Chương 264: Minions of carnage

"Even though I have been allowed the occasional slot for practice, it still always feel odd that it is from this stone slate that I will prove my path before the kingdom," Relentless Storms Hiding Beautiful Vistas remarked to Kite while his attendants and those of the capital's mirage arena were helping him into place.

They were surrounded by a privacy screen as the chamber they would use to interface with the grand creation was currently crowded with five other similar parties helping the other participants in the monster waves do the same. Some of the others threw fierce glances each others' way, but Vista himself did not seem to notice as he was too busy centering himself and trying to contain his tension and excitement.

"And you are sure that you don't want any of us to stand guard over you? That does seem to be the norm, and we'll be happy to even though you're not part of our guild," Kite noted as many of the other attendants were leaving while one or two other essence-users stayed behind while eyeing the other parties warily.

"This is a place of honor and proving, Kite. I am not part of the schemes of the capital, and no one should have reason to see me harmed as they probably assume that I'm just another lesser competitor who will let them showcase their excellence. And once they realize what Wimmy and I are capable of together, it will be too late," Vista replied with a confident smile.

"But I will of course not stop you from witnessing my first steps of the Proving. It is my duty to make Bastion proud and showcase the hidden might of the north."

"Then I shall do just that. May Fortune favor you, and Warrior guide your blades, Vista," Kite said, retreating to let an impatient staff member of the mirage arena get to Vista for the final preparations. On his way out, he also winked to the tiny brown rat who had found a nice little nook between some kind of control panels from where it had a good view of Vista's prone form, with his cerberus familiar curled up on an adjacent platform.

Vista might not want a guard per se, but he was also unaware of the greater plots afoot in the capital and as such Kite at least wanted some eyes on the young master. Following one of the local functionaries, Kite was led to the spectators' seats of the mirage arena of Heavenward. Compared to the grand facilities that he had visited in some of the metropolises of the world, it was quite a small and exclusive facility whose stands could only house a few hundred spectators.

Mirage combat, while very practical, had yet to be properly integrated in Hua-Xi culture which still mostly stuck to the idea that combat was a personal matter which should have personal stakes.

"I wonder how much Discord's touch has warped that sentiment," Kite thought to himself as he sat down in his assigned seat next to Dragonfly, who had also joined to show support for their fellow northerner. In the center of the arena, shifting lights had already started to coalesce in the air, projected from runes, sigils and faceted crystals covering what would usually be the floor where combatants fought and clashed.

These lights quickly took on more coherent shapes, and soon stabilized into a cylindrical pillar that showed a completely different landscape than the one surrounding the capital; a craggy, dry wasteland where plateaus formed a multi-layered environment for the challengers to traverse. As they had been informed, Vista appeared alongside the five other challengers on a central platform of chiseled stone that stood out from the rest of the environment.

Most regarded the others in silence - the young master from Bastion included - but one woman apparently had no qualms in breaking the silence.

"It seems that Fortune favors me," she called out, nose turned upwards as she did her best attempt to look down at her competitors.

"At least this will be a good opportunity for you to see how those with a proper foundation do things. Perhaps you can even show enough talent to be considered worth nurturing by a sect with proper power." The human woman was dressed in light armor of scale and leather, but proudly wore the colors and medallion of the Iron Howl sect.

Kite had heard of them; a fiercely martial institution that was considered somewhere in the middle of the pack in the hierarchy of power, and as such they had everything to gain in a competition such as this if one of their students managed to show promise. And as the angry glares and growled retorts started coming her way, her grin only widened as she conjured a massive tetsubo, while a crown of glowing horns emerged from her forehead.

"Let it be known that Victory Carved in Storm and Stone will be unmatched this day. I'll let the rest of you fight over the scraps in my wake." While she had spoken, a crystal at the middle of the platform had begun glowing. And when it flashed once while accompanied by the faint sound of a gong, indicating the start of the trial, the disciple of the Iron Howl sect set off into the wilderness beyond with a roar of displaced air from her charge.

"Ooooooo, if only I could have been there," Dragonfly growled by Kite's side as they saw the others do the same, setting off in different directions towards where the monsters created by the mirage chamber no doubt waited. While directly fighting each other was prohibited, it was obvious that there were plenty of ways to skirt those rules should one want to, but in the initial stages where prey was plentiful no one saw any need to start wasting effort in hindering or stealing the quarry of others.

