Arena

“Tell me that there is something that I can do to fix this,” Anrosh whispered. They were in a small prepping room, the smell of death, blood, and sweat, was everywhere. The room was beneath the arena, she had overheard their escorts explaining its history, but she hadn’t really been listening, her mind was occupied with trying to find a way out. Still, she did hear enough to know that the arena was used both for training and for public matches. It was cleaned, of course, but the scents were still there, ingrained in the Essence around her.

“You all but challenged him yourself,” Lesamitrius responded. “In his seat of power, after our people had stolen from him and his will made clear, at least from his point of view. The perception of it… that he only challenged you and not killed us all on the spot is a testament to his honor. He would’ve been within his right to do so, well, he would be skirting the edge of the rules.”

Anrosh nodded, then kept her head bowed. She hoped that Lesamitrius knew of a way for her to get out of this. Fighting an Ascended Realm Cultivator was not something that she wanted.

“It was a challenge, Sect Leader, you can… exercise your rights,” Lesamitrius suggested in a whisper. “You don’t need to fight him now. You don’t need to fight him at all.”

Anrosh grimaced. And that there was the heart of the issue. She had been outmaneuvered. Repesh had made a fool out of her, but she had put herself in this spot. Sure, she didn’t need to fight him, and that was the problem. He was the one that issued the challenge, and that meant that she could pick someone else to fight in her stead, she could delay until she found that someone. But… what? If she called Tali, it would make a mockery of their conversation, of her honor. She would’ve hidden behind another. The same with Ryun. She remembered what Tali taught her, about the importance of Face.

No, she couldn’t back down now. Especially since he didn’t know that she wasn’t just an Immortal anymore. She had a… no, she was just fooling herself. She had no chance. She had seen the weight of Repesh’s gaze, the belief in his own power, the absolute knowledge of it. That gaze was the same as what she saw in Ryun’s eyes.

Even with her advancement, even with her items, she was going to lose. That was not in question.

But bending the knee or running away? That would hurt far more than death. Her sect would lose honor, her people would lose respect in her. And death was not the option, the Sect Head had made that clear by challenging her. No, this was about respect and honor. He wanted to humiliate her, to show her the difference between them. If she stayed and fought, he would win and prove his point, that she wasn’t in a position to demand things of him. But at least she wouldn’t lose her own honor or the respect of her people. They would see her stay and fight, and that would be enough.

She wanted more though, she wanted to show them that she did deserve respect. No one knew about her advancement or her items, that was going to be her one chance to show them… something. She wasn’t even sure what she could do.

“No,” Anrosh said as she realized that Lesamitrius was waiting for her response. “I can’t walk away now.”

She was alone with him, the rest of her warriors were allowed to sit in the stands, to watch and witness the duel, along with some of the Midnight Reign Sect people.

She stood up from the bench where she had been sitting, then she loosened her robe and opened it a bit. Lesamitrius frowned and looked away, but she stopped before she revealed anything. She made just enough room for the shields on her back to get out. They floated up and stopped above her head in an upside down V formation. Lesamitrius glanced back and then noticed them in the air. She ignored his inquisitive look, and pulled her robe back into place. Then she equipped her armor straight from storage. The Spectrum Celestial Dragon set appeared on her person, a suit of rainbow colored scales.

Lesamitrius’s expression was now confused, of course he couldn’t tell that the armor was eternal, but everyone would be able to tell that it was high tiered. She focused on the armor, then whispered.

“Death,” and the armor’s color changed. The ripple of color flashed and then in a wave the entire armor turned black with cold blue streaks, the color of Death Essence. Her opponent was an undead, he wouldn’t have been able to gain that True Body without a death related Essence. Now, she didn’t know exactly what Aspect he had, but Death should be enough to give her protection from anything that he could do. Even if it was some distantly related Aspect, her armor would still work on it. He was Ascended, and she had no idea what his secondary Aspect was, but she assumed that it was something closely related. Regardless, Death was the best choice in her opinion.

