Fighting Across Stages

Heian Ciemnosc woke up on the 7th day since the start of the Wrath Nihility Academy's test and came out from the wooden buildings like everyone else. On the 6th day, everyone was busy resting and cultivating, though most meditated and fornicated with some others. The testing was momentarily halted, so all sorts of illicit behavior were alright, other than harming and killing others. Heian Ciemnosc, on the other hand, could be seen cultivation all the time, as if trying to break into the 6h stage of the Obsidiafying realm as soon as possible. But even for Heian Ciemnosc, that was somewhat difficult.

Heian Ciemnosc stretched a little as he came walking out. Sitting for 20+ hours and cultivating nonstop in this fantastic, free, cold place was still stifling. He could do with the sitting but couldn’t go all out since others were nearby. He had to limit his cultivation speed, absorption rate and couldn’t cheat from his way into solidifying his foundation. His cultivation base was more than the word ‘stable’ could signify.

It wasn’t the place or time to go all out. However, after less than a full day’s worth of cultivation, Heian Ciemnosc was close to the 6th stage. He would need a few days more, but he could very well breakthrough in less than a week.

As Heian Ciemnosc and the rest came out, many Sub Teachers appeared, unlike in previous days. Accompanied by hundreds and hundreds of Assistant Teachers, but only the same Teacher from before was still here. Only. Besides the teachers in the outer testing grounds, the 35,000 remaining participants were surrounded by ten thousand young and old-looking people, all wearing pale gray robes, uniforms and tight-fitting clothing.

“Welcome, everyone.” The Teacher wasted no one’s time, directly saying out loud as he spread his arms to the side and continued. His voice traveled everywhere and into everyone’s eyes. “Today, you will fight 3 opponents, which you will have to defeat in order to continue fighting for a spot in the Wrath Nihility Academy.”

“Those 3 opponents will be between you all.” The Teacher first pointed at the remaining participants and then pointed at the pale gray-clothed young and old people behind him. “And then you will fight the Sub Students of the Academy. These Sub Students have been in the Academy for years or only a year. They are your seniors anyhow.”

“You only need to defeat 1 of them to be half a step into the Academy. But you will need to defeat 2 Sub Students in order to enter the Wrath Nihility Academy!!” The Teacher shouted with might, his emotions and encouragement reaching the participants, from which only a few thousand would be selected, at best. “But there’s, as always, a chance for those who did their best to directly choose to fight 3 Sub Students instead of anything else.”

“North encampments!” The Teacher suddenly yelled after giving this piece of news, surprising only Heian Ciemnosc of their existence and the crowd on why say such obvious things that everyone knew about. Then, the crowd pertaining to the northern encampments straightened their posture and yelled in kind. “Here!!”

“East encampments!... West Encampments!…” The Teacher called out, with the people from those encampments responded to the occasion. And when it was the south encampments’ turn, the Teacher looked directly at Heian Ciemnosc. The people from the south encampments roared together after the Teacher called upon them. “South Encampments!”

“Here!!!”

Heian Ciemnosc and everyone else looked silently as the Teacher spun once more to look at everyone again. Meanwhile, Heian Ciemnosc, along some other participants, examined the Sub Students just as they examined the participants. Some were smiling, some reminiscing, and others feeling superior with one emotion or another.

“Now, let the best participants be known to all.” The Teacher said as his arms were lifted, projected forwards, and his energy oozed everywhere, traveled to each participant, and slightly grazed against their bodies. Their shoulders and hips felt heavy, as if trying to resist a heavy but low current of water, and many felt as if they were left emptied out.

“Oh, he’s one of the best! My god, he made it!” - “I… I am?” - “My gosh, baby! You made it!” - “I… did it… father, mother, I’ll do my best, waaah!”

Many reacted, especially those who managed to be selected as the few best among more than a couple million participants. After all, such a thing, and having worked so hard to gain a ‘ticket’ into the test, they were the best in the world in this year’s test from the Wrath Nihility Academy. They had all reason to feel good about themselves.

At that moment, the Teacher waited until everyone returned to silence without being told so. The discipline was phenomenal, and his stern voice showed satisfaction as he began elaborating. “27 of you have been chosen among tens of thousands more who arrived here. From the 3 million that were outside and are still coming for the remaining test. You are the ones selected as the best for the first part, but don’t doubt you would also be so if both tests were merged.”

