Elemental Burial

Heian Ciemnosc's darkest eyes deadly locked onto Gora. Gora kept flying backwards, but within the Wind torrent, he was mostly being pushed and flown back without needing to do anything. However, his movements and the partial integration of the Consequential 3-Eye Supreme Art slightly boosted the motion. Gora kept firing arrows at Heian Ciemnosc as the latter extended his hands. Dark Power Energy traveled wherever his dark claws' tips traced, forming a 2 meters long line that swiftly traversed the air following his fingers.

Whoooooosh! Whoooosh! Craaaaack- PUUM! Whooosh, whistle, whistle, whistle~!

Heian Ciemnosc slashed harshly towards the incoming arrows, letting the air around them explode but, instead of stopping or slowing him down, giving him an impulse to fasten his speed for a moment. To Gora’s shock, the mountain walls behind Heian Ciemnosc broke apart as boulders and chunks of it flew towards him! Their speed could be effortlessly deduced by the whistling sound they made despite their length rounding about 100 meters each. They rolled and spun as they flew through the air, following the trail behind the first Wind torrent, and their speed only increased instead of dwindling.

‘Fuck!’ Gora cursed as his hands rose his bow, holding it laterally, and began releasing arrows, but this time, they all had a strange, pike-like crowd around below the arrowhead. Instead of targeting Heian Ciemnosc, he aimed at the incoming projectiles’ trajectories while more than 200 arrows were still shooting towards Heian Ciemnosc.

Wheeesh, wheeesh… pshift- pew, pew, pew, pew, pew… … KA- BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOOOOOOM!

The Earth projectiles Heian Ciemnosc picked from the destroyed earthen walls flew forward without twisting or accidentally moving up, down, or to the sides. They kept increasing their speed the more time they spent in the first Wind torrent. They were like awful weapons of massive destruction seen outside the atmosphere before nose-diving onto one’s head. The arrows with a strange pike-like crowd below their arrowheads streamed to the sides, forming a perimeter similar to what Heian Ciemnosc intended by using the Earth element.

The pike-crowned energy arrows flew silently to meet the Earth projectiles, forming a defensive line that expanded with some ups and downs, covering every trajectory. When they arrived close to them, they didn’t hesitate to crash against them, taking a sudden speed boost as if they were about to turn into stars. However, they did explode before reaching the boulders and earthen wall chunks. Creating an expansive, monumental, but thin Neutral Energy explosion in the air.

The boulders and chunks passed through them, some even managing to crash into the arrows before they self-exploded. Those who collided with the energy arrows created a more explosive sound, and although the area of effect was diminished, it was much more emphatically than the others. But even the boulders and chunks passing through the explosive area lost most of their structure, coming out of them with less than ¾ remaining. Let alone those that directly exploded with the energy arrows, immediately turning to dust and tiny rocks.

“Huff!” Gora looked at Heian Ciemnosc after taking a tiny breather from this action. Calculating, he esteemed it would need Heian Ciemnosc 7 seconds to arrive before him. Thinking about this, he immediately started gathering Neutral Energy into his fingers while Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes still locked onto him.

Just as Gora had looked at Heian Ciemnosc, Heian Ciemnosc was sensing Gora’s Neutral Energy storage, with less than ¼ remaining. On the other hand, Heian Ciemnosc’s dark Soul was getting very tired, while his dark Power Energy storage was left with less than half. Thinking of all this, Heian Ciemnosc suddenly faced downwards, apart from the back of his head, and showed to Gora as the latter frowned, but Heian Ciemnosc simply semi-fully extended his arms to the sides as if grabbing something.

‘Ah! Whatever, just die!’ Gora sunk his eyebrows, bothered and angry, but knowing he could now exterminate Heian Ciemnosc, he aimed his bow towards him again as multiple arrowheads formed at its sight window. They were small but looked different. Heian Ciemnosc only needed to pass his eyes through them once to know they were more dangerously threatening to a living being’s life rather than being destructive like before.

“... Hmm? What’s that? I think it comes from below.” - “It’s been like that already for some seconds.” The Godly beings started hearing something coming from underneath the arena’s floor where Heian Ciemnosc and Gora fought. It was already apparent before, but only now could they listen it go all out as if about to erupt. And what happened was just that…

Craaaaaaaaaaa-AAAAAAAAAAAAACKk~...

