Although Kel had been determined the winner, he was still in need of as much of the healers’ attention as Lana, if not more. The announcer declared a short recess during which spectators would be offered refreshments, and Micro accompanied Kel to a room within the arena walls where he discovered Tae and several other contestants resting on mats around a warm fire.

  “Hello,” Micro said, relieved to see them looking much healthier than before. Their injuries had been treated, and several mundane attendants were serving them refreshments. Kel and Lana were taken to the area nearby where Vera and the other healer began treating their wounds. Micro walked over when he noticed Kel’s eyes had opened.

  “Master Micro?” Kel mumbled as he came out of a daze, but he took a moment to cough up some of the blood stuck in his throat.

  “I think you won, Kel!” Micro congratulated Kel as the woman began to use her healing powers. He watched happily as his many cuts and scrapes began to heal slowly, though Kel’s face was still difficult to read beneath the dried blood.

  “I couldn’t have done it…” Kel whispered with a hoarse voice. “Without your guidance, master—”

  “Stay still.” The healer in red robes suddenly grabbed hold of his injured arm, causing him to wince. “You’re squirming about like a newborn.”

  “Does this mean you and Lana are friends now?” Micro asked as he glanced over to Lana. She had already regained consciousness, but she seemed disinterested in joining their conversation.

  “It may take more time,” Kel said slowly, his eyes now closed tight as he tried not to succumb to the pain of the healer’s ongoing treatment. “Another battle, but perhaps in time—”

  “Well, I’m not as good at reading signs as you are,” Micro replied with a frown. “Where I’m from, red means stop. And you’re mostly red right now.”

  “Hah—Oh…” Kel laughed, but he quickly stopped. “Ouch!”

  “It was a good battle, young master,” the woman healing him said with a slight nod. “Your injuries are superficial, a few broken bones. It will take an evening of meditation to recover fully, but you can fight again, should you choose.”

  “You’re a better mechanic than I thought,” Micro said with a gasp. “Are you sure he’s not dying?”

  “I’m Kiula, daughter of the heir to the Amber Fire Blood River Sect,” She replied with a bored expression. “Don’t mistake me for some second rate healer.”

  “Blood?!” Micro gasped.

  “Indeed,” she mumbled indifferently as she concluded her treatment of Kel. “There, you’re ready.”

  “Thank you, Kiula,” Kel replied, his voice full of confidence once again. He brought his hands together in front of him and bowed deeply, then stood up and beckoned Micro to follow him back.

  “I must know, master,” Kel said excitedly. “After seeing my fight with Lana, what do you think of the potential of the Turtle Art?”

  “Its potential?” Micro tilted his head. “I’m more concerned that you are still covered in blood…”

  “I’m sure I could have used my energy more efficiently during the battle,” Kel continued with a wide smile. “I relied too much on my armour and struggled to find the right timing to attack with my shield. My grandfather would scold me for such a blunder! I look forward to seeing how you will building upon—”

  “I’m glad you had fun, but I’m not sure I want to try that,” Micro replied. “But is everyone that strong? It’s so odd to see humans moving like that, covered in lights…”

  “I know we must seem beneath the skills you so often witnessed at home, but it is important that you never take another cultivator lightly,” Kel explained with concern. “Though your path is your own, it is also the path of a cultivator.”

  “My own path, and a cultivator’s path…” Micro wondered aloud. “I think I see…”

  “Now, excuse me, master,” Kel said as he began to run back to the stage.

  “Who will you pick to lead the next fight?” Micro called out, but Kel didn’t hear him. Micro returned to the place where Thea, Feris, Teran, Ki, and Yin still stood. Lana had joined Tae, Gor, Rale, and Tsurum in the rest area for eliminated contestants. Thea smiled at Micro as he returned, while Teran and Ki gave him a less enthusiastic greeting. Yin ignored him entirely, all of his attention still on Kel.

  “Are you enjoying the tournament, Micro?” Thea asked with a wink.

  “I’m not sure,” Micro replied slowly as he watched Kel take his place on the stage once again. “It’s my first time seeing something like this.”

  “I almost forgot you were from another world,” Thea whispered as she leaned in closer. “Do you not have tournaments there?”

  “The old man listened to baseball on the radio,” Micro answered after thinking for a moment. “But only the children ever fought…”

  “Mysterious indeed,” she replied, sincerely confused by his answer. She turned away from Micro as the announcer finished addressing Kel, and Kel turned to the contestants again to announce his decision. “Well, let’s see if Kel really has changed since meeting you.”

