Chpt. 26) Individual Masters
I raced down the halls of the colosseum and up the steps to where Haze and the twins sat. Yuki jumped up and down excitedly, yapping as I got closer, much to the annoyance of the surrounding patrons. I quickly went to her, and she jumped into my arms, sniffling my neck and leaning into me happily. Scratching her side affectionately, I cooed, “Aww, where you worried about me? Don’t worry. I’m all right. Yes, I am. Yes, I am.”
“Gag,” Haze said sarcastically.
I scowled at her and sat down, “You’re just jealous cause you don’t have a pet.”
“I’m the one who bought her, and I can return her.”
“I take back everything. I am very sorry. Don’t take Yuki away.”
Haze chuckled, “Don’t worry. I won’t. But you did good in the fight. How did you make that blade blizzard?”
“Oh, that,” I said, “I just cycled my chakra.”
Haze blinked, and so did the twins. “You what?” Haze asked.
“When I was with Lady Sheji, I learned to cycle my chakra into the earth to harvest the fruits. It turns out that when you do this, it manifests your chakra physically unless you have a magical tree to soak up all the chakra. And there was enough land there to cycle my chakra through to make the blizzard. So I did,” I explained.
“Whoa, tha’s—”
“So, cool!” the twins said, finishing their sentence.
“Oh, I remember that now. It was always difficult for me. And it’s usually not that useful in combat. But good use of knowledge,” Haze praised.
I scratched my chin sheepishly, “Yeah, well, thanks. I could’ve done better, though.”
“True,” Haze agreed, “We’ll have some extra training together tonight.”
I gulped, and dread washed over me as I thought about it. Then out of morbid curiosity, I remembered I got a notification during the fight and opened my screen to a message that pushed away all my thoughts of future training.
Ding
Second Core 2: Ice, Edge, And Force Lvl 5. Level up.
Second Core 2: Ice, Edge, And Force Lvl 7.
Ding
Blockage 3/3 complete.
Solar core unlocked.
Name: Zeana Si’enn; Title: The Endless Storm; Race: Deadly Zin; Cores: 5; Age: 9.
First Core 1: Lightning And Force Lvl 7
First Core 2: Water And Life Lvl 7
Second Core 1: Earth And Force Lvl 7
Second Core 2: Ice, Edge, And Force Lvl 7
Third Core: undecided.
Skills:
Quick Advancements Lvl 8
High Pain Tolerance Lvl 1
Natural Abilities: Flight, Hard Skin, High Agility, High Dexterity, High Intelligence, Hivemind, Multiply, Genetic Alterations, Kitsune Form, Split Cores, Climbing Form, Tsudzurao Form, Quick Transformation.
Racial Abilities: Sin, Penance.
I gaped at the screen and reached over the twins to tug on Haze’s sleeve, much to the twins’ annoyance. “What?” Haze said, sounding just a little annoyed.
“Umm, how long did you say it would take to get new chakras for me?” I asked, still looking at my screen.
“I didn’t. But if I had to guess it—” Haze cut herself off before she finished and asked, “Why do you need to know?”
I looked sheepishly at her and said, “Because I cleared my blockage and got my Ice-claymore core up to level seven.”
Haze smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand and dragged it down her face. “It will take about a month to gather everything necessary for it. Plus, a little extra so you don’t do the whole three chakra combos again,” she said, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
“Okay, that’s fine,” I said cheerily. Then Yuki’s yap caught my attention, and I turned to see my team ascending the stairs. I got to my feet, placed Yuki on my shoulders, and raced down the row to my team. “WE DID IT!!” I yelled as I lept at my friends, and Jax caught me in a celebratory hug.
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“Yeah, we did!” Cami exclaimed and joined in on the big hug.
“Will you all keep moving!?! You’re taking up the entire aisle!” Shiro yelled, ruining the moment.
Jax dropped us and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. We all went up to our seats, and as we sat down, Haze stood, “All right. Time to show you, kids, how it’s done.”
“You’re up?!” I asked excitedly.
“Yep. Don’t go anywhere. We still need to discuss your fight,” She said threateningly. With that, Haze left our little group and began to descend the stairs. I couldn’t help but shudder with excitement at the upcoming fight and with fear at what she has to say to us after.
***
Haze walked down the corridor out into the arena, her arms crossed behind her head, completely at ease. “AND HERE WE HAVE THE RAINING CHAMPION, THE HELL HOUND OF THE ARENA, MASTER HAZAIZEL!” the announcer exclaimed.
The crowd roared excitedly as she took her spot on the right side of the arena. She waived politely and received an even greater cheer from the crowd. This was only her fourth favorite part of being in the arena. The fans were always fun to listen to as they rambled about her past victories.
“And last but not least, the water master himself, MASTER WAKERA JERAL!!”
Haze turned and found the last man to exit the corridors. He was tall, thin, and had short blue hair with tan skin. If Haze remembered correctly, he was an expert fighter in water environments but weak in hotter climates. ‘He will be an excellent warm-up for the fights,’ she thought as she did a couple of quick stretches.
The arena floor began to rise and float around in a mesmerizing pattern. By the end, she’ll end up with Jeral and wipe the floor with him in two minutes. Maybe one minute. And just as she expected, Jeral’s platform floated up to her, and he bowed, “Well met, master Haze.”
