The next day after five sparing rounds with Ruby and a one-to-four loss ratio in favor of Ruby, I felt sore and didn’t want to get out of bed. Yuki was nestled in my neck, and my whole body was around her. It was a nice cuddle session. Then Haze came and ruined it.
“EVERYONE, WAKE UP!!” Haze yelled loudly in our room.
Yuki and I jumped, our hair standing on end as we went into high alert. Then we calmed down a moment later as we woke up a bit. I cycled my healing chakra to ease the aching in my muscles and reluctantly got out of bed. Dangling my feet over the edge of the bunk bed, I rubbed my eyes and asked, “What time is it?”
“It’s morning, and that’s all you need to know,” Haze answered, “Now get dressed, all of you.”
Everyone grumbled and groaned, but we all complied, getting out of PJs and putting on our gis. I made sure to wear my orange belt, which I didn’t like at all. It was the worst possible color of orange, and it didn’t go well with the blue of my gi at all. But that was just aesthetic me’s problem. Tired me didn’t have any energy to give a fuck. A belt was a belt, and I would kill for a cup of hot cocoa right now. Some leaf juice, at least, would be nice.
I shook my head to rid myself of the last vestiges of sleep as I instinctively tucked my money away in a pocket, and Yuki rubbed up under my chin lovingly. Scratching behind her ear, I said, “You’re going to have to be a good girl today, Yuki. You can’t come with me into the fights.”
Yuki yapped in protest.
“I know, I know,” I cooed, “but it’s not safe in the fights. So, it would be best if you stayed with Leila and Shersha.”
Looking past Yuki to the twins, I saw them nod in agreement and say, “We’ll take gran’ care av ‘er.”
Looking between the twins and I, Yuki whined sadly but didn’t protest. I kissed her on her fluffy cheek and followed Haze out of the room. Once in the hallway, I saw everyone else leaving their rooms from the other teams. Teams Suki and Ruby were heading out the same as us. I quickly ran past everyone to catch up with team Ruby and talk with … well, Ruby, who was at the end of her group’s line.
Tugging Ruby’s sleeve to get her attention, she turned and smiled at me, “Hey, Zeana! Good morning.”
“Morning. Umm, so, do we need a team name for the doubles?” I asked.
Ruby thought momentarily, “It’s not needed, but we can. Some good doubles teams in the past had team names.”
“Okay, what should we call ourselves?”
“Hmm, I don’t know,” Ruby thought momentarily as we walked down the stairs before saying, “Yeah, I don’t know. Do you have any ideas?”
“Umm,” I hummed thoughtfully.
“Oh, for fucks sake, team Rezurrection,” a girl with long messy blond hair said over her shoulder in front of us.
“Why, Rezurrection, sis?” Ruby asked.
The girl stopped and turned to face us, “Your name starts with an R. Hers starts with a Z. RZ. Team Rezurrection.”
I scratched my head, “But resurrection is spelled with an S, not a Z.” Yuki yelped in agreement.
“That’s … why it’s perfect!” Ruby exclaimed in excitement, “Thanks, Yang! You’re the best sister ever!” Ruby hugged Yang excitedly.
Yang returned the hug half-heartedly and said, “Yeah, yeah. Now let’s keep walking. We’re holding up the line.”
I looked back and saw the line of impatient cultivators waiting to descend the stairs. Gently I pushed Ruby forward and got the line moving again. Once in the lobby, I stepped away and waited for my team to catch up before going outside.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Guru Shi’en waited for us out there, standing before a hovercraft fleet. Nine hover vehicles with shining sails floated on thin air with a soft hum of power. Guru Shi’en waited for six more teams to exit the hotel building before clearing his throat, “Listen up, all of you. This tournament will bring us tremendous benefits for our empire if we win. But that is not all it will give us.” the guru paused for dramatic effect before continuing, “It will give us knowledge. It will grant us wisdom. And with those, you will sharpen your minds and become formidable fighters on the battlefield. If you lose, learn from your mistakes and learn from your opponents. Be prepared for anything, and you will never be caught off guard. Fight, learn, win. Good luck to you all.”
