Death... and me

Chapter 4057: All Against Zanbril

Rean and Kentucky didn’t mind the attention, as that was what they were looking for. ’Thank you for the compliment. We won’t be staying for long, but it won’t be a bad idea to know each other.’

After saying that, they returned their attention to the battles.

More princess had their cultivations damaged or died as the battles ended. Lufua was one of such princesses. She didn’t die since she had two experts fighting, and only one of them lost. Nonetheless, it made Havira worried to no end.

By the time the battles were over, only around thirty princesses remained. Of those, only five were still in perfect shape. Naturally, both advisors of those five princesses won their battles.

It goes without saying that the three princesses with Celestial Realm Expert as advisors were among those five. Their second advisors were also at the Semi-Celestial level and quite strong.

"Well done, everyone." Zanbril took to the front again. "I’m surprised there are still this many princesses remaining. I guess I underestimated your abilities, be it in negotiation or in normal relationships. Anyway, the tests shall continue."

Zanbril then came down from the stage, stopping on the teleport formation everyone had used earlier. "Now, the next test has both the advisors and the princesses taking part. Follow me. Everyone else who isn’t an advisor or princess has to stay here. Don’t worry, all the action will still be transmitted on the holographic projections." Right after, the teleport formation activated, and Zanbril disappeared.

"Well, let’s go!" Kentucky took Xixie’s hand and ran to the teleport formation. He had no intention of waiting for anyone. They didn’t know what the test would be anyway.

Rean laughed a little while Hoblio sighed. Right now, they could only trust Kentucky would deliver again.

The other experts followed, and soon, all the remaining advisors and princesses disappeared in the teleport formation.

---

On the other side of the teleport formation, Kentucky and Xixie appeared inside a big, round arena, and Zanbril could be seen at the center in the distance. All around, more princesses and advisors appeared as well, each of their positions exactly at the same distance from Zanbril and each other. They were all surrounding Zanbril there.

However, Kentucky soon noticed that he was inside a small formation, while Xixie in front of him wasn’t. He tried to move forward, but there was an invisible energy barrier. The barrier itself wasn’t anything that impressive. Any of the advisors could break it easily. However, they knew better not to do so, at least not until Zanbril explained what this was about.

"I feel so full of energy..." Xixie commented. She had just received massive damage to her cultivation, regressing to the Saint Realm. However, she was feeling stronger now than she was back when she was in the Void Tempering Realm.

The other princesses also noticed the same, especially those whose cultivation had been damaged. They looked at their advisors, and they nodded at them. From the looks of it, the leading actors in this test will be the princesses indeed.

Zanbril saw that everyone was in their positions and began his explanation. "Right now, the formations under this arena are using the cultivation energies of the princesses’ advisors to empower the princesses themselves. Of course, I set up a limit to the power gained. At the moment, all princesses are in the Initial Stage of the Space-Bending Realm... or at least they have a power equivalent to that."

The advisors were empowering the princesses? The advisors were skeptical. Everyone knows that the cultivation energy of other experts changes once they are absorbed. They aren’t compatible with anyone else anymore after that. The twins’ group exception was simply because the system allowed it, but who else out there has a system like that?

Well, it didn’t matter now since Xixie and Kentucky weren’t connected through the system anyway.

Zanbril could read everyone’s thoughts, explaining. "Don’t misunderstand it. Your cultivation energies aren’t being delivered directly to the princesses. Instead, they are being absorbed by the formations underneath you. Then, the formation measures how much energy it took, and then gives the princesses the same amount of clean energy from Divine Stones, Elemental Stones, or any other kind of necessary energy, depending on the race of the princess in question."

Sure enough, there was a trick. Zanbril really thought of everyone, as there were the Astral Wisps, for example, that used Starlight Energy instead. There was also a Sea Demon Beast that used Water Element Energy.

Zanbril continued. "Of course, this isn’t a very good thing in the long run. The formations are empowering the princesses by force, and it might impact their cultivation and bodies. There is no need to worry, though. This test will be over way before these problems start to appear."

"Just be aware of this rule: None of the advisors is allowed to use any item that could help them recover energy. That can be Divine Stones, Elemental Stones, a Treasure, or whatever. Believe me, you are all being watched closely. Unless you think you can fool the formation and my subordinates, I wouldn’t break this rule. It will result in immediate disqualification."

"Oh, I must also mention this: Let’s suppose your princess attacks me, but things go wrong, and I have a chance to kill her instead. If the advisors are thinking of using this disqualification method to save your princess’s life by breaking the rules in the nick of time, think again."

"The penalty for breaking this rule is immediate execution of the princess. The collar will take her life. Simply put, the princesses have a higher chance of survival if they simply don’t do anything. Well, if they don’t do anything, other princesses might hit me first, and they will lose their chance of becoming my wife. At least they will leave this place alive, though."

Suddenly, a sphere of energy and runes appeared in front of the advisors before Zanbril continued his explanation. "The test will be simple. The princesses will all be allowed to attack me. The first five to land a proper hit, passes. The rest will fail."

"Those spheres can be used to communicate with your princesses, as the formations surrounding the advisors block any attempts to communicate through Divine Sense, Soul Scan, and so on. I don’t want anyone threatening each other with their backgrounds during this test, after all."

Zanbril then took flight, a lance appearing on his hand before he came to a halt in the air. "Alright, that’s it. There is no time limit here. However, be aware that I will also attack those who attack me. So, if you don’t want to die, you’d better think carefully about when to make your move."

"Oh! By the way, if any of you can somehow kill me, I have left everything prepared for that situation, so no repercussions will befall that princess who lands the last hit. Not only will there be no retaliation, but there will also be an amazing prize that will definitely make it worth all the trouble you went through."

*Clap!*

With a clap of his hands, Zanbril gave the sign. "That’s all. You can come at me any time you want!"