The second day of the Grand Gathering.
-
[Day 2]
Today, the twin tournament began with earth-shaking roars. Geniuses from across the continent gathered by the thousands, ready to test their strength and wits against their continental peers. Swords and shields clashed, while spears thrust just to be parried. Barriers shattered, fists left craters, and hammers shook the very air itself.
Following the blood-soaked opening day of combat, came the much-anticipated magic tournament. Unlike the brutal battles of blood and flesh, this was a refined contest of control and talent. Elemental energy carved through the air, the stage was reshaped into weapons, and spells that mutated the elements burst forth in torrential waves. It was a grand display of sorcery and skill, a convergence of the countless magical arts from every corner of the continent.
The first day ended with an explosive finish.
Those who stood out amongst the rest were recorded and remembered, while those that didn't were forgotten amongst the torrent of geniuses. as for the small handful of cases that displayed exceptional talent but got unlucky, they would later be approached in private.
At the end of the day, the opening act of the tournament was a complete success.
* * *
[Day 3]
The night passed quickly, and morning arrived in a flash.
The second day of the combat tournament was a storm of excitement. Through a surprising series of upsets came the rise of many unknown heroes. A young boy wielded a dagger with the grace of a master swordsman, an eyeless old woman let her longsword swim effortlessly through stone, and a strange beetle soared through the void, its wings slicing through metal with a sharpness far exceeding any blade.
The magic tournament proved no less exciting. Old legends re-emerged to test the younger generation, while top students spanning dozens of academies chanted new magic spells with prideful expressions. Forgotten races stepped out of seclusion, eager to display their innate superiority. Young girls with too much pride clashed against ugly monsters with not enough, while Dryads donned the mantle of nature to face the engineers of the future.
As the day of combat and magic drew to a close, the stage opened up for forging and alchemy.
The forging competition began with a sky melting heat that rolled out from the thousands of massive forges that were unveiled before the competitors. Tens of thousands of hammers fell in a cacophony of metallic echoes. Steam rose as magic steel took shape. Mountains of treasures formed under the hands guided by pure skill and passion. A sea of styles clashed as each craftsman fought to prove that their technique was the best.
As the forging competition continued to heat up, the alchemy competition also began.
Unlike the storm of sound that shook the forging arena, the alchemy arena was steeped in the silence of pure focus. Thousands of alchemists worked at once, their concentration unwavering. Each failure would shake the earth with a violent explosion, but the arena was built with special systems to control this inevitability. Medicine swirled, herbs fused, and towers of ingredients withered with every pill.
* * *
Private room.
Rotell sat in her private room with only a few servants.
She calmly watched the closing matches of today's competitions, quietly remembering the names and faces of the unknown geniuses from the southern region.
The first two days had brought her, along with the others, a lot of surprises.
The five pure paths were generally believed to be the strongest, but there were still individuals who displayed unimaginable talent without any formal training. The kind that could catch you off guard if you weren't focused.
The only difference between a 'normal human' (like from Earth) and a 'professional' (anyone with supernatural powers) was that their 'Will' could interact with the world. The reason people from Earth couldn't use magic was likely because Earth lacked the spiritual energy needed as a bridge. This pushed Earth's tech tree toward one that focused on the elemental energy that they could harness through external machines, like… water, steam, fire, and electricity.
Anyway, I digress…
Back to the competition. Many of the participants were only first or second order, but they were still able to compete with those on the pure paths. The blind sword granny didn't even have cultivation, but using pure Will alone, she could see the world around her and strike with a sword that was bigger than herself in a way that was no different than using a simple twig. This was the manifestation of Will and a long history of experience without any of the strengthening effects of Natural, Mystic, Elemental, or Soul Energy.
The same applied to the forging and crafting contests.
Excluding the techniques that were widely taught, many people came and performed new and unseen techniques that sparked a strong wave of excited discussion.
As the day passed, it was soon time to return and prepare for the next day.
-
The moment Rotell left the competition venue, she was the first to feel it. There was a subtle shift in the air, almost imperceptible, but enough to set off her instincts and throw her into high alert.
