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A woman clad in dark silken clothing and protected by equally dark leather armor had one of her knees on the snowy ground as she placed her hand inside a paw print to measure it. The print was much larger than her glove-covered hand, but it was impossible to read any reaction from her, as her head was covered by the hood of her cloak and her face was further covered by a scarf that protected her against the cold wind. She had a large bow made of dark wood covered in silver decorations on her back, and everything about her screamed “experienced tracker”.
Which was probably why the other person was relying on her skills. "So, what can you tell from the tracks?" In stark contrast to the woman, the man asking the question was wearing mostly white, though his clothing was made of similar high-quality silk. He was also not as well equipped against the cold weather. He had a sleeveless jacket on that was open at the front, revealing well-developed muscles underneath, and his only concession to the frigid weather was a relatively thick cloak similar to the one the woman wore. The cheeks covered in an intricate tattoo twitched as more snow slipped down his neck, causing a shiver to run through his body.
"I'm pretty sure these tracks belong to who- or whatever is responsible for this weather. They passed here a few hours ago, and the cold and ice are heaviest wherever these tracks pass. The beast is quite large and obviously dangerous." The woman replied with a husky and low voice. It was impossible to tell if that was natural or her attempt at masking her voice. She pointed towards the direction the tracks led. "Judging by the speed the beast is traveling, I think we could catch up to them before nightfall. Or whatever passes as nightfall in this place.”
"Do you think we're dealing with a magical beast, a person transformed into one, or something indigenous to this place?" The man inquired while pulling his hood to cover his gunmetal-grey hair in an attempt to stave off the weather.
“Impossible to say. I did not notice any magical beasts among the participants as we gathered for the start of the event, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t present in disguise.” The woman shook her head in reply while getting up and taking a few steps towards the direction the tracks led. She stopped as she noticed her ally wasn’t following.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to go hunting for this beast? We’re here to deal with our competitors. Heck, we’ll eventually have to fight each other to settle this. We can leave this beast to the others.” He pointed out. “If we even need to deal with it at all. It might be just something the Sentinels added in to make this more interesting. Besides, we can just go outside the affected area.”
"You're not paying enough attention." The woman's voice made it clear she was disappointed in the man's perception. "Even you should've noticed by now, but the weather is only growing worse. The temperature started off as mildly inconvenient, but it has now developed into an actual threat, especially when combined with our lack of gear and the lack of ambient power. We've been here for hours, and we've only run into each other and three others we had to fight. Considering the number of participants and the size of this place, we might have to be here for days. And if the weather keeps growing worse…"
“Eventually we’ll succumb just to the weather.” The man finished for her.
“Exactly. Secondly, you definitely didn’t notice this, but the area affected by the weather is growing. It was growing back towards where we started, and in case you missed it, that's the opposite direction from where this beast is traveling. Which means the area is growing faster than the beast is moving. I doubt our starting position will be safe from the weather anymore. We might not even be able to outrun the growth of the area affected if the beast decides to change direction." The woman explained in a voice that sounded like someone teaching a child.
“No need to get patronizing.” The man lifted his hands in a defensive gesture. “I doubt whatever is causing this can keep it up forever though. Especially in this power-starved environment.”
"That's just it. I don't think the beast needs to expend any power to keep this up. I think this is a natural ability it possesses. I'm almost certain we're chasing a Vanagandr." The woman shot that idea down immediately.
“One of the beasts of the apocalypse? Why would one of them be here? I thought those only existed in the Divine Planes.” The man clearly doubted her word.
“It’s not a fully grown one, that’s for sure. I think this is either an evolved beast, a pup left behind by one of the beasts before they Ascended and who has inherited a very pure bloodline, or an Aura user with the same bloodline.” The woman posited.
“So, you’re saying it might be like us?” The man suddenly got a lot more serious, his early laid-back demeanor gone.
“A distinct possibility, though only one of a handful. In either case, we should not take this lightly. Despite our knowledge and power, we are not invincible, and can be brought down by even those that are not like us.” The woman was clearly a more careful and calm person than the man.
“Well, if we have to go out of our way to challenge this beast, then we better do so quickly. Unlike you, I don’t get my kicks from hunting ‘worthy opponents’, nor do I want to spend more time than necessary in this weather.” The man finally started moving and walked past the spot where the woman was standing.
"Coward." The woman muttered quietly. She knew the man could step up to a fight but preferred not to challenge himself with increasingly difficult enemies to grow stronger. Not like she did. Not like her people had done for eons. Funny how she kept reincarnating into races like that every time. Perhaps that was the multiverse telling her she was on the correct path.
