Chapter 20: Chapter 23

I exited an area of tall overgrown bushes and walked into the opening caused by the constant fighting. The sun, which was now full obscured by lingering ash and smoke, was no longer our primary source of light.

I made eye contact with the sentinel that stood ahead of me. My heart trembled as I witnessed its grotesque visage. Even with its armor, scratches and bruises of all kinds littered its skin and fur. The merfolk boy had done quite a bit of damage to its left foot. It was immobile and hurt, making this the best time to deal with it. 

But where was everyone? It was too quiet so much that the sound of my heart beating was pounding in my ears.

It paused and used its arms to turn itself around to face me.

“Calm down, you got this. A little bit of willpower is all it takes.” I said, trying to calm my nerves and thinking of the goal ahead.

 

Small blue arcs surrounded me as I chanted the words to activate thunderbolt cloak. I had no choice but to use it by itself. Using flutter now would be impossible to maintain in my current condition, and I needed to conserve as much mana as I can. 

Seeing that I was getting ready to attack, the sentinel tried getting up, but its broken left ankle brought it back down to its knees. It shifted its body left to right to get itself off the ground, but to no avail.

Regardless of its condition, it repeatedly huffed at me as if teasing me, daring me to come closer, daring me to take its life. It was still dangerous even without its movement and I didn’t know what other abilities it had not yet used. Its current state made me confident enough to fight it head on. Simply destroying its armor was no longer an option. 

I needed to win.

I kicked off the ground and approached the sentinel quickly. It let out another one of those familiar bellows, slamming its fist into the ground and conjuring several earth spikes. I leaped off the ground where the spikes formed, paying attention to any mana fluctuations where they could form.

The cryptid now let out another mana pulse, and cleared the surrounding air of every other mana attunement except earth, severely reducing the effect of thunderbolt cloak, but I was still fast enough to keep clear of the emerging earth spikes that erupted from the ground.

Suddenly, the ground quaked and bulged as if something were crawling from below. Large pillars joined the collection of spikes, several of which were now toppling over me. I overhead rolled into a small opening between several of these pillars and continued my mad dash towards the cryptid.

It was then when I noticed the cryptid’s lower body had disappeared, of course it was another one if its tricks. It was fusing with the earth, which seemed to give it more control over the terrain, and based on how the mana flowed from beneath my feet, more fuel for its attacks.

It was now alternating between spears, pillars, and now vertical walls. I tried my best to avoid the oncoming obstacles while maintaining my balance. A wall would form ahead of me and then a spike. It was trying to restrict me long enough for me to get tagged with a spike. 

The air was now so concentrated with earth attuned mana my skin was becoming rigid as it slowly petrified. I looked up, sensing mana gathering from above only to find stone spears were raining down on me. It would seem that this was becoming more and more hopeless, but I was keeping up dashing, rolling, jumping, even lying flat when I could. The more the cryptid threw at me, the more focused I became. It was as if I was perceiving time much more slowly.

Countless spears still grazed my skin and I could now feel my breathing becoming more ragged, the toxic air was depriving me of sufficient oxygen. I was becoming more disadvantaged by the second, even the air threatened to put me down.

But I kept pushing. I was too close to give up.

I stepped into an area of loose rock and temporarily lost my balance. I was able to quickly use the sword to catch my fall, but during this lapse in focus; the sentinel unleashed another torrent of petrifying laser beams. Swiftly, I hid behind the sword, which not only blocked the attack but absorbed some of the mana.

I then rose to my full height once again to continue moving towards the cryptid, but I suddenly felt something grip my left leg and dragged me away from the sword.

It was a stone hand the Sentinel had summoned, and it was now charging up another laser beam. Quickly I channel Qi and mana into my fist molding it the same way I would use any sacred sky blossom technique and I slammed my fist into the stone hand, destroying it. 

Searing pain shot up my arm and I could feel my body spasm. I had no time to check if I had broken anything and ran back towards runic echoes. The sentinel had already fired another round of those laser beams. 

I shot up, dodging the upcoming beam and ran once again to the sword which the cryptid was now trying to take.

“Oh, no you don’t” I said aloud, sprinting towards the blade, grabbing the hilt with my good hand and then slashing all the stone hands that surrounded me.

