February 5, 2023, Near Midnight
"We will meet in the final tomorrow night. Tomorrow night will be the most festive night." Gui Wuxing. The man in the orange monk-like robe approached Sizhu's seat and patted his shoulder while saying this.
Sizhu turned to stand up and chase after him but stopped when he saw Gui Wuxing disappear in an instant. The next second, Gui was seen walking from the entrance corridor into the arena.
"..."
Sizhu said nothing, witnessing what had just happened. There was one more duel before his turn.
"Ninth duel of the Zhan Dou tournament, second round. Participants number seventeen and eighteen. Please introduce yourselves."
Gui and someone dressed as a Hunter agent (black suit, white shirt, tie, and black belted trousers) stood in the middle of the arena, separated by a dozen steps.
"Gui Wuxing."
"One-star Hunter. Talmund Jaleen."
With his xizhang staff in hand, Gui took a stance. Just like his enemy, who drew a sword typical of desert lands.
The man had a thick, black, sparse beard covering his chin and sides of his face. Neatly short-cut hair. A typical Middle Eastern face.
The sword he held in his hand was called a scimitar. A long, single-edged sword curved forward like a crescent moon.
Clink. Clink.
"Monk. What is a young monk doing participating in a tournament?"
"Why? Is there a rule that monks cannot participate in tournaments?"
Talmund shrugged. "Perhaps. Unless you have another purpose here, no monk should have been invited."
"Invited?" Gui grinned. "I am one of them."
"..." Talmund did not answer and began to take a fighting stance.
"Are you ready?" Liu Xingsheng, the monkey Shengxiao, whose his turn to shout as the announcer. Gui spun his xizhang behind his armpit and nodded. Talmund looked at Liu's face then also nodded.
"The ninth duel of the Zhan Dou tournament, second round tonight. Begins!"
"Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou!"
Talmund immediately lunged forward without further ado, swinging a heavy blow.
Gui spun his xizhang staff and blocked Talmund's heavy slashing swing. He shifted three steps to the side to withstand the attack.
Clang!
It didn't stop there. Talmund, like a berserker, delivered a series of slashes at Gui, not allowing him to retaliate or dodge.
"So enthusiastic. Every slash of yours intends to kill me. Why? It seems this is not about winning the duel at all."
Clang! Clang! Clang! ... CLANG!
Talmund delivered a very heavy swing, forcing Gui to be thrown back several steps. A cut line became a decoration on his xizhang staff. Fortunately, the staff was made of special iron as hard as tungsten steel.
Despite the weight, Gui did not seem overwhelmed. In fact, he grinned.
"Heh, you noticed." Talmund adjusted his crooked tie then leaped forward again like a wild lion.
Gui immediately met every slash Talmund delivered. He didn't have too much trouble blocking Talmund's continuous slashes, but he was sure that if he was slightly careless, his limbs would be easily severed.
"Mr. Jianying asked me to be a contestant in this tournament to identify one of the participants suspected of being an intruder."
"Including me?"
Gui swung his staff wide, telling Talmund to back off for a moment.
"Yes, including you. And I am convinced." Talmund tightened his grip on the sword and his footing. "You are not one of the monks we invited here. In other words."
Talmund was instantly in front of Gui's face. Gui's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting his opponent's speed to change so drastically.
"You are the intruder."
Crat!
Gui smiled broadly even though the previous slash injured his left eye. He managed to dodge the slash that almost severed his neck and only got a vertical cut on his left cheek extending to his left eye.
Clink. Clink.
Gui plunged the xizhang staff into the ground, then chanted a spell while dodging Talmund's increasingly fierce follow-up slashes.
"I haven't used this technique in a long time."
"噬光之闇,其霧蔽眾生之目.
蔽我目,以賜我闇中之視;
蔽吾敵之目,使陷於幽冥之深.
"Shì guāng zhī àn, qí wù bì zhòngshēng zhī mù.
Bì wǒ mù, yǐ cì wǒ àn zhōng zhī shì;
Bì wú dí zhī mù, shǐ xiàn yú yōumíng zhī shēn.
"(O darkness that devours light, your mist obscures the eyes of all beings.
Obscure my eyes, to grant me sight in the dark;
Obscure the eyes of my enemy, and plunge them into the deepest gloom.)"
