Sixth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  “Tan Xue~” Julilah’s words turned into spluttering as Tan Xue tossed a bucket of water from her storage ring at Julilah.

  “Hey!” Julilah struggled but it was useless in Tan Xue’s iron grip as she cast a cleaning spell on Julilah.

  The water and grime splashed onto the floor and Tan Xue looked around the room.

  “Where is Qin?”

  “She went to get some sleep, I think. Why are you putting things in my nose and throwing water on me?”

  “The competition begins today and we’re late already!”

  “It’s today?” Julilah asked.

  Tan Xue put her down outside of the puddle of water.

  “Yes, get a stamina drink into you, we’ve got to go and get her,” Tan Xue said.

  They ran across the academy grounds and reached Qin’s home.

  “What happened to the door of the workshop?”

  “I had to get it open and someone was asleep,” Tan Xue shrugged as she knocked on the door of Qin’s home, she did it a few more times and then used a key.

  “Hey, you broke into our workshop but you have her keys?”

  “I made spare keys of both your apartments.” Tan Xue said as she walked in. She followed the trail of clothes to the shower and then the wet marks to the bedroom. Qin was face down on the bed, the sheets in disarray around her.

  Julilah threw a bucket of water on her friend.

  “Ahh!” Qin jumped up and out of bed, tripping on the sheets and tumbling onto the floor.

  “What was that for?” Tan Xue asked.

  “You did it to me!”

  “That was because you hadn’t had a shower!”

  “Well~” Julilah trailed off and shrugged.

  “Julilah!” Qin complained as she got up, her shirt and shorts soaked.

  Tan Xue used a clean spell on her.

  “Competition is today, get some clothes on,” Tan Xue said. “Also, you might want to fix your hair.”

  It was currently bed head central.

  Qin looked between them and groaned.

  “Out of my room!”

  The two exited the room and Tan Xue sat on the couch while Julilah rummaged through the storage crate in the kitchen, finding food and tea before sitting down and drinking the tea, her eyes fluttering as the stimulant within the tea touched her very soul.

  Qin came out a few minutes later, eyeing Julilah.

  “There’s more in there, I poured a cup.”

  Qin grumbled but went into the storage crate with a warm cup. Tan Xue stood up, looking at the two sipping tea as she felt that they were undergoing a transformation, using the black magic of their drinks transforming from demons into humans.

  She didn’t dare to disturb their ritual before they put down their cups.

  “Well, let’s get going,” Qin said.

  “The streets are filled, we’ll take one of the undead,” Tan Xue said.

  She led the way out of the apartment.

  “How did you get in here?” Qin asked, looking at the door.

  “She has our keys,” Julilah said.

  They went to the roof and Tan Xue waved in the air, a flying undead dropped down towards the roof, throwing up wind.

  “Take us to the Battle Arena,” Tan Xue said.

  The undead beast let out a screech and lowered itself.

  They got on top and the beast scampered to the edge of the building and jumped. Spreading its wings out it flew over Vuzgal as people looked up towards them.

  “Where are the other crafters?” Qin asked.

  “Those that wanted to have headed over already, others are working on their crafts. They have their own booth.”

  “What booth are we going to?”

  “The main booth right at the top,” Tan Xue said.

  They saw other undead beasts flying around with groups of soldiers and police officers on them, keeping the peace.

  The undead beast landed on the aerial platform. They quickly dismounted and headed inside.

  Chapter: First Round

  Olivia Gray was watching over everything. As the head of the Blue Lotus Guards she had people that were out in the streets, patrolling and assisting the Vuzgal forces. All of the associations with contracts had to lend a part of their power to maintaining order within Vuzgal.

  She looked over the crowds and then over the people that were inside the booths. There were powerful figures from all over within the booth, each of them controlling at least a city in the Fourth Realm, or holding the equivalent or higher power.

  Expert level crafters were on the lower levels, only mid and high level experts would be allowed on this level.

  Her eyes drifted over to the managers of Vuzgal, Hiao Xen was aptly dealing with all of the people that came over to him. Elise was holding court with the different traders. People with trade routes that spanned across the fourth realm continents listened attentively. They didn’t look down on her and talked as equals.

  There was Chonglu that was introducing Blaze, a new man, to the Fighter’s Association. Other guilds and adventurer groups who were able to shake the Fourth Realm looked over in jealousy at the attention Blaze was getting.

  Her eyes moved to the lower levels where several booths had been taken over by people from the Vuzgal academy.

  “Just how were they able to raise so many Journeyman level students? Several made the transition to expert in the past few months. Is this the Fourth Realm or one of the admission academies in the Fifth Realm? No, this would be more like the student body of an academy in the Sixth Realm. If I was a crafter I would be lining up to take classes there, too. The Blue Lotus is already looking to set up recruiting people at the yearly graduation. We always need more experts and if they have already passed through Vuzgal then they should have a firm foundation before heading to a Blue Lotus academy.

