Book 2. The Grand Gathering. Chapter 4. Invitation.

The tension in the air was so heavy that even the loud, clamorous audience began to quiet down in anticipation for the final clash between the two youths. During the last few seconds, everyone became so silent that even the noises from the streets outside the arena could be heard.

No one dared to do as much as blink in fear of missing the all-out clash between the two young practitioners. They all watched how the icy mist and the golden fire converged around Laien’s and Anatis’s spears; they held their breath when the two assumed thrusting stances with their weapons held to the side, at the chest level.

Then, at the very least, the two youths kicked at the ground and rushed at each other, each of them leaving burning marks or spots covered by frost with each step.

Taught by experience, Anatis didn’t try to throw a normal thrust at Laien, but instead took his left hand off the shaft and stepping in with his left leg, twisted his torso and performed a long-reach, one-handed thrust.

Laien went through the exact same motions and threw a blow aimed at Anatis’s turned side, the two of them basically mirroring each other’s attacks in a manner which begged for a fatal accident.

With how destructive their techniques were, they couldn’t afford to do something as stupid as a simultaneous exchange; something like that would almost certainly result in both of them dying on the spot. However, both Laien and Anatis had chosen to wait for the last possible split second before withdrawing a portion of strength from their thrusts in order to dodge as to increase their own chances of emerging with an upper hand from this exchange.

The two thrusts drew blood as the spears sliced along Laien’s and Anatis’s chests, one of the blows resulting in a large portion of skin and muscles being burned black while the other in an equally harmful area of frozen flesh.

Gritting their teeth and bearing the pain, Laien and Anatis both took one more step as they were passing each other and using their right feet as a block, slid around half a meter before stopping, turning around and once again jumping at each other.

When the spectators saw what was happening and how badly the two were injured, they raised an united gasp of surprise and astonishment. Yet, Laien and Anatis didn’t even hear them. Their left hands were pretty much disabled, but they weren’t about to give up just because of that.

The two of them poured even more Qi and spiritual energy into their spears, then swung them as hard and fast as they could. Laien chose to strike from higher up, while Anatis attacked from a downward, sweeping angle.

As their spears moved through the air, they were respectively followed by a mass of white, icy mist smashing from above and a mass of golden flames surging from below.

When the two weapons clashed with each other, the two powerful energies continued to collapse further inside in a tempest created by the sweeping motion of the attacks; the fire and ice twisted around each other and quickly reached the critical point.

The next split second, the delicate balance of fire and ice was broken and what followed was a huge explosion which raised a massive cloud of dust. The indistinct figures were sent flying into opposite directions and after flying for over one hundred meters, they tumbled through the ground.

“Big brother!”

“Anatis!”

The frightened shouts of Siana and Nila were completely lost in the overwhelming uproar of the nearly ten thousand people gathered in the audience. The speed and power behind those two lightning-quick clashes had been enough to utterly amaze them; it would be terrible of these two young geniuses ended up dying today.

The two girls were about to jump down into the arena when they noticed the two figures standing up amidst the slowly dispersing cloud of dust. At first, they felt relieved… however, when they saw the state Laien and Anatis were in, they both cried out in shock.

His breathing short an uneven, Laien was keeping himself standing and conscious with the last bits of his willpower, trying his best not to faint from the pain.

Not much was left of his clothes, while many small streams of blood flowed down from the scorched wound on his chest. The left side of his body was burned all over from the feet all the way to the shoulders, with ugly red marks of blistering skin present on his face. His black hair had been partially burned, adding up to the pitiable state he was in.

Truly, had he used any less spiritual energy to defend himself, he would have been turned into a large piece of coal by Anatis’s golden flames.

As for Anatis, he wasn’t any better. The wound on his chest wasn’t bleeding, but the frost had managed to injure his lungs, making every breath a struggle. The second clash ended up adding even more ice, freezing a good portion of his body solid with the left side of his head, left shoulder and the left side of his torso turning into a dangerous, deep shade of purple.

