Hazzik stretched out his arm and a bow of sunfire qi formed around his clawed hand. He then flew up onto the platform, which put him high above the ground.
"An archer with sunfire qi? Be careful, Jie. He's probably going to try to kill all of us the second the gate opens. Be ready," Pan Tian said.
His allies spread out into a crescent moon shape where none of them would get in the way of each other's attacks. Trumpets sounded while Hazzik's allies prepared themselves. One of them opened her hands and dark red blood qi flowed out onto the floor, forming thick puddles of blood qi.
Four clawed hands rose up out of the puddles, grabbed the stone floor, and then two hulking blood beasts pulled themselves out of the puddles which melted into their bodies. The two monsters walked on all fours in front of their summoner, their skinless muscles rippling with every movement as their large jaws dripped blood qi.
"Those things don't look quite like the blood elementals," Jie said, "more like... demons."
"What? No. Don't be ridiculous. It's just a martial skill. Demon summoning is much more complicated," Pan Tian said.
That only gave Jie even more questions, but she figured now was a bad time to ask.
The summoner then flicked her hands and formed a whip of blood qi in each hand.
"Jie, can you get Xue to handle the armored warrior?" Pan Tian asked.
Xue nodded and shifted on the stairway, so he was on the same side as the warrior.
"It still amazes me how you have such a bond with him... when we finish this hunt, I'd love for you to teach me how to do that," Pan Tian said.
"I'll try," Jie said. Though she hoped Pan Tian would forget about it... she trusted the older girl, but she still wasn't comfortable with the idea of telling anyone about Xue's unique situation.
Or maybe not so unique if the Gsthi Wanderers do the same thing... Jie thought.
"I can't wait," Pan Tian said brightly, "Ithilix, I think you should focus on that summoner."
"If you're sure, but this one is better at fighting a single enemy," Ithilix said.
"I know... but that third one hasn't shown us anything yet and I have martial skills that are better at dealing with a ranged attacker. I have a suspicion that's what she is... though it might be more complicated," Pan Tian said.
"This one understands. Call out a swap if you need it?" Ithilix said.
"Definitely. Remember that keeping them from distracting Jie is the main goal here. If you can take them down that's great, but it's more important to make sure they don't get a chance to do anything to Jie. They're much weaker than she is, but even if they just slow her down a little or take a bit of her energy... well obviously we don't want that," Pan Tian said, "this is going to be a strange group fight, but we have to keep them under control. If you see an opportunity to help each other, take it. Just remember the main goal is to keep them tied up so Jie can win her battle."
The same gaudily dressed bird woman that opened the court hearing stepped forward on a balcony near the elders once more and the crowd settled down.
"Earlier today, the younglings our goddess tasked us with testing strayed from our carefully prepared paths. They forsook the traps, beasts, and treasures we had so painstakingly prepared for them and chose to step foot on this very island," said the bird woman, her voice enhanced with qi so it boomed and echoed throughout the great arena.
"Dramatic much?" Jie muttered.
"You will show respect," hissed their escort.
Jie bit her tongue. This fight would be hard enough without enraging an Elementalist arak beforehand.
"We brought them before our great elders who determined a fate for them that is in line with our goddess's grand will. These treacherous youngling intruders shall be tested in a battle for their very lives! Should they win, they will venture deeper into our dungeon. Awhrk! And should they lose, their heads shall decorate spikes on our borders!" said the bird woman.
The crowd cheered.
Jie cycled lightning step and qi armor while her friends prepared themselves as well.
The bird woman waited a moment for the crowd to settle before continuing. "Hazzik, the son of our very own flock leader is our noble defender against the intruders today! He stands with three priestesses who walk the path of blood, albeit in different ways.
"Each is a genius for their age. They were specially selected to be an even challenge for these intruders with only a single star to make up for their lack of experience fighting together. While the youngling intruders have no doubt trained for countless years to be ruthless instruments of death operating in flawless harmony!
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"Each group has a cultivator of vastly superior strength. Will our noble Hazzik prevail? Or will the youngling barbarians overcome our mighty defenders? May the strongest carry the day!" she roared.
Hazzik drew his bow, forming an arrow out of golden-orange sunfire qi that burned with power. More sunfire qi swirled around the tip of the arrow. He aimed at Jie and her friends and held his bow drawn, his orange eyes hard and narrowed.
The gate rose up into the stone above them and Jie rushed out with her friends right behind her. Hazzik released his sunfire arrow. The instant he did so, it swelled with power as it transformed into a fiery comet of sunfire qi that lit the arena like the sun.
The moment he released the arrow, he drew and fired another then another... and another. His arms were a flickering blur as he unleashed a rapid-fire barrage of sunfire qi arrows. Each as powerful as the first.
Jie gritted her teeth. If she dodged the powerful attacks, they'd surely kill her friends. She immediately cycled and unleashed a full power finger of light attack at the first arrow, shaping it as she had in her fight against the plant monster in the swamp.
Her finger of light attack struck his sunfire arrow dead center in the air between Jie and Hazzik. Dragon lightning qi punched deep into the fiery comet, triggering an explosion before bursting through the other side and arcing to the next... and the next. Jie's focus was absolute as she maintained her connection with her qi, exerting her will over it.
