Junior Tournament (5)
As time passes Tiandi entered the stage, his face was perfectly calm and serene, no emotion in it. It was almost like his face was a perfect painting as he stood there and many had to admire him. Inside, however, he was partially only wanting for the match to start and in part wondering if looking so much like Amakusa was a good thing considering that, with all those medicinal baths cleansing his body, he was looking even more delicate and healthy than the man himself. Basically, he could not tell if this was a plus or not for him right now.
As for the other side, Tokito entered the stage quietly and without saying anything much. He was looking around distractedly but upon seeing Tiandi he gazed at him for a moment longer before moving along.
The judge found it confusing but chose not to say much, the battle was to start now anyway. However, inside he was finding this whole tournament very strange, all the competitors were of relatively low cultivation realms even for their age but their swordsmanship was all exceptional and most of them also showed that they had managed to practice the inheritances that hardly anyone could practice without much issue. Even right now both of these were true geniuses and the judge had to contain a smile at the thought of the future of the sect with them in charge.
"BEGIN!" The judge said and Tiandi put himself in a position equal to the one Zenitsu used before. No arcs of electricity or electric energy circulated around him but the effect was close to the same as Tiandi exploded in speed with an extremely quick strike at Tokito.
Tokito, like in the previous match, disappeared using his movement technique. The two crossed one another as Tiandi barely missed Tokito who quickly came to attack Tiandi from the back only to find a sword strike being sent by Tiandi at him without even turning around. Tokito flipped back and aimed a kick at Tiandi's extended arm that was attacking only for him to be avoided by Tiandi who turned in full and aimed a kick at Tokito who hit the ground with his blade to change his momentum.
The two took their distance for two meters before advancing again, both had harder faces now. Tokito was surprised by his opponent and his mind focused on defeating him while Tiandi was focused in much the same.
Both went at it again, swords clashing in flashes as the two moved across the battlefield as the disciples and elders gawked at the display before them.
"This, is this still a junior's tournament? I was not nearly at that level at their age." one of the deacons, an older disciple who now helped with security and training of other disciples but not yet at the Elder level, said to another who nodded.
"Yeah, the last I heard they are both 12 years old."
"Then scratch what I said just now, I was not that good until my twenties in swordplay." The deacon said and the other snorted.
"Man, why boast to me? You are not that good now, just look at them." The second one said and both were just in time to see Tiandi trying to bisect Tokito in half from the waist only for said man to put his sword in its path and redirect the strike using the back of the blade while trying to use its tip to pierce Tiandi's eye who blocked it with the sword's pommel. He then proceeded to give a powerful downward swing but Tokito evaded with his unique footwork.
The two took distance again, neither having more than a few scratches on their bodies. Tokito stood still as he thought of the fight so far and he could see that he would likely not win with the way things are going. His swordsmanship was not able to break through Tiandi's defense but Tiandi's sword was getting closer and closer to him.
With a frown he was forced to choose, he could either use that power or accept he would lose even if he was going to give one heck of a show regardless.
To use or not use that ability of his was the crux of the question here.
'Tokito, remember this. Your body carries something very unique since birth, if the other sects find out about it there is the chance they will try all in their powers to kill you. Only use this power if you really have no other option to win and you feel that you must win.' His master said as much, and in Tokito's mind that weighed heavily.
Tiandi, meanwhile, was earnestly hoping this fight could go on longer, he had started to use his intent to attack Tokito and it was showing. Despite being a whole realm bellow Tokito in power he was still an equal match to Tokito who was using a powerful inheritance himself and could battle opponents a whole realm above him.
Really, an equal match.
It was at this moment that Tiandi felt something like an instinct, like if he took a quick glimpse at the future even if it was very foggy. He could not tell at this time but this was one of the skills that Amakusa Shiro had as a Ruler and something Tiandi rarely could touch upon. It was the skill Revelations which was turned into a profound art that allowed him to glance at a likely future even if this was unreliable in combat most of the time. This profound art only activates when his mind is sufficiently stimulated and something highly distressing is about to happen.
The foggy image was of Tokito, putting his sword back and proclaiming that he gives up.
'Oh, fuck no. I am finally facing an opponent that is my equal in everything and I will NOT have him walk away just like that.' Tiandi thought as he saw Tokito about to sheath his sword.
"Hey, trash." Tiandi said to everyone's shock and his internal discomfort, showing some of his inner self like that really sucks for him. But, it was needed nonetheless. "Do you want to fight or are you so much of a coward that you want to give up before the fight is even decided? I guess this is all I can expect from someone of one of the divisions, does yours even have an elder or did he gave up after having a student like you?"
After saying this Tokito's eyes sharpened and a power started spreading from him.
"My master is the best, he would never give up on anything." Tokito said and Tiandi found out that Tokito took insults to his master much more seriously than anything else, so that is what he is going to aim for.
He wants this fight and he will not have his opponent chicken out on him.
"Yeah, yeah, I guess it is true. He is not a coward, just too weak to even show his face when his disciple is out there humiliating his name." Tiandi said and this was just enough to make Tokito forget about forfeiting the match.
Tokito's eyes blazed as he threw caution to the wind, he could not be made to care anymore as he decided to use his everything for his match.
If anyone of a king star realm or at least of the higher star realms were to be here now, those with sufficient knowledge of the wonders of the world, they would gape in shock at Tokito and do everything they could to either take him as an apprentice or kill him, or even both depending on the person.
