Although Kel had been determined the winner, he was still in need of as much of the healers’ attention as Lana, though he may have needed more. The announcer declared a short recess during which spectators would be offered refreshments, and Micro accompanied Kel to a room within the arena walls where he discovered Tae and several other contestants resting on mats around a warm fire being tended to by several mundane attendants. Lana was already being treated by Vera, so the woman in red attire saw to Kel’s injuries.

“I think you won, Kel!” Micro congratulated Kel as the woman began to use her healing powers. He watched happily as his many cuts and scrapes began to heal slowly, though Kel’s face was still difficult to read beneath the dried blood.

“I couldn’t have done it…” Kel whispered with a hoarse voice.

“I couldn’t have done it, without your guidance…”

“Does this mean you and Lana are friends now?” Micro asked as he glanced over to Lana. She had already regained consciousness, but she seemed disinterested in joining their conversation.

“My honour was in such a state of disrepair…” Kel sighed.

“It may take more time… another battle…”

“Well, I’m not as good at reading signs as you are it seems.” Micro replied with a frown.

“Where I’m from, red means stop. And you’re mostly red right now.”

“Hah… Oh…” Kel laughed, but he quickly stopped as the pain in his head throbbed.

“It was a good battle, young master.” The woman healing him said with a slight nod.

“Your injuries are superficial. It will take an evening of meditation to recover fully, but you can fight again, should you choose.”

“You’re a better mechanic than I thought.” Micro said with a gasp.

“Are you sure he’s not dying?”

“I’m Kiula, daughter of the heir to the Fire Blood River Sect.” She replied.

“Don’t mistake me for some second rate healer.”

“Blood?!” Micro gasped.

“Indeed.” She mumbled indifferently

“There, you’re ready.”

“Thank you, Kiula.” Kel replied, his voice full of confidence once again. He brought his hands together in front of him and bowed deeply, then stood up and beckoned Micro to follow him back.

“I must know, master.” Kel spoke excitedly.

“After seeing my fight with Lana, what do you think of the potential of the Turtle Art?”

“Its potential?”

“I’m sure I could have used my energy more efficiently during the battle.” He continued with a wide smile.

“I relied too much on my armour and never found the timing to summon a shield. My grandfather would scold me for such a blunder!”

“I’m glad you had fun, but I’m not sure I want to try that…” Micro replied.

“Is everyone that strong?”

“I know we must seem beneath the skills you so often witnessed at home, but it is important that you never take another cultivator lightly.” Kel explained with concern.

“Though your path is your own, it is also the path of a cultivator.”

“My own path… and a cultivator’s path…” Micro wondered aloud.

“I think I see…”

“Now, excuse me, master.” Kel said as he began to run back to the stage.

“Who will you pick to lead the next fight?” Micro called out, but Kel didn’t hear him.

Micro returned to the place where Thea, Feris, Teran, Ki, and Yin still stood. Now that Lana had joined Tae, Gor, Rale, and Tsurum in the rest area, Thea smiled at him as he returned, while Teran and Ki gave him a less enthusiastic greeting. Yin ignored him entirely.

“Are you enjoying the tournament, Micro?” Thea asked with a wink.

“I’m not sure…” Micro replied slowly as he watched Kel take his place on the stage once again.

“It’s my first time seeing something like this.”

“I almost forgot you were from another world.” Thea whispered as she leaned in closer.

“Do you not have tournaments there?”

“The old man listened to baseball on the radio.” Micro answered after thinking for a moment.

“But only the children ever fought…”

“Mysterious indeed…” She replied, sincerely confused by his answer.

“Well then. Let’s see if Kel really has changed since meeting you.”

She turned away from Micro as the announcer finished addressing Kel, and Kel turned to the contestants again to announce his decision.

“I challenge Feris of the Earth River Sect!” He shouted with his head held high. The audience seemed pleased by his decision, judging by their subsequent cheers.

“Is that a good choice?” Micro asked Thea as a short haired girl in dark red robes made her way up to the arena with a bright smile.