“...?” - “What’s going on?” - “It feels…” - “How strange, what caused this?” - “At least the cold is gone…” The crowd also started to notice something. They felt cold from before when the skies turned somewhat darker, even if it was a misconception for most, as only Heian Ciemnosc’s arena became obscure. Now, they were all feeling warmer and strangely prickled at their faces. Some felt their skin numb despite the heat and contemplated…

BUM- PUCHAAAA KABUM, PAAAAHH- SSHHHAAA~!!

However, before anyone could raise their voice again, the ground behind Heian Ciemnosc suddenly exploded! Something erupted from below. It wasn’t visible at first as debris and dust rose into the air, covering almost 200 meters, but it didn’t last long before their image was revealed. As the floor erupted and the entire arena shook while continuing on its way down, the dirt around the eruption zone turned red and started… melting.

The dust settled, dissipating sideways to reveal ginormous magma balls, carrying more fire and lava than solid substance as it flew through the air, forming into a perfect sphere with some protrusions and without rolling! This was no natural disaster but a cultivator-made one! The crowd wanted to jump from their seats but waited until Heian Ciemnosc showed them the fight’s climax!

He had already shown Wind, Earth, and now Fire elemental affinity! If he could unleash Water and Lightning like Biston, then the Academy could be said to be the only organization in the world to have such non-Lotus Body cultivators at once! Those magma balls rushed towards Heian Ciemnosc’s back like a damn magnet, each pulled by the Vocón Link sub-bodies as Heian Ciemnosc was just a few seconds away from catching Gora!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee- eeeessshhhh!! Whistleeeeee~!

The magma balls reflected in Gora’s eyes despite their still far away distance and their size less than the first Wind torrent’s diameter. However, with even his sclera reflecting them, it was as if those magma balls were just hypnotizing Gora. Nevertheless, Gora wasn’t a befuddled idiot, rapidly reacting by changing the aim of his bow to the magma balls. After letting loose of the bowstring, Gora’s eyes suddenly moved back to Heian Ciemnosc, feeling fucked up no matter how he handled the situation. In a last fit, before Heian Ciemnosc could reach him. In a short amount of a few seconds, Gora yelled at the top of his lungs with indignance.

“Heian Ciemnosc! It’s just because I cannot activate the Blue Era you dared to fight me up close! How dare you call yourself a monster when you’re just a coward? I dare you to fight me again. Repeat this fight. Come on, I dare you!! Aren’t you mad? You’re just mad at me, aren’t you? Bwahahaha! Just because your wife was about to be treated with a heavy hand, you couldn’t tolerate it? Just take a look at yourself!” Gora’s last words were spoken in a slightly high pitch, exposing how much disdain he felt for Heian Ciemnosc.

“I am calm,” Heian Ciemnosc’s soft voice traveled into everyone’s ears, much to Gora’s surprise and the spectators’ delight. Heian Ciemnosc continued, his words trailing through the air in an 80,000 km radius that only increased thanks to the streaming features. “If I was mad, even if half my body became disabled, you wouldn’t be here breathing the air you don’t deserve, much less have anything left in the world. I. Am. Not. Mad.”

“...” Gora looked at Heian Ciemnosc, ignoring the magma balls to the latter’s sides, as if in slow motion, and only saw the darkest eyes looking at him that hadn’t left his body all this long. Gora suddenly felt it. How inferior he felt from nowhere, and the terror of going against Heian Ciemnosc. Just like a wimpy kid growing out of their first dumb love. However, Heian Ciemnosc’s face was right before him the next moment, leaving him no choice.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHH!!” Gora roared with his teeth, trying to break into each other, forming cracks and veins popping on his forehead. Neutral Energy was present between his teeth, breaking through them as blood flowed downwards smoothly from his nostrils and ears immediately. On the other hand, Heian Ciemnosc’s pale face was right before Gora, with several magma balls following him from the sides.

Fwiish! Rrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiippppp~~~~! … … … …

Instead of clawing that face and mangling another body, Heian Ciemnosc used his right arm to pull him down, spinning his body in place right before Gora as the latter didn’t realize the Wind torrent he had been in turned wholly dark. From far behind, Heian Ciemnosc’s Vocón Link, which had been staying behind all this time, suddenly shot from underneath into the air, forming a large arch streaking across the distance.

