Fonta arrived with Yang, at a freshly unearthed ziggurat made from metal and stone stuck out of a sandy desert. An umbrella protected the duo from the heat of the sun above. The area they stood under it, as a cooling breeze brushed by them and towards the other cultivators who seemed quite envious as the sun slowly roasted them.
The other fourteen participants were late Elpmet stage with a majority of them being quite cocky. The only obvious stand-out, appeared to be a young man with long brown hair and orange eyes, wearing brown robes and covered in various jewelry made with different types of stones. He didn’t seem cocky, but the air about him spoke of power. He’d likely be ambushed by the other participants when the match started. People innately feared someone with that much poise and composure.
“Fonta, be on your best behavior, the faces of the city are coming.”
A man in golden armor with black hair and a long beard stood at the door. In his eyes was a caged madness that many would not first notice. His voice was a tenor, and his tone made him seem more like a crazed zealot. “At noon the doors will open! You have two hours to retrieve the treasure inside, anyone still inside after that is likely dead. The ruins will then disappear for ten years.”
“That’s insane. How can we complete the challenge in two hours? That's Vit droppings; I’m gone!” one of the participants stated and turned to leave.
A sword materialized above the speaker's hand and shot through the cultivator's chest dragging him upward to the top of the ziggurat as blood covered the area.
Fonta’s eyes fell as the desire to slay the sword user nearly overwhelmed his better judgment.
“Anyone here stays; leaving will be met with instant death. The only way you can survive this is if you bring us the lost relic from deep inside the ruins, " the speaker stated.
Yang scowled. “Not even hiding it, no matter what we think the awakened stage provides a major increase in power, going against them is death, and going in there is death. Sorry, I got you involved with Fonta.” Yang looked down only to notice Fonta was gone and moving towards the three awakened cultivators at the top. His umbrella is still in the air Yang.
“What are you doing? I am the swordmaster! You will stop!” As the man said that two swords of chi appeared and shot forward at a fast speed.
Fonta rotated into the two weapons using his right hand to parry one and his left to grab the second out of the air.
Four shields cut Fonta off from reaching his opponent. Well, they tried to but much to their surprise the sword of chi cut right through all four shields like butter before dissipating as the swordmaster fell to a knee, and blood flowed from his eyes and nose.
A large man covered in steel plate armor fell to the ground, and strange noises came from his mouth as the impaled cultivator remained unmoving.
Fonta raised his wooden spoon and held it to the wheezing cultivator's throat.
“You will stop this for me, won’t you?” Asked a woman who appeared to be in her late forties and rather plain to his eyes.
Fonta tilted his head to the side. “Why would I do that?”
“Because you’d be doing me a favor.” She replied as her eyes glowed pink.
Fonta crossed his arms and looked down, smelling sulfur as he noticed a puddle under the awakened cultivator.
“How are you so weak?” Fonta slapped the cultivator with his wooden spoon.
“You dare!” The older woman pointed her right hand towards Fonta. Watched as chains of chi wrapped around him, locking him in place.
Fonta pushed at his restraints and found he was utterly trapped. There was more chi than he had access to but there was something off, as though he could wrap his fingers around them. The technique wasn’t stable.
“I said to stop!”
“Look lady, your friend threatened to kill us. Then attacked one of our own. It would be fair to kill him, don't you think so too, old lady?” Fonta asked as he squeezed the chains and felt his talent activate.
Fonta died, well he wished he did, the chains constricted and he felt his bones pop, though his connection to the weapon increased, as he felt his right arm break, his left arm tear the chains apart unraveling them into a whip of chi that he swung back at the old woman only for a jade wrecking ball to interrupt his attack and send him flying into the doors of the ziggurat that had just opened.
The seductress looked to the remaining cultivators. “What are you gawking for! Get him!”
No one moved as the rulers in front of them had nearly destroyed their reputations in the eyes of the masses and two of the sixteen managed to flee while the awakened cultivators were distracted.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“I said! Enter the ruins.”
Like clockwork, the remaining fourteen walked into the ruins most against their own will. Yang was among them as he closed Fonta’s umbrella.
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Upon entering Fonta turned left towards a hallway towards his left and entered immediately before hugging the wall and resting and setting his arm using an extra spoon as a splint.
“Why does my body move before my mind? So dumb! Why were they weaker than Yang’s grandpa though. No, why were they weaker than Yang? They are supposed to be awakened cultivators no way there has to be something wrong.”
“Paper dragons, no matter how you fold it, paper will always be paper. Those three likely rely on their talents, medicinal pills, and patrons, to reach their level. You appear to have a better talent, and a slightly better foundation, but you are too weak to be making enemies with more power than you.”
“They didn’t seem that strong.” Fonta said blankly.
“They are agents of Nascent Realm cultivators. The air here is barren of life energy, or chi, making it difficult for Nascent cultivators and above to be here.
Fonta looked up from his work as a figure he’d looked over with white hair and blue eyes that stared right at him, well right at the wall he was hidden behind.
He touched the space above where Fonta had spoken and knocked on solid air before closing his eyes and walking through.
“What was that about?” Fonta asked unbothered.
“Secret passage? I read that some places like this have walls that aren’t really there but our brains won’t willingly let us walk through them. How did you get here?”
“Hmm? I ran for cover just in case I was going to get ambushed. That sneak attack hit me pretty hard.” Fonta stated as his left hand crushed the whip of chi causing the energy to flow into him as he widened his thirteenth and perforated the fourteenth, his body grew slightly gaunt but his arm healed the break as he was now ready to fight albeit quite hungry.
