... he is from the Angrath Trueborn Race, which has only one Highborn Lineage... Angrath Lineage... his race might not be as ancient as Radians, Oblivars, and other Celestial Races, but they are still quite old and have already established a strong presence in the Boundless Expanse and the Chained Universe.’
Levi knew that the Angrath Lineage were the master of the Wrath Aspect... the Hound might be wielding the Pride Aspect, but in reality, his utilisation was nowhere near its full potential. Yet, he showed great prowess using it.
Now, imagine a Trueborn Lineage that was developing the Wrath Aspect generation after generation while still following the path of their ancestor?
It didn’t matter if they wielded only a single Aspect... if one was capable of bringing its true potential to light, it was more dangerous than owning multiple Aspects.
After Levi saw the Ruiner’s most famous clip of blowing off the entire battlefield with one ability, he needed to double-check his decision to challenge him.
’Light Eater... He is quite dangerous as well, but... his spiritual defences are lacking a bit.’ Levi switched to the last option, ’He is part of the D’knari Lineage... A loyal Falseborn race that follows Oblivars and is considered one of their loyal servants... though, he isn’t a Half-Oblivar.’
Gamemaster Gamble and the watchers didn’t make a big deal of Levi’s situation just because... being able to wield Sunflames meant a Rifter was a True Half-Radian, who shared genuine genetics from Radians.
The same went for Half-Oblivar... they needed to wield Void Aspect, which was much rarer, considering that Oblivars were kept to themselves in the shadows.
Still, they did have plenty of Falseborn Races under them, which were bestowed with some of their qualities, allowing them to harness their lesser Aspects.
Falseborn Races were different from Trueborn Races in the way they created their evolutionary paths.
Trueborn Races were born of ancient ancestors, who reached Tier 8 or Tier 9, allowing them an automatic bestowal of their Shadowlife Seeds’ copies to their children during birth.
Their Shadowlife seeds were equipped with the necessary knowledge to help their children reach a similar stage to them if they had what it took.
Meanwhile, Falseborn Races were created from Hollow Races that were bestowed with Shadowlife seeds that had an already prepared evolutionary path.
The Oblivars chose a specific Hollow Race with the right potential to wield the prepared evolutionary path... then, they help them integrate the Shadowlife seeds and push them to Tier 7 minimum, which was the Fruition Stage of the Shadowlife tree.
The moment their trees could bear fruit and their seeds... it gave them the ability to keep passing their seeds to their people without needing the Oblivars’ help anymore.
However... the only downside of this path was their inability to pass the Shadowlife seeds to their children through birth.
After all, their evolutionary path wasn’t earned through natural genetic progression like Trueborn Races... it was already created, perfected, and handed over.
Just like it was handed over, they could only do the same... hence, the name: Falseborn .
’He doesn’t have access to Void Aspect, but his race was gifted with evolutionary paths linked to Darkness and Gravity Aspects.’ Levi held his chin thoughtfully, ’If I played my cards right... There is a possibility of eliminating him.’
A couple of minutes later...
Levi and the rest emerged from their rooms and stood in front of the platforms again... just like before, Drayven looked like absolute shit. Still, he kept glaring at everyone coldly, trying his best to look unhurt or weak.
"Challengers! Mark your targets!"
Hearing Gamemaster Gamble’s announcement, Levi reached out and picked Light Eater... meanwhile, Hollow Titan and Wanderer of the Seas chose Drayven.
As for the Dealer, he selected no one... he didn’t skip the challenge, but he did give up on the priority pick, which meant he would fight whoever was left unchallenged.
"Ohoho! We have two surprises this round!" Gamemaster Gamble commented with a surprised tone, "Don’t tell me both of them figured out Drayven’s scheme?!"
His commentary was targeted at the watchers, who were also left puzzled by Levi and the Dealer’s decision to give up on such a ’freebie’ on paper.
-How did they know? Did we miss anything from their meeting in the second round?-
-God damn it... Drayven’s plan is f*cked now... he wounded himself for nothing!-
-As expected of my beloved Celestial! Such a petty attempt to bait him will never work!-
The watchers had a mixed reaction at this development... unlike Levi and the rest of the Rifters, they could spectate all the combat rooms at once if they desired.
They saw how Drayven allowed himself to get hit by Hollow Titan even though he had a defensive card in hand... they also watched him wound himself like a madman inside Madam Future’s combat room.
It was like the moment he realised that he wasn’t going to take down either of them, he switched to playing the victim to lure in his real targets. But now? Some watchers mocked him, and others showed sympathetic looks as they eyed his stunned expression.
’How... how did they find out?!’
Drayven tightened his knuckles until his claws pierced through his skin... yet, he felt nothing.
The same went for his injuries, which he was faking to be in pain... they were real alright, but he felt nothing... Not many knew this, but a few special Scarlet Dragons were born with the ability to switch on and off their pain receptors.
Accompanying this innate ability was an insane rejuvenation the moment the Dragon decided to turn his pain receptors on... It was a life-or-death genetic mechanism.
’Damn it! All that trouble for nothing!’
Drayven was royally pissed, but he made sure to keep the act right... Although he ended up being challenged by the Wanderer of the Seas, he still had to keep the disguise alive.
’Whatever... I will finish them off in the next rounds.’
Drayven narrowed his slitted pupils at Levi and the Dealer... then, he walked behind the Wanderer inside his room.
The moment their door was closed, the Dealer turned to Levi and chuckled... it was like he already knew what Drayven was scheming before the second round concluded, and kept it to himself to see if Levi was going to catch on.
Then, he went inside the Ruiner’s combat room while playing with the Tarot cards. Levi didn’t know if he was that confident in handling the Ruiner or if he simply was never afraid of death.
’Is he this carefree because he knows exactly when he will die in the future?’ Levi murmured inwardly, watching them disappear behind the closing gate.
Soon, he switched his focus to Madam Future and Hollow Titan, who went together inside another room, leaving him and Light Eater alone in the central plaza.
"Follow me... Radian’s waste." Light Eater uttered coldly without bothering to glance in Levi’s direction.
His appearance alone was enough to scare anyone straight, as he was extremely tall and shaped like a person, but his body looked like smoke and darkness mixed together.
His whole form shifted as if he was made of shadows instead of solid flesh... His head was a smooth, round sphere with no face, resembling a miniature blackhole.
He had a glowing ring of purple light circling it, like a small eclipse... Parts of his body looked torn or stretched, with long pieces of shadow trailing behind him.
His limbs were long and ended in misty claw-like fingers... as for his lower torso? It kept fading into purple mist, almost like he had no legs and was floating instead.
Although his race was considered Falseborn, it didn’t mean that he was any weaker than Trueborn races or such... in fact, Falseborns created by Ancient races were powerful than many Trueborn races since they were created to be the best subordinates.
D’knari Lineage were believed to be created from a Hollow Race that was found living on a planet so close to a blackhole, it was constantly drifting to its event horizon.
The Oblivars were the ones saving them from their eventual damnation and turned them into a powerful Falseborn race... because of this, the D’knari worshipped the Oblivars and treated them above anything else, willing to throw their lives away for any order given to them.
Hence, it wasn’t strange for Light Eater to hate Levi’s guts, considering that he was a Half-Radian.
’I wonder what his reaction will be when he finds out Levi is a Half-Oblivar too.’ The Titan chuckled.
’His world is going to flip upside down.’ Ash’Kral snickered.