The next battle was Waka Ulin vs. Tiango. As mentioned before, Tiango is a Divine Demon Beast, the Burning Heaven Snake. This race looked like a gigantic snake made of pure Magma. Just like the wisps, they also have their soul inside their Demon Core.
However, different from the Wisps, the Burning Heaven Snake's body is anything but weak. In a certain way, it is almost indestructible. That's because their opponent would need to strike their core to do real damage. Of course, the Burning Heaven Snake's Demon Core had its soul connected to the rest of its body, so it would still suffer a little once attacked.
If it received thousand of attacks, cutting its body in thousands of parts without stopping, even it would be defeated. Surprisingly, Waka Ulin did exactly that.
Waka is a High-Level Sword practitioner who has already surpassed the Sword Intent level, reaching the Sword Heart. Each and every single slash of his weapon was an art in itself. He already transformed the complex into simple and understood the concepts of hard and soft. One could say that Waka is a sword himself.
The Burning Heaven Snake was strong, there was no doubt it. Still, it was attacked by Waka's relentless slashes. Finally, it reached a point where even its Demon Core was exposed. If it continued, it would die for sure.
Just as a sword attack was about to cut it in half, Waka and the rest heard its voice.
"I give up!"
The Burning Heaven Snake's protector then appeared in front of it in a flash, shattering the deadly attack. Of course, the protector would not dare to lay a finger on Waka, that's for sure.
Waka, on the other hand, just turned around and began to make his way out. The Burning Heaven Snake was anything but weak, so he also received several injuries, primarily because of its Burning Heaven Domain. He had to focus on his recovery as soon as possible.
The judge didn't care. Since the winner was decided, then the rest didn't matter.
"Winner, Waka Ulin from Ulin Universe!"
The next fight was Sara Qanze vs. Karen Zetial, two female cultivators. The battle ended with Sara's victory, though. However, it was a very balanced fight were it wouldn't be strange if either side won.
Romerio Botfue vs. Sule's fight ended with Sule as the final winner. Sule is a Wolf Demon Beast with half a bloodline of the Divine Silver Wolf, so he could be said to be a half Divine Beast himself. When Romerio saw that he was about to lose, he ended activating a forbidden technique of his clan, which immediately increased his combat power.
Sule, without another choice, had to draw out his Silver Wolf Bloodline Power to win this fight. As one can imagine, Sule received the backlash of his action after the battle was over. Everyone saw him entering a Time Formation and eating several pills after that. Still, no one knows if he will be able to recover to his peak performance or not. Backlash due to Bloodline use is one of the most difficult and time consuming to heal.
In the fight of Jovlare vs. Vork Hergando, Jovlare was the winner. With that, he was the second demon beast to enter the top 8. Surprisingly, Jovlare is an ocean demon beast, the Three Horned Golden Whale. Usually, one would think that this type of demon beast would be at a disadvantage outside water. After all, there was no such thing as an ocean around. The arena would need to move thousands of kilometers if Jovlare wanted to find the first one.
However, that was only the case for low-level demon beasts. At Jovlare's cultivation, he could almost summon a miniature ocean himself. But there wasn't even a need for it since his Water and Ice Domain alone was more than enough. As long as he was inside his own Domain, it would be the same as being inside a real ocean. In the end, he was able to achieve victory after a fierce battle against Romerio.
The next battle would be Laka vs. Fabio Koltem.
Laka, already in his Dragon Phoenix form, immediately leaped on the stage. With the help of the Time Formation, he was able to completely recover to his peak condition. Fabio Koltem also appeared there in a flash. Everyone could tell that he was brimming with fight intent too.
However, deep down, he understood that Laka was powerful. Mostly since he could reach this place while not being in the Peak of the Divine Path Realm. Until now, no one understood what that purple hue on his body meant.
Fabio is a Spear User Cultivator. Obviously, it meant that he is also a melee one, just like Horune or Waka. However, different from Waka, his comprehension of the spear was only at the Spear Intent level. Waka can be said to be an anomaly to have reached the Sword Heart while still in the Divine Path Realm.
