“Then let the match begin!” The Order Ducis member announced with an extravagant gesture. The crowd began to cheer as the third match of the day began.

The cloaked Blackhand waved his arm and produced a dozen jet-black spikes that hovered in the air above him. With the thick cowl that hid all of his features and the meter-long needles above him, he was a sinister figure. Plus, the air was thick with his dense Mana and sharp piercing image. Richter rolled himself a few meters backward with heaving shoulders. Then he raised his head and regarded the Huangs with a steely gaze that demonstrated that he was just as determined to win as they were.

Huang Li’s image dragon roared and swam through the air to surround the stage. It wove through air currents and left its infinitely long body, binding the air tighter and tighter. But the closer to the two opponents his image went, the more resistance it encountered. Huang Li began to frown. There was something… strange about the energy they released. It seemed somehow to weaken his image innately, without needing to attack it.

But if it is only at this level, I can forcefully withstand it, Huang Li lowered his center of gravity and settled into a familiar fighting stance. His fingers tightened on the leather wrap of his wo dao.

Huang Shou appeared even more fearless, leaning on his cane as he walked confidently forward. “Grandson, give this old man the gift of freedom to warm up. It has been a while since I’ve gotten serious exercise.” Then he twisted his torso, starting a chain reaction of cracks up his spine as the vertebrae shifted from their settled position. The effect was quite impressive.

Still, Huang Li had no room for distractions. Blackhand gestured and the spikes above him shot forward. Huang Li pounced forward in response, blades of wind forming and smashing against the attacks as they neared Huang Shou’s position. But that same natural suppression in the energy was also present in the spikes; Li’s Skills were only half as effective as he expected at defending.

Narrowing his eyes, Huang Li blew through one-third of his Mana to produce a veritable storm of wind blades that chipped and sliced the spikes to nothing. They splintered and shattered. After the attacks were defeated, Blackhand just snorted and conjured twenty-four more gleaming spikes that floated in the air. He leaned forward, seeming confident in a direct conflict of numbers.

Huang Shou straightened and then twisted his torso in the other direction, once more creating a cascading series of cracks. Huang Li studied his opponents closely. Behind Blackhand, a large, sinister shadow was forming around Richter. Leathery tentacles covered in pulsing black veins seemed to rise from his shadow and grasp at the surrounding air.

Huang Li focused on Blackhand. Seize the initiative now. He gestured with his left hand, performing a grabbing motion, almost casually. The image that Huang Li had coincidentally witnessed last night was reproduced on a much smaller scale. His fingers stabbed like daggers toward his own palm. “Cloud-Slaying Claw.”

The attack ripped forward. The suppression of Zone 1’s energy affected it, but it still traveled cleanly across the intervening distance. Blackhand sent a black spike downward to intercept, but that spike and the ethereal claw attack passed by each other without any contact. The image of the claw was one that built a connection to a distant point. As long as the opponent just relied on their usual image and didn’t target the weaker image of the connection established, it was practically unblockable.

When the claw arrived and ripped open Blackhand’s robes in a spray of blood, Huang Li was already shooting forward. “Dragon’s Dance!”

Congratulations! Your Skill Dragon’s Dance (R) has grown to Level 229!

Although even Li was surprised by the effectiveness, he was not going to let this pass.

Blackhand’s nominal hand with wizened flesh and thick black veins rushed out, pressing against the wound on his shoulder. He took several steps backward, unleashing all of the gathered spikes like he was firing a machine gun. But with the boost of Dragon’s Dance, Huang Li only had to take three steps and he had avoided the spikes and arrived directly in front of Blackhand.

The flood dragon coiled around Huang Li’s body raised its head and regarded Blackhand coolly. Huang Li’s body accelerated forward and he brought his blade swiftly around. “Dragon’s Claw.”

Blackhand gestured sharply upward and a veil of black energy rushed up in front of him. Huang Li’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly. This Blackhand…

His foot spun on the ground and he was around the veil and behind his foe. Huang Li gritted his teeth and forcefully endured the physical backlash from the quick movement. Still, Blackhand had only partially twisted around in horror by the time Huang Li recovered and thrust his wodao into his opponent’s side.

With a twist of the blade and a kick, Huang Li sent Blackhand sprawling. More blood spurted out onto the arena ground....is not very good at close combat. He just relies on his high Mana and the suppression of his image...

Still, Blackhand spun mid-air as he fell and slapped his palm on the ground. The strike flipped him back to a standing position. At the same time, almost a hundred black spikes materialized above his hunched form and quickly accelerated to skewer Huang Li. Shaking his head, Huang Li wove amongst the spikes and relentlessly pursued his wounded foe.

Above the arena, his image continued to stir the wind.

Right as Huang Li was about to strike once more, he pivoted and leapt sideways several meters. A long, almost-rotting tentacle smashed downward in his previous position, striking with enough force that the Donnyton marble of the stage cracked.