The crowd became stupid, suddenly looking at the place where the Vocón Link had shot from. Following its trajectory, it looked like a light whip made of darkness, cutting the air like a hot knife through butter, unrestrained and effortless. Their necks twisted as their heads turned, lifted, and then lowered a few grades.

Vocón Link took less than 2 seconds to move from one extreme to another, impulse by Heian Ciemnosc’s brutal 80,000 kg bodily strength, and furthermore by dark Power Energy to his fullest, leaving Heian Ciemnosc with only ¼ of his storage inside his Dantian. On the other hand, Heian Ciemnosc’s pale face returned to Gora’s eyes as his arms and legs practically burst with the magma balls starting to melt his body down.

Gora wanted to keep fighting, to get out of here and put this Heian Ciemnosc down! However, even his previous arrows were consumed by the magma balls, and just when he thought they could be partially destroyed, weakening them, the ground seemed to think otherwise as they formed tiny pieces and soared into the sky, joining those magma balls when they were still a far distance from Gora. The magma balls continued to increase in size and power, let alone being weakened. They couldn’t even be stopped like this.

Gora could feel how only his shoulders and waist remained, with his limbs lost in the magma, slowly turning dark as milliseconds went by. He didn’t know it yet, but from an outsider’s perspective, he was slowly shrinking in a world of darkness, with Heian Ciemnosc containing the only distinctive, pale color within. And just as Gora watched Heian Ciemnosc’s body face him again, finishing the spin. Gora suddenly saw a dark whip before his face above their heads. The next instant, he lost it all.

“!” - “!!!”

-PLAAAAAASHH~~~~!! Phweeeeeeee, phweeeeee… whistlee~~ BOOM BOOM BOM, BONG BONG BONG… THUD, RUMBLE, CRASSHHHH…!

The dark whip came slashing down on Gora. Kilah showed only widened eyes as nothing happened between Heian Ciemnosc and Gora at the last moments. Meanwhile, the Interchanging Dynasty Dust was immobile, not trying to interfere, but they were terribly anxious beforehand. When it finally happened, and the dark whip landed on one of their most promising Geniuses, they became alarmed and looked between the arena and the hosts’ chairs above.

One of the old higher-ups took an item from his Covert Space bag, showing a crumbled, broken art piece in his palm. When the others saw this, their hearts fell and became somber before returning their gazes to the arena.

After the dark whip landed in the middle of the magma balls, where everyone saw Gora for the last time, for good. Everything turned still for a couple seconds. Afterwards, the magma balls started dropping, crashing the air around them at last, while Heian Ciemnosc’s back towards particular sides from the bleachers looked darker and lonelier. As Heian Ciemnosc gained style points in the spectators’ subconscious, the magma balls started deploring the arena, turning everything into a floor made of lava.

“...” As Heian Ciemnosc stood there in midair, his power sources relaxed, and he was no longer working with everything he could place upfront on the table. His shoulders were slumped, but only he knew he was feeling great. Well, the Godly beings might also get a hint, but… he felt close to a breakthrough. Just then, the referee resumed his thoughts, remembering more things besides being an intelligent, living being, and announced, “Heian Ciemnosc’s victory!!”

CLAMOR, CLAMOR, CLAMOR. “WOAHAAAA!” - “YAAAAH!” - “YAAAA!”

As usual, Heian Ciemnosc heard the thunderous sounds of people living in this world as black smoke covered his body from below since the arena had already reached the lowest level possible, and only his was left with fighters still on it. At this moment, while Heian Ciemnosc was transported to his Academy’s vip zone, Bajo stood up and announced the end of the first round to decide the top 16 participants.

“Congratulations to the first top 16 participants. Although some… misgivings have been presented in this tournament again, as your host, I hope you can cooperate and no longer seek a life and death duel from now on. Still, if you must make that choice… then nobody here will stop you or interfere in your deathly duel.” Bajo spoke with his palms placed together before his sternum and continued. “You may rest now. The second and last round to contend for the top 16 and of the day will continue. In 2 days from today, the top 8 will be decided!”

