Many minutes passed, and everywhere was still smoked gray and black, no color. It was silent. If there were anyone or creature in the air viewing below, it would appear as if there were a storm. And it left a heavy residue. The entire festival and the lake were all covered, like they were masked over, and the layers of fog generated from the impact were heavily thick.
Spew! Boom!
A vertical beam of green qi penetrated through the thick space. It flashed in the air like a sword and sprinkled out rain of qi at a wide radius. The rain lasted for an hour according to the position of the sun. By the time the rain subsided, it was well into mid-afternoon. The white sun hovering in the sky was at an angle with its rays shining over the bare grounds where the arena previously stood. Most of the walls were trashed and destroyed. Only an arc remained. The surviving contestants lay on the arena floor, where it was the most intact. Unfortunately, the lake had withstood heavy damage from the explosion, ending up with only fifty percent of the original volume of water, and half of the lake was eradicated. Approximately, thirty lay unconscious on the arena floor.
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Record speeds and numbers recorded.
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Julius felt lightheaded when he woke up. His greatsword, Licht, lay flat across from his reach. He coughed out a whiff of smoke and dust that clobbered his esophagus. He was in pain after he lifted his eyes open. His head tightened and throbbed for a minute, but it was bearable. The right arm felt a little loose as he slowly got up from the rubble floor.
Crack!
He wiggled his arm, finding a disruption around his shoulder. The motion of a lever switch jammed was the way he thought about it. Julius redirected to his left arm and legs and lifted up from the rubble. Around the rubble were fogged. The grayish flow of misty gas lingered, making the spot humid. That was the least of his worries as he minimally sweated around his hair and neck. Standing up straight, his back also felt odd. Nothing broken. He quickly concluded. Right at the center of his upper torso at the spine, he felt more space as it got extended. That led to another motion where his chest felt wider. Eventually, he looked down and found his dragon vinyl overcoat’s end, now stopped above his waist, and turned into a standard jacket by length. His boots were torn into scraps, revealing larger feet coming out from ragged socks. Going back up, he glanced through the ripped pants from his ankle up to his shins, leaving the tactical belt untattered. That was when he immediately picked up what happened. His loose right arm made a lot more sense. He had his left hand held onto his right shoulder and jerked it back and forth until a cracking sound followed. Julius rolled around his shoulder joint and his strength ran back up to pace.
With the headache ceased Julius strolled down from the pile of rubble. He then grabbed Licht from the ground and saw the size difference that put the greatsword to a super long katana. The moment was still weird, and Julius comprehended the lighter weight from the grip. He put Licht on his back and effectively felt nothing related to the heaviness that he was used to. He reached right up to the fog barrier. Upon touching it, the fog dispersed after it contacted Julius’s finger. It swept clean and sprinted away until it faded into the abyss. Ahead revealed Qiang fatigued. She laid her back right on a wreckage pile. Julius walked to her, and she heard his footsteps and turned her face over right at him.
“You alive…good,” Qiang muttered.
“I was about to say the same thing…but the whole arena is gone…What the hell did we do?”
Qiang tirelessly shrugged, unsure of it herself. “I can only assume when we both clashed it must have exploded and we got knocked out.”
Julius summoned two water bottles from his virtual inventory and handed one to Qiang. “Here, hydrate yourself,” he said.
She quickly grabbed it, and her paced breathing eased after she ingested half a bottle of water. After a brief break, she drank the last half of the water and crumbled the plastic into bits. Qiang then stood and felt refreshed. Her hat was nearly a clean cut in half, and Julius saw her brushing off the dust from her cowboy hat, revealing the wide gap that was hung on by the remaining threads.
“That was a comfortable hat,” Julius commented.
“And you broke the rule!” Qiang blurted. “If anybody in the Zhao clan finds out, I’m in trouble as well!”
“Aren’t you the head of the Zhao Clan? Surely, you have some exclusive immunities,” Julius responded, remembering her title.
Qiang paused. She turned herself away, and Julius didn’t budge of her private space. Before he could utter a word, he was met by Celeste who looked roasted alive. She ran through a small cluster of cloud dust nearby. Her entire clothing was charred, and her face darkened from the burns. The rest of the Skolritters came along through and followed out. They had the worst as all went out in a limp. All of them had one of their legs that appeared to be broken. Julius at once summoned more water bottles from his inventory and gave one to Celeste before meeting up with the rest.