From the embedded xizhang staff. Black smoke turned into a thick mist, covering the entire arena in darkness. Like a clear pool of water suddenly turning pitch black. The spectators stood from their seats to see what was happening within the mist.
But no sound or light emerged from within.
Only black. Like shadows piled into dense darkness.
"Where did you go, intruder! I will kill you as commanded by my boss!"
Talmund slashed wildly around him. He couldn't see his surroundings clearly. Only black, like a blind person. He could hear, but he wasn't sure where the sound was coming from.
Clink. Clink.
Talmund moved, slashing at the sound. Empty. He only slashed at empty air beside him.
"Hehehehe."
Clink. Clink.
Now from behind his back, Talmund immediately spun around and slashed widely backward. But it was empty. He still slashed at empty air behind him.
"Oh, scared? Can't see anything clearly. You are completely helpless in the darkness."
Clink. Clink.
"Shut up!"
Talmund slashed left, right, back, front. But he only slashed at empty air.
"What a pity. You shouldn't have fought me tonight. Or, you should have run away from me once you confirmed my fake identity. Not daring to try and kill me. What a bad decision to take."
Clink. Clink.
Talmund fell silent. He wouldn't be fooled again. But one blow from the staff instantly severed his left arm.
Splatter!
He winced, but didn't scream. He immediately pressed down on the bleeding on his left arm.
"Damn you! Get out of this black mist and face me like a man!"
Talmund began to lose his composure and sanity. His legs trembled from losing a lot of blood and the fear of the darkness enveloping him.
Gui chuckled.
"Hehehehe."
Clink. Clink.
Talmund heard a sound from the front. And as soon as he slashed forward.
Clang! His sword managed to slash something. And it was the arena wall.
From behind, before Talmund could turn around. Both of his legs were suddenly severed very quickly.
Splatter! Splatter!
Talmund fell to the ground, trying to lean his back against the wall. His breathing became erratic. His already dark vision grew darker with a dizzy, spinning head from losing a lot of blood.
"You..."
Gui appeared before Talmund. With his xizhang staff, now covered in blood.
Clink. Clink.
"How does it feel to be on the brink of death?"
"The Hunters will kill you... There are two five-star Hunters here... I'm sure they will kill you after you kill me!!!" Talmund screamed for the last time.
But Gui burst into laughter instead.
"Hahahahahhahahahah! They kill me? Pfft. You're so stupid. I told you, you should have run away from me. There isn't a single Hunter in this country you can trust anymore. We receive orders from your superiors. Slowly but surely, the Hunters in this country will be destroyed. Just like your severed limbs."
Gui stabbed the sharp tip of the xizhang staff into Talmund's remaining right hand.
Splatter!
Talmund, startled by Gui's words, immediately let out a very loud scream. His eyes widened so much they looked like they would pop out, feeling the only remaining limb severed. But within the black mist created by Gui, no screams escaped. Only a mysterious emptiness enveloped the arena.
"CURSE YOU!!!"
Talmund screamed for the last time.
Crat!
"What happened?"
"What is that black mist? This is the first time I've seen magic create such a large black mist in an arena that is 200 square meters in size."
"Is that the monk's magic technique?"
Sizhu furrowed his brow. He could hear loud, horrifying screams coming from within the black mist in the arena.
After a few seconds, the black mist finally faded.
Revealing Gui standing in the middle of the arena. With Talmund's head attached to the tip of his xizhang staff. With a face full of horror.
Making some faces turn pale with fear at the sight.
***
"Damn it! How could that monk mutilate his opponent within seconds after the black mist was created!"
"Even though he won. He should be eliminated for killing his opponent and torturing him like that. What is that monkey shengxiao thinking? Why do they let psychopaths participate in this tournament?"
"This year's tournament is truly disgusting. Zhan Dou is usually held to honor our ancestral in celebrating the three-day lantern festival after entering the first half-month of the new lunar year! Usually, there are no brutal matches like this. There are only matches for honor and glory."
Some spectators felt that the duel just now was excessive and sadistic for a mere annual Zhan Dou tournament. Although there were certainly casualties every year, no one had died as sadistically as what happened a few minutes ago.
"What were you talking about in the black mist earlier?"
Sizhu, who had descended from the spectator stands, entered the corridor leading to the arena and accidentally ran into Gui, whose orange robe was now stained with blood. There was a slash wound on his left eye.