“From the northern encampments, 5 of you are the best among everyone else!” The Teacher yelled, his words making the hearts of those 5 thunder and beat harder as if about to collapse. Yelling back in unison, feeling some pride and honor in having arrived this far as the Teacher had said, the atmosphere turned thinly warm and candid.

“The East has 10 participants with the best scores!!” The Teacher announced again, then the east, sounding louder and more thunderous than ever, overcoming the previous cheers, even making the ground tremble a little.

“The West and South have 5 each!!” The Teacher roared, and together, both sides mentioned roared back, leaving a single person within them silent and standing relaxingly as if such noise didn’t exist in his mind, his world.

“This year, I also have to admit… there’s one person who has become the attention of the Wrath Nihility Academy during this test, and even the second test for those coming here after you won’t beat this person.” The Teacher spoke softly amidst the roars, even more so as the North and East joined in for some kind of silly competition, but the joy was in the air; and it was infectious.

Yet, even as the Teacher spoke at a volume no one should’ve heard him, the crowd fell silent, wanting to hear more of the Teacher’s words. Becoming surprised, somber and serious. Veins could be seen in the foreheads of some, more so for those pointed out as the best as a red glow emanated on their chests and only dimmed later on to the size of a fingernail but was more than evident in the morning.

“That’s you, Heian Ciemnosc.”

“!!!” The crowd felt their bodies stiffen, their mouths opened wide, but nobody felt it was wrong. Only some of the best from other encampments were like that, but the rest were in accordance with such an outcome.

Meanwhile, Heian Ciemnosc ignored his own glowing red finger-sized thingy on his chest and looked at the others of his encampment, noticing the little blonde girl from before being chosen amongst them. Only then did he look at the Teacher and nodded, showing he understood, before stepping forwards and out of the crowd.

But before Heian Ciemnosc could walk far, the Teacher stopped him by showing his right palm. Then, the Teacher added. “You aren’t just the best among the south encampment, Heian Ciemnosc… But of every tested person here.”

“...” Heian Ciemnosc stopped, tilted his head to the right, and waited. He was slightly confused as he waited for the Teacher to say more. The Teacher then kept a stern face, pointing at the Sub Students with his right arm and kept his eyes on Heian Ciemnosc. “You can either choose to join the Academy now and not fight. Or fight 3 Sub Students, still with the possibility of losing your spot.”

“Which is your decision, Heian Ciemnosc?” The Teacher turned his body to face him, then asked with a calm expression. Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head to the right, although he was actually not thinking about anything. He was merely observing with his darkest eyes.

“I’d like to fight.” Heian Ciemnosc said after a few more moments, appearing brave and foolish simultaneously. The Teacher nodded, he showed calmness, but his eyes glittered excitedly and interestedly. Only he knew why having this teenager fight his way in was so important, meaningful, and also… simply fascinating!

“Very well, you may choose the specifications of your opponent, and the Academy will provide.” The Teacher nodded and gestured to Heian Ciemnosc to continue to walk forwards with his head’s nod, then added as he once again pointed at the Sub Students. “This is only for you. Everyone else will be tested according to what the Academy saw in them. They would face one who they are first strong against, and the other Sub Student opponent would be someone they are clearly at a disadvantage against them.”

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“I see,” Heian Ciemnosc didn’t nod but voiced his understanding. His darkest eyes went from the left to the right, his head following his eyes, making him look befuddled from the back upon seeing the back of his head move so ‘cowardly’. Then, the teenager spoke calmly in a low volume, “I’d like to fight first an Obsidiafying realm cultivator in the 10th stage.”

“GAAAASP…” - “No way!” - “Can’t be?!” - “He believes himself the next Great Sage or something? He's such an idiot!” - “To waste such a chance… what kind of dumbass is he?! My god!!” - “Someone stop him! Talk sense into him!”

The crowd now seemed worried about Heian Ciemnosc. From mocking to worry, it was comical to think about it. But such were the participants’ hearts as they saw the Teacher nod, giving their hope a strike and leaving them hopeless as they watched Heian Ciemnosc continue to walk forward as the crowd of Sub Students had a change. People started making way for someone to walk through.