She pulled out her shield next, the ocean green item that looked like it was carved glass appeared on her left arm. Lastly, she pulled out Kagehime.

“Finally,” her sword said. “It’s been a long time since we fought anyone this interesting.”

Kagehime’s main desire was to fight, to be used in combat. It was why she and Ryun ultimately didn’t get along. In the years since she had her, Anrosh had fought a lot of different opponents. She fought in wars, against monsters, against challengers to her Sect. Somehow Kagehime fought more with Anrosh than she had ever with Ryun—and she had confessed to Anrosh that Ryun’s style of fighting had never really appealed to her. Ryun tended to overwhelm his opponents without relying on her.

Anrosh fit her better, as their bond had proven. She had reached the bond level with Kagehime that Ryun never had. She used her {Arctic Ward} on the sword, putting a layer of Qi over her. She did it now, because she didn’t want to give away her ring just yet. Repesh couldn’t sense her Qi usage while she wore it. She had prepared her Qi Anchors before they arrived, and she felt like the five techniques she put in were good enough for this fight, so she didn’t touch them again.

“Sect Leader?” Lesamitrius whispered.

Anrosh glanced at him, and smiled behind her helmet. “If I am going to fight him, I might as well go all the way.”

She really tried to sound confident, but she could tell that her voice was shaking. An Ascended Realm Cultivator waited on her behind those doors, in the arena. She took a deep breath, then walked out of the room and into the arena. Lesamitrius followed behind her as she stepped onto the sand. She glanced around, seeing the stands above the floor. It wasn’t as big as she had thought it would be, but still pretty sizable. The arena floor was large enough for several dozen people to spar in comfortably. But there were only two people across from her, waiting. Sect Head Repesh Emsis and his second. She walked a few steps, then stopped. She gestured to Lesamitrius and he continued, heading to the center to meet with Repesh’s second.

There wouldn’t be much to talk about, this duel didn’t involve any material gain, it was about honor and respect. And just as she assumed, the two didn’t talk for long. Lesamitrius walked back and stopped next to her.

“They said that all you have to do to stop the match is get on your knees and apologize.”

“Of course they did,” Anrosh whispered back. Then she tapped Lesamitrius;s shoulder and stepped forward.

“Good luck, Sect Leader.”

Anrosh kept her eyes on Repesh as she walked a few steps closer. She stopped near the center, and waited as his second left the arena alongside Lesamitrius. He didn’t wear armor, only the same ornamental clothes that he had worn when they met. He had no weapons in his hands, nothing that even suggested that he was taking this seriously.

She used {Arctic Onslaught} increasing her stats. With her items she was more powerful than she had ever been before. She just needed to find the time to use it.

She kept her eyes on Repesh, there was no announcement for the start of the battle, they didn’t need that. They would start when they were ready. She knew that combat between powerful beings didn’t last long. Fights weren’t the things of stories, they ended in moments. Unless the two were evenly matched, their perks allowed them to survive for longer, or one side was playing with the other. She had an advantage, and she hoped that she could surprise him enough. After all, anyone could lose to anyone. Surprise played a far more significant role in combat than most people believed.

“You can still stop this,” he told her from across the arena, his voice deep and cold. “You can save yourself and your sect from humiliation.”

She raised her shield and adopted a stance as her answer.

“Items will not save you,” he tried again, as if he really didn’t want her to be doing this.

She didn’t answer.

He closed his eyes and then shook his head.

This would go one of two ways, he was either going to try and end it quickly. Or he would play with her to extend the humiliation. His first strike is when she would be able to surprise him the most. The more the fight went on, the more he would realize about her.

He narrowed his eyes at her, but didn’t move. If he was expecting her to attack first, he was mistaken. But she took the time he gave her to prepare. She needed the cold, but she couldn’t use it, not yet. Any visible power use would give away the fact that not only was her core shrouded but any power use was as well. So, she triggered as many passive powers as she could, trying to trigger as many of her armor’s abilities by draining her stamina pools.