“I was worried he would choose Yin, but it seems he hasn’t lost himself to his arrogance.” Thea replied with a content expression.

“Feris is a veteran contender here, and she has a reputation for quick victories. It’s an honourable decision on his part.”

“So complicated…!” Micro scratched his head, to which Thea shrugged. Their attention was then drawn to Feris, who bowed deeply to the announcer before turning to address Kel.

“I’m honoured by your challenge, heir to the Fire Mountain Turtle Sect!” Feris called out playfully.

“I’m ready when you are.”

Micro’s ears began to ring as the noise of the crowd continued once again. He was tempted to cover his ears for a while, but he wanted to hear everything that happened on the stage in front of him. Without any further formalities, Kel and Feris jumped toward each other with a powerful step.

Kel chose to summon a simple shield as he drew closer, his energy obviously still depleted from his previous match. Micro wondered for a moment what sort of attack he was planning to block, but the answer surprised him greatly. Feris began waving her hands gracefully in a circular motion as she jumped through the air, and beneath her the stone platform began to shake. With a loud crack, dirt burst through one of the stones and followed her through the air like a stream, following the movements of her hand.

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CRUNCH

As she flung her hands forward, the stream of earth collided with Kel’s shield with the sound of a landslide that scattered rocks and dust everywhere. Micro stepped back as several rocks were flung straight toward him, and he was both grateful and impressed when Thea reached out and caught two of them with one hand in a single motion.

“What is that?!” Micro shouted at Thea with wide eyes.

“The Earth Art and the River Art are both powerful elemental arts.” Thea replied, watching the fight with excitement in her own eyes.

“The Earth River Sect combines the raw power of earth with the force of a flowing river to produce such attacks, though Feris is only scratching the surface of what such a combination of arts is capable of.”

“She’s not bad, I guess.” Teran, the only other remaining representative of the Earth River Sect still standing, remarked as she watched the fight without a care.

“I’m better.”

Micro had more questions, but he forgot them as the dust cleared and Kel’s glowing shield became visible once more. Micro focused his aura around his eyes to try and see their energy through the chaos of dust, but he was surprised to see the air filled with just as much energy.

“Oh, she’s improved since last year.” Thea commented , turning back to address Teran quickly.

“Controlling the dust in the air like that is something only you and Gor could do before, wasn’t it?”

“If you call that control!” Teran quipped as she rolled her eyes.

“Wait, if I can’t see their energy, that means they can’t either!” Micro suddenly shouted with worry, but Teran only laughed.

“You think an Earth River Sect disciple of any level would be blinded by dust?” Teran laughed.

“If anything, she can see more clearly now than before.”

As Teran chuckled, the dust that swirled around the arena suddenly stopped, as if it had been frozen in the air. Some spectators gasped at the strange display of power, while others smiled knowingly at the spectacle. Among the contestants, Micro was the only one frowning as he looked around at the particles of dirt suspended in the air, but a sudden crash from the centre of the motionless cloud soon rang out, accompanied by a flash of green light.

Another crash, and another flash of light soon followed. Another, then another. Micro could only imagine what was happening inside, and Thea noticed his confusion.

“Feris is using the dust cloud to conceal her movements while attacking.” She explained while continuing to watch intently.

“I wouldn’t have expected Kel to be able to defend himself against an attack like that last year, but it sounds like he’s doing well so far.”

“He’s driving blind?!” Micro gasped as he tried to follow the sounds and lights that travelled through the dust like thunder and lighting across a cloudy sky.

“Feris probably intended to finish the battle quickly though.” Thea continued.

“I don’t imagine she’ll be able to maintain cover much longer.”

Right on queue, the dust suddenly fell from the air to the ground all at once, coating the arena and most of the people in it with a thick film of dirt. Among the coughing and wheezing through the audience were several gasps and cheers and the battle’s participants came into view for the first time since the dust rose.

Kel stood gasping for air with a heavily damaged shield of energy at his side. As the dust settled, it crumbled away. For the first time, Kel reached behind him to take up the physical shield he and his comrades always carried on their back. Though rusty and worn, Micro recalled the strength they held in the hands of a cultivator.