  There was a commotion as the doors opened to the booth, guards bowed to the three women that walked in. There was Tan Xue, the head of the Vuzgal academy. She wore simple clothes though they were all of the low expert grade. Muscles filled out her clothes while Qin wore a dress that complimented her fair complexion. Julilah was wearing simple clothes like Tan Xue, fitting with her slightly tanned complexion.

  They don’t look like expert crafters from the outside. Just three women. Their control over their power is impressive. I can’t sense any of it. It looks like they care little about anything that isn’t related to crafting.

  The trio walked in, talking among themselves before Elise disengaged from the merchants and walked over, they all hugged and greeted one another with genuine smiles. Olivia didn’t miss how they smiled and nodded to Blaze, Chonglu and Hiao Xen in greeting.

  Blaze, just who is he? How does he know all of them?

  Olivia kept her observations to herself as a gong sounded out and rang across the city. People moved to their seats as Chonglu stepped up to the front of the booth.

  Fighters across arenas and across the stages all walked out to their assigned areas. Vuzgal soldiers walked out as well, wearing their armor. They might be referees but with the more powerful attacks, they’d need the armor to protect themselves.

  Qin and Julilah found seats near Olivia.

  “The new personal mana barriers should stop someone from the Seventh Realm, right?” Qin asked.

  “They might be small but we did the testing against your formations. Are you not confident? What about your arrays on the stages?”

  “They’ll protect the crowd just fine, they lasted longer than the portable mana barriers at least. Guess I’m just nervous, we had to make so many of them in a short period of time and the last models we put out were nearly twice as strong as the ones we started with.”

  “Yeah, that’s why they’re going to use them for the later matches where people are throwing around a lot of power. Stop worrying,” Julilah sat back and pulled out a cup from her storage ring.

  “I thought you only stole a cup!”

  “Want one?” Julilah said unapol
ogetically.

  “You!”

  Chonglu cleared his throat and the venue went quiet.

  “Welcome to the first fighting competition of Vuzgal. Let us begin!”

  People cheered as fighters stepped up to the stages. There were hundreds of people fighting just to slim down the number of fighters.

  There was noise from the arenas as fighters started to file out to the arenas.

  Among the stands, the fans couldn’t hold back their excitement.

  ***

  “Look, isn’t that Yi Yin of the Silver Dragons?” A young woman said.

  “Sword of the East and Shield of the West. He’s the strongest sword and shield wielder of the Silver Dragons. With him here, the Silver Dragons aren’t giving others any chances! Look there is Cui Yang,” Her date said while their friend sitting behind them pointed at the screen showing another stage.

  “The woman of a thousand fists! She’s from the Stone Fist Sect right?”

  “Isn’t it bold for the Stonefist sect to show up here? I heard that the leader of the Battle Arena is actually the Ice Empress’ old husband?” The man on the date asked.

  “The Ice Empress, the one that ran off to join the Fighter’s Association?” His date chimed in.

  “Yeah, I heard that she is now one of their leaders in a large campaign group,” An older and larger man said.

  “I heard she married her old husband again.”

  “There was an uproar in the Stone Fist Sect but she cut off all ties with them.”

  “If I could get a wife like that.”

  “You think you’d be able to handle a wife that strong?”

  “Look there is Amarann Rogarsson.” The friend behind said.

  “Just how fast are your eyes?” the man on the date asked, looking back at his grinning friend.

  “The Lightning Hammer from the Crimson Wolves Sect?” The woman asked.

  “Their people compete in the Fifth Realm regularly and are accepted into academies in the Sixth constantly. A group of mages that focus on combining their weapon skills with their attacks. All of them have learned at least one technique. As strong as he is, he must have learned three or four techniques by now,” the older friend said.

  “You know a lot!” The rear excited friend said.

  “All three of them must know techniques, I need to change my bets! Those three will be competing at the end for the championships. Ahh, this is frustrating I was hoping that there would be more of a challenge!” The larger man hit his hands on his legs in defeat.

  “There could be some dark horses,” The man on his date said, not wanting to disappoint his date right off the bat.

  “Dark horses to knock them off?” The larger man scoffed. “Unless they have techniques, body cultivation and mana cultivation there is no chance!”

  ***

  Gu Chen’s assistant came over to him and passed him a number of pages filled with information. He looked over them, there were thirty-six names in the pile with descriptions of the different people.

  “Is this correct?” He asked holding the pages.

  “Yes sir,” His assistant said.

  No wonder I haven’t heard of them before. I wonder what their connection is? Are they just fun for Blaze? Maybe it is just a side project for him. Or he’s not hiding his power, his power is just that low.

  “They shouldn’t be a problem, our people can deal with them,” He passed the papers back. The assistant put them away and then stepped away.

  He pulled out his sound transmission device.

  “If you meet with anyone from the Adventurer’s Guild, make sure that they aren’t able to fight afterwards.” His words were passed to the ears of the Silver Dragons. There were eighteen of them that were part of the competition, not all of them were on the same level as Yi Yan, but they were not far behind. Most of them were new experts that had joined their guild recently and this was a way for them to test out their fighting abilities against others and grow their experience.

  Gu Chen’s assistant wrongly interpreted his words and sent out a command that would serve to hurt rather than aid.

