Boneroot was still struggling to come to grips with his current circumstances. Even though he wasn’t in the most stable frame of mind, he was completely unable to figure out what sort of game Felindei was playing. She brought this human for Boneroot to kill. He had the thought that perhaps she wanted to set up a scenario in which he prevailed in defeating some ‘evil’, Kuroki’s enemy, thus forging a tighter bond with the cat he hadn’t been able to see much over the last ten months, or died.

In the latter case, at least Kuroki hadn’t spent too much time with the boy who would have ultimately not been strong enough to support him. Even if this assumption was correct, though, Boneroot was disgusted by his role. Whatever Gangwei was here for, how could death be a justifiable outcome?

“Why?!” Boneroot cried out. “Why does one of us need to die? What has he done? I don’t even know him!”

Gangwei was silent. Felindei was not.

“You have spent most of the last year in my domain, using the resources of my pride to grow stronger than you ever could have on your own. If I tell you to kill a hundred men, you do it. If I tell you to kill yourself, you do it. You have no choice because you are weak. But, if you must know,” Felindei paused with a tired sigh.

“Gangwei is the last remaining member of a group I’ve had Kuroki tracking for some time now. If he kills you, he gets to live. Maybe.” At the last word, a still panic gripped Gangwei’s face, his eyes darting to the side where Felindei stood.

Meanwhile, Boneroot was looking at Kroshieshi in a last-ditch attempt at avoiding the fate before him. His mentor, however, would not hazard a glance toward the boy, be it one of pity or encouragement, while Felindei was present.

“You have delayed long enough. Too long, frankly.” Felindei pointed a finger at one of the boy’s legs and not a moment later, an instantaneous force of light bore a hole into his thigh. The wound appeared so suddenly, given so cleanly, he barely even felt it. What he did feel was the strength leaving the affected leg.

Before he even had time to panic, though, the surroundings changed. Instead of the field where he’d trained every day for months, he and Gangwei now stood in a stone ring, fifty feet in diameter. The ground under his feet turned from soft grass to cold stone. Around the two soon-to-be combatants was a ring of jagged rocks and sharp crystals. Boneroot noted that hitting these walls at any speed would likely be a death sentence in and of itself.

Looking up, he noticed they were in some kind of mountainous cylinder, opening at the top to allow an untarnished view of the full moon shining down on them. The light bouncing between the curved walls took on a multitude of colors and angles as it passed through the numerous, glimmering crystals protruding from the stone.

As Boneroot inspected his new environment, he spotted the three tsovar observers on a platform built into the cylindrical wall a few dozen feet off the ground. He thought he also spotted a smug, self-satisfied grin on Felindei’s normally-neutral face, but he couldn’t be sure.

Remembering once more that he was riddled with old wounds and a fresh hole through his leg right before a fight to the death, Boneroot worked up a fresh of panic. Turning back to his opponent, he tried to gather any kind of indication as to how Gangwei might fight. He looked for singed fabrics, conspicuous dust film, or unnatural shadows which might indicate his ki attunement.

His failure to turn up any such evidence, however, only reminded Boneroot how little he actually knew about other cultivators. So, he turned his attention to the tattoos on the man’s forearms. The twin snakes looked like they had bejeweled eyes to match the ornate patterns running down their ink-drawn scales.

As Boneroot tried to decide if this might indicate some kind of metal, or earth attunement, his efforts were made pointless. Gangwei, having adjusted to the change in scenery, began to channel ki into his hands as he ran them over his arms, first, then his torso, neck, and legs. Wherever his hands traveled, a layer of bark sprouted in their wake.

On the one hand, Boneroot now knew his opponent was a Wood cultivator. On the other, he’d ceded the man as much preparation as he needed. In a matter of half a minute, the burly man had donned a makeshift armor across most of his body. Boneroot chastised himself for standing their gawking, instead of attacking before the man finished.

Perhaps he had been waiting for someone to signal the fight’s commencement, like Kroshieshi usually did with their spars. As he and Gangwei began to strafe in a wide circle, it became clear no such signal would be given. Each step Boneroot took was a jolt to his system, alerting him of the significant damage Felindei’s technique had done to his leg. It finally clicked in the boy’s head that he would have to make this a short fight. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be leaving the crystalline arena alive.

As they circled one another, Gangwei advanced forward ever-so-slightly. It took far too long for Boneroot to realize, but, once he did, he thought he’d gained some insight into the man’s strategy. All indicators pointed toward him wanting to fight in close range, but he likely didn’t want to rush in without knowing what Boneroot could do. Furthermore, the wounds the boy carried would be doing quite a bit of work for him. Understanding Gangwei’s plans was only the first step toward countering them, but now, at least, he had a place to start.

Boneroot darted to the side, trying his best to compensate for the hole in his leg with steady qi circulation. He was also acutely aware of the dangers presented by the wall at his back. Gangwei hardly even reacted, though, choosing to continue his steady move forward into the middle of the ring. As he flitted to the side, Boneroot inspected his opponent’s bark armor, looking for significant gaps he could exploit. Any such weakness, however, appeared to be in the back, which would be difficult to get at, given the layout of their arena.

Feeling he’d wasted enough time already, Boneroot began his attack. He tested his enemy’s defense first, slashing out at the armor on his chest with a Radiant Claw. Boneroot’s hand motion telegraphed the attack and Gangwei was able to put his arms up in defense. As the shimmering cuts in space failed to cut deeply into the solid Wood ki, the boy grimaced.