With that, Guru Shi’en vanished in a flash of light. And we all began climbing into the hovercraft with our teams. I couldn’t help but wonder what benefits we get from the fight that helps our village. Maybe we’ll get actual beds. Or maybe we can eat meat with our meals! Or maybe we get HOT CHOCOLATE! If you haven’t noticed, I’m craving hot chocolate right now.
The hovercraft interrupted my thoughts as it took to the sky and flew to the massive tree of Yggdrasil. As we approached the tree, I couldn’t help but revel at the sight before me. The sun was starting to bathe the city in its morning glow and backlit the tree. The billions of leaves on the tree shimmered with an emerald light, giving way to an entire rainbow of colors and hues. It was magnificent to behold.
After a few minutes of flying, the fleet of hovercrafts swooped down to the monolithic castle and came to a gentle stop on a walkway before the castle’s entrance. Which made Shiro curse Orrin out, even though he wasn’t there. Hundreds of cultivating students were getting off similar hovercraft, all wearing red gis or orange gis. A few other people wore grey, blue, or green gis, but they all looked like they were just there to support their compatriots.
“This way, hurry,” Haze commanded, running through the crowd.
We all quickly complied and did our best to catch up with her. The flow of people led to rows of windows and workers taking information for the fights. Haze had no chill today, made all the more apparent when she jumped up and began running on people’s heads. We all chuckled and did the same, except for the twins, who couldn’t jump that high. A wave of curses and insults followed us as we ran over people, ending only when we were second in line to one of the windows I now see are tinted black.
“HEY! NO CUTTING!” a burly man with a red gi yelled at us.
Haze whirled on the man, stopping centimeters from his face and snapping her jaw shut with a loud snap. “Oh yeah, what are you going to do about it,” she growled, emphasizing her words by cracking her knuckles.
The man paled and backed off. Haze smiled and went back to her spot in line to wait semi-impatiently. After a minute, the man at the window spoke in a bored tone to the person before us, “All right, go through this door on the right and go straight ahead, NEXT!”
Haze shoved the person out of the way and slammed her hand on the reception window, “I’m here to sign up for the master’s tournament.”
“Y-y-yes, master Haze, right away,” the man behind the window said in a shaky voice.
“I also have to sign up my students for the team battles. Team Fiery Heart,” Haze added a second later.
“Y-yes, master Haze,” the man said again. He slid a golden token under the window to Haze and asked, “How many will be on your team?”
“Six. Five reds and one blue.”
“I will have to test the blue for power level before allowing them to fight.”
“Of course,” Haze said and reached behind herself, grabbing the scruff of my neck and slamming my face against the window harder than necessary. “Make it fast,” she said in a threatening tone.
“Isth this really nesthesthary,” I asked.
“No,” the man on the other side of the window said, “Please let her go, master Haze.” Grumbling, Haze let me go, setting me on the window ceil. The man held out a clear crystal orb the size of his palm and said, “Please hold this and cycle your chakra into it, one at a time.”
“And make it fast,” Haze added.
I gulped and took the orb. Fengbao cycled my storm chakra into it for a few seconds, and then I cycled my healing, Ice-claymore, and shield chakra into it one after another, a few seconds each. The orb didn’t change, but once I put it back in the man’s hand, he took it, quickly pulling his hand back as though afraid Haze might bite it off.
A moment later, the man said, “All right. You’re all set,” then slid a silver token out to Haze.
She took it and said, “The rest of you are on your own,” and left through the door on the right.
I hopped off the window ceil and asked, “Can I sign up for the rest of the tournament, please?”
The man gave a long sigh, “Yeah, sure thing, kid. Singles, doubles, and free for all?”
“Yes.”
“I need your name and your partner’s name.”
“I’m Zeana Si’enn. Z-e-a-n-a S-i-apostrophe-e-n-n. And my partner is Ruby, from team Ruby. Our doubles team name is team Rezurrection, spelled with a Z instead of an S.”
A moment later, the man slid three tokens under the window, one bronze, one jade, and one platinum. “The bronze is for singles, the jade is for doubles, and the platinum is for free for all. Don’t lose any of them, or else you won’t be able to get in. We don’t give out replacements,” the man explained.
“Thank you,” I said, and Yuki also yapped in appreciation.
“Also, no pets in the arena fights. But you probably already know that. Anyways, through the door on your right and go straight. Good luck, kid.” I nodded and walked through the door on the right, ready for a fight.
***