“Hello folks, I am your extreme majesty Bobby the magnificent, the imperial, the imagined perfection, the celebrated victor, the—“
“Bobby, you are supposed to be announcing the rules,” said the co-host of the tournament of scions.
“...vision of glory, the incredible,” continued Bobby the announcer without pause as if he hadn’t even been interrupted in the slightest. His co-host sighing as Bobby continued his extraordinarily long introduction. The intro as lengthy as Bobby’s own opinion of himself was prideful.
“have been hired by the BlackHole Conglomerate to host this event for you all, and because of how much my time cost, as many of you very well may already know if you’ve ever visited RaidCorp’s own Coliseum based amusement park, this is going to be an absolute blast!”
Arson chuckled to himself, once more finding himself at the back of a massive crowd of competitors. Instead of the seemingly small 10000 that had participated in the preliminaries for the Tournament of Scions, Arson didn’t recognize anyone near to him in the crowd that reached more than 100 thousand. A mixture of laughing and cheering spread like a wave through the group, only to be mirrored by the million in attendance all around them.
When Arson looked up through the glass ceiling above them all once he’d arrived late to the event, he’d been shocked by what he’d saw there.
The space above the coliseum had been completely rented out. More Habitation Ships than he’d ever seen in his entire life swam in slow organized circles in the air above the stadium. They’d had to start turning certain low ranking clans and Sects down, long having had run out of room. Already far exceeding what was seen as safe to house in the sky above the stadium, Arson knew they were going to be fined by the safety commission for allowing the massive ships to pack into the space like sardines in a can.
“Have you ever heard of this BlackHole Conglomerate,” asked a competitor near to Arson. His ears picking up on the name of his company being chatted about casually all around himself. Arson deciding to listen to the thoughts of those around him, rather than Bobby entertain the guests with his normal endless babble of jokes and unnecessary comments.
You are paying him for that commentary, Arson.
He laughed internally, but then accompanied it with an outward laugh that made another Cultivator look back at him.
“What, did I say something funny? Do you have a different opinion of the host?” Arsons brow rose, and he shook his head slightly before he responded.
“Not really. Don’t know much more than anyone else can find out on the realm-web, I’ve probably heard the same things as everyone else here. Fluke they won the building competition, RaidCorp both works with them by buying their products and is in the middle of a lawsuit against them, their leader is some orphan little kid, that kind of stuff,” said Arson. The young man in front of him nodded.
“I also heard that they’ve made an enemy of Alister Industries within this very realm,” said the unknown young man, Arson scanned, only to be shocked when absolutely no information came up.
Oh yeah, the runic system is going to block all scans during the tournament Arson, you can’t forget that.
“Where did you hear that?” asked Arson. The young man barked a laugh.
“Wouldn’t you like to know, but honestly I’m just interested in the rumor about the special events that are supposedly planned throughout this tournament. There is something being held under wraps in this place,” the young man said with a gesture all around himself.
“Is that right? Well I guess if you can’t share your sources, I’ll just have to take your word for it,” Arson said with a nod of thanks for the information, regardless of being well aware of what he had planned for the event as a surprise, letting the young man go back to his other conversations.
“Okay folks, and now for the rules!”
“Took you long enough,” grumbled Bobby’s co-host in a playful act of annoyance as they continued their banter.
“Rule number one, unlike the prelims, any forms of teamwork will result in an instant disqualification!” Gasps went throughout the entire area. Even Arson was unaware of the rules selected by the Oligarchs of Maelstrom and found this rule incredibly rigid, as momentary alliances in tournaments with high competitor counts was beyond common.
“What kind of rubbish is this? Can you believe it?” the stranger in front of Arson asked with a glance over his shoulder in his direction. Arson shook his head truly surprised.
“Second rule, each day is a round, and to be able to go to the next round you must double your point total, each Cultivator is a point, and when defeated the defeated Cultivators point value is given to the victor of the exchange,” Bobby continued to explain. All the competitors gathered just outside the perimeter of the stage began to look at one another warily, a new light being shined on the competition.
