It has been several days since Chris and his companions arrived to Heinburn kingdom, Hanna and Tsubaki were walking around the city to pass the time until the date of the tournament, the two of them became close enough to talk openly while Guilian was training inside the Colosseum, where the fights will take place, because many of the participants, to try to be in the best conditions, do practice fights in the last days before the big event.
One day before the tournament, on a plain on the outskirts of the city, Chris was training with the young blacksmith's grandmother, an old woman named Xian Tao, with the strict policy of staying 10 meters away from her because of his "curse". She was somewhat impressed with the ease with which he etched into his body the habits of perceiving with it.
“You have some experience in this.” Xian Tao said, being the first compliment to Chris, “The more trained your body is, the easier it is to awaken the notion of ki. Who trained you, kid?”
Chris tries to follow the postures, to do it fluidly, without tension in the muscles, maintaining a constant rhythm in the breathing. "Be like water, formless, in constant flux and change." Despite being an adept of Earth, he has the facility to learn very quickly with his body.
“Actually, I trained with two teachers, who handed me the sword taught me to be a warrior.” Chris replies as he remembers his last four years training tirelessly, “My second teacher taught me martial arts, always emphasizing me to follow the flow of the wind.”
«Four years? It seems as if his body has trained for decades and considering how young he is, he’s brimming with life force, he is more terrifying than those creatures of the night. » Xian Tao thinks as she observes Chris very closely, «If he gets to dig up the secrets of ki, he will be unstoppable, a real monster. »
Having trained for days without much rest, without his instructor practicing what he learned until he does it instinctively, she gives him the go-ahead that he has managed to "perceive" the ki, barely, but he is still far from "using it" and Chris runs away to register first thing in the morning of the competition. His companions are surprised to see him made a mess, not even the clothes were neat and immediately Tsubaki takes him to the bathrooms of the Colosseum to clean up and give a good first impression.
The hot waters relax his worn muscles, and, in the meantime, the playoffs begin. Due to the alarming number of participants, it was decided to divide them into blocks of 100 people and the winners shall clash in duels 1 against 1 until they reach the top. Chris, Guilian and Tsubaki were in different blocks among the 8 in total. Another rule is that participants are not allowed to watch the other bouts, even in the playoffs.
Having just started the bath, Chris does not worry about being late because his block is the last one and then, a huge tremor is felt throughout the structure, even brisk Chris' skin while drying his hair. Battle royale of the first block, the whole public was speechless to witness a crushing victory, just after a couple of minutes the field was burned, and all the adepts were in terrible conditions while a man stood up with an expression that says "not worth my time" in all the face.
The presenter announces the first victory of the playoffs, the man with black hair, clothes from the East and an ironic look that would freeze the blood of any experienced warrior, according to his inscription form, by the data entered, is shouted to the four winds: Fire Adept, one of the Six Lords, Fist of Dragon Ryuken.
All people start to get out of control knowing that one of the six most powerful adepts in the world, both individually and collectively, is right in the center with the intention of fighting. Immediately the bugles sound everywhere with a characteristic tune, the queen, Alice Heinburn XVI, addresses a few words:
“If he had wanted to do destruction like Volt he simply would have done, but even now he followed the rules of the tournament and abides by the code of the warriors, so his intentions I recognize as not hostile. Right now, he is just a warrior in search of a worthy opponent.” the queen's voice reached all her subjects, who have calmed down a little.
«That woman, she gives me a bad feeling. Her inner flame is unusual, as if it were not even human; and her voice makes me sick, it gave me a bad vibe when going through my body, something hidden. » Ryuken analyzes when he looks at the queen from the center of the arena.
And with that, the people are left speculating while that man is guided to his dressing room to wait for his next fight.
Twenty minutes later the winner of the second block is announced, and the people are thrilled, Alexander of the Whirlwind, disciple of Faust, one of the six Imperial Generals. Unlike the previous participant, this one had a good reputation for the inhabitants of a kingdom that is allied to the Empire. The repair of the Arena is carried out and immediately the battle of the third block begins.
