17 Beatdown Royale

I entered into the massive stadium, my jaw slightly dropping as I took in the sights.

An artificial mountain, with a river running from the peak. That same river, winding along the far side of the arena, and pooling into a pond at the back. Grassy fields, littered with weapons of all kinds, as the main battleground. And in the center of it all, a massive tree held a flat stone as wide as eight minivans, bumper to bumper.

Seriously. They didn't spare a dime when building this freaking arena. As I stepped inside, I felt myself pass through some kind of barrier, before a voice echoed from the middle of the ring.

"The first stage of the tournament, the Battle Royale, shall begin in fifteen minutes. To progress to the next phase, you must be among the final twenty disciples. As is tradition, a Law shall be invoked to prevent lethal damage. Other than that, fight to your fullest."

The man was standing on the raised platform atop the tree, and after about a minute, he repeated the same message as before, counting down the minutes. Nodding, I turned to look around. Jesus. There must be almost a thousand people here, and that's not including the animals. The fact that most of us were standing a fair distance apart was just bragging about the size of the colosseum. And to narrow this down to twenty? I did some mental math, and figured that each of the top twenty would need to knock out fifty a piece. I mean, it sounds doable, but...

As I was slipping into my thoughts, I felt Tat play with my hair a bit. Omu was feeling rather lazy within my chest. Honestly, the two calmed me down pretty quickly. Man, I'm glad I've got these two.

I sat myself down a little ways away from the pond, letting Tat sit in my lap as I gently pet him. I could feel the stares from the other disciples, but what they felt was lost on me. Some looked intimidated, others angry, a few confused, and plenty looked arrogant. This whole tournament was gonna be a pain in the ass, I guarantee it. But I gotta do it. Xiao Han ain't gonna have it easy. Though... I don't even know what he looks like. Yeah... Probably should've asked Bao before I came here.

...

Fifteen minutes passed quickly enough, with me zoning out and playing with Tat for a while. A few girls and guys came over and wanted to pet him, but he seemed against it.

However, the tension was getting high now. Five seconds ago, the announcer started counting down from ten. Three seconds ago, I felt both Earthly and Mortal energies surge, welling up from each competitor as they prepared. Just now, I felt Tat begin to agitate. I kept myself seated, but I started to circulate my energies around my body.

The count hit one, and then... Chaos.

Fires erupted near the mountain, lightning struck near the tree. I heard dozens of beasts roar, and heard the shouts of just as many cultivators. And yet for every battle cry, the roar of the audience was louder. Seems this is something of a tourist attraction. But for now, that doesn't matter.

Around me, I saw men heaving stones from the earth, women twirling blades like ribbons, and all manner of techniques. Energy shaped like serpents, dark orbs dancing around one woman, and so many talismans that I couldn't keep count. Explosions, fire, and ice struck each other.

As I was watching, I felt an intense sense of threat. My eyes went wide, and I threw my body backward to lay flat. Just in time, apparently, as a massive ball of flame flew over the spot I had sat. To my left, a rotund man was standing, holding out his hand. I turned my head to him as I stood up, before I addressed him.

"You... Are you sure you wanna do this?" I asked him simply, as I sensed his energy. Stage 4. He wouldn't be much of a fight, and I'm not much for picking on people. When the guy got angry and threw another fireball, I narrowed my eyes and sidestepped. With a thought, I was in his face. Another moment, and my left foot met his chin as I struck him. He was barely conscious, now. I let him fall, and Tat jumped and struck him with a headbutt, knocking him out cold.

With him down, I turned to look around a bit more. I couldn't help but grin wide, as I sat down and started to focus my energies again. This place... It was brimming with violence. And I'm not gonna let it go to waste. Tat was on the same page, and even Omu was practicing. So what if this was a battlefield? Most of these guys were just ignoring me, or were too shitscared after the fight with the fat guy a second ago. I'll handle whatever comes at me, but I'm spending my time wisely.

...

