Mysterious Motives
When dealing with this Kutsal Durum Cult's Core Believer, Heian Ciemnosc wasn't slow nor stingy in his movements. The young man wielded one blade like a motherfucking badass. He moved left and right while charging forward, almost a whole movement Supreme Art, but still way too short from what Heian Ciemnosc experienced previously against Lona. Still, this Broken Crystallization realm 10th stage seemingly gave Heian Ciemnosc many problems, causing him to dance with the young man for a few minutes before the latter started getting wounded.
Heian Ciemnosc finally started using Wind techniques, his mastery over it standing out as he slashed the other party as if wielding the Wind as his blades. Sweeping his hand left and right, Heian Ciemnosc convoked sudden, cloudy white bursts laterally, vertically, and in stabbing motions. The young man’s mastery in edged weapons was incapable of defending against such long blades for too long, becoming exhausted in no time, and was struck flung backwards.
However, Heian Ciemnosc didn’t kill the boy. After kicking him into the air, he simply turned around and returned to where he was initially sent to duel Lona… to duel for the first time. On the other hand, the young man tried standing up, even with all his internal injuries and his chest’s wide cut under his chest from side to side. After a few seconds, he lost consciousness. Seeing Heian Ciemnosc not wanting to pursue an ending, the referee announced Heian Ciemnosc’s victory, and everything went as smoothly as usual.
Heian Ciemnosc’s sudden ‘mercy’ seemed to wake something in the eyes and minds of the spectators. Nobody was asking for a hero, especially after seeing the battle royale section’s brutal procedures. However, seeing the baddy boy with already up to 4 lovers, according to gossip, and all from his team, turn into an understanding fighter made many want to see whatever followed next.
And now, Heian Ciemnosc was in the competition for the 32 best of the tournament! He sat on his spot, watching the other arenas fight it off as he took a break. So few remained, and he wanted nothing more but start killing those he had already written on his menu. Meanwhile, as Heian Ciemnosc rested, nothing to be exact, the spectators kept his arena in a small window or frame and watched other ongoing fights. Especially those that were related to the Existence’s little black monster.
Elena was lucky yet again. She found an opponent at the same stage as hers with a cultivation base in the Broken Crystallization realm 2nd stage. It was a rare thing, as the hosts seemed to want the lower realm cultivators to last in the tournament enough so they could be recognized. A multiple-sided contest was being executed within a single one. On one side, those in the beginning of the Broken Crystallization realm fought, and on another, those in the middle stages.
Arla, for example, was in the 7th stage and dueling those in the same cultivation base as hers. It was the same for the Neutrality realm cultivators, although there were only ‘sides’ for the early and middle stages. Teno, Yun Tang, and Kilah were in the latter, the same as the other leaders of each of the top 8 organizations. But as fewer and fewer participants remained, their encounter was imminent. In fact, barely a couple remained beside them to fight in the Neutrality realm middle stages. It would happen next time or the next after that.
A few minutes later, the slightly ever more intense duels finished. Heian Ciemnosc slowly stood up as he saw the hosts stand up from their chairs. Only the rose to their feet. The other Gods and Goddesses, guests from neighboring Existences, remained in their seats. The winners of each Arena, 64 in total, looked up to see the hosts look down at them as if congratulating them for reaching this far.
“... To every participant still standing now, we 4 hosting organizations, congratulate you!” - “WUAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!” Bajo spoke calmly, but as soon as his words ended, the crowd cheered on like crazy. However, having already suffered enough shocks, they immediately calmed down, as if Bajo was a party master and he had planned it beforehand. Bajo lifted his palm towards a side of the bleachers in thanks before continuing.
“From now on, only 8 arenas will remain and lessen until necessary. Then, we will use only 2. We shall use this silly format for the sake of giving each of you a chance to fight with all eyes on you,” Bajo suddenly looked at Heian Ciemnosc without hiding it. “And so others won’t steal every attention of your fight. There will be no long rests like before, but due time will be given to those who pass to the subsequent placements.”
“Now, everyone shall take 5 minutes to recompose yourselves. Each arena has an array formation to draw pure energy, faster recuperation, and settle one’s mindset. When the time’s out, 8 of you will be randomly chosen to fight in the first round. One loss is definitive, and you will be out of the tournament. Once the 4th round is over, we’ll proceed to define the top 16!” Bajo said before suddenly turning around and disappearing into a portal.
