Zenith Skydome (天頂 Skydome) (Zenit Skydome)
Day Fifty (五十).
Clash! Clash! Bang! Whirl!
Julius exerted a swirling funnel of flames right at Hu, who fired back a black mist. A fox skull rose from the mist, roaring at Julius. It ate through the fire funnel, leaving Julius open. Not this time. He thrust his right foot upward, performing an upward kick. A burst of qi pressure shot out from the boot’s sole, clashing right with the dark mist and the fox skull. A demonstration of strength was tested. Two individuals were put on a stance, not moving an inch. If one gets almost half a foot of movement, they win the clash.
Both grunted as the center of the clash expanded, exerting a tremendous force. The air from it breezed right into Julius’ face, powerful enough to rip off the hairband. He felt his hair pulling his head back, almost wanting to tear it off from his scalp. A few more seconds and the strength of qi pressure continued to rise. Julius felt a kick to his stomach, giving him the signal. His eyes flashed red, and he cracked his used knuckle from his forearm, triggering dark qi all over his arm.
Hu grimaced but couldn’t back away as the dark qi around Julius’ arm manifested into a weapon. The qi force turned into a shockwave as Julius’ feet emitted, striking the arena’s stone floor. Plenty of debris flew into the air, and Julius exerted his arm, breaking off the clash. The two were blasted away, and the latter threw a manifested dark fist right at Hu. Like a magnet, it took all the debris with it.
Boom! Break!
Yes, score! Julius forced an abrupt stop from his back, pushing qi through his shoulder blade, and he immediately went straight up, landing back on his feet. His eyes were focused on the scenery, watching his giant dark fist striking her. A moment of feeling victory was short-lived as he felt his heart emit pain in his chest, causing his legs to tighten. His lower body gave in, and Julius tumbled to the floor in agony. He landed flat on the stone floor. The Skoltor System flashed an alert, signaling a fresh wound.
Julius recharged his fingers through his index and middle finger and struck his chest’s pressure points, restoring half of his strength. He got back up and saw Hu go down, dropping a few feet to the floor. She lay for a minute before sitting up, teleporting right next to Julius.
“I thought I said no dark qi! You cheat!” Hu said.
“No, you did not. You only made that up from a defeat.”
Hu wiped the dust off her robe. “I’ll admit you have improved. It took you fifty days to get your first win.”
“And that’s only twenty percent of the list.”
“Welcome to the depths of the Merit Universe, if not already. All of what you’ve learned was only the first ten pages,” Hu said while looking at the dimming sky. “Ninety more to go.”
“Done with the basics. Finally, free at last,” Julius muttered.
“Always remember to meditate every day till the end of training. We need to get your soul at its best once we finish all the pages,” Hu wheezed, followed by a cough.
Julius lunged right at her. “Are you okay?” He put his hand right below her mouth. She continued to cough, exerting dust on his palm. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize dust got in your mouth.” He threw the residues away from the site before getting one slap. “That wasn’t necessary.”
“Now we are even…But you won, so I’ll hand it to you for the day.”
“Even though I got my first win, I took a pass. You decide.”
“That won’t be fair, though. You win and get to decide for the rest of the break.”
“That’s true, but I’m too fazed to think right now,” Julius said, opening his virtual screen. The calorie numbers flashed yellow, which was not dangerous but a signal. “Yep…You can decide the cooking again, and I’ll try to make it.”
Hu sighed because this wasn’t supposed to be her day, but she expected it to turn this way at some point, eventually. It was sunset, and the two went inside back into the West Wing. Not that long later, the smoke flew out through the ceiling.
The dinner was decent, but both were hungry so they couldn't care less. Julius went out to the couch outside in the central building’s lobby. A beautiful night sky with the moonlight shone to the arena, providing enough light that reached the lobby. He summoned a journal in his inventory that he didn’t have time to review.
“What are you reading?” Hu asked, walking out of the dining room.
“Empress Cai’s secrets…I found it in my bedroom,” Julius said in a monotone. “It used to be hers before I became emperor. She must have forgotten to take this to her current bedroom next door.”
Somehow that unintentionally got Hu excited as she sat down next to him, wondering what was in there. It wasn’t a thin journal, but thick enough to be a small dictionary. The page edges weren’t smooth and definitely showed its use. He opened the cover of the journal. Nothing odd on the cover page other than it was empty. The title page came after, and the table of contents. Afterwards, the pages started to get messy. Compared to official documents and signings of the personal journal, it was as if it was written by two different people.
There was so much scribbling on the sides as this was written from top to bottom and right to left. No white space in between, which appeared to be how she wrote for each entry. She probably had so much to write that it was impossible to fit it all into one entry per page. On the outermost top corner of each page was a date, answering his thoughts.
