The shadows were overwhelming as the tall walls were enormous. The stone behemoths were indented with swirling circles and strange symbols. The walls of decorated rock twisted and turned into strange patterns, tempting one to believe that an exit may be found soon when in reality, it is still far out of reach. From where I was I couldn't see anything except for the encased stone walls and a forking path, but I knew there were still two other layers to this historical architecture. Thankfully I wouldn't have a Minotaur on my back this time, but nonetheless, I still had to worry myself over traps and trickery.
It was a recreation of the famous maze found within ancient Jungle Mythology: The Labyrinth of Daedalus.
Of course, I wasn't going in this blind. After Medisma scared Onvima into doing her bidding, she gave me the details of what she had planned. Surprisingly enough, she was very transparent about what she wanted. She wanted me to become a popular figure within the sect so that one, becoming the official master of five of the sect's strongest is a smooth process, and two so that she has more leverage in negotiations with the other factions. She plans to take over the two of them and unify the sect once again.
I've already put it under consideration that she might be lying right to my face, but it makes sense when I think about it more. In the eyes of most, I was an edgy young adult who was simply going through a phase. Of course, those who knew me well enough knew the truth, but that was the main public belief. And Medisma wasn't a person who was close to me. She probably thought that my attitude being a phase and my faith in the sect was enough for her to not hide things from me. And when you add in the fact that she truthfully wants me to train those five Elders' mentalities, it adds up. She was hurriedly strengthening the sect. Why she was strengthening the sect was beyond me, but if I had to take a broad guess, it would be that she had information pertaining to something that would put the sect in danger.
Either way, it was enough for her to spill the beans of her plan to me, and this also included the blueprint of the very labyrinth I stood in. And not only was this a huge deciding factor, but the great thing about this maze was that it would make it much easier for me to pick them off, one by one. With the outside variable of the environment completely on my side, it brought my chances up to a solid 50%. I would've liked more, but these were Coal Class Cultivators. Their individual power was a lot higher than mine, the only thing leveling the playing field were the magic circles on my body and the stone surrounding me.
As I was mentally locating where I was on the map Medisma showed me, Cortritio was doing his job as the announcer, "Oh my goodness!!! This is an upset!! How lucky can this one man be, to get the labyrinth of all arenas! We are in for an interesting show now!"
Normally people within the arena couldn't hear the announcer, but this was special. It was a code for me. And the best part was they could just chalk it up to a simple mistake.
"Oh my goodness"... That means that the plan was successful and the enemies are all split up, but the lack of pauses between the words also tells me that a couple of them are still grouped up. That'll be fine though, if anything, it might help me. For now, I'd better get on my way, I've already figured out where I am, and thanks to him saying, "This is an upset!!" I already know where two of them are.
A sector within the lower-layer, The Green Hedges.
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Iraspisit's POV:
This was a load of bullshit.
How come of all the arenas we could have gotten, we got the one worst for team combat? The fucking labyrinth of all things. It was ridiculous. So ridiculous that I could immediately tell this match was rigged against us. But why was that devil going so far for a Dirt Class? She must have gone senile in her old age. There was no way that a Dirt Class Cultivator could even defeat one of us, let alone two of us. And I was with one of my most trusted allies. Culida.
Due to either what I've seen her do to other people or me just being a fan of her personality, or maybe a mix of both, I always found myself calm and rational when around her. It was like something about her made me subconsciously act like, well, not the douchebag I normally would.
She twisted the leaf of a nearby tall hedge and made an astute observation, "This isn't looking good for us... If Medisma went this far for only a Dirt Class Cultivator, there must be something special about him. I know how much you love underestimating your enemies Spi, but make sure you stay on your guard. You were the one who wanted to beat Medisma, right?"
I scratched the back of my head while saying halfheartedly, "Yeah, yeah, I know. It just is really hard for me to believe that any Dirt Class belonging to this sect has the ability to beat a Coal Class. I would get it if it were a Dirt Class within one of the Great Nine Powers, but this wasn't that. Our entire sect was freaking out only because of a kid who defeated two Stone Class Cultivators, practically declaring him the next sovereign. I feel like I reserve the right to be a little confident in our chances."
As I said this I took a step forward in the dirt path and felt the ground... sink in.