  “I challenge Feris of the Jade Earth River Sect!” he shouted with his head held high. The audience seemed pleased by his decision, judging by their subsequent cheers.

  “Is that a good choice?” Micro asked Thea as the short haired girl in dark red robes made her way up to the arena with a bright smile.

  “I was worried he would choose Yin, but it seems he hasn’t gotten ahead of himself,” Thea replied with a content expression. “Feris is a veteran contender here, and she has a reputation for quick victories. She is neither the weakest nor the strongest of us, a good choice.”

  “So complicated…!” Micro scratched his head, to which Thea shrugged. Their attention was then drawn to Feris, who bowed deeply to the announcer before turning to address Kel.

  “I’m honoured, heir to the Fire Mountain Turtle Sect!” Feris called out playfully. “I’m ready when you are.”

  Micro’s ears began to ring as the noise of the crowd continued once again. He was tempted to cover his ears for a while, but he wanted to hear everything that happened on the stage in front of him. Without any further formalities, Kel and Feris jumped toward each other with a burst of aura.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  Kel chose to summon a simple shield as he drew closer, his energy having not yet completely recovered. Micro wondered for a moment what sort of attack he was planning to block, but the answer surprised him greatly. Feris began waving her hands gracefully in a circular motion as she jumped through the air, and the stone platform beneath her began to shake. With a loud crack, dirt burst through one of the stones and followed her through the air like a stream, following the movements of her hand.

  CRUNCH

  As she flung her hands forward, the stream of earth swept forward and collided with Kel’s shield. Rocks and dust were scattered everywhere with a heavy sound. Micro stepped back as several rocks were flung straight toward him, and he was both grateful and impressed when Thea reached out and caught two of them with one hand in a single motion.

  “What is that?!” Micro shouted at Thea with wide eyes.

  “The Earth Art and the River Art are both powerful elemental arts,” Thea replied, watching the fight with excitement in her own eyes. “The Earth River Sect combines the raw power of earth with the force of a flowing river to produce such attacks, though Feris is only scratching the surface of what such a combination of arts is capable of.”

  “She’s not bad, I guess,” Teran murmured, the only other remaining representative of the Earth River Sect still standing. She looked away with a disinterested expression. “I’m better.”

  “The Mountain Art and the Turtle Art were once considered one of the better combinations, but the Earth River Sect has gained a reputation for its contributions in recent battles,” Thea continued. “Some techniques are more suited to warfare than others, you see?”

  Micro had more questions, but he forgot them as the dust cleared and Kel’s glowing shield became visible once more. Micro focused his aura around his eyes to try and see their energy through the chaos of dust, but he was surprised to see the dust itself was full of energy.

  “Oh, she’s improved since last year,” Thea commented, turning back to address Teran.

  “Controlling the dust in the air like that is something only you and Gor could do before, wasn’t it?”

  “If you call that control!” Teran quipped as she rolled her eyes.

  “Wait, if I can’t see their energy, that means they can’t either!” Micro suddenly shouted with worry, but Teran only laughed.

  “You think an Earth River Sect disciple of any level would be blinded by dust?” Teran laughed so hard that a tear formed in her eye. “If anything, she can see more clearly now than before!”

  “Oh…” Micro frowned.

  As Teran chuckled, the dust that swirled around the arena suddenly stopped, as if it had been frozen in the air. Some spectators gasped at the strange display of power, while others smiled knowingly at the spectacle. Among the contestants, Micro was the only one frowning as he looked around at the particles of dirt suspended in the air, but a sudden crash from the centre of the motionless cloud soon rang out, accompanied by a flash of green light. Another crash, and another flash of light soon followed. More and more violent sounds rang out, but still Micro could only imagine what was happening inside, and Thea noticed his confusion.

  “Feris is using the dust cloud to conceal her movements while attacking,” Thea explained while continuing to watch intently. “I wouldn’t have expected Kel to be able to defend himself against an attack like that last year, but it sounds like he’s doing well so far.”

  “He’s driving blind?!” Micro gasped as he tried to follow the sounds and lights that travelled through the dust like thunder and lighting in a cloudy sky.

  “Feris probably intended to finish the battle quickly though,” Thea continued. “I don’t imagine she’ll be able to maintain cover much longer.”

  As Thea had predicted, the dust suddenly fell from the air to the ground all at once, coating the arena and most of the people in it with a thick film of dirt. Among the coughing and wheezing of the audience were several gasps and cheers, and the battle’s participants came into view for the first time since the dust rose.