Bai Yue’er, Jolden, and Diego followed up in that order, with Diego taking a perfunctory glance at Heian Ciemnosc. However, Heian Ciemnosc could only frown but not feel anything else. After the hosts disappeared, the stadium became chatty but relaxingly loud. Heian Ciemnosc sat on his arena as the others did the same, but not without returning Elena and Arla a glance.
Heian Ciemnosc checked on Biston and Sahnyr’s condition before closing his eyes to nap. That’s right, the pale young man needed no rest, only a little repose. Biston and Sahnyr were attractive, mighty fighters in the tournament. Although they didn’t show much, Biston’s strange movements and sudden attacks with all sorts of Mortal weapons appearing in his hands were immensely entertaining to behold. While Sahnyr was already a Fox beauty, her melee combat was the most pleasant.
Heian Ciemnosc had an excuse to not be the best, though. And that was that he hasn’t Claws Out yet. Otherwise, all of his combats so far would’ve finished with a swipe from one of his dark claws. As for his Soul attacks, although many had it in mind, they weren’t sure if Heian Ciemnosc could use them again, gossiping that he might have overly burdened his body to do it anymore. After all, those were stupid-ass mighty Soul Arts he showed.
However, everyone had it at the back of their minds and wouldn’t mind seeing him employ those Soul Arts again. The other fellow allies were doing absolutely mighty fine. They merely used some techniques and flew a little with Neutrality Energy flowing everywhere, accompanying every move they made. Heian Ciemnosc had to admit their showcase of Neutral Energy intrigued him big time.
“Mn! This has been a surprise. Who would’ve thought these many characters would come out of this Existence? If only every Existence had at least one of them, sigh…” - “Don’t fret, there can still be a chance. The Great Sage came from a recently desolated Existence, let alone us, alive and brimming.” - “This Heian Ciemnosc… he’s scary. I can’t tell what his limits are for now. But I’m guessing he can go above the Broken Crystallization realm, but that’s only the most obvious possibility.” - “Heh heh, I dare you take him in as your disciple.” - “Ptui! Do you think anyone dares? Go eat a nut! You monkey.” - “Who do you call monkey? I’m a Fairy. You are a primate! Your Beast blood smells of fur and hands. What the fuck?!” - “...”
… 5 minutes were nothing for even civilians, let alone cultivators. Heian Ciemnosc opened his eyes, puffed his cheeks, and let out a breath before standing up. More than 40 participants were already up and stretching, feeling out their relaxed and at ease bodies. Heian Ciemnosc saw Elena start standing up at the same time as him. Since there were so few arenas, the only trouble with seeing him with her naked eyesight was the motion, up and down, in between.
Looking at her beloved, seeing him already looking at her, Elena broke hearts everywhere among the spectators while the participants were too focused on their following match. Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head to the right, looking damn cute, the fuchkherh, before devilishly charmingly smiling at Elena and throwing his head backwards. Once Elena grinned from the left corner of her mouth in reaction, Heian Ciemnosc looked into the sky. Elena followed his gaze, and 2 seconds later, 4 portals emerged.
“... Attention now!!” Bajo did his best solemn voice, but he still sounded smooth and emotionless to no end. He continued, the hosts’ sudden re-entrance into the stadium and his voice alarming the participants and garnering every bit of attention from the Existence. “Prepare to fight your way to the top! The first 16 participants will remain in their arenas, while the rest will be sent above the free zone on their own to spectate! Move!!”
Bajo commanded his last word with a swing of his right arm. Immediately, black smoke came from the arena’s center, surprising even Heian Ciemnosc as he was targeted by one of them. This time, he didn’t feel any connection of it to another participant, causing his brows to furrow for a moment before being transported away. He felt this could mean something more, and he instinctively wanted to look up, but he was already within the transportation tunnel.
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Whoooooosh… When Heian Ciemnosc reappeared, he was in another participant’s arena, flying upwards until 100 meters above the ground level. The spectators at the very lowest had an extra screen that showed them as if they were above the arenas. It was pretty clean and praise-worthy. However, Heian Ciemnosc could feel what this entailed. The tournament would no longer be a multiple duel segment, and that’s it. Instead, there might be some ‘dynamics’ as they fought. He couldn’t help but feel slightly more alarmed even.
“Gasp!” - “Woaah… this is too much, no?” - “I think so, just… hmm…”
However, the crowd was onto something entirely different to notice Heian Ciemnosc’s facial expressions, although the hosts and guests Godly beings did notice. That was because… Heian Ciemnosc’s opponent was a Neutrality realm 1st stage cultivator!!
