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Lake of Towering Greens Arena
Min Merit Universe Total Score: 40,000
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The Skolritters exited their room after the shrieking bell rang throughout the entire space. Julius received a notification from Skoltor, identifying the dungeon. He was way above the minimum total score, but only interpreted it as a suggestion. Excluding it from his visuals, he led the group down the lengthy hall.
Every two steps were encounters of multiple doors and artistic walls. A second example of strange architecture that couldn’t be possible without the involvement of qi manipulation. From the exterior at any point within the festival, the arena was as it was named. A circular shape, and a form that diverged from the characteristics of an amphitheater. Four towers have their own space, demonstrating the holy mightiness with the support of luminous sunlight in the shape of God's rays. The details that were improvised were well thought out, except the large room earlier, and the entrance. Julius assumed it would be treated and built the same way that Underground Kriegshan was, in terms of magnitude and consistency. Having two areas that were the outliers of the bunch, he couldn’t comprehend what was permitted intent of suffering. And why was the large room where the Skolritters waited, only a modern-like open lobby if the existing furniture were discarded? That was sensitively infuriating.
There were no windows in this part of the building. None were in the hallway, or the lobbies that were intertwined with unique detours. The path was a complicated maze and without Skoltor or any of the others in the group having a virtual system implanted, all would immediately fall victim to unorthodox directions. Julius was told of that beforehand. He experienced it once. Thus, he is going through another one while strolling down. Being the driver, he followed the path the map had recorded, and it was a mind fest. After going through one detour, the visual surroundings became distorted, manipulating the sense of gravity and placement.
The abundance of lavender mist that came from Celeste’s mouth lingered on his body and it seeped underneath his skin, massaging his insides. Weird as it sounded, the lethargic symptoms were masked and sailed away far into the abyss. He had heartily thanked Celeste for easing his abrupt mental pain. It was not a time to worry about it now. The lavender worked well even after waking up, effects were still vibrant. His mind remained calm, sticking to a more straightforward mindset. He can’t fight it. He wanted to, but he couldn’t. An imaginary feeling of a wall stopped him.
Slap!
The force of a palm struck his temple. Julius stopped and turned around. Everyone else was around an inch apart from him. They glared at each other at why he suddenly jolted back.
“You, okay?”
“I thought somebody slapped the side of my face,” Julius muttered. When he tried to think, another round hit him again. There were fire particles sizzled down from his skin. It rained down to the floor, phasing out into the thin air. The hallway’s shape began to distort into irregular polygons. An art dream. The brown and white color of the walls manifested various lines and shapes that weren’t decipherable.
“We have to keep moving!” Celeste exclaimed, pushing and directing Julius through the developing paradox. She turned her head to the back, ordering everyone to line up. Julius was at the front end of the single-file line, and Solomon accepted the tail end.
Julius felt a grip on his right soldier, followed by sounds of dull palms slapping down the line. Celeste whispered into his ear, prompting him to move. He summoned Licht, who, of course, was asleep. This time was an exception, and Julius didn’t wake him up. The colorful distortion was disturbing his eyes, making him as sensitive as a fleeing bird. He kept himself on the line, dependent on Celeste’s grip. Skoltor's map was distorted too, making the pathway nearly impossible to ease through.
The whole thing became wicked when Julius, directing the team through the caveats and unexpected corners, suddenly got another slap on his face. He innately grunted, grinding his teeth, and unleashed a screeching sound that spooked him because that was a massive clash and grind. He found out it wasn't only him, others got their faces attacked.
He couldn't see what it looked like on his face but after seeing their inflicted burn, holy smokes. Julius switched hands to hold Licht, then touched his temple, finding hells of rough, scratchy patches that were too deep in this lengthy hair. The mushy sounds of flesh were so startling. This was a stronger punch, but he didn't expect it to inflict a burn that quick. Letting go of his hand from the spot, it brought blue blood and thin slices of dead, scorched flesh lying on his palm. Julius, disgusted, flicked it off from his grip. Articulating his hand again, he reached a bit of his palm right into his mouth while watching others dealing with the burning pain.
He felt particles on his fingers and he asked any of them to observe his mouth for any damages. “Give me a count of one to five. How bad is it?”
Celeste and Solomon, with eyes widened, gave a three. While the others give a four. Then Victoria, being the fourth in the line, nudged through. She insisted on moving his hand while observing way too close. Her eyes readjusted after acting as a microscope when she leaned back, nearly making Julius uncomfortable.
“I take back the four. Your teeth are healing as I'm talking,” Victoria muttered, pointing at the lower front teeth. “Look, it's growing back.”
“Ok, you guys can stop looking. It's freaking me out.” Julius said as his mouthplate closed up.
Whoosh!