"I'm sure that you would have made her eat her words quite thoroughly, love," Kite assured his wife.

"But let's keep our attention on the one we are actually here to cheer for, no?" While the central pillar shifted to show each of the combatants as they headed out across the landscape, the arena's more exclusive nature meant that it sported additional viewing crystals in each section that could let the spectators focus on a competitor of their choosing.

Thus, Kite and Dragonfly could follow Vista as he rode atop Wimmy's back while the cerberus easily loped along and cleared crevasses and cliffs with each bound all while constantly sniffing the air with a trio of snuffling noses. This let the young master happen upon a pack of spindly creatures that looked like stick insects albeit with bodies that were made from shifting, odd angles that did things with dimensions that weren't meant to be.

Back when Kite had escorted the young master around on different hunts during bronze-rank, he had come to learn quite a bit of Vista's path, both in strengths and weaknesses. And thus, as the handsome scion conjured his dual falchions to dive into the numerous insectoid monsters that started skittering around him to lash at him with distorting limbs, Kite felt quite certain as he spoke.

"Off to a good start. Those should be just what his path needs to get going." Apparently Vista thought so too, as an unseen command sent Wimmy loping off and out of sight while the swordsman sent out waves of elemental forces from his blades in every direction that turned into shredding whirlwinds.

Kite had never seen the monsters in question, but Vista soon seemed to find just the right choice for these particular monsters as he let the alignment of his blades settle on something dense and metallic that went beyond mere steel or iron as the sword-waves had a pull of their own. And with each moment and each struck enemy, the young master of the Relentless family grew stronger as his blades caused resources to flow back into his body to let him keep fighting.

"You know, love, your path and Vista's do have their similarities," Kite pointed out as the young master worked to get his path going into that sweet spot where he could keep upping the tempo of attacks while staying relatively topped off.

"Sure, we both need to ramp up. But just look at him, ducking and weaving like that. It must be stressful to have to avoid taking punches early."

"As opposed to you wanting to? I suppose. Still, he's finding his tempo nicely… And there comes Wimmy, dragging another pack along back to him. Oh, its shredder roaches. Always a classic." The combatants would have half an hour to accrue as many points as they could, and it turned out that six silvers could make a lot happen in that time. Around the arena, the murmurs and cries of support from those watching only grew as each participant no doubt started to find their stride and push their limits.

To keep things exciting, there was even a set of glowing numbers indicating the current standings, although such information was hidden from the participants themselves.

This made things even more exciting at the halfway mark as Vista's trail of carnage, now thoroughly empowered by his path while Wimmy guarded his back, took him into his first collision course with another of the contenders; a human man from the Golden Song sect whose tethers and traps made for an excellent complement to his conjured war scythe that seemed quite effective at cleaving through monsters in the kill-zones he prepared for himself.

At first, Vista had seemed content with simply rushing past in search of other prey but the man apparently had other ideas as he conjured another circular cage around Vista that forced the young master to a halt. However, instead of having to break through the confinement, Kite could only note a fierce gleam of annoyance in Vista's eyes as one of his blades cut a rift in space itself through which the young master vanished.

"Gah, I mean, my path is great and all. But I can't help but be jealous of those short-ranged teleports. That silver-ranked addition really seems to treat him well…" Dragonfly grumbled as Vista appeared again from where another rift had been cut open the same instant as the first.

However, this did not take him out of reach from his competitor but rather straight into it as the teleportation deposited Vista straight into one of the other man's little enclosures where plenty of monsters were already squeezed together while set up to be harvested."

Echoed Blow, Moment of Chance" In a surge of saved up resources, Vista's arms moved like lightning and with the force of thunderclaps as his unleashed might tore the bunched up monsters apart, all while his foe could do little but stay his hands and dispel the enclosure as the prohibition on directly attacking Vista meant that his area attacks might risk his disqualification.

The whole encounter lasted no more than a few seconds, but ended with Vista galloping away on Wimmy's back not long after as the scythe-wielder thought better of trying to mess with the young master again. And by now, Vista seemed ready to take on the more impressive singular monsters roaming around. The spectators had already been shown how Victory Carved in Storm and Stone seemed quite apt at going straight for the tough ones with her forceful path in a way that had put her in a solid lead.