There was a small area, less than 200 meters, with some sort of light silver concrete tiles distinguishing it from the green on the ground. When Heian Ciemnosc stepped onto it, a Sub Student wearing pale gray pants and a jacket with a strange addon that made his lower torso look as if it was hugged by a ‘skirt’ appeared from the Sub Student’s crowd.

Heian Ciemnosc looked at the young male, probably around 18 to 20 years old, and the young man looked back at him. When the latter stepped onto the concrete tiles, he smiled and rearranged his sleeves, slightly folding them to his wrists. With a soft voice, he spoke to Heian Ciemnosc while slowly making his way to the center.

“Name’s Ulises, from the Oldest Eyes Middle Kingdom, you?” Ulises said, then asked Heian Ciemnosc with his right eyebrow jumping high inquisitively. Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head to the right, then saw the young man take a white blade out of his Covert Space bag. Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes jumped at the young man’s forehead, ignoring his white eyes. “Heian Ciemnosc, from ‘just’ a failed Kingdom.”

“Failed Kingdom? Wait, what? No- that can’t be. It was actually like that?” - “Holy shit! He’s a hero!”

Heian Ciemnosc and the young man ignored the words spoken through both sides’ crowds. The sides’ separation between them wasn’t divisive but a barrier for the participants to break, and they knew only a few could make it through. As for the Sub Students, they were aware of what the participants were going through and were more than glad to help.

“It is not my place to dictate how things go, but if you somehow gain an entrance to this place. Because your status is now special like you can’t imagine. Then let me show you the difference between coming from an actual Kingdom and a backwater place like yours. Haha, I really can’t believe you’ve come from such a place like that after being the best of the year. That is rare, you know?” The young man sounded spiteful, but it was still manageable. No teacher yelled or glared at him.

“Can’t kill, right?” Heian Ciemnosc asked with a simplistic demeanor, tilting his head to the left quite a lot and blinking his large, charming darkish eyelashes. The young man stuck his under chin out, frowned and asked, “Pardon?”

“I- we can’t kill others in this test, right?” Heian Ciemnosc asked again, elaborating a little this time. His eyes were playful as he lifted his fists to his collarbone and cracked them, their sound making the young man frown even more. Ulises finally took a deep breath and said after noticing no teacher was speaking for him, even though Heian Ciemnosc asked out loud to everyone.

“Indeed, it’s only until defeat.” Ulises said, his right-handed white blade showing some glow as he narrowed his eyes and added, “You created a Mortal grade weapon before. I assume you’ll have your own. Take it out so we might fight on ‘equal’ terms, for whatever it’s worth.”

“Ooooh,” that ‘whatever it’s worth’ was unnecessary, and many Sub Students lifted their eyebrows after puckering their lips out. While on the other hand, the participants directly frowned. Then, Heian Ciemnosc spoke again. This time, however, he did so with his hands going back down and relaxing, but with strange clicking noises accompanied by unusual and potent Power Energy fluctuations within his hands and feet…

“!” The Teacher immediately focused his eyes on Heian Ciemnosc’s body. He was enthralled by what he sensed and began to study peacefully without invading Heian Ciemnosc’s body with his Spirit Sense.

“Oh, well. I see.” Heian Ciemnosc said, slowly bringing his hands back up, his fingertips aiming several different angles, and his fingers appeared crooked. When Heian Ciemnosc finished speaking the following words, he smiled, showing his canines and his darkest eyes flashed with battle lust. “You like talking too much, way too much. Let’s just get to it.”

Click-pshift, thud, whooosh.

“!” Heian Ciemnosc’s fingertips suddenly grew darkish claws the size of half a finger, startling Ulises into a scare in but a moment’s worth of time. Heian Ciemnosc then stomped against the floor, his figure lifting the dust from below the tiles of light silver concrete intrinsically. Ulises brought his white blade up to the front of his chest in a defensive stance, his left hand’s finger and middle finger placed together while his other fingers folded.

Power Energy began to cover his left hand, particularly the twirl around his middle and index fingers as if forming a knife technique for extra defensive and offensive purposes. But all that was made useless as Heian Ciemnosc’s Claws Out came forward, and with the inertia from his speed and colliding with the white blade, now filled with Power Energy, slammed the blade against Ulises’ abdomen and sent him flying 3 meters away!

