by Aaron Oster
Roy was actually surprised he could know all of that just by looking, as it wasn’t something he’d been able to see before, but watching the man closely revealed more information than Roy could have imagined. Just from watching him, he could tell that Garnet was nearing the end of his Path. He would never reach Purple. This Belt, at Base Blue, was as far as the man would ever go.
“This can’t all be from me,” he said, directing his thoughts at Geon. “Moving from Orange to Green shouldn’t have given me so much insight or understanding of the other fighters.”
“It’s not all you,” Geon said. “I know this is from me, but I still can’t quite place what it is. The memories are still eluding me.”
“And Garnet has stepped onto the platform! Betting is now closed!”
Roy was snapped from his conversation with Geon and forced his attention on the man now standing about fifteen yards across. Now that he was closer, Roy could get a better look at the man. He was short, stocky, and powerfully-built. Still, the depth of his Core was negligible compared to his vast resources.
They were surrounded by Garnet’s native Path, and if the man didn’t already have a massive edge in the form of being an entire stage above Roy, this was more than enough to tip the scales in his favor. If they were assuming Roy was a Water Artist, then giving him access to nothing at all assured he’d be limited in his techniques.
Garnet spread his arms wide, and oddly enough, the crowd went silent. He turned slowly, his grin wide and mocking.
“I hope none of you bet on this loser! Because, since I’ve never lost a fight, you’re guaranteed to lose big ti—!”
“I’m sure you’re the best fighter around,” Roy interrupted, his voice echoing oddly in the silence of the arena. “Of course, when you’re fighting against Green-Belts, Martial Artists who are a full stage beneath you, you never lose. I thought the Inu clan was made up of a bunch of dishonorable dogs, but it seems that my opinion of them wasn’t fair at all…”
He trailed off, his voice laced with so much scorn and sarcasm that even Geon wouldn’t have been able to play this one off. He allowed the muttering of the crowds to grow a bit, then he delivered the final blow.
“…to dogs. They’re far more honorable than the Inu.”
Roy watched as the man’s face turned red. All traces of his earlier gloating were now gone, replaced by an expression of barely contained rage. It seemed Roy had hit a nerve.
Good, he thought to himself. Angry fighters don’t try to strategize.
He wasn’t expecting Garnet to take him seriously either way, but destabilizing his foundation, even if it were just a blow to his pride, could be the deciding factor.
The crowd’s muttering was now quite loud, and Roy could see that the more important members of the Inu clan were frowning in annoyance. It didn’t matter all that much to him, as he didn’t care what these people thought of him. The Inu were pretty much planning on keeping him as a slave until he was killed, profiting off his fights, and all for the single drink of water he’d foolishly accepted.
“Well, that’s enough banter from our fighters!” the announcer said, his voice carrying just a hint of worry.
Roy spotted him then, standing in a small box near the top of the arena, next to the bigger boxes for the important people. He could also see that several people had their eyes trained on the man, and Roy wondered if there would be a new announcer gracing that box tomorrow. It wasn’t the man’s fault, of course. But people in power liked to throw around blame, and it was easy to do so when you could physically crush anyone weaker than you, and no one would say a thing.
“Fighters, on your mark!” the announcer said.
“I’m going to destroy you!” Garnet said, his muscles bulging as he clutched the heavy mace in a white-knuckled grip.
“Begin!”
The stone beneath Garnet’s feet shattered as the man dashed forward, his massive mace swinging up and around in an attempt to crush Roy’s skull. While this was a fight to incapacitation, death technically met those requirements. Roy had already been moving though, golden Power Essence gathering around his legs and back.
Even as the mace came thundering down, Roy was launching himself from the stage, flashing back with the power of his Shockwave. The explosion of dust and debris, mixed with the air-splitting crack of his Movement technique, was drowned out by the cheers of the crowd. Roy skidded to a halt some fifty feet away, sand spraying in the air behind him.