“Third, a rune will be placed on all competitors to determine whether or not deadly blows are sustained during the competition, as simply being knocked unconscious is for this competition not considered a loss, if and when a deadly blow is dealt the receiver of the strike will be teleported from the area and into a safe zone, any tampering done to this rune will also result in disqualification.” The crowd abroad at this point was in an absolute uproar, as this rule alone would allow for extended combat, and give many second, third, or even more chances to come back as underdogs and push onward to later rounds.
“Fourth, each round's time limit is suns-rise to suns-down, any and all conflicts outside this time period will also result in disqualification.” Arson was glad that this rule had been set in place, as it would give him and anyone else with the strong ability to regenerate damage to survive longer. Not that he felt he was at risk, but he still had the worry that his title was going to trigger the very moment he stepped onto any portion of the stage at all.
“Fifth, each competitor is given a single chance to return to the competition after being defeated, if they sit out the day after they are knocked out, and are able to achieve three times the amount of points they’d lost the day after being forced to sit out.” More gasps an explosive cheering occurred at this rules announcement, and Arson felt he was about to go through the most outrageous fortnight he may have ever experienced before in his life up to that point.
“Sixth, after the first day or round is completed the top ten competitors will be known as, The Regal 10, and will be incapable of being knocked from the competition the next round. If their point totals are not eclipsed, this status is kept and so is the safety offered by their position.,” yelled Bobby in excitement as if he too was just hearing the rules for the first time along with everyone he read too.
“Finally the seventh rule, if any one Cultivator is able to achieve 10 thousand points before the end of the competition, a winner will be instantly declared!” Arson’s eyes went wide in shock. No one expected the setup to be this way, even Arson who’d been to more realms than many either competing or visiting as guests to watch the competition had ever seen a setup that would allow complete and utter unexpected situations to arise.
“Well, spark me up, looks like we are in for some absolute nonsense,” Anastasia said excitedly from Arson’s wrist. Arson nodded in the watches direction, wondering if he would even make it through the day.
“It’ll be fine, or it won’t, we won’t know until we actually get into the thick of things,” Arson responded with a growing smile, wishing that Troy was there to watch him compete.
Wish me luck, my love, thought Arson with a mental tug on his connection to Troy, hoping she felt his attention in her direction.
I’m going to need it.
…
Troy stood in the center of the competitors, feeling a tug on her soul that made her smile. She’d yet to lay eyes on her love, but she felt deep down it would happen before long. Thoughts of Arson filling her mind as the rune described during the announcement of the rules fluttered into existence, stamping itself on her neck like a tattoo.
Wish me luck, my love. I’m going to need it.
The competitors around her started to disappear the moment the suns above reached their zenith. Troy waited patiently, until a familiar sensation washed across her body, relocating her in an instant.
In a blink of her own eyes she found herself inside a building. The crowd heard counting down from ten in unison.
Before the count was even halfway done, Troy swore she already heard combat all around herself. So immediately decided to cloak herself in light, making herself invisible to the mortal eye.
The cloak she surrounded herself in had its weaknesses, such as heat sensory abilities, as well as mana sensory abilities, but both were uncommon skills to have for young cultivators. She stifled the thought that Arson would most likely be able to see her regardless, his eyes able to see things that many wished were obvious and easily perceptible as clear as anything held in the light of day to the young man.
The count ended and a roar of cheers so violent occurred that the stadium shook, until the suppression runes triggered, stopping the booming noise from sending vibrations throughout the area.
“Embers, where did you come from,” yelled a voice in alarm outside the structure Troy found herself inside. She made her way to the window and smiled seeing that a small skirmish had broken out near to her slightly elevated position. The building she was inside sat upon a hill, and Troy didn’t know if rushing down from the high ground was the best idea, deciding to create a hard-light clone to exit the building, turning her replica invisible before she directed it to exit the building through a open hole in a nearby wall.
Sparks…
The clone didn’t even manage to get its head completely out of the structure before an arrow pierced through the clone’s head. She looked up, sending a pulse of light out from her body. The wave rippled outward washing across the entirety of the building, wrapping around the structure in a blink, the energy showing Troy a bowman laying prone on the roof above her.
