A few weeks later, the second part of the tournament began; this time it was Cohort Vs Cohort battles and the Cohort who wins the tournament gets 1 Ascended memory each
Abner and the rest didn't think they would have any trouble now that the other Cohorts couldn't team up on them.
Their first match was against a cohort of six people, like them: two archers, two Spearmen with shields, and two swordsmen; one had a shield and another two swords.
As soon as the battle started, Abner attacked them with his pure light, but the shield wielders still advanced towards them: Abner, Kaelen, Glorielle, Alec, and Naamah intercepted them.
But unexpectedly, the dual-wielding swordsman behind the shield bearers reverse gripped his swords and began spinning; the surrounding wind turned sharp and began cutting them; it aimed for Naamah and Abner specifically.
Abner, who didn't see the swordsman, got decapitated without even knowing how, while Naamah barely managed to dodge getting a few strands of hair cut.
But they were still obviously winning; Brave had already dealt with the Archers by now, and Glorielle killed the swordsman with a shield, while Kaelen killed one Spearman.
The two remaining awake surrendered.
After their match, they watched the one after theirs while watching Kaelen was mocking Abner, "Heh, look how good they are; they definitely wouldn't get decapitated, I'm sure."
Abner didn't react to Kaelen's comment, but Glorrielle was laughing like she heard the funniest joke in the world. Alec and Brave were chuckling too; even Naamah had a subtle smile hearing it.
Abner sighed, looking at these "Traitors" and thought, 'Have they nothing better to do!? tsk! I was completely caught off guard!'
While Kaelen was laughing at his own joke, he still watched the match. The Awakened who got here were pretty skilled; the ones they fought against even managed to catch Abner off guard.
The matches lasted much longer than theirs; well, it made sense not many of them could claim to be as experienced as the survivors of The Forgotten Shores, and they weren't just experienced; they were talented too.
It was now their turn again against a cohort of seven people: five spearmen with shields and two archers.
Since the shields covered their eyes and they all had armor, Abner's light wasn't effective, nor was Naamah's aspect, as she needed to see the target's eyes to make them hallucinate. Brave couldn't do much either, as he needs them to look at him to activate his dormant ability.
It seems like they prepared to face them, since they didn't try to get in close and decided to use spears instead, but they were clearly not as good with the spear as their main weapons since not all of them specialized in the spear.
Abner and the rest took advantage of that and managed to win, but it wasn't as easy, and it took longer than their previous match, this time Naamah was killed due to her flaw stunning her after a kill.
Abner made a more serious look after the match and told his cohort, "We can't afford to take the next three battles lightly while we are stronger than the remaining cohorts; they learned our moves and how to counter them, so be more cautious."
They all nodded; they didn't expect that this part would be so difficult since they beat up so many awakened last time, but those that teamed up against them were mostly weaklings who knew they stood no chance against them in the next round.
The ones that got here are elite awakened too; other cohorts had teamed up against them as well, but not as many as the ones chasing after the Attendants of Mysteries.
Their next match was against a cohort of five.
All of them used spears and shields to defend against Abner, Brave, and Naamah's aspects and to have a range advantage when engaging in combat against them since Abner and the rest wouldn't have problems dealing with them otherwise.
Seeing them, Alec thought to himself, 'This is getting annoying. Why are all of them learning to counter us!? Ugh, just die quietly!'
Abner and the rest of the cohort, except for Brave, who was using his aspect to get behind the enemy cohort, charged at the five spearmen.
This fight was even harder than the previous ones, as more of the cohort this time had good combat aspects; three of them had strength-enhancing aspects, and two had elemental ones they could use in combat.
One had the element of earth and used it to make them trip by moving the ground beneath them, and the other had the element of air; he could amplify the surrounding air, whether the sound or the power.
This made the battle much harder than the last one with their spears; it was hard to get close, and their shields defended them from their aspects.
Luckily, they completely forgot about Brave, who stabbed one of the spearmen from behind and attacked another startled spearman, making them turn their heads to look at him then he activated his Dormant Ability and the tides of battle turned completely in their favor.
Now that the spearmen were all looking at Brave, they were left defenseless against the rest of the Attendants of Mysteries and quickly died because of it.
