ISG: The Grand Tournament

I've thought about who we might add to the Twelve before. Geng Guiying was not on my list of names.

I woke up late after some meditation and retiring early for bed. That morning I found Guiying sparring with Carmina in the Hall's commons. The grass needed some trimming here, I would have to check with Juyi as he was in charge of that.

Guiying was not at the level of the top 6 in the sect, but suddenly he was at par with the bottom group of the Twelve. The Later Six I called them.

His style was erratic but his speed was very good for this sect. Why hadn't he been picked up by another hall?

"Carmina, let him try against my Wind style," I said.

"Good morning, Hallmaster," she responded, amused. "Go ahead Guiying."

I was able to evade most of his attacks, but that wasn't much of a lesson for him, so when I stood stock still and took hits without even wincing he stopped.

"How do you just ignore my fists?" Guiying asked.

"As you move forward and face stronger opponents, you'll find speed can't make up for a weak punch. You need great speed and a good enough punch, or a great punch and good enough speed. Although our sect tends to go for a Great punch at adequate speed, nothing says you can't flip that. But a weak punch doesn't help no matter how fast."

I responded, attacking a few times with Wind style, showing both speed and power.

"Let's make today a gym day, get some upper body strength training in. Then we can rest and prepare mentally the last two days before the event."

It would be time to increase Guiying's weights at the gym.

**

The Sect’s teleport platform might be the most expensive possession of the sect, Elder Yu said using it consumed spirit stones like water as well. They entered the formation in groups of 20. 

Her hall’s 13 were grouped with the 7 participants of the Hall of the Foot, a minor hall with a kicking focus. 

We arrived at the receiving grounds for the Grand Tournament. We moved forward to clear the area for the next wave.

SYSTEM: revealing memories of past tournaments.

Two years ago, the preliminary round was with randomly selected teams of multiple sects.

I was paired with an archer and a Wizard and we managed to be one of the last groups standing. With 4096 competitors advancing to the main stage of the tournament, there were 12 rounds of elimination. I won two rounds then.

Two years before that, I was in the Juniors division, and made it to the quarterfinals.

Shortly after that I was promoted to Core Sect and started the Golden Silk Hall.

After a few more minutes we had all 100 of us. lead by Zu Shuren, we went to the registration hall to get registered.

The Sect of the Grand Tournament recruited occasional for their Grand Champions but otherwise had a staff dedicated to the tournament. 

They could only bring 100 cultivators because the Grand Tournament sect housed everyone at their sect, in addition to the juniors in their tournament.

They were directed to their sects housing and then everyone broke up into halls to wander about and socialize. There were three other Body cultivation sects on the level of their Mighty Body Sect and they looked for their counterparts.

I was also interested in any Wind style cultivators.

*

We ended up finding a rather Raucous bar full of mighty men and women.

Carmina, Min and I shared a table while a lot of the guys were “on the prowl”. It was a large bar as we didn’t any see anyone from our sect around us.

“That guy’s looking at you,” Carmina said.

“Let’s see what happens,” I said.

This man approached our table.

“Uh, here for the tournament?”

“Yep,” I said.

“Unbroken Sect,” he said.

“Mighty Body sect.”

“I thought that was all guys.”

“Been to the training grounds yet?” Carmina interrupted.

“Uh yeah got here yesterday. I’ve heard of the Thunder Kings in your sect.”

“There’s are some we’ll know Unbroken halls as well. Last time I watched the Iron Veins Hall.”

“Yeah that’s above my level,” he said.

“We’re not Thunder Kings obviously.”

“Do you have a friend?” Mina chimed in.

“Yeah just some guys from the Sect, do you want to meet them?”

We joined their crew at the bar, why not. No reason to be too prideful.

Conversations blurred together, Mina and Carmina let loose, I kept my drinks slow to protect them, just in case.

“Oh yeah, Esther’s our senior sister. She qualified two years ago,” Mina was saying.