Were it not for the fire element Qi in his body, the frost might have reached his brain and heart and thus, killed him instantly.

And yet, despite suffering such hideous injuries both Laien and Anatis were smiling. Neither of them had expected to actually make a breakthrough in their newly gained Aspects at the exact moment of the second clash. They had both established first halves of their respective foundations and ended up increasing the power of their attacks by nearly a half. As a result, they ended up in such miserable states.

Increase in power by fifty percent might not have seemed as much to someone ill-versed in the matters of cultivation, but in reality, it represented an enormous difference.

For example, when one was weak it would be easy for him to train and get twice as strong. However, what if that person was already incredibly powerful? Would it be easy to become twice as strong, or even ‘only’ stronger by a half? Of course, it wouldn’t!

“Dear Heavens, they are wounded so badly!”

“Someone go find a healer! There must be some who came for the Grand Gathering!”

The spectators were about to go crazy from anxiousness, but then they saw something that made them doubt their own eyes.

Laien’s body was engulfed by a layer of crystal clear water, while Anatis roused a large amount of golden flamed which had a strangely soothing feeling to them. The two of them employed their respective abilities, in Laien’s case being a high-level rejuvenation spell while in Anatis’s being the third primary art of the Twin Phoenix School, the Flames of Rebirth.

In a matter of seconds, the nearly lethal injuries on the bodies of the two became less and less serious, then began shrinking and finally disappeared completely. In about five breaths of time, the two of them had gotten rid of all their wounds… along with all their remaining Qi and spiritual energy.

Laien even went ahead and regrew the part of the hair which had been burned by Anatis’s flames; he wouldn’t normally be using magic to do such things, but he wasn’t fond of the idea of needing to cut his hair short.

“Well, that was painful,” Laien said with a helpless laugh, walking towards Anatis at a slow, but steady pace.

“Good thing we both have self-healing abilities or it really would have ended up ugly,” Anatis pointed out, glancing at Laien helplessly.

Of course were it not for them knowing they can recover from almost any injury on their own, they would have never dared to go this far in a mere duel. It would have at least required a serious grudge for them to throw all caution to the wind and risk permanent injuries or death.

It took the two of them surprisingly long to walk up to the middle of the arena, just around the spot where the ground had been caved in by the explosion.

During these twenty or so seconds, the audience had calmed down and began to steadily transit into a state of excitement and awe. However, it was only when Laien and Anatis shook hands with each other when they erupted with a wave of deafening cheers.

The animosity between the Red Dragon School and the Twin Phoenix School was widely known, so the scene of two young geniuses from each of the schools acknowledging each other after a duel was that much more amazing for those people to witness.

“It was a good fight,” Nix nodded admittedly and began clasping with everyone, a slight smile present on his face.

This behavior of his guards came as nothing but a shock to Sin. Nix had actually acknowledged someone’s abilities to the point of praising them and clasping his hands? Were the heaven and earth going to turn upside down tomorrow or what?

“Thank god they are fine,” Nila said with a sigh of relief and exchanged a glance with Siana. The two of them seemed to be thinking about the same thing; it was all good and nice that Laien and Anatis were okay, but both of them have had their clothes burned or shattered into pieces. They were standing there half-naked, if not worse. Couldn’t they already take notice of this embarrassing fact…?

Unexpectedly, the overall merry mood affected even the previously antagonistic groups of disciples from the two Great Martial Schools. The display of friendship by Laien and Anatis after the epic fight the two of them had fought made them reconsider their previous attitude, some of them even trying to exchange a few positive words with those from the other camp. There were still some bad feelings due to the death of that inner disciple of the Red Dragon School, but nothing as bad as before.

There were two people, however, who weren’t in the mood to celebrate. The two young men in their early twenties, the two Core Disciples of the Twin Phoenix School were truly shaken by this development. For Anatis to have made friends with Rudford’s personal disciple and to have made a big name for himself due to this duel… forget about being rewarded for what they have done, they would be punished instead!

