Sixth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  Just as they got into striking range, there was a change around Derrick as his speed increased again.

  He was holding back?

  Shadow Sword was flustered but he gritted his teeth. He had created his own techniques, using his incredible speed and naturally higher perception to strike faster than any others. Others focused on agility, as long as he had the power to move faster, he could defeat one's agility.

  This was his secret and how he was able to kill people in just a few strikes, using his power to break their defenses and when they were alarmed he would drive his blade home.

  His muscles bulged and his veins were traced against his skin as he attacked.

  Derrick raised one sword to meet Shadow Sword who was using both of his hands on his sword to increase the amount of power behind it.

  The sound of metal striking metal rang out as Shadow Sword's unimpressed face turned to one of shock as his sword was deflected by Derrick and he was forced to take a step back. He had no time to be stunned as Derrick attacked with his other free rapier.

  Shadow Sword's veins popped out as he just barely got his sword into the path of Derrick's rapier.

  The force from the blow was transmitted through his sword and arms, deep into his body as he was forced to retreat two steps.

  Shadow Sword had lost the momentum of the fight as Derrick fired off attack after attack, each of them pushed Shadow Sword to the limit.

  "Interesting," Derrick said and sent out another strike.

  Shadow Sword made to receive it and the air around the sword started to get distorted as its speed was much greater than the previous strikes, but Derrick didn't show any signs of strain.

  He was holding his true strength back this entire time.

  Shadow Sword was struck and he was tossed off of the stage, landing on the ground below.

  Shadow Sword took sometime to recover as Derrick was announced the winner. Seeing the man walk down from the stage Shadow Sword could only smile bitterly.

  "Seems I got too comfortable with my own power, I can't stop training." He realized how he had become lazy once people had heard of his feats. Now he felt that they were just holding him back. Since when did what other people say increase his power?

  "That fight, it was too fast!"

  "I couldn't follow them. Their swords moved so fast that I could only hear as they clashed!"

  "He defeated Shadow Sword with speed, just who is he?"

  "He's one of the people from the Adventurer's Guild, that group that appeared suddenly the other day. They have a true Guild hall in Vuzgal. One of their members is the assassin that defeated the Purple Sect's Gert Westerbeek, only moving once. And, then another beat up a member of the Silver Dragons with just his shield.."

  "There are plenty of dark horses in this competition, isn't that the best?"

  ***

  Gu Chen could only shake his head as he watched the fights in the arenas. There really were a lot of dark horses, the people from the Adventurer's Guild and other independents were starting to make a name for themselves, being talked about across Vuzgal. The Silver Dragons were part of that talk, but they hadn't dominated the competition. So far the biggest name, which was previously unknown was the Adventurer's Guild.

  Gu Chen looked over to Blaze who had gone from an outside yesterday to having a group of people around him today as he talked about different contracts with them and set up meetings with them.

  They were doing what the Silver Dragons wanted to do and using the competition as a way to advertise their power and services.

  The morning advanced into afternoon, there was a short break as the second round was completed and the third round was prepared.

  The fighters rested while different events happened within the city, including an auction held within the arena itself.

  A genius ploy as it got people spending higher than they would've normally, wrapped up in the competitive spirit of the day.

  Gu Chen and others in the VVIP booths even bid on items that caught their eyes.

  The Third Realm continued, although there were a few upsets. The Adventurer's Guild lost four people from their roster while the Silver Dragons lost two. Other groups were slimmed down as the true competitors were found.

  As things started to wrap up, Gu Chen braced himself and walked over to Blaze. He waited for him to be free to talk to him, but as the last matches finished off, Elise said she had something to discuss with him and extracted him from the group of people as he told them to come around to his guild hall.

  Gu Chen wanted to call out to him and clear things up, but with Elise there, he didn't want to bring up anything nasty. She guided the traders and merchants in Vuzgal, if she had a bad impression of him or his adventure group then it could backfire on them and the Silver Dragons would never be able to establish a place in Vuzgal for them.

  Chapter: Round Four

  During the day Blaze talked to the different higher-ups that attended the competition, at night he would meet with them in his office and go over business dealings. At the same time, there was a line snaking down the road in front of the guild hall.

  More people had to be brought up from the lower realms to help deal with the pressure, testing those that wished to join and dealing with the day-to-day running of the Adventure Guild's highest realm branch.

  Blaze was just looking through some reports that had been passed to him between meetings.

  The report was from Jasper, he had remained behind in the lower realms to deal with all of the other operations that the Guild was a part of. He was also leading the attack on the Willful Institute.

  They had been undercutting their resources, offering cheaper rates to merchants that were going to the areas that they traded in, allowing them to drop their prices and contend with the Willful Institute.

  They had taken on missions and other tasks that would've gone to the Willful Institute, were in talks with other sects that were associated with the Willful Institute, becoming trade partners or working out agreements with them.