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Karna could sense someone was hunting her. It wasn’t something she could detect with even her overpowered senses. Instead, it was an instinct honed over countless lives. Something primal inside her telling her that not only was someone willing to challenge her, but they also considered her prey. Very bold of them. It wouldn’t be the first opponent she faced in this place, but it was the first that actively sought her out.
Despite her musings, she wasn’t distracted from the enemy currently in front of her. “What the heck is with that fur!” The enemy cursed as his spell crashed ineffectually against her flank. The fur had adopted the same metallic sheen as her skin in her titan form. It wasn't quite as effective as in that form, but it was enough to keep her protected against feeble attempts like this. She ignored the magical attacks and leaped on her target, pushing the man down with her paws. She could easily devour the man or chomp him in two, but that wasn't the objective of this arena. Oh, she'd likely end up killing many people before this was over, but there was no need to create trouble when she didn't have to. With a slight wave of her claws, the bracelet given to the man by the Sentinels was broken, and he vanished in a shower of lights, just like those before him.
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The last couple of hours had been quite effective for her. Unlike most others, the weather didn’t affect her at all, and it was easy for her to detect more and more participants inside the storm. The fact that they kept underestimating her and not using their full power in order to not waste too much power that would be hard to regenerate, meant that she was able to rush and quickly overwhelm most of her opponents. They’d learn eventually, or they’d be left with only the serious competitors. Either way, she was planning on taking advantage of the situation while it was still this easy.
Having the shape of a powerful magical beast was a huge advantage in a power-starved situation, as the beasts had naturally powerful bodies and didn't necessarily need to use any power when fighting. She had the natural abilities of a Vanagandr, which could carry her pretty far, and once she started running into enemies that this form didn't work against, she could always fall back on her magic. In this place, she was the hunter while most others were the prey, which made her even more curious about who actually dared to hunt her.
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“She’s doing well.” Wolfgang heard a familiar voice behind him. As he turned to face the voice, the elven queen continued. “Not that I would really expect anything different from her all things considered. The Magocracy is quite lucky to have her.”
“Amaranthine. I suppose it’s not that surprising to see you here. Your sons aren’t taking part, I assume?” Wolfgang knew the queen would dislike risking her family on something as inherently dangerous as this. The losses so far had been rather limited, though not everyone had been as considerate as Karna.
"You assume correctly. The rules as they are don't really favor us elves. Even my youngest is too old to take part." The queen confirmed. Elves weren't considered adults until long after passing the age limit of this event, and she wasn't going to send in a child.
“So, who did you send?” Wolfgang asked, curious. The viewing galleries were separated into hundreds of small rooms with a suspended magical screen displaying what was happening.
“You’ll see.” Amaranthine wasn’t willing to give anything away. instead, she looked at the screen showing Karna. “Though I have to admit I’m not all that confident they’ll be able to take her on.”
“Few can from what I’ve seen so far. Especially if they keep underestimating her.” Wolfgang agreed. “She can punch way above her rank, and I haven’t seen any hint of rank nine beings taking part.”
“There are three.” Amaranthine stated with surprising amount of certainty.
“That was quick.” Wolfgang lifted an eyebrow in question.
“Well, unlike some, I’ve been spending my time doing reconnaissance. I’ve been through all the rooms with all the screens, and I’ve also tried to dig information from the Sentinels.” Amaranthine teased a bit.
Wolfgang laughed a bit. “I haven’t bothered. Do you know why? Because the others do not matter. I firmly believe that no one that actually fits the age bracket can rival Karna.” Wolfgang was pretty sure he would be able to fight Karna, but even he wasn’t confident that it would be an easy fight. And if he would have trouble, then what about these wet behind the ears whippersnappers?
"My, aren't we confident. I don't think you're too wrong, though I don't think it's quite that simple. I think there are at least two that can give her a fight. And she’s not all that far from one of them.” Amaranthine gave a warning.
Wolfgang wasn’t too worried. Even if someone could match Karna in a direct fight, the girl wasn’t foolish enough to stick around and fight to the end. She’d create other plans to get around the problem. “So did you find out anything useful from the Sentinels?”
"Perhaps unsurprisingly, not that much. They're quite good at not giving away any details, but I did manage to fish up a few details with enough questions that they refused to answer. The most obvious thing is that the differing terrains and especially the difference in the ambient power isn't an accident. Nor is the placing of people completely random. I don't know what their logic and reasoning are, but I got the distinct impression that there is a logic behind it." The elven queen didn't mind sharing some of her information with an ally. "One interesting tidbit that I've noticed is that alliances have formed with surprising ease. It’s as if someone placed already friendly factions near each other, while placing obviously hostile factions far from each other.”
“That is interesting. So why did your representative and Karna not run into each other?” Wolfgang questioned.
