Paneneko staired at Aerun at his feet. He could hardly believe this guy got knocked down so fast. He thought he said he could fight.
"I thought you said you could fight," Paneneko said.
"I can fight, but first I wanted to talk to him and straighten everything out. Before I was able to, I felt myself flying through the air." Aerun said.
"So what are you gonna do now?" asked Paneneko.
"Is that offer to help still available?" asked Aerun.
"Sure, you want me to take out the brute?" asked Paneneko.
"No, I'll take care of him, you keep the small fry away from us," said Aerun.
"No problem," said Paneneko.
Paneneko helped Aerun off the floor. The two men headed up to the second floor. The whole floor was rented out to this large brutish man and about thirty followers. Paneneko was pretty excited. The tournament was really boring. He wanted some actual fighting. It looks like he will get his chance tonight!
"That was a real cheap shot Bilk, I don't know who you think you are trying to steal my girl from me with all these thugs," Aerun said.
Bilk, however, was looking at Paneneko who was looking around the room.
"What are you here for Malkus, or is Paneneko? I can't tell you twins apart," said Bilk.
"Paneneko, I just here for the small fries. Aerun will take care of you." Paneneko said in a matter of fact way.
"You didn't see him fly through the wall just now?" Bilk scoffed.
"Didn't you hear him ridicule you for taking a cheap shot?" Paneneko responded while ignoring Bilk and looking at everyone else.
"Fine, I don't mind beating him or you. I thought we might fight at the competition but here is fine too," said Bilk.
Bilk ran at Aerun again but this time Aerun sidestepped Bilk and grabbed him by the neck forcing his face into the ground. Paneneko had already started attacking all of Bilk's men. His men weren't too back, but Paneneko had faced truly battle-hardened soldiers and cultivators.
This wasn't at the level of killing anyone, so Paneneko just knocked the men out. Paneneko found fighting thirty guys a little more challenging than he originally thought. However, he quickly adapted to fighting one versus many.
Paneneko flew around the room like a demon escaping hell. All of Bilk's men started to shiver. Some of them even chose to give up. Aerun was surprisingly a really good fighter. He was able to take Bilk down after trading blows a few dozen times.
After the battle, Aerun forced Bilk to pay the restaurant owner for the damages to the place. Paneneko warned him that if they caused any more trouble he and his brothers would take care of him for good. Bilk was duly scared and promised not to cause any more problems. He was a young master from a large clan, but he knew that his clan believed in strength through self-reliance. If Bilk couldn't take care of his own problems what was the point of giving him any power?
Suri came over to Aerun and hugged him tightly. She was so scared, she thought for sure she would never see Aerun again.
"I didn't know you were so strong, thank you for saving me!" Suri cried.
"I'm just glad you're okay. You should have told me what was really going on. I thought you really didn't want me anymore.
"It was my fault, I didn't think you could fight and I didn't want you to get hurt. I didn't know what to do." Suri cried and broke down into Aerun's arms. She was really traumatized by the whole incident. Aerun smiled happily. He was glad he took his friend's advice. If he hadn't who knows what would have happened to Suri.
After talking with her for a little while, Aerun was able to finally calm her down. Deciding that this wasn't a good place for a talk the three left the restaurant. Paneneko needed to get back to the Inn to rest for the next day. Aerun wanted to talk with Paneneko more, but he needed to talk with Suri first. They agreed to talk sometime tomorrow at the tournament.
On the walk back, Paneneko was suddenly attacked by an extremely painful migraine. It hurt so much that he groaned in pain and passed out in the alley. While he was passed out, he began to dream about dragons and beast people, amazing ships made from 'technology.' The dreams were extremely strange and everything felt jumbled together.
It wasn't until early the next morning, just before dawn, that Paneneko finally woke up. He spent the entire night sleeping in the alley. Getting up, Paneneko began to brush himself off. His headache had subsided. There were only a few hours left until the tournament. What a strange experience. It was the first time since he began to cultivate that he suddenly blacked out. What was happening to him?
Thinking back to the dream he had the previous night, Paneneko wasn't sure what happened. Fiends, dragons, spaceships, what are all of those things? He wasn't sure what to think about the dreams. They seemed so real, but the subject matters in the dreams were impossible.
