Clash!

Julius might not have felt it earlier, but Skoltor’s system indicated a fatigue effect hidden in his body. And it started to activate right during a clash with a cultivator that wore a purple dragon mask. He and she had fought one-to-one for the past ten minutes. He doesn’t know if he should take it into account when the two had no indication of overplaying the other. It was like an endless marathon with no breaks in between. His body reacted to events with no consistency. There are times when nothing has happened. His battle with Qiang or during the Swamp War had no moments of symptomatic fatigue anywhere in his body. The wrong timing irritated him as it appeared the cultivator was having a good time in this fight.

Julius had never met this group of dragon-masked cultivators before. Only a brief comment from Empress Cai that it was her old enemies was intriguing. Similar to Qiang’s confrontation at the beginning, he wanted them alive if possible.

The purple-masked cultivator suddenly switched her movesets, moving on to a hybrid of martial arts and swordsmanship. Oomph! Julius felt the thrust right into his abdomen, followed by a bone-shattering noise right from his chest; not a good moment for him. He violently vomited blood right to the cultivator while being rapidly pushed back midair. It worked as he took the chance to head back to the ground, leaving her attempting to clean the bloody residue that tampered with her mask.

Julius’s boots created a trail track as he landed hard while pulling the brakes. The pressure roasted the sandy layer of the floor, exposing the hard wooden base. Flames ignited from underneath. He wiped his mouth and spat the bloody residue that lingered behind his mouth. Funny that it tasted like a sweet drink. Hence, he was a little strained having to spit it out. His mouthpiece closed up when the purple-masked landed in front of Julius at the end of the blazed trail. One of her hands was soaked with dried blue blood. Her mask was tainted with blue spots, ruining the homogenous purple. The eyes of her mask flashed yellow, summoning a manifestation that was also her aura. The gusts generated from the sudden outburst blew out all the flames of the trail, dissipating it without a second thought.

Wow. A powerful display. Julius squinted his eyes after he witnessed the vibrant yellow aura of a roaring dragon beast. He had never heard a roaring aura before until now. He wasn’t terrified, but his spine shook, forcing him to exert his aura as a defense. Not giving him time to exhale, the purple-mask cultivator zoomed right up front and palmed right to his chest. A hollow crater erupted behind him in an instant. The rumbling from the impact of her palm massaged his entire body. It became painful when he flew right to the center of the crater. When Julius crashed down, he lost his grip on Licht and was pinned down. My arms! Damn it, I can’t move! He watched when he saw her standing at the edge. She then leaped right into the sky and dropped directly in line above Julius. Ah no, not again! Julius grunted, forcing his mouthplate to open.

Thump! Boom!

The crater walls widened as Julius hunched over, reaching up closer to the cultivator. He spat blue blood again, but she dodged from getting splashed again. However, a drop painted her left glove. She got triggered as Julius heard her grunting. She then delivered a heavy blow right to his jaw. Julius’s head jerked back, finding it hanging itself on the edge. His neck was holding him from falling off down further into the rabbit hole. The impact was such an impressive demonstration of the cultivator’s strength that at least ten feet were dug. Julius’s eyes could still move, and he eyed his troubling surroundings. His greatsword, Licht, was halfway over. One sudden movement and it will fall off the edge. He was aware of the situation as his mouth bled. Then his eyes and nose. Come on, Licht! His mind attempted to communicate from afar.

“Poor boy. Things were starting to get interesting,” the purple-masked cultivator said. Her voice was disappointed. Additionally, it was her first time uttering words since the battle began. “I wished the duel would last longer.”

Julius’s situation compromised him. He had nowhere to escape and witnessed the cultivator’s hands gripping her katana-length sword. She was about to make an execution move as the tip of the blade was directly above his abdomen. The sharpness preyed on his skin when she shoved it down. Grhh! He couldn’t emit a voice, leaving his mentality the sole commitment to this sharp pain. Because of the body’s paralysis, the infliction was torture and not immediate, making the experience more grinding. Skoltor’s system went into a panic, spamming red HUDs and alerting Hu, who came to the call.

“What the hell did you get yourself into?” Hu distraughtly said.

“Long story short, I’m fucked.”

“Ok, I got something. Hang on for a moment,” Hu said, and then her voice connection got cut off by a beeping sound.

