Sakaar Duel Competition

The warm-up match for the Championship Battle was about to begin.

As though a grand celebration for a major holiday had arrived, nearly every alien creature on Planet Sakaar stirred with excitement. Whether inner-city residents or outer-city scavengers, they all unhesitatingly set aside their work, unwilling to miss even a mere warm-up Duel Competition.

Wearing fanatical expressions, they blew whistles and held up support signs for their favorite champions. Some especially fervent fans even painted their faces and clothes in the competitors’ colors, gathering into vast crowds along the city’s main streets and surging toward the Duel Arena.

Above Sakkar Main City, dozens of Guard Ships were spaced apart at regular intervals. Centered around the Sakkar Central Building, they formed a web that covered the sky within a kilometer, firmly controlling the airspace as they used beams of light and broadcasts to guide the crowds below into the venue.

The moment Kyle and Bai Bo stepped out of the hotel, they were swept into the packed stream of people on the main street. Strange-looking aliens surrounded them on all sides, and the roar of celebration pressed around them like a tide.

Amid the alien crowd, Kyle could not help being swept up by the lively atmosphere.

The alien creatures were clearly immersed in heartfelt anticipation for the coming championship Duel Competition. Their fervor was no less intense than that of die-hard World Cup fans on Earth.

"Only when there’s a match at the Duel Arena does this Sakaar, a planet built atop garbage, seem to burst into life and vitality," Bai Bo sighed.

The local alien residents seemed to use it as an outlet for their primitive instincts to pursue strength and slaughter, while also easing the dull boredom of being trapped on a planet like a cage.

Kyle nodded lightly in understanding.

It was not merely a way to pass the time. Evolving and becoming stronger had always been a common goal of all life in the universe!

This planet gathered lost alien creatures from all corners of the universe and made them perform life-and-death duels to determine who was superior. That was the kind of thing living beings loved to watch.

The Duel Arena stood behind the Central Building. It was a gigantic Interstellar Stadium, shaped like a flattened cylinder. Including its steel outer walls, it had a radius of fully five hundred meters. Its center was open to the sky, casting brilliant lights in every direction and into the heavens.

At that moment, looking down from the sky, one could see the living residents of the entire planet swarming toward the Duel Arena from all directions like densely packed ants returning to their nest.

Afraid of being trampled in the crowd, the tiny Bai Bo clutched Kyle’s shoulder and dangled in the air like a bag. Looking at the gigantic venue before it, it said with feeling, "The Starry Sky Duel Arena can hold two hundred thousand spectators at once. In another half hour, it will contain more than eighty percent of this planet’s living residents."

Hearing that terrifying figure, Kyle clicked his tongue in astonishment.

Probably only Sakaar, this twisted land of the lost, could offer a viewing experience so unprecedented that it drove local residents to such extremes of fanaticism.

Upon reaching the entrance, Kyle discovered in surprise that the tickets came in several tiers, priced according to the distance, height, and section of the seats. Even the farthest seats in the back cost five hundred Sakaar Coins!

Bai Bo, who normally valued money above all else, was unusually generous this time. It bought tickets worth one thousand Sakaar Coins so they could enter together.

"Perhaps that’s the charm of a championship duel."

Kyle shook his head. He saw many ragged scavengers, people who normally could not even afford a house or hotel room, paying for Duel Competition tickets more eagerly than anyone else.

To the creatures of this planet, duel tickets were probably a necessity of life, something that let them feel there was still meaning in being alive.

After passing the aliens’ security inspection, Kyle and Bai Bo found their seats according to their tickets.

Their seats were in the second-floor section near the front of the venue. Looking down, they had an excellent view of the entire broad, circular duel field.

In Bai Bo’s words, the viewing experience in the third through tenth-floor sections farther back was poor, while the first-floor section in front could sometimes be dangerous. That made the second floor the best viewing area.

Sitting in his seat, Kyle looked around. More than half the seats inside the Interstellar Stadium were already occupied by alien spectators. The match had not even officially begun, yet the audience was already cheering passionately without pause, their burning eyes fixed upon the concrete arena below.

"This is only the selection warm-up match. If it were the Championship Match, how outrageous would it be? And what kind of talents and abilities would the challengers possess?" Kyle lightly clenched his fist. His heart, as if infected by the atmosphere, pounded rapidly and powerfully.

So far, he had not specifically studied the Alien Races. The Big-Eyed Alien he had killed barely counted, its combat power being a pathetic five.

With his current physique—the most ideal Super Soldier body possible for a human from Earth—along with hundreds of combat techniques from Earth, what tier would his combat power barely rank in among the stars?

Kyle felt an urgent need to find out. The matches at Sakaar’s Duel Arena were the perfect opportunity to understand the general combat standards across the universe. Only after knowing himself and his enemies, after properly gauging his place, could he feel at ease.

Before he could think further, a burst of excited cries rose from the stands. More than a dozen miniature flying devices made a dazzling entrance, projecting lights above the duel field that pieced together a full-body image of the Grandmaster.

The Grandmaster’s projection swept its gaze around the venue and smiled amiably. "Ladies and gentlemen, a wonderful performance is about to begin! Are you all happy?"

The entire Interstellar Arena answered with deafening cheers.

"I am your host. Please give your applause to the challengers who are about to die on the spot in the warm-up match. Their spirit and hot blood are worthy of praise." The Grandmaster chuckled and spread his hands. "I hope that, like me, none of you will leave disappointed today."

"Grandmaster…" Kyle’s eyes shifted slightly as he raised his head toward the highest point of the venue. There was a special viewing platform behind floor-to-ceiling glass windows. The Grandmaster himself and his trusted guards should be up there.

"Without further nonsense, I declare the main event officially underway!"

"Now, let all the challengers in the qualifying round enter the arena!"

After the Grandmaster finished speaking, his projection waved downward. Steel gates positioned on all four sides of the duel field slowly opened.

Amid the crowd’s eager cheers, countless shadows moved within the four gates. All manner of challenger creatures rushed out at high speed. Some wore armor and carried weapons, while others entered empty-handed, exposing bodies filled with beastlike savagery. Roaring and growling, they stepped into the duel field.

"Is this warm-up match a group battle?" Kyle asked in mild surprise.

Bai Bo nodded and answered, "Of course. It’s only a warm-up match, after all. The challengers’ strength varies far too much, and one-on-one matches would take too long. So they’ll first use a group battle to eliminate most of them."

It paused, then said excitedly, "The last four challengers standing in the arena can enter the latter half of the competition. They’ll then fight one-on-one to choose the strongest challenger of this year—only then will that champion powerhouse, who has dominated this place for so long, come out to Defend the Arena!"