“I would wager a guess that’s because the Sentinels didn’t know we are allies. It seems like these decisions are based on the observations they’ve made during the time we’ve been on this world. And as you’d know, we only arrived just before the event.” Amaranthine had managed to make a lot of conclusions, albeit based mostly on speculation.
“Well, I still think those alliances won’t matter. I won’t admit it to her face, but I have faith in Arjuna’s girl.” Wolfgang stuck to his attitude.
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For the first time since this event had started, Karna actually paused and was considering avoiding a fight. She’d seen from a fair bit of distance as a single swordswoman had taken out a group of other participants with seeming ease. The way her sword flowed impressed even her. As a result of what she’d seen, she didn’t even need to check the swordswoman’s True Name. She already knew it had something to do with the blade she was wielding with such ease.
'It seems we have a Kensei on our hands.' She thought to herself. There were very few reincarnators that could give her a fight at an equal level of power, but the Kensei, or sword-saints, were among that small group. Hou Yi was a good example, as the Celestial Archer could be counted among their number, and the man had managed to injure her, despite the fact that she was almost a natural counter to anyone using a bow.
Kensei didn’t need to refer to just those that wielded the blade, as they could be spear-saints, bow-saints, or use any other weapon. The main point was that they had dedicated themselves to mastering that weapon with a single-minded focus. Someone who spent their entire lives on a single thing could reach a certain level of mastery, but someone who did it for dozens, if not hundreds of lifetimes? Well, they reached the kind of level that could match her skill with magic.
Karna was a magic user recognized all over the multiverse, but she was not someone who had dedicated herself to the craft. She was good at almost everything, but that was because she'd lived so many lifetimes, and magic was the one thing she'd given the most attention to. Even her level in magic was more a result of innate talent combined with countless lifetimes of research and experience instead of the dogged pursuit of mastery in that field.
The Kensei could reach the point that they had much faster exactly due to the single-minded focus in their chosen field. Usually, they were not very good at anything else, but they didn't often have to be. A Kensei could turn a simple branch into a dangerous weapon and could fight higher-ranked people with skill alone. Even she with the almost fathomless experience didn't want to challenge a Kensei in their chosen field. She would be able to fight them, but depending on the level the Kensei had reached, she would eventually lose.
She exhaled sharply as the Kensei in question swung her blade in Karna's general direction. Of course she had been detected. The strike arrived almost instantly despite the distance, as distance was often irrelevant when facing a real Kensei. Despite moving aside to dodge the blow, it was as if reality had been overwritten as the blade of sword Qi was still about to hit her. The dodge had been mostly to test how powerful this Kensei was, and she wasn't disappointed. With another snort, she sent some of her Aura to her claws and struck down the incoming strike. The claws of a Vanagandr could cut through anything, even the strike from a Kensei.
With a third snort, she backed off and moved away from the swordswoman. She still had confidence in winning, as she’d dealt with Kensei before, but fighting this one would leave her vulnerable to the third party lurking not too far away. The one hunting her had finally caught up, and she could sense that the hunter and the other one tagging along with the hunter were not to be taken lightly. It seemed she had already run into the serious competition, and it was too early for that. She wasn’t someone that brashly and blindly ran into a fight just because it was presented.
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“That’s too bad. It would’ve been a fight worth seeing." The hooded and dark-clad woman lowered her bow, which she had already aimed towards the Vanagandr.
“The swordswoman might be just as dangerous as the beast.” The man narrowed his eyes. They were too far to see details, but he could sense the Qi inside the woman with the large and curved blade on her shoulder.
"I would expect nothing less from the representative of Wei-Jin." The dark woman confirmed. Her eyes could see much more sharply than his. The only reason she had not tried reading the True Names of their two targets was because that would've revealed their presence and perhaps even position depending on how skilled their targets were.
"Wei-Jin? That little girl?" The man asked in surprise.
The woman laughed. “That ‘little girl’ as you called her is just in disguise. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was an Oni or something similar in her true form.”
“Dammit, why couldn’t we have gone a bit closer. I feel stupid just because my eyes are not as sharp as yours.” The man grumbled.
“You’re just stupid, no matter the distance. No matter. You still have your uses. And we couldn’t have gone any closer. My senses were already warning me that the beast might have been aware of our presence.” The woman’s dark hood turned a bit as she shook her head.
“So, what now? Do we just allow the beast to leave? I don’t think we’ll get another opportunity like this.” The man questioned.
The woman had to think about it. She knew the man was right. The presence of the swordswoman acted as a deterrent for the beast, but it did the same to them. They had no idea what the swordswoman would do if they attacked the beast. "For now. We'll just have to deal with the weather. It's going to be a bother, but we'll have to deal with it. I'm pretty sure this little competition will come to the four of us anyway. Unless some new threat materializes from out of nowhere of course, which is a possibility we shouldn't discount. Either way, we'll run into both targets again."