Heian Ciemnosc finally looked at his opponent, wearing a serious, weary expression but clearly not taking Heian Ciemnosc seriously enough. Heian Ciemnosc ignored it and looked at his sides. Every person he was facing, except for an arena, looked at him with a smirk as if knowing they wouldn’t be seeing him again after this before returning to face their opponents. The arenas were positioned in the middle of the platform in a direct line from the north to the south.
Heian Ciemnosc was in the 2nd arena, and surprisingly, 2 allies would fight with him. However, even more surprisingly, they would fight against each other!
It was Tene and Yun Nitu. When Heian Ciemnosc saw it for himself, his mouth fell wide open. The girls seemed to notice something and looked towards him. Already knowing it was him, they flashed him smiles and waved their hands at him, standing close to each other and having nothing to do with about to beat the crap out of each, fucking, other. After receiving Heian Ciemnosc’s wave from his right hand and a nod, they nodded back and looked at each other. A tense fighting spirit suddenly surged between them, attracting each pair of eyes towards them.
Heian Ciemnosc shook his head before returning to face his opponent. Meanwhile, the crowd was starting to get doubtful, and all the typical things Heian Ciemnosc was so used to by now. Just then, Bajo’s voice sounded again. “Let the strongest remain, fight!”
His voice wasn’t rumbling, but it was decisive, and as it reached everyone’s ears, their hearts picked up the vibrations and started thumping in correlation. The participants’ eyes widened altogether, and pupils shrank as they fully concentrated, including Heian Ciemnosc, but not himself.
Pam! Whoosh! Pshiiiiiiift-... Heian Ciemnosc’s opponent slapped the arena’s floor with his feet, impulsing himself into midair in a moment at a speed Heian Ciemnosc had never seen before. Naturally, he had to be hallucinating now that he was facing off directly. A trail of Neutral Energy followed the other party, like an arrow loose from its bowstring. The crowd fell silent at the sight. Every other arena, except Tene and Yun Nitu, was fighting, but Heian Ciemnosc and his opponent were in the spotlight. Everyone would see whether the little black monster remained or faltered at the end.
Heian Ciemnosc, so far, looked helpless as he didn’t move, just like in previous duels. However, this time, they were fighting for a position in the top 32! The crowd looked expectant, nervous, and thrilled! But Heian Ciemnosc, that pale young man, his stoic appearance didn’t change even as the cultivator, not from any of the top 8 organizations, but still managing to be an elite among them, struck his left fist on Heian Ciemnosc’s right chest!
Pom! … pshift! Cuuuh! That wasn’t it. When the fist connected to Heian Ciemnosc’s right chest, the Neutral Energy following behind the cultivator shifted and immediately lunged towards Heian Ciemnosc’s left chest, aiming at his heart! But just then, as everyone felt something was amiss with Heian Ciemnosc’s right chest not even caving in, and only his dark coat fluttered, the Neutral Energy landed on Heian Ciemnosc’s left chest.
“!!?” The crowd almost rose to their feet, their emotions in upheaval… Just… what … was… going on? However, Heian Ciemnosc didn’t give the crowd time to ask themselves three million questions. As the Neutral Energy drilled into his body, his uniform partly revealed a dot of pale skin. However, Heian Ciemnosc’s right pale hand intercepted the cultivator’s left wrist. The latter wasn’t alarmed at first, but when he tried to retreat his left arm after a few seconds… his face paled instead.
CRACK! “!!” The cultivator’s eyes widened, and his pupils shrank, but he didn’t feel like concentrating anymore. Heian Ciemnosc broke not only his wrist bones but directly cut it off from the rest of his forearm!!
Fwoosh- flung- pshift~... WHOOOSH! … phhshk… bugsh- SPLAAAA- SSHH! Heian Ciemnosc didn’t let it go just there. After softly closing his grip on the cultivator’s wrist with Neutral Energy protecting it, fully circulating within it, Heian Ciemnosc took his right shoulder with his left hand, ignoring the Neutral Energy on his left chest, wasting itself as it continued trying to penetrate his pale skin by inertia. Without hesitation, and as the cultivator’s eyes tremblingly, slowly locked with his pale face, Heian Ciemnosc suddenly pulled him over his right shoulder before sending his body flying away.
From the force he used, although anyone watching couldn’t understand how much it was, the air around him rippled, and the arena floor below his feet cracked open, layering it off once. Before the crowd believed Heian Ciemnosc would play with his meals, again, he suddenly shot a dark Power Energy… laser beam!!!