I was only a few strides away from the sentinel. Its body was now completely visible to me and, to my dismay, its lower body had fused into the ground. An abundant amount of mana flowed from beneath my feet and towards what was now only its torso.

Mana gathered to its long, mangled but majestic antlers. An orb of petrifying earth mana came into view.

It then clasped its hands with enough force to cause a breeze and walls rose on each of my sides, forming a singular corridor. It will not allow me to dodge this. I would have to face it head on. I racked my brain for a way to escape and strained my eyes for an opening to slide through. This much mana infused into this attack just turning into stone would be the least of my worries.

I realized that escape wasn’t an option, and I faced the cryptid head on. I had no way to defend against its attack, but it also had no way to defend against me either. 

“Awaken to my Will Runic echoes”

The sword whirred to life, emitting a brilliant yellow light. The mana trapped within it then washed over me. Earth mana rolled over my already hardened skin, and large arcs of static danced around me. I focused my vision on the sentinel. It had gathered almost double the amount in that short time.

I looked down to the ground, infusing Qi into my legs and weaving mana into my skin like threads through fine cloth. I pushed down on it, building tension throughout my lower body. The world around me was now slowed down even further, giving me enough time to focus on my destination. 

*Sacred Blossom magical art spring bloom*

Its red eyes widened as I suddenly appeared in front of it. It had never seen me use this ability and I could see it already regretting its previous decision. 

It thought it had trapped me in here with it. 

Too bad it was the exact opposite. 

With all my strength I slashed Runic echoes down towards it, releasing all the ambient mana it had gathered. A wave of pure destruction rushed towards it, cracking the earth and lighting up the surrounding haze. Instinctively, I closed my eyes to not partially blind myself, but still I remained alert.

A thick cloud of dust, ash, and smoke floated ahead of me. I hoped that was all she wrote, but I knew this wasn’t enough. I let go of the large broadsword and reached for the katana at my waist. 

The alarm bells in my head sounded as countless spears now bore down on me. This many spears could have caused its own shadow; no way I could have possibly dodged them all. I had no mana left in the seal and I could feel myself fading. I expected an outcome like this, so I saved it until I had no other options. Failing here would be fine. I can just try again next year, but I didn’t want to accept this. Giving up when I’m this close was not an option. 

When the cryptid had spawned those stone arms, I had realized that it had trapped the two of us inside a cage. I could feel no other mana signatures from those outside, so the same must be true for those within. It’s the whole reason no one came to help after all this time. It’s also the reason I felt confident enough to use this.

Allan, in all his craziness, put in a few functions to the seal. One of them was a seven ring system, each ring was like a floodgate holding back my mana. I could clearly remember his speech when he was making the finishing touches. 

“It would be foolish to completely cripple your ability to use your magic. You may think that your specialty is martial arts, but in the end, you are blessed by mana. Who am I to cut you off from your gift? So when push comes to shove, I will allow you to use it. But promise me Atsumi, only use this when your life is in danger and you have no other options—or when there is no one else to witness it.”

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*Ring of survival Open*

With my will, I pulled at the outermost ring, ripping it open and allowing mana to course through me. Even though I knew what was going to happen, the sheer force of it escaping my body almost overwhelmed me. That familiar pain began spreading within my muscles and on my skin. 

Katana firmly in hand, I faced the descent of spears, forcing an enormous amount of mana into it. I could feel every muscle in my arm tear and every mana vein overflow and burst.

This was a technique I was incapable of mastering because of the extreme stress it places on your body. I could only have used the downgraded version called petal strike. A Battojutsu based technique that requires the user to slash a thousand cherry blossoms in a matter of a few seconds, the ultimate defense ability of the Sacred sky blossom. 

*Sacred sky blossom Senbonzakura*

Absolute focus ruled in that moment as I slashed every single spear, my head ached and my body cried out in pain. It felt as if I was slowly breaking every bone in my upper half. It became more and more difficult to keep a steady breath, and the outer edges of my vision darkened. An Internal heat was now emanating from my body, but I had no choice but to continue. 

After cutting down the last spear, I heaved over. My insides felt as if it were on fire. Sensing another attack, I forced myself to stand upright once more, only to find a large stone fist speeding towards me. 

I leaped above the strike, landing on the outstretched arm of the sentinel. I sheathed my Katana once more and began channeling lightning attuned mana. More spears appeared from the smoke, but I didn’t stay to block these. 

