Chương 68: Two Duels Beneath the Dao!

As I sat down I saw the amber hued man dressed in robes of violet with touches of green. His glaive hung on the back wall beside masterful landscape paintings done in bold, sweeping strokes. Misty mountains rose like sleeping dragons, rivers cut through valleys like veins of silver, and ancient pines clung to cliffs as if defying the heavens themselves. The artwork breathed with quiet power and timeless elegance. He began, "You Suren are named Erumes. Is that correct? I received that information from Feng-Dao."

I acknowledged his statement.

"Yes. My name is Erumes Flamma, sir." He continued, "You can ask me a question now. This is a form of fair exchange. That is how we in the Dao Sect operate." I then eagerly asked, "Where am I? I am asking because ever since I landed here I have not known where this place is and everything looks different than i grew up with." The man looked surprised by my question and replied, "Is this a ruse from you? You know your innocence will not come from playing ignorant. You know that young one, we are fair but not naive."

I still insisted that I truly did not know where I was. Shue-Dao took a sip from his tea and answered in a gracious tone, "This is Zhongguodao. A nation filled with many sects and other govern entities built by powerful men and kept alive by its people. And you are in the most illustrious Sect in the history of our nation known as the Dao Sect. Have you really not heard of us?" I answered his burning question honestly, "No, I am afraid not.

In my young years I never came across any members of this Zhongguodao society." His temper flared with anger. His hands slammed the table.

"Then you have to be guilty! How can you not know the Dao Sect or our Zhongguodao Nation?!" I urged the man to calm down and countered, "I was recently just a humble boy in a mine in Rhertia in the Bener Region… I mean, you a wise man across me, would not know where that is." He frowned, stood up, and went to his cabinet which was on the very left. I watched as he searched through multiple banded parchments until he finally said, "Found it. The Europarum Map."

He opened a map that showed only the Europarum Continent and pointed to the Bener Region, which had been completely gobbled up by Metia last year. Seeing it, my face tore with emotion. I could not hide the tear that fell mixed with plenty of emotions. His earlier smugness quickly changed in demeanor. He put the map away, repositioned himself, and said,"Now it is my turn again to ask a question: What are you doing here in our Dao Sect? It is not particularly close to the vast ocean, nor close to a western border."

I collected myself and answered, "This will be a somewhat long story, so please let me speak everything so that you wise lord can understand why I am here when I say I come from there." And so I began to tell a stranger my tale to proof my innocence and gain hopefully soon freedom. I told my tale from the Bener Region the war, my slavehood (I did not withhold it, because I felt they did not follow our customs and lived a different lifestyle as i saw no tattoos or branding on any of them).

And when he recently had uttered the word "Sect" I knew I could speak freely, and so I did. I spoke of the escape, meeting someone helpful, becoming a mercenary, traveling to Hespericum, joining the Run to Glory event, continuing our journey to Aegyptus, helping them with a murder issue, riding toward Jeruem, and the fateful encounter with Master. I told him how Master had taken me... no, kidnapped me and my friend, and how we had been training on an island ever since.

Then I mimicked Master's coarse, deep voice:"I will throw you now. After one year I will pick you up and see how much that world has improved you." The Sect Lead, who had listened to my story with open ears until that point, now looked somewhat shocked.

"What vile scum… throwing a student that he took for himself into the unknown and it had to be our Dao Sect for growth… anyway, young one, it is a great tale. But I am afraid this is not enough for me. This branding of yours can be faked. Your master as well. We cannot be naive. Not again."

"After all that has happened—" I interrupted, "What has happened to be such harted and disdain for em? I would like to know." The old man interjected not giving any hint or space to relate any info "Erumes, I should tell you, but i wont give any information." I sighed.

"Then I already know I have hit here a wall. They and you still hold the opinion of me hostility openly." I simply just wanted the battle and asked with a pleading voice to, "Okay then. Before you punish me, I want my duel as soon as possible." The old man stroked his long beard.