Ah shit, pit trap.
Just as I was about to fall in, I felt the nape of my shirt being grabbed which left dangling me over a pool of what seemed like harmless water below, but upon seeing the Yellow Piranhas within, I realized it was anything but that. I soon felt the world around me get blurry as I was flung into the air behind me, sending me back-first into the safety of the dirt once again.
Culida looked at the pit interested in it, and said, "They aren't pulling any punches. These are Stone Class Wild Beasts... just how much money did Medisma put into this one arena match? I guess that doesn't matter, this only proves that this was a pre-determined arena setting. Spi, if you won't worry about our opponent, then at least try to not get caught in any traps. They are littered all around here-!"
Suddenly, like a rocket, a man jumped out of the bushes next to Culida and threw a punch at her. The magic circles on him were glowing silver, proving that they weren't just for show, but had a use. Culida was able to react fast enough, her arms covering her face and transforming into tree bark. His punch landed, cracking the bark a little, but doing nothing more than that. However, right after his punch landed, he used his leg to kick Culida's side. Of course, she was able to defend this as well, unfortunately, that didn't seem to be this guy's goal. The energy of his kick sent her back a couple of inches, right into the pit trap. She was about to activate her Magic Arts to save her from the pitfall, but like a madman, he just jumped into the pit after her.
I knew that I should be trying to do something. So while running up to the pit, I activated the final phase of my Magic Art, and my body erupted in flames. This was both my defense and offense in one. I can shoot out these flames and also use them to defend myself from any attacks. Just as I was about to jump in the pit after him, he suddenly jumped back out of the pit.
How did he do it? I know there wasn't anything you could use to jump off of...
Realization bloomed within my mind as I realized why he jumped in after Culida. It was so she couldn't use her Magic Art! He jumped on her already-hanging body and sent her into the piranha-infested water.
He stabilized himself after landing and then locked his eyes onto mine.
It was then that I was able to officially identify him.
It was Igmor.
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Quis' POV:
When you are fighting two enemies that have to power to overtake you when working together, what is it that you should do? The answer is obvious: you split the forces. Get rid of one, and then focus on the other. You repeat this cycle, and eventually, you should turn out victorious.
It was a very simple plan, but one that has won battles and wars aplenty. And in this battle, it would be no different. I was already able to catch Culida off guard and temporarily immobilize her. So now I had to focus my energy on beating the fireman over here as much as I could before she got back into the fight. This fight would be completely decided by my ability to separate the two of them constantly, and honestly... it brought me some excitement. This was the first true uphill battle I've had to fight since I've arrived in this world. It was probably because of my origins, but tough fights have always brought a certain excitement to me, and this one would be the same.
I jumped at Iraspisit and feigned a punch to his kidney. After seeing me crack Culida's defenses, he must have had a subconscious fear of my punch and couldn't see through my fake-out, instead trying to dodge with that in mind. Just before I hit the air of where he used to be, I slid behind him and put him into a chokehold.
He wasn't expecting this in the slightest. After all, what sane man would try to choke something covered in flames? Well, I wasn't exactly in a state you could call sane. I was extremely battle-hungry after all of that training; I had no restraints. Of course, while this was true, I wasn't acting without thinking. I strengthened my body that was touching the fire so that while it will still hurt, it wouldn't be a repeat of the last time I had contact with fire.
Now that I had him in a hold, it would be much easier to make him faint. I put a couple hundred of my Genesis Orbs into the magic circles on my right arm and tried to punch his temple. Right as I hit it though, I felt a hard exterior instead of the soft feeling of flame I was expecting. It was bark.
I already knew what this meant, and seeing Culida float out of the pit on top of one of the 5 short swords, which looked as though they were each a tree of their own, circling her, only confirmed it for me. I wasn't going to stop though. Just a Coal Class Fruit alone wouldn't be enough to stop the power in my arm right now. My fist went right through the bark, surprising both of them. Next, it hit the fiery defense. That was the real difficult part, and while I was able to penetrate it, my fist lost most of its steam, resulting in a lacking hit to the temple.
It was enough to hurt, yet not enough to actually force someone to pass out. But I could figure that out later, my problem right now was simple. I had two meals on one plate, and I needed to take care of that, but those swords of Culida's would be a problem. They had both the power to attack and heal. An interesting combo yes, but a very deadly one if used correctly.