  On the surface, the guild was just expanding, with it bringing a great number of opportunities to those that worked with them.

  All of their actions while helping the guild, looked to harm the Willful Institute, cutting them off from resources, doing what they couldn't or wouldn't do. The sect relied on others to sell their items and create the wealth that they needed to nurture experts. Now they were slowly getting attacked from different sides.

  The Guild was pleased to be doing something and many were taking on lower-paying jobs just to get back at the Willful Institute.

  With Elan’s information they weren’t directly attacking the Willful Institute’s income streams directly but circumventing them. They took on missions that would have been given to the Institute and took protection contracts that would have been offered as well.

  Blaze waved his hand, his storage ring cleared his desk of dust left behind by the information books and finding the next report.

  "Huh, so Shadow Sword came over to join the Guild after fighting Derrick." Blaze looked it over once again, curious, he wrote a message on the paper and pressed a formation on his desk, a moment later a secretary walked in.

  "Take this to Branch leader Derrick, I want him to make the final decision," Blaze said.

  She took the paper and headed out of the office.

  Behind closed doors, Blaze didn't care about courtesy looking to increase the speed that he and the others worked at.

  He went through several more reports before there was a knock at his door. He checked the time and put the memos away into his storage ring.

  "Come in," he said, standing to greet his next guest.

  ***

  The third day of the competition, Chonglu stood up to make his second announcement.

  "Today is the last day of qualifiers, all of you have shown your fighting ability to make it here. This round will be based on points, the top one hundred people in points will qualify to participa
te in the tournament. I know that you have all been curious about what the complete rewards are. You have probably heard that the person who places first will get a Sky grade Mana stone with the runner-up receiving five Earth grade mana cornerstones, and the third gaining two Earth mana cornerstones. Those remaining in the top ten will all receive one hundred Earth mana stones.

  Everyone in the top ten will also receive healing potions of at least the low Journeyman grade, with those placing higher than fifth receiving stamina and healing potions of the low Journeyman grade. The first place participant will be getting stamina and healing potions of the peak Journeyman grade.

  The first place will be allowed to use a tier-four training room in the Battle Arena for six months, with second and third place getting to use a tier four facility for two months or a tier-three facility for six months. The fourth and fifth will get three months of time in a tier-three training room. Those from fifth to tenth will get access to a tier-two training room for six months. First place will get two pieces of Expert gear, second place - one-piece, third place - peak Journeyman, fourth and fifth place - high journeyman, those to tenth place will receive a mid-Journeyman level item."

  The fighters’ eyes were glowing with fighting intent hearing about the rewards. In the Fourth Realm, while there were Expert level items, there were few ways to get them. They were tactical level items that were held within guilds and deployed in the great wars across the Fourth Realm. Individual parties getting to see them or earn them was unheard of. High Journeyman level weapons were reserved for the experts whose levels were in the high Fifties with low Journeyman and peak Apprentice weapons for those who were at least level forty. While the weapons would make most of the fighters shake with excitement, the potions set their hearts on fire. The stamina and healing potions might be a step lower than the straight healing potions, but they were much more effective. The mixed potions meant that someone could consume them right away in whatever condition they were in. They didn't have to worry about how low their stamina was before taking them.

  It was a life-saving treasure to them.

  All of them had heard of the training rooms and while they were resting they had been allowed to stay in some tier-one rooms set aside. Even during the matches, there were people who were training in these rooms.

  They all knew the effects of the rooms, with them they could hone themselves and draw out more power from their current power.

  The people in the stands were all talking about the rich rewards.

  "These kinds of items, aren't they enough to equip an army in the Fourth Realm?"

  "I bet the larger sects are kicking themselves now, these rewards are just too rich! You know there were two sects who owned several cities that went to war with one another over a powerful Expert level weapon. They were tied until one side got a hold of the weapon and then they turned the battle around, crushing the other and taking their cities over."

  "An Expert level weapon has that much power?"

  "Not by itself, but when paired with a powerful fighter then instead of simply adding to their fighting ability, it will multiply their combat power and give them more options to deal with their enemy."

  "I knew that Vuzgal was rich, but isn't this just extravagant?"

  "Let us begin the fourth round!"

  The fighters who had been looking up at the screens at the top of the different arenas or looking up at Chonglu himself, now moved to their stages, looking at who their opponents would be.

  The fights began and they were on another level compared to the fights that had happened over the last two days.

  People who had been hiding their strength employed more of their power. Some fights ended in just a few minutes while others drew gazes as experts attacked with all of their power, the two on the stage matched well as they had to dig deep, using their fighting techniques to compete.

  Fighters that hadn't found any troubles before, started to run into constant problems.

  Here the true powerhouses were revealed, the crowd was surprised as people famed for their fighting ability were knocked off of their stages or admitted defeat.