The battle royale begins and immediately a hurricane of explosions is released, Guilian, after training for weeks the destructive power of his flaming fists, developed his technique of compressing flames and releasing them with each blow. His body of chunky complexion allows him to withstand the force of explosions and after so much training his body was strengthened in addition to his elemental power.
Blow after blow, the opponents' attacks are swept away by him, and a second blow is enough to knock out every adept who dares to attack him. Most adepts do not train their bodies, so Guilian's attacks of great destructive power are enough to render their attacks and attempts to defend themselves irrelevant. The crowd cheers as Guilian defeats an adept every 5 seconds and after half an hour there are only two participants left against him, in an allied attempt to beat him.
They combine their attacks, a large rock shoots out and is engulfed in flames, and Guilian, while anyone would think of dodging the powerful attack, decides to jump directly at the front. He concentrates his power, his fists are engulfed in very intense flames, and he strikes a double blow, pulverizing the rock and debris shooting out with enough force to hurt the last adepts. People scream excitedly at a frenzy where they didn't even have time to take a breath because of the excitement.
40 minutes later the fight of the fourth block ends and the fourth participant rises, Senna de las Rosas, the right hand of Selenne, one of the Six Lords, of the nation of Freia. Gracefully, this beautiful woman defeated all her opponents with roses growing from her body. The men in particular were ecstatic to celebrate their victory.
Then, the start of the fifth block takes place, Tsubaki enters the arena with a bit of nervousness, but she remains calm as best she can and remembers the hunt she did with Chris and Guilian, in addition to her training in the Vodheim fields. And so, begins the next combat, she quickly slips through the crowd as if she were running through the forest of the elves, dodging the attacks that crosses her path by perceiving the aromas and knocking out each adept jumping on them as if they were tree trunks.
It is after about twenty defeats when adepts gather to work as a team and defeat her, but she decides to stay close to them, makes them attack each other and even use their attacks to maneuver in the air. The tension rises between the participants, and they begin to attack rampantly and all she has to do is keep dodging and get closer to those who will receive the attacks for her.
When there is only one left, 10 meters from her, while she is in the air, he throws a fireball at her and then, she makes a maneuver, throws a kick and the wind shoots out like a fine line, cutting the flames and gaining heat, giving the opponent directly and obtaining a crushing victory. She gets the applause of all the people and begins to feel a little embarrassed and quickly withdraws.
Viewers are fascinated by the rookie who has just made herself known, as Tsubaki retreats to her dressing room she can hear people's voices praising her for her victory.
—«My training was not in vain. » —Tsubaki thinks, crying with joy as she moves through the corridors.
20 minutes later the fight of the sixth block ends, a mysterious Water adept, Pierre, won easily dodging all attacks and firing pressurized water, knocking out the few that remained in the last minutes. That young man did not have any kind of document, identification or affiliation with any nation, in addition to a battle without much noise, the public did not celebrate him like the rest, but they recognized his abilities.
Just after 10 minutes the combat of the seventh block ends, who rises with the victory is Morgan the Skull Crusher, one of the commanders of Volt's army, one of the Six Lords. His powerful technique of hardening the earth allows him to attack and defend himself at the same time and as a distinctive mark of his fights he always aims to crush the heads of his enemies. Once again, the audience is somewhat uncomfortable with the appearance of another... wild character.
And at last, it was time for the eighth block combat, everyone enters the arena and receives the ovations of the people. Chris, in the middle of the crowd, starts to contemplate how big the place is, how small the people look being in the center, the deafening sound of the crowd excited by the expectations they have for the result. He can't help but let out a smirk, a small smile after feeling in his body how the blood begins to boil from the pressure that is felt around him.
Takes a deep breath and the signal sounds, the combat begins. Someone attacks him from behind and ducks, some small rocks fall into his hair, and he immediately realizes that it was an Earth adept, jumps with his legs and flies over a few individuals and finds the person responsible, lands in his face with a kick, leaving him unconscious.
