Chapter 870: The son of nature versus the nature type Arcana
After another hour;
As the sky darkened and the stadium floodlights were all switched on, Orion and Elise walked out together in silence.
The cheers were going wild, but neither of them reacted to them.
They calmly entered the ring from opposite sides.
As the 100-second countdown began on the screen, Elise let out a smile once again, speaking to Orion. "I think I understand why you talked to me earlier like that," she said, her voice cool. "You wanted me to be serious. But don’t worry, I know how to separate personal and professional. Regardless of the result, nothing will change between us. We shall remain friends."
Orion wanted to say, since when we were friends, but he kept silent. He merely nodded with a smile, knowing that they won’t meet again after today.
He then closed his eyes. His breaths came slowly and deeply as he murmured under his breath. "Nature is the greatest ally of mankind. It gives you food to eat, water to drink, Air to breathe, and land to live. The books in the world say that Gaia is a personification of the Earth, not just this Earth. She is the personification of every earth out there. That’s why she is called Mother Goddess. But nature is a part of the Earth. No, I should say... Earth represents nature. So, Gaia is nature herself. Gaia, you are like a second mother to every single lifeform on this planet, including me. You gave me strength in the earlier battle. I ask you to bestow your blessings upon me again, Mother."
He reached out, not with his hands, but with his will. The way the book told him: Don’t try to bend the laws of nature. Let nature willingly bend its laws for you. When it does, it means it recognizes you as her son.
His senses picked up sage particles all over the surroundings.
He could feel the wind curl against his spine. The dust beneath his feet shifted to accommodate his stance.
Elise frowned slightly. "Hey, don’t start meditating on me mid-match."
Orion didn’t reply to her.
But once the countdown had ended and the battle had begun, Orion unleashed the Golden Buddha form once again.
Meanwhile, Elise knelt and pressed her palm to the stone floor, whispering, "Soul skill: Great Forest Emergence."
In a heartbeat, the arena transformed. Vines burst through the cracks. Roots split the stone. Towering trees surged skyward in seconds, their canopies blotting out the sun like a living cathedral.
The crowd gasped as they saw a mini forest grow in the blink of an eye. They couldn’t see both of them. The drones swiftly flew into the forest, trying to spot the participants, giving their view on the screens outside.
"You’re in my domain now, Orion." Elise motioned with her fingers.
The trees moved at once.
Like limbs of a living beast, they twisted and lunged, roots like spears, branches like chains, closing in on the golden figure still standing calmly within the grove.
But just as the first strike was about to hit...
It dissolved.
The roots crumbled into golden motes, the branches faded into light.
The entire forest began to wither.
It wasn’t being destroyed. It was being absorbed.
Natural energy flowed inward, called by a greater center of gravity, drawn toward the towering golden Buddha-figure now growing to an impossible size. A hundred radiant arms stretched wide. Its surface shimmered like molten sunstone.
The entire arena fell into stunned silence as the golden construct grew to over a hundred feet tall in the blink of an eye, removing the forest.
At its base, Orion stood with his eyes closed, hands raised into a simple mudra. His breathing didn’t waver.
Elise floated in the air, brow twitching. "This technique is so broken," she muttered. "Alright then... since it didn’t work..."
Her gaze flicked toward the referee’s platform, where Affea Garcia, Rank-9 Arcana Master, stood with her arms crossed. The woman didn’t move, but Elise felt her readiness to intervene.
"If he dies, not my fault."
She took a breath and raised her hand high. "Let’s flatten the field."
With a pulse of power, a colossal spectral tree surged behind her, leaves shimmering with cosmic green. Its bark pulsed with runes older than language.
"Grace us with your presence, Yggdrasil."
The Arcana Spirit loomed like the spine of the world, roots reaching deep beneath the stage, branches spreading like the arms of gods.
Gasps rippled through the crowd. Even high-ranking cultivators straightened in their seats.
But Orion only smiled faintly. Eyes still closed, he whispered, "I’m really the worst match for you, Elise."
He changed his mudra.
His palms turned downward, and a low, echoing OM resounded from the heart of the golden Buddha.
It wasn’t exactly a sound. It was vibration. A sacred resonance that rippled through every grain of the arena. The kind that didn’t ring in your ears, but in your souls.
Followed by the sound of OM, a blinding divine light pulsed from the armor.
Yggdrasil trembled for a moment. Its leaves rustled in reverence.
Then, to everyone’s shock, the world tree bowed like a human, its branches bent down as if the living world tree was showing its respect.
Elise’s eyes widened. "This... Yggdrassil... Yggdrassil, what are you doing?" She asked her Arcana spirit.
The Arcana spirit replied telepathically. "Do not fight. This is not a battle you need to win, Elise. The boy carries the silhouette of a Buddha, one who is perfectly united with nature. As a nature-type Arcana spirit, raising my branch against him is like raising against one’s own child. I cannot do it."
With that, Elise exhaled slowly, watching as her own spirit knelt. "Ugh... I thought it was some kind of divine body like with Zion’s, but who could have expected this... And here I thought I could defeat him. Ugh... It’s so embarrassing."
She raised her hand and waved the conjured Arcana spirit away
"I forfeit," she said, her voice carried clearly.
The bell rang seconds later.
Above, in the VIP Balcony
Gideon blinked, stunned. "That... was the world tree? I thought the world tree was with the Elves."
Azzy didn’t speak at first. Then, he gave a rare smile. "I once read a story of a Bard who was gifted by the Yggdrassil. You see, Yggdrassil is just the same as any other monster, just that it is a nature type and a tree. Thousands of years ago, the Elves possessed the Yggdrassil. They took their seed to their new dimension and planted it there, too. However, it actually gave birth to two seeds. The other one was missing. It seemed like the other one became a tree monster and then died, reincarnated as an Arcana spirit in this girl."
Gideon grabbed his own chin in wonder. "No wonder it didn’t hurt Orion. Who decided this match anyway? It was as if the organizers wanted Orion to win."
Azzy shook his head with a sigh. "It doesn’t matter. He will not reach the finals, either way."
"What do you mean?" Gideon furrowed his brows. "You don’t think he has what it takes to reach the finals?"
Azzy shook his head again. "No, because his next opponent will be Fiona. To win against her, the Buddha form isn’t enough. He has to bring out his divine body. But, I sealed that form."
"What?" Gideon snapped his head toward him.