  The fights had heated up, leading to more injuries but the healers were there to make sure that they didn't die and the referees knew basic care to keep them alive.

  Still, there were some close calls as blood colored several stages.

  A stage was just scrubbed clean and the two fighters stepped up onto it.

  Each of them wore a full suit of armor while holding a sword and a shield. Not only did they seem physically dominating, but the air was also thick with mana as the referee looked between the two knights with a frown.

  "Look! Isn't that Yi Yin and Emilia?" A woman called out.

  "Who is Emilia?" A man asked

  "She's one of the people from the Adventurer's Guild!"

  "Don't the Silver Dragons and the Adventurer’s Guild have a disagreement?" The man said, turning over to look at the stage.

  "Their branch leader Gu Chen went over to talk to the guild leader Blaze, but he was chased out by Kim Cheol, who beat up their person."

  "Nothing more needs to be said really, this should be a good fight then!" The man chuckled.

  "The top knight of the Silver Dragons and the Top Knight from the Adventurer's Guild. I didn't think that such an exciting matchup would happen today!" The woman cheered.

  Chapter: Class Vs. Class

  Yi Yin heard the cheers and felt the gazes that were on him.

  "Ready?" The referee asked, Emilia lowered her stance, ready to fight.

  "I want to say something first," Yi Yin said, remembering the order that he had been given by Gu Chen.

  "You have a minute," The referee said and backed up, close enough to interfere if he needed to. Emilia only relaxed slightly.

  "Branch Leader apologizes for what Diana said and her actions, there was a confusion and she was told the wrong thing. We do not want to fight against your guild and would like to seek the opportunity to make things right and even work together in the future, if possible. He seeks to meet with your guild leader or someone to apologize and talk things over."

  Emilia's face wasn't as grim as it had been as she nodded briskly.

  "Very well, I will pass your message to my guild leader."

  "Thank you," Yi Yin said and then got into his fighting stance. "Let us have a good fight!"

  Emilia got into her stance again as the referee walked up.

  "Begin!"

  The two of them rushed forward, Yi Yin set his feet, raising his shield to meet Emilia's sword, angling his shield so that her side would be open to him. She turned her hand so that she punched his shield and pushed her shield over to cover her side.

  He took the hit on his shield, his brows pinched together feeling the strength she had displayed.

  She took a step back and he charged, trying to force her off balance.

  Shield met shield as he attacked with his sword, she blocked him with her blade, they disengaged, using their sword and shield.

  Emilia was stronger but Yi Yin’s gear was better and she had fought stronger opponents regularly in life and death situations.

  Yi Yin could tell that Emilia had a lot of fighting experience but she was from the lower realms. The people she was fighting against were weaker and while there was fighting in the lower realms, the Fourth Realm wasn't just called the battlefield realm for nothing. Yi Yin had fought in the Fourth Realm for the majority of his life.

  Being a member of the Silver Dragons, there were plenty of times Yi Yin had been contracted to fight bandits or hired as a mercenary.".

  Yi Yin's combat experience allowed him to take more risks and accurately pin down Emilia.

  He saw his opening.

  He hit her arm to the side with his sword and attacked high with his shield, she covered her front with her shield but it was a feint as he kicked out, the sudden blow sent her backward.

  He used his technique sword wall.

  His sw
ord turned into flashing lights as it howled, cutting through the air as it struck Emilia's shield again and again. already off-balance, she had to throw out all of her attacks to defend against Yi Yin's blows.

  She let out a roar as new power surrounded her and buffs appeared on her body.

  A technique? A buff?

  He hit her shield with his sword but she didn't fall back under the hit, she charged him and he dodged to the side like a matador leading a bull.

  He hit her armor but she barely flinched as he felt his hits striking but doing no more as if her skin had turned into armor.

  Has she reached Body like Iron?

  He didn't have time to worry as she attacked him now; he still used his sword wall technique but he was much slower as he had to defend against her attacks. His own attacks landed on her but she took them without pausing to attack him.

  Is she a knight or some kind of berserker?

  His sword started to glow as his speed picked up once again and his impacts made the ground under her feet crack.

  Even under the attacks, he felt that he was dodging more as she seemed to see through his movements. He saw her eyes glowing under her helmet, seeing through every action.

  How is she doing that?

  She backed off, her shield glowed with lightning that flashed over her body and charged forward.

  He was able to dodge her charge but didn't realize that she had left behind a trail of lightning. It ran through his armor as he gritted his teeth, his nerves on fire as his muscles were locking up.

  She turned and charged again, aiming to launch him off of the stage.

  He was tossed up and backward and he fought the lightning in his body, using his mana to suppress it.

  He reached out with a spell and the ground shot up creating pillars, he slammed into them, arresting his movement and stopping before the edge of the stage.

  She was charging over, but her strength was waning.

  Yi Yin coughed, but he got up from the rubble.