The armor on the older man’s arms seemed even tougher than the rest. Boneroot put a couple more Radiant Claws out in quick succession, though only one found significant purchase, as the armor on the side of Gangwei’s torso had three large strips torn off of it.

As he watched the other claws land on the man’s enhanced forearms to no effect, Boneroot swore he’d make the technique less reliant on his own hand motions in the future. If he survived, that was.

Seeing Gangwei hover his hand over the damage to replenish the scratched armor at his side, the boy knew telegraphing his attack was the least of his worries at the moment. He looked down and noticed the distance between the two cultivators had been shrinking throughout the exchange, as none of the Radiant Claws stopped the man’s advance.

Seemingly encouraged by the other combatant's ineffectual technique, Gangwei prepared his own attack. He held one arm out in front of him and, only a few seconds later, a wooden club had formed of the man’s ki.

As Boneroot thought of ways to counter the coming blunt-force attacks, he failed to predict the projectile that came at him instead. He had only a moment to twist to the side and channel qi into his torso before the club of Wood ki slammed into his gut. The boy cried out as what felt like two of his ribs cracked and the air left his lungs. Over the rapidly-forming tears, he managed to see Gangwei charging in to capitalize on the damage.

Boneroot desperately brought Light ki to the fingers of his right hand, while his left grasped at the swelling on his abdomen. The beams he shot out in the next moment managed to ward off the burly man’s attack of opportunity, forcing him to roll to the side. One of them even managed to sear a patch of his unguarded cheek, but was too weak to cut deeper into the qi-enforced flesh of a Red-realm cultivator.

It took only a second for Gangwei to regain his footing and retake his dominant position in the middle of the ring. He began his steady march toward Boneroot once more, not willing to risk opening himself up to another volley of light beams. The boy was grateful for the moment of reprieve, but felt worse than ever about his ability to leave this fight alive. On the bright side, the damage to his ribs was distracting him from the hole in his leg, which was distracting him from the residual wounds he’d taken from sparring earlier in the day. If he wasn’t about to die, he’d think it were at least a little funny. Instead, he just wanted to cry.

He flicked his eyes up toward the observers on the platform above. Though Felindei looked impassive, and Kroshieshi just slightly concerned, Kuroki appeared to be ready to do Boneroot’s crying for him. The cat was perched on the very edge of the rock which held the three, ready to jump down at any moment, assuming Felindei wouldn’t interfere. She would, though, Boneroot knew. No, he was on his own, that was certain.

Rising back to his feet, Boneroot resigned himself to one last attack. If the fight went on any longer than that, he was certain to lose. He could barely stand as it was. When he saw Gangwei begin to form another club of Wood ki, the boy decided it was now or never.

The way the man formed the technique, Boneroot noticed, somewhat obstructed his vision in front of him. Such rigid motions were often necessary to form techniques for lower-level cultivators. Therein lay an opportunity.

Before Gangwei’s new club finished materializing, Boneroot had begun channeling his own technique, the Sunless Stride. At the same time, he formed his Mini Mega Beams on all ten fingers. The simultaneous processes required every last ounce of focus he had, made possible only by the countless hours he’d spent practicing his ki control. Just before he stepped through the Void ki in front of him, Boneroot condensed his ten beams into one and fired it at Gangwei.

As the man finished with his own technique, he saw the attack about to streak toward him. On instinct, he rolled away once more as the Light ki flew past him and bore into the rock wall behind him. He had so little time to prepare, in fact, that he rolled to the same side he had before. This maneuver was exactly what Boneroot was betting on.

His Sunless Stride took him directly behind the man’s new position. Gangwei had only started to whirl around, desperate to block whatever was behind him with his arms, when Boneroot attacked. He formed a Radiant Claw just in front of his hand, the same way he used to do it before refining the technique, then pushed it into the unarmored base of the back of the man’s neck. The qi-enhanced thrust of his arm, guided by the point of the Spatial ki’s claw, tore through Gangwei’s skin with sickening ease. His fingers followed behind the technique until they bounced off skull.

The boy fell back when the blood sprayed into his face. Gangwei fell forward, dead before he hit the ground. Boneroot looked down at the instruments of the man’s demise, colored a dark red, viscera clinging to the undersides of the nails. Soon, vomit and tears fell into the blossoming pool of blood at their feet. On the rock next to that pool, ten paws quickly appeared.

One of the faces looking down at the boy’s wracking sobs was largely unimpressed, if slightly surprised. Another held signs of pride mixed with sympathy. The final beamed with unbridled excitement.

“I knew you would beat the bad cat up!”

A shrill voice rang out in Boneroot’s head when he finished throwing up, but Kuroki’s enthusiasm nearly sent his stomach into another round of upheaval. However, he didn’t have the wherewithal to face that particular issue at this moment. Instead, he focused on the one who looked as if she just observed a friendly spar between children, lips quirked, levity dancing in her eyes.

When he finally looked into the eyes of the architect of this horror, Boneroot failed to veil his rage. He stared at Felindei until she spoke. The mellifluous sound of her voice was a stark contrast to the gore in which the boy sat.

“I suppose that will do. Once you break into the Orange realm, I will bind Kuroki to your shadow. We can discuss the next steps then.”

Without so much as a snap of Felindei’s fingers, before he could say a single word to Kroshieshi or Kuroki, Boneroot found himself back in his room in the grove. The hole in his leg was gone, his ribs unbroken, not a sign of any wound on his body, yet he was shaking more than he had been in the mountain arena. One look toward his bed was all he needed to know sleep wasn’t an option. He sat cross-legged on the floor, made difficult by the intensifying tremors, and zealously dove into meditative oblivion.