Now the question was whether Vista could catch up.

"Is he going for…? Yes. The plains ravager. Ambitious," Kite noted, Dragonfly shrugging at his side.

"I could definitely do it if I had already gotten going properly, so I imagine that Young Master Relentless there should be able to too. But those are pretty explosive in their styles. Literally. So he'd better watch out." By now, more of the spectators seemed to have taken note of Vista as he had climbed through the rankings and was now just beneath seizing the third spot of the top three, which would allow him to move onto the next round.

Even the central pillar shifted to him as he and Wimmy made their final approach towards the arachnoid monster towering in the distance. A plains ravager was a peak silver-ranked monster that resembled a many-legged insectoid with a crust of mud and stone covering glowing insides.

The things often reached well over ten meters in height which made them stand out quite well as they plowed across landscapes for more soil, stone and other materials with which to add to their shell; a shell that was its greatest both offensive and defensive measure, and especially destructive once the otherwise quite placid monster went berserk and started targeting settlements.

The specimens projected into the mirage chamber were already plenty aggressive though, as demonstrated by the plains ravager immediately turning Vista's way once it noticed their approach. The monster gave off a keening, shrill cry that rose in pitch until a series of flashing explosions rippled along its ridged back, sending huge chunks of volatile, sparkling stone and clay raining down in Vista's path.

As soon as each piece struck the ground, the unstable energies inside spread to the nearby soil and stone before exploding outwards in shrapnel and roiling clouds of magical destruction. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Apparently well-aware of the approach, Vista and Wimmy only sped up at the attack as the young master threw both his blades to the side before taking control over them through one of his essence powers called Seeking Blade.

This would normally be used to let the now floating blades mark foes with a tracking affliction, but at this moment the young master instead needed it for more reach as he started to expertly deflect the more severe incoming pieces of shrapnel in a masterful display of swordsmanship performed while standing atop his familiar in full, loping sprint.

"See. All that additional speed does wonders. Go, Vista!" Dragonfly cheered unabashedly in the otherwise still mostly quiet arena as the illusions showed the pair emerging from the killing field with only minor injuries. The plains ravager started detonating more of its shell to keep up the pressure, but by now it was also within striking range for Vista as sword-waves rippling with elemental forces started striking back.

The apparent ease with which the swordsman started directly targeting the weak points that the monster created for itself showed that this wasn't his first time tangling with this particular monster species, only proven further by him choosing to use water-aspected attacks that seemed to douse the unstable energies somewhat and make it harder to detonate the shell.

While Elemental Projection had started out more limited in scope with a light addition of the more basic types, Vista's silver-ranked arsenal allowed for a lot more flexibility. Even though the damage added wasn't too much in and of itself, there were often plenty of other interactions with specific mana types that made finding the right tool for each enemy a worthwhile affair.

It quickly became obvious that the swordsman would be able to whittle down the beast in time as Wimmy's mobility along with his very effective sword-waves were quicker than the ravager, with its ponderous body, could handle up close. But as Vista suddenly sliced open a rift to appear atop the beast, it became clear that he would not show such patient restraint given the competition."

Moment of Chance, Conqueror's Claim, Echoed Blow, Hero's Devastation" Special attacks and abilities generally did not require a chant, Will so far being the only exception Kite had ever met.

Vista did not speak any of his techniques out loud, but having spent quite some time in the past dueling against the man, Kite could recognize the discharging magics of several of his essence powers which he repeated aloud to Dragonfly after taking care to raise their privacy screen so as not to give away too many details about the young master.

"So…? The names alone honestly tell me little beyond sounding impressive," Dragonfly prompted in response.

"Oh, sorry dear," Kite said with some slight chagrin, but he did not have the time to explain further before Vista's actions on the illusory projection spoke for themselves. His twin falchions flowed together into a huge, curved greatsword, and before the beast beneath him had realized where one of its assailants had ended up, Vista seemed to split into two additional images of himself that each swung in different directions against a separate weak spot along the ravager's legs.

Roiling energies detonated outwards along with his signature whirls of cutting winds as three legs were brutally severed. The plains ravager bellowed in response as it started frantically detonating more pieces of its shell all over to annihilate whatever was causing it this sudden burst of pain, but another sword-slashed rift had Vista step clear of the cascading detonation before landing back atop the back of his cerberus familiar once again.