Upon closer look, Julius handed each water and analyzed their injuries. Celeste arrived from behind and felt better from the water. She then directed everyone to an empty spot. Julius let them off. They are terrible. It reminded me of the underground tournament. He reflected and followed them. As he headed to an empty space within the group, he heard sprinting footsteps from behind. Recognizing Qiang’s footsteps, she came up.
Celeste, after she directed everyone to sit down, turned around and saw Qiang, giving her a quick glare. It wasn’t the nicest as her eyes bulged. However, Julius gave her a denying gesture, and she then broke it off and offered her to sit down. Qiang didn’t hesitate to and did.
“You too,” Celeste said.
“I’m okay. You go ahead and—"
“I insist!” Celeste distinctly replied.
Julius grunted but sat himself down. He turned to where he was still within the vicinity until he saw as much of the arena as possible. Granted, some parts were still covered in clusters of cloud dust. So far, no signs of where the rest are at. There were traces of qi but too thin to differentiate and identify. In a way, which made the whole matter a dead end. The whole competition pretty much ended. High casualties were the audience, and the attendees of the festival made up the majority percentage. A fair interpretation. However, Julius isn’t counting the Tang Family or the House of Kang as the little traces of qi around the vicinity were indecipherable. So, there’s still a chance they are still knocked out.
Going clockwise, Celeste does the healing process individually rather than as a whole group due to not being at full strength, affecting the distribution, so she had to focus on one-to-one for the sake of efficiency.
While sitting on the floor, Julius embraced the boredom and relaxed until Solomon commented on his physical changes while Celeste checked on him. “Do I look strange to you?”
“Maybe. Your torso looked like a giant bull,” Solomon noted. “Not only you but the cowgirl next to me. She too is a giant.”
Qiang didn’t take that as a compliment and pulled her revolver out of her holster. She then pushed down the hammer, giving it a click. Julius, forcing himself out of boredom, held his hand in the grip of his SIG P210 while staring at her. “If you shoot, Zhao Clan won’t have a cent left.”
“Why? Are you mocking me?”
“Yes. You took an offense to a compliment,” Julius stated. “And I offered to get your wounds healed. At least accept the friendly gesture, not many opponents get the opportunity.” He still kept his grip on the pistol as she hadn’t resolved to surrender. “I’m warning you.”
She didn’t back down as he felt her qi rise through the ceiling. Julius realized her craziness was incomprehensible. The calmness and lack of emotion before dueling might be a façade as this wasn’t the same person he endured from the minutes of fighting. The Skolritters went full alert despite injury, and Solomon was not in the mood for jokes when his eyes glowed red. Celeste finished healing him and her eyes too triggered, releasing flashing purple. Victoria, despite a broken leg and a tattered chest with an open mouth gape, lounged herself in front of Julius, blocking half of his body. Everyone was in a deadlock, unsure who would pull the motive. Julius wanted her alive which others appeared to not share. This is batshit crazy.
----------------------------------------
The jolting flashes straightly impaled the eyes as if sunlight was given the moment of surprise. That was the last recollection before Feng experienced a forceful swirl of her body that knocked her out cold before even certain coming down crashing to the floor. She awakened with nothing unordinary that would cause her concern. Her limbs articulated fine with no gaps in between each gesture.
No symptoms of blindness as her vision was vivid as day. Feng rubbed her eyes, removing remnants of dust and debris underneath her eyelids. She rolled to her back and lifted her torso upwards, revealing a result of destruction across all space. Everything was in shambles that reminded her of the Fall of Longyue. Nothing to obtain or sense with. Bewildered as she was, she quickly regained composure and found that she was way farther than expected. These weren’t the sandy hard floors from the arena. Feng thought. With one finger touch that prompted her to leap back up to her feet, she quickly calculated that the whole festival was decimated. She leaned at the sturdy rails and viewed how significantly the lake was drained, barely enough water for the water wildlife to survive, but there was no sign of them since the battle expanded to the lake.
Pinpointing her relative location, the intersections to the right guided her position. She articulated her view to the left where the arena was located, now ground zero. Thus, Feng got off the rail and strolled right back to the arena through a clustered and rocky path. Multiple dusted bodies, each with various degrees of amputation, lay as ragdolls amongst the rubble. Feng didn’t sensitively react as she passed through. Additionally, she went to a couple partially buried bodies for identification.