Half an hour has passed, and I've knocked out three people, plus the fat guy.

I was right, apparently. After I knocked out the first guy, none of my challengers were below Stage 5. One of them was even Stage 7. That one was pretty fun, honestly. He lasted longer than two swings, and managed to actually hit me with his own attack. Still stings a bit where he punched me. But unfortunately for him, he practiced the same way I did. Brute force. And he was not as strong as me.

Now, though, I was getting a great deal of attention. After all, I doubt anybody was expecting someone to break through in the middle of the tournament. Given that I just broke into the peak of Body Refinement, Stage 9, it was particularly violent.

The earth beneath me shook and broke. The river and pond erupted violently, waves and fish being thrown about. Winds whipped about, and the ambient energies surged into my body. All eyes, audience and competitor alike, turned to my form. And the moment I stood, three men appeared around me, throwing attacks.

A warhammer struck my chest. Lightning wreathed my legs, pinning them to the ground. Thick vines wrapped my neck, tightening like a noose. Interesting. They've got some pretty good teamwork, but...

"Weak."

The warhammer struck, and I gripped the heft in my hand. With a simple flex of my fingers, I bent the simple steel into a deformed shape. I then brought my fingers to my neck, and pulled the pitiful vines to pieces. As for the lightning... I didn't really have much of a solution, so I threw a rock at the disciple behind it. The rock hit him dead on, and knocked him on his ass. At the same time, the lightning vanished.

"Alright. Guess I'm done training. Might as well get working."

A thought left my mind, and Tat tackled the plant cultivator to the ground, biting and scratching his face and chest viciously. Meanwhile, I battle stepped, appearing before the warhammer cultivator, before delivering a hard right hook to his cheek. I knew instinctively, he was out cold. I looked to the plant cultivator, and he was out too, Tat sitting proudly on top of his chest. Finally, I looked to the lightning cultivator, to see him transform into a bolt of lightning and run away. Eh, he's not likely to get out of this with a win. Not my problem.

Now... What next? I felt the energies in the air, locking in on the locations of the strongest in the competition. Nine people at the peak of Body Refinement. Six more at Stage 8. The rest, well... That could be a toss-up for who takes the last four slots. But if you go purely off cultivation base, these guys were the front-runners. May as well introduce myself.

I stepped, and crossed the great distance to the mountain. Surprisingly, it took me three battle steps. Guess it's limited in range. But finally, I was about a dozen feet from the two strongest people I could sense. A duo, two girls. One with hair that was raven black, and the other was platinum blonde. Aside from that one attribute, though, they were practically identical. Even their energies were the same, both using dense Earthly Energy. When I appeared before them, they both turned to me and stared. Welp... Time for me to see if my social skills got rusty.

"Hey, you two. What are your names?"

Honestly, their reactions were pretty funny. Both of them seemed to freeze up, and I felt them extend their energies to feel for anything around me. Were they expecting traps?

"My name is Sena, and this is my sister Yuna." The dark haired beauty introduced herself, and her sister. I could sense the uneasy way they spoke, but I brushed it off.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Adam, son of Nemu, and this is Ratatoskr. Omukade won't be saying hi, but he's around too." I spoke, and introduced myself clearly. I made sure to add the part about Nemu, and felt a sense of pride in being able to say such a thing. Though... Nobody around here would know her real name. "I have a question for you two, though. Do you know a person named Xiao Han?"

When I said that, I saw the two become visibly upset. The raven haired girl gripped her sister's hand tight, and I saw Yuna shield herself behind her.

"That piece of shit a friend of yours? Tell him that if he tries anything with Yuna again, I'll be gutting him personally!" To make her point, black and violet flames erupted from the ground around her, and a black sword appeared in her free hand. Nice nice, she has a talent.

I smirked, and decided to not defuse the misunderstanding. If it means she fights this hard in the main tournament, I'm game. So instead, I simply battle stepped away.

If this goes right... I can have some real fun real soon.