The grand arena buzzed with chants and roars as the latest match ended, but I barely heard them. My boots softly against the white-tiled promenade leading away from the ring, golden dust still clinging to my Gi from the finishing blow I'd delivered. I didn't need to rush. My heart was steady. My body was warm. And for the first time in days, the path ahead of me felt eerily silent.
like the eye of a coming storm. As I entered the Ironfang Clan's temporary staging grounds—marked by tents embroidered with red-fang sigils—I saw them.
Faeluxe stood leaning against a lantern pole, arms crossed, eyes narrowed—but as soon as she saw me, her expression loosened. "Still in one piece," she said, brushing a strand of blond hair behind her ear. Marla sat cross-legged atop a floating meditation disc, chewing on a piece of dried meat. She smirked. "You were showboating," she said flatly. "Using an entry level palm strike had too much flair."
Hammerhead, ever the giant, was crouched near a bubbling tea pot. His wide mouth curled into a sharkish grin. "Hah! Knocked the air outta that boy like a falling tree on a goose! You call that subtle?!"
I chuckled softly, rolling my shoulders as I approached the group. "Subtlety is for assassins," I said. "I'm here to make a statement." Faeluxe approached, eyes scanning me for wounds. "Any injuries? Hidden fractures? Dislocated meridians?" "I let him hit me a few times on purpose," I said, smirking. "Just wanted to test my bone density."
Marla raised a brow. "You're gonna draw a lot of eyes doing that." My gaze drifted toward the massive floating lotus palace far behind the arena, its petals half-closed in the early morning light.
"Eyes were already on me the moment the Totem lit up," I murmured. "Now they just know what kind of monster they're looking at." There was a silence among the crew. Then Hammerhead grunted and passed me a cup of steaming tea. "You're gonna need this. That sword freak—Zhenba? He's not the only one gunning for your head."
I took the tea and sipped slowly considering all of the recent events. That totem ranking had certainly brought unexpected results into my life. I and the crew sat idle as the following matches got under way.
In one arena was Zhenba. Zhenba stepped into the circular arena with twin sabers strapped across his back, loose white bandages fluttering from his wrists. His gaze was still and sharp, his spirit was tightly coiled like a drawn bow. His opponent was a Cultivator named Leiyu Stormreel. Leiyu was a mid-tier prodigy from the far eastern coasts of the Beast Vein Continent, the Sky Fish Clan was known for their aquatic swordplay and slippery footwork. Leiyu possessed a Water Grade Spirit Body bonded to a Flying Eel Beast core. His specialties involved High-speed slashing techniques and electric-imbued water movement. Leiyus weapons were Dual curved swords named Whirlpool and Surge.
Across from him, Leiyu Stormreel twirled his curved blades and smirked confidently. "I've never heard of the ''Thousand Cuts Clan'' Must be a new one," Leiyu called out, flashing electric qi along his swords.
Zhenba didnt answer. The gong sounded! Leiyu surged forward riding a wave of water chi rippling beneath his boots, gliding as though skating across a river's surface! He launched a four-blade spiral slash infused with watery lightning! At the same time he used a rear ward hook from his second sword meant to catch opponents who dodge the first attack.
Zhenba took a step forward.
Both attacks of Leiyus passed through a flickering afterimage of Zhenba.
Leiyu blinked.
"Wha—?"
in a flash Zhenba unsheathed both sabers with an audible SNICK—the motion so fast it left glowing red tracer lines in the air!
"Rending Slash" Zhenba whispered.
It was a slash so subtle it seemed that he didn't move at all. But suddenly a thin slice opened on Leiyu's right arm.
Then—
"Axel Cut."
Leiyu's right shoulder jerked as his armor peeled open like paper. Blood and Sparks flew. Leiyu instinctively parried—only to find his own sword shattering, as Zhenba's blade phased through metal in a ghost-cut. The crowd gasped.
Zhenba unleashed one of his secret techniques – "Flea blade flurry" Zhenba Became a dancing twirling storm of twin saber blades! His blades didn't just cut Leiyus flesh—they cut his momentum, his reaction, and his intention. Leiyu's movements became sluggish. "Wh-what's going on?! I'm... already bleeding?!"