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“We need to do something about it,” the older of the two said in a low voice. Until this duel happened, they thought it would still take Anatis at least a year to become considerably stronger than them… but now, they doubted their own ability to contain him. Not when he wouldn’t be going berserk anymore and not when due to some reasons they couldn’t comprehend, his power had increased by a whole level.

“We should teach those two a lesson while we still can,” the younger of them suggested strongly, his thoughts in enough of a chaos to make him consider an unreasonable option like this one.

“I agree, let’s do it,” the older one nodded. The two of them confirmed their decision by exchanging a quick glance, then stepped onto the inner wall and launched themselves straight towards Laien and Anatis.

This sudden action of the two Core Disciples of the Twin Phoenix School startled everyone. No one knew what exactly did those two intend to do, but with the reputation the Twin Phoenix School had, the various spectators expected something really bad to happen.

Seeing what those two Core Disciples were doing, Sin’s expression turned furious. He frowned, giving Nix a furious look. Did he not know what to do in this situation? Was it really necessary to spell it out for him…? There was no time for that!

“Injar!” Sin growled angrily and only then, ‘Nix’ sighed a little and rushed forward in a surge of majestic, azure flames.

It took time shorter than needed to blink for Injar to catch up to the two Core Disciples partway through the air. Paying these two insignificant insects little attention, Injar flew past the two and allowed the surging azure flames which surrounded his body to turn them into ashes in but an instant before landing lightly in front of Laien and Anatis.

To the onlookers, the whole thing had simply looked as if a flash of azure light appeared out of nowhere and moved past the two Core Disciples who then disappeared, nowhere to be seen.

As for Injar himself, it seemed to everyone as if he had mysteriously appeared in the center of the arena. His speed had been simply too great for anyone present to follow him with his eyes, even for the likes of Laien, Anatis and Tin’Long.

“What a powerful aura,” Injar raised his eyebrows, giving Laien an intrigued look. “I wonder who taught you how to use it; I’m pretty sure the Red Dragon School is full of blockheads in this regard,” he pointed out, confusing Laien by his positive, half-joking attitude.

He could have suppressed his Qi and hid it from Laien given the difference in their strength… but he saw no reason to, so he allowed Laien to ‘feel him out’.

“The seventh Realm of Heroes,” Laien laughed weakly and glanced at Anatis. How could the two of them have missed two Core Disciples charging at them with apparent killing intent? They might have missed what Injar did, but how could they fail to understand what his actions were?

“Thank you for saving us, senior,” Laien bowed slightly and lowered his head. After his duel with Anatis, he had been left with no spiritual energy whatsoever. Even his natural reservoir of Qi had been nearly exhausted despite him not using it actively. Facing two disciples at the ninth mortal realm would be impossible for him; the same went for Anatis.

“Thank you, senior,” Anatis picked up, shaking off the shock of learning how strong the crimson-haired, crimson-eyed man that was standing before them was and for the time being, leaving the question about the ‘aura’ Injar mentioned for later.

“Spare me the formalities, I’ve already been babysitting one brat for the last thirteen years. My real name is Injar, so just call me by it,” Injar said his a hint of resignation in his voice. He was a person who would act in a somewhat cold, formal way towards people he didn’t care about, but he would tend to warm up to those he recognized as worthy of it.

“Is it my imagination, or has your attitude towards us changed?’ Laien asked cheekily, swiftly abandoning the formal tone. Unlike Anatis, he had a prior experience in being casual with a Great Master so the switch came to him rather naturally.

“Maybe ask me that when you aren’t showing the whole world what you shouldn’t,” Injar mentioned with a chuckle and produced two sets of simple, azure robes and handed them to the two somewhat embarrassed youths, who only now realized they had been standing there half-naked. “I need to commend you for not using energy recovering pills, though. They are convenient, but they tend to waste all the progress one has achieved during the battle,” he added randomly, then sighed slightly and turned to look at the audience which still was in the state of serious confusion.

