Sixth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  Blaze’s eyes moved to one of the screens in the booth, finding Joan walking out of her tunnel.

  She stepped up on the stage and looked at her opponent. It was a woman with a tattoo down the side of her face and more markings on her skin. She wore a mage robe and held a worn wooden staff with a yellow glowing crystal in it.

  “Silent Spring,” Blaze said the woman’s name.

  “The dark horse,” Elise said from beside him.

  “Yeah, a summoner mage,” Blaze muttered, his focus on the screen.

  ***

  Joan looked at her opponent and her senses were pushed to the max as she tried to learn more about her opponent. She had made it through a few easy fights in the beginning, but the difficulty had sharply increased as she had gone through more rounds of fighting.

  She didn’t walk into any of her matches lightly.

  Her expression turned frigid as she was looking at the mage-type fighter across from her.

  The two of them faced off from opposite sides of the stage.

  The mana around the mages started to become thicker as they readied for the fight.

  The referee brought them together, the two women shook hands and then went back into their own corners.

  He looked at them both and waved his hand.

  “Begin!” With that, Joan drew out an arrow from her quiver. As he raised it mana was flowing into a spell circle on the stage. It flowed upwards into a beast formed of mana. Everything happened in a moment was Joan was drawing her arrow back on her bow string as fast as possible. It was a war of speed!

  The beast stomped down on the ground, and jumped forward. It had a lion’s body, snake’s tail and a crow’s face.

  Joan fired at the caster. The beast’s snake tail whipped out shattering the arrow as Joan was moving and shooting arrows.

  Joan saw a second circle forming as the mage chanted and moved his hands.

  I need to break the spell before he can call in a second beast.

  Under her breath, she was laying spells on the arrow as she moved around the first summon to line up her shot. She drew and released in the same breath.

  The arrow churned up the air as it passed, humming before it struck the half-formed beast in the shoulder. Black and orange collapsing runes spread out from the point of impact, flcutuating as the mage’s face turned pale as they fought to keep the construct together.

  The first summon let out a roar attacking with its paw. Joan dodged the attack, grabbing a dagger on her waist she stabbed it into the summon and jumped backwards. She used the force to tear the blade through the beast’s hide.

  Its magical construction shuddered, shifting as the power that made up its body shifted to deal with the damage.

  Joan drew an arrow That damn mage recovered and is still summoning that second beast. It’s going to be stronger than the first one he insta-cast.

  The mage raised his head and opened his hand firing a blast of wind at her.

  She dodged it, which put her in-line with the tail of the first summon.

  She felt that she had just stepped into a monster’s lair.

  Shit!

  The Snake tail spat out poison as the construct turned to face her.

  Joan felt the poison hit her side and burn where it touched her skin. She focused on drawing back on her bow her spells carved runs along the arrow as she looked at the beast.

  The Crow head opened its mouth to roar.

  A beast is just a beast.

  She fired into the crow's mouth. It stiffened as runes flashed across its body.

  The construct came apart, sounding like breaking glass as the spell was no longer able to support that kind of damage.

  She turned and fired at the second construct that was nearly formed. It shimmered again but the backlash wasn’t as great.

  The mage fired back spells with one hand, wind and fire attacks shot out to defend against the arrows that followed one after another. Joan’s spells took them on strange paths making them hard to predict.

  The mage’s face was covered in sweat under the pressure. Joan moved around the stage, her bow was as fast as a repeater as she gave him no chance to recover.

  “This speed!”

  “Isn’t that instantaneous casting? I thought that with summoning, the spells take the longest to complete?”

  “Well, she must have trained to use that spell to a high degree! Look at the archer, she is firing arrows so fast I can’t see them!”

  “Look there is another summon!”

  “How large are her magical reserves?”

  The mage tried to insta-cast his summoning spell again.

  To the spectators, they only saw a summoned creature flash into existence to be met with an arrow that was moving so fast they could only hear but not see it. A second arrow that seemed to chase after the first silenced the creature.

  A massive slime-covered worm shot out of the ground and wrapped itself around its caster protectively. The aura coming from the summoned creature made Joan shiver slightly before her face turned to one of excitement.

  The beast opened its face, revealing eight folds covered in spikes and a mouth with long tentacles that lashed out at the air, making it crack with a simple flick.

  As Joan fired an arrow at the creature, it released a breath of black and green, the powerful poison covered the arrow and destroyed it before it reached its face.

  Joan jumped and dodged to the side as the poison breath hit the area of the stage where she had been standing and the ground started to melt. Joan jumped away, firing arrows at the same time. Two of her arrows struck, burying themselves deep in the creature’s side as it cried out in pain. The third was smacked out of the air with one of its tentacles.

  Joan felt a powerful force grab her and toss her backward.

  Telekinesis? It’s a magical summon?

  Joan was under threat of being thrown off the stage which would result in her loss.