I’m not leaving it off only because I got fucking stabbed. That would be the lamest way to lose. Julius angrily ranted. It was like him being trapped in the darkness void on the Merit Universe’s first floor. The only difference was this was irritating desperation rather than traumatizing. There was one thing that popped into his sprinted mind. If this doesn’t work, I’m done for.

As the cultivator continued to dive her sword deeper into his body, his back felt a protrusion. Julius flexed his neck, causing blood to splash out of his mouth. His throat screamed as the heat boiled his esophagus from the wound’s internal bleeding that reached up to the edge. Thin smoke emitted from his mouth and a whiff went into his nose. He aggressively sneezed, startling the cultivator. Somehow, it worked as she tumbled back from the smoke.

Bang!

She fell to the ground after a massive boulder hit her head before crashing on top of her. Julius turned to the right and above he saw Solomon. He emotionally expressed dismay, as his face was very readable. His ragged upper clothing hung on by his belt, revealing the wide scraps that mimicked a 2nd degree burn. He threw the boulder earlier from his right, and Julius could see the rocky crumbs fall from his fingers. That wasn’t the important part. His left hand held a transparent glass bottle filled with a blueish liquid with purple stripes swirled within the mixture. “Some lady called through my system. In fact, our whole team. She told me she knew you, and I got this to bring!” Solomon said from above, and he threw the bottle.

The smoke within Julius’s body nullified the paralysis after he lifted his back upwards. He jerked his hand outward and grabbed the upcoming bottle. He yanked the bottle cap out and quickly chugged the bottle’s contents as the purple-masked cultivator annihilated the fifteen-foot boulder on top of her. Hurry, throat. The substance had a high viscosity, which made it very slow and stuck along the linings in his esophagus. Julius felt the urge to gag. Before he could do anything, the cultivator broke off and dashed right to him, prompting Solomon to grab another boulder he had prepared for. Solomon came flying down with it in his grip. She was faster than him, missing the moment of impact.

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Julius then threw the empty glass bottle while struggling to swallow the substance. The glass bottle shattered right into her mask, and he followed with a horizontal slashing motion, striking her back. The boulder smashed right on her, giving Julius more time to remove the katana from his abdomen.

Slit!

He thrust it out, not even caring if his linings leaked out. Opening the virtual inventory, Julius poured two bottles of water into his mouth and gargled the back of his throat until the substance lost its resistance. As he felt the bits drop down into the depths of his esophagus, the internal force that caused the blood to leak out from his exposed wound progressively decreased. He finally stood, and the fatigue in his legs wiped away. A bit of the intestines and other lengthy organs that he had never seen or studied before. He glared down and saw it for the first time. What the heck is that? It is not his stomach, or any known organ, within the abdominal region.

Solomon stood in front of Julius while also staring at his open stomach. “I bet you’re staring at the cylindrical-shaped organ above your intestines.”

“Yeah. What is this?” Julius asked as the organs reinserted themselves back in. He coughed bits of smoke while his abdomen healed and exerted any remaining lingering smoke in that area. “It’s very big and strange looking like I have a whole rod inside,” he added.

“That’s a Chugan. Take good care of it. It’s what supplies your body of qi…And also, can you please not joke around and be a fool that almost gets you killed? You don’t want an emperor like that in his record, do you?”

“Seems so,” Julius mumbled, not wanting anything related to it. He stood with his greatsword in his grip. His mouthplate closed back up when his mouth was clean. The combo attacks he and Solomon did have caused some serious damage to the Purple-masked cultivator. Before the two attacks, Julius had one thing to utter out of his mouth. “What happened to the rest?”

“Oh, Empress Cai has been assisting others since she defeated her opponent. She was ruthless. Stronger than you or not, it all matters is to be direct. There’s no time for fun. Leave that for practice,” Solomon answered. He then nodded as the Purple-masked cultivator got back up. “All that fun, and look where that got you. To me, it was reminiscent of your first six months in the underground tournament.”

God damn it. Julius wasn’t happy about being at the low end. However, Solomon was right, and the underground tournament comment was harsh but legitimate. There was nothing he could counter other than accept it as a haunting reminder.

A minute later, Solomon and Julius restructured themselves after the latter confirmed he had swallowed all the substances and that his whole body had healed. They exerted their auras high. In reaction, the purple-masked cultivator did the same. The crater continued to get wider and beyond that; it reached the lake’s borders, pouring many bathtubs worth into the depths. Solomon dashed right to her first. Julius followed, directing his qi into the blade of his greatsword. As he lifted upwards with his left grabbing on the hilt, his abdominal region flashed sky-blue colors and glowed through his clothing. Aware of his new organ, Chugan, he could feel a circulation at that spot. Coincidentally, his power felt a surge. His sword enlarged, using the excess quantity of qi. And the blade extended by at least a foot.