Gui grinned. "Little conversation." Then he strode away without looking back at Sizhu.
Sizhu continued walking, standing in the middle of the arena wearing a black robe. He held his favorite wooden staff tightly in his right hand.
His opponent was an adult man wearing a black hood. Sizhu immediately recalled last night's incident. Recognizing the shape of the mysterious man's hood who had escaped.
"..." Sizhu didn't utter a single word except a long sigh. His hand moved to spin the wooden staff behind his back.
It was still Liu Xingsheng who was the host and referee of the duel, he called out from beside the arena.
"The final duel of the Zhan Dou tournament, second round. Participants number nineteen and twenty. Introduce yourselves."
"Sizhu."
"Ye Chen."
Both immediately took their stances, as they had already fought for their lives last night. Both became wary of each other.
"What is your purpose here?" Sizhu asked with a sharp gaze. Many questions were in his head regarding last night's attack, but Sizhu chose not to dwell on them too much and focused on winning the tournament so he could meet the chancellor of the magic academy and become stronger there.
"Of course. To kill you."
Pulling out two tridents from under his black hooded robe. Ye Chen took his stance.
Sizhu could see clearly this time. There was an inverted cross tattoo on the back of Ye Chen's left hand.
Seeing that symbol, Sizhu immediately remembered Muzhe who had the same symbol on his left arm.
Who exactly are they?
"Why do you want to kill me?"
"You are someone targeted by the Grand Witch. The Young Master wants your head—No, all Witches in this world want your head. Sooner or later. You will die. Green-eyed boy."
Sizhu spun his staff and pointed it at Ye Chen. "Not if I kill you first."
"The final duel of the Zhan Dou tournament, second round. Begin!"
"Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou!"
"First staff technique; 被火龍攻擊;
Bèi huǒlóng gōngjí! (Fire Dragon's Pounce!)"
Boom! Chrat!
Sizhu attacked first. Piercing through the opponent's body in one strike.
Ye Chen's body was perforated by Sizhu's staff, which was as fast as a bullet. A hole the size of an arm appeared in the middle of his chest.
"I knew you would attack first."
But what Sizhu attacked was only a doppelganger of Ye Chen.
From behind his back, four trident eyes were ready to stab Sizhu's body.
Sizhu, realizing this, immediately spun his body while heavily rotating his staff.
Clang! Clang!
He successfully parried the four tridents that were about to stab him. Stepping back, Sizhu immediately leaped far away. Avoiding further attacks.
Two Ye Chens now bombarded Sizhu with stabbing attacks. Sizhu was like a leaf blown by the wind, avoiding every stab, then moving his wooden staff through the gaps in Ye Chen's attacks.
THUD! Splatter!
Hitting one person backward until his body split in two, then moving his body down and using a leg sweep to knock down the other.
Ye Chen jumped to avoid the leg sweep. Meanwhile, the one who was hit backward a few steps muttered a spell on the ground.
"暗影为形,镜魂为身.
吾呼吾影,影应吾声.
生死相合,光灭暗生.
余化为影,影化为余.
"Àn yǐng wéi xíng, jìng hún wéi shēn.
Wú hū wú yǐng, yǐng yìng wú shēng.
Shēng sǐ xiāng hé, guāng miè àn shēng.
Yú huà wéi yǐng, yǐng huà wéi yú...
"(Shadow becomes form, and mirror becomes body.
I call my shadow — it answers my voice.
Life and death unite; light fades, darkness is born.
I transform into shadow, and shadow transforms into me.)"
From Ye Chen's body, which was split by the hard impact of Sizhu's staff from the side, a new Ye Chen grew. Like a worm that grows a head if its body is split, and its head grows a new body.
"Troublesome."
Sizhu immediately retreated to gain distance. Now there were three Ye Chens in the arena with two tridents in each of their hands.
"It seems I have to use the technique I learned last night."
Sizhu bit his own palm until it bled, then smeared his blood on the wooden staff. The blood turned into glowing rune writings as it touched the staff. Covering the entire staff with glowing red blood.
"Woah. What kind of technique is that? Can his opponent use clone magic? I thought that magic was just a myth."