Here's a thought experiment, what do you think happened when people discovered that if someone is healed enough, it starts to hurt them? They did what humans have always done. They weaponized it. Healing became a deadly attack if used correctly. Of course this ended up becoming classified as a Devil Technique, so it wasn't common any longer. But did Culida care about that? No, she didn't. And even if I did end up dying like that in front of all of these people, I don't doubt for a second that Medisma would cover it up by "discovering" that the magic circles on my body were actually gained by a Devil Technique which meant I was no longer human. I was also very vulnerable to this type of attack considering that I could have already reached my healing limit. No matter what, I needed her gone.
Luckily for me, I had another surprise for her. I gripped tightly onto Iraspisit's body, and before he was able to attack me at all, threw him into the pit of piranhas. My throw had too much force behind it, causing him to not be able to resist and he went right into the pit. Culida sent a sword down the pit to catch him before he hit the water and while she was her weakest, I struck.
I leaped toward Culida and it didn't go unnoticed. She sent her three available swords at me, trying to attack me, but every time she attacked, I used Gust to dodge midair. This sent a wave of stress to her brain, causing her attacks to become less steady than before. I was able to easily maneuver around the swords, and soon made it near Culida. She tried to use the sword beneath her to escape, but then I used a deadly combo move for any low-level opponent. Create Earth and Gust.
A small pile of dirt left my hands and under the guidance of the wind I also created, smoothly entered her eyes. It was a lot more difficult than one would think to control yourself and 5 other things at the same time. It required either incredible multi-tasking skills or a Fruit. From what I know about her, she only has access to the Triple-Tasking Fruit, meaning she still has to triple-task herself, which requires an absurd concentration. This small blinding skill was the straw that broke the camel's back, and she lost control of her sword, falling to the ground.
She was still conscious though and would soon come back to her senses, but of course, I wouldn't let this opportunity pass me by. I brought my fist back while in mid-air, and knowing that I wouldn't reach the ground in time to hit her normally, activated my most familiar fruit. An incredible feeling of power went through my arm as the bolt manifested, and right as I pushed my fist forward in a punching motion, the bolt went flying with a torrent of Gusts behind it. I call it, the "Bolt of Wind".
The bolt whistled through the air, bringing Culida back to her senses. It was too late for her to dodge since she was already prone, but she was still able to put up three layers of shields between my bolt and her. It was one of her famous combo moves, "The Tree's Shield".
I smirked as the bolt and the first shield made contact. I already knew that my bolt wouldn't be strong enough to break through a combo move of the Coal Class, but that wasn't a problem. Who said I could only use one bolt? I sent a downpour of bolts onto her shield, and in less than 3 seconds, it broke. The second shield was next, only taking five seconds. And then the final shield was the only thing stopping my bolt from drilling into her flesh, but the final shield was also the strongest. I figured that no matter how many bolts I threw at it, it wouldn't break. Unfortunately for Culida though, she didn't account for one thing. Why would I only send bolts from above?
I sent what looked like a stray bolt in a south-west angle, before redirecting it with multiple previously made Gusts in a south-east angle. The bolt caught her by surprise, and she wasn't able to defend in time. It was at the moment that the bolt went through her stomach that Iraspisit finally got out of the pit. He no longer was covered in flames, as the water from the pit must've extinguished him. And judging by the lack of bites, the piranhas were probably killed by Culida earlier.
I didn't have time to celebrate the fact that I had thwarted one enemy, there was already another one in view. He looked at Culida's bleeding body and gave a rage-filled roar as I landed on the ground. His eyes, filled with anger, stared at me as if he was already ripping my limbs off one by one. His body blossomed into flames once again, and he ran at me, not thinking anymore.
I simply sighed before putting Genesis Liquid into my legs and meeting him in the next second.
"Your rage blinds your judgment. You should've used your Magic Art's ranged attacks, but all you could think about was hurting me in close combat."
After giving him a piece of advice I put 500 Genesis orbs all into my leg and, after locking him in place with my arms, kneed him in the chest. He went into the air and extinguished once again. By the time he hit the ground, he was out for the count.
I took a good last look at my handiwork before slowly walking away.
"Two down, three to go."