“Anyone stupid enough to attack these two,” he began saying sternly as he stepped a few meters away from Laien and Anatis. “Be it a Core Disciple of a Great Martial School, an Elder or even a Grand Master from one of the three Great Families, shall be killed on the spot!” he roared and released a circular surge of azure flames from his body; the aura of power along with the anger reverberating in his voice sending chills down the spines of each and every person in the arena.

“Such are the orders of the thirteenth Prince, Sinra!” he concluded, throwing the crowd into yet another uproar.

Now that he had openly released his Qi, all those people had been able to sense that he was an ultimate expert. What’s more, the azure flames themselves were a proof that he was a practitioner affiliated with the Royal Family, which in turn was but a branch of the Heavenly Flame School!

The Sarkcente Kingdom had three major cities ruled by the three Great Families. It also had there Great Martial Schools which established their own sects across the country. However, those six powerful organizations all bowed down before the Royal Family and the supreme Martial School which stood behind it!

The only reason the Heavenly Flame School was rarely mentioned was because of its choice to stay low-key and allow all the entities in the country to govern themselves on their own. Apart from the times of election of the next King or Queen, the various practitioners of the Heavenly Flame School rarely involved themselves with anyone outside their small group of friends and acquaintances. It only made sense they wouldn’t be mentioned in the daily, day-to-day conversations.

“Prince Sinra?” Laien said with a laugh, looking at the crimson-haired youth who was sitting on top of the inner wall and appeared to be smiling contentedly. He had expected ‘Sin’ to be a big shot, but he didn’t quite think this new friend of his would prove to be one of the Royal Children of their Kingdom.

“Since when are we both under his protection?” Anatis asked quietly, somewhat discontent with this declaration made by Injar. He had his own circumstances and getting closely involved with a Prince would be... troublesome to say the least.

“You can talk it out with Sinra if you want,” Injar said neutrally, wondering if Anatis simply didn’t like an arbitrary conclusion pushed onto him or if his reaction had something to do with his situation within the Twin Phoenix School.

“Yeah, it would be good if we could clear a few things up,” Anatis said with a slight, resigned smirk. He was glad to have met and fought Laien, but he hadn’t quite yet worked out what to think about Injar and this Prince behind him.

“Mm, stand still,” Injar said and converged a thin disc of azure flames below his own and the two youths’ feet, which he then raised up into the air and used to fly over to the spot where Sinra was.

The ten thousand people watched enviously how the two youths were being flown over back to the spectator's seats. Some martial arts and certain types of magic enabled practitioners to use their energy for an improvised flight, but it usually required one to reach the martial master or spiritual master level to acquire enough control over own energy to pull something like this off.

“Yo,” Sinra greeted the two with a smile and exchanged a glance with Laien. “So, you are a disciple of Rudford’s, huh?” he asked rhetorically, wearing a merry smile on his face. “And that isn’t your girlfriend, but your younger sister,” he added with a little laugh as Laien jumped down from the disc of flames.

“And you are a Prince,” Laien stated, then released an ‘uh’ sound as Siana tackled him from the side and hugged him tightly.

“What is it, were you so worried?” Laien asked with a carefree chuckle and returned the hug with his free hand, gently sliding his fingers along Siana’s long, silky hair.

“Idiot,” Siana said poutingly, a bit angry that her big brother was willing to go so far to train… but at the same time happy for him to have made further gains.

“Are you fine?” Nila asked Anatis in a timid manner, holding her hands together behind her back and acting rather strangely.

“Tired but fine,” Anatis replied, noticing that Nila was sneaking glances in the direction of Laien and his… little sister, if he heard right?

Seeing the slight, meaningful smile on Anatis’s face, Nila realized that she was busted. She couldn’t help but blush, but due to the mix of embarrassment and anger she overcame her feelings of shame and stepped forward, then threw her hands over Anatis’s neck and hugged him with all her strength.