Garnet stared after him, seemingly surprised that Roy had managed to dodge his attack. His speed and precision had been on point, and Roy could see how he’d flatten any Green-Belt with that opening gambit. But Roy had been expecting it. Still, knowing what your opponent was going to do and being able to counter were two different things, and when Garnet shot toward him, his lower body cloaked in brown light, Roy knew that he was a long way from winning.
11
The explosion of sand nearly blinded him as he backpedaled, using his Shockwave to put some distance between him and his attacker. Roy could feel Power’s displeasure as he continued to avoid confrontation, using his superior speed and maneuverability to stay ahead of the enraged Blue-Belt.
Of all the Paths, Earth was the very slowest. That being said, Roy knew he wouldn’t be able to stay ahead of the man for much longer. The differences in their power were just too great, and more than that, Roy had just become a Green-Belt. Garnet, who was already at the Blue stage, would have some experience with Qi, while all Roy could do was eject it in a cloud.
Roy danced to one side, sand spraying in the air and golden lines tracing over his body as he used his Armorer technique. He needed to protect himself, and even if he wouldn’t be able to withstand more than a couple of blows, the extra layer could be the difference between life and death.
Garnet roared, exploding through the sand cloud and swinging hard. Roy managed to avoid the attack and finally get off one of his own. The Exploding Fist drilled into the back of Garnet’s shoulder, blasting the man off his feet and sending him rolling across the ground. Of course, the attack wasn’t strong enough to more than damage the robes and perhaps leave a small mark, but Roy was long past the period when his attacks didn’t do anything.
The man had already been off-balance, and adding some force at just the right time had been more than enough to send him sprawling. The crowd went silent at that, watching in shocked amazement as the man who’d never lost pushed himself back to his feet. Clearly, they were used to seeing him dominate his opponents, and having someone, especially a lowly Green-Belt, stand up to him was starting to damage his reputation.
Garnet sprang to his feet, his face contorted into a mask of rage. The ground around him began to tremble, Earth Essence spinning around him in a cone. Then, he swung his mace down, the ground itself seeming to detonate. Roy, who’d already been moving back, turned his run into a dive. Sand erupted all around him, catching him in his stomach and hurtling him into the air. The golden lines tracing his body shimmered, cracks flowing across his shield.
“A Terrain technique,” he cursed, hitting the ground and rolling to avoid Garnet’s follow-up.
“Can’t blame him for taking advantage of his advantages,” Geon said as the mace thudded into the ground where Roy’s head had been just a second before.
The explosion of sand where the mace landed told Roy that the man was now using a Physical technique to boost his strength.
Roy rolled several more times, then used his Exploding Fist to launch himself to his feet by punching the ground. He dropped right back down as Garnet swung his mace in an arc, sending a half-dozen glowing stone spikes at his head.
Roy shoved back, blasting the ground with more Essence, and managed to avoid another devastating blow, but he was on the back foot and Garnet knew it. The crowd, which had been initially surprised and uncertain, was back on Garnet’s side and cheered him as he followed, bringing his mace up and around in powerful arcs.
Roy was nearly to th
e far wall now and jumped to his feet, running along its perimeter as powerful spikes slammed into the wall, shattering the stone and showing him just how much power Garnet was putting behind his attacks.
Roy could feel the Spirit of Power growing more and more annoyed as he kept running. He could even start feeling his own Essence fighting him, demanding he attack, but Roy had been in enough fights to know when to attack and when to run.
“You can’t keep running forever!” Garnet called, slamming his mace into the ground.
Roy felt the Earth Essence, thick in the air, gathering around the point of the mace right before impact. He spun, slamming both fists into the wall and using his Exploding Fist. At the same time, he pushed off from the ground, using all the power and momentum from his Shockwave.
