– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 218, Season of the Setting Sun, Day 18 –

“Damn it, Apex! What are you doing?!” hissed Matteo and walked in front of Apex.

Apex ignored him and continued fixing her stare at the tower’s martialists spilling out into the training grounds leading up to the entrance.

“Apex!” shouted Matteo. “Don’t make this more difficult than it has to be, just—”

“You’re the last person I want to hear this from,” growled Apex. “Now step aside. They’re nearly here.”

Terry glanced at his cousin. They could both identify the mana signatures she was referring to. There was no question which one belonged to the Martial Tower Master and his elders.

Matteo groaned and stepped aside. They had invited Apex. Well, now she was here. This was her choice. Even if she made an unbelievably stupid choice, it was still hers to make.

“Aparicia, fallen daughter of heretics!” The Martial Tower Master sneered haughtily. The heretic accusation immediately caused an uproar among the martialists, and many of them started hurling insults and taunts Apex’s way.

To Terry’s surprise, Apex didn’t immediately storm towards them. Her glare was silently fixed on the Tower Master.

“You are an exile! Your family and its disgusting heretical legacy are the most shameful stain in this tower’s long history. For you to have the audacity to return here—”

Matteo shouted: “Apex was a direct disciple of the former tower master—”

“Shut the fuck up or I’ll kill you first.” Apex cut him off with a growl.

Terry pulled Matteo back, because from what he could tell, Apex meant what she threatened.

“That thing’s father was no true master of this tower!” barked the Martial Tower Master. “To raise and train it…” He pointed at Apex. “He turned to heresy!”

Both Matteo and Terry felt their own tempers rising at the way the tower master was dehumanizing the woman next to them. They might think Apex crazy, but she was still human.

Even though their own fists started itching, they refrained from interfering again. If even Apex with her paper-thin temper had not chosen to act, she must have her reasons. They couldn’t interfere without understanding those reasons.

“He abandoned what was right! He dishonored our Martial Tower! He put everyone at risk! When his sins caught up with him, he showed the true weakness of his heresy! Amancio died like the worm—”

“YOU’RE NOT WORTHY OF SPEAKING HIS NAME!” Apex roared and finally interrupted the Martial Tower Master’s speech. “My father lived chasing the apex and died a proud martialist. You’re not worthy of licking the ground he walked on! You betrayed his Martial Tower! You poisoned his food and conspired with outsiders! You and yours shirked the honorable challenge because you’re nothing more than pathetic cowards!”

“Strong accusations without the slightest shred of proof! Unless you—”

“I DON’T CARE!” roared Apex. “I’ve come to CRUSH this tower! Stop yapping! Accept the challenge or get the fuck out of my tower!”

“Insolent bastard!” Some of the younger martialists snapped and moved forward.

“I’ve come to CHALLENGE THE MARTIAL TOWER!” barked Apex, which caused the martialists to halt. A lawful challenge. Their fists were itching to teach the Heretic a lesson, but they had no right to preempt a lawful challenge on the tower’s behalf. There were rules and unfortunately, they couldn’t afford to break them in this situation.

They were not alone.

Terry’s eyes moved over the gathered mass of spectators. The other tower masters had arrived, including his aunt Brynn and the delegation from the Crafting Tower.

“Do you dare to accept?!” demanded Apex, with the tower masters as her witness.

The Martial Tower Master snarled and licked his upper teeth. “Why wouldn’t I dare? It will be our pleasure to put you in your place, Heretic!”

“When?!” demanded Apex. “I don’t want to waste more time on scum like you.”

“You dare,” growled the Martial Tower Master.

“It’s a valid question!” interjected Brynn. “Make it official! When will the challenge start?”

The Martial Tower Master scowled. “Our cultivation doesn’t halt for a heretic beast. We—”

“Are nothing but cowards!” hissed Apex.

The Martial Tower Master could sense the growing irritation among his martialists and understood that he couldn’t get away with indefinite answers. He harrumphed. “Tomorrow at sunrise.”