“I’m seriously glad you are okay,” she said quietly, aware more than she would have wanted in this situation of how closely she was glued to Anatis.

Somewhat startled, Anatis hesitatingly put his hands over Nila’s back and waist, all the while blushing strongly. It wasn’t that he was so incredibly shy or that he hadn’t ever hugged or kissed Nila; the two of them had simply never expressed their feelings in front of other people, much less hugged when the attention of ten thousand men and women were focused on them.

“Ugh,” Sinra groaned and laughed helplessly. “Maybe I should find myself a girlfriend, too,” he said with a sigh, somewhat jealous of Laien and Anatis.

“Maybe you should,” Siana said with a smile and glanced at Sinra, making him raise an eyebrow.

“So, I suggest we move elsewhere and have a proper chat,” Sinra brought up, not trying to pursue his previous line of thought. “What do you say?” he asked, his gaze moving from Laien and Siana to Anatis and Nila.

“A proper chat?” Laien repeated with a smirk. “So, you have some offer for us or what? After all, we are ‘under your protection’, right?” he said with a laugh, already wondering what kind of hopefully amusing thing would this whole event lead to.

“I guess I do,” Sinra admitted without beating and scratched the back of his head. “Will you listen?” he asked, mainly concerned with Anatis’s response as he was pretty sure Laien would go along and listen to him.

“Only if I can keep calling you ‘Sin’,” Laien said with a cheeky smile. He liked how the shortened version of Sinra’s name sounded and found changing to the full version to be unnecessarily bothersome.

“Not a problem,” Sinra said with a happy smile; he had already come to like Laien a lot, so he was in fact quite happy that things between them didn’t turn awkward or formal after both of them openly revealed their identities.

“We can talk, but I don’t promise to agree to anything,” Anatis stated clearly, having a clear guess as to what Sinra intended to offer and request of them. Regrettably, if he was guessing right then it would be impossible for him to agree. Nevertheless, he would listen to what Sinra had to say first. Establishing a friendly relationship with one of the Royal Children would surely be a good thing considering what he intended to do in the future.

“Great, so let me take you to the Royal Palace, or rather to what of the Royal Palace has been brought here,” Sinra said with a chuckle, behaving more merrily than usual due to in how good of a mood he was at the moment.

Before leaving, Laien glanced at Tin’Long briefly. In response, Tin’Long raised his hands up and shook his head, gesturing that he had no intention of tagging along. He was of the noble family, but dealing with the Royals wasn’t something he was suited to or wanted to do.

“You don’t intend to be pushing your way through all these people, do you?” Injar brought up and without waiting for anyone’s response, lifted himself and the five youths up into the air and flew over to the Royal Palace of the Two Weeks City.

“A Prince, they went with a Prince,” the disciples of both schools began chatting amongst each other, excited to have one of them make a real Prince of their Kingdom an acquaintance.

Sadly for the two perished Core Disciples, no one fretted over their deaths. Those inner and outer disciples of their school had never been exactly fond of them, while the side of the Red Dragon School was happy to see them gone after what they attempted to do.

Even the various spectators couldn’t be bothered to talk about the deaths of those two and instead, were discussing the matter of a Prince getting involved with the disciples of the Great Martial Schools. Usually, martial schools and their disciples wouldn’t get involved in politics, so to those who managed to hear the conversation between the youths quickly began speculating and making assumptions.

Some thought that the young Prince was simply looking to make friends with someone who could qualify to be his equal, others were leaning towards the theory that he was looking for influential allies.

Yet, those who were quick-witted, those who were capable of thinking outside the box had made another guess. They were pretty sure the Prince needed those two powerful youngsters for that certain event which always took place during each Grand Gathering, though it would be the first time someone from the three Great Martial Schools would be made to participate.

Technically, it wouldn’t be against the rules… but the idea wouldn’t be warmly welcomed by the remaining Royal Children.