Hu leaned closer to his shoulders with no gap. She told him to stop at this page as it was the neatest and most legible to read. Hence, the two began reading page fifteen. It was pretty personal as they never really got that much to know about Empress Cai, especially Julius, because he was with her consistently many days and weeks in the past. After reading the first column, it was when he realized that they never talked that much personally. That motivated him to further read through the entire page ten. The whole page was a mix of ups and downs. There was a moment of happiness at the beginning, only for it to grow darker when his eyes moved left. Hu had to reread the last half of the page over again to be certain that was what she had read. Afterward, Julius closed the journal.
“Okay, that was not what I was expecting. Holy shit, I wished I hadn’t read that. Why was this entry the neatest one out of the rest? It was almost as if this page was intended to be read by others on purpose, or am I missing something here?” Julius wondered before turning to Hu, whose head was still leaning on his shoulder.
“All the characters on the page, and…it is so descriptive. My Yinhai,” Hu muttered and turned her face directly at Julius. “Are you going to talk to her about this?”
“One way or the other, I have to. There’s a possibility her mother is alive, not knowing anything has happened recently. She could be secluded anywhere. But that’s not the worst thing,” Julius paused. “Emperor Cai V did many questionable things that even the higher-ups would show hidden disgust for.”
Hu’s facial expression changed, causing her to lift her head from his shoulder. “You’re crying?”
Julius was lost in thought for a moment. “Oh. Was I?” He wiped the running tears. “It reminded me of dark times.”
“I know. And have you come to terms with it to be a better person?”
“A little. So far, the meditations here have been beneficial.”
“I’m pleased to hear...Are you going to continue reading the other entries?”
“Uhm.” Julius looked right at the closed journal, thinking for a moment. He then shrugged. “I mean, if we already went this far into reading this, let’s roll through the whole thing.”
“Hang on a second,” Hu said. She summoned her virtual screen, scrolling through the index inventory. Julius saw her typing furniture into the search bar. Poof! A wooden coffee table summoned a few feet in front of her. Two ceramic cups and two teapots are included. “I’m not gonna miss my teatime.”
“Alright.” Julius opened the journal back to page ten. “Three hundred more to go.”
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Zenith Skydome (天頂 Skydome) (Zenit Skydome)
Day One Hundred and Twenty (一百二十五).
“How many moves have you learned?!” Hu asked, disabling her Black Nine-Tailed Fox form.
Boom!
“YEAH!” Julius screamed like a merry boy. His body just felt the best hype of aura he had ever received. Today was the first time he finally got it perfect. Darkness has finally reached my fingertips. One deep breath before looking at Hu. “Thirty!” He jumped around ten feet into the air and thrust his right leg out straight ahead, bending his foot downward flat. Like calligraphy and foot was a brush, he performed a maneuver, casting Hanzi líng (零). One of the hardest to perform. When completed with the last stroke, a spirit ring was summoned in front of him. Julius swiftly lowered his right leg and used his hand gestures to move the spirit ring to an empty spot like a pinpoint.
Hu stood and watched as a projectile summoned from at least fifty feet. It was freaking fast as it dropped to the target in less than two seconds. One slight touch of the tip detonated a massive, explosive force. The gusts threw Julius a little off balance, and Hu summoned a shield barrier. Julius landed right next to her as the barrier closed up into a spherical shape.
“You did all thirteen strokes but switched up the first three,” Hu commented as if it was a mistake. Her right hand raised three fingers.
“I did…” Julius mumbled, as his facial expression went a little down.
“Do it again and in proper order,” Hu said. “Hilde Georgine’s book stated that every certain step matters to get the best power and effective performance…You really forgot it, didn’t you?”
Julius scratched his head. “Guilty.”
Hu opened a part of the barrier for him to get out. She watched carefully of his process, eyes on his legs.
Here we go, one more time. Julius did the whole thing again, step by step, and aimed at the same target spot. Now the floor was a little stained with burns from the generated heat. Once done, he added an extra step by thrusting his fingers like a more direct gesture with dark qi overwhelming his right hand. A trace of the qi flowed right to the floor a millisecond before the projectile came into contact. A light flashed, and Julius teleported back inside the barrier, getting another comment.
“What was that gesture?” Hu asked, turning right to him as the rumbling happened.
“More firepower.” Julius pointed at the scenery where the black qi wave of smoke flooded the entire arena. The blast roared as loud as it possibly could and would definitely put a normal person on deaf. His Skoltor System’s S.Y.C.L (声音测量) read out to be two hundred, or an equivalent of three hundred and fifty-three decibels. Upon getting the number, Julius quickly concluded Move líng (零) or zero was pretty deafeningly dangerous to perform. He saw Hu partially cover one of her ears.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Boom!