  Kel stood gasping for air with a heavily damaged shield of energy by his side. As the dust settled, the ethereal shield crumbled away. For the first time, Kel reached behind him to take up the physical shield he and his comrades always carried on their backs. Though rusty and worn, Micro recalled the strength they held in the hands of a cultivator. Across from Kel stood Feris, unscathed but completely out of breath. Though no dust had settled on her, she looked exhausted.

  “I’ll admit I’m surprised, Kel!” she said with a tired smile. “You shouldn’t have been able to see a thing through that dust…”

  “Waiting for your attacks must be unnerving to your opponents,” Kel replied, happy to take a moment to catch his breath. “Waiting is nothing to a master of the Jade Fire Turtle Art.”

  “I’ll be less gentle then. I always preferred the River Art!” Feris announced as she waved her hands around once more before taking an offensive stance. “Everything in a river’s path is swept away in time.”

  “Everything, you say?” Kel replied calmly as he took a defensive stance. “We’ll see what time has in store…!”

  “You might see this coming…” Feris explained as she suddenly jumped straight toward Kel. “But you won’t stop it!”

  CRACK

  Her fist met Kel’s shield with a fierce sound, beginning a steady stream of continuous and gracefully thrown punches, each more powerful than the last, while Kel’s shield moved efficiently to block each one, it was clear that he was slowly being pushed back. With the energy filled dust cleared away, Micro could finally watch the battle while observing the flow of each contestant’s energy, but he was shocked to see how little each fighter had.

  “They’re running on fumes up there!” he shouted as the steady beat of punches against Kel’s quickly moving shield echoed through the stadium. The shockwave of each attack shook the dust that covered the area.

  He looked more closely and noticed that while each of their energy outputs seemed very low, they were efficiently channelling it into each attack as it happened. Every time Feris spun around with her hand rushing gracefully through the air, it collected just enough energy to coat it evenly before it impacted Kel’s shield, which Kel filled with just enough energy to counter it. As their energy continued to deplete, the attacks only grew faster. Sometimes Kel would be forced back, and other times he would manage to stand his ground. The audience was split into those who cheered for Kel’s small victories and those who cheered for each step Feris gained, but their collective celebration of the match only made Micro’s heart beat faster as he watched.

  “Hah!” Feris finally found the timing to take a step back to charge a more powerful punch. With a shout, she slammed the back of her fist against the side of Kel’s shield, knocking it to the ground with a thud. Kel’s left arm cracked as the shield was torn away from it.

  “Very well!” he shouted as he crouched down slightly and braced himself to receive her next attack. “Take your time!”

  As she continued to spin with the momentum of the backfist which had disarmed Kel, she prepared an open handed strike that split the air as it travelled toward Kel’s head. But Kel waited patiently for it to arrive. Micro wondered if he would try to trip his opponent again, or perhaps try to jump to the side to avoid the dangerous attack, but Kel did neither. He reached out with his right hand and met the open hand of Feris with his own, interlocking their fingers and digging his feet into the ground behind him.

  The sound of their hands meeting was louder than any sound Micro had heard in the arena before then, and Feris leaned into her attack as Kel’s feet scraped across the platform, carving two deep trails through the stone. Micro watched as Kel pushed all the energy in his body equally into his right hand and his feet, but he was being pushed dangerously close to the edge of the arena.

  “You’re a stubborn turtle,” Feris grunted as she pushed with all the strength she had left.

  “You fought well,” Kel replied, his voice dry from the dust he’d inhaled.

  “The cowardly Kel… taking every attack head on,” she whispered through a short laugh. Still clasping Kel’s hand, Feris fell to one knee as Kel’s heel felt the sharp edge of the stone arena. She punched the ground feebly with her free hand in frustration, then looked up at Kel and smirked. “You won’t catch me off guard twice…”

  “I’ll be stronger next time as well,” Kel replied, and he released her hand.

  “Good—” Feris closed her eyes and fell backward to the ground with a light thud.

  The white noise of the spectators’ celebrations made it difficult to hear the announcer’s words, but Micro sighed with relief when Kel looked back to him and gave him a thumbs up with his bloody right hand. Micro was about to return the gesture, but Kel suddenly fell backward off the stage, landing softly in the arms of Kiula, who simply nodded at the announcer before carrying him back to the recovery room for treatment once again. Vera soon followed with the unconscious Feris in her arms, and the battle was officially concluded.

  “Kids these days…” Micro shook his head.