“... Husband,” Heian Ciemnosc had just arrived before his Academy’s higher-ups when he heard Elena from his left. Bowing his head to those in front, Heian Ciemnosc towards Elena in a casual manner, under the spectators’ eyes, but not for long. The higher-ups were quick to set up the barrier this time, and while only another person from the Academy was to fight now, it felt a little saddening to see the Academy lose out a lot in the most significant phase of the Change Merit Trials event.

“Ah- you’re breaking through?!” Elena shockingly asked as Heian Ciemnosc walked to her and placed his right arm around her shoulders. She turned around and helped him after making her inquiry, attracting everyone else’s attention to the pale young man. To which Heian Ciemnosc answered, “Yes, jealous? Ouch, I’m hurt, you know? Ouch, okay… Mn, bring me there. Let’s see how Sahnyr and Tene do.”

“Mm, alright.” After pinching his pale skin wherever she could, Elena nodded and pressed her mouth against his body whenever possible. Bringing him to her and Arla’s stretcher, he placed him in the middle, with Sakura hurrying over to massage his tummy and Fera doing the same to his forehead. As they instilled tiny strands of rigorous Power Energy into his body, they all watched the ongoing arenas.

As if the stadium’s system took pity on the sad and tragic Academy, what half wanted to happen and the other half feared… didn’t happen. Kilah faced a Kutsal Durum Cult’s cultivator, making quick work of him within a few moves before striking his body outside the arena, half-dead.

Sahnyr didn’t face a strong opponent, at least not at Gora’s level, and she quickly finished the fight after a dozen rounds. On the other hand, the other arenas were slightly intense, definitely giving their all to pass to the next round and using as much as they could of their sight to examine their possible future opponents. This wasn’t a great idea, as cultivators in this Second Step’s realm were still pretty much incapable of multitasking on a general basis. Only those like Kilah or Gora were more or less okay with doing that, but still lowering their combat capabilities.

In any case, the big fishes’ arenas quickly lowered, and the others took up to 10 minutes to finish, deciding a victor that wasn’t forgotten to be cheered and encouraged on. Sadly, whether some believed it or not, the victors were all from the top 8 organizations, and there were already no more outside that ranking after the top 16’s first round was decided. Sahnyr returned to the vip zone after an eventful day and hurried to her future husband’s side, nursing him like the dutiful wife she will be for him.

“Okay, let’s go.” Heian Ciemnosc hummed before sitting up and stood up. Turning around, he grabbed his little Fera’s left hand and walked with Elena’s waist taken by his left arm. Sakura returned to the COs with Arla and started discussing their day’s experiences. They had enough time before but were too engrossed in the tournament to chat with each other. Only now did they find the urge to share their knowledge and new understandings.

For one, the COs knew they were top-notch motherfuckers when it came to leading a group, be it small or somewhat medium-sized. Only Violet could truly lead around, at least by Heian Ciemnosc’s standards. The world and their Academy’s standards might not be as strict and diligent, but they worked. However, even if they weren’t Heian Ciemnosc’s #1 fans, they would still choose his methods after experiencing its results.

However, when it came to individual capabilities, the COs noticed how much they lagged behind the rest of the Existence’s Geniuses. Although it should have been enough for any cultivator to feel proud, they weren’t content with their ‘slow’ progress and ‘ordinary’ battle prowess. Only Aleksander was unbothered by it, but he didn’t count. Gloria became the same as him, so she also didn’t count.

Of course, they could fight many enemies at the same level, a thing so few are able to accomplish, but they couldn’t defy nature and jump a realm without going all out and using all they have and risking suffering a grievous injury or many. And that was with their Colorful Claws, Mortal weapons, and the tools and devices their team leader provides for them. Without them, they were a little helpless.

They had experience training under Heian Ciemnosc, but that wasn’t enough. Even if a dog was given the most nutritious food, if they didn’t work their bodies and clear their natural stupidity, then all they could do would be pets and bark. Arla wasn’t a CO nor interested in forming part of Heian Ciemnosc’s elite pupils. But she would be down to form part of his team in other ways. In any case, the COs were Saberbone Diabolical Club members. She had to care for them, and she couldn’t not help them.

Meanwhile, as Arla led these little fellas, Heian Ciemnosc arrived at his temporary room within the stadium’s underground indoors. Others were doing the same, separated from each other and with tight security, not only in personnel but also in array formations and technological surveillance. As he went into his room, Elena started getting naked.

…