“Sup,” Haze said, not giving him the satisfaction of even a little respect.
Jeral didn’t let it get to him. He just rose from his bow and waited patiently for the stage to be set. However, they didn’t have to wait long as the announcer exclaimed, “And for our final stage, we have a lake and crashed ship battle zones! Home field advantage for master Jeral!”
Haze smiled viciously and mumbled, “Perfect.”
“What?” Jeral asked, hearing her statement, “Upset about the environment?”
“Oh, no,” Haze said, “Just glad it will be a perfectly even playing field.”
Jeral scowled and got into a ready stance. Haze did the same, dropping into a crouch with her hands spread wide. Then the announcer started the countdown, and Haze devised a game plan. ‘Since there’s so much water and little of everything else, I must rely on my Sound, Steel, and War cores. My first two cores, Explosive and Mother Nature cores, are all but useless. However, Mother Nature does have a water aspect to it. Still won’t matter if there are no plants. I need to keep him on land. Small ten-meter by ten-meter area to fight. Sounds like a blast.’
“TWO! ONE! FIGHT!!” the announcer exclaimed, and Haze rushed forward with her Sound core. With a sonic boom, she got behind Jeral and stopped, pressing her hand against a wall of air. Jeral quickly turned and jumped back, pulling water from the surrounding environment to pull him to the other side of the small stage.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Haze said, got behind Jeral with another sonic boom, and stopped. She quickly spun and kicked Jeral in his gut, destroying the water steams, holding him up, and sending him to the opposite side of the stage. Before he could hit the ground, she moved with another boom, bringing an ax kick down on his head. Jeral’s face slammed into the metal floor and dented it.
Haze stepped back and waited for the round to end but felt something touch her leg. She looked down and saw a tendril of water wrap around her leg. She cursed, and the tendril pulled her off her feet and threw her toward the lake environment. Her body skipped across the still lake surface once, twice, thrice, four times before skidding to a stop in the center of the lake.
Righting herself, she swam up and gasped for air. Looking toward the center platform, she couldn’t see Jeral. Cursing again, she looked around for him, activating her chakra sight to see where he went. She saw nothing. Then she looked down to see five glowing white cores shooting up at her.
Taking a deep breath, Haze felt the water pull her down with incredible force. She slammed against the lake floor and reached for anything to grab onto, feeling something slimy at the bottom. It’s not an ideal item, but it’ll do. Haze stopped cycling her Sound core and switched to her Mother Nature core. Then she felt the plants around her in the lake, the seaweed growing at the bottom. She willed the plants to follow her commands as the water pulled on her again, slamming her against the walls of the lake and dragging her across the rocky surface.
She felt her lungs begin to burn. She needed to get out of the water. Locking her eyes on Jerals location, she willed the plants to attack. The lake floor began to move and grow, warping themselves around Jeral’s legs and pulling him to the bottom. The water pressure lessened around her, and Haze swam up, breaking the water’s surface and gasping for air.
Swimming as fast as she could, she got to the center stage and climbed onto her one safe area, coughing up water. Standing, she turned and faced the lake. The plants won’t hold him very long. She had to get him back on the center platform. She thought for a moment, ‘Do I need him here?’ Haze smiled and took in a deep breath. She was wrong about what cores she needed to use. It was all about how she used them.
She began cycling her first core. Her explosive core into the ground. She felt a lot of resistance, but she overcame it quickly. Forcing her chakra through in a long steady flow. Then stepped back into the water. Haze sank to the bottom as she felt her chakra drain from her body. Then she saw Jeral break free from his weed prison and swim at her. As the last drop of her chakra left her body, she felt the power rush back to her. At the same time, Jeral’s fist was centimeters from her face.
KABOOM! The water around Haze erupted back as the explosion shot all the up and out of the lake, leaving very little left. Jeral landed in the lake a few seconds later with a deluge of water. Jeral stood and growled at her, hatred burning in his eyes as the water stopped falling, leaving the water level at their knees.
Haze winked at him and cycled her War chakra. Manifesting it around her. Black armor with purple whisps formed around her, and the water touching her legs slowly disappeared. She ran forward at top speed, and Jeral summoned a tidal wave of ice spears hurtling after her.
She blocked and deflected most of them, protecting the joints in her armor, and any that stuck the plates of her armor broke harmlessly against her and turned to dust. She closed the distance, brought her fist up, and struck Jeral in his gut. He keeled over and coughed up vile as he was thrown back several meters.
Haze didn’t let him regain his feet as she dispelled her armor and switched to her Sound core. With another boom, she closed the distance and kicked Jeral into the air. Then she jumped high above him and cycled her explosive core. She concentrated her chakra into her fist and looked down at Jeral’s stunned face. This was her favorite part of the fights, the look of total defeat.
A ruthless smile spread across her face as she brought her fist down on Jeral’s face and released her chakra. The resulting explosion blew the man’s head clean off as he turned to golden glowing dust. She then landed on the center stage and looked up at her time, located below all the emperors. Three minutes and fifty-six seconds remaining. Just short of her goal of a one-minute win.
“So, close,” Haze said to herself and sat down to rest a little. Waiting for the rest of the masters to finish their fights. She was getting bored.
***