[Human - Qi Cultivation: Late Mortal - Body Cultivation: Mid Mortal]
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Late Mortal - Body Cultivation: Late Mortal]
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Late Mortal]
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal]
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal]
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal]
Thea was currently desperately fighting, and when she saw Silas run up, she became even more frustrated. Why did her grandfather (she refers to her great-great-grandfather as just grandfather, not a plot hole) have to put a target on her back? This entire competition was already going to be hard enough to win, especially since she was only a 20-year-old Peak Mortal in Qi and Body Cultivation, and somehow, she had only managed to reach mastery in her sword technique and had yet to do so in her movement technique, so while she was strong enough to defend herself from these five attackers, she wasn't quick enough to get away.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!"
She blocked, dodged, and attacked multiple times, even managing to deal lethal injuries to several of her opponents. But, with them all being Fiendgod body refiners, these 'lethal' injuries could quickly be healed if she didn't press her advantage further and scare them to the point of knowing they had no chance of winning.
Silas had just been watching, thinking, 'Should I attack her with the rest or help get rid of the extras first and have a good battle with her one-on-one?'
After a second of thought, he finally made up his mind. He would first help her get rid of the extra competition, and then he would fight her solo. He was here for a challenge and tempering, and teaming up on one person with five others wouldn't be tempering. But fighting two versus five and then one versus one would be.
Using his mastery-level footwork, he flashed to her side and quickly dodged her attack, as she suspected he was there for her bounty as well.
"Not yet," Silas calmly said as he swung his blade down on the closest opponent, a tall, well-built man.
"Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" He first lulled him with a weak attack, then pulled out his Phantom Reave Scythe technique to suddenly and unpredictably attack three times, cutting off both his arms and leaving a long gash on his neck, showing the man he could easily kill him if he wished to.
While Silas made sure that man knew he was out of the fight, Thea, using the change in tempo of the fight and her mastery-level sword technique, managed to single out another opponent, cutting off both of his arms. While the man could easily reattach them, she went a step further and destroyed one of his arms, threatening to destroy the next. The man quickly retreated, knowing he couldn't regrow limbs until he became a Transcendent lifeform.
Now, there were only three remaining, and both Silas and Thea made quick work of them. Silas managed to take out two since he was much quicker, while Thea ruthlessly took out the last one by destroying one of his arms as well. She was already beyond furious that they dared to attack her all at once. Did they have no honor?
After sending all the opponents packing—two of whom would only have one arm until they managed to become Transcendent lifeforms, if they ever did—Thea turned her attention to Silas.
"What do you want? A prize?" she said coldly.
"No, I just wanted to fight you without interruption," Silas said as he readied himself for battle.
"Then come," Thea said as she stood her ground.
Silas obliged, and soon they were fighting.
"Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!"
While Thea was much more skilled in close combat, Silas was a step faster, leaving all her opportunities as just that—opportunities. She would first knock or parry his scythe away, and then, when she tried to capitalize, he would vanish like a ghost.
"Quit running if you want to fight!" she yelled in frustration. She had traded being chased and ganged up on in a relentless assault for being the one chasing her opponent. And the worst thing was, she knew her grandfather was watching.
Silas ignored her plea and continued to fight his own battle.
He kept trying to beat her in close-range combat, attempting to temper his way to scythe mastery, and he could feel that the fight was doing the trick.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!"
They constantly went back and forth. Sometimes Thea was able to land a hit on him, but to her surprise, she barely left a scratch.
"What are you, made out of metal?" she muttered under her breath. This guy's survivability was top-notch. Not only had he reached mastery in footwork, but he also seemed unable to be injured by her attacks.
Silas just laughed internally. She was a Peak Mortal lifeform, just like him, so unless she used a ranked sword, which she clearly wasn't, she had no chance in hell of injuring him in the slightest. He could stand there all day and let her attack, and his body wouldn't gain as much as a paper cut.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!"
They continued their onslaught, but just before Silas could make any more progress, he was suddenly teleported out of the magic treasure.
'Dammit,' both Silas and Thea thought, seeing that the first event was over. Not only were they both close to reaching mastery in scythe and footwork respectively, but they didn't even manage to steal the beast corpses of the five men and women they had just sent running.
"Alright, everyone, come forward to the judges and let them check your spatial rings for the count. And don't even think of cheating; each beast was branded with a special mark of aura," the Redstone Patriarch said.
One by one, each of the over 1,200 participants walked up and got scored based on how many beasts they had killed or stolen during the event.
After about an hour went by, everyone had been graded, and a little over 1,100 participants were told to leave the arena, leaving only the top 100 youths.
Luckily, both Silas and Thea were able to make it into the top 100 without the added beast corpses of the five opponents from before.
"Congratulations to those of you who made it. Now we will have a single-elimination tournament to see who will be crowned the King or Queen of Moonvale Mountain for the next five years," the Redstone Patriarch announced.
***
After taking down all 100 youths' information, the tournament started.
Until they reached the quarter-finals, there would be four battles constantly going on in the arena.
After waiting for five battles, Silas finally had his first match.
The official of his match stepped forward and announced, "From the Armstrong Clan's North Prefecture, Silas Armstrong, 16 years old, Peak Mortal body and qi refinement." This was just another fight, but once the audience heard that a 16-year-old would be fighting, they quickly turned their attention to Silas.
Silas just stood there, unfazed by the attention, while his own clan, especially those from the North Prefecture, all held their heads high with pride that he had made it this far.
"Charles, who is that boy?" the Armstrong Clan Patriarch, Lord Prefect of the West Prefecture, and the only rank 3 currently in the Armstrong Clan, asked.
"That's my great-grandson," Charles said with pride.
"Really? You've done well in raising him," the Armstrong Patriarch, Keaton, said, feeling pride that his clan had such a talented member.
This battle even gained the attention of the Redstone Patriarch, who, until this point, thought that his own granddaughter, Thea, would be the youngest and most talented youth in the competition. But now the title of youngest was out of contention; the only question was, who was more talented—Thea or this unknown boy from a mid-ranked clan?
"From the Stormvale Clan's Southeast Prefecture, Braiden Stormvale, 29 years old, Peak Mortal body and qi refinement," the official continued to announce.
After announcing the names and clans of both youths to show respect and honor toward their respective clans, the official declared the start of the battle. "You know the rules, now begin."
Silas just stood there, eyeing down his much larger opponent.
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal]
Braiden Stormvale was 6'8 and built like a mountain. He used a long spear and was clearly confident in his win.
"Surrender, and I won't hurt you," Braiden said in a deep voice.
Silas just stood there, not wanting to feed into the man's nonsense.
Braiden, seeing Silas wasn't going to surrender, scoffed and said, "Don't blame me, boy."
Then, he charged forward, each of his steps sounding like the beat of a loud drum.
As the man neared, Silas stood his ground, but once Braiden was close enough to raise his weapon, Silas quickly moved with an explosive step, dodging to the side and planting the tip of his scythe through the man's chest.
"Shing!" "Cough!" The man coughed up a mouthful of blood, then, with anger written on his face, turned to face Silas.
"You bastard!" he yelled as he quickly pushed Silas's scythe away.
Silas looked to the official, thinking it was time to call the fight, but the official just shook his head.
"What, you think your little sneak attack is enough to win this fight?! This is nothing but a flesh wound!" Braiden, the mountain of a man, yelled, clearly frustrated that he had lost the first exchange of the battle to a 16-year-old boy.