“Ow!” Julius screamed from the depths inside his neck that the grunts could be heard through the mouthplate. He had his hand held right on the back of his head the second after getting blasted by the same fire projectile. He thrust the end of his greatsword’s hilt, slamming his forehead into it maniacally. Celeste and others tried to grab Licht away from Julius’s grip. That awkwardly failed as he yanked it away from them and accidentally burst a load of qi like some broken force field. They landed on their backs a few feet away from him.
The ‘wall’ in Julius’s head became literal, and he could interpret it tactically. He heard sounds of water in the strength of a landslide roaring in his ears. He dropped Licht to the floor, shattering the irregular distortions. Sand particles flew in the air following the drop and landed on the greatsword. It was so heavy that it left a dent, and there was a solid wood surface below it. The roaring sounds of the water were so immense, not in the mood to slow down. And the clinging mess of a ding that came from steel as if it were banged at each other ranged from his brain. Julius continued to scream that his mouthplate was automatically forced open. His eyes were sensitive to colorful lights and the distorted surroundings. The lavender effects have ceased, returning to himself quickly and radically dangerously. His vision was flashing foggy suddenly, and he pleaded for help.
Through the loud water landslide, Julius could hear a faint voice. He couldn’t differentiate, but knew it was one of them. Before he could do anything, he felt the urge deep within his stomach. A throbbing push from his abdomen. Something was punching from the inside with the desire for the exit. Oh, Yinhai! Ow! Please get this off! Without hesitation, Julius pushed the arm of the person away. He raised his left leg and did a one-eighty swirl, using his right foot to pivot. He closed his briefly opened eyes and then stomped down hard, so gruellingly that his femur shook, vibrating the entire left leg’s muscular system. His entire torso ballooned, and in a phantom hit, he vomited out a beam full of energy. While letting it all out of his mouth, he could smell the crispy smoke that gave a whiff of his nostrils. Naturally, it cranked his eyebrows downward. He braced up his back, arching it to steer the weight upward.
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Screech!
It screamed in his eardrums, but he couldn't care less. He wanted all his mental restraints to be let out. Damage or whatnot to the building, the battle has already begun before the stage.
Julius relaxed his eyelids and the pressure slowly lifting it up. The vision was still foggy, but tolerable. The energy inside of him was still abnormal in a constant burn.
His mental awareness smoothly sailed to shore. By the border of the sand, the angry waves and intensity drastically subsided. He blinked his eyes a couple of times when it finally recalibrated. The beam dispersed, leaving behind a breath of black smoke. His mouth breathed and got rid of the heat temperature, sizzling it out through his lips.
Splat!
Julius flinched at the sudden burst of liquid covering his eyes and soaking his face. “What the hell?!” he yelled. Followed by multiple loads of spit, he wiped his eyes, revealing an open arena and structure in the daylight sky above. A massive crowd sat in the circumference elevated and up high. Multiple rows with the circumference that surrounded the arena. At least fifteen to forty thousand spectators fit the entire seating capacity.
He looked down and saw the blood puddles across the vicinity of where he stood. His hand was soaked. The hard sandy floor was stained with a dried dark shade of red, turning black. A loud thud arrived the next second, revealing a decapitated body that was empty and hollowed inside. It sizzled like it was grilled. He gave a stare for a moment and turned around to see all the Skolritters were half laid on the arena floor. Solomon was very close. Julius realized that the arm was from him.
“Oh, my Yinhai! Did you know what you just did?!” Hu yelled through the Skoltor system.
“Murderer!!” yelled the crowd. Julius looked back to the scolding crowd while his neck grew tense. The term echoed across every part of the arena. Ahead on the other side were all the remaining contestants. From the bodies around the vicinity and the clothes, three casualties had already been tallied. A so-called ‘regulator’ from the appearance of a long white cloak and a hardcover book in his hand, teleported in between Julius and the contestants. Celeste, Solomon, and Victoria stood from the floor. Lu Yi and Ritter got up, wiping off the sand dust.
Celeste nudged Julius’s shoulder. He turned, seeing her holding the grip of Licht. Her first time. In response, he grabbed the empty part of the hilt and jerked his head back in response to the ‘regulator’. His voice was annoying. Literally, it was down to the well, where it can still be heard and inescapable. He called an abrupt halt to the tournament because of Julius’s actions of killing the three.
His mind was back on track, but he was confused. “What the fuck did I do?”
The crowd responded with a deep sigh. Julius shrugged his shoulder with a scorned face.
The regulator’s hidden eyes behind the dark lenses were aimed at Julius. “You are an animal. You were recklessly murdering these fair contestants."
“How was that my fault?! I was in damn pain and distortion!” Julius responded, then paused. He looked back in the opposite direction, realizing it was a closed wall. Celeste, too, simultaneously glared.
“You set us up, didn’t you?” Celeste muttered. Julius grimaced, glaring right back at the ‘regulator’.
“I did not do such a foolish thing.”