Nonetheless, Fabio wouldn't give up easily.
Laka was very excited. Although he doesn't care to fight long-ranged competitors, he still prefers a dispute at close quarters. Most of his bloodline is a Dragon, after all.
"Begin."
Laka released his Domain as he dashed forward. However, Laka's Domain did not cover the entire arena this time. His opponent wasn't someone who would try to flee everywhere, so there was no need to use so much Spiritual Energy to do that. Of course, his Domain was still enormous.
Fabio took a deep breath and gripped his spear tightly.
"Magma Domain!"
That was Fabio's Domain. A fusion of Earth and Fire Laws/Elements. He wasn't the only one to have done that, though. Iem, Tirande, Jovlare, and Sara also had more than a single Element and Law type in their Domains.
His Magma Domain was perfect for him. It increased his body defense while his strength soared. Usually, it would also act as deterrence for his enemy. However, Laka was a Divine Beast born from both Dragon and Phoenix, Fire Related Domains had little effect on him.
Of course, the same could be said for Laka's World of Fire Domain. Fabio had no need to fear it at all.
The two quickly arrived in front of each other, not holding anything back.
Space Shattered as the world burned at thousands of degrees. Laka and Fabio separated due to the shock, but their eyes lit up as they dashed forward once more.
"Dragon Dive!"
"Dragon Blast!"
"Dragon Claws!
...
"Thousand Stabs!"
"Myriad Fire Spears!"
"Core Penetration!"
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
There was no strategy, no tricks, no running. It was the most terrifying and straightforward physical combat. One was a member of a Divine beast race with one of the strongest bodies. The other was a proud spear user that believed to be able to pierce the heavens.
Hundreds of different physical attacks were exchanged. The arena under them had already shattered to pieces. Both Laka and Fabio had injuries on their bodies. But they ignored it and stepped forward nonetheless.
This stalemate continued for only a minute, though.
Boom!
"Argh!"
Suddenly, a human's body was sent flying like a cannonball! Obviously, that was none other than Fabio. He quickly controlled his body, trying to stabilize himself. However, Laka didn't give him a chance.
"Dragon Blast!"
Dragon Energy exploded from all sides as Fabio was engulfed by it.
Laka then came diving down in the middle fo explosion. However, in the last moment, Fabio recovered his balance and counter-attacked as well.
Boom!
Both sides separated once more as Fabio used Laka's attack force to open some distance between them.
Suddenly, his eyes went red, and the laws of the world raged around his spear. Chaos Energy flowed into it like torrents, making even space around contort due to the pressure.
Laka looked at that from a distance and understood what Fabio meant.
"Hahaha! Bring it on!"
Laka then assumed an attack stance as Chaos Energy began to rage in his body. His Purple Flame Dragon Pearl made his body energies go rampant as if they were about to go out of control at any moment. It was evident that Laka and Fabio were intending to use the next exchange to decide this battle.
In a second, both sides finished accumulating their energy. Suddenly, both man and dragon dashed against each other with everything they had. That was, without a doubt, the highest point and most thrilling moment of the battle.
"Dragon's Might!"
"Quazar Spear!"
Boom!
The world seemed to go silent for a brief moment before an enormous shockwave of Chaos Energy and Fire Laws/Elements exploded outwards. An ordinary Peak Divine Path Realm cultivator or demon beast would probably die or get severely injured by just staying close to it.
Of course, the two perpetrators suffered most of the impact. However, Laka's Purple Flame Dragon Pearl showed its power at this moment. His energy grew once more to the point he almost damaged his Demon Core. The next instant, Fabio's Speartip cracked. The crack spread like a web before the spear utterly shattered. As one can imagine, Fabio was sent flying like a cannonball by Laka's attack. It was so fast that he only stopped when he hit the Protection Formations tens of kilometers away.
He then fell on the ground and a broken doll. It was hard to say if he was dead or alive after the exchange without using Divine Sense to check