It turns out there was a second round, and the earlier explosion was only the first part. “I see why this is forbidden at Helde’s warning.”
“Passed!” Hu yelled. “I think we can go on with the next one in another duel!”
“Sure!” Julius summoned his miao dao. He teleported outside while the second phase of the explosion was still active. It was the first he had ever seen. The flooded black qi turned into ice, prompting him to force a vacuum pressure right at Hu’s barrier. She rose into the sky when it was forced open and flew to him. They dispersed it immediately without making more of a mess before descending to the arena’s floor. Afterward, the two returned to their positions for another round of duel.
Julius had one more move to perfection, and this was the first that was heavily focused on swordsmanship. He let the blade’s steel shine in a reflective light. The sword got colder. Ice wrapped around his hand and up to his wrist, and instinctively one burst of shockwave released from his feet triggered a swirling wave of qi like a funnel. The miao dao rose high with the sunlight shining right at it. Qi engulfed the blade while Julius’ eyes flashed blue and red simultaneously. His sword cried menacingly, urging him to be released.
Hu reacted positively. Hence, she transformed into a black nine-tail fox hybrid. She grew a foot taller, but with nine tails fluffing from behind and a more revealing body. Her left hand wielded a spear-length axe. A manifestation of a full-sized giant fox summoned as her qi levels rose. Her body represents the head, and the aura behind her was the rest of the fox. Hu clenched her fists, arching her back. She powered up, emitting a powerful growling roar.
Nine tails. Well, I better do the same. Julius noted before flexing his back. His body then felt a surge, almost like he was lifted up to the sky. He screamed loudly while maintaining a low tone pitch. Dark qi came up, mixing up with the sky blue. You have the fox while I have the dragon’s skull.
The two levitated upwards while maintaining their poses. Julius smiled first, starting the duel. Both flashed right to each other and struck their weapons. An unimaginable strength of a gust blew throughout the whole arena and open space. All the trees were damaged, and a few broke off from their roots. The clash was like a broken water pipeline because when the two blades struck each other, a gush of two different qis departed from the clashing site, flooding the arena.
Both’s internal wrath rose and broke records with their powers as their standoff escalated. They proceeded to go on, making their aura manifestation more potent than ever.
Not until you experience this upgrade! Julius clashed again with Hu’s spear. With enough leverage, he went for an upward gesture, assisted by the pressure of his qi exerted through his entire upper arm and elbow. It forced Hu to fly backward in the distance. Julius’ skull dragon released its own dragon breath as Julius raised his blade in the air for it to absorb. His left hand’s grip went to the hilt under his right hand, switching to a double-wielded tactic. The black fire scorched the blade. He gave a swirl around to get his arms pumping and went locked at Hu, who already launched herself right back at him.
Julius flash stepped in a millisecond and barely missed Hu’s feisty hug. Subsequently, he landed a downward kick to her nine tails and legs, sending her crashing to the floor. “I didn’t forget!” he exclaimed. Concurrently, he re-channeled his qi and aura to have a little trace beneath his feet, allowing him to stand on air.
Crack! Pop!
A ting can be felt on his back, unintentionally giving off more qi than it should. Quickly, Julius articulated his miao dao and cast Hanzi shí (十). “Times Ten…” A water orbital ring was summoned around him. “…Yuèqiú Hǎixiào! (月球海啸).” He let off one heavy swing, releasing a humongous black wave. Following this, the water orbital ring broke off and moved along with the wave, creating a perpendicular display.
Julius launched himself a little higher while letting his aura harden a barrier. He then watched as a spherical explosion erupted from the arena, brightening the area.
A little sun appeared from the floor.
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Some other Zenith Skydome (天頂 Skydome) (Zenit Skydome)
Day One Ninety-Eight (九十八).
Rumble!
“Woah!” Qiang Zhao exclaimed. “You felt that?”
Empress Cai, while enveloped in her red aura, lowered her katana, looking up at the sky. “It’s him. His qi must have an immense breakthrough.”
Qiang Zhao put her dual revolvers away, disabling her leafy green aura. “Great news…In fact, let me check something…I’m Level Thirty. What’s yours?” She asked Empress Cai.
--
Current Level: 45
--
“Level Forty-five,” Empress Cai stated, turning to Qiang Zhao. “And we finished everything on the list a few days ago, correct?”
“Yes, empress. We’re finished. According to the rules, individuals may exit their specified arena on their behalf after the list is fulfilled.”