“That stench, did you just break through? Are you trying to draw attention?”
“No, I needed to fix my arm fast, and this was my best option. What’s your name by the way.”
“Gil, you may call me Gil.”
“Then you will call me Fon.” Fonta stated as he got to his feet and turned towards the end of the corridor and scowled as he saw the hazy wall further down.
“Yeah, this appears to be a dead end. Should we go back?” Gil asked.
“No, I have an idea. I’m going to close my eyes and run until I hit something.”
“That is dumb, but if it works it works.”
“Great.” Fonta counted the number of steps he’d need in his head as he closed his eyes and ran forward. To him, there were no walls, just a long untrapped hall so as he ran down he made sure to hit the wall in a way to made noise without hurting himself.
“All clear!” Fonta yelled.
Gil ran through next, his eyes closed as he crashed into Fonta and pushed the two of them into the wall.
“Ouch. What are you made of? Wood? You’re like solid.” Fonta asked as he adjusted his clothes and helped Gil up.
“Rude, but fine, what now?” Gil asked.
Fonta looked down another empty corridor and scowled. “Did you notice something off here as well?”
“Nope. Just more walls.”
“Ah then lead the way this time. Think I hurt my arm.” Fonta winced as he adjusted the splint, the injury only partially healed with progression, and it would take time to regain full functionality.
“Fine.” Gil closed his eyes and ran forward as Fonta walked normally, the illusion failing to work on him. The duo stopped at a corridor only for said floor to vanish right as Fonta entered the duo found themselves compromised as they arrived in an area full of bipedal creatures resembling jackals, covered in fur, with solid black eyes, and canine maws.
There were eight total and Fonta could only use one arm. “I’ve stepped in it. Gil, how good are you in a fight?”
Gil was strangely silent.
Fonta turned to see what was wrong and noticed they landed on their head and passed out.
“One thing after another. I know, I’ll use my umbrella.” Fonta felt for his backup weapon and noticed it was gone. He did have his silver sword but he couldn’t use it for more than 10 seconds before it dissipated.
As Fonta stood there they rushed him while the rest rushed a downed Gil.
Panic, desperation, and rage filled his mind and Fonta felt his blood boil as he decapitated a jackal with a swipe from his spoon. His second slash, cut through skin and bone with ease, bisecting the five, headed towards Gil, the cost, and extreme expenditure of chi as the spoon was covered in it and expanded due to it.
The seventh slashed open Fonta’s back and was repaid with a spoon through its eye and into its brain. Pulling the spoon free Fonta performed an inverse of the techniques he’d taught to Yang, while the previous form was like a breeze which one was more akin to a wildfire as each strike cut and cooked using the ground and area to create friction with his spoon and raised the heat exponentially as the last jackal caught fire and soon lost his head.
The fight ended and Fonta collapsed exhausted as the chi expenditure hit him like a truck. As he took in deep breaths he began to cycle chi, through his pathways. When drained like this, hitting the blockages in his meridians caused great pain. Like suffering from a migraine while a hammer is slammed against your skull sporadically and to no avail.
As he sat there three more of the jackal creatures arrived before even the slightest bit of chi had returned to him. One of said jackals was two feet taller than the others, wielding a tomahawk in each hand.
“Damn it.” Getting to his feet Fonta held out the spoon again, this time the weapon held an aura of power around it without using any of his chi to maintain it. Which was a blessing, sadly he wasn’t able to freely move around.
“Ugh. Way to pass out on me Gil.” Fonta snarled as he bounced from foot to foot.
The first one came, punching with a speed and ferocity the others didn’t hold and as it attacked, Force traveled with it.
Moving into the blow Fonta evaded the brunt but the sheer thunderous shockwave caused pain to travel through his nerves as he thrust his spoon through the creature's torso ripping a gaping hole where its heart should have been.”
The second jackal was swifter than the first, using its ally’s death as cover to land a blow on Fonta’s head that sent him flying into a wall and crashing to the ground covered in debris.
Rolling to his feet, Fonto noticed his vision over his left eye had turned red, and that portion of his face was wet and burning, as his equilibrium was shattered. Worse, was that his main spoon had vanished. Reaching into his bag fonta found his packed gear had been damaged and his excess wooden spoons split. Leaving him with two options.
Fonta didn’t leave people behind, and especially to monsters like that. Pulling from a well of will, he launched forward toward the second jackal and threw a punch while out of its reach.
Cocky the jackal didn’t try to dodge as it waited for Fonta to get into its clawed range.
Pivoting in his right leg Fonta spun past it, summoning his silver blade for two seconds using that instant to cut through its legs and decapitate it after two rotations before moving onto the ax wielder.
The ax wielder shrouded both of its weapons with chi and was aware of Fonta’s summonable blade. It did not advance, but it also didn’t seem cocky. The creature waited for Fonta to make the first move or pass out from blood loss. The latter seemed more likely as the young man’s stance faltered.
The Axes came down as Fonta rolled between its legs, summoning his weapon and thrusting it into the leader's back.
The sword was deflected and shattered into chi as both axes slammed into it from opposite directions. The blades raised to finish him off only for the creature to fall to the ground headless as Shinra stood atop it, a pair of sickles in each hand.
“Thanks, Shina, I owe you one,” Fonta said before passing out, the blood loss, chi drain, and head injuries, were compounding.