Apex had heard enough. There was only a single arena sufficiently large to host a challenge to crush the tower, and she turned to walk towards it without waiting.

Terry and Matteo followed.

Terry in silence while Matteo was trying to talk to Apex again.

While they left, the inquisitive gaze from the leader of the close-combat school of elementalism followed Matteo and Apex. The man in his sand-colored robes shook his head and rubbed his chin before deciding to head to the arena early.

***

Terry had to give it to his cousin. Matteo was very persistent in trying to reason with Apex and trying to understand her. Terry would have given up after the first few hundred meters of angry scoffs, derisive sneers, and no single utterance resembling a proper word.

When they had arrived at the challenger’s entrance of the vast arena, Terry paused and looked around. He could already see his aunt and uncle, as well as various people from the three other towers.

It’s barely noon. Are they really all going to wait here for a day? Come to think of it…

“Why are we already here?” asked Terry. “Don’t you want to eat and rest properly?”

Apex scoffed and looked around.

“I have food,” probed Terry.

Apex glanced at Terry but shook her head. “They poisoned my father. I won’t eat anything until the challenge.”

Matteo raised an eyebrow since Apex had finally dignified them with a proper answer and jumped on the chance. “Apex, I get that you want to avenge your family. I, of all people, understand. But why put yourself at such a risk? It’s the Martial Tower. You could have killed the traitor in the disciple challenge as well! Why? Why did you have to insist on—?”

“You really don’t. Get. It.” hissed Apex, and she turned to face Matteo. “YOU!” She shook her head. “You don’t even want to be here! I bet you’re already itching to leave this country and never come back!”

“I…” Matteo was confused. It was true, but the way she phrased it like an accusation somehow made him feel guilty.

Terry averted his gaze from the awkward exchange and his eyes involuntarily moved to the delegation from the Elemental Tower where a man in sand-colored robes was frowning.

“You could have crushed the Elemental Tower!” shouted Apex angrily in a tone as if accusing a criminal. “I know you could have! All of their schools combined wouldn’t stand a chance if you challenged them in combat and meant it! But. You. Didn’t! You’re looking at a means to an end and trying to play nice.” She hissed the last word with contempt.

If anything, Matteo was getting more confused, but he quickly came up with a theory. “If this is all just to tell me that I am making things more difficult, then—”

“SHUT UP!” hissed Apex. “You! You don’t get it!” She shook her head and grit her teeth. “How could you?” She glared into Matteo’s eyes and she raised her finger towards his chest. “You could have crushed the Elemental Tower in a heartbeat, but instead you submitted to ridiculous terms for duels. Whatever you have come here for, you’re still trying to prove something.”

Apex shook her head with a snarl. “You have something to prove to them, well I have to prove something to the WHOLE WORLD!” Her breathing became agitated. “You’re trying to prove that you’re NOT a monster. Well, I’m the OPPOSITE! The moment I take this tower…”

She pointed at the Martial Tower in the distance. “The wolves and rats will come! The whole world of traditional martialists will turn their eyes on ME! On the HERETIC!” Her eyes became bloodshot. “I REFUSE to run any longer! This is MY father’s tower. It will be MY tower! I’ll show them HERESY. I’ll show them what MONSTER awaits any that dares to side with the traitors! I’ll prove to them what a MONSTER I can be!”

While Matteo was stunned into silence, Apex turned away and sat down cross-legged on the arena floor. Her eyes closed. She controlled her breathing. It was clear there would be no more talking with her.

Terry noted the school leader in sand-colored robes rubbing his chin, but he couldn’t read the man’s expression. Terry moved his gaze towards Apex. He shrugged and sat down next to her before retrieving a notebook and some items from his storage bracelet.

“What are you doing?” Matteo asked Terry.

“She has a point,” muttered Terry. He didn’t know if Apex had a chance. It had been a while since they had fought together and even though he could feel all the different mana signatures of the martialists in the tower, he had learned that this only gave him a very rough estimate of martialist combat abilities. Apex’s battle instincts were a prime example of something that a mana signature could never reveal.

