Splat!
After healing her eyes, Empress Cai puked her blood on Julius’s lap as he wrapped a piece of his cloth around her arm and leg like a tourniquet. That woke her up, and she was surprised to see somebody helping her. She doesn’t recognize me? That hurt. Julius kept his thoughts quiet, feeling a little saddened.
“Do we know who he is?” Empress Cai mumbled, facing Daiyu.
Daiyu nodded. “You don’t recognize him? Look again.”
Julius, with his mouthpiece still on, looked at Empress Cai while his hands instinctively tightened her arm and leg from bleeding any further. She turned back, and his mouthpiece opened, revealing the lower half of his face. That took her out in a beat. A resurgence of energy got to her because she swiftly lifted herself from the ground, sitting up.
“Woah, you shouldn’t do that. Otherwise, your wounds—” Julius suggested before getting interrupted by a hug. “Uhh, mam?”
Empress Cai wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him towards her. He felt a hard slam right on his left trap and upper chest coming from her face pressuring it. The sounds of sniffles muffled onto his overcoat. His hands were free, soaked in her blood. He doesn’t know what to do. He turned his attention to Daiyu who was silently gesturing to him to embrace her right now, before she let go.
A silent sighing expression and finally wrapped his arms around her shoulders. The sniffling stopped when he embraced her. Empress Cai let go and stared back at him for a moment. Julius felt calm rather than intimidated when both exchanged eye contact. It went on long enough, that Daiyu had to cut in.
“She lost the duel by a couple margins between one of the head captains that led the attack on our soil.”
Julius laid Empress Cai back down gently before continuing. “Have any of you figured out his weakness?”
“He’s pure of light and very agile. Empress Cai was fast but couldn’t keep up with the consistent dodging as his swings have a very wide range of effect.”
Julius held his chin, trying to come up with an idea to fight the captain. Pure of light, agile, and necessary dodging. Can he fly?
“What about flying?”
Daiyu shook her head. “No, but he has dirty methods to keep the flying opponents back to the ground.”
“Hmm…do you have anything useful? Wait. You said pure of light. So, is he a light ailment?”
“Good catch, yes. Why? You got a counter?”
Julius nodded, pressuring the Empress’s wrist as if taking a pulse. Damn, no dark qi. He then turned to Daiyu, asking for her hand. Ooh. Wait. Oh, that's it. She has the quality of it. Maybe the black dress and her also black battlefield clothing were an indication.
“Can you teach me something dark?”
“Dark, do you actually mean…Hold on you have dark qi too?!” Daiyu exclaimed in a surprise.
Julius summoned a trace of dark qi over his palms. “Yeah, this is what I gained from being in the Realm of The Blue River. You said I was gone and dead, that was two weeks. For me, it was three hours. This was my reward. If you can teach me something useful, I accept and don't mind going right to the start. I'll adapt.”
Daiyu, biting around her lips, glared at Empress Cai, sadly resting on the grass, returning to sleep.
Daiyu nodded. “I'll do it. And please listen carefully as we don't have time to spare,” she warned.
Julius moved in closer and convened for the knowledge.
--
All stats leveled up: Level 4 -> Level 5.
Cultivation Level 6 -> 7
Total % Base Stats Buff 6% to 7%
Base Stats w/o adj.
Stamina (LV 4) → 5
HP (LV 4) → 5
225 → 250
75,600 → 81,504
Endurance (LV 4) → 5
186 → 199
Durability (LV 4) → 5
210 → 220
Power (LV 4) → 5
Attack (LV 4) → 5
1,560 → 1,710
4,560 → 5,060
Qi (LV 4) → 5
10,405 → 11,405
Total Score
88,186 → 100,348
--
34.2
It's time. Julius lifted himself up from the crisscross position, raising his tightened legs up. He felt a little heavier, and his mouthpiece closed back up. He stood within a tiny realm, turning to Daiyu, who was still sitting in a crisscross, opened her eyes and appeared pleased with the little smirk.
“How do you feel?”
