Call Of The Masquerade (III): Fighting Blanks

[Some people believe that destiny is predetermined, and that we're helpless against the hand of fate. How gullible, what is cultivation? The very act of cultivating goes against fate itself. People who cultivate to great heights actually become capable of controlling such forces. No the destiny of man, is the pursuit of greatness and perfection, to create and destroy everyday in our pathetic attempts to become God. Every man is destined to be great, to create and achieve something no one else ever did. We're driven by it, but the truth is the way that destiny is achieved is up to us. You can become great by being a singer, or the CEO of a multi million imperial gold coin company. It is our destiny to strive to be gods, but that is only a foundation for you to build on. Destinies are not given or set,...….they're dreamt of, and then they're made, and all by your own hands.]

Unknown Speaker.....

The masquerade this time was still at the second level of the body refining realm, and his knife technique was quite sloppy. Alex had to wonder if this was meant to be a challenge as he weaved between the lousy thrust and slashes the blank masquerade was making. When he had established that this masquerade really had no idea what it was doing, Alex stepped back and allowed one of it's slashes to fly wide, then he stepped forward and threw a punch straight at it's face.

The, Masquerade attempted to dodge, but Alex was almost ten times faster than it was due to his superior cultivation if not more. His fist landed on it's face, and just like it previous counterpart, it's entire body cracked into pieces, before reforming into a white mask that went back to hang over it's flaming drum. The flames died down, and then a little blue and green flame was outlined over it's body as it floated over it's drum.

Almost immediately, another drum began to boom, using a different tempo than the previous two. Alex tapped his toes a bit to the rhythm, as it was a really trippy traditional beat. His ancestors must have been such party animals if they could play a drum this professionally, they must have been quite carefree during those days.

Another masquerade jumped out, just as blank and plain as its predecessors, however he seemed a little taller and stronger. It might also be due to the fact that this masquerade was at the fourth level of the body refining realm rather than the second. So it's strength had been doubled. But either way, the result would probably still be the same. It was just too weak to pose any sort of threat to Alex. The masquerade also chose a head on approach, just like the others that came before him. His moves were a bit rigid, but there had more finesse to them than the previous masquerades.

He didn't opt for a punch but rather sent a kick flying towards Alex's head, Alex moved back as the kick flew right in front of his face, the wind from the kick ruffling his hair a bit. But the masquerade seemed to be proficient in leg techniques as without dropping its leg, he was able to move it backwards to sweep it over Alex's chin. Even though Alex was shocked by the maneuver he took a step back again to dodge, before stretching his hand out and catching the kick which was aimed at his throat.

All of this moves would have caused a lot of damage if the masquerade was at a higher level in the body refining realm, but since it was still so weak, the only other option it had was to be defeated by Alex. With his hand still on the masquerade's leg, he twisted it's leg, dislocating it's leg, but at the same time turning it over and bringing it down to the ground flat on it's stomach and face.

Then Alex pulled the masquerade back, making sure it's face rubbed and dragged on the hard earth without mercy, then he moved forward, raised his leg and smashed the masquerade head's into the hard floor, smashing it and the rest of it's body into multiple white fragments. That was one down, and nine more to go. From the look of things, each of the twelve drums here represented a blank masquerade, he had to defeat them one by one. And it seems like their strengths keep increasing after every two battles.

The defeated mask went on to hang over it's own drum as it absorbed the flames hanging over it. Then another drum began to beat, and again Alex tapped his toes to the rhythm. The masquerade that came out this time, had a gleaming silver saber. It did not waste time as it shot forward with a slash, Alex who had been observing this masquerade to see if there was anything different about it was caught of guard.

But he was able to catch himself in time to turn his entire body left, letting the blade of the saber fall in front of him. But the masquerade caught the momentum of the blade when it got towards Alex's waist, then it angled and sent it slashing toward Alex. Alex had his eye opened wide for a moment with surprise at such a sudden and ingenious move.

It's quite well known that cultivators who rely on a weapon to fight are more ingenious with their moves as they're always finding a way to gain advantage and get past their opponents guard. That's why it's so rare that you would see a cultivator who fight's solely with their fist and body, and even more rare to seen one who can win a fight.

Alex had no choice but to quickly use the [Viper Evades Buddha] palm art to slam down on the flat side of the blade, pushing it completely out of the masquerade's hand and it fell to the ground with a clang.

But Alex was not done with his attack and counterattack as he used the same palm art to smash straight at the masquerade's head. The [Viper Evades Buddha] palm art was not made for outright attacks, so it's power was a little low when Alex used it. But he more than made up for it with his ninth level of the body refining realm brute strength. The head of the masquerade was smashed to pieces and in moments it reformed into a mask and went to float over it's drum.

Alex let out a breath, this test was getting progressively harder with each new masquerade, there is more and more effort demanded from him due to how smart and stronger they had become. Another beat, this time it was so intense Alex felt the vibrations all over his body, a few seconds later there was another masquerade standing in front of him, but this masquerade was at the eight level of the body refining realm, directly below Alex's current level. No doubt this fight would be a little bit more difficult, which meant Alex couldn't slack off.

With a speed far faster than the other masquerades, the new one started charging toward Alex, when it was a few feet away it jumped and stretched it's leg out in a flying kick motion. That would have been a fearsome move if the masquerade had not made a mistake of executing it a little too early.