  Gu Chen’s confidence in his people’s abilities made his assistant think that he wanted to eliminate them.

  ***

  The atmosphere in the lounge was relaxed, Niemm and half of Special Team One joined them as they were all hanging out.

  Elan sat back in his seat as he looked out over the competition.

  “This is where you’re all hiding,” Domonos said as he entered the lounge as well.

  Elan brightened as he heard his son’s voice. He got up as the others all let out groans or cheers as he entered, he looked at them all. They were from all parts of the military but they had bonded well together, they all joked with one another and fell into different groups. Domonos saw Elan through it all and headed over.

  The two of them hugged and Elan patted his shoulders.

  “You’re getting bigger again!”

  “So are you,” Domonos said.

  “Ah, just a few gifts from the job,” Elan said.

  “How is Wren?”

  “He is doing well, it seems that he got my hints and he is moving the center of the trading house to King’s Hill Outpost. I am hoping that we can bring him over, though there are just so many things that could go wrong. I’m hoping to set him up with the traders of Alva. I can’t vet him because of who I am but then the others can do that and I am neutral so that no one can raise issues,” Elan said.

  “Eventually,” Domonos said. “You think that Qin made the right move now?”

  “Yes, I’m still embarrassed with how your brother tagged along like some puppy.”

  “You know that he couldn’t let her go away on her own.”

  “You kids,” Elan said, smiling.

  “Looks like they’re walking out,” Roska said loudly, sitting next to Niemm, the two of them talking about the recruits and exchanging information about what was happening across Alva’s different sectors.

  “There are twenty- five recruits in there for the special teams and thirty- six members of the Adventurer’s Guild,” Roska said.

  “How do you think they’ll do?” Domonos asked.

  “I’m not sure, I haven’t seen any of them fight, you?” Niemm said.

  “I think the recruits will place high and the Adventurer’s Guild people as well. They might not get as many resources given to them, but they have more combat experience than my own people. They have their own techniques or what they have learned from others. They probably have higher levels, though fewer open mana gates, mana and body cultivation should be close or lower. Some of them should get into the top one hundred and all of them should get into the top five hundred, I hope.” Roska said.

  Elan nodded and focused on one of the screens that showed an assassin walking up to the stage, opposite her, there was a beast of a man holding a shield as big as him and a cudgel.

  “Lin Lei, she’s one of the branch heads right?” Setsuko asked.

  “Yeah, assassin type,” Roska said.

  “Who is she facing?” Setsuko asked.

  “That looks to be Gert Westerbeek, he is a general of the Purple Cloud Sect. It’s said that he has an animal bloodline and is called the Iron Shield of the Purple Cloud Sect. Famed for his ability to tank powerful beasts and hold a line together in the battlefield, he has fought in plenty of wars to get to his current position. His reaction speed is impressive and he has learned a number of techniques; combined with his physique he’s much faster than he looks,” Elan said.

  “How strong is he?” Domonos asked.

  “He’s as strong as he looks.”

  Their eyes focused on the battle that was about to start.

  ***

  Lin Lei looked at the man in front of her, she could tell that he was a veteran, there was a chill in his eyes. She looked up and to the side, she was on the second floor arena, there were two more arenas above her to where the Guild leader was sitting.

>   “Do I need to beat you off of this stage?” Gert Westerbeek said as he grabbed his cudgel, locking eyes with her.

  Looking at the man in front of her, she tightened her grip on her daggers.

  He sneered, taking it as a sign of nervousness.

  Just how strong is he, I haven’t been able to exert my full strength yet. I’m not sure how strong I have become since I’ve been fighting against beasts and hunting bandits which takes planning. The more planning the easier it is to accomplish. I haven’t fought any people other than the other branch heads since training in the beast dungeon. I can’t make the guild look bad, I need to win.

  Fighting spirit filled her eyes as she set her jaw.

  The referee blew a whistle, starting the match.

  Gert charged, for a man his size he arrived in front of Lin Lei in a moment his cudgel aimed for her head.

  She moved her head as wind washed over the stage with the hit. Gert jumped backward, his shield coming up, prepared to defend. He looked at her, seeing a puzzled look on her face as he jumped back like a rabbit.

  “Look, he’s playing with her!”

  “Hah, it would be too boring if it was finished so quickly.”

  “Though don’t you think he looks weird jumping back like that, ah, minus two for cool points.”

  His eyes turned red at her taunting look.

  “Seems that you have some skill, too bad for you I need to make an impression on those that face me, I won’t go easy on them unless they jump off.”

  He charged again, this time with his shield out, she dodged his shield. Gert’s eyes flashed as his real attack was revealed, his cudgel blocking off her path of retreat.

  “There is nowhere for her to go!”

  She flowed around the attack, he struck out again to cover his weaknesses but she dodged his attacks, the wind pulling at the hem of her clothes.

  “W-what?” The person that just spoke was choking on their words.

  “Don’t use your own judgement for people that are way above you! You’ll only come out looking like a fool,” another chided.

  Her eyes were clear without panic.