The two Royal Guards felt it next, and their hands tightened around their weapons.
Following her were ten guards. They moved silently, their expressions unreadable, but she could sense their awareness sharpening along with hers.
They continued forward, their eyes ignoring the shadows that seemed to flicker along the road, as if the darkness itself dared not meet their gaze.
Time passed.
The attack came suddenly, almost casually. It came in the form of a lone adventurer stepping past and 'tripping'. His sword was drawn, thrusting at Rotell with an unseen confidence. The strike that should have caught her off guard didn't, and it was parried instantly. One of her guards intercepted it with a sweep, deflecting the blow with a precision that spoke of countless battles. Each guard of the Hellion Empire was skilled, not to mention the Royal Knights.
After that joke of an attack came the main barrage.
From a distance, a rain of arrows descended like a curtain, whistling through the air with a ferocious momentum.
Rotell frowned, and her hand flicked her thin blade with lightning speed and cut through the incoming attacks with ease. It was almost as if they were nothing more than leaves falling in autumn, irrelevant, and constrained to the background.
Rotell frowned even deeper.
Something felt off.
Boom!
A sickening explosion tore through the formation. One of the ten guards erupted in a cloud of gore that sprayed his blood and flesh everywhere.
Rotell twisted sharply, stepping back and leaping away from the body in a swift movement that almost looked as if she could step on the air. The two Royal Guards followed her movements, their keen instincts also commanding them to move away.
As the distance between them and the dead guard grew, Rotell's eyes narrowed.
She was right, the body was leaking an airborne poison.
Her remaining guards were already under its effects, and the unseen assassin had already completed their work.
She landed, muscles tensing, relaxing only a moment too late.
Zooooomz!
The road around them flared with blinding light. The pattern was unmistakably a magic circle. a teleportation circle, cleverly disguised as a trap, engulfed Rotell and the two Royal guards before they could react.
They were pulled through space, the world twisting around them like a chaotic liquid. Rotell gripped her sword, her body shifting between weightlessness and uncontrollable fall.
They landed in a foreign environment.
Her mind flickered to life and she processed the new environment in an instant, scanning for threats.
There, not far ahead, there were about fifty black clothed figures.
Four of them moved to the side, and exposed a massive black stone monolith that groaned with an unseen power.
'Shit!'
Rotell cursed under her breath.
One of the Royal Guards moved faster than anyone could have anticipated, exploding forward with a pure lethality that Rotell could only envy. He carved through the black-robed attackers, his blade slicing through them effortlessly. Before anyone could even think about how to stop him, the man who far exceeded the average warrior struck the blackstone monolith with a terrifying sword light.
A crack split the unknown weapon in half, along with the landscape around it, collapsing it into rubble, the ancient runes flickered dead and the massive amount of energy that had accumulated was released into the void.
Rotell exhaled a sigh of relief.
Whatever energy it had stored could have obliterated them in an instant.
That was really dangerous!
The remaining Royal Guard followed Rotell in a bloody dance to massacre the remaining assailants that hadn't even had a proper chance to attack yet. Blood soaked her white suit, but she felt a strange, almost poetic beauty in the battle. This was what Rotell truly loved to do.
The fall of the last man marked the end of the battle.
Soon, only silence remained.
Rotell knelt, examining the bodies one by one.
"Who are they?" she asked.
"Mercenaries," came the reply. The Royal guards were very familiar with the annoying tactics used by these guys.
"Can mercenaries casually use teleportation magic with this kind of precision?" Rotell asked, frowning.
"Not weak ones like this," the other guard replied while shaking his head.
Rotell flicked the blood off her blade.
These bodies would give no answers.
"Where are we?" she asked again.
"Outside the city. Transportation magic can't lock onto spatial coordinates inside Imai," the Royal Guard responded.
Tsk. Rotell clicked her tongue. "But it still worked, right?"
"Mm," he replied, quiet and restrained. "That's why we're outside the city."
Rotell sheathed her sword, her mind already moving ahead. "Let's go. The others are probably worried. We also need to check all the guards' bodies for that poison."
Rotell paused, before correcting herself.
"We need to check all the servants."