Abner sighed as he thought to himself, 'No one died this time, but we were close to dying if not for Brave's aspect.'
Now that the semifinals are drawing near, Abner and the rest got a bit anxious; there was a real chance they could lose if they didn't put in their best effort.
Alec tried to ease up the mood by sharing his wisdom. "Brothers in Dao worry not, for you all have eyes yet fail to see Mount Tai. You all failed to see the immensity of heaven and earth; these juniors cannot dare to stand against us; the gap between us is like that of heaven and earth!"
Glorielle sighed, looking at Alec with pity, and told him firmly, "You look too old to say that; please shut up; you are singlehandedly ruining the image of the older generations."
Except for Naamah all of them nodded at Glorielle's words.
Alec looked at them like they were stupid. "Cultivation is an ageless art; even in your eighties, the pursuit of Dao is not forbidden! I do recommend reading the scriptures of the great immortals before us, the Cultivation Manhwas!"
Naamah surprisingly agreed, "While I don't pursue immortality, cultivation stories are indeed quite enlightening."
All of them looked at Naamah in pure shock as they all thought the same thing: 'The cultivation brain rot is spreading!'
Alec looked at Naamah shocked at her agreement, and asked, "Since when do you read Cultivation Manhwas?"
Naamah smiled and answered, "Well, since I was seven, I found them relatable since I always wanted to become immortal, even if it meant stealing the life from others, but as I grew up, I realized that death is inevitable; everyone dies eventually, but while people die, ideas live on, so from then on I became determined to become an author; this is the immortality I seek."
All of them shared the same thought: 'She saw the cultivators as relatable because she was determined to become immortal when she was seven? What kind of child thinks like that!'
None of them dared to comment, though, and they spent a long time in awkward silence until their next match began.
The cohort they have to fight this time didn't have any spear wielders; it was made of three archers and three Warhammer wielders, who also used shields.
Seeing this, Brave couldn't help himself from blurting out, "Hiding behind those shields again... how cowardly!"
One of the enemy cohort members responded to him immediately, "Hiding behind a mountain of awakened, how cowardly!"
Brave was left speechless as even his friends laughed at the remark, 'Bastards, they betrayed me!' Brave thought embarrassed
The battle soon started, and the commentator said, "The three war hammer wielders and the archers have great teamwork, giving a hard time to the Attendants of Mysteries! But the battle isn't nearly over yet, folks!"
The expert continued where the commentator left off: "Indeed, while the War hammer wielders and the Archers appear to be in an advantageous position, it will be hard for them to deal decisive blows while avoiding the sight of the survivors of the Forgotten Shores, but they still have a chance"
After a few minutes, Abner and the rest barely won thanks to Brave shooting down the archers and joining melee combat
Now they were not quite as confident as they were before about winning the tournament.
Soon the finals started, their opponents were a cohort of seven people, all of them using spears and shields.
Brave cursed out loud, "Shameless cowards! tsk! tsk! Preparing for their battle against us like we are some boss raid!"
Glorielle nodded and added, "Yeah and it's not like their little trick of shield and spear spamming ever worked!"
The commentator soon shouted, "And the first blood goes to The Seven Spearman. A double K.O. Alec and The Heir to the Han Li clan both fell almost simultaneously!"
The expert quickly added, "And now there are two other casualties. Naamah, after slaying her foe, froze and left herself open for a killing blow! Now it's a four versus five; will this trend of exchanging lives continue?"
It did not soon enough; Glorielle managed to kill an Awakened without dying herself, making the numbers even.
Abner sweated as he fought against the spear wielder, thinking, 'They even imitate sweating!? The Dreamscape is better than I thought...'
As everyone grew more exhausted, Kaelen finally used his aspect and killed two Spearmen, dying right after.
The commentator shouted, "And this might be the deciding factor; folks, Kaelen sacrificed himself for a double kill, earning his team the advance in numbers!"
And indeed, the rest of the fight didn't take too long, but Brave had been killed because of his inexperience with the sword and his rush to end the battle quicker.
Abner finally sighed in relief after getting the rewards, completely ignoring the cheers of the crowd or the voice of the commentators.
Using so much essence to enhance himself was exhausting, even if he didn't have to use his pure light skill due to their enemies having shields.