Nope, blue robe, and a sword sheath. She concluded and checked one more time for any vinyl or seal emblem imprinted. Neither came out with anything and that eased a little bit of her concerns. Thus, she continued to go through the disorderly path and the space widened, allowing her to walk freely from the obstacles. As her foot stepped into the arena’s original circumference, she felt a dull thump followed by a grunting moan. What’s that? Her ears heightened. Lifting her feet, Feng did a dull slam from the bottom of her boots, causing another moan. Her eyebrows cocked up, and she nudged herself away from her prior spot and thrust her hands into the pile of wood and concrete. Got you! She felt the individual’s shoulder and lifted it out of the rubble, revealing a black overcoat with a Cai Tiger’s face vinyl and orange double-plated shoulders.
“Dad?!” Feng yelled as her expression dropped.
Father Kang looked absolutely terrible. His scraped face as if a creature performed a direct quick, heavy slash. He had opened his eyes upon hearing her call him, but he was too weak and couldn’t utter words through his mouth other than agonized moans. His qi is still there but won’t for long. Feng looked around while both of her hands gripped the flaps of her father’s overcoat.
Boom!
A bright towering sky-blue light of qi glowed in the bright daylight. She glared at it momentarily before turning back to her father, “I’m gonna get you help!” Feng exclaimed.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Quickly, she went underneath Father Kang’s left arm and let it over her shoulder. Feng’s mind was distraught; she had never seen her father in such bad shape. While she picked up the pace, her father continued to moan. Feng grimaced as it progressed swiftly. She heard his esophagus and the trachea grinded his voice. His grip on her shoulder fluctuated and surged unpredictably, signaling he was fighting for his consciousness. Feng continued until she reached the spot where she saw Julius and the Skolritters, expecting them to notice her.
Much to her dismay, she saw them in the middle of a conflict and did not appear to take notice of her presence. Their eyes flashed glaring colors. They were all inside a barrier cube, recognizing it to be from Celeste’s qi. “Damn it,” she angrily grunted. There was one spot with enough supported height. Feng took her father and laid his back on the wreckage pile. “Here take this,” she muttered and transferred a trace of her qi to him. It would only be temporary because her qi isn’t the “healing” type. Unfortunately, it only acted as a boost, so if the time ran out, Father Kang would be in a trance and dependent.
He woke up from his troubling eyes. “What happened?” he asked as if nothing happened.
“I’m gonna get Celeste to help you. I just transferred a bit of my qi to keep you awake so don’t move. Otherwise, you’ll drain it and be in trouble. Do you understand father?”
Father Kang nodded and gestured for her to go. “Hurry or I’ll move.”
“No, you better stay. I’m right across from here,” Feng replied and pointed her finger to where Celeste and the others were, having a conflict. The situation escalated when Feng ran in the direction of the Skolritters and noticed the cowgirl from earlier had her hand on her weapon.
Feng, in a squatted stance, jolted her right arm out and exerted flames, engulfing it up to her shoulder. As the ordinary flames ate it up, the crispy color of fire transformed into bloody red, and her fist doubled in size while she clenched her jaw, flashing red pupils. She hissed through her mouth and nostrils, exerting red-smoldered gas. “This ends now!” she exclaimed while holding the end of her right wrist. The grip sent the strength all directly to her enlarged fist. She articulated her dominant leg to the rear while nudging her torso to where her left side was at the front. Once at the right place, Feng started flexing both of her thighs, triggering an upsurge of maroon and blood vividness that surrounded her. With one second time, she dashed right up to the cubic barrier, thrusting a punch right to the surface.
“Enough!!” she yelled, bringing the extra rage of weight to her punch.
Crack!
As her knuckles felt the loosening of the barrier, it was enough to disrupt the momentum inside. Celeste, formerly flashing purple eyes, directed her attention to Feng. The whole mood in there began to switch, and before they could react, Feng broke through the barrier, sending her punch right down to the floor in between everyone and triggering a massive explosion. The red qi erupted from beneath the floor where Feng delivered the punch. It spat up high and overwhelmed the view with purgatory, thunderous red that terrorized the sky.
The whistling steel followed after a few seconds Feng threw the punch and before the qi completely engulfed everyone. What is this? Feng felt something hard that slid underneath and rubbed both the ridges and the flat surface of her clenched fist.
< That was very reckless of you >
Who said that? Feng was certain she heard someone talking to her. A deep man's voice that lay in between friendly and menacing. She rapidly turned her head around and saw no one while noticing things around her slowed down.