“A little intimidated and heavy in a good way,” Julius replied.
“You are a different man, Julius. No one was able to give me such a surprise as you have ever done. Maybe Empress Cai was right in choosing you.”
“Thanks for the compliment, but I will only accept it once this battle concludes,” Julius said. He turned right to the circular border, cutting it right open. “Be safe.” He climbed out of the spherical realm, leaving Empress Cai and Daiyu inside.
When he exited the black revolving sphere, it closed and locked him outside.
--
Ongoing Mission Update (1):
End the Rain Swamp War ( 雨沼泽战争 ) → Fight Adalberht the Bright Giant.
--
“The Bright Giant. I guess we are about to find out,” Hu said.
Julius silently nodded and didn’t telepathically reply back. He kneeled until his fingers partially touched the ground. The ground around him started to break apart and float upwards. Subsequently, the debris orbited around him when the dispersing energy escalated. The ground progressively seeped down as he burst dark qi around the entire crater, shooting it like a water fountain. He then lifted the index and middle finger gently up followed by a jerk down as if he was pushing something.
The fountain of qi that shot to the sky slowed down and stopped in midair. Furthermore, all were redirected back to Julius, simulating an event similar to the regenerative brake of an electric car. His body flashed black and blue light simultaneously, spotlighting across the battlefield at a risk of getting the attention. Julius felt a surge of energy going up in his body forcing him to stand up. Licht dissipated from his grip, returning to his skin to charge up the last bits.
He focused on the sky where the clouds encircled into a spiral, summoning a white beam and striking right on top of him. He couldn’t feel any damage or infliction as he deeply exhaled and inhaled air of energy.
< Let’s do it. > Licht telepathically whispered.
Boom!
Julius supersonic out into the air, leaving a deafening noise across the vicinity. The shockwave decapitated plenty of numbers on the field.
--
920 Casualties
--
Whoops! Julius remained focused on the hunt. He flew up until enough to the stratosphere. A beam of light with a manifestation of an eagle flashed in the distance. That must be it. Directing right to the summoning beam of white light, he summoned Licht.
< Bring the darkness! > Licht commanded.
Julius redirected his wrist to bring a portion of his dark qi right through every single space of the blade. He let it heat up and pulled the brake midair, positioning his legs into a sumo-stance squat. Both of his hands were on the grip with his eyes attentive to the white beam of light. Having the name of a move makes it powerful, right? Hmm. He thought of Empress Cai’s comment back at the palace. The dark qi did a shock burst at the tip and edge of the blade.
“Yuèqiú…hǎixiào!” (月球海啸!) Julius screamed through his vocal cords, performing a heavy slash that required his whole torso to move. An enormous black wave of qi in a prominent and defined shape of a tsunami swarmed through endless amounts of clouds, brawling right at the white beam of light.
Immediately, a pile of darkness overwhelmed the night sky, unleashing a volcanic mushroom cloud and a shockwave that cleaned off every obstacle in the sky, including the prior clouds. Despite the darkness, the sky-blue color shone from within the darkness and raised the brightness of near sun-like luminosity.
“Darkness at its performance. Bravo, if that’s what you call it!” Hu said in admiration.
“You could read my mind?”
“Eh…”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Privacy, please,” Julius grunted.
--
Adalberht the Bright Giant HP: 100% → 68%
--
“Here he comes, “Julius muttered while noticing a silhouette flying up to his level with the sky-blue showing off the pinpoint.
Adalberht exerted his energy, removing the entire mushroom cloud of darkness. The unprotected parts of his body were hemorrhaging but not enough to finalize him.
Mute? Julius thought before dodging away from the sudden swing from Adalberht who was appearing silent without any noise, at most maybe a casual runt’s breathing through the facial mask.
“Watch out!” Hu said.
Clash!
Julius braced against a humongous metal spear that clashed against his blade as his qi-loaded feet attempted to counteract the pressure. The effort was short as the former performed a phantom slam using his qi to bang on the spear, breaking Julius’s balance and going into a free fall.