Terry had seen how the martialists were reacting to Apex’s heretical cultivation. He had experienced the backstabbing and plotting that went on in martialist circles. He knew that Apex’s understanding of the reaction to the return of a heretic to the head of the Martial Tower was correct.

Terry hoped that Apex hadn’t sped up her plans on his behalf. The thought made him feel guilty for asking her, but he wasn’t sorry. He would choose to do so again, because it had been their best option. He hadn’t known that Apex would choose to crush the tower, but that was not a regret he would allow himself.

What was done was done. Terry intended to see this through, but he wasn’t keen on wasting his time. Therefore, he focused on experimenting with the plane drift and unbalanced oscillating aspecting while practicing to compress his mana at the same time.

Matteo rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. His gaze became pensive, and he shook his head. “I guess she does.” He sat down on the other side of Apex. The challenge was hers alone, but they could at least make sure no one would try anything before the challenge starts.

Terry fleetingly moved his eyes from his notebook over the arena. There was a dark line running around the floor. He had read up on the challenges and understood that this line was similar and yet different from the boundaries in the Thanatos Proving Grounds. Martialists had to step into the area to accept or continue the challenge.

Let’s see how this plays out…

Terry puffed his cheeks and returned his attention to his notebook and experiments.

***

The Martial Tower Master entered the arena. He walked until he was clearly visible to everyone in the arena. He kept his eyes on Apex on the other side and shouted: “Those who want to defend the honor of our Martial Tower against the Heretic, step forward!”

As one, the martialists jumped from the spectator ranks or poured in through the other entrances. Every single member of the Martial Tower gathered in the challenge area to crush the heretic woman that had dared to challenge their tower.

Apex cracked her knuckles and didn’t break eye contact with the Martial Tower Master. Her face betrayed no other reaction.

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“Madness…” Matteo shook his head and sighed. He and Terry remained inside the arena, but outside the challenge area. The rules didn’t allow them to interfere in the challenge. Attempting to help Apex while she tried to crush the tower would turn them into criminals, subject to punishment by all the towers.

Terry clenched his fists and focused on his mana perception. It had been a while since Apex and he had fought together against Vicious. He wasn’t sure how strong she was after consolidating her powers. If he wanted to better predict the techniques of Apex and her opponents, he had to focus.

The Martial Tower Master was grinning smugly at the turnout from his tower while there were already insults hurled at the challenger on the other side. He raised a hand. “Quiet. Do not waste your breaths on this deluded lowlife.”

Terry snorted. If the tower master had truly meant that, he could have cut his followers off much earlier.

What a farce.

“Heretic Aparicia, exile and fugitive criminal of our Martial Tower, for the crime of…”

Terry was surprised that Apex just glared at the tower master silently. Is she just going to take these insults? I guess she’s already too focused on the fight ahead to care… He scowled. Do I really have to listen to whatever pretentious little speech that guy has prepared? I have better things to do!

“Get on with it already!” Terry cut off the Martial Tower Master’s monologue with a shout. “The rules don’t state that we have to suffer your obnoxious breath! No one cares about your self-serving drivel! Get to the fight or get the fuck out!”

Matteo sent his cousin an incredulous glance before chuckling and shaking his head.

Terry ignored the barrage of shouts coming his way. All the yapping about insolence, impudence, or other indignant adjectives didn’t matter to him. Most of them clearly showed in their postures that they were just as impatient. His provocation had pushed them over the edge, and even the tower master wouldn’t be able to rein them in completely at this point.

The Tower Master harrumphed but cut himself short. “Let today be the day that we finish erasing the stain that your family has inflicted on our Martial Tower!” On the opposite site of him and his followers, Apex was still glaring at him while cracking her knuckles.

“FIGHT!”

Before the syllable had any chance of reverberating over the area, an explosion of thunderfire drowned out all sounds while Apex was unleashing a sequence of forbidden techniques right from the start. Her azure flames licked with purple. Her dark-golden lightning began glowing crimson.