Then Zhenba's eyes narrowed. He slashed once, horizontally. A split-second passed. Suddenly, seven wounds open across Leiyu's body—precise, not lethal, but utterly humiliating.
Leiyu collapsed to one knee, panting, a bloody mess. He tried to stand, but his ankles gave out, he was to light headed from the blood loss. The officiating jade seal floated up: "Victory: Zhenba of the Thousand Cuts Clan." I blinked at Zhenbas display of skill. "He didn't even break a sweat." Elyahna said nothing, but icy mist curled at her feet.
Nara of the Snare smirked. "Precision like that only comes from obsession." Dimitri lit a tiny fire on his fingertip and snuffed it out.
"I'm going to enjoy burning that one."
Vaylan Dusk Spire, still lounging in the shadows, spoke to no one:
"Oh, little Zhenba… Still trying to get out of your father's shadow."
The arena floor trembled as the next two names rang out across the jade amplifiers. "Elyahna of the Frozen Hearts Clan. Yogrek Grimbark of the Golden Boulder Clan. To the ring." A hush fell over the gathered clans. Elyahna stepped forward with effortless grace, her silver-white Gi trailing frost with each step. Her hair was the pale blue of glacial sky, eyes like distant aurora seen through a storm.
She had no visible weapon on her body. Across the arena, the earth shook. Yogrek Grimbark rose like a mountain walking.
Towering at nearly eight feet, he wore armor made from actual petrified beasts of the deep crust, and his hammer—Bedrock Mourner—was carved from a Leviathan's fossilized tooth, bound in gold. He stomped into the ring with a grunt, dragging his hammer. His veins glowed faintly with a rich bronze qi. "I don't crush women," he said bluntly. "You sure about this?"
Elyahna didn't speak. Instead, a ring of hoarfrost spun out beneath her feet, instantly cooling the stone platform into brittle white. Her breath misted.
"Speak with your fists," she said coldly. "Not your ego."
GONG!
Yogrek charged like an avalanche, the ground splintering beneath his titan stride. He leapt—
"EARTH ANCESTOR'S DESCENT!"
His hammer came down like a meteor. Elyahna jetted out of the way! Beneath her feet blades of Ice materialized as she skated out of the way! A wall of ice as clear as a diamond rose instantly, intercepting the hammer with a crack that echoed for miles. Shards exploded in every direction, but behind it—
She was gone. Already accelerating across the sheet of ice qi she had generated.
"PETAL DANCE OF THE CRYSTAL MOON!"
In Her hand an Ice sickle flashed like moonlight, carving icy sigils midair. Yogrek spun, lifting his hammer to block—but frost snaked up his gauntlets, spreading over his beard and shoulders. His breath hitched. His movement slowed.
He swung again, a full-body heave that could crush war beasts—
"SEISMIC PULSE!"
The ground ruptured beneath Elyahna, hurling spikes and stone fists upward! But she was already in motion, skating across the frost as if the attack meant nothing to her. Her ice blades beneath her feet left behind sigils of ice, activating traps—
"Frost Mine Snap!"
Rings of soundless ice erupted upward from the ground, slicing through the stone, locking and freezing around Yogrek's legs and arms in quick succession. He roared in defiance, veins pulsing with golden animus. With a twist of his body—
"TITAN'S HEARTBEAT!"
He shattered the bindings with brute force and flung his hammer like a comet—aimed directly at her heart!
But Elyahna raised a hand, and—
The hammer froze midair!
Fully. Utterly. Suspended in a block of crystal-clear glacial energy.
The silence was absolute.
"...Impossible," Yogrek muttered. "That's not regular ice essence!..."
She appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye, eyes glowing. She was touching her bloodline mystic ice power!
"FROSTFALL ANNIHILATION!"
A silent pulse swept the battlefield. Snow fell upward. Yogrek's breath froze in his throat. For one second—he was encased in a pillar of deep blue ice, suspended in time.
Then Elyahna snapped her fingers!
The ice block shattered!
And Yogrek fell to his knees, unconscious. His qi directly attacked and frostburned.
"Victory: Elyahna of the Frozen Hearts Clan!"
The crowd was stunned. I, watched from the edge of the ring, mystified. That… wasn't just Ice qi, I thought.
That was something more ancient, an Ice bloodline power.
Marla whistled. Faeluxe's eyes narrowed, "She's not here to win friends either."