In an astonishing move of agility that he’d never been able to pull off before, Roy sailed some fifteen feet into the air, managing to avoid the explosion of sand beneath his feet. This was the first time he was really testing himself since his advancement, and it was at that moment that Roy realized he was still fighting as though he were an Orange-Belt.
When he’d advanced, he’d finally gotten his Core-Body, something which increased his overall defense, physical abilities, and strengthened him enough to be able to use Qi safely. He hadn’t realized how much had changed until he was in the air, staring down at a shocked Garnet with a wide-open shot at the man.
Roy acted quickly, gathering Essence in a ball and hurling it at the man. His Void Sphere slammed into Garnet’s unprotected face, causing him to stagger back. Roy had spent a lot of time training his techniques to come out faster, and it was proving to all be worth it. His fists flashed twice more, ejecting two more spheres of explosive Essence before he hit the ground, tucking his head and rolling back to his feet.
Garnet shook his head, smoke trailing from his face, which was noticeably singed and bleeding. The man hadn’t even thought to raise his defenses against a Green-Belt, which was turning out to be a clear mistake. Roy dashed in, his body flashing across the distance and unleashing a barrage of 2nd Stage Exploding Fists. His Increase would ramp up the power of each successive blow landed, so long as the chain wasn’t broken.
This was Roy’s best chance at winning, and if he just kept up this barrage, he might just be able to start causing some real damage. However, before Roy could truly hit his stride, something happened that he could never have seen coming.
Garnet gave up.
“I surrender! I surrender!” the man screamed, crouching and covering his head with his arms, trying to protect his face.
Roy, who didn’t really understand what was happening, continued to attack before he was tackled from the side by a pair of arena guards, driving him to the ground.
“And that’s it! The fight is over! In a massive upset, the new meat, Choi, who apparently follows not a Water Path, but one of Power, takes the fight!”
No cheers greeted Roy as he was slowly let up by the guards. Just stunned silence. He was shocked himself. Why would Garnet just give up? Roy could see no reason for the man to quit. He had every advantage. He was a full stage higher than him, and the terrain was perfect. He’d had Roy on the run for the entire fight, and the first time he’d put up even a little resistance, the man had just given up!
Garnet remained where he’d crouched, cowering back and covering his head and face, trying to protect himself from blows that were no longer landing. Roy just stood there, looking around and not really knowing what to do next. The announcer, clearly not sure what to do either, looked toward one of the big boxes, where a man dressed in ornate robes just waved him on.
“Garnet has been defeated, and now, the crowd will choose his fate! Does he live, or does he die?”
The crowd, now given a voice, began to cheer but were cut off after only a second by the announcer.
“Garnet gets to live to fight another day! Let’s hear it for Choi! Clearly, we have a new contender in our ranks!”
The crowd exploded into a round of applause that took Roy by surprise. The last thing he’d expected was for them to be happy with his victory, and although the Inu were clearly cheating for their man, he honestly didn’t care. His opponent had surrendered in one of the most shameful fashions a Martial Artist could. If he’d had any position within the clan beforehand, he’d just lost it.
The man had had every advantage, and yet, he’d still lost. Worse, it was to a Green-Belt foreigner, someone who he was supposed to easily trounce.
Roy felt an iron grip lock around his arm as one of the guards began forcibly marching him back to his cell. Roy took one last look over his shoulder and saw Garnet being escorted off as well. Judging by the pair of Purple-Belts flanking him, the man’s humiliation was only just beginning.
“Wow, I can’t believe you won!” Xu exclaimed as Roy was bustled back into the cell.
“Do you want any water, medicine, or food?” one of the guards asked, although it was clear he wanted to offer none.
“No,” Roy replied, knowing that accepting his offer would only add to his count, completely invalidating this fight and likely only making it harder to work his way free.
The guard’s eyes narrowed, and he took a step closer.
“I would advise you to accept some food, water, or medicine,” he said, his voice taking on a menacing tone. “We wouldn’t want you to get hurt from lack of strength, would we?”
