45th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

  Twochains won the duel with some difficulty, meaning he was also between yellow and orange on the power rainbow. The moment the decisive blow landed, the yellow-orange man vanished, and four paths appeared in the circular room.

  Newt chose the leftmost path, and a hundred feet later came up to another battle chamber, a black silhouette already waiting inside, leaning against its thick staff and doing its best to appear bored.

  Oh, come on! Our luck can’t be that bad!

  In Newt’s mind, the solitary figure painted black could only be Dandelion. Newt stepped forward, spear in hand, and, as expected, the black outline stood straight, brandishing its thick staff.

  “Fight,” the matron said, but neither moved.

  Newt sent a surge of earth energy, summoning a spear to impale his opponent well outside the range inside which a third-realmer could control spiritual energy. The needle-sharp stalagmite burst from the ground between Dandelion’s legs, and crumbled into sand. Newt’s big brother stood unmoving, waiting to see the young man’s next move.

  We’re getting sent to the losers tournament right from the start.

  Newt bellowed in frustration and charged Dandelion, stabbing forth with his spear. Hopefully, the superior weapon would give him an edge. Granite Crust crawled across his skin, enveloping him completely, just as he thrust at Dandelion.

  The figure shifted its head an inch to dodge the thrust, matching the speed of Newt’s fifth realm body with ease. The staff struck the middle of the spear’s shaft, and Newt staggered. His body in an awkward stance, Newt saw the staff whirling towards his head, unable to do anything but watch.

  Void of elemental energy, save to reinforce the weapon, the staff smashed against Newt’s temple. Granite Crust’s layers shattered one after another, as did Newt’s skull, and all went black.

  Newt blinked and found himself in a white room, all alone.

  Newt sighed and shook his head. He’s insane.

  A minute later, Flare appeared, followed by the rest of their team.

  “You lasted longer than I did,” Newt said, but the woman shook her head.

  “We were discussing what I should do and how to beat him. I lost on the first exchange when the fight started.”

  That’s Dandelion for you, no nonsense when he’s serious.

  “Did you notice anything I have done wrong?” Newt asked.

  The woman lowered her gaze, uncomfortable, her advice obviously an insult or something which could wound Newt’s pride.

  “Come on, say it.”

  “Pardon me, Senior Apprentice Brother, but you ran into the melee screaming, as if you were afraid and just wanted to get it over with.”

  Newt did not find her words offensive at all. If anything, Flare spoke the truth.

  “I stood no chance against him and wanted to get it over with.”

  The woman went silent once more, looking at the floor.

  “Newt,” Twochains spoke up. “Any battle in which you fight to lose will be lost. You should’ve given it your all, instead of accepting defeat right from the start.”

  Newt wanted to argue that to fight Dandelion meant to lose, but even to him the statement sounded too defeatist.

  “I’ll try better, but that man is going to be the champion of this event. The best we can hope for is second place, assuming we reach the end and face the final match’s loser.”

  Redleaf and Slickhorn encouraged Newt with kind words, but they were hollow noises to his ears. Instead of moping, Newt led the way forward.

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  Ten forks later, they came across another lonely figure, this one firmly yellow, and Redleaf beat them with some effort. Another two solitary opponents just went to show how horrible Newt’s luck was, but the power of lone wanderers rose, reaching orange-red.

  Newt’s teammates handled the battles, allowing them to confirm where everyone stood in the power spectrum. Then, a team of three appeared.

  Two oranges led by a red.

  “Flare, do you think you can handle them?”

  The woman nodded, and Newt motioned her to step forward. The other team hesitated, then their red stepped forward, confirming Flare was also red.

  The person wielded a heavy sword, probably an earth cultivator, and Flare drew her flexible blade, usually a weapon wielded by air cultivators, but it suited Flare’s combat style.

  Flare burst forth in a gust of heat the instant the realm started the battle. The opponent swung their heavy blade, but Flare ducked under the attack still advancing. Once she overcame the reach disadvantage, Flare twisted her body, stabbing her blade at her opponent’s eyes.

  Her merciless onslaught drove the other back. The silhouette punched, aiming for her head, but Flare bent her body like a snake, sending a burst of flames from her free hand. The earth cultivator resisted, but passively taking hits made for a poor strategy against fire cultivators, and on the fifteenth strike, Flare broke her opponent’s defense, and they vanished.