--
Julius HP: 95% → 90%
--
He braced himself as Adalberht’s qi prevented him from moving away from the path, putting him in a strangled situation. The controlled breeze and gusts while dropping thousands of feet per second dispersed all his exterior qi and any chance to bring in the aura. Realizing this, his varied defenses are near zero.
The brain going nuts and wild was expected and his heart should react too in a rapid heartbeat but that just stopped. Instead, it was a calm pulse with confidence. Not a uniform reaction, leaving his mind the sole panic of the event. Subsequently, he sensed Adalberht coming down flying right above and one head jerk upwards; there he was coming down like a rocket with another move he was about to perform.
Julius was angry while mentally fearful of the upcoming misery. The dead white eyes from Adalberht were intimidating as they flashed when he reached down only tens of feet apart. He gripped the metallic silver shaft and swirled overhead.
--
1065 mi/hr. ↑
86,000 ft ↓↓
--
“Damn you!” Julius grunted, flinching his eyes.
Swoosh!
He opened his eyes expecting to be back on the ground.
“Grhh!” Adalberht yelled; the first time he broke out of silence.
“What happened?!” Hu wondered.
< We are saved! > Licht replied.
<< By whom? >> Julius asked, partially turning around. No way. “Solomon!”
“Where the hell have you been?!” Solomon yelled from a mile away, descending down along with Julius. A part of his face was blocked by the flashing light of his qi. What followed was a quick spew of a fly, striking Adalberht’s qi strangle, shattering it apart revealing the formerly individual strands of strings.
Solomon dashed right next to Julius, summoning his sledgehammer and crashing him down to the ground.
Julius, finally free from the strangling, exerted his energy back up, bringing back the dark qi. He slowed himself down and was able to land safely while destroying a piece of the ground. Mud, water, and various wildlife that depended on the swamp ecosystem were splashed away. The shallow crater generated from Julius’s landing brought the heat and dried up the premise, leaving the mud to stack up on the non-affected swamp.
“Where the hell have you been?!” Solomon asked again, standing outside of the crater likely watching Adalberht’s next move. He joined the fight uninvited, which nothing Julius could counter. As long as they don’t win, that is what matters.
“Has it been two weeks?” Julius asked, wiping his hair back from the mess. His mouthpiece opened and dried his mouth before hiking up to the edge of the crater, reuniting with Solomon. “Because it was only a few hours in there.”
Solomon, to his right, turned partially right back at him. “Another time distortion?”
Julius grimaced with the mouthpiece closing up. “Your face. Who did this to you?”
Solomon gazed shifted to his right, directing right at Adalberht. “What makes you think you can beat him?”
“You really have changed,” Julius muttered, pausing for a moment. He caught on his stare. “It was him, was he? Those wounds are fairly recent, at least a day. How long was the war on the swamp?”
“Five days. About to be six. Adalberht was hard to beat. Hell, he even took out Empress Cai. Did you know that?!”
Julius nodded. “I did. I gave her a tourniquet. That stopped the bleeding,” he said, holding up his empty left hand, filled with dark qi.
“So, what makes you think you can beat him?”
“We have to work together. Me beating him alone will be a suicide as I found out his ability to strangle me in place. You can prevent that from happening. While I received dark energy that appeared to counter his power of light…Thirty-two percent of his health went down before he pulled that move.”
Solomon hummed briefly while turning back to Adalberht who was getting back up after crashing to the ground. “He also has regeneration.”
--
Adalberht the Bright Giant HP: 68% → 85%
--
“We have to keep him fairly on foot as much as possible, leaving no barrier for him to fly off in escape,” Solomon continued, restructuring his sledgehammer in a blink. He directed the hammer right up close to Julius. “Maybe if we both have a trace of the dark qi, it could end quicker. And hurry, pass it over. He is about to rise up and attack at any moment.”
Julius’s left hand gripped tightly on the hammer, creating a flow of his dark qi right on the hammer’s surface. Once he let go, Solomon’s right wrist and arm flexed upon letting go. He muttered that it was much heavier. Heavier than an entire anvil, and Solomon wanted to question it but held it back, gulping it down his throat.