Before the shocked tower martialists could close their opened mouths, Apex was already charging frenziedly towards the Martial Tower Master.

Cries of a phoenix resonance accompanied the deaths of the unfortunate martialists who had stood in her way before even performing their first circulation of mana.

Not a single person had expected such a beginning.

Even the Martial Tower Master was caught off guard by the intense charge fueled by Apex’s blood and soul. He managed to defend himself against the manifesting resonance of a flood dragon made of ominous lightning, but not without suffering the first major injuries.

“Madness!” exclaimed Matteo in shock. “At this rate, she’s going to kill herself before they can do it! Absolute madness!”

Terry nodded, but couldn’t help but notice how the tower martialists had flinched. “Doesn’t mean it’s irrational.” He could see it in their eyes. No one wanted this as much as Apex did, and she just proved it to all of them before the fight could even start properly.

Apex has demonstrated that she’s willing to kill them without hesitation and that she’d rather die than yield. Let’s see how many of the blustering tower martialists are truly prepared to face her on these terms…

***

The earth of the arena floor had long been colored crimson from the blood of martialists.

Apex had successfully killed the Tower Master, but some of the man’s loyal elders and disciples were still standing. They had avoided engaging Apex and were biding their time while the woman’s forbidden techniques were burning through her life.

Apex’s intense and brutal display of determination was causing the hearts of the tower’s martialists to tremble with trepidation.

Eventually, Terry narrowed his eyes and jumped up from his corner of the arena to shout: “Cowards! You’re all outside the boundaries!” The martialists had been too busy fleeing to notice that they had crossed the dark lines.

“This is none of your business!” hissed one disciple.

“The law is everyone’s business!” retorted Terry.

“Hear hear!” Shouts of agreement rang from the ranks of the three other towers. “Shameful!”

“Hmph.” The disciple stepped back into the fighting area, only for Apex to arrive with a movement technique that unleashed a phoenix whose azure flames flickered with a purple shadow. The haughty man was incinerated in an instant.

Two others attempted to return to the area and block the mad woman. The first died, and the second was beaten beyond the boundaries until no one was left inside the challenging area.

“Cowards!” shouted Terry again.

“It is not cowardice to fight with your brain!” retorted an elder coldly.

“As if someone like you had a brain!” sneered Terry. “You’re only discovering it now that you’re shitting your pants at the idea of facing someone stronger than you!”

“Everyone can use a forbidden technique!”

“Then why don’t you do it, coward?!” demanded Terry.

“That heretical woman is already dead! She just doesn’t know it yet! I don’t even have to lift a finger to kill her.”

“You have to unless you’re willing to yield!” Terry flared his mana.

“He is right!” The former Crafting Tower Master stood up together with Brynn.

“You are breaking our laws,” accused an elven woman in an elegant dress whom Terry assumed to be the Spirit Tower Master.

“Oh, come on!” The thin-lipped leader of the Elemental Summoning School protested. “The Heretic has been brought by the Demon of Calamity. Can’t we—?”

“We will not abandon the laws.” The leader of the close-combat elementalists cut his fellow school leader off. “A challenge has to be followed as issued. The Martial Tower has always followed those terms. I won’t stand for them to put the rules aside for their own convenience. It is our job to keep each other in line and this is definitely out of line!”

“Step back into the designated challenge area or you will have yielded the challenge,” declared the Spirit Tower Master solemnly. It was clear to all that the woman was well respected – and feared – among the different towers.

The moment the haughty elder so much as put a toe into the area, Apex was on him like a juggernaut champion straight from the hellspawn hives. It didn’t take long for the elder to flee outside the area again.

“You’re out!” barked the Spirit Tower Master. “As is everyone that isn’t within the boundaries in three seconds or dares to step out again.”

“Hmph.” The elder glared at the Spirit Tower Master, but didn’t dare retort.

