LEGEND REBORN : THE SAMURAI WORLD

THE NEXT STEP

SOMEWHERE IN THE NEURO WORLD OF MYTH...

IN A LARGE PALACE WITHIN A FOREST...

"How does my Lord feel, reaching the fifth step of the fourth realm has not been easy." The man who spoke had himself bowed before a figure that sat on a throne. The hall was lit by torches on golden lampstands. A lot of other people stood by, they were all clothed in red robes and they stood, unmoving.

"It is true, the difference in the strength of the steps is indeed colossal. I can defeat my old self in just four moves." A thick voice replied, it came from the figure on the throne. It was a man who looked like he was just fourty, he held a staff and he was clad in golden robes.

The doors of the hall opened and two men ran in, they bowed to the ground just behind the first man in the same pose.

"All hail king Zaha." The two chorused."The preparations for the gathering of prodigies is almost complete." Just one of the two continued this time.

"This time, it will be different." Zaha rose to his feet, a terrifying aura gently leaked from him. The sound of his staff on the floor resounded across the hall. "I have sensed some geniuses already, I have also received information of likely sons of heaven." Zaha smiled bitterly, those who were true sons of heaven were not to be messed with. He knew of a particular one, a junior called Ken who had now surpassed him. "It is like the universe knew a war would breakout, the amount of overwhelming talents in this coming generation is just too much." Zaha returned to his throne. "They will fully subdue us."

THE IMPERIAL CULTIVATION GROUNDS OF THE BLACK NATION...

The five representatives of the institution were finally getting ready to leave the grounds, they had undergone serious training with a lot of masters and now, they were recieving an address from Master Kerepa.

"The five of you will represent our institution before the nation's lord. We have no rivals, true, but this is different. Successful disciples are headed straight for the real world stage, no disciple will want to let that slide pass." Kerepa spoke with much vigour. "Our nation has been given fifteen spots, we are going to secure five. Without any complications, we own five." Kerepa added with zeal.

"Yes master!" The five along with a couple masters replied.

The event was to hold there in sun city, in the palace of the nation's lord. All other cultivation grounds sent their candidates, the notable ones were the five from the Xuan family, the Shen family, the ring lightning clan, the imperial cultivation grounds and the spirit sword clan. This five instituitions dominated the others.

The event had two stages, the first one would be to select the fifteen, the second event would be to rank them. The nation's lord would only appear in the second stage and the fifteen would leave for the sub-continental event straight away.

It was like the Zhao family screening, there were four separate stages on an open field. Matero was at the same stage with Kelena, the two were pretty close since they weren't that older than one another and they were also at the same step.

Matches started almost instantly, the atmosphere quickly became charged. The start was already a c****x. Observing the match up at his own stage, Matero couldn't but click his tongue. The disciples gave everything they had and ended matches as quickly as possible. A total of eight instituitions were present, each had five representatives. Each of the four stages had ten disciples, winning nine matches on a row meant direct qualification, you had defeated everyone at your stage. Winning a total of ten matches also meant qualification, three defeats in a row meant direct disqualification, five loses also meant disqualification.

Soon it was Matero's turn, his opponent was from the ring lightning clan. A young man at the second step of the second realm, he walked up the stage with confidence. Matches like this were usually decided under a couple moves, the disciple with the higher step had always won. Now Matero who was at the first step second realm would fight the ring ligthning's top disciple who was at the second step of the same realm.

"This brat is finished."

"Oh, what I'll pick."

"Is this Feng's opponent?" The disciples below made scornful remarks.

Matero shook his head, he was indeed unlucky facing such an opponent in his first match. Then this was what he needed, defeating Feng meant he was making a statement, everyone at this stage would become weary of him.

"Lightning ring cut." Without a warning, Feng dashed towards Matero and lightning engulfed Feng. Feng had fully released his aura and Matero felt slightly pressured, his speed was also greater than that of normal cultivators.

Under the pressure Matero smiled, Feng could be the strongest wherever he came from, but to Matero, no disciple in the second realm could threaten him with lightning based attacks. On impulse Matero drew his blade and clashed with Feng.

"Clang!" The two swords clashed, Matero felt suppressed but he smiled. Feng on the other hand had the upper hand but had shock written all over his face.

"What was that just now?" Feng asked within himself. "Did he just ignore all the shock from the lightning?"

The two drew back and clashed again, the result was the same. Feng slightly had the upper hand but was still denied his desired effect. This was the first time he met a junior who could clash with him and totally ignore his lightning.

"Thunder clap strike." Feng yelled and his aura exploded, chakra engulfed him and so did lightning. A firece wind accompanied his movements and he dashed towards Matero.

"That is senior's greatest move."

"This brat is really finished now."

"Finish him Feng, make us proud." That was an elder from the sides.

Matero was like a twig before a storm, he had to accept the fact that Feng was indeed strong, Feng was just unlucky. Matero closed his eyes and took a stance, he braced for impact as Feng drew closer. Then the two clashed.

Feng pushed with all his might, he sent out all the lightning he could muster into Matero, he yelled as he pushed. Matero was calm, something bubbled in him gradually and was about to explode. Feng sensed it and tried to pull back.

"Too late." Matero said with a smile. "Super lightning blast." Matero added.

Like a bomb, a surge of lightning burst out of Matero's body. It engulfed Feng completely, if the latter wasn't resistant to lightning, he would have been burnt to crisp. It came with a powerful pushing surge, Feng tried all he could but he was blasted off the stage, a trail of smoke followed him.