“Oh, really. Then why do you have that in your hand?”
“I have nothing!”
Bang!
The ‘regulator’ yelled as he collapsed headfirst onto the stage. Julius, keeping his eyes on him, hovered his hand to his side and found it to be hollow. My gun! He half-turned to the right, where he saw Celeste gripping the SIG P210. Her hand was blood-boiled, veins popped around the knuckles of her thumb and the lateral of her wrist. Julius saw her eyes were dead, targeting the ‘regulator’. Both of her pupils were as small as a dot of ink. He grasped his pistol out of her hands. “You are god damn crazy,” Julius whispered to her before the mouthplate closed up. “Too damn soon.”
He jogged like a rushed salaryman on the street, with his left hand up, gripping at his pistol. The regulator’s glasses were shattered, revealing a death reckoned look. The dark circles on him were miserable, agonizing, and sickly. While maintaining eye contact, Julius hovered his pistol right aligned to his head. “On behalf of Longyue and the government of the West Cai Dynasty, you’re executed at the hands of the emperor.”
“Emperor—”
Bang!
He pulled the trigger on hold, firing pinpoint bullets. The qi ragged up the regulator’s white cloak, sending bits of cloth scattered everywhere like dirty dust. Without any further, the body was engulfed in his sky-blue qi, and a charcoal pungent smell enveloped in the vicinity.
Boom!
A circus frenzy occurred outside of the arena. Everyone paused at what happened and tried to make sense of what was happening outside of the arena. Julius eyed Celeste, and she immediately nodded. While they were distracted, he thrust the side of his boot right at the burning body, directing it at the contestants.
Pew! Pew!
The burning body was barely inches from reaching the group when it was barraged into bits of nothing, fizzling out the flames with it. Does anybody know there are guns in this world at all? Julius’s eyebrows raised as he was astonished that somebody else had guns from the evidence of the bullets rained to the floor. Through the slight whiff of smoke appeared a western-clothed feminine fatale. The lady got everything from the cowboy hat, a black button-down shirt with four snap buttons lined up from north to south covered by a lengthy jacket, and a similar tactical belt embraced by an emblem-like buckle. When she landed, she fired another round from her dual revolvers.
Clank!
“Now, now. You can’t be doing that and leave us all behind,” Mr. Kang muttered after blocking the two bullets with his bare veins and large forearms. “Forget the one hundred contestants. Anybody who enters this stage is considered a player and fighter.”
Multiple cultivators from the House of Kang arrived at the scene. Some took standing on the edge of the open arena, using their feet and legs like birds hanging on the tree.
“You took your time…rightly,” Julius said.
“Don’t worry, there were no innocent casualties outside. They were moved by our team before the security ambush. The rest should go as we all plan.”
“Be prepared for uncertainty coming during this entire match…By the way, where are Feng and Yang?”
Mr. Kang pointed to the wall at the side of the contestant; hidden behind it were the two waving back before a rumbling earthquake motion erupted. They were shaken and altered by their balance, collapsing their bottoms to the floor. Afterward, the specific wall started unfolding outward like the locks in a waterway or canal, revealing the lake. The ones who sat specifically within those walls now have to deal with it.
“Time to fly!” Mr. Kang said, initiating the fight. He swarmed away along with the rest of the cultivators nearby.
Celeste and the rest of the Skolritters also departed to hunt for their first opponent. Julius’s opponent's hunt was already decided. He kept his focus on the cowgirl with the dual revolvers. She stood within the stampede of fighters brawling, too, returned the glares. She then put both of her revolvers back into her holster, and Julius did the same. He and her didn’t move an inch. They don’t let anybody disturb their silent stare exchange.
It lasted for a minute. One then dared cross into Julius’s eyes, prompting him to shoot him at the kneecap, ending his run in the arena.
“What kind of relic you got over there?” the lady asked with a slight grin. Her one eye was admiring Julius’s SIG P210.
“It’s not a relic. It’s handmade and modified. And faster.”
“But is it effective?” she asked with a slanted face.
“That would depend on you.”
“Then would you demonstrate?”
Julius and the cowgirl went into a stance without deterring their stares.
Bang!
They dashed in a flash, leaving behind trails of burning friction all over the floor. With a couple of inches in between each other, Julius pulled out his SIG P210. She pulled out her revolver, and the two slammed each other’s forearms like swords. The shockwave dispersed waves of energy at the speed of a sports car, reaching gusts up to the uppermost row of seats. Through the reflections of her eyes, Julius saw his eyes glow gold before her leafy green eyes shined back.
“What’s your name, cowgirl?” Julius asked while simultaneously observing the back of the lady’s jacket grow longer as a cape in reaction to the clash. On it was what appeared to be a family seal. A red eagle’s head with golden eyes towered above the two revolvers.
“I’m Qiang Zhao, head of the Zhao clan.”