< First time? I understand. This is your first time experiencing someone communicating through your head, so I took a minute out of the time to slow things down. >
<< This can’t be real. Where are you? >> Feng asked, attempting her first telepathic communication.
< Let go of your fist. > The voice replied.
Feng took her right fist back as the flames dispersed. After she took it back, the red qi was sucked into what was clashing against her knuckles. It vacuumed like a monster. Within a few seconds, the area cleaned itself and reverted away from potential destruction at a massive scale, cutting off the source from bringing more qi into the air. Feng followed where the qi was sucked into. It was revealed to be Julius’s large sword. Immediately, she felt a jolting tick down her spine. << You’re a relic, aren’t you? >>
< Yes, the strongest of all so far in close proximity. >
<< You don’t feel like a typical one. I’ve never seen or read any relic on record that capable. >> Feng was intrigued. Ironically, the fascination calmed her body’s upsurge in qi, and she took a couple steps back.
< It’s like a game. I don’t even know why I exist. Julius knows that. Eventually, I’ll get answers, but it will be a long-term process. Hence, I don’t know how much farther my capabilities can go. >
<< That’s fair. But I think I had enough for the day. My mind isn’t used to this. >> Feng rubbed her head, feeling tense around her temple.
< Well, my name is Licht. It’s nice to meet you Feng, and thanks for the qi. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it, but it’ll be fun. > Licht greeted, and his voice faded from within Feng’s mind.
The slowdown of her surroundings was switched off after Licht’s voice sent farewells. A vibrating ring hummed, and the flow of time recalibrated, leaving the Skolritters unfazed by what happened in between. Feng then walked up to them, berating their feuds. “Are you all awake now?! No more careless confrontations?”
Julius shook his head, indicating that it was over. However, he didn’t stop fully when he brought out one more sentence from his angry mouth right at the cowgirl. “I swear, don’t you ever do that again!” He yelled with his finger pointed right at her. Lifting himself up from the floor, he then walked away for some private space.
"What the hell is wrong with you all? You all almost got into a fight because of these two. And at the wrong time, when the whole festival is destroyed, so we should be focusing on looking for survivors over this damn fiasco,” Feng reprimanded. “Why is your hand still on your weapon?” She noticed the cowgirl’s hand was still gripping the weapon that was held by the holder on her belt. Not holding back, Feng swiftly barged right up next to her and kicked out of her grip, using the outsole of her boot. The thrusting motion pushed the weapon out, prompting her and Feng to leap right to the weapon.
However, Feng was decisive, boosting to account for speed before performing a full-body twirl that gave her leverage through her legs. She performed a swirl kick and struck her head, flicking off her cowboy hat. As she tumbled down, Feng gave her a slam kick onto her shoulder from the heel. The pressure shocked the cowgirl as her grimace face turned dull and blank before free-falling to the ground. Celeste barely caught her under her full grip.
The cowgirl landed on her arms, and Celeste took her back to the spot and laid her on the floor getting her to be healed. Feng, on the other hand, dropped down and went to her father. Luckily, he was still stable enough for her to lift him up without worry. Father Kang limbed along the way to Celeste while she watched and guided his movements. Solomon got up from his spot, feeling the need to stretch for a few moments. He helped Father Kang get him down to sit, and Celeste finished fixing up the Cowgirl. Feng then transferred a trace of her qi into Celeste.
“Why?”
“Doing all of that must cost a lot of qi, so I’ll give you some boost. Consider it as a friendly courtesy.”
Celeste nodded with a slight smile and turned to work on healing Father Kang. Feng went right to the unconscious cowgirl. She held no ill will and placed her weapon right in her hand before walking away, viewing her father’s face healing from the heavy scrapes.
Victoria appeared normal, tied up her coat, hiding the large wide scar on her abdomen that reached up to her chest. She noticed Feng was eyeing her. “You were staring?”
“It was too big…”
“Had to take it for the team. That opponent is probably dead now, so it was worth it,” Victoria bluntly said, not giving a crap about the wound. Afterward, she looked up, finding the sky was red and cloudy. “Why is the sky red?”
“My qi can turn into clouds if enough was unleashed into the air.”
“No wonder why my vision around me appeared a little darker.”
Feng too looked up, “It should be clearer by any moment now,” she said. The sunlight rays penetrated the purgatory red clouds. While she watched, it cleaned itself up from the sky until an eruption occurred behind the remaining clouds of qi. The gusts dashed down to the surface, inflicting immense blows. Julius teleported right in front of the group, blocking the wind with Licht’s recently acquired vacuum ability. Feng leaped up in the air and gave a punching gesture to blend in her arm with the gusts. Effectively, it pushed back a few as her qi reflected like a mirror.