Across from Kel stood Feris, unscathed but completely out of breath. Though no dust had settled on her, she looked exhausted from the concealed fight.

“I’ll admit I’m surprised, Kel…” She said with a tired smile.

“You shouldn’t have been able to see a thing through that dust…”

“Waiting for your attacks must be unnerving to your opponents.” Kel replied, happy to take a moment to catch his breath.

“Waiting is nothing to a master of the Jade Fire Turtle Art.”

“Then I’ll share some insight into the River Art I practice!” Feris announced as she waved her hands around once more before taking an offensive stance.

“Everything in a river’s path is swept away eventually.”

“Everything, you say?” Kel replied calmly as he took a defensive stance.

“Sometimes all at once, and sometimes piece…” Feris explained as she suddenly jumped straight toward Kel.

“... by piece!”

CRACK

Her fist met Kel’s shield with a fierce sound that signified the start of a steady stream of continuous and gracefully thrown punches, each more powerful than the last, while Kel’s shield moved efficiently to block each one. With the energy filled dust cleared away, Micro could finally watch the battle while observing the flow of each contestant’s energy, but he was shocked to see how little each fighter had.

“They’re running on fumes up there!” He shouted as the steady beat of punches against Kel’s quickly moving shield echoed through the stadium. The shockwave of each attack shook the dust that covered the area.

He looked more closely and noticed that while each of their energy outputs seemed very low, they were efficiently channeling it into each attack as it happened. Every time Feris spun around with her hand rushing gracefully through the air, it collected just enough energy to shield it as it impacted Kel’s shield, which Kel filled with just enough energy to deflect it.

As their energy continued to deplete, the attacks only grew faster. Sometimes Kel would be forced back, and other times he would manage to gain some ground. The audience was split into those who cheered for Kel’s advances and those who cheered for each step Feris gained, but their collective celebration of the match only made Micro’s heart beat faster as he watched.

“Hah!” Feris finally managed to launch a stronger attack, shouting as she slammed the back of her fist against the side of Kel’s shield, knocking it to the ground with a thud. Kel’s left arm cracked as the shield was torn away from it, swinging to his side limply.

“Very well!” He shouted as he crouched down slightly and braced himself to receive her next attack.

As she continued to spin with the momentum of the backfist which had disarmed Kel, she wound back to launch an open handed strike that split the air as it traveled toward Kel’s head. But Kel waited patiently for it as its pressure billowed down on him. Micro wondered if he would try to trip his opponent again, or perhaps try to jump to the side to avoid the dangerous attack, but Kel did neither. He reached out with his right hand and met the open hand of Feris with his own, interlocking their fingers and digging his feet into the ground behind him.

The sound of their hands meeting was louder than any sound Micro had heard in the arena before then, and Feris leaned into her attack as Kel’s feet scraped across the platform, carving two deep trails through the stone. Micro watched as Kel pushed all the energy in his body equally into his right hand and feet, but he was being pushed dangerously close to the edge of the arena.

“You… stubborn…” Feris cried out as she pushed with all the strength she had left.

“You fought well.” Kel replied, his voice dry from the dust he’d inhaled.

Still clasping Kel’s hand, Feris fell to one knee as Kel’s heel felt the sharp edge of the stone arena. She punched the ground feebly with her free hand in frustration, then looked up at Kel and smirked.

“The cowardly Kel… taking every attack head on…” She whispered through a short laugh.

“You won’t catch me off guard twice…”

“I’ll be stronger next time as well.” Kel replied, and he released her hand.

“Good…” Feris replied as she closed her eyes and fell backward to the ground with a light thud.

The white noise of the spectators’ celebrations made it difficult to hear the announcer’s words, but Micro sighed with relief when Kel looked back to him and gave him a thumbs up with his bloody right hand. Micro was about to return the gesture, but Kel suddenly fell backward off the stage, landing softly in the arms of Kiula, who simply nodded at the announcer before carrying him back to the recovery room for treatment. Vera soon followed with the unconscious Feris in her arms, and the battle was officially concluded.