Fighter’s Heart—because she couldn’t let pain rob her of an opportunity.

Fighter’s Strike—to make her next strike stronger.

Defensive Stance—because she already planned on retaliating after his strike.

She stood, and waited. Then, his form blurred as her stance anticipated his movement, her |Greater Threat Sense| flashed, and he was next to her. Tall and moving so fast. Her body moved almost on instinct, her body turned, her shield coming up for a |Greater Block|.

She felt a flash of Qi, a technique. Then he struck with his fist, a punch at an angle. Even before it hit, she felt the power of that strike—stronger than anything that she had ever been hit with before. She got her shield in place just in time. The air shook around them and the impact made the arena ring with sound. The force of it pushed her back, even with all of her stats, everything that boosted her now, she was driven into the ground. The force made her entire arm vibrate, her bones shook and nearly shattered. The sand beneath her feet vibrated and exploded in a circle, into the air, obscuring her vision. Her feet bent, but she didn’t kneel.

She felt the charges on her shield fill, and was surprised. That one strike had pushed her to five charges. Ryun’s strongest strike had only been able to fill it up to two. The man’s strength was monstrous, she didn’t know how many such strikes she could take.

He paused, almost as if he was surprised. And that was when she acted.

Her Absolute Cold Aura blasted around them, chilling everything.

Frost Ring unleashed an expanding ring of frost across the ground, freezing the sand and the man’s feet as the vibration from his strike buried them in a thin layer.

She spent one anchor in the same breath, using Glacial Shaping on his legs too. Freezing the air and his legs.

Before those were even done, she was moving, [Frost Dash] took her two steps to the right, her movement chilling the air further. Then she charged forward with Grand Frost Charge.

In less than a second, the temperature around them dropped far below zero. The bite of the cold hitting him and making him frown. She swung Kagehime with a [Frosted Crescent]. He was probably fast enough to respond, but he didn’t. He was caught off guard, confused, he couldn’t feel anything from her, none of her abilities or perks were detectable.

As her strike approached his side, she triggered two more anchors, unleashing two {Arctic Sword Storms} at once. Sixteen swords came into being around her and attacked at the same time. Each came near his skin, and stopped. She rocked as Kagehime hit something, just a hand-breadth away from his skin, as if she hit some-kind of fabric. For a split second she saw something appear, like white threads woven in a pattern, holding her swords away from his skin. A moment later a new pattern appeared, and then—her shields moved, trying to get into place fast enough. It wasn’t enough—she was blasted away. She flew through the air, her vision blurry even though she ignored the pain. Then her back hit something and everything went dark for a second.

She tried to move, but found it… hard. Then, she realized that she was embedded in the wall of the arena. With an effort, she pulled herself out of the wall and crashed on the ground, on her knees. Her chest heaved and she spit out a stream of blood through the gap in her helmet, half of it splattered inside. For a moment she looked at it, and realized that her blood was now pale red, almost pink, as it dripped from her helmet.

“That was… like you got hit with a mountain,” Kagehime said.

There was no Death Essence in that, nothing that her armor could’ve protected her against. It was just pure force. She realized that she fucked up. She should’ve waited until she knew exactly what Repesh used instead of assuming… but… That wasn’t any kind of technique, she was sure, she didn’t feel any Qi. No skill either, there was no indication of willpower. This was… an ability? It didn’t feel like it, but she was pretty sure that it was connected to a Class. She was pretty sure that she felt his Death Qi when he punched her, but that was a technique that empowered him, the result was purely physical damage. She made a mistake, but on the other hand, she didn’t reveal how her armor worked—so… a victory?

Her chest seized up and she vomited some more blood, it was… misting, the coldness of her body clashing with the temperature in the air. After she was done, or thought she was, she tried to get up. Her legs shook, but somehow, she managed to get up to her feet. She disabled her Defensive Stance and shook her body once. Her shield’s charges had filled to full, even though she barely blocked his counterattack.

She looked up, and saw Repesh standing where she left him, unmoved. His eyes was were glaring at her.