The martialists glowered with dread at the frenzied Heretic who was waiting for them inside the challenge area, and the countdown ended with no one daring to make a move.

“The challenge is won!” declared the Spirit Tower Master, and an uproar exploded among the spectator ranks and from the sour-faced martialists.

“The Martial Tower has a new master,” announced the Spirit Tower Master and pointed at Apex. “Congratulations!”

Apex leaped backwards to the gate she had entered from. Her eyes moved over the martialists. She glanced at Terry on her right and to Matteo on her left. She heaved a wheezing breath.

When Apex canceled her forbidden techniques, she immediately collapsed.

An unsatisfied elder used the chance to immediately unleash a movement technique and aim for Apex’s life while she was weakened from the backlash. His tiger’s claw resonance collided with an immovable shield of reshaped metal from a dimensional pocket hidden in a densely inscribed bracer. A divine hammer slammed into the elder’s face and sent his teeth flying.

Terry left it at that, because he could already sense that more wasn’t needed from him despite the wave of martialists who were unwilling to accept their loss and dashing towards the Heretic.

The heavens flashed and with a slash of a glowing katana, a purple lightning dragon roared forth to tear through the shocked martialists. While the dragon soul purged all life from the offending elder, an army of human-shaped elementals jumped forward to surround and threaten all the martialists.

Matteo stepped forward with Soul Fury in his hand and his elementals at his command. The earth trembled under his step. Lightning cracked around his arms. Fire accompanied his breaths even while the surrounding air seemed to freeze in a cold haze.

In a single moment, the rebellious martialists from the Martial Tower were outmatched and outnumbered.

For a moment, the whole arena was forced into stunned silence.

Terry whistled lowly. His cousin sure hadn’t been idle throughout the last few years. He couldn’t help but think that Apex had been right. If Matteo had chosen to crush the Elemental Tower, then it would have already been his.

Terry saw the elementalists gasp with wide eyes. Most of them hadn’t truly grasped the power at Matteo’s fingertips.

Among the many worried glances, Terry believed he could make out some filled with admiration from the summoners, as well as a few that looked very much conflicted. He took particular note of the man in sand-colored robes who appeared to be deep in thoughts.

“Get out of the way!” One incensed martialist broke the silence.

“This has nothing to do with you!”

“I won’t be subject to a heretic!”

“I refuse!”

“Heretic!”

“‘Heretic’?!” Apex pushed herself up shakily. “Damn right, I AM!” She wiped away the blood running from her eyes. “I’M CHASING THE APEX!” She roared even though her slightest breath was like sandpaper moving through her throat.

“We’re martialists!” Apex snarled at her opponents. “To cultivate is to go against the heavens! CULTIVATION MEANS HERESY!”

“Don’t compare us to yourself, you—”

“What?!” Apex broke out in painful laughter. “You?! Like me?! You pathetic worms are nothing like me!” She glared at them with contempt. “My father achieved something that no one thought possible. My father has remolded an ancient technique according to his will. Created something truly new!

“I’ve pushed that technique with no guide to follow.” Apex spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor. “Because this is what is required to chase the apex. You?! Bah!

“Everyone cultivates the same techniques, circulates the same mana in the same patterns. Cautiously following the safe paths that others have laid out for you.” Apex sneered. “Adding a few tweaks around the edges and calling yourself young geniuses.” She spat blood on the floor again. “That’s not the way to reach the apex. That’s the path of pussies!”

Apex laughed while blood was trickling down the edges of her mouth. “Progress isn’t about being the best at following the rules. It’s about pushing the boundaries and breaking those that ought not to be followed. Heretic?” Despite her horrible state, Apex stood up straight and full of pride. “Damn right I am, because that’s what it means to aim for the apex!

“My father understood that. I understand that.” Apex glared at the martialists in defiance. “If you’re too stupid or too cowardly to understand that, then get the fuck out of MY TOWER! We don’t need pathetic pussies like you! Find yourselves another sect that fits your lowly ambitions! Our Martial Tower is for CHASING THE APEX!”