"Yes, about Xhize-Dao. The duel will be held, soon. I am still apologizing for his behavior. That was not right, even if we do not yet know how much truth your tale holds. I never said you are guilty. I am only keeping my people safe from the unknown. That mistake will not happen again under my stewardship of this great Sect. You will remain imprisoned while we seek validity for your claims. But yes, let us go to the duel since i guess you fired up enough for it. Follow me."

And so I followed the man as he took his glaive and brought Feng-Dao to give me my weapon. Now my sword-axe rested on my back again. Feng-Dao walked right behind me. We passed down a long hall until it opened into a great outdoor pavilion. The pavilion was breathtaking. Ancient crimson pillars rose like guardians, supporting sweeping violet-tiled roofs that gleamed under lantern light.

Crystal-clear koi ponds surrounded the central stone duel platform, their golden and silver bodies gliding gracefully beneath blooming lotus flowers. Graceful willow trees draped their branches over the water, swaying gently in the breeze. Stone lanterns cast a warm, ethereal glow across the scene, turning the entire area into a living painting of beauty and martial spirit. At least one thousand powerful soldiers stood on the walls and rooftops, watching in silence as got promptly brought here to view the duel.

I walked up surrounded by them. On the way they told me a neutral party was chosen to be the one to start the engagement and it was a vagabond with no real affiliation to the Sect to oversee the match. This particular vagabond, hidden behind a full red demon mask, stepped gracefully from the shadows. Her slim yet imposing frame radiated a powerful, suffocating presence. She wore a wide bamboo hat that cast a deep shadow over her face, complementing her loose dark Daoist robes.

A massive ornate greatsword with a dark green and gold-accented blade rested at her side. Then i saw my opponent stood already on the other side of the Arena looking like even this was made very sudden he himself wanted to cut loose just like me. First, introductions were needed before the duel, as Vagabond Lady with her young female voice asked us to introduce us.

The amber hued Opponent started with his two arms stretched to the sky with open palms "My name is Xhize-Dao, and I will uphold the honor of the Dao-Sect and put this Suren on his knees, begging for what they have done to us!" A great cheer rose from his fellow soldiers mixed with mocking remarks to me mixed with loud whistling. Only Feng-Dao stood silent, not cheering, but clearly eager to see what I could do again as his scar from me was still healing on the leg reminding himself again i was close to beating him.

Then it was my turn. I swung my sword-axe once and placed it into the arena and declared,"My name is Erumes Flamma, and I am here to beat this pissing asshole into the ground for what he did to me. And I can't wait to let loose and you fine viewers can enjoy the pounding i will deliver onto this man!" The vagabond raised her hand and created a strong gush of wind that swept toward both of us. In a loud, powerful female voice she announced, "Zhunbei, zhandou!" (Prepare, fight!) With that I charged at the glaive-wielding opponent. I thrust my sword-axe forward, trying to surprise him, but he dodged right at impact. He was not weak as i thought he would be, he already felt close to Feng-Dao a small smile popped up at that exchange filling my thoughts with; it will be glorious to see the man eat the arena. He immediately countered with swift strokes of the blade´s edge aimed at my face. I ducked low and rushed in, aiming for his legs. He jumped into the air.

I followed, but he used the glaive planted on the ground like a slide. I leapt aside. We both landed opposite each other again in starting positions and looked at each other with ecstasy of this battle growing. I threw a compliment towards him "Nice tool, that weapon your people use. Very versatile." he gloated "Of course the Glaive is the best weapon for brutality and reach in 1! And you will see it first hand stupid Suren!" I moved right in a zigzag pattern. He swirled his glaive around.

Even though I increased my Animo and became faster, he still caught me just before I reached a good position. I blocked it with my body luckily it was only the staff portion out of harden wood that struck me, so it did not hurt much on our connection. But he pressed the advantage aggressively, rushing me while releasing a higher amount of his Animo. A grey mist began to fill the arena, condensing around him. I shifted into a counter-defensive stance. Both of us were smiling. The battle had just become fun.

