Laster immediately paused and protected himself using his Demonic Energy, but this only slightly mitigated the power of Anthony's attack. The Demon was blown away into the ground, screaming in pain as the energy coating him got penetrated by the attack, his arms turning into nothingness.
They were gone, voided from this area. They definitely still existed, only somewhere else in the universe at this time. This knowledge did not make Laster King any happier, though, as the pain of having one's body parts instantly teleported away was far more excruciating than using a knife to cut it off.
It wasn't just phantom pain, the remnant Void Energy lingered around the affected area, slowly corroding and destroying cells near the wound.
Laster King climbed to his feet slowly, his bloodshot eyes showing his determination to survive even with this handicap, yet it was futile. A Demon was a powerful being, but against the kind of power Anthony was packing, it was meaningless.
The moment Laster raised his head, it was easily smashed into by Anthony's Bo-Staff, blueish-green Aetheric Energy coursing through the Demon's body and turning him into the building blocks of the universe, pure energy.
Anthony naturally absorbed this new energy, which enhanced his body and power even further. Part of why his stats were so far above his peers despite only being a half-breed of the Sage Monkey clan was because of the Aether element.
Following the death of Laster, Anthony continued to easily dominate his fights, turning his foes who did not give up in time into energy for himself. The various powers saw this and guessed at what he was doing, but there was nothing they could do.
Most of them had hunted and killed Aether element users for their absurd power in the same manner as had been done to the respective element discoverer so that they couldn't propagate it, but Anthony had already reached a level of power where it was difficult to squash him.
The Gods of Elysium too had been sunk under the sea, the entire continent showered with nuclear bombardment.
Once Anthony had finished his 10 battles he came down from the arena and all 5 returned to their abodes in the Mage Tower. They consolidated their gains from these fights and healed up, putting the experiences they gained into use.
The next day, the same thing repeated itself, each one of them lasting the full 10 fights, each one displaying different applications of their power in order to defeat and outwit craftier foes with higher experience who had factored in what they had already revealed.
Martin was not picking easy Grandmasters for them either, choosing those who would allow them to test their limits. This continued until the final day came around.
Ash, Reina, Jonathan, James, and Anthony all had been pushed to their respective limits, even though they had been allowed to rest and restore themselves physically at the end of each day, the mental strain was not something as easy to fix.
Even just standing where they were made them pant heavily, as if they had run a marathon. It was precisely because of this that those Grandmasters still kept applying, as they saw the lads were tired.
They were not fazed by seeing them overcome the previous 90 Grandmasters each. In their mind, those guys were either unlucky, foolish, or less qualified than them.
Of course, another reason for the continuous application was the fact that the rewards offered by Safemoon kept doubling with every day. Currently, what was being offered was even enough to make True Lords feel an itch to participate, much less Grandmasters.
Darius was seated in his special VIP room as usual, where he had watched the progress of the Five Apprentices. No matter how often they succeeded, how close they came to failure, being left on the verge of death, his expression never changed from a soft smile.
It was almost as if he had expected everything that was going on, so why display emotion?
It was no different from rewatching a movie. The suspense would not work since you knew what came next.
Even when his disciples completed their 100 battles alive, with only a few limbs missing for all five, he did not flinch. He simply stood up and teleported back to his Mage Tower, awaiting those excited five brats.
Soon enough, the lads came back after having treated themselves with Lunar Dew. They all knelt before Darius with visible excitement on their faces, hurriedly reporting their success to him.
Darius only smiled gently at them. "I know."
He waved a hand and the five found themselves teleported onto their usual seats before Darius without even being able to resist. Their hearts shook, then settled. After all, their master was the most powerful, so why be surprised?
Darius crossed his leg gently as he gazed at the five. "I gave you a mission to complete in order to prove you were worthy of my initial investment and for me to take you to the next stage, and you have done so splendidly. Now, it is time for me to fulfill my end of the bargain."
He snapped his fingers as a slew of Maidbots rolled in and presented the prepared materials to the Five Apprentices who were awash with excitement. They waited for Darius' signal before they took the familiar potions and used the same scrolls as last time.
This time, though, there were the additions of the Mind Sea potion, which expanded their mental faculties greatly and strengthen their minds in order to awaken the psychic abilities of Adepts with ease.
Of course, since their stats had long since passed this threshold, they had already unlocked such power, but this helped them push forward. It didn't take them long to pierce through their limits, and the limits set by the Faustian laws.
After all, for humans, they far surpassed the threshold. Other races may have high stats, but they would have much more difficulty because their race's threshold was higher.
When the energy of the lads settled down, Darius clapped his hand and gazed at the five of them with interest, thinking to himself.
'Now, which elements have you selected for yourself this time, hmm?'