A towering monstrosity had finished manifesting above Richter. It was a sea horror oozing puss and stricken by a horrible affliction of black veins that made its fleshy body seem to be in its death throes. Yet two small and beady eyes could be seen on the spongy main body, surrounded by a thousand such tentacles.

“Enough.” Richter was extremely pale and gaunt, but that insidious and almost caustic energy that weakened images in the surrounding area was now radiating off of his person in dense waves. “Don’t struggle any further. At my full power-”

“What hubris. Ten Thousand Palm.” Huang Shou interrupted, casually stepping forward and thrusting his hand forward. Behind him, an unadorned brass Buddha manifested. As Huang Shou attacked, the buddha mimicked him without even opening its eyes.

The image that Huang Shou produced was so robust that Huang Li had to blink. Perhaps I really should learn to play Go...

BOOOOOOOOM!

Richter sent several of those ropy tentacles to meet the buddha’s palm, but the tentacles were blasted to the side. The palm moved serenely forward, the Buddha advancing rapidly to attack the giant octopus monster.

“You…” Richter’s eyes narrowed. “Well, if a few won’t work, how about a few hundred?”

Rumbles shook the arena as the two image projections clashed. A small frown formed on Huang Shou’s face and he used his other hand to chop through the air and blast away a significant portion of the tentacles seeking to smash and bind his image. At the same time, several tentacles whipped sideways along the ground, aiming for Huang Shou’s actual body.

Meanwhile, Huang Li pounced forward once more toward the wounded Blackhand; he had his own foe to fight. He dodged the spikes but was stopped dead as Blackhand spun and simply made a small spiked dome around his position to protect himself. Pressing his lips together, Huang Li once more raised his hand and unleashed the Cloud-Slaying Claw. Struck unexpectedly, Blackhand’s image faltered and Huang Li could forcefully smash his way through to stand before the Zone 1 representative.

Huang Li’s wo dao cut sideways and Blackhand clapped his hands together to unleash a blast of energy. That caustic, unstable wave smashed into Huang Li’s chest even as he felt his blade ripping through the other’s flesh.

Blackhand collapsed to the ground with yet another deep wound, but Huang Li briefly lost consciousness hit him like a horse kick to the chest and left him dazed. But he was awoken by the physical sensation of skidding across the arena and took stock of his situation. It felt like acid had been poured on his image, steadily eroding its strength. Horrified, Huang Li pressed his eyes closed and did his best to steady his image.

I might be scarred… but I cannot afford to fail… After a few seconds of frantic image reinforcement, Huang Li bit his lip and raised his head. His vision was blurry and a pounding headache raced back and forth within the confines of his skull. Still, his breath hissed out between his teeth and he forced himself to his feet. Then he held himself in a standing position, even while he continued to sway.

Gradually, things came back into focus. Blackhand was twitching on the ground, but still down. Blood was staining the arena beneath him. Across the arena, Huang Shou’s palms were light and smooth, the buddha above him turning those strikes into domineering thunderbolts that smashed away the surrounding tentacles. But with the strange intuition that Huang Li had gained from his flood dragon swimming on the wind, he could see that Richter’s monster had cast out a tightly knit net. It was only a matter of time before Huang Shou was captured.

Huang Li began to take abrupt staggers toward Huang Shou and Richter’s battlefield, the hand not holding the wo dao tracing the lines of his own body to check for injuries. He was certainly sore and dazed, but he was lucky that nothing was broken.

Honestly, the worst of the damage was to his image...

Huang Li raised his left hand to unleash a Cloud-Slaying Claw to wound Richter, but then he hesitated. His headache gradually receded and his thoughts cleared. Huang Li lowered his left hand with a frown. If he truly is a similar fighter to me, he will have noticed the move I used twice to wound Blackhand. He hasn’t experienced it himself, but Richter probably will spot the weakness of it instantly if the first attempt doesn’t put him out of commission…

So instead, Huang Li flexed his fingers and empowered his dragon image as much as he could. The strange damage dealt by Blackhand’s final attack made the effort painful, but Huang Li would not let the first round that his adoptive grandfather conceded the point and helped him also be the round that they were decisively beaten.

As the process continued, Huang Li could no longer avoid the truth; the damage to his image was almost crippling. In his current state, he simply couldn’t wrap his mind around enough details to make the image potent.

Yet if anything, this only made Li relax further.

I could never make an image that was truly this powerful on my own, anyway. Huang Li continued to walk forward, his joints aching. The clouds above the arena slowly began to circle the stage as a weak but determined wind spread rapidly outward. It is only due to my heritage and instructors that I came this far. It is only due to the spirit of my people that I can stand on this stage. So now, for all of you who are watching… please… I need your help. Show me the dragon that can slay not just the clouds, but the entire sky…

The stirring wind spread outward, seeking inspiration and support.