Using spring bloom, I Jumped off from the cryptid’s arm and came face to face with it. I was high above the ground when its eyes met mine. Its armor was gone and its face was a mess. It peered at me with those glowing crimson eyes. I expected a scowl, maybe even rage, but what I watched was a face filled with content.

I had already released the technique when I saw this, but I couldn’t stop even if I tried. 

In the end, it didn’t defend itself nor retaliate; it just simply stood still and stared at me with eyes that conceded defeat. 

It just stared with those bright red eyes and didn’t even blink. 

It stared until its head fell to the ground and rolled into the smoke too far for me to see.

I stood up, panting, and still hopped-up on adrenaline. The sentinel’s body had collapsed to its side, and it lay there motionless. It wasn’t long until its body faded, revealing a bright amethyst crystal. It floated into the air slowly and moved in the gate's direction. Both my hands fell limply to my side as I turned around to look for a way out of this cage. 

It was then I spotted a humanoid figure standing over runic echoes. It had long majestic antlers, just like the sentinel. The figure looked at the blade with intrigue, but didn’t dare touch it. 

It turned to look at me, its face devoid of any features. It took out a rock from its chest and placed it next to the sword. 

More words filtered into my head, this time more pleasant and coherent. 

“Well fought, to the victor goes the spoils.”

I watched on in disbelief as it disintegrated and faded away. I wasn’t sure if I was becoming delirious or if a ghost really just popped out of the sentinel. Either way, I didn’t stick around to find out. 

I inspected the rock for a few seconds before stashing it into my storage rune. Next, I glanced around to look for a way out of this cage.

I found an exit not long after and walked towards it, making sure to reconnect the first ring on the seal. I did not regret using this, regardless of how painful it felt. There was just this faint feeling that I could do it. Looking back, I had only slashed down about three hundred spears, meaning that even with the added insurance of not dying here, I still couldn’t do it properly. I was already over my limit with three hundred. What would have happened if there were more?

Another strange thing was my perception of time. I don’t know why, but I can slow down my perception of time. I can’t control it, but it seemed that the more I fought, the stronger the effect became.

“Atsumi, Atsumi,” a voice called out as I exited the cage. 

I was surprised to see that everything outside had returned to normal. No fires, no dark skies, not even the damage from the previous battle remained.

The first to run up to me was Senna. she quickly grabbed my arms, which caused me to yelp. It felt as if someone had shoved a hot branding iron into my skin.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were hurt.” She said, visibly shaken by my sudden reaction. 

Lyria followed closely behind Senna. she walked towards me while looking at the cage. 

“What happened in there? I saw you approach the cryptid and next thing this cage sprang up out of nowhere.” 

People were now giving me strange stares while others looked into the collapsing cage. Whispers floated around as no one except me knew what exactly happened.

I panicked inside as everyone looked at me for answers. I couldn’t just say I defeated it by myself, and I wasn’t exactly in the right state of mind to come up with a convincing lie. So I just stood there, choking on my words.

“Uh that- uh it….. ugh, when I entered—”

A purple light then surrounded everyone, interrupting my rambling. It was a refreshing light that soothed all my aches and pains. It slowly lifted us from the ground and pulled us towards the gate. I could hear rocks grinding together not too far behind me. Looking back, I saw the entire tower opening up like an actual book. It was becoming the gate itself. I counted at least forty people moving towards the gate. At this sight, everyone collectively let out a sigh of relief.

“It would seem that everything is over,” Cedric said as he floated ahead of me.

“Congratulations everyone, you guys did splendidly, especially you Atsumi,” Lyria said with a wink.

Senna, far behind me, was shouting to get my attention. She waved her hands wildly and had the biggest grin on her face. “Hey, don't forget our deal.” 

I was too out of it to even talk, so I just nodded and waved back. 

Noticing a familiar gaze, I looked towards Enan, who was watching me silently from behind. He didn’t seem to be bothered that I caught him staring and just simply smiled and waved.

Cheers rang out throughout the forest as everyone celebrated. 

When I was next to enter the gate, I let out one long dragged out breath and relaxed my body. I thought about the questions that would come to me eventually, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. Right now, all that mattered was that I cleared this trial and I couldn’t be happier——— or any more exhausted.

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