“Remind me again. Do they mention any exit routes or leaving this realm?”
Qiang Zhao shook her head, denying anything being displayed about it. That left Empress Cai at a standstill, looking down. Shit, new plan. She got a thought and turned again to Qiang Zhao. “Let’s go meet up with Julius.”
“Yeah, it would be for the best. Do you have a plan?”
“Getting him is the new plan. We get him first and everybody else, hopefully, they’re done, so we can get out of here.”
“You remember that time distortions are very inconsistent, and each arena has its own time.”
Empress Cai nodded. “I’m aware. It is a strange world.” She pointed up to the sky in the direction where she and Qiang Zhao felt Julius’ qi pressure. So, they launched themselves into the air, boosting their thrust speed to their new limits. Hence, the two crashed through the invisible barrier, breaking it. They stopped to view their arena going through an implosion where the shattered barrier sucked inward, taking everything in the vicinity with it. It was an implosion as a sudden bang took Qiang Zhao off guard momentarily. Empress Cai hovered silently, watching it getting sucked inwards, and all gone without a trace in only a few seconds. “Let’s go.”
The two departed and flew right in the direction. Winds picked up speed in reaction to their amped up speed. Straight ahead were multiple duplicates of arenas floating in all directions. It was bizarre because originally from the arena both trained, there was the view of the grand castle complex. Empress Cai at first thought it was multiple arenas floating so high in the sky that ground level couldn’t see anything above, while it was vivid from up in the air. That was immediately debunked when she and Qiang Shao broke through the shield that was revealed to be a fake illusion.
Boom!
Both broke through the sound barrier as their speed went beyond what Julius called Mach I. In a blink, they’re already Mach 4.
It took them five minutes before they felt a strong shockwave that put them to a stop. It’s here. Empress Cai perceived. She looked at Qiang Zhao, who pointed up, and the former glanced up, finding the arena floating above. It was bigger, and the presence was more menacing to where she felt a shiver down her spine, a rare thing for her. “Why do I feel terror from that thing?” she pointed up at it.
“Ignore it,” Qiang Zhao responded, teleporting right next to her. She grabbed the former’s hand before firing one shot of qi, boosting the two upwards in a blink. “There. You’re clear now—”
Empress Cai noticed her stop, focusing on the arena’s ongoing event. She followed her attention and witnessed a colossal-sized dragon skeleton with wings but without flaps. Only bones and dark qi. It was fighting against a nine-tailed fox that looked exactly like her experience in Level One, except it was only a manifestation. However, some of the shockwave frequencies she felt turned out to be from it.
Empress Cai turned to Qiang Zhao. The latter recognized what she was about to say. Thus, she raised her palm. “Are you certain to do it? Your first experience was chaotic.”
“Maybe that is what I need. The chaos. My mind was unprepared, and that could be the reason. Thank goodness you were able to handle that.”
“It was only my luck with one bullet. I haven’t got the chance to thank Julius for one.”
“Oh, so that’s what it was,” Empress Cai said in a surprised tone. “Yinhai, how many people did he talk to?”
“A lot, but can we focus on this first?”
“Right.” Empress Cai turned back to the battle scene. The two hadn’t noticed her or Qiang Zhao yet. She rearranged her internal qi, transforming her clothing into a completely black-like coal. A layer of armor formed around her shoulders, traveling down to the elbows. Vinyl engraved on its surface shimmered by the redness that filled the pattern. Like the pattern of the shingles from a building’s roof, armor with the vinyl transformed and formed overlapping layers right down. Both of her arms also received a long wristband, tight but flexible. Same with gloves. However, her right hand, while gripping the katana, began to transform.
Patterns shaped like veins formed on the surface of her right glove and long wristband. In an instant, the flames took over the surface of the pattern, flashing bright orange and red colors. A tiny flow of smoke emitted from it. She got a feel of her hand and came out to be hard as concrete with a texture of charcoal. Her katana’s blade grew a few inches longer, borderline maximum blade length, before being considered a tachi. The hilt and the katana’s crossguard darkened and heavier. Each got a little longer to balance with the blade’s sudden length increase.
Empress Cai felt her hair untied itself, realizing it grew a couple more inches as the hair was down to near the middle of the back. The end strands of her hair touched her lower back. Winds lifted her lengthy hair up, allowing her to see the red coloring changing into more of a darker shade. Maroon, to be specific. It was then she felt as if someone was tying her hair. She turned and asked Qiang Zhao if it was happening. The latter shook her head, mentioning a black headband ornament was forming around the back of her head.
