Ascension: Online

Today, the city was bustling with even more people than yesterday. The preliminaries - arguably boring in comparison - were over. The main tournament, the real competition, was here. Of the hundreds of contestants who originally signed up for this tournament, only sixteen elites remained.

"Welcome, everyone, to the Annual Qilian Regional Tournament!" the mayor of Qilian City, Zhen Yuhan, announced from the stage via his megaphone. It seemed that we had gotten here just on time.

As an aside, Nadeshiko ended up walking here with us together, much to my dismay. With her here, we couldn't talk about anything careless, so the whole walk was just silent, though the person in question herself didn't seem to mind whatsoever. The moment we arrived, however, she broke off from us and went over to another area of the crowd.

"Today, sixteen competitors will battle one-on-one to narrow it down to the top eight," the mayor continued. "However, there will be some changes to the rules when compared to the preliminaries, so firstly, I would like to invite all contestants to come up onto the stage."

Yesterday, it was said that the tournament would be starting early in the morning. Unlike the preliminaries, you can't just sign in randomly at some time during the day and get paired with someone. Luckily, it was the weekend, so players had time.

Figures from amongst the crowd moved up and onto the stage, the four of us included. Moments later, all sixteen contestants had gathered in front of Zhen Yuhan.

"Good, it seems like everyone is here. Introductions are unnecessary, so I will begin explaining the rules," the mayor cleared his throat.

"Listen closely, contestants. While getting to the top four will guarantee you a spot in the Blessing Nature Sect, even if you do not make the top rankings, there is still a chance. In fact, the sixteen of you here currently could technically all make it into the sect, if you perform well."

"Will there be judges evaluating our skills or something…?" one of the contestants asked, raising his hand.

The mayor nodded. "Indeed. They are not here yet, but they should be arriving shortly. When they do, I will introduce them."

"I see, thanks," the young man who had asked the question said politely, then put down his hand again.

"Alright… now then, the combat rules are simple - one on one duels, anything goes, killing is allowed," the mayor continued explaining. "You fight until one side either forfeits, is unconscious, or dies."

"What about the rewards?" another person asked - this time, a young girl who seemed to be using dual-wielding swords… interesting. I couldn't use Inspect on her since there were about ten other people in the way, but that was fine.

"Patience, girl. I'm getting there," the mayor replied with a chuckle. "I've said this already, but the main reward of this competition is the ability to directly become an inner sect disciple of the Blessing Nature Sect.

"However, that is not all. The first place contestant, for example, will receive any one wish granted, as long as it is within the power of the sect, and also one Spirit Pill, alongside monetary rewards."

The contestants' eyes all widened.

"A-Any wish?!"

"Yes. Money, fame, women, anything your heart desires," the mayor replied, a sly grin on his face. "As long as the sect can do it, the wish will be granted - and there is little the Blessing Nature Sect cannot do, being one of the Eight Great Sects of Azrine."

The wish was pretty self-explanatory, but I was more curious about the Spirit Pill he mentioned… man, if Aisa was here, this would be so much easier.

"Hey, what are those things in the sky?" someone from the audience suddenly called out, causing all of us to look up.

Indeed, up in the sky, were various small black dots that appeared to be… moving?

The mayor, Zhen Yuhan, smiled. "Looks like our judges are here."

Soon after, the three dots became bigger and bigger, until we could make them out to be giant leaves. Yes - three giant leaves, each with a person standing on them. The three leaf-ships descended, gently landing on the stage behind Zhen Yuhan.

The mayor spun around and bowed deeply towards the three newcomers.

"Welcome to Qilian City, honorable elders of the Blessing Nature Sect."

One of the elders, a middle-aged man with a brown mustache and brown hair, whistled. "This is a nice place. I approve."

"Mm… I must agree," the beautiful elf woman in the middle said softly, looking around. "The infrastructure and design are all aesthetically pleasing. A little too crowded for my liking, but that is up to personal preference."