“We got company,” Julius said, exerting his qi to form his sky-blue aura.
“Shit, out of all times…” Feng muttered while her arms were heated.
From the source, the clouds disintegrated, revealing four masked individuals. Their appearance would mask the sky again as clouds formed out of thin air from afar and flowed right over. In the next few blinks, everywhere went nearly dark as if a rainstorm was coming.
The four wore uniform outfits, and from their body outlines, Feng counted three females and one brawny male. Their uniforms were all black vests with long flaps at the front and rear, and they were strapped by a gray belt over a lighter shade of black long-sleeved shirt and baggy pants. The boots and gloves were the only brightest, sharing the gray color of the belt. The hairs were unique to each person, making the identification more recognizable. Additionally, the four wore facial masks, and each had a different expression as they were artistic. They shared dragon head models for their masks, and the three ladies had brighter colors: green, orange, and violet. While the man embraced a full black and white uniform, leaving the dragon mask pure white.
Swoosh!
“Shit,” Feng muttered as they flashed really close to her and Julius.
Slash! Bang!
Feng flew back from the sudden explosion, crashing into a small pile of wreckage. She then leaped out of it, arriving back only to be confronted by a cloaked individual. The individual stood in front of Julius and appeared to have clashed back with the four dragon-masked cultivators. A fire barrier in the shape of a crescent was what separated Julius and the latter from continuing. Hence, the whole battle went to a standstill before it even began.
“Who is she?” she whispered.
Julius shrugged while observing the cloaked individual. “I don’t know. The qi was untraceable. Not even a tiny whiff could do the work. We hope the person is on our side,” he answered.
“Who are you?”
Is he better already? Feng heard that her father asked from behind as he stood. His qi was back on full fuel. Hence, he walked up to the individual. In return, the person didn’t respond other than a slight nod. It then looked in both directions; first him and then back to Feng and Julius, revealing a black void as if there was no face or anything to glare through.
Shatter! Clang! Swish!
The individual deflected off an attack from the green-masked dragon cultivator. She flew back as the latter unleashed a swarm of qi in the shape of a cross right back at her. All four masked dragons dodged from it with an arm’s distance away as it flew faster than an Adler.
Boom!
Everyone who stood behind the shattered barrier stared silently as the winds from the blast blew right at their faces. The cloaked individual then took off what held the hoodie portion of the cloak. Swirls of red hair unleashed from the dark void as the individual’s head reappeared. Long hair. A lady?! Feng was fascinated with the cloak as it concealed everything from top to bottom, leaving the individual undetected. The hair smelled like roses as the hair rolled down past the shoulders, reaching mid back and right at the waistline. Because the lady took the hoodie off and a bit untied at the torso, the lady’s voluptuous figure became more visible.
Hang on, I know this fragrant smell. Feng’s mind in the back awoke after smelling the flowery smell of the red hair. She glared at her father momentarily before walking right up behind the lady, palm tapping her shoulder. “Empress Cai?” Feng muttered.
“What?” Julius immediately turned, expressing his baffled face after a second of looking at the lady. “I haven’t heard any updates about your hypoqi fatigue, and your qi is back! Does that mean you’re healed and cured?”
Zwoop!
Everyone reacted to the teleportation sound. The four masked dragon cultivators were all on the ground from the way Feng entered back into the arena with her father.
“As much as I missed you…and everyone, we have old enemies to deal with first,” Empress Cai muttered, eyeing them four.
“Old enemies huh?” Julius wondered then revolved his head to his left. “Do you have a plan or who’s taking the shots?”
Empress Cai sighed deeply. “My strength might not be fully a hundred percent, so we all probably have to share,” she said. “Or cheat our way out.”
“I don’t mind as long as I can get loose,” Feng said before unleashing her bloody red aura.
Father Kang popped his knuckles and exerted his darkness which caught the attention of Julius, who was surprised by it. Solomon, along with the rest of the Skolritters, will stay at their spot. He assured them it would all be fine and be reserved for backups. Julius nodded at Solomon’s statement and went all out with his sky-blue aura, brightening the area. Finally, he and Empress Cai initiated the clash with an upward slash. Thus, the four dashed to the masked dragon cultivators head-on.