I finally declared, "It's time to up the ante and let him eat the ground. VESTUTO!" With a loud scream the inside of my gi transformed. Every vein in my body turned a hot yellow-orange color. My eyes glared with high intensity as Cor Flamma fully ignited all over my veins. Feng-Dao grabbing his own weapon who was now fully focused, observing in a far better view than when he had fought me himself. He spoke quietly to the Sect Leader as the intensity hit higher, "This part will be hard for Xhize…

but Sect Leader, the way you orchestrated all of this... having him piss on the prisoner in the cell so you could watch yourself his style of fighting and show your soldiers how he fights if he turned out to be a guilty Suren, was brilliant." The Sect Leader added " Well, I told Xhize of the Guard division to find proper reason of animosity, so that they engage on each other...

I did not tell him to release his fluids on him, but important is we got what I wanted and now we can bask in glory of the plan well executed... Feng-Dao i may be an old 72 year old man, but we need to prepare our people for their arrival again, all is for the Dao." Feng-Dao continued, "Everything is for our Sect, indeed. Sometimes you must play the ignorant villain so the enemy reveals their cards." Now, back to the duel. I was protruding so much presence that my opponent began to sweat.

His Vestuto was only a misty wind attribute form that created a shadow clone that fused into his armor capable of transferring even fatal damage onto itself therefore making it tougher to get him truly damaged but each time it did absorb heavy damage the shadow shrank in the armor shrank, and once it vanished the ability was gone. He already knew I was far stronger then he anticipated. I went in with one powerful cut into his dodge but it was not enough as i got his lower torso.

His misty ability absorbed it to reduce the impact his damage received was still 7 %. He tried to counter toward my back, but the movement was far too slow. I turned faster, countered, and kicked him forward. Then I charged, hooked the pickaxe edge of my weapon into him, pulled him toward me, and headbutted his face straight into the ground with high enthusiasm.

With a wide grin as he tried to shake of me i held his arms with my arms in place and headbutted the victim about 7 times my forehead bleeding a little but his nose ruined his eyes bulged with damage and as i stood up to turn him around and let him eat dirt he kick me away stood up and with anger building in his face he roared and his misty shadow build from his armor which reduced the damage to 32 % and put it on his glaive it turned to have now a ethereal kind of feeling to it as he struck with anger in fast motion i dodged but on the 3rd dodge a tongue from the shadowed clone front of the glaive got my arm and tried to pull me towards it also it had thorns on it pulling into my clothes trying to rip into my skin..

I understood either I let him cut me or I will use the momentum now and beat him, so I rushed with my tongued arm tucked in with a shoulder bash into the glaive he rolled to the ground I jumped on his back and then crushed his face into the arena and piled dirt into his open mouth and let him chew it well enough as it was my revenge my grudge for his little act and wanted him to feel humiliation as well turned out my opponent was about to be unconscious, i did not care and continued to pile up the material of dirt and stone into his mouth.

The referee jumped in. I had no intention of stopping. She demanded, "It's over. You won. Why do you continue?" I could only answer that first my master had beaten me into failure states so often that the frustration had exploded out of me. Especially after being pissed on, I simply could not stop and i did not wanted too, it felt far to great. I then asked her as went closer to me trying to soon intervene with her weapon "Can you alleviate my pain? This guy was not enough " She drew her Greatsword and attacked.

I dodged her attack. My heat increased further. The soldiers around us prepared to jump in with anger on eyes looking how badly i beat their guy into the ground, but Feng-Dao who had already collected the unconscious Xhize-Dao, filled with blood everywhere from his face, his hair dripping into the ground, teeth and nose broken called out, "Thank you, great soldier, for your sacrifice. You did well. Do not engage. The Vagabond will handle this matter now. You know how strong she is…"

No one complained, after the remainder and started to watch the duel closer. We exchanged blows with our weapons. Her power was equal to, perhaps even greater than, Feng-Dao's the same man who had defeated me earlier. But he did not know that while I slept I had been mind-battling him, studying how to improve my attacks. I discovered I could raise the heat even further… and I did in this very battle. She cut into empty air.

