Ascension of the Immortal Asura

"What's this! John Fenix has decided to sit down mid battle! What is he thinking!" a female voice sounded throughout the arena, voicing the thoughts of everyone in the crowd. 

John looked about, trying to find the source of the voice, but couldn't pinpoint it. However, based on the loudness and clarity of the voice, it was most certainly not someone from the crowd yelling out their thoughts. It was too clear, too official in its sound, as if it had been amplified by some sort of formation in order to be audible above all other noise in the arena.

'An announcer?' he wondered. He had not heard the voice during his first fight, although his fight had lasted only a short moment before it was over. 

"He's not taking any action at all! John Fenix is allowing his opponent, Helaranth of the Roaring Heart Sect, to fully charge up his sect's famous body battle art! The strength of the Roaring Heart Body Art is famed for its formidable power once fully charged. Is John overestimating his own strength, or perhaps underestimating his opponent!" the same female voice sounded out, full of excitement and passion.

'Most certainly an announcer,' John thought, shifting his gaze back towards his opponent.

His opponent's surprised look shifted into wide smile, one of relief and joy. He didn't attack or say anything to provoke John into attacking. Instead, he stood patiently a short distance away, glady taking this opportunity to charge up his body battle art.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The heartbeats grew louder, growing from a rather weak sound to something like a wardrum. The beats filled the arena with their power, as if it were the heartbeats of an ancient beast slowly coming back to life.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

As the beats grew, so did Helaranth's aura. After seventy-five beats, it reached a level that far exceeded what a five-hundred ranker should be capable of, revealing that his claim of being able to compare against those in the top fifty might not be a false one. 

After eighty beats, a weapon suddenly materialized in Helaranth's right hand. John raised an eyebrow upon laying eyes on the weapon, as it was truly unique.

It was a hammer, with a shaft six feet long and three inches thick. The shaft was black in color with yellow designs, depicting various battle-scenes of hammer wielding cultivators. At the end of the shaft was the head of the hammer, which was the most eye-catching part of the weapon. The head of the hammer, a mixture of silver and blue, was six feet long, four feet wide, and four feet tall.

The head alone was larger than Helaranth himself, making it look like it was a weapon meant for a giant, not a regular sized human. The crowd gasped at the sight of the weapon, which emanated a formidable, overbearing might, as if it were the king of hammers. 

As he took the weapon out, the ground trembled lightly beneath Helaranth's feet. An energy suddenly descended from above the arena, coming from a small orb hovering in the sky high above. The energy locked onto the weapon then vanished.

'What was that about?' John wondered.

"Wow! Helaranth's hammer, named Giant's Heart, weighs a staggering six hundred thousand pounds! Incredible!" the announcer exclaimed, followed by a roar of the crowd.

John looked at the weapon, then nodded his head approvingly. 

"A good weapon for a body cultivator," he said, to which Helaranth sneered.

"When I use my full power, each attack with Giant's Heart is like a mountain is being slammed onto you," Helaranth replied. "You may be strong, but if you don't defend against this attack, I'm afraid I'll be disqualified for killing you and spreading your guts all over the arena."

John smiled at the taunt yet remained sitting. "How long is this going to take? One hundred heartbeats is a long time. This body art might have its uses, but in a true one on one fight to the death, this body art is as good as a fart in the wind." 

Helaranth frowned, clearly upset that John had insulted his sect's famous body art. A small smile replaced his frown as he steadied his weapon to the side as if preparing to attack.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The heartbeats continued, as did the growing power emanating from Helaranth. Ninety-four heartbeats. Ninety-five heartbeats. Ninety-six. Ninety-seven.

Bang!

The arena shook violently as Helaranth pushed off the ground with his full power. His legs muscles bulged as he used his full physical strength to speed forward. With the distance between them being less than a hundred yards, that distance was closed instantly.

His hammer was already above his head when he arrived in front of John. Helaranth's aura surged outwards like a wild beast, flooding the entire arena in his power. His body Qi flowed over his hammer, coating it with power and amplifying its might. His arm muscles bulged with trembling power as he swung the hammer downwards, slamming it onto John who was still seated on the ground.

BOOM!

Hammer met flesh, and the world seemed to freeze for an instant before erupting into absolute chaos. The entire arena shook as if an earthquake was trying to rip it apart, while the arena around John was bathed in a calamitous blast of physical as well as the remnant of the Qi that had coated the hammer. 

Helaranth's hammer glowed brightly like a star as he unleashed everything in the attack, holding nothing back. If he killed John, he could claim it was an accident, and that John had done nothing to defend. While he would still be disqualified from the event, his punishment would not be that severe, and he would forever have the reputation of the one who felled the mysterious and villainous John Fenix.

"You might be strong, but you are a fool to think you can withstand my full powered attack without defending against it," Helaranth said with a sneer. "And as for moving on my ninety-seventh heartbeat, well, let's just say that fights are a combination of both brawn and brain. Only an idiot would believe that I would wait until my one hundredth heartbeat to attack."

The crowd recovered from the violent trembling of the arena, and burst into roaring cheers and applause. Helaranth basked in the sound, his hammer still held in his hand, unmoving since it had slammed against John. After enjoying the sound for a moment, he finally withdrew his power to assess the outcome of his attack. He withdrew the blindingly bright Qi from his hammer, revealing the outcome for all to see.

Gasps of shock and disbelief sounded out as the outcome was revealed. Helaranth's smile instantly vanished as if it had never existed. Then he stumbled backwards, as if he had seen the most shocking, most unbelievable thing. He even let go of his hammer, forgetting to keep it under his control.

"You're not going to need this?" John asked as he held the head of the hammer with his right arm that had been raised above his head. Trickles of blood ran down his arm, revealing he had taken some damage in that attack, but other than that, there was no visible damage at all.

Instead, he still sat on the ground in his original position, only his right hand having moved. With its position and the head of the hammer being held back by his hand, it was obvious what had happened. He had blocked Helaranth's all-out attack with only his right arm.

"W-w-wh-wha-wha-what just happened!" the announcer stammered out, her voice filled with pure disbelief. "With just one hand, John Fenix managed to completely stop a full powered attack from Helaranth and his hammer, Giant's Heart! Did he manage to use a battle art quickly without any of us noticing, or is his physical power truly this heaven-defying!?"

As the crowd looked on with stunned disbelief, John slowly stood up, the head of Giant's Heart still held up with his right hand as if its weight of six-hundred thousand pounds meant nothing to him. He juggled it up and down a few times, testing its weight, then nodded his head approvingly and threw the weapon back to Helaranth.

Bang!

The weapon crashed on the arena before Helaranth, its weight shaking the ground. The wide-eyed Helaranth looked at the weapon, then back to John, mouth slightly agape.

"Here's your weapon back," John said as he rolled his shoulders as if to warm them up. "You're going to need it for what's to come."