Yet, its sound was extremely light. It was also smooth and carried no weight or affected the space around it whatsoever. The crowd felt like the softest of things were traveling through their hearts and their universe at the same time, but all they envisioned was a dark laser beam shot from Heian Ciemnosc’s right-handed index fingertip. It streaked through the air faster than the speed the cultivator was sent, with all its limbs already broken and dangling to the side with its flesh threatening to come off and let the bones fend for themselves.
However! At that moment! Heian Ciemnosc’s dark laser beam landed on the cultivator’s upper back in the middle. It penetrated through the cultivator’s body, forcing it to face the same direction as Heian Ciemnosc without further spinning around. A second later, just as the cultivator was nearing the end of the arena and saving himself from sure death facing Heian Ciemnosc, the dark laser beam shot into his body seemed to self-implode.
Flesh and ribs flew everywhere from the cultivator’s torso, but he was still alive and only heavily injured. The rest of his body was… fine. Organs, including his torso and the big tunnels of blood, were all unaffected… but they were also completely exposed to everyone. Just when, as if in slow motion, everything seemed to be a close final call for the cultivator, from within, a darkish sphere suddenly expanded to a speed impossible to the naked eye but still somehow visible, even to civilians without a slowing down feature at the moment it happened.
The sphere became ⅔ the cultivator’s torso size. And when it reached that volume. It exploded. Instead of making a boom, the darkish sphere grew spikes all around the cultivator’s body, making it a horrific art piece as it stagnated in the air, just a shy 2 meters from the arena’s edge. The cultivator’s body was lifeless 2 seconds after it stopped, but his eyes could still be seen, and the thorough pain within them showcased what it felt like to have his body impaled from the inside.
‘That was a little ticklish,’ Heian Ciemnosc thought inside his head while rubbing his left chest. Right now, every person in the Existence held a solemn face, either frowning or puckering one’s lips a bit. They were looking not just at a promising young man, pale and damnably handsome. But at a… next character in the Change! Their hearts, although trembling, felt light as a feather while their eyes widened. This was precisely what this event was about!
“Heian Ciemnosc’s victory!!!” The referee announced, coming down and raising Heian Ciemnosc’s right arm, the killing weapon to give the last hit on his opponent. Meanwhile, Heian Ciemnosc felt his arena float downwards. However, he felt as if something was wrong. Like this was supposed to happen slowly, and he didn’t give the arena enough time to do it.
“Hmph,” at this moment, from above, Heavenly Protector Diego’s harrumph was heard. Heian Ciemnosc looked up and let it go immediately. In his new arena, he floated all the way down to the floor, where he could be seen by everyone without any features. Before he could adjust his ears, the fearsome cheers came to be. “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!”
“...” After exaggeratedly blinking, keeping his eyes closed for too long of a while, Heian Ciemnosc looked in Tene and Yun Nitu’s arena direction. Already, he saw Tene and Yun Nitu with injuries, bleeding from the corners of their mouths and flying everywhere in the arena. These allied bitches were going all out to tear each other apart, and even from afar, Heian Ciemnosc could feel how much fun they were having.
Looking further down, Heian Ciemnosc could see Yun Tang and Teno looking up with crossed arms, thin smiles, and worshiping eyes as if wanting to be them. Knowing the differences between the two, Heian Ciemnosc silently shook his head before returning to face their arena.
Pum- POM PAM POM! Tene had just immediately closed in on Yun Nitu, following with a quick kick blocked by the latter’s left forearm as the former attacked from behind. Tene wasn’t stopped, but a sudden, 2 meters wide, 4 inches thick pillar from the ground rapidly closed in on her. As she dodged out of the way, her back was attacked by Yun Nitu’s forearms, covered not only in Neutral Energy but also Earth elemental energy!
Tene felt her back hurt, but before she could fully separate from Yun Nitu, the latter’s pillar tweaked, distorted, and suddenly projected from its still-going-up structure another pillar, just smaller but faster! Tene rapidly placed her arms in front and crossed downwards, sending black lights in a cross to the pillar. Tene received a punch to her left shoulder as she avoided it from hitting her forehead, but another knee came at her and struck her solar plexus.
CRASHH- boom! Swiiish! Cut- cut cut… However, just then, Tene’s eyes opened wide, and the pain she was shutting them tight with was gone. Yun Nitu rapidly flew backwards, evading whatever this crazy gurl had in mind. Tene, however, smiled as the smaller pillar was destroyed. She spread her hands, covered in violet gauntlets.
Immediately, dozens of needles appeared, each finger attached with a few strings and all surrounding Yun Nitu. An Artifact! Seeing this, the crowd grew wild, wild, wild!
…