Being berated by a bloody woman that looked close to death while refusing to give so much as an inch inspired various changes among the martialists.

Some still looked ready to murder her in her sleep, but were cowed by the army of elementals.

Some were wearing sour faces as if they had swallowed flies together with her insults.

Others though?

Others were straightening their backs, and their eyes were blazing with ignited ambition.

On this day, the Martial Tower had gained a new tower master. As significant as this event was, it wasn’t unprecedented in the Lands’ history.

Not yet.

***

The man in sand-colored robes walked to open the door to the person he already knew was about to knock. “I had a feeling you would come to visit after your acquaintance has settled down.” He rubbed his chin. “I guess I should call her the Martial Tower Master now.”

Matteo was in no mood to pretend there was a light chat to be had. He hated to admit it, but Apex had reminded him of something important.

Matteo wasn’t sure anymore if it was right to abdicate a position as tower master after getting the alliance up and running, but he was sure of one thing: He couldn’t afford to play games to not be hated.

Not while there was a war waiting on the other side of the Union.

Not while people were threatened by the Lich Kingdoms’ hordes, and while people like Ying’s daughter needed help.

Matteo looked firmly at the school leader in sand-colored robes. “When can we have the duel?”

The school leader looked at Matteo without replying. This was the boy whom his brother had high hopes for. The boy betrayed by one of their instructors.

This was the demon that had nearly flattened their capital against which his brother, the previous Elemental Tower Master, had sacrificed his life.

This was also the elementalist that had nearly beaten the ranged ritual specialist through sheer control over the elements. The elementalist that had summoned an army of elementals in a single breath.

This was the man that had challenged their country for leadership in the hopes of rallying a new alliance against the encroaching Lich Kingdoms. A goal that might finally put the union back in the Free Factions Union. A man trusted by the new Crafting Tower Master and, despite their apparent differences, by the new Martial Tower Master.

The school leader couldn’t help but chuckle and wonder how he had ever gotten himself into a position where he was supposed to decide on a duel date with a man like this. “Tell me, Matteo, why have you not chosen to crush our tower? I’ve heard the talking down you received from the Martial Tower Master.”

Before Matteo could answer, however, the man held up his hand to stop him. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. Come with me.”

“Where to?” asked Matteo with suspicion.

“The smallest arena we can find,” said the school leader. “We don’t have to make a public spectacle out of everything. We’re not martialists. This isn’t truly about seeing who is stronger. Not for me. I already know you are, but I don’t know enough yet.”

Matteo hesitated. He had feared the man would be hostile or try to delay the duel, but this was unexpected. He considered the possibility that this was a trap, but dismissed it. He didn’t think he had a lot to fear.

Matteo knew that as long as Terry was still in the Lands’ capital, he was never truly alone since his cousin’s mana touch was bound to follow him wherever he went.

Matteo followed behind the last elementalist school leader he had to challenge.

“No items,” said the close-combat elementalist while walking. “No Soul Fury. No heartseeker. No mind-shielding artifacts. No tricks. There is a single thing that I still have to know…” He glanced back to look Matteo in the eyes. “I have to know if you are in control.”

His tone quieted while he observed Matteo’s expression. “And if you truly want to be.”

His voice raised again. “I’ll push you as far as I need to get my answer. If you end up killing me, I won’t hold a grudge, but the others might question your right to issue the challenge again.” He returned his gaze back to the front without waiting for Matteo to acknowledge his terms.

In a small, secluded arena, a second challenge was fought that day. A duel untouched by spectators’ eyes and only felt by the mana of a single person, who never held a doubt about the outcome.

Before the sun had set, a second tower announced a change in leadership. On this day, the Elemental Tower had gained a new tower master as well.

Three towers in as many weeks.

Two towers in a single day.

Only the Spirit Tower remained unfazed by the changing winds blowing over the Lands of the Four Towers and with three towers having changed hands, no neighboring country could afford to ignore inquiring about the new tower masters, about their backgrounds, and their motives.

***