Zach, Hannah, and I walked up the switchback trail together, following the flags that marked the path. The sun was getting higher in the sky and now it was actually starting to get warm, I was kind of glad Hannah recommended I remove a layer. While everyone else was hot and sticky, just beginning to remove their top layer, I was already cool. Maybe there was something to this Farmer's Almanac after all.
As we rounded the final switchback a ginormous coliseum swam into view. I don't use that word lightly. This coliseum looked as if it could eat the Roman Coliseum as a light snack. We walked a long time, and it didn't seem as if the building was getting any closer. The shade of the building was so pronounced that it felt as if we were stepping into an ice cooler the moment we crossed into it.
The flags guided us to an entrance that took us to the floor of the Coliseum. More attendants were there guiding us to the appropriate places, it wasn't really necessary though. Each ring had a giant flag next to it with the letter of the ring. I was in ring J, Hannah was next to me in ring I, and Zach was in ring V. There were more examinees here than I expected, over two thousand. Half of us would be eliminated here, dropping our number to roughly one thousand. Then the subsequent tests would whittle us down to only one hundred.
We each headed to our respective rings. I approached the center of the ring, the goal was time, not eliminations, I didn't need to be showy here. I looked up into the stands while waiting for the match to begin. There was a section that consisted of mostly elders, they were all stern-faced, carefully watching our movements even before the matches began. Nearby were several young people in the white staff robes. I saw Dan among them and he gave me a thumbs up, he must be done with examining the entrants. The rest of the coliseum had several purple-robed cultivators goofing off and watching us. They were clearly divided into several cliques. Some robes had white accents designating outer sect members, black accents designating inner sect members, and a small number of core sect members with gold accents. The elders had silver accents in their robes.
I didn't have to wait long for the match to begin. Soon, a young-looking man hurried over. In addition to his white robes, a whistle hung on his neck. As he began speaking to us, several attendants began passing out vigils.
"Hello, boys and girls. You've heard the basics by now. The first fifty eliminated from this battle will also be eliminated from the exam overall. I'm sure you are eager to know exactly what dirty tricks you are allowed to deploy. And the answer is anything and everything. This is a no-holds-barred fight. The sigils being disturbed now should prevent most fatalities by teleporting participants out once they've received a certain amount of damage. Make sure you are wearing them. Every year some idiots think they're tough enough to handle more than the sigil can. Every year we are a few morons short by the end of the exam. You are eliminated if you fall outside the ring or if you receive enough damage to be teleported out. Specifically, you must hit the ground outside the ring to be eliminated. If you can get yourself back inside the ring before you land or you can fly, then you will not be rung out. If you can fly, you can't stay outside the ring to evade attacks. If I see you hovering outside the ring, I'll issue you a warning, if you ignore the warning or or found hovering outside the ring again, you will be eliminated." The referee said sternly.
"If you have any secret techniques you wish to deploy, the shield around the arena will keep those nosey elders from investigating the exact nature of your technique. I am forbidden from sharing any techniques I witness with anyone via heavenly oaths. Feel free to use any technique you wish. That being said, visual effects are not blocked, so if your technique is given away by the visuals, you may want to keep it in reserve."
Upon hearing that shield blocked inspection, I immediately deployed my divine sight to the borders of the ring. The referee gave me the briefest look of shock before continuing.
"We will begin in three, two, one, FIGHT!"
Soon it was pandemonium all around me as elemental attacks flew everywhere and fist and sword fights were breaking out among all my fellow juniors. The whole goal of this fight was to not be eliminated, so I situated myself in the center of the ring which was approximately one acre in size, and closed my eyes. I relied on my divine sight to dodge attacks when necessary.
I could see many people did not understand this fight at all as they used their flashiest attacks and risked the edge of the ring to ring other people out. This fight was about wisdom, strength, and luck. If you were lacking in any of these departments, you'd soon find yourself outside the ring. I was seeing a serious lack of wisdom among my peers. I suppose it was to be expected, they were only kids.
I did get to see quite a good show around me. One kid was running from another person's fearsome-looking dragon technique that had no actual strength to it. A few fierce elemental clashes were occurring, but mostly it was one-on-one martial arts battles occurring. Very few people had enough qi at this stage to wantonly burn it on techniques. There were a few groups who banded together to pick off other cultivators. As for me, I just dodged stray attacks. If anyone targeted me specifically, I quickly got inside their guard with my Frostfire Martial Arts, grabbed them, and tossed them hard at the ring's border, achieving several ring-outs from the center of the ring. I thought this was the most merciful use of my strength, they'd only be injured from the landing. When the people around me saw that I was giving their fellows free flying lessons, they decided to steer clear of me.
One group of cultivators that looked like they had all been born from the same ugly mold thought they could bully me. The first guy that came at me, I punched hard and sent him flying into what I presumed to be his sister. Both of their sigils were activated and sent them out. A hefty member of their troop decided to take a swing at me, so I met his fist with my own. I almost retched with what followed. His arm stopped when it met mine, while my arm continued, pulverizing his bones into dust while it continued on its path. First the knuckles, then the hand, wrist, forearm, and elbow. The man's arm turned into a squishy sack of flesh filled with bone splinters below his bicep. Unsurprisingly he could only scream in agony while clutching the remains of his arm. Surprisingly his sigil didn't activate. It must only detect lethal damage. Whoops. The referee came by soon and manually activated the poor kid's sigil soon after seeing that he was beyond incapacitated. The rest of his family had run off in fear long before the referee arrived.
I was almost getting bored with the battle royale. After showing too much strength, everyone was avoiding me. That was until I saw him, the kid who had mocked me just before the beginning of the exam.
He had straw-like hair, both in color and texture, it was in a short messy mop on top of his head, while the sides of his head were messily shaved. He had wide eyes that never seemed to blink. He was in a fight of his own, but he saw me watching him and somehow had the time to mockingly grab his chest at me again.
I immediately became incensed.
The qi which had remained still in my body until now, began to churn wildly as I activated my Frostfire Sutra and cool, blue flames coated my limbs. This fool had to be eliminated. I looked at a board outside our ring which was keeping track of eliminations. Forty people had already been eliminated in my ring. I didn't have long to remove him. I ran over to him at my fastest speed, everyone who was in my way or dared to try and battle with me received a fireball to the chest and were quickly teleported out.
The fool saw me approaching. Instead of panicking he grabbed his opponent and tossed her into the fireball that was meant for him. After that, he welcomed his demise with a theatrical grin and bow. I wanted him to suffer before he was teleported so I changed my attack into flamethrowers from both hands. After he disappeared from the ring, I looked at the board. I knew which one was him by the method of elimination listed. All of those struck by my fireballs were quite simply "fireball to the chest." The Solitary "immolation" stuck out. His name was Curtis McCurdy, and he was the 51st elimination. In other words, he was the first to not be eliminated from the exam.
Fuck, that's why he tossed his opponent at me and then welcomed his own death. He was safe. My anger reached a crescendo and the frostfire aura covered my entire body and grew more and more intense until it burst out like a bomb exploding. The shield around the ring contained the explosion and when I looked around me after my vision recovered, I was the only one in the arena. Whoops again.
*Ding*
[Congratulations you have unlocked the Frostfire Nova special ability]