The two men nodded.
An hour later, they finally found their way back to Imai. The city gate stretched out before them, bathed in the orange glow of a setting sun. Shadows stretched across the streets, long and unnerving. Rotell's shoulders sagged with the weight of the day's battle, but her mind remained alert. This was only the beginning, that's what she felt.
After getting through the city gate, they returned to their residence.
-
When Rotell returned to her residence, the first thing she discovered was that ninety percent of her servants had been killed by the same poison used on her guards.
She frowned.
"Why?"
"It doesn't make sense," one of the royal knights added.
"Did we offend the mercenary alliance?" The other asked.
Rotell shook her head.
"Go find the remaining servants scattered around the city and call them back. Let's figure out what's going on."
One of the head maids staggered over on wobbly legs.
"M-m-miss? They… they all exploded at once! I-I…"
Rotell put a hand on the old woman's shoulder. "Calm down, and tell me exactly what happened."
The old maid collected herself before struggling to explain.
The story was quite simple.
A few people dropped dead in pools of blood, then those in contact with them exploded, further spreading the affliction.
Rotell listened, quickly becoming annoyed. It was clear that this wasn't specifically targeted at her, otherwise, the deaths of the servants wouldn't have overlapped with the timing of her attack.
She still couldn't figure it out.
Rotell left the exhausted servant. In the meantime, she went upstairs to get cleaned up. As a woman, even if she was a bit of a tomboy, she still didn't like to be too dirty.
What made things worse was the timing. Imai had a massive auction planned for tonight, and she definitely wanted to attend.
Rotell sighed.
She was going to smell like blood for the whole night.
* * *
In another place, Petra was on her belly and laying over a chair on the first floor, watching the twelve human girls train.
The room smelled faintly of lilies and polished wood, while the air vibrated with the echo of fists hitting fists and the muted thuds of bare feet against the wooden floor.
Elli had recently finished 'rebuilding' their new physiques, and the difference was not at all subtle.
Each of the human girls was something Elli called High-human. Well, technically, she called them a 'superior version' of the High Humans, but Petra didn't care what that meant.
The twelve human girls were mostly the same, but with a few key physical changes. First, the blue dragon-shaped tattoos that had once covered each girl in unique patterns were gone. What was once a constant reminder of there scars had been returned to skin that was clean, flawless, and unblemished. Next, small runes were embedded in their hands, fingers, feet, and the back of their necks, running down their spines in precise geometric lines that had become transparent, and were only visible if one looked closely.
Petra stared at them, feeling the strange hum of something she couldn't understand In the air. It looked like some kind of mechanical interface, but Elli hadn't explained anything.
As Petra watched, she began to understand. These runes weren't just decoration, they were insanely advanced spatial bubbles created through runes, containing a ridiculously large amount of energy. Each finger, excluding the thumb, carried a different type of energy, while spiritual energy flowed down the spine like a torrent. When the girls moved, the lines lit up, tracing paths that somehow made their movements almost impossibly fast.
Whatever changes Elli had made, they went far deeper than skin alone.
Petra's stomach clenched, feeling incredibly jealous. If she cut herself open and perform the same surgery on herself, would she have the same opportunities as these girls? Probably not, right?
Petra patted her small belly.
The training itself was mesmerizing. The girls fought mostly with their fists, shifting seamlessly between pokes, punches, palms, and slashes. Their movements were fluid, like water flowing into itself, yet every strike carried precision and power. Their fists flashed with electricity, crackling lightly as they struck.
The lights from each girl's attacks overlapped and produced a chaotic dance of colorful arcs that stretched across the room.
It wasn't just about the arms. Every attack used the whole body. Hips twisted, legs snapped forward, shoulders rotated, feet pivoted. Petra watched them move and realized that this was a very 'human style', almost to an unnerving degree.
Not a magic-heavy style, not something foreign, but human, like military boxing from Earth. It was efficient, lethal, and elegant, refined down to the peak.
She rolled over, her eyes narrowing.
Where had Elli learned this? It wasn't just training, it was combat instincts built into their bodies, layered with energy that made every move something more then just an attack.