Yet, her cultivation remained unstable from consuming the treasure golem, and though her attacks were more powerful than ever before, they were also more difficult to control. Jie struggled to make the chain lightning arc correctly into the individual arrows as a series of rolling explosions boiled in the air above her.
But, even as she struggled to maintain control over her first attack, she readied a second finger of light.
The explosions painted the arena in an intense blue-orange light as the roar of the detonations whipped the air into a frenzy. Jie's long blue hair fluttered behind her as she snarled her defiance.
The arena trembled, the stone floor vibrating as the shockwaves of their attacks stirred the thick liquid of the blood pool. The tang of ozone and bitter smoke hung heavy in the air.
Jie could no longer see Hazzik behind the thick cloud of smoke and explosions of brightly glowing, conflicting energies between them, but she felt him firing more attacks. Each of which would be enough to kill at least one of her friends.
The priestesses and Jie's friends staggered from the force of the shockwaves rippling through the air but regained their footing. Everyone cycled martial skills or ran into a better position.
The crowd cheered. Their voices boosted by qi above the roar of the explosions.
Jie felt a surge of energy behind the thick cloud of smoke with her spirit sense and sent out a second finger of light attack just like the first to meet another stream of sunfire qi arrows. Although her spirit sense wasn't as highly trained as her friends, there was a big difference between trying to find a creature veiling its aura and sensing the attacks giving off bright, obvious auras.
The arena rumbled with the cacophonous series of explosions as Hazzik fired arrows impossibly fast and Jie desperately hit each one with her chain finger of light attacks. The unbelievable speed of his attacks forced Jie to push her lightning step as hard as she could just to keep up with the relentless bombardment. Worse, Hazzik began alternating his fire between Jie's friends, making it even more difficult to counter and arc between his shots.
On Jie's right, the armored arak glowed with red energy and leaped into the air, whirling through the air with her twin swords as crystal shards sprayed from her in every direction. Xue hurtled past Jie like a ball of lightning, trailing dragon lightning qi in his wake, and leaped at the bird woman.
Dragon lightning claws met qi-empowered swords in a dizzying tumble of red and blue energy. The arak woman gave a screeching, furious cry while Xue roared with crackling power like a thunderstorm and the two tumbled down to the arena floor. Xue raked his claws over her armor while the bird woman tried to stab him with her swords.
On Jie's left, Ithilix rushed toward the summoner priestess and danced around the blood beasts, whirling her double-sided spear in an elegant dance. She slashed the blood beasts as she slipped around their attacks like a butterfly, her deadly poison qi spreading through them like corrupting veins. Their summoner lashed out at Ithilix with her blood whips, but Ithilix vanished in a puff of green smoke, reappearing behind the priestess, and continuing her relentless slashes.
The priestess was forced back and recalled her blood beasts to aid her as Ithilix pressured her with strikes that ruffled the feathers above her throat with the closeness of their passing. A hair away from cutting deep into the priestess and ending their dance.
The third priestess focused on Jie and waved her hand, sending six bolts of swirling blood red energy hurtling toward Jie.
Jie dared not move even to evade as the slight delay would be too much to keep Hazzik's bombardment in check. Yet, if she did not, the strike would slow her down anyway. In either case, at least one of Jie's friends would die.
As the blood bolts were about to strike Jie, they were met by a flurry of arcing white slashes that ripped the bolts into a splatter of droplets that did nothing more than water the stone, forming small pools of blood.
Pan Tian then surged past Jie in a blaze of her bright silvery-white moonlight qi straight toward the arak priestess.
Just as Pan Tian reached the arak priestess and swiped at her with her brightly glowing claws of light, the priestess turned into liquid blood and streamed away from her. The priestess reappeared behind Pan Tian and closer to Jie while leaving a trail of blood on the floor.
Pan Tian whirled on the priestess and chased after her once more while doing her best to avoid the pools of blood qi upon the floor. But the priestess now stood between Jie and Pan Tian, meaning Pan Tian's ranged slashes would strike Jie if she used them and the priestess evaded.
The priestess turned toward Jie and waved her hand as blood qi flowed out of her and into six roiling blood qi bolts that oriented toward Jie. Jie gritted her teeth, readying herself for the strike even as she stayed pinned in place, desperately fending off Hazzik's onslaught of sunfire qi arrows.
"Get away from her!" Pan Tian snarled as she slashed out with arcs of dazzling moonlight qi that moved at a slight angle, converging toward the priestess.
The priestess smirked, turned into blood, and flowed out of the path of Pan Tian's attack as her blood bolts dropped to the floor and splattered harmlessly upon the stone. She reformed a short distance away, her beak twisted into a smug smile as Pan Tian's own slashes arced toward Jie.
But, just before Pan Tian's slashes could connect with Jie, the arcs collided with one another, their perfectly calculated trajectories causing them to detonate beside Jie. The explosion chewed up some of the stone floor and raised a cloud of dust that washed over Jie's feet but that was all.
The priestess's smug smile turned sour, and her eyes widened as Pan Tian charged toward her with another moon step, blazing a trail of moonlight qi behind her.