Cla- cla- puah. Whoos-

However, Heian Ciemnosc didn’t let Ulises fly away as he would’ve had, had Heian Ciemnosc’s left hand not caught on Ulises’s left wrist. Ulises only managed to fly backwards, his abdomen already suffering internal bleeding with the blow of his white blade’s Mortal grade prowess and some of Heian Ciemnosc’s bodily strength, not even 30%. Yet, Heian Ciemnosc’s grip on his left wrist was not only ‘soft’ but also as if nonexistent.

“AH!” Ulises opened his eyes instinctively to look at what the hell was happening, only to find himself diagonally halted in the air and his left wrist held by 3 small claws, 2 on top of his wrist and another one where his delicate veins were being pushed against. Ulises couldn’t believe such soft ‘touch’ and airy grasp kept him locked in motion, but he was then pulled in to be hit again!

Whoo- whooooooooooshhh. Thud! Tadadara thump thud thud thud- PAT.

However, to his utter terror, a thing he couldn’t conceive until he would wake up until months after; happened. Ulises wasn’t hit again by Heian Ciemnosc’s powerful body. Instead, Ulises was flung to the other side! The participants could only look, already in shock from witnessing Heian Ciemnosc’s Claws Out Art that could rival a Mortal weapon effortlessly, as Ulises was slammed harshly against the floor!

The first landing, the first hit Ulises body made was of his face, collarbone and ribs against the light silver concrete floor, followed by a terrible bounce still carrying all of Heian Ciemnosc’s one arm 32,000 kg of bodily strength. Heian Ciemnosc wasn’t shy to show his body tempering cultivation method!

Ulises’s body spun thrice after the first bounce, falling on his bum, which unfortunately directly broke his spine. His body was already weak enough, and the Power Energy protecting him inside was futile, to say the least. But the strength behind Heian Ciemnosc’s throw was still there. And after falling on his bum, Ulises’s body continued to shoot away, dragged through the ground as his head was occasionally hit over and over again. His limbs broke by the time the 4th spin happened, and his head caved in, deformed and showing some brain. While an eye was smashed the time that his right leg completely broke, stepping on it.

“... … …” As Ulises finally ceased breaking his own body by the most obvious and simplest of laws, the outer testing grounds fell silent to the point a soft breathing sound from one side to another could be heard almost deafeningly.

“...” The Teacher facepalmed himself, shook his head and glared at a Sub Teacher with his eyes, then with his right index finger, pointing at that Sub Teacher and then at the seizing Ulises on the floor. Rapidly in response and after a nod, the signaled Sub Teacher rushed to Ulises and fed him a very white pear-like pill before effectuating an Art to help construct Ulises’s body back… without an eye and some fingers and toes.

“Heian Ciemnosc, this… was… too much. Your prowess, your battle prowess, this…” The Teacher was wordless, something shocking to every eye witnessing the event, including the hidden experts’.

“I just didn’t know he would be this weak. He said he was from ‘something’ Kingdom, after all. I just come from a failed Kingdom, after all,” Heian Ciemnosc said with a little smile at his lips. His dusty humble-styled shirt made him appear quite cute with those lovable eyes. But Heian Ciemnosc, in truth, knew very well that even as this person came from a Middle Kingdom, he was prey for his Claws Out and bodily strength just as much as those in the Sinvonnia Kingdom were.

“Well…” The Teacher seemed to recuperate after some more seconds went by. He looked at Heian Ciemnosc without reproach and patiently advised. “You can… You have shown the Academy enough to be accepted. So you may not cont-”

“I want more.” Heian Ciemnosc grinned deviously, and the Teacher felt charmed, compelled to acquiesce as he actually nodded right after Heian Ciemnosc’s words and grin. By the time the Teacher noticed, Heian Ciemnosc began to walk a few meters back to the center of the floor-arena. Waiting for the next one.

“Sigh,” helplessly, the Teacher lowered his head for a moment, then lifted it to ask Heian Ciemnosc. “Would you… would you like to try fighting an Ashes Apperception realm 1st stage cultivator?”

“Nope,” Heian Ciemnosc lightly smiled. “I want an Ashes Apperception realm cultivator… in the 10th stage.”

‘This is my path.’ The pale teenager thought in his mind, and nothing could stop him.

…