  Newt applauded, joined by the others, and watched the other two cultivators wordlessly discussing something, probably strategy. Finally, one of them approached, but every bit of their movement spelled defeat. Unlike Newt, they could not see Flare’s flushed face and more frequent breaths.

  All they saw was a shadow which had defeated their leader, and Flare executed them in less than five exchanges.

  They lost because they expected to lose. Newt saw the similarities and realized he really did make a mistake when fighting Dandelion. The battle was not over until it ended. If he decided he was going to lose, he would lose.

  “Great job, Flare!” He complimented her, but the woman accepted it with all the grace of a triceratops.

  “They defeated themselves, had they both given it their all, the second one could have defeated me.” She was probably right. Fire cultivators had great explosive strength, but burned through their spiritual energy quickly. Three prolonged fights in a row would have drained her, had any of her opponents managed to last that long.

  ***

  “The Explorer’s Gate group will face the Thunder Titans upon reaching the next battle-room.” The commentator’s voice echoed from the spell formations laid in the walls while the broadcast image shimmered in the teahouse. “The leader of the Explorer’s Gate, Newstar Blazing Salamander, will face Thunder Titans’ Steel Dream Ultraraptor and Hardstone Thunder Titan. All three come from ancient slayer clans, but whether a large sect like Explorer’s Gate can defeat a grand sect like Thunder Titans remains to be seen. Had anyone asked me yesterday, I would’ve straight up said no, what about you Sleek?”

  “Well, it’s certainly more possible than a wandering cultivator defeating any of these forces, and yet, here we are.” Woodhopper preferred Sleek’s smoother, less intrusive voice over Hardy’s, but she silently cursed both men as they laughed at the joke.

  “Independant champion Dandelion is trampling all who stand before him, and the betting houses now offer two-to-one odds for his victory, down from ten to one, which were available only two hours ago. I bet some folks regret not wagering their money on him.”

  Woodhopper cursed the two again. She bet three months worth of cultivation resources on their team. Most of the money belonged to the elders who had stayed back home, but still, two sixth realm spirit gems were nothing to scoff at.

  “It is unfortunate they were in the same branch of the warrens as Dandelion,” Sect Master Greenthorn said while sitting beside her. “But they will win second place if they keep going.”

  “Is this Dandelion really that powerful? He struck down Newstar in one blow.”

  “It wasn’t a simple blow,” the sect master said, “Dandelion sent a surge of air-aligned energy designed to counter Newt’s shield. The shield offered less than a tenth of its intended defense, and Newt was paralyzed with fear or awe. Under normal circumstances, if he had not known Dandelion, I think his odds would have been four in ten.”

  Woodhopper opened her mouth to speak about Dandelion’s connections, but her sect’s disciples entered the battle-room.

  “Five against thirteen, Thunder Titans must defeat all opponents, while Explorer’s Gate needs to eliminate ten. I don’t like Explorer’s Gate’s odds.” Hardy chuckled.

  “Neither do I, Hardy. But their disciple was given a black rating, which makes him one of the top contestants.”

  “I don’t know, Sleek, anything can happen in battle, but to win, he will have to defeat at least the first three, and when he loses he will fall down to an even lower level, hoping his remaining teammates can defeat the others. I’m a spirited gambler, but I wouldn’t bet my money on him.”

  Shut up, Sleek, Woodhopper grumbled inwardly and tuned out the sound as Newstar approached the center of the room. Hardstone Thunder Titan approached from the other end of the chamber.

  Newstar looked like a stick figure before the muscular young man. His hair was platinum, his skin dark, nearly black, covered in irregular, silvery lines, a byproduct of practicing Thunder Titans’ ancestral arts.

  The man was handsome, but the sneering face detracted from his beauty.

  “He is a lightning cultivator,” Sect Master Greenthorn said, his tone easygoing. “He must be very talented and just as furious. They had just lost to Dandelion, and here is another man with a black rating.”

  “You’re not worried about Newstar?”

  “He would embarrass himself if he lost to this group.” Sect Master had absolute confidence, and some of it bled over to Woodhopper.

  Reassured, she leaned back to enjoy the battles.