Competition 2 (VIII): The Carnage Begins

[War; it is a factor of humanity that's been missing for a long time ever since the empire of heaven stopped their expansion. Or so the world thought. It was discovered that the battles of high leveled cultivators was tearing the earth apart, killing and destroying our home. And so came the era of particle world, dimension fields, and the most valuable yet elusive alternate worlds.

Now wars are not fought on earth because an era of peace came about, the expansion of the empire of heaven and the Albion empire did not end, it was just taken to a higher level. Particle worlds are marvel of modern physics and Qi cultivation, with our own hands we've gained the power to become God and create whole worlds that can support life and thrive just like any other.

Of course particle worlds are finite, and their life span limited. That's why they have become nothing more than an expensive hideout, training ground or meeting place for people who can afford it. But ultimately it is now the new battlefield for the forces on earth, any and all disagreements are settled and solved within those worlds, preventing any sort of destruction to the earth itself. The only danger now left in our world is not us or our extreme talent for destruction, but the demonic beasts that's threatening our way of life. The monsters in our own backyard.]

Bartholomew Álē

It was just a simple matter for Alex to duck as the punch flew over his head. But seriously he had to wonder, what sort of idiot would scream die at your target, when you were trying to ambush or blindside that person. It was stupid, and because of that, Alex was saved from being eliminated from this round of the competition too early.

And it was all because his opponent was stupid.

But even if his opponent was stupid, it didn't mean he couldn't fight. As soon as Alex dodged the punch, he moved a step back, letting the power behind the punch carry his opponent past him and deposit him at the edge of the cliff Alex just climbed up from. But his opponent really had good control on his balance as he shot his leg backwards, slamming it into the chest of the caught of guard Alex.

But even if he was caught of guard, that kick did not have to much power in it, but it was still enough to push him back a few steps. The next few moves Alex made were purely instinctual as he moved forward and ducked under the punch of his taller opponent.

Then when he had gotten close enough he grabbed a fist full of his shirt, turned his body and flung his opponent off the cliff. It took Alex all but of a moment to realize what he had done, and he was shocked stiff by not just his decisiveness, but his ruthlessness. That guy could be dead, it then again there were branches closely knit together below him, it should be enough to catch him as he fell(hopefully).

A white light flashed up from below the cliff, and went right into the medallion on his chest, turning the bronze colors medallion white as the number two appeared on it's surface. Alex deduced that whenever someone was defeated, the medallion around his neck would have another number added to it. This way, even if there was someone who had defeated ten people, if he was defeated he would lose all of his numbers, but the person who defeated him would only have an extra number added to his medallion. You had to defeat the required number of people to pass, you can't take it medallions from someone else.

"Brother! I'll kill you!"

Alex turned just in time to barely dodge having his throat sliced in by a saber. From the look of things, which of course encompassed the incredibly ferocious look on the face of his current opponent, and the fact that he had a saber pointed at Alex's face, let him know that this was probably the brother of the unfortunate fool he just threw off a cliff. But seriously, how lucky could this two have been that they would have found themselves when everyone else was teleported to random locations.

The new brother? Held his saber in a reverse grip, as he began spinning it left and right, and approached Alex. Alex could have pulled out his swords to put them on even ground, but he really had no idea how to use this blades, his father and uncle had blamed him for their lack of time to properly train him on how to use both blades.

His opponent started whirling his saber, making a buzzing sound as the blade swung through the air. It was a very fancy move, but it did exactly what it was supposed to. The saber was moving too fast for Alex to stop, and it's wielder was advancing and spinning every which way, completely cutting of any hope of retaliation unless Alex used his own weapons.

Alex stepped back for a minute, before he turned around and too to his heels, running directly towards an incline that lead to the peak of the western range of this mountain. His opponent followed close behind him, swinging his saber with a ferocity unmatched, and more than once almost coming close to cutting Alex.

But Alex had a plan, three meters in front of him was a boulder twice as tall as he was, he ran towards the boulder, when he got close he leaped up, placing one feet on the boulder, and then another as he scaled the rocky surface, three steps up he pushed backwards, angling his body as he made a back flip over the head of his pursuer and opponent.

Since this move of his was sudden, his opponent was unable to stop his forward momentum as he went on to slam his face and body on the rock, his attention drawn by Alex who had flown over his head. This gave Alex enough time to land and push forward towards his dazed opponent.

It seems stupidity runs in the family, as this brother also attacked head on with no idea on how apply tact and strategy.

Alex went forward with a punch aimed at the kidneys of his opponent, his punch hit with way much force than expected as his opponent's body was once again slammed on the rock in front of him. Then Alex proceeded to give him a beat down he would never forget a he unleashed a flurry of punches, knee strikes, elbow strikes and palm strikes at him. His opponent could not even put up a fight as he was completely helpless in defending himself.

Alex took advantage of every opening he saw, hitting his opponent where he least expected it and making sure it hurt. Alex took a step back and then stepped forward releasing a ferocious elbow strike to the jaw of his opponent, the uppercut raised and slammed his head against the rock behind him. There was a loud crack as his opponent went unconscious and slowly slid down to the ground, his blood painting a straight line on the boulder as it gushed from his cracked skull.

Alex was shocked, he had completely lost all sense of himself and fought with all he had in fact you could say he had fought with the intent to kill, and that was not who he was. This sudden spike of murderous tendency was weird, and it left Alex very afraid. He turned away from his opponent, who's life and death was now very much in question and drew a character on the wall, it was the Chinese character for heaven.

The fact that he had used the spilt blood of his unconscious opponent to draw it, bothered him a lot, but it was the only resource available for him to use at the moment.

The character was for Anya, that way if she came through, she would know that he had passed through here.

Then Alex turned and ran towards the west, running from the act and running from his blood stained hands. In the span of an hour, it seems that Alex might have killed again, and this time he was completely conscious of everything he had done, and had not made a move in desperation. As he ran away, Alex could think of a million ways he could have handled throwing the first brother off the cliff, and cracking open the head of the other against a rock.

There would definitely have been less crippling or death inducing moves he could have made. And all those moves would have been merciful and disabled his opponents and give them a higher chance at life than what he left them with. But every move he had made, he didn't make them out of mercy, and that was why they could both now be dying, or already be dead.

As he ran, his now white medallion glowed once and the number on it changed from 2 to three. Which meant he had gained the combat medallion of two other contestants by defeating them. This part of the competition was not explained in detail as they were only told to get the medallions, and not the properties or mechanics that governed it.

It was left for them to discover by themselves.

Alex looked up and saw that he was rapidly approaching a tree line that served as a boundary of another part of the Zambesi forest. This forests started from the bottom of the western peak, but Alex had no idea how far up it went.

But for now though he had to keep to the edge of the forest, and find a place to settle down and keep himself hidden. Traveling during the day time would paint too big of a target on his back, and while traveling at night would still leave him open to attack, it was more from the demonic beasts rather than the humans. Besides once it was night, it would make it a lot easier for him to defeat his opponents as they would be tired from running around all day. Either way, the carnage that was the first round of the second stage...…had begun.