“That,” he said slowly, his voice filled with disbelief. “That could’ve injured me.”

She didn’t let him recover from his surprise. With another Grand Frost Charge she crossed the distance. His feet were still covered in ice. She entered the area where she had already lowered the temperature, felt her stats rise, then just before she reached him she raised her sword and used Grand Frostfall.

He raised his hand to block her, but then noticed the giant sword that appeared above him, coming down. He punched up, a technique moving through his body, and a wave of just pure physical force—that she was pretty sure came just from the strength and speed of his punch and no extra Aspect—blasted up, shattering her grand sword. But it left him vulnerable. She put all of her willpower into a |Crescent Strike|.

Her sword approached his abdomen before he managed to lower his arms and block. And again her attack was stopped by the white threads. Just like last time a pattern flashed, but this time she was ready. She used |Enhanced Dodge|, her shields already in place. She spent charges and used Shield of Lazik, it still didn’t mater. The counterattack sent a blast of force at where she used to be, the edge of it still caught her, broke through the shield, and even though she had her arm and her other shields raised, it still sent her flying.

She hit the sand, not as far away as before, and rolled across it. Once she came to a stop, she coughed, more blood spilling out of her. She could pull out a potion, but she resisted. The point of this battle wasn’t to prolong it.

She got up again, on shaking legs, and looked at Repesh.

“Two,” he whispered. “You cost me two of them.”

She frowned, but something in her head made a connection. Those patterns, the threads, they didn’t feel like something that he used. But they intercepted her attacks, not the ice at his feet though. They were protections, layered over him, protecting him from things that he couldn’t catch. She wondered what or how he placed them, but it was unimportant at the moment.

She wondered if he was going to change his approach to the battle, summon his armor or weapons, but he didn’t do anything. She saw it in his eyes. To do that would be to accept that she pushed him to that point. She felt him channeling his Qi, and a lot of it. She didn’t hesitate. She triggered her Evolved Form.

Qi spilled out of her, her body changed, grew and turned into that of a red and white wolf. Her armor adapted to her new body and covered her whole. Then she triggered another of her anchors, and her {Avatar of Frost} formed next to her.

She and the avatar both drew on her Qi, abandoning her previous technique and preparing {Glacial Shaping}. Her shields floated above her as she ran.

She saw Repesh’s eyes widen, and then both she and her avatar released the technique. The entire area around him was suddenly filled with with Absolute Cold Qi. Ice was forming, growing from the ground, freezing the liquid in the air, entombing him in a box of ice.

She switched her technique back to increase her stats and raised a clawed paw to strike at the ice. Then, the world shook and the ice shattered. Repesh broke out, and before she could react he was next to her, kicking her in the side and sending her rolling across the arena. Her avatar attacked and he shattered it with a punch.

She shook her head, and stumbled back to her feet, shaping another technique, ready to release her last anchors.

“Enough,” Repesh said and she froze. He landed on the ground and just looked at her. “Evolved Realm, and items. That doesn’t make you powerful. But… you could’ve done worse. The duel’s over, you already cost me more than you are worth. You can take your people,” he waved his hand. “But while I will grant you that much, I will still need to speak with your Sect Head, or Anatalien Far Solla, and this is not meant as a stab at you or your sect, or your honor. It is a necessity.”

Anrosh ended her Evolved Form, returning back to her usual self. She looked at the man, then nodded. Her legs were shaking, she wasn’t sure that she could’ve taken another one of his strikes.

“I’ll send someone for your people,” Repesh said.

“No,” Anrosh told him.

He frowned. “No?”

She cleared her throat, coughed up some more blood, then spoke. “No, they can stay here. They still stole from you. They will stay until they have repaid all that they have taken,” she told him. “But I will still want to see them, make sure that they are unharmed.”

He looked at her for a long moment, and then he nodded. Anrosh kept his gaze for a few seconds, and then collapsed on the sand, exhausted and hurt. She heard shouting, but the darkness swallowed her before she could figure out what was said.