Rumble!
Adalberht rose up mighty with all the God Rays flashing from above, illuminating behind him. It brightened the area momentarily. Julius struck it off, bringing the gloomy and dark weather back to the moment, initiating the second phase of the battle.
Clash!
Julius’s eyes glowed gold from the reflection of the metallic spear and the greatsword in a clash.
“Watch out!” Solomon yelled and launched the sledgehammer that smacked Adalberht hard, putting him in a trance. Furthermore, he swung it like a bat that struck the spearhead. It cracked like a drought, leaving it vulnerable. He saved him in a nick of time as Adalberht had something behind his sleeves that Julius couldn’t see.
In reaction, Julius went underneath the giant, rolling through between the legs. Subsequently, he went for an upward swing diagonally that struck the back, piercing through the armor from the tip of the blade.
--
Adalberht the Bright Giant HP: 85% → 79%
--
The circumference of qi appeared out of nowhere when Julius noticed a vacuum of pressure directing towards a one-kneed Adalberht at the center. When the latter’s head brightened, Julius took it as danger and ran up on him like a wall and used leverage to leap up in the air, thrusting his speed right at Solomon, taking him away from the zone.
Both crashed down to a bare spot, rolling face down. A loud rumbling that shook the floor the following. That was a close one. Julius lifted his head to find a pyramid-shaped beam shooting upwards with Adalberht being the central structural support as a manifestation of the pyramid tower building up.
He saw Solomon getting up, regaining his composure. His face looked rough and irritated to the core. The burnt scars aren’t helping a bit, making him look freakier and hollower.
“Now!” Julius yelled, running right at the spot and deploying an aggressive slash. Solomon followed up with a slam right on the top pinnacle. That was where the abundance of bright qi was attracted to. The striking slam sounded like the forging of the blade. Constant ringing from the steel in reaction to the sledgehammer. Solomon continued slamming like there was no tomorrow until there was a crack, and the two backed away.
While in the air, Julius’s esophagus began to heat up. Quickly, he temporarily let Licht hang on his back, using the hilt as the placeholder.
“This is going to hurt, looking at your body statistics,” Hu said in concern.
“If it is effective, so be it,” Julius replied.
His focus went into a targeting mode as his eyes twitched and became a radar focusing on the distorted enemy. The peripherals could see a change of light underneath as his mouth filled up, forcing the mouthpiece to open and bringing the flashlight generated from inside. Julius directed his head until it could calibrate at the specific point.
Perfect. Julius kept his head still with his eyes capturing the progressive decomposition of the bright qi pyramid paradox. Right underneath the spot where Solomon was when striking down his sledgehammer was Adalberht’s head, glancing down. This is for Empress Cai and Solomon.
Warg!… Boom!
Julius blasted a humongous beam of black and blue; subsequently, he felt a force that signaled back to his mouth. In a couple of seconds, the beam ceased revealing the damaged pyramid with the top shattered and exposed.
“That’s it? Why’s nothing—”
Boom! Shatter!
In a blink of light, an explosion beyond the size of the pyramid was released into the sky, sending a transforming dome of smoke with it. A ring of shockwaves developed at the speed of a sports car, reaching Julius and Solomon that blasted them away for a few miles.
The two crashed to the floor but swiftly regained their position and observed the scenery where the blackness continued the theme of the dark world at the swamps. There’s no more water escaping the sky. Only gusts of heat. Dangerous enough to burn the skin amid being the night.
A shield was involuntarily summoned from his body using the dark qi. The shield centered with Julius’s point of view in a similar fashion to Celeste’s barrier, surrounding and encircling the individual. Dust, dirt, and bits from the swamp could be seen colliding with it when the remnants of the blast reached along the path. He continued to watch while not seeing Solomon anywhere nearby.