Such was the magnitude and absurdness of the secret within Tokito's body. The Origin God REALLY wanted to screw with Tiandi with this one, thus he went well and beyond with it and put something that originally did not belong to the current era into the body of someone close to Tiandi.
On Tiokito's body, one of his bones started to shine, it was his sternum but on the outside, it didn't look to change anything in him. It was very weird but it was just the signal that the activation of the power inside said bone started.
As Tokito activated this power his body was covered in fog that started spreading around the whole arena and area, Tokito did not have the necessary energy to fully activate the technique inside his Supreme Being Bone, but the first stage of it was possible if only barely.
Tiandi saw this mist and prepared to attack but could not be sure how since.
"... Where is he?" Tiandi asked to himself.
The mist around completely blocked all regular sensorial senses, meaning he could not find Tokito by sight, smell, sound, or anything. No matter how he looked he could not find Tokito.
Tiandi looked around when a sword cut his shoulder and if not for his body being extremely tough due to the many medicinal baths and rare herbs used on them. It was all necessary to follow the Origin Sword Technique and his body was much tougher than normal practitioners at his profound realm.
Tiandi felt that his blood was evaporating into this mist and he was feeling like weakness was increasing at a high speed. More and more shallow cuts started to be done in his body and weakness was one thing Tiandi could agree that was truly a dangerous technique. His blood was making the mist thicker and thicker and his senses were more and more hard to grasp his surroundings.
'I need to stop the bleeding at the very least.' Tiandi thought to himself as he put his free hand in one of the cuts to try and hold the blood inside, even if just a bit. As he did so he noticed something he rarely thought much about.
The marks on his arms, the two Noble Phantasms that are the closest to him and that he never really used before. The Left Hand - Xanadu Matrix and Right Hand - Evil Eater, both connect Tiandi to the foundation of all profound arts. He never practiced much with it and his energy was not enough for anything showy, but it would have to do.
Putting both hands on the ground he searched for a profound art that would fit the situation, one that would allow him to win this.
He found it as a near useless profound art from a small sect that was long since destroyed, a technique created by an old profound user who could not see but wanted to find people around him even when they were quiet.
Putting the profound art together was not that hard, it was not even that costly everything considered, but it still was not that easy in his reserves which took a large hit.
'Okay, I need to increase my cultivation as soon as possible, even if only by one more realm.' Tiandi thought as he used the Profound Art.
Water was spread on the ground like a fine film that was very light. As Tokito waited for Tiandi to lose even more strength to the bloodloss he saw the water spreading and was apprehensive about it, but he couldn't avoid it in time as it passed by his feet and covered the arena.
As it did no Tiandi got a clear image on his mind of all the floor of the arena like if it was an image filled with black spots where things were above the water, it was not enough for him to know where Tokito was since the rocks that were uplifted in the combat until now were also accounted as black spots but he only had to wait, the moment Tokito moves he will strike.
Now it turned into a game of waiting, both were using powers that were consuming large amounts of their strength and the one to move first is likely to lose but if neither moves neither knows who can win this by exhausting the other.
The waiting game went on for seemingly an eternity, though that was only for the two participants themselves. Outside their throwdown, it had been about 2 minutes for the crowd, thus they began to grow anxious alongside the combatants, resulting in a thoroughly tense atmosphere no matter where one looked. Some of them eagerly leaned forward in their seats, those being the disciples whom wanted to see just how this fight would turn out in the end, for despite their low cultivation, the sword skill these two commanded proved itself worthy of notice. A lot of the females in the crowds even gave the two males looks a woman would get whenever they saw a potential lover or life-long spouse. Some didn't do this of course, though that was simply due to the interest in some of the other contestants seen in the Sect so far.
In the end, though, one person had to act, and that person... turned out to be Tokito, whom leaped forwards from his previous spot with the intent of ending the battle quickly. Even if he had no longer intended to throw the match like he had before, the male didn't want to drag this out any longer than necessary, and as such he went for a clean slice which would disable Tiandi enough to where he wouldn't be able to continue fighting. It helped that the water apparently didn't do any harm to him, so he pumped profound energy through his arms and legs for his movements.
This ended up alerting Tiandi to his position however, something which he couldn't help but smirk smugly to himself. 'Alright, now that I know where you are...' he thought, waiting for the guy to get in close... and just when Tokito appeared before him with a slash already launched, Tiandi moved, his body moving with a stranged movement way that was highly reminiscent of Tokito's own movement technique and while not quite as good it was still enough for Tiandi to get to position when Tokito never expected Tiandi to still be able to move.
'Gah… what the...?'
That was his last thought before Tokito fell to the ground, unconscious and defeated as his body was cut by Tiandi.
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AN:
Action-packed chapter focused almost exclusively on this fight. As for what Tokito has in his body, I can't say in detail for now but I will say that this generation in this planet has many unique people with special bodies, souls, or some sort of power that do not lose out when compared to Qingyue's BS body and stuff and that many did not yet discover their unique attributes or that they even have them. The reason for it will be explained later, don't worry.
What Tokito has is based on the novel Perfect World (which is an awesome novel BTW) and he still isn't anywhere close to mastering this skill or using it completely, probably barely 5% right now. He is kinda like Yun Che and his use of the Phoenix techniques in the start, they are the correct techniques but he only knows a part of it really and it definitely cannot match someone who truly mastered them properly instead of only knowing bits and pieces.