The sensory skill she developed was similar to Arson’s own Closed Eye Dominion in that it showed her her surroundings in a flash of light in a fraction of a blink. Originally the light was entirely visible to anyone near to the pulse, but even that had been reduced to a nearly imperceptible wave of energy that moved so quickly that sometimes even Troy missed the information being given to her core and mind through her mana's movement.
Troy moved underneath the bowman, her steps light as to not bring attention to her position. She didn’t even understand how the bowman had shot her clone, the angle of the shot impossible as far as Troy could fathom. Yet in the next few pulses from her skill she saw the bowman literally curving arrows through the air toward targets with shots that should have been impossible otherwise.
Yeah dude, you’ve gots to go…
Troy bent her legs, crouching in preparation to jump. One arm remained at her side, and the other was drawn backward in an open handed grasp as if she held a ball in her outstretched fingers. Light pooled in her hand like water, overflowing down her arm in a rainbow of colors in a burst of energy, and she jumped.
In the next instant Troy’s hand burst through the roof in an explosion of power and a spray of rubble, her hand wrapping around the neck of the bowman, and she spun mid-air with all of her might. The bowman flung downward like a rock being smashed into the ground by an angry toddler, Troy roaring with the might of the slam.
The bowman’s body vanished in a flash of light, a deadly enough blow being executed that the competitor was yanked from the battlefield in an instant. Troy landed softly, looking around to see if any had noticed her as she watched her point total climb to three in a fraction of breath.
“Hmm, not bad,” Troy said to herself, making another clone to exit the building on her behalf, wiping the dust from her body as the appearance of her upper half was slightly visible due to the dust made by the roofs destruction.
Okay, let’s try this again.”
Troys clone turned invisible, and made its way toward the door this time, Troy wanting to try a different exit. Almost as if the clone was completely visible, a lightning strike came down like an angry god had decided to smite her projection from the face of the realm itself.
Troy blinked. Her eyes wide as her brow rose toward the open hole above her before she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. She looked up, and spoke to her maker in a whisper.
“You are sparkin with me right now, right? Ain’t no way this is normal.”
Troy wanted to keep the extent of her power hidden for as long as possible, but in that moment, her annoyance with her position pushed her to act against her own will.
“Okay then… let’s see how you bloody animals handle this…”
In the next instant a flood of clones spewed from the hilltop in a explosive charge. Troy’s summoned army all yelling while pushing passed one another to escape. It was in that moment she realized just how bad of a starting location she’d received, and her dilemma became completely apparent.
Attacks came from every direction. Thrown spears. Chaining lightning as black as the night sky, and even a turret was unleashed in her direction.
She couldn’t believe her eyes as she snuck out from her position. She’d left a clone at the center of the building with enough energy to continue summoning the distraction force, but was still alarmed by just how intensely she’d been targeted at range from the very start of combat.
She knew without invisibility she’d never been able to exit where she’d been placed without receiving some sort of injury, or maybe even being eliminated outright. The first two clones she’d used had even been invisible and still somehow were targeted, so she’d instead gave her opponents visible targets, and slunk off slowly not knowing what else to do.
Well baby, I hope things are going better for you than they are for me.
…
Arson punched his current opponent over and over even as they fell through the air down the side of a waterfall. The incredibly strong young woman bashing him in the face as he returned blows in kind. They both had deadly grips wrapped around each other's necks, their opposing hands being used like mallets to club one another repeatedly.
Arson realized with a blink they were headed toward a large body of water below, and didn’t want to be stuck underwater being choked and beaten. With a powerful kick at the water they tumbled near to, Arson pushed them well away from the water below and directly above rocky crags below. The young woman’s eyes widening when she’d realized what he’d done.
She let go of her chokehold and frantically begun to punch back with both hands, Arson’s smile growing as he roared in her face, still punching back.
“Too late now, woman, you're not getting away from me now!”
The pair collided into the rocks and Arson groaned as his arm snapped and one of his legs broke with a crunch; the girl he’d just held disappearing in a burst of light.
He lay there for a while, his bones slowly fixing themselves. He finally managed to get to his feet, spitting on the ground where his last opponent had just been.
“Crazy broad…”