“You’re pretty subdued,” the first guy we talked to said. Rod.

“There’s no expectations for them. And you never know what can happen in an unknown place.”

“There’s a lot of really strong fighters coming here. We’re not the strongest group either.”

She wasn’t interested in pursuing sex but Carmina and Mina could do whatever they wanted.

She sat outside the Unbroken housing with Rod. He tried to put some moves on, but she took him to the ground.

“I’m not into guys, sorry,” I said.

“Carmina goes both ways and Mina not sure. We have guys in our Hall so it’s not like they are deprived.”

“I gotcha, I’m not going in there so whatever,” Rod said.

Later he asked, “are you cold?”

“No.”

“Shit I’m freezing.”

He snuck in for a few minutes and got a big blanket.

“Damn,” he swore.

“Alright I won’t complain about being warmer.” I said.

He shifted to give me some of the blanket. “I’m not always a hardass you know.”

Darn, why was my body doing this anyway?

This weakness, it wasn’t like with Carmina. 

He gently kissed me, playing his fingers across my clothes under the blanket.

I shook. 

“God, your whole body is ripped,” he said.

I put my arm around his back.

The silver token I wore around my neck wasn’t something I’d brought back from seclusion. I found it in my jewelry stand. 

It was marked with a symbol of the Yu family, a fist inside a triangle.

He worked his way up my skin with his fingers,”

“Very low key.”

I kissed him. 

It was just a minor thing, I reasoned. It didn’t escalate beyond teasing and kissing. 

Finally I told him as morning started to creep in. “I’m the daughter of an Elder. He doesn’t mind my relationships with girls, but ultimately my relationship with men is up to him.

“ I’ll go easy on you. Your father’s pretty low key, no fancy clothes or jewelry.”

“Good luck in qualifying. I’m sure my friends will stop by after the event, so why not. Ask your buddies where you want to meet after prelims.”

“Good luck, he said. I just said my name was Rod to seem more sexy. I’m Hsu Jin.”

“Yu Esther.”

*

The girls were surprised I was there outside the Unbroken sect housing. 

“That guy?” Carmina?

“Chatted, burned up the hours, I guess by the end we kissed. Nothing more really.” I said.

“What did you think about all that. The most girl-obsessed of our hall,” Mina.

“Confused, kinda like it. But it’s dangerous.”

“I guess I can’t fault you for that,” Carmina said.

They had 8 hours to meditate and get ready for the preliminaries. I guess Mina and Carmina had the same idea for reducing tension.

I simply spent some time meditating and practicing switching from normal and wind style.

Finally we formed up as a sect and headed to the massive arena.

The Grand Tournament Director was projecting his voice.

“Welcome to the Grand Tournament Preliminary Round. We will proceed in groups. In each group the first 64 people to get to the 10th step of the podium will advance. Battling is allowed until 64 people are standing on that step.

A number appeared over each of our heads. Mine was 11.

It was time to get serious.

There were barriers all over the routes up to the steps, forcing competitors to clash with those next to them.

The first wave was full of competitors who rushed out ahead but ran into a barrier, collided with a person or were attacked by bow and staff users as they got ahead.

Some were two distracted by their fights, there were certainly some who regretted fighting as both they and their opponents were eliminated.

Carmina was in the second wave and managed to qualify.

“I quickly shutdown a person who was in my way and got people a bit nervous. Then there was a huge melee halfway up the steps, everyone was going down but I slipped through.”

Geng Guying was eliminated in the 7th wave, and shortly after it was my turn.

I ran forward, then diverted left, using wind strikes to hold off anyone in my way.

Briefly I exchanged a few blows with my neighbors as I climbed the steps. I was ahead of most of the competitors. The arrow piercing my back didn’t bother me much as I reached the top in third, facing warily against a swarm of fists and feet coming up.

I sent one guy sprawling back down the steps when he tried to take my spot.

No one else challenged my spot and the rest of the spots were rapidly filled.