"Oh…" Dragonfly eventually said as they watched the young master deliver a final sword-wave that brought low the collapsing beast in his wake as he and his familiar were already moving on to their next target.

"Indeed," Kite agreed, equally impressed.

"It seems our young master has learned quite a lot in his years of tempering. Even though that cost him a lot when it comes to resources, he did reap quite the reward. Look," he finished, gesturing to the tallied scores of the contenders where Vista had leapt from fourth place to second, and with a solid lead over the third too.

And this lead he kept, going through the final minutes of the round in a blaze of violence and flashing swords, ending up in a strong second placement behind Victory Carved in Storm and Stone who had managed to keep hold of her strong early lead. But while the victory no doubt brought much pride to both the disciple and her sect, reaching the top three was the most important part.

And Vista had not only reached it but claimed his spot with a decisive skill that was bound to make some waves as the sectless loner from the north made his national debut.

"This will indeed be an exciting Proving," Kite noted with a slight smile as more privacy screens sprung up among the spectators while the rest started to murmur among themselves in tones varying from excitement to frustration.

"Let us hope that Vista can handle the attention he just earned himself."

"Are you sure that this was where Inner Disciple Ashen asked to meet?" Scar asked Petal where the pair sat drinking their tea at an outdoor teahouse occupying one of Heavenward's many small plazas. This open area also sported a beautifully carved fountain depicting several proud warriors raising their weapons in defiance towards the water streaming down over them as if to challenge the heavens themselves.

Petal Pressed to Singing Steel could only sigh in response to the question of her companion, the inner disciple having accompanied her in support as Petal met with one of the contenders of the Flowing Viper sect.

Receiving such an invitation from one of their greatest and most bitter rivals was surprising, and Petal had been expecting this meeting to mostly be one of verbal sparring and Inner Disciple Ashen attempting to get inside her head in advance, as the pair were in the same part of the preliminary brackets and thus not unlikely to clash; a clash in which Petal would do her utmost to represent the Fated Severance Sect with all she had.

But instead, they had so far only gotten a moment to drink their tea in peace as no students of the Flowing Viper sect had shown themselves among the crowds passing along the busy streets. Peaceful, true. But also quite frustrating.

"I suppose we can give them another half-hour before going back," Petal eventually sighed, waving to a server hovering nearby to refill her cup.

"It is nice to find a moment to relax a bit from all the excitement, after all."

"I still do not like this."

"We know. You've told us. At length."

"Well, don't you agree? Those Discordants shouldn't be allowed to lord over us like that, and should suffer Destruction's wrath for trying to order us around. But no. Instead we're doing as told - by one of their whelps, no less - and spending time down here. In a sewer."

"Destruction is all around us, brother, breaking down the world as we speak. It does not matter if it is a sewer or a palace, as it will suffer the same fate. Therefore its current state holds no meaning."

"..."

"You heard her. We are doing our God's work here too. I wonder who it is above that has been fated to suffer the touch of our Lord? That contact of ours was quite specific about the timing."

"At this rate, I honestly don't care. Let's just finish the ritual to light the spark and leave this foul place. The sooner I'm away from the stench, the better. I can even hear the rats all around us."

"One would think that the locals would have worked hard to clear out this place before the Proving, but it seems like they've all been too busy," Kite noted wryly as he brought up his barriers to once more shield himself from the corrosive goop spat his way by the horrid, wiggling mass ahead of them.

The tight confines of Heavenward's sewer system made his barriers even more of a boon as long as he timed them correctly as it was easy to ward off even the area attacks of whatever sludge-eating monstrosity they had stumbled upon.

But it also forced him, Dragonfly and Amica to take even greater care as they fought the monster they had stumbled upon while moving through the tunnels as none of them fancied explaining to some angry magister why they saw fit to raze the city block above them simply to take out one of many monsters who somehow always found their way into such places.

"Given that our initial lead down here amounted to nothing, at least we got to see some action," Dragonfly noted before stepping up next to Kite and swinging one of her smaller, one handed reserve axes to send a cone of flame billowing out towards the flailing creature before Kite had his barrier shift back in place as shrieks of pain echoed back from the monster being washed in fire concentrated by the narrow confines.