Thunder particles struck my organs like invisible lightning exploding inside my chest and stomach. I staggered but kept walking forward to catch her in melee range. She continued the ranged barrage. Each swing of her blade sent crackling arcs of violet thunder racing toward me. I felt my ribs crack and my lungs burn, yet I pushed through the pain, Cor Flamma roaring hotter in my veins to elevate the pain somewhat. I walked until we stood face to face.

She tried another attack, but I met her blade with my flaming sword-axe. The clash sent sparks and thunder exploding outward. The stone platform beneath us cracked in a spiderweb pattern with many broken marks. She was getting faster, like brutally fast. Her Greatsword moved like a living storm, each strike carrying the weight of rolling thunder trying to end the duel faster.

I blocked, parried, and countered, but every time our weapons met, lightning surged through my arms and into my body no matter how approached her. My muscles spasmed. My vision flickered. Still I refused to fall back with the Heart Flame pumping more into the system.

"You're strong," I growled through gritted teeth, "but I've taken worse from a real monster!" Now I activated Elsa di Fuoco once more. My hands burned white-hot, turning the entire sword-axe into a blazing inferno. I swung with everything I had. The flaming arc left a trail of fire in the air. She raised her blade to block, but the sheer heat and force pushed her back several steps.

For the first time a portion of her red demon mask cracked and burned away, revealing one amber-hued eye and part of a sharp, beautiful face beneath. She asked again for my name, while blocking the attack and losing more ground, I was the first to have damaged her that way.

"It's Erumes Flamma." She answered back, "Thank you, Erumes your dark-red wild hair… I will show you my strongest attack without even using Vestuto." She tried cut into nothing. The air itself tore open. A storm of thunder particles erupted around me, each one striking like a miniature lightning bolt straight into my organs from above. Pain exploded through my chest, my spine, my stomach. I coughed blood, but I kept pushing the Elsa di Fuoco on her..

My Cor Flamma burned brighter, trying to heal the damage as fast as it arrived. The Elsa di Fuoco get her good she flew further into the ground i could tell she was hurting, still she continued the ranged barrage knowing in a melee exchange she is now at a disadvantage, swinging her Greatsword again and again. Violet lightning rained down. I roared and charged through it, my flaming aura pushing back some of the strikes. When I finally reached her again I brought my sword-axe down in a devastating overhead strike.

She met it with her blade. The impact created a shockwave that knocked nearby soldiers off their feet, but the only one that lost footing was her. We traded blows at terrifying speed. Every clash sent fire and thunder exploding outward. Her technique was flawless, precise, and overwhelming. Mine was raw, aggressive, and fueled by pure rage and newly found power. For a moment it felt as though the entire pavilion held its breath hoping for the Vagabonds win. But neither of us could maintain that pace forever.

I fell to my knees as the accumulated damage finally overwhelmed even my Vestuto and my Heart Flame no longer could pump to cover the damage. At the same time she exhausted herself without using Vestuto and collapsed onto her back, breathing heavily and could not stand up again on her own. it was my win. But i told her that it was a draw, since i was mad she did not Vestuto once in this match. Then the soldiers rushed forward. The Sect Leader approached with the chains and shackles.

I was dragged back to the same cell I had occupied before. Yet my mind felt clean. I had fought a great battle, taken my revenge, and now I knew where I was and how powerful this place could be. I was excited for the days ahead while they decided whether my words were true. Three days later, in the evening as night fell, I pondered after eating a rice-ball meal given by a guard. I lay on the ground with newly replaced hay and prepared to take a nap.

Suddenly I heard a fire-sounding shot, a sharp "wuuuusch" sound followed by newly rising panic all around. What was happening outside my cell?