*

In the end, Nathan, Carmina, Mina and I passed the preliminaries in our hall. 

The others joined the growing party in the pubs and bars of the sect’s entertainment district.

We would all watch the finals together.

Nathan ran out to get the pairings as we all crowed into my room. The pairings avoided matchups within the same sect and there was some limited seeding.

“I think it’s a theme to be unpredictable, switch between fast and powerful, make them think.”

It was almost an hour before Nathan came back with the pairings.

“Esther, you’re paired with a Bow sect’er. One of the better disciples, but still it’s a bow sect. I’m facing someone from the Endless Warrior sect, a durable and untiring opponent.

Carmina, you’re marched with a staff user, Fire elementalist. Mina, you were seeded near the bottom as a first time qualifier. You’ve got an expert Wind-style fighter with a Thaumaturgy. We’re talking an opponent on the level of the top three in Thunder King.”

“Mina, just focus on getting some hits in, don’t let them dodge dance. I don’t have any answers to their thaumaturgy. 

“Carmina, close range quickly, but be ready for a trap when you first get to fighting range 

“Nathan, if you think you can outlast them, you can try facing them head on. Otherwise focus on heavy strikes. Use your strength advantage.

“I don’t want to take anyone lightly. We’ve all heard too many cautionary tales. I should be able to stay in range with my wind arts.”

We ended up meditating together overnight, getting ready to pull all of our strength and prowess in battle.

“If anyone makes it to tomorrow, our pill cooldown will be over and I’ll share a S class pill. I only have a few of these.”

Nathan pumped his fists. It was unlikely for Mina or Carmina to advance two rounds. Nathan had a good chance, and I would be disappointed if I didn’t make it three rounds.

*

With 2000 some matches over the 8 hours of round 1, there were 25 match stages set up.

Mina’s bout was at stage 7 early in the morning.

“You have to forget the enemy’s strength with part of your mind. Be fearless,” Nathan said, and I nodded.

Projection Mages were displaying these matches all over the country, and no doubt the rest of our sect and hall, who hadn’t qualified would be watching.

It was time for the match and Mina’s opponent tried to end it quickly, but Mina resisted the tornado winds, closing the distance.

For a few seconds their attacks traded pretty evenly until Mina’s opponent had an opening and flurried into a series of attacks. The follow-up thaumaturgy blew Mina off the stage.

I had the desire to go up and face this guy right now, but I had to wait, and probably wouldn’t have the chance.

Nathan managed to win his fight in three exchanges which was impressive. He applied a familiar mixture of speed and force to win.

“You don’t talk like my apprentice but that was some devotion to my style,” I teased Nathan.

“You do have occasional good ideas,” he said.

Carmina was the only pure might cultivator in our four. Her fight was long and brutal but she managed to win, bruised but not broken.

Finally there was my fight. Did this archer have some secret art I needed to worry about?

I was on Stage 3. Bow cultivators at least had beautiful weapons.

The judge moved his hand and the fight began. Even as the first arrow curved towards me, I avoided it, stepping forward.

The next attack was a flurry of three arrows, I had to deflect one with my arm but I rushed past unharmed.

My first strike was a forceful punch which staggered my opponent, I didn’t even have to weave into Wind strikes, I just followed up force on force and my opponent conceded after the third strike.

“Have fun!” I said to Mina as she went to join the rest of the hall in merriment.

So there were three of us.

Nathan went to wait for the next pairings. Second round pairings were set throughout the day, after each wave of fights.

We went back to the sect housing. We went to my room. Carmina was on fire, I had to cool her off a bit. “We have time.”

“Not if you win the tournament,” she said.

That was ridiculously unlikely. If I couldn’t defeat the Thunder Kings there were foes in later rounds even stronger.

“Win both matches tomorrow for me,” she said after.

“Yes, I could only agree with her.”

The next morning we went out and got breakfast with Nathan while the rest of the hall was recovering from a hangover or somewhere else entirely.