This was followed by Amica using her telekinesis to rip off a few more chunks from the thing, keeping up a cycle of violence which they had been engaged in for a good two minutes by now. But just as the creature that looked like a much nastier version of an octopus seemed ready to bolt in a retreat, all of Wander's bodies present with the three adventurers suddenly tensed as one.

"Wha- guys! Hey! I found something. Oh shit~!"

"We're in a sewer, Wander, of course there's-" Dragonfly began, but Wander interrupted her in an uncharacteristic show of actual alarm.

"No, we've got a real problem here. A ritual. Looks like a mean one too."

"What? Where?" Kite asked while sending a few projected strikes towards the retreating monster.

"At the edge of my swarm. I just happened upon it by chance. But you need to hurry, because these guys aren't up to anything good~!"

"Understood. Amica? A ride?"

"You got it!" The retreating sewer monster was therefore unfortunately left to make its escape as the trio of adventurers as well as a fraction of a fourth found themselves lifted up by Amica's telekinesis as they started hurtling down the maze-like sewer system in a series of jarring twists and turns that would have killed a normal-ranker a few times over from the abrupt changes of direction.

This was done while accompanied by a frantic series of directions from Wander, with squeaks of left, right and straight ahead fired off in a blur.

"What do you think it is?" Dragonfly murmured to Kite to distract herself from the dizzying flight where they held onto one another to leave Amica with less separate bodies to ferry along.

"Unsure, but we may owe a prayer of thanks to Fortune. Because it seems like that false lead about the thieves preparing to cause trouble took us to just the right place at the right time." This statement was followed by a loud, if high-pitched, clearing of a tiny throat that made Kite correct himself.

"My apologies. It took Wander to the right place at the right time." The group had been flying for around a minute when Wander spoke again, though this time adding a bit of suffering to her urgency.

"Aaaaw crap they're doing something. I'll have to distract them. Ooooohhh it's gonna suck regrowing this many bodies…~" Before Kite could ask more, fierce shrieking squeaks suddenly began echoing from somewhere in the distance followed by cries of alarm and the scattered sounds of different essence powers going off. This apparently also let Amica - the only one currently with her aura senses not tightly suppressed - pick up on the location of their unexpected targets, causing her to hiss in annoyed concern.

"Wander is right. Followers of Destruction. Hold on!" The group sped up even further rounding a few corners while drawing closer to the sounds ahead, and Amica soon swore.

"Damn it, we need to take the long way around. Unless… This doesn't look too load bearing… Kite! Battering ram!"

"Ready!" Without further hesitation, Amica suddenly flung Kite against a nearby sewer wall. Seeing as it was ordinary stone and mortar, the mana drain from Implacable Motion was quite manageable now that Kite was a silver-ranker. It was a move the pair had executed many times before during contracts with Gauntlet where they were both present, and as such Kite easily kept his balance once he emerged from the other side of the wall in a cloud of dust and debris.

"Did you just throw my husband through a wall?!" came the startled cry of Dragonfly from behind, reminding Kite that not everyone present were used to such tactics, but this quickly became a footnote in his mind as he took in the scene before him. He had emerged into a larger cistern of some kind, where multiple streams from the sewers came together.

The open space was covered by a grate made from thick metal bars while plentiful water streaming down the walls from above hinted at some kind of water feature above such as a well or a fountain. But there was also a clear addition to the middle of the grate where a circular metal plate had been laid out, covered in the glowing sigils of an active ritual that was centered around an ominous cylinder of dark metal in its midst.

The ritual in question seemed made for three people to power it properly, but was currently kept going only by a single robed figure wearing a gruesome mask depicting a many-fanged monstrosity while two more people similarly garbed were in the process of driving away the persistent rats of Wander's swarm. More of the tiny creatures came pouring in each second, but as the main body of the mass of rodents had yet to arrive the trickle was more than manageable for the two silver-rankers.

At least until they got reinforcements.

"Thank you, Wander. We'll take it from here," Kite said, tattoos lighting up as he started making his way towards the unknown silver-rankers whose auras were clearly touched by Destruction.

"Well, they're nice and warmed up now. Take it away, my minions of carnage! Show them that they made a mistake in messing with They Who Wander~!" the rat on Kite's shoulder called, waving her forepaw like a general commanding her troops to battle.

"Or, as I heard some kids say the other day: Fuck 'em up~!"