"You've always been one to prefer calm and quiet forests over large, bustling cities, Elder Ning," the third and final elder, a handsome tall man with glasses and a peaceful aura to him said. "Though, I can't say I am much different."

"Haha! You two are too uptight," the first elder said. "Trust me, Elder Zhang, this city doesn't even count as crowded when compared to some of the bigger ones in this continent."

"Is that so? Well, next time an expedition like this happens I will have to sit it out, then," Elder Zhang, the young man, laughed softly.

"Mayor Zhen, shall we get started with the tournament?" Elder Ning, the elf woman, said as the leaf ships they were on faded away with a casual swipe of their arms.

"Of course," the mayor replied, turning back around to face us. "All contestants, please return to the audience for now, and listen to be called up. We will be using your names this time, not your number, so keep that in mind."

The sixteen of us did as told, returning back to the audience quietly. Once the process was over, the three elders walked up a flight of stairs leading to a little beyond the stage itself, where three thrones that weren't there before sat.

Each elder took their own seat and settled down, preparing to spectate the upcoming fights.

The mayor spun around to face us, then cleared his throat through his megaphone.

"Alright, everyone - the tournament will now begin! The first fight to take place will be between… Chiaki Furuwa, and Koroth Lulvic! Come up onto the stage!"

"Furuwa…" I muttered quietly.

"I'll be fine," she said reassuringly from beside me. "Koroth may be strong, but I have a method to beat him."

"No, you get me wrong," I quickly interrupted.

"Huh?"

"I wasn't worried about you. I was actually going to tell you to not kill Koroth if possible, since I still have uses for him."

"…" she looked at me dead in the eyes, completely unamused.

I blinked and feigned ignorance. "What?"

Sighing, she turned away and shook her head, walking off. "Idiot."

"Hehe, is it really good to be teasing her like that?" Hina-nee asked from beside me as the two of us watched Furuwa head onto the stage.

"… Her falling in love with me will be troublesome. I already have you, Hina-nee, so someone else falling in love with me wouldn't be ideal," I replied.

"Oh? You're going to stay loyal to nee-san here?" she giggled, hugging me from behind.

"I mean, it's not like I want a harem or anything."

"Heh… we'll see if you'll really be able to resist the temptation of multiple beautiful girls fawning over you, Kaze-kun," Hina-nee smirked with a playful wink.

"…"

Instead of resonding, I moved away from the crowd and discretely used an art.

'Vanishing Steps.'

Then, like a shadow unseen by anyone, I calmly walked onto the stage and made my move.

*****

(Furuwa's Perspective)

I stepped onto the stage.

On the other side was a man with navy blue hair that covered his eyes, along with dark tanned skin. His name was Koroth. Every one of his punches held enough force to send a grown man crashing through multiple buildings made of solid stone.

In other words, if I were hit, I would be dead.

Of course, I could simply respawn, but the pain I would suffer would still be incredibly harsh.

So, basically, I needed to not get hit by any of his punches.

That idiot… Kaze… I can't believe he's actually telling me to not hurt Koroth too bad, when he's clearly stronger than me. Did he just not care about me at all?

… Whatever. Like I need his care.

I took out my longsword - it was a purely black one, with the blade glowing an ominous green. This was the sword I obtained from the Vault of Corruption, a while ago. It was certainly powerful, but I felt that I needed an upgrade soon.

I pointed the sword at Koroth, who seemed to be… perfectly still?

He was usually a calm person in battles - I've seen his previous fights - but right now, he was standing perfectly still, like a statue. Almost as if he was… listening to someone talk, but there was no one talking.

Well, it's not like we could hear if anyone was talking anyway, given how loud the drum roll playing was.

"Are both contestants ready?" the mayor asked, looking at the two of us.

"Ready," I responded calmly.

My opponent, Koroth gave a firm nod, but strangely, it didn't seem to be directed towards the mayor.

Still, there was no time to worry about that now.

"Very well," the mayor said at last, raising his hand up high into the air and preparing to slice the air downwards.

"The battle shall begin in 3… 2… 1… go!"