Finally, Paneneko decided not to worry about it. He wanted to get back to the Inn as-soon-as-possible. Heading back he felt better than he had in a while. It felt like he was a little more comfortable in his body. It was a strange experience. However, he still felt different. It was like the experience he had coming out of the medical tent. Back then he didn't feel like himself. That feeling stayed with him, but it was always at the back of his mind. Now, the feeling returned, forcefully.
One word kept repeating over and over again in his head "invincible."
***
Malkus was sitting alone in his quarters cultivating. He felt something strange, at first, it was dull, but slowly, his head started hurting. The pain became extremely intense. He began to see visions of dragons and Fiends, great battles in the heavens. It was all so strange yet very familiar. Finally, the pain was too much and he passed out. T
he next morning, Malkus woke up, his head was throbbing but it was slowly getting better. Malkus sat up, he wasn't sure what to make of the dream. What was this, did it convey a secret to him or was it just another dream? He wasn't sure and just when he was about to let the whole matter drop he hears drumming in his ears. It was like something was arriving and then he heard it, "invincible," why was it this word, what did it mean. He wasn't sure. Thankfully everything went back to normal.
"Weird," he said to himself.
Just as he was starting to fix breakfast he noticed his brother coming into the room. He was surprised. He knew his brother left last night. He was feeling restless, but had his brother stayed out all night?
"Where have you been," asked Malkus.
"Around, made a new friend last night," Paneneko responded to his brother with a small smile.
"Were you out all night?" asked Malkus.
"Yeah, I fell asleep outside and just woke up. Weird right?" Paneneko commented to his brother.
"Indeed. Will you have the energy for today's battles," asked Malkus.
"Do you even need to ask?" smiled Paneneko.
After breakfast, the two gun brothers went to get Tower who was still training in his courtyard. The man was a training maniac. With all three men gathered together, they headed for the tournament stages.
Master Shannon followed the young men to the battle arena. He didn't bother coming to the previous matches. He knew it wasn't necessary, the real battles would only begin with the top one hundred.
Bwiri found that there was a secret VIP box for immortals. She decided to watch with her fellow immortals. There were six immortals in the VIP box. The first was the Mawri, Grand Uncle of the third Imperial Prince Canscino. The second immortal name Galba was the teacher of a man named Booji. A third Immortal was an elder of the Panjier sect. Her name was Fiawna. the fourth was The fourth immortal was the founder of the Kingdom of Jek, Jek Alto. He wanted to see how his great great great grandson Prince Karretun would do. The fifth immortal was named Brasin. She was from Wichanda. The Sixth immortal, Quartz, from the Jabokuk Kingdom, was the oldest looking Immortal.
The immortals were all taken with Bwiri when she walked in. She was instantly recognized as an Amazon warrior. None of these immortals belonged to supreme sects and even though the Amazon sect wasn't a supreme sect it was close to being one. This gave them a lot of prestige. Even among these immortals, Bwiri was treated like royalty.
Bwiri was offered the best seat to watch the matches.
"Immortal Amazon, might I know you're name? I am Quartz from Jabokuk," said Quartz.
"I am Bwiri of the Amazons," responded Bwiri.
All of the immortals greeted her respectfully. Quartz, either by nature or election, was the ambassador of the other immortals. He continued to ask Bwiri questions.
"Might we know which of the fighters immortal Bwiri is here for?" Quartz asked.
Bwiri looked at Quartz for a few moments and then the other immortals before responding.
"I don't mind saying, but you must all promise me that this doesn't go beyond immortals. This is not information for the ears of mortals. Do you agree?" asked Bwiri.
"Of course, we normally don't share things with mortals anyway, but with your request we will never share this information with anyone other than immortals. Bwiri knew that the cultivation world was hazardous. Tower and his brothers needed some protection to have a better chance to survive in this world. At the same time, it wouldn't be good to be too protective if she hoped for them to progress. The best she could do was let the immortals spread the special backing Tower and his brothers held. At least they would secretly make sure that their families and students wouldn't go overboard. The other immortals understood Bwiri's intentions.
"I am here for my fiance, the grandson of the Queen of the Amazons," Bwiri said.
Bwiri's words sounded simple to say, but the implications of these words were beyond earth shattering. Did the Queen of the Amazons have a child, and did that child have a child? No one had ever heard of this before!