“I’m fine, thanks,” Roy replied.
The guard glared at him for a few more moments, then stepped back.
“Well, it seems you’re well enough to fight again today,” he said, his tone cold. “I’ll go make sure the arena Master knows so we can fit you in.”
The door clanged shut and the guard marched away, his back straight and shoulders stiff.
“I’d congratulate you on your win,” Xu said, suddenly a lot less exuberant. “But seeing as you’ll be fighting again, I guess it’s kind of pointless. You should have taken the water.”
“That would have added another four fights to my count,” Roy said, crossing his arms. “That fight was hard, but the surrender was completely unexpected. Is that normal around here?”
“For fights involving Inu clan fighters it is, although I’ve never seen Garnet lose in all the time I’ve been here,” Xu said. “All his fights are normally over in the first ten seconds.”
So, it was just as Roy had thought. The man was used to winning quickly and had never sustained any damage. So, at the first signs of resistance, where Garnet had started to feel some pain and pressure, he’d caved.
“Why do people from the Inu clan fight at all?” he asked, hearing cheers as the next fighters were brought out.
“For the most part, they do it for the money,” Xu replied with a shrug. “Some do it for fame or the clan’s honor. The way that fight ended was just sad, though. I’ve got a feeling we’ll be seeing an unscheduled bonus fight today, where Garnet will be facing Annihilator.”
Roy felt his lips purse into a hard line at that. It seemed that the Inu clan was just as merciless to their own members as they were to outsiders. The man had had every advantage, and yet he’d lost in a horrible and shameful way. They wouldn’t allow something like that to slide, and making it a public spectacle would send a message to any other fighters in their clan.
Instead of standing near the bars and trying to get a look out into the arena, Roy just went to sit down and cycle. He’d burned through a fair bit of Essence in that last fight, and seeing as he was so close to an area that would generate a lot of Power Essence, he needed to take every opportunity to refill his Core and perhaps continue adding to his Qi stores.
12
“I don’t like this,” Aika said, staring out into the surrounding trees, her shoulders tense and staff drawn.
Ferry let out a low growl, her black lips curled back to reveal overly large teeth and exaggerated canines. It didn’t have quite the same effect as it had back when she’d been a full Beast, but it looked q
uite intimidating all the same.
It was nearing dawn, and Hermit was still in his trance. Rainbow-colored light flashed all around his body, creating a rounded groove in the ground, over which he was floating. Neither of them wanted to get close to him, but when Ferry had tossed a pebble at his head, it had gone straight through the barrier and hit him.
Hermit hadn’t reacted, but from that small test, it was clear that while the light seemed dangerous and had initially damaged the ground, solid objects could still pass through.
The two of them had remained awake the entire night and had passed the time by talking about Roy. Well, Aika had done all of the talking, with Ferry trying out new words every now and then. The shroud of darkness that had been hanging around her seemed to be gone, Hermit’s words having rekindled her spark and giving her hope for seeing Roy again.
Still, with their expected company being powerful Marital Artists, Aika didn’t think Ferry would be much help – not that she would make much of a difference either.
Ferry was at 1st Dan Green and she was at Blue, which didn’t exactly give them a great chance when facing off against Red and Gold-Belts. In their current state, the two of them might be able to hold off a single Base Purple-Belt for a couple of minutes, and that was in the best-case scenario. If they had to face off against more powerful Martial Artists, their best chance of buying time would be to try and talk to them and hope that Hermit would snap out of his trance.
Another rustling sound came from up ahead, and Aika whirled in place, extending her Spirit Sense outward in a blanket. She’d been trained from a very young age to be able to pick up on even the tiniest of details, but right now, she was sensing nothing.
Ferry’s nose twitched several times, her keen senses much sharper than Aika’s. Despite having every aspect of herself heightened at her last advancement, she was only human. No matter how powerful she became, she’d never have senses as strong as Ferry’s, even if the ferret was a full stage below her.