  The air around her became hazy as she grabbed three arrows.

  The mana around her was turning chaotic as she grinned and pulled back on her bowstring.

  The arrows were released, howling as spells revolved around them and they grew in size with every passing meter. When they hit the big worm, they were the size of spears without losing any of their momentum. The spear arrows struck and exploded.

  The power holding Joan was removed and she dropped, falling onto the edge of the stage. She rolled forward, feeling panicked.

  She landed as the smoke on the other side of the stage lifted. The worm was in bad condition but looked pissed and there was another creature stepping forwards, a small-looking humanoid. He had a cruel look on his face, held two scythes and wore boots made of metal.

  With a cackling yell, he stomped forward with a speed that didn’t match his size.

  Joan advanced as well, she needed to get away from the edge of this stage. She fired arrows as she moved, the little creature deflected the first, and then the second hit him in the leg, making him stumble. He cut off the arrow with his scythe as Joan fired two arrows into the worm. The worm hit one out of the air and sent out a poison breath to stop the other.

  The worm’s breath destroyed the arrow, but it was also aimed right at the other summon, coating them in poison as he cried out in pain. Joan was there, waiting. The little beast looked at her with wide eyes and opened his arms in shock and pain.

  Her eyes were cold as an arrow shot out.

  There was no wind or sound as the arrow passed through the beast’s eye and exploded. Runes appeared over the little man and he exploded with the sound of breaking glass.

  Joan ran forward into the poison breath and strung a new arrow, fired it and five others appeared around it, the arrows stabbing into the worm.

  “She is running into its poison, that’s suicide?”

  “Is the poison not working?”

  “Look at her armor!” Joan’s armor and clothing all of the Peak Journeyman was showing signs of collapse as they lost
durability.

  The spells she had laid on the arrows activated and the worm cried out, the arrows burned through the creature, depleting its last remaining mana reserves.

  It cracked like those before and the powerful magical runes collapsed with the creature falling down into nothing but motes of mana that dispersed through the area.

  Joan passed through them, an arrow on her bow.

  The mana cleared enough to show the caster.

  Her face was pale and strained, there was a cold sweat on her brow and she looked as if she were about to throw up or pass out.

  “I have lost,” she said to Joan.

  The referee stepped forward and tossed out a powder that diffused the drifting poison gas before announcing the winner.

  “I was wondering if I might be able to apply to the Adventurer’s Guild?” The woman said as Joan put her arrow away.

  “You want to join the guild?”

  “I wanted to show how strong I was before I started, but now you should have a good idea of my strength,” Silent Spring smiled.

  Joan didn’t know how to react and started to laugh.

  “Come ‘round to the guildhall. You’ll have to answer some questions but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” Joan said and reached out her hand.

  Silent Spring reached out and the two of them shook with smiles on their faces.

  “Good fight,” Joan said.

  “You were hit with poison, I have a potion to solve it,”

  “Ah, no worries I’ll be fine,” Joan smiled. When she had tempered her foundation, instead of using the easier route that would just temper her body without much difficulty, she had tempered her body with poison. It had allowed her to get the poison body title but it had been a pain to do, and it had cost a lot more as she needed to have someone around her all the time to make sure that she made it through the tempering.

  “Looks like I’ll need to get my gear fixed though,” she complained as she looked at some of the frayed material.

  Chapter: Creating Bridges

  Blaze watched the end of the fight with an interested look on his face as he wondered what the two were talking about. Silent Spring and Joan walked off the stage together talking to one another as if they had not been fighting just a few seconds ago.

  He had a good feeling seeing that.

  He smiled to himself as someone cleared their throat behind him.

  He looked back to see Klaus, the leader of the Fighter’s Association.

  Blaze’s eyes widened a bit as he realized that he couldn’t sense the man at all. His control over his skills and abilities had reached a stage that Blaze hadn’t touched on yet. Seeing Blaze looking at him, Klaus grinned.

  “We met on the first day,”

  “Mister Klaus of the Fighter’s Association,” Blaze got up and greeted the man, cupping his fist to the other.

  “It looks like you have raised a number of interesting people and good fighters. I was wondering if you would like to have a talk?”

  “Please,” Blaze said.

  Klaus coughed lightly and the people that had been around Blaze all smiled and started to leave. Most of them were merchants, their eyes were glowing as they eagerly made way for the Fighter’s Association head.

  Elise excused herself as well and the area was left to Blaze and Klaus. Blaze waited for the other to sit before he did so.

  “I feel that the Fighter’s Association would be interested to talk to a number of your members. We are always looking to raise new talent, is this something that you would be interested in?”

  “Of course, I know that I can only offer them so much. I would be happy to offer them an option to join the Fighter’s Association, if possible.”