“Carmina’s facing a Sword sect cultivator. I’ve got a sorcery sect opponent. Esther, you have a Wind Style sect junior. She’s outer sect.”

They had breakfast and hurried to the arena site. The battle zones were reduced to 20. I had one of the early fights.

The wind sect girl blasted towards me as soon as the match started. She expected a battle of wind vs wind I guessed but she didn’t try to dodge my mighty fist, and her own momentum hurt her as the first fist stopped her and the second sent her to the ground.

She fought valiantly to try to recover but I switched to wind style using speed and pursuit to finish the job.

In Nathan’s fight, he tried to use a monastic technique to ground the sorcerer’s lightning, he managed to approach close twice only to be hit by a surge of electricity, s spreading wall of electricity forced him to surrender.

The swordsman used three moves to created a sword phantasm and swallow Carmina up, she was sent to the medical center, but I had to stay and wait for today’s second fight.

In the third round I faced a Fire wizard. Using tailwinds I was fast enough to avoid his first strike. He had melee fire techniques, and we traded blows, he didn’t try to withdraw, my wind techniques helped limit the damage his fire dealt but I was still suffering.

Finally I surprised him with a power move forcing him to the ground, where I overpowered his Thaumaturgy with mighty blows.

Carmina had distracted me last night but now I had 30 training points to distribute. 

And a system message to consider:

Discipline breakthrough trial complete. New cap 200.

Strength; 99 - Stamina: 66

Reflex: 45 - Grace: 20

Displine: 105 (green) - Charisma: 20

Wisdom: 30 - Intellect: 20 - 

Meditation: 40 - Magic: 10 - Battle Form: 40

Power unlocked: Elemental defense. Completely resist magical effects for 3 s. Only usable once per battle.

Carmina was waiting for me that night. “Blade users are almost as terrifying as Sword users. Just win this last match and I’ll be your queen.”

My opponent the next day was a woman blade cultivator. I had never imagined defeating a weapon user. I hadn’t trained for it.

There were more spectators in this round.

Don’t give her a wind up, stop the blade at short range.

I had a bad cut on my palm in the first exchange. But I managed to evade her next cuts, smoothly working in Wind style, I could tell a Thaumaturgy was coming and I actived my new power just as a water blade passed through me, I was unharmed and I struck the blade user mightily, but she was unruffled.

I pummeled her, intercepting her attacks, doing no damage but when I brought her to the ground I tossed her blade away, and attacked with both fists and feet. I could feel more strength rushing through me, and the girl surrendered.

This would bring prestige for the sect.

I reviewed the remaining fighters in our sect. The next hall master of Thunder Kings, and the hall leader of the Jade Fists.

Kreisel could have made the finals in this event, but Shuren was no Kreisel.

My new system message was: “Strength breakthrough achieved. Please advance Magic stat to 30 to unlock Thaumaturgy.”

I would ask my father before I focused on magic at all.

In the second match of day 3, I faced a true scion of Wind. My attacks had bypassed grey realm into green and my opponent struggled with my attacks as much as I did with hers. Finally, it was my pain tolerance that won me the day in a slugging battle on the floor. No one wanted to let me take them to the ground anymore.

I pushed strength up to 119 for now. I was nearly at the point where I needed to meditate before advancing further.

I took the evening to meditate. Carmina went out with the crew. I had made the final 64.

If green tier makes grey look weak, blue tier is impressive for even our elders.

My opponent the next day immediately struck me with a blue-tier wave of water, I was flung off the battle stage and blacked out.

I was in the hospital for 12 hours, and not able to enjoy anything after I did recover. With everyone in the sect out, the hall leaders decided to leave.

Many in our sect were coming down from mighty week long benders. I realized even though I exceeded expectations there were still fighters vastly beyond me in skills and power.

The line at the  teleport formation took hours before it was finally our turn. Many other sects who were out of the tournament had the same idea.