"Clone magic is more like creating multiple shadows. The opponent in the arena is completely different from clone magic. More like a doppelganger. Creating real twins formed from flesh and bone."
"But isn't that magic is a forbidden dark magic? Doesn't that violate the tournament rules and he should be executed on the spot for using dark magic?"
"I don't know, but that green-eyed youth also doesn't seem normal. He bit his hand until it bled and smeared the blood on his staff. That's not any magic technique we've ever seen or heard of."
The spectators who understood magic, academy students, and Hunters began to whisper and feel uneasy seeing magic techniques they didn't recognize.
Despite hearing them, Sizhu didn't pay much attention and focused on the three opponents ten steps in front of him.
"Tonight will be the last night you breathe, Sizhu."
"Ah, we will also kill the two kids who managed to escape from the forbidden forest edge village."
"Maybe we'll have some fun with those two little kids before we kill them."
Thump!
Sizhu suddenly appeared in front of the three Ye Chens who had just finished provoking him.
Sizhu's gaze was serious and threatening. Then he unleashed a hard staff blow from the side. Green flames blazed, accompanying the staff's flow as it struck.
Blaze! Chrat! Chrat! Chrat!
All three Ye Chens, except the one in the middle, were immediately cut in two. Ye Chen, who was in the middle, reacted and jumped back, but the green flame from Sizhu's staff strike managed to open his stomach and spill his entrails while burning.
Sizhu didn't give the last Ye Chen a chance and used a staff move.
"Third staff move; 三龍尾睫毛!
Sān lóng wěi jiémáo! (Three Dragon Tail Whips!)"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Splatter! Splatter! Splatter!
Three consecutive stabs as fast as dancing flames, piercing the head, chest, and stomach of the last Ye Chen. His body contents scattered messily on the ground, and his head flew high, almost landing in the spectator seats. The bouncing head hit the arena's transparent wall.
"Heh. What kind of magic can use magic techniques without incantations?"
"Calling it a rune technique doesn't fit at all either. You really need to be killed tonight, Sizhu!!"
The two Ye Chens whose bodies were cut in half now rose to become four Ye Chens.
Sizhu raised his green flaming staff. He immediately charged back at the four Ye Chens who were also rushing forward.
CLANG! Clang!... Clang! CLANG!
The sound of tridents clanging continuously attacked Sizhu. Eight hands surrounded Sizhu from all directions. Not giving him enough space to use other staff moves. Surrounding Sizhu without a gap.
Sizhu, in the middle of the encirclement, spun his green flaming staff left and right while his feet moved back and forth. The ability of Ye Chen, the mysterious hooded man, was so great that it overwhelmed Sizhu. Just last night, Sizhu, along with Elizabeth, Mei Mei, and Gui, couldn't defeat him when he was alone.
Now Sizhu had to face four Ye Chens alone from the onslaught of very fast trident stabs, as if surrounded by dozens of hands in the middle of a battlefield.
Slowly, stab wounds appeared on his hands, feet, shoulders, face, and body.
Sizhu jumped high. The four Ye Chens also jumped high. Continuously attacking Sizhu.
"Sixth staff move; 螺旋火龍; Luóxuán huǒlóng! (Spiral Fire Dragon!)"
Splatter! Splatter! Splatter! Splatter!
Sizhu spun in the air, rapidly twirling his staff, the green flame forming a spiral and successfully severing two of Ye Chen's bodies and cutting off four hands of two Ye Chens who were about to stab Sizhu.
Upon landing, Sizhu immediately pulled one of the severed upper bodies of Ye Chen, spun his staff, and then severed its head.
Thud! Splatter!
After that, he stabbed his staff into the lower body of the severed Ye Chen and burned it with green flames.
Burn!
Not stopping there, he did the same to the other severed body of Ye Chen.
Blaze!
Two of Ye Chen's heads rolled on the ground. Sizhu's hands were covered in blood. His face was also splattered with the blood of Ye Chen's clone who used dark magic.
"My master once told me to show mercy to an opponent if your opponent is still human."
The two remaining Ye Chens, whose hands had been severed, had just regrown them.
Sizhu pointed his green flaming staff at the two remaining Ye Chens. Sizhu's green pupils glowed brightly behind the green flames of the staff he held. Staring at Ye Chen seriously.
"It seems I have to ignore my master's advice to fight you. Witch."
***