Everyone is too busy fighting each other to pay attention to him until various attacks from different directions begin to arrive, fireballs, compressed water shots, rocks the size of his head, some enemies wanted to attack him thinking he was clueless. Then Chris takes about three steps back and to the right and at a normal pace, without hurry, and each attack passes almost reaching his body.
People begin to pay attention after the rumble of the surprise attack, and the announcer begins to talk about the center of the commotion, Chris spends it hitting each opponent and dodging all attacks, even those that come from his blind spot, always attacks those who launch attacks at him, only in response. The audience gets excited, but at the same time there is starting to be restlessness, they are not seeing any kind of power in Chris.
He is not increasing his strength; he hits them with his normal strength and nothing else. The participants begin to make it the center of their attacks and another massacre begins. Blow after blow, Chris knocks everyone out with minimal and necessary force and ensures that the fallen do not receive collateral damage. He doesn't want the attacks that target him to hurt them if they've already been defeated.
In the stands, Hanna is stunned to watch Chris' combat, suddenly feels a small pulse and sees Chris react at the same time to dodge another attack from behind. She can't help but begin to feel doubts about what she is literally feeling.
Having passed just over 10 minutes there are no more than ten participants including Chris, they are all with chaotic breathing and he is calm like a fisherman in a river on a summer day. Hanna senses the pulse going through her body again and Chris leaps on one of his opponents.
He dodges the attacks while cutting the distance between them and passes right next to him, Chris stands on the wall of the arena and then everyone realizes what is happening, Chris has in a single straight line all the opponents and begins to feel a great pressure for an instant.
Chris shoots out after jumping off the wall and rams everyone in one move. Then, a silence begins throughout the place and as quickly as it arrived the cries for his victory begin. Everyone is impressed to have won the playoffs without even using his powers. He decides to go to his dressing room to mentalize for the next round and is guided by the event staff.
Once inside, he cools off with water and Hanna enters the room to congratulate him, telling him the results of Tsubaki and Guilian and they begin to talk about their fight. He did not use his powers as a form of testing, he wanted to know how much he managed to learn from his intensive training on ki.
According to the old lady Xian Tao, ki, the energy of the body, is an essential part not only of life, but of everything in the world. In animals it can be observed that they have heightened senses due to the environment in which they live, but still demonstrate a kind of instinct that makes them avoid danger, they are closer to perceiving ki.
In the same way that insects become restless one day and soon storms or earthquakes happen, Chris tested his perception of ki to avoid attacks, because those who threw at him were of material element, not elemental power.
Hanna is a little confused by the last part in his explanation. Chris realizing this decides to explain a little how the bases of the adepts work:
—Elemental power lies in the soul, we control it with emotions and thought, it is precisely the elemental power that gives us control over an element. —explains Chris, recalling his training in the temple—Hanna, you generate fire by concentrating elemental power in the air and causing combustion. Once turned into fire, it ends up under your control and from there you decide the course of action.
She is somewhat thoughtful with that explanation, she did understand it, but another question jumps, how does Chris increase his strength? The answer is simple and explains it even more simply. He uses his own elemental power to propel his body, the greater elemental power he concentrates on one limb, the greater the increase in his strength.
All that is possible thanks to the training he had with his teacher, trained his body, got to know it thoroughly, formed discipline and concentration until he was able to control his body to such extremes. There is "earth" inside the body, minerals and metals, so he managed to add his elemental power, which comes from the soul, with his body, combining his abilities up to that point.
Without realizing it, because of the long conversation, the break ends, and the individual rounds begin. Hanna retires for Chris to rest and prepare, but halfway through she remembers asking him about the "pulse" she felt during their fight but decides to postpone it until the tournament is over.
The classification is over, and the branching of the fights is shown: the first fight is Fist of Dragon Ryuken against Alexander of the Whirlwind, the second is Guilian against Senna of the Roses, as third Tsubaki against Pierre and, finally, Chris against Morgan.
On the outskirts, inside the blacksmith shop, the old lady Xian Tao can't help but feel that the pressure in the surroundings begins to increase and decides to take her grandson with her away from the city with the excuse of having a bad feeling, something that worries her to the bone.
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