Since he did not sustain any wounds in the match, the only thing Timothy requested from the doctor was a pill so he could quickly refill his used battle qi. Since the other stages were finishing up by the time he headed back, Timothy was unable to see the other group type battles. This however did not mean he would not be able to see the results of each one since a big written chart for the entire stadium to see was above in the very center. To his surprise, the top eight only had his name and six others that he recognized who were considered to be the top ten cultivators partaking in the tournament.

The eighth contestant who made it into the top eight he would find out from eavesdropping on another's conversation, was just lucky that he was part of the remaining three in Bracket D but instead of knocking him out, the two cultivators who were supposed to advance apparently had some unsettled rivalry. Due to this, he was able to avoid being knocked out and was able to at the very least earn his gold coins back that he originally entered the competition with. Since the remaining matches would be one on one, there was a good chance he would be knocked out by whoever his opponent would be.

"My disciple, it would be rather sincere if the heavens chose to make him your opponent so that you could easily transition into the top four, right?" the artifact asked Timothy in a joking manner. In truth, winning the grand prize in the tournament would be a fantastic addition to Timothy's current equipment since it would give him all of the offensive capabilities he could ask for. The only thing was, he was still only thirteen years old and the Grey Imperial Academy most likely would not allow him to travel alone until he was at least sixteen.

Therefore, in a way if he wanted to try to outright buy a similar weapon in the near future, he may be able to ask for it as a favor whether it was through his friend Andrew or even an organization who wanted to recruit him that actually would be in his best interest to join regardless of such a bonus. Still, since he picked out this tournament to compete in, Timothy was looking forward to using his current skill set with his swordsmanship along with the techniques that the artifact promised to give to him. It was almost as if he would be willing to outright "borrow" the sword in order to test such things out.

After drawing numbers, Timothy was matched up right away with a fourteen year old teenage boy from an organization called the Thunder Valley. The organization surprisingly had several lightning element techniques that were very high quality, but only the higher ranked members were able to get a hold and learn said techniques. Also, Thunder Valley made a point in only recruiting mages with a high affinity for the lightning element since what made them special was the fact that they had access to such techniques in the first place.

This worried Timothy because from the looks of it, his opponent looked to have a unique physique along with very spiked hair as if he lived in a home his whole life that was constantly struck by some form of electricity. Still, this was not enough to make Timothy outright surrender before the match even started and so he and the other youth both stepped onto the stage while withdrawing their weapon of choice.

According to the information given to him before the tournament began, Timothy knew that this youth was a rank two mage specializing in the lightning element. He also understood that instead of using long ranged lightning techniques to slow down an opponent in a paralysis kind of way, this youth instead used a technique that allowed him to increase his movement speed and overall combat abilities in close to close combat.

What was surprising to Timothy, was that the youth was still standing in place barehanded while he himself withdrew his ordinary sword. If possible, Timothy wanted to continue testing out his battle style as a warrior but he could not help but to feel a sense of danger while watching his opponent. "Begin!" The referee of the match wasted no time and before Timothy could use his own movement technique to pounce towards his opponent, the youth named Nick was the first to act as mana covered his legs and of all things, his fingers!

The first exchange the two had, was Timothy powering up his sword by covering it in his battle qi to intercept Nick, as Nick launched an attack towards Timothy's head using just his fingers. Before Nick's fingers landed on Timothy's sword, a high powered electrical current was unleashed which made Nick's fingers look like the claws of a demonic beast! With no other way to react, all Timothy could do was block Nick's attack which was aimed at his head with his battle qi covered sword.

A loud pinging noise could be heard, but in a breath worth of time, Timothy felt a small trickle of his blood oozing out of the top right corner of his chest. While he successfully blocked Nick's attack with his sword, Nick simply used his other hand to land a blow, and a rather heavy blow. "Damn it!" Timothy cried out as he poured some of his battle qi into his legs in order to back up as he used his sword to shove Nick away. In the first exchange, it was clear that Nick had the clear advantage.

As Timothy checked the wound, he realized that it was not as deep or big as he thought as he used his muscles to slowly close the very small hole. By now, he broke out into a cold sweat because when he fought demons they never had any type of techniques like that and very few would opt to use their claws against him since he wielded a legendary sword. For the first time in a very long time, Timothy felt genuine fear but he was forced to face the fear in front of him.

As he froze in place, Nick decided to take the opportunity and charge towards Timothy once again and this time he let out a domineering laugh as if he was having fun tormenting him. Timothy did not know what to do as his hands began to shake as he held his sword in his hand. When Nick was one meter away from him, the entire surrounding had begun to stop as if time itself was experiencing some type of phenomena. "Master, what is happening?"

For three seconds Timothy waited but not even the artifact was responding to his calls. Timothy tried moving his body but he also realized that he could not move either until suddenly a familiar voice sounded. "If I knew that you would freeze up and even feel fear towards a fourteen year old child, I wouldn't have had to send you where I had. Any one of my many children could have finished you off and we could have used you as an example for the rest of the humans to either give up and be well behaved food and slaves, or to suffer as you had!"

Behind Nick, Timothy saw the demon who had sent him here in this world and into the crippled child's body. However, instead of a normal looking demon, it looked to be half human and half demon! "I bet you are surprised to see a good friend again. You may be asking how it is that I look like a human other than of course the horns, the tail, and the teeth?"