Alex leaned to the side, and as the masquerade was about to fly past him, Alex swung his whole hand and clotheslined the still airborne masquerade from the waist. The masquerade's momentum was brought to a screeching halt, there was a cracking sound as the wood like material of its body developed hairline cracks that spread from its waist all the way to its jaw, but it's body was still intact.

Alex pushed the masquerade backwards as it tumbled away. Alex swung his hand to get a little feeling back into it, because stopping a flying eight level of body refining cultivator with just an arm was not a move that paid a lot. The halted momentum would hurt both parties. But Alex did not let up on the masquerade as he followed it's tumbling pathway and waited for it to try and get back to it's feet. And when the masquerade attempted to do that, what met it was a hard knee strike to the face that completely shattered it's head.

Alex took a few steps backwards, shook his hand a bit, and prepared for the next challenge. At this point in time, he had completely forgotten that he had been chased by a rather spooky masquerade all the way to this place.

He had forgotten that he was actually fighting without an end game in sight and anything can go wrong and his life would be lost without any one knowing about it.

The next masquerade appeared, and it was not at the eight level of the body refining realm, it was at the ninth, and it was wielding a sword.

At this point in time Alex realized he might truly be in danger as this challenge had gotten harder once again. Alex looked around, hoping to find anything to use as a weapon against that sword, but there was nothing around. But he couldn't really rely on any sort of weapon in this fight, and that simply because he has never trained with one. Alex took a stance and clenched his fist in front of him like a boxer, keeping his gaze on the blank faced mask with a long sword.

It was hard to predict how this fight would go, his opponent was not human, so Alex could not read his opponent. He was literally and figuratively blank. The sword masquerade began to walk towards Alex, taking slow steps but picking up speed rapidly and breaking into a run. When it got close, it swung it's sword at Alex's head, Alex ducked down and moved forward with the hope that the missed slash would carry the sword masquerade past him. But barely had he passed the masquerade and was prepared to turn around before he felt the cold steel bite into his flesh as a long flesh wound was opened from below his left shoulder all the way down to his waist on his back.

"Arrrrggghhhh!" Alex screamed out in pain and shock.

He didn't expect his plan to go wrong as he turned to focus on the sword masquerade who had his sword extended and pointing backwards. He back was faced to Alex, and Alex could it help the wisp of fear that snaked into his heart from such a pose. Back when he was still not allowed to cultivate, one of the magazines he had always read about the cultivation world had given a description of swordsmen. And one of the description given and the one he chose to remember right now was the sentence.

"The most versatile type of cultivators on earth."

They were also the fastest, and the sharpest. Every move they made was thought through, and the next one and the next one all up until the point where their opponents head was lying on the ground at their feet.

"sharp thinkers and the masters of improvisation."

"masters of combat in any terrain, weather and situation."

Alex gulped in fright, but almost immediately squashed it down. It wouldn't do to be afraid right now, as it wouldn't help matters. He charged. Maybe that was a stupid move on his part, and his head would end up decapitated for that, but this was the only way he would be able to get over his fright and face his enemy head on. The sword masquerade turned and flicked the sword in it's hand, flicking Alex's blood on it to the ground below. Then it pushed it's sword outward, cleaving through the air as it stabbed out towards Alex's chest.

Alex slapped the underside of the blade and it moved up and went over his left shoulder. The masquerade would probably try to cut at his neck, much like the saber masquerade had tried to do previously. And his assumptions were correct as the masquerade angled the blade and tried to slice through Alex's neck. But he was ready for that as he ducked down and the sword flew over his head. That was the one opening Alex needed.

In theory it was quite stupid to fight a swordsman in close quarters, however what happens when you get closer, like body to body close. Alex clamped his hand around the masquerade's chest, then heaved up and brought it down, all the while screaming out loud.

"Python Slams Earth!"

It stupid to call out the name of your move, and especially so if your opponent might recognize it. But who cares, there was no one here to laugh at Alex, not to mention he was not the only one who screamed out the name of the move when they fought.

As soon as Alex slammed the masquerade, he heard a clang sound as it's sword went careening out of its hand. But Alex was not done as he lifted the masquerade up again and with all his might threw it into the air. It was off balance, so it could not muster up an counter, when it hit the floor, Alex went behind it and grabbed it again, pulling one of its hand behind it and using his body to trap the limb. Then he proceeded to slam the masquerade on the ground, over and over again until it's body was filled with cracks, and he himself was woozy from all the slamming. Then he wrapped one of his hands around it's neck and the other around it's chest. Then with a whisper he said.

"Python Crushes Throat"

There was audible crack, and it was so loud that even Alex himself felt deep to his bones. The masquerade exploded into countless motes of light that rapidly reformed into another mask, then the mask went to hover over it's drum.

There was another boom as a sharp tempo began to sound out from one of the drums, even from his spot on the ground laying down exhausted as his back bled, Alex could not stop himself from tapping to the groovy but ancient tune of his ancestors. The beats did not stop this time as another masquerade appeared.

It was holding a spear, and had on some sort of armor complete with a helmet, greaves and hand guards. And this new masquerade was not in the body refining realm at all, but the first level of the open meridian realm.

"Fuck!"