A blow from Solomon’s axe put him and the cultivator at a standstill. Julius took the chance as he unleashed a heavy swirl, letting out a beautiful, illuminating slash attack in the shape of a crescent. Solomon thrust his power to give him a little nudge over before plunging away as the crescent wave struck her. To Julius’s frustration, she stopped it from getting closer with her bare hand. She was definitely ambidextrous where her left was gripping the hilt of the sword.

Julius used his left forearm and pushed right on the spine of the blade, forcing the greatsword downwards. Out of the blue, he smelled something burning similar to the charcoal briquettes used for grilling barbeque. A whiff of red qi exerted from between the cross guard and the blade. It mixed into his sky-blue qi, and he heard coughs from the cultivator. Using the opportunity, he roared and thrust the blade down further. Purple blood splattered his face and, to his annoyance, Julius drank it as bits hung next to his mouth.

Solomon orchestrated his part and chaotically hammered down on the handle of his double-bladed axe. For a regular human, that would break their bones to bits. The aggression caused the Purple-masked cultivator to kneel, crushing the ground with her kneecaps. When she didn’t give up, Solomon continued further, raising the speed of his hammering action.

<< Let me take over. >> Licht said.

<< Uh, what? >>

Before he could do anything, Licht forced Julius closer to the impact in a one-jerked motion. Therefore, the red qi poured all over and ignited a heavy bomb explosion. Solomon then grabbed Julius and teleported out from its radius; the two witnessed the spherical bright light overwhelming the deep crater and bits of the lake.

“See, just like that,” Solomon said. “Like how we handled Adalberht and your aggression during the Swamp war, it will be less of a waste of time.”

“This arena festival shit doesn’t work, and today has proved it. Too many careless casualties. Any survivor outside of our allies will take it to heart. I don’t know how to feel about the possible upcoming consequences,” Julius said in a pessimistic tone.

“As one of your key advisors, I say strike them back before they could. Force a unity of the West Cai Dynasty. End the division of multiple families ruling over territories and bring back one powerful government. Do it for Empress Cai. It was one thing she wished she had done...Knowing her for those two weeks, she told us enough to get the picture. If she hadn’t got wounded, she would have done it her way with your sincere help. Now it’s you…I’m sure everybody else close would say the same thing.”

Julius cocked his head and observed the explosion.

Whoosh!

He looked to the right where Solomon was. Next to him, everyone was there. The Tang Family all stood energized as he recognized their cloaks. Empress Cai held his left shoulder amid her soaked face, dripping droplets of blood onto his shoulder. Behind him was the Kang Family. Mr. Kang made it out unscathed and relieved it was over. Feng and Ying shared the same sentiments with their mother and sat down in the air to relax. Not to forget the remaining unaffiliated contestants that survived were also within the crowd.

“He’s right,” one of them said.

“I noticed something. Since my journey began, there was always a tournament nearby or something related. Is it part of the culture that you all like combat games? If it does, then I have one idea of a solution. But I won’t say until we return to the capital.”

That left a mixed reception. The nonverbal expressions were straightforward. It really was a significance to their livelihoods. A few, notably the Tang Family, aggressively reacted and demanded Julius to say at least one sentence. The Skolritters and the Kang Family took that a little warning, gesturing to them to not infuriate the emperor. That was news to them and the unaffiliated contestants. Empress Cai had to give a confirmed nod. Eventually, the tension eased, leaving Julius mentally occupied as he turned back to the arena, staring at the phased-out light from the explosion. “I see, so it’s really that important…I apologize for my naivety and for not asking earlier. Hmm…I will tell you five words.”

Julius lifted his right closed fist. Subsequently, he thrust his thumb. “World.” Then he raised his index, “War.” Afterward, his middle finger, “Humanity.” Second to last, his ring finger, “Championships.” Finally, his pinky, “Campaign.” He finished by repeating the completed phrase and ended with the acronyms.

“WWHCC?” Solomon asked, wondering about the intentions.

“A competition for the Western Cai Dynasty to build itself while also reevaluating who lives and leads humanity,” Julius said and paused momentarily. “That will be all.”

No more words, only silence as everyone joined Julius, watching ground zero of the festival and the Lake of Towering Greens.