  “Good, good! We do not like to poach people or cut off people from where they came. When someone joins the Fighter’s guild then they have options of advancing into the higher realms, joining in on fights that they might not have been able to participate in the past. Though they would still be your half member as you helped them get to that stage. We would not stop you from talking to them and they are free to do as they want as long as they meet the requirements of the Association,” Klaus said.

  “I understand, much like how we have got them to this stage, you can take them to a bigger one,” Blaze said.

  “Exactly,” Klaus smiled. “We hold recruiting events every year. I am thinking that this year we will be able to hold one in the Battle Arena here. There are only a limited number of spots, but I can give you ten slots. If your people show their ability then they can join the guild or they can apply later,” Klaus said.

  Ten spots so we’ll need to fight amongst our ranks, then the people that place the best will go, this way they get the best of the best from each group. They give us a sort of protection and they get applicants.

  “What if they have learned secret arts or secrets from our guild?”

  “We do not need to know everyone’s secrets, what they learned in the past is their information. We might ask them about it, but it is up to them if they reveal it or not. With the oath that they take when joining, it means that their actions cannot hurt or harm the Fighter’s Association members. As long as nothing circumvents this, they will be fine.”

  Blaze nodded. There were many people with secrets that they wanted to keep to themselves. To the Fighter's Association, some of these might be interesting, but for most of it, they weren’t interested as they had more advanced techniques and methods compared to the groups they recruited from.

  “I’ll let you get back to watching the competition,” Klaus said and stood.

  Blaze stood with him, cupping his hands and bowing his head in thanks, this was an opportunity that few were able to acquire.

  The merchants came back over to Blaze as did Elise and all of them continued to watch the matches that continued throughout the day.

  The day wound down as more people were eliminated and as things heated up, there were more people wounded but still, the healers were there making sure that no one died.

  In the fights there was always a chance of death or grievous injury, but the referees had activated the barriers around some people that were about to be killed, stopping the fight.

  The fights had reached another level, gripping the hearts of those watching, the atmosphere getting into one’s bones as they cheered and they yelled with the fights.

  The last match was finished and people started to file out of the Battle Arena, talking in excited voices to one another.

  Blaze looked over at the booth and saw Gu Chen. He had asked Elan to look into it and it was as Yi Yin had said to Emilia, it looked like there was some kind of mistake that had led to such an order being passed down.

  Blaze motioned to Elise with his eyes, telling her he would catch up with her later.

  He walked over among the people that were leaving and stopped in front of Gu Chen.

  “Could we have a conversation in private?”

  ***

  Gu Chen was feeling good, six of his people had made it through these first matches, there were now just a hundred people remaining in the competition.

  It was a good showing and there were a few people that were coming over to talk to him about what the Silver Dragon’s plans were, looking to strike up a deal.

  With the emergence of the Adventurer’s Guild and the possible tension between them, there were people that were standing on the sidelines, waiting to see how things would go.

  When he saw Blaze standing in front of him and asking to talk Gu Chen agreed. He just wanted to set things right. It had never been his goal to make enemies in Vuzgal this quickly.

  “What do you think that they will discuss?”

  “Isn’t there an issue between the Silver Dragons and the Adventurer’s Guild?”

  “Will they start fighting with one another? Both of them are fighting groups and they are looking to do the same things in Vuzgal.”

  “Maybe one of them is giving up?”


  Those in the booth talked to one another, interested in what the two men would discuss.

  They went into one of the private rooms behind the booth and the two men looked at one another.

  “I am sorry about that order being passed on, I didn’t want it to be passed on. I was making a remark that your people were strong and someone took it the wrong way and passed on such an order,” Gu Chen said.

  Blaze nodded.

  “I won’t lie I didn’t like it, having people being told to kill mine, even in a mistake, it doesn’t feel good. I do know that it was a mistake, albeit a heavy one. That being said, I do not want to create unneeded issues between us for what was a mistake and didn’t lead to anyone getting killed.”

  “I agree and I understand how it would not sit with you lightly,” Gu Chen said.

  “Hopefully we can move forward as friends,” Blaze reached out his hand.

  “I think so too, but I won’t make my fighters go any easier on your people,” Gu Chen said.

  Blaze smiled.

  “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  The two men smiled at one another and shook hands, the tension in the room dissipating.

  They talked on some random items before they left the room.

  “It looks like they’re rather friendly with one another?”

  “I thought that the two groups were about to fight it out?”

  “What could make them turn around like that?”

  More questions than answers appeared among the people. Blaze left the crowd behind quickly.

  Gu Chen made his way down to his fighters and a few people that had been standing on the sidelines made appointments to meet with him later.

  Now that the two groups were amicable with one another, it put most of the observers looking to hire their services at ease. If a fight did break out then it might be their goods or themselves caught in the middle of it.

  Gu Chen met up with his people and they headed out to their residence. Gu Chen felt that a weight had been lifted off his shoulders as he told the others what had happened and prepared for the auction going on that night.