Qiang Zhao walked in the air, heading towards Empress Cai. She observed that any of her transformation’s features might have been missed. The sash that tied Empress Cai’s robe at her waist was changed. That became a dark golden chrome belt and was tighter and studier. Finally, the boots were enlarged as Qiang Zhao noted her height change. Hence, she was a giant. The former showed a brief glimpse of jealousy, so she took a couple of steps back and exerted her aura.
Is she nuts, right here?! Empress Cai thought while her back started to heat up. “Woah…that’s too close!” She yelled at Qiang Zhao and leaped back, regaining her posture. A sudden urge controlled her body as she burst out massive loads of qi from her entire torso. She howled loudly in the air without stopping. Her vocal projection amped up so much that her neck muscles tightened, and her skin peeled off like a sticker as the gusts forced it out. Red light beams flashed out of her eyes and mouth. Subsequently, a red orb of qi enlarged from her chest and erupted, summoning a mountain-height pillar of qi. She levitated as it went.
The arena battle still continued as if they were excluded and there was a direct wall that blocked anything outside.
Empress Cai, with her back arched, lifted herself up straight. Ah, at last. I finally made it…safely. The dream has only just begun…Mother, this is what you wished for. She mentally said, remembering her motherly love and wishing her to have witnessed the moment.
With her right hand gripping on her heavy katana, she slowly lifted her hand, getting the feel of it. Her other hand felt the spine of the blade. It felt like a massage because of the vibrating heat. Time for a proper test.
Empress Cai took one deep breath. The surge woke up from the inside, and she slashed the bright red space, breaking off the qi pillar. Her newly summoned grand wings began flapping. With eyes aimed down, she went for a glide down back to Qiang Zhao, who also finished transforming.
Bang!
Her green aura was released, triggering a shockwave bomb. The effect transitioned her aura color into white. Sparkles of electricity surrounded her. Her cowgirl outfit looked heavier, and the pants were tighter, removing all the looseness similar to ragged pants. The chest was buffed up, Qiang Zhao’s hat now hung on her back, and she gained a bandolier and an emerald cloak. Empress Cai descended and landed in front of her. “You look very green, pretty.”
Qiang Zhao hissed, lifting her head up. “Julius was already huge…Now you. Ok, if I’m in danger, one of you has to carry me to safety.”
“I can’t ever get used to your way of handling compliments,” Empress Cai smiled. “Thanks, though.”
“Let’s get this done.” Qiang Zhao flew up with Empress Cai, stopping directly above the arena. The former lambasted at their continuous duel without being aware that they were literally right below them.
“What are you going to show off?” Empress Cai asked as her eyes glowed red.
“This,” Qiang Zhao muttered, extending her right arm. One muscle flex caused the white qi to swirl around her arm. The qi collected itself in the palm of her hand, creating a weapon.
“That looks like your revolver.”
“Except it’s bigger; it’s a small rifle.”
“True.” Empress Cai nodded, going into an ox guard stance. Fire exerted out of her blade along with her excess qi, causing the wings to glow brighter. A thick layer of aura formed around her. The charging up took a few seconds, and she was ready, giving Qiang Zhao the signal.
Qiang Zhao’s rifle charged up with high potential energy all at the muzzle, desperate to be fired. She bent her knees and aimed her shot at the center of the arena, which should strike through the uppermost part of the shield barrier.
Empress Cai went into a high guard stance. Both of her arms went upward with the katana, doing it double-handed. Here it goes. The fire and her qi from the blade roared in such anger, almost like yelling at her to do it now. Hence, she unleashed a heavy downward strike. Qiang Zhao fired her rifle. A beam came out of the muzzle, striking the invisible shield.
Crack!
The swing Empress Cai performed came out with a large vertical maroon slash with burning edges. Then halfway, the vertical slash became distorted, changing shape and going through unpredictable motions. A large slash was broken off into uneven pieces with one maintaining its original shape but only at a smaller size. The other pieces were so strange that each had its own properties created in a millisecond. One turned into a spherical orb, the other duplicated itself into an amount like a pack of wolves and transformed into wakizashi-length precipitation, and the last pieces turned into liquid lava with a constant yellow electric charge.
Her and Qiang Zhao’s attacks collided with the shield and broke it in an instant, like glass. Sparks flashed before the arena ignited a red hemisphere of qi, enlarging beyond the prior shield’s limit. Not without a finishing touch, a tornado formed right at the top, including a bombardment of shockwaves. Empress Cai flapped her large wings, creating tension and opposing force to detract much of the shockwaves from hitting her and Qiang Zhao.
The explosion was bright, but both of their eyes had adapted, not fazing at the high luminosity. They could hear two distinct yells from the arena in reaction to the sudden disruptions.