Where the hell is he? Julius wondered. In the meantime, the explosion along with the clouds started to dissipate, and no more shape of the mushroom cloud came from the dome. Everything disintegrated within a hand’s worth of minutes quicker than the prior blast in the air.
--
Adalberht the Bright Giant HP: 79% → 1%
--
Oh! Come on, man! He ranted, forcing the shield open and dashing right back to the spot. Surprised to find Solomon already at the spot, waiting for anything to happen as Adalberht’s silhouette was still visible within the remnants of the smoke.
As it clears, the silhouette has shortened like losing height. The towering individual that Julius could slide underneath only to reveal Adalberht to be even shorter than himself. Julius and Solomon slowly walked up to the site, concurrently pressing their thighs and legs to increase their weight.
More steps and Julius stopped, gesturing Solomon to the same.
Slump!
The opponent collapsed onto its knees with eyes staring directly at the sky. Bloody red and white liquid water fell from his mouth. Not for long, more came out sprinkling from the scorched abrasions, eyes, and nasal linings. A brutal sendoff ended with a heavy slam, cracking the spine after crashing to the floor.
--
Adalberht the Bright Giant HP: 1% → 0%
--
< Do you feel that? > Licht asked.
<< Of course, a relic, isn’t it? >> Julius telepathically replied, lowering his arm before walking right up next to Adalberht. His metallic spear lay adjacent to his dead body. However, only the metallic shaft remained. Solomon wiped out the entire arrowhead with no hesitation. He was really angry, angry. As he went down grabbing the shaft, a jolt went up his arm, and dropped it.
<< Is that the feeling… >>
“Yes. You finally got it. And get that in our hands before some random enemy grabs it from our hold,” Hu said.
Julius grabbed it again at ease, giving a little swirl of the shaft. Very sturdy. His hand articulated for it to rotate, bringing a vibrant echo and soundwaves flowed out around the vicinity. Incredible relic. He stopped, feeling the grip once more and confirmed it as a relic and must be protected until he can find somebody to wield it. Already Julius has one in mind. Before leaving, he fired a qi blast from his palm, triggering a blaze of blue flames that enveloped Adalberht’s body.
He walked away as the flames decomposed it, reuniting with Solomon.
“Finally, it’s over,” Solomon muttered. He then tilted his body and looked at the metal shaft that Julius was wielding. “Is that another relic?”
“Yeah, from him. It feels more like a vibration upon first contact. Which is interesting as if it is a different weapon after you decimated the arrowhead.”
Solomon nodded, satisfied from viewing it and lifting his upper body back up. “He was about to do it again. The dark qi you lent was an insane upgrade for that battle. Decimating it at the first shot wasn’t how it went the first time I fought him.”
“Thanks for saving me from getting strangled. Otherwise, I would explode again.”
Solomon grimaced, lifting his index finger. “Good thing you told me that because I sense your difference in power was much more than ever before. And that dark qi of yours is powerfully questionable. We have to be careful more often.”
Julius shook his head, disagreeing with the act of consistent carefulness. “I don’t believe so confidently. Being more careful can be too redundant. How much can we possibly go before all hell breaks loose? Chains shattered. The war has already begun...Majority of Longyue was decimated to ashes. Which I’ve only realized there wasn’t enough defense at all to protect the capital. And y’all are out in the swamps to fend off against the enemy. At this point, we have nothing to lose.”
“So, what’s your plan?” Solomon asked, eager to hear Julius’s idea.
“Every citizen that is alive shall be trained. If we need manpower, all of us need to train. We could refine our potential with anything that existed in civilization, but without some form of qi training, it is a dangerous loss.”
“Alright. I get the picture. We should talk more when the rest of the battle finishes.”
Julius nodded, and the two flew off at the direction back to the ongoing battlefield as the clouds started to disperse, bringing the moonlight back to the ground.
--
Mission Completed (3):
Confront the two Heavenly Dragon (天堂龙)
Stay on the path. (620 miles)
Fight Adalberht the Bright Giant.
Ongoing Mission (1):
End the Rain Swamp War (雨沼泽战争 )
--