44 Flying ahead at the speed of...ground

"OUTTA MY WAY!"

"MOVE IT NITWITS!"

"EITHER HAUL ASS OR DIE!"

As the participants rushed to be the first to enter the wandering ruins, several of the teams had already begun fighting in an attempt to knock out their opponents early.

"Get bent, Douglas! Consider this payback for stealing that treasure from me!"

"In the name of my father, die!"

"AND THAT'S FOR BREAKING MY HEART!"

That or settle grudges that would normally be kept quiet due to "politeness" and "legality". Now that these youths and opposing factions had a thin excuse of "competitiveness", some took this opportunity to attack each other. Normally this would happen in the tunnels, but circumstances were very different this time.

Their reasons varied from matters of honor, treasure, blood feuds, or...

"I can't believe you slept with her!," a green robed young man shouted while swinging a sword at a red robed one. The yellow robed young man however managed to block it in time with his own saber.

"Not my fault you're such a cuckold!"

In the case of these two fellows, "infidelity".

"I swear on my honor, you shall bleed today!"

The one in green was a young man who went by the name of Frederico. Decent looking, refined temperament and inheritor of the "Bullfrog Leaping Blade Style", Frederico had a fairly good standing and a bright future.

Frederico attempted to pierce the red robed man with a leaping strike, but was deflected by the young man spinning away.

"Well on my honor, fuck you!"

The one Frederico has been trying to stab was a man by the name of Diego. Diego had about equal standing to Frederico, the main differences being was that he was the inheritor of the "Whirling Sand Devil Saber style" and that he was a bit...crass.

"Come on Freddie, you know you could never beat me in a fair fight!"

"We'll see about that!"

Frederico and Diego used to be friends/rivals for a number of years to the point of being almost inseparable. But that all changed when Frederico got engaged, and Diego slept with Frederico's fiance. Now they were in the middle of a blood feud. Their teammate's meanwhile were keeping each other busy as to prevent any undue intervention.

"You got this boss!"

"Show that frog the cruelty of the desert, big bro!"

Eventually, Frederico and Diego ended up at a stalemate with their blades locked with one another.

"I'm going to end this in one move!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

The two young warriors proceeded to disengage and prepare their ultimate aether arts. Aquarii and

Aeroqi aether began to swirl and rage around the two of them.

[Toad King's-]

[Dust Knight's-]

"OUTTA THE WAY!"

"Huh? BWAH!" x 2.

"BOSS!"

"BIG BRO!"

However, before either of them could even launch their attacks, a giant stone surfboard on a literal wave of rocks, carrying Nepherage, Zhen Liu, Zhen Yue and Sullivan Quartz, came rushing right between them and knocked them both upon their asses. It happened so quickly and suddenly that neither of them could process what had just happened.

"Sorry!," Zhen Yue called out behind her as the surfboard kept moving along. She wasn't sure whether or not the two knocked out young warriors could hear her, but it was the thought that counts.

"Oh don't worry about the competition," Zhen Liu reassured her, "they're the ones who couldn't keep it in their sheaths until the dun-ruins. Now where the heck is Zhen Hai? Kinda pointless for us to abuse puppet power without everyone being here."

"Over there!" Sullivan pointed dead ahead of them, directing their gazes towards a group of dots in the distance.

"Of course he's in trouble..."

[Nepherage?]

[Understood.]

_________________________________________________

"Couldn't handle me by yourselves so you teamed up like rats? Fucking cowards."

Zhen Hai had blazed ahead of his teammates for the purpose of securing entry to the wandering ruins first. Unfortunately, he didn't expect that three of the other teams would cut him off and try to knock him out this early. Of these three teams, only the leaders were much of a threat to Zhen Hai, namely due to being at his same cultivation level, or at least very close to it.

"Apologies Zhen Hai, but there was an... anonymous party that paid us quite handsomely to make sure you and your clan get eliminated early. I'm sure you understand, purely professional," a scraggly fellow with gold teeth mocked in a condescending tone.

"Well...they just said we had to slow you down to get paid, but we'd get a bonus if we took you out of the running," a portly woman armed with a pair of maces explained.

"In essence, we're gonna have our own little competition in seeing who can kill you! HAHAHAH!," a maniacal fellow armed with an oversized saw excitedly shouted.

The three Acolyte leaders began to circulate their aether and prepare themselves to battle. Their respective teammates quickly followed suit, but it was clear that they were leaving it to the strong ones to defeat Zhen Hai.

'Anonymous my ass, I recognize those emblems anywhere.' Zhen Hai could clearly make out the emblems for the Delaney, Hypeon and Cyprus families, all three of which were subordinates to the Wolfe Family. It wasn't a massive leap in logic to assume that Donovan or one of the members of the Wolfe Family deemed it necessary to have some of their subordinates eliminate the competition.

"On the one hand I'm flattered that they sent so many people to try and stop me," Zhen Hai loudly proclaimed as he took on a fighting stance, "on the other, I'm insulted that they didn't have the decency to do it themselves. I'll be sure to send my regards to whatever hospital beds you'll be all sleeping in once I'm done venting this frustration of mine by breaking all of your bones."

"Big talk ocean man, but you're horribly outmatched and outnumbered. It's going to take a miracle to-"

"ZHEN HAI! HOLD THAT POSE, WE'RE COMING IN HOT!"

"What the fu-!"

A wall of rocks suddenly appeared, separating Zhen Hai from the assailants.