The Greatest Fight [progression cultivation isekai]

X2.5.3 - Pardus Vay

The group of around twenty Jumpers made its way through the strange landscape of the pink desert of Parallel Valley. Roa sat in the back of Shiro's bike, admiring the oddities of that world as a massive dust storm was kicked up in the air by the roaring motorcycles. The clouds above were cubes, slowly evaporating from their tops, and the occasional floating island could be seen in the distance. Immense animals of abstract nature walked slowly in the distance. Their long legs moved forward in slow motion, making the whole scene seem one straight out of some painting of Salvador Dali. The sands quickly turned from a bright, blinding pink to swirls of black and white, and after several hours, to a neon-shade of green.

"What a strange place," screamed Indigo, wiping sand off of her goggles.

"These are the Rainbow Deserts," explained Elevar on another bike when an explosion of color came out of the ground nearby them. "Those are the Paint Geysers!"

"Paint Geysers?"

"Yes, geysers that spew out paint instead of water. Best stay away from them—the paint is scalding hot," explained the cartographer.

A roaring sound came from their right, and Roa turned his head, noticing a herd of something coming closer. However, while he was expecting some type of animal, to his surprise, it was a group of houses that were running towards them.

"What the hell is that?" he screamed.

"Those must be the Houses That Walk! Domus Ambulantes is the scientific name. They are semi-sentient beings shaped like houses with legs. They roam the desert, stopping only at night, creating entire towns that disappear the next day," explained the monk.

"Maybe that's the moving capital city of Free Society," joked Roa as he stared at Nirvana.

She raised her head and continued leading the motorcycle gang, ignoring the boy completely, as locals waved their hands from inside the walking homes.

"We'll rest here for the night," Nirvana stated with a firm tone as she took off her helmet and the group stopped in front of a hamlet of buildings. "Let's ask the locals for directions, just to make sure."

Rosso stepped off the back of the bike and stretched out his legs. He glanced around and read some of the signs on the buildings.

"The Library of Unwritten Books. The House of Unfinished Rooms. The Museum of Impossible Artifacts. Any picks?" asked the boy from the desert.

"That one," said Nirvana.

"The Impossible Dish Restaurant. Finally, something to eat," Rosso said.

The restaurant was filled with fighters heading to the tournament.

"One more week heading west, and you'll get to the Celestial Dojo," said an orange woman with one eye. She was so tall that she had to bend down to not hit her head on the ceiling of the establishment.

The group sat down at a large table and ordered all sorts of odd food.

"Can you pass me the—triangular fruit things, please?" asked Rosso. "And some of the green, bubbling sauce—whatever that is, thanks."

"Alright," said Nirvana in a serious tone, the look on her face still communicating that the scuffle with the Sunflower was still fresh in her mind. She pointed at Roa. "Pardus Vay's people just sent me a Blurr. We will be meeting with him in a few days. He's not going to want to meet with everyone, so it's going to be me—you," she said, pointing to the boy from Earth, avoiding his glance, "and I would like you, Elevar, to be part of this meeting too."

"What about me?" Rosso asked.

"The goal is simple," Nirvana said, completely ignoring him, "we need to convince him to join the revolution, without giving away too much of our strategy."

"We have a strategy?" asked Roa.

"Yes," she shot him a nasty look, "some of us have been working on one—for eons now. Pardus comes from one of the oldest, richest and most influential families in Free Society. His support is paramount to the cause. Let me lead the meeting. I've met him before, I think I can reason with him best."

After several days, the crew of bikers finally stopped again in front of a strange-shaped house. It was tall and shaped like a giant, thin teapot. It was white but filled with colorful shapes of all kinds. There, they waited for several hours as Madame Juicessaw, the owner of the establishment, served them some sweets, coffee and tea. Eventually, as Roa stared outside of the window on the top floor, he noticed a plume of sand in the distance.

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"There he is," Nirvana. "He's got his usual entourage," she said, rolling her eyes.

A large group of around one hundred Jumpers reached the tea house. Roa picked up on some massive auras, staring below, wandering which one was Pardus. It became obvious that the short, fat man wearing regal clothes was the one they were after. Afterall, everyone swarmed around him like flies, gravitating towards him. After some pageantries, exchanges of gifts and other formalities, the meeting began.

On one end sat Nirvana, the Sunflower and the monk from Pardasia. On the other end was Pardus Vay and his wife, Lady Sthalia Vay. Pardus was a fat, jolly-looking man with a kind smile. His wife was much taller than him, wearing a long, white dress and a large, ornate hat. Behind the couple stood two very large men with imposing auras, guarding the door, and their patrons. Roa glanced at them, and one of them looked back at him, narrowing his eyes. The boy raised an eyebrow, and shot him a weird look, as if to say, "what are you looking at?"

"Well, thank you for meeting with me, Miss Nirvana," Pardus said.

"Lady—Nirvana. And it's our pleasure to meet with you, Mister Vay," she said.

"Lord—Vay," he said back.

"Lord—Vay, I am sure that you already know why we are here," she said.

"The Sunflower," he said staring at Elevar.

"That would be—me," said Roa, raising his hand.

"You?" said Pardus, turning his head, a small grimace of disgust appeared on his face as he scanned the boy's discolored skin.

"Then, who you might you be?" asked the wealthy Jumper, turning back to the monk.

"I am Elevar of Pardasia," he answered.

"The famous cartographer of the Encyclopedia Infinita? I was convinced that you were stuck on Vertica—Elevar's Heights as we Free call it."

"I was. Until," Elevar pointed at Roa, "until the Sunflower freed me from my prison."

"I see. A man of many talents, indeed," said Pardus.

"Lord Pardus, we need—" Nirvana said, when she was suddenly interrupted by the Sunflower.

"We need your support," he said, receiving a nasty look from the pink-haired girl. "Let's not beat around the bush. The Greatest Fight has managed to do the impossible and defeat one of the Gates. Lord Smog has fallen by our hands. More will fall, but we need all the help we can get."

Vay looked at him, then at Nirvana and then back at the boy. "So, the stories are true. You were the one who defeated the First Gate. An impressive feat, indeed."

"I wasn't alone. My friends helped. No revolution is won alone. That is why we must now kick the fight up to the next level—we need your help."

"What will you have me do?" Vay asked.

"We would like you to—" Nirvana tried to jump back into the conversation, when she was interrupted again by the boy.

"The secret way to the capital of Free Society, and all the strongest fighters you can lend to the cause," he said with a determined look in his eyes.

"You ask a lot, Sunflower," Vay said.

"The revolution—Humanity and Nature demand a lot. You do not do this for me. I am but the servant of the cause, here to bring the message to the right ears," the Sunflower explained.

"What is your plan?" Pardus asked, his eyes narrowing.

"We will win the Celestial Dojo's tournament, and gather as many fighters as we can there. We will then storm the Second Gate, and show the world that none of them are safe," Roa said, shaking his fist in front of his face.

Nirvana leaned over to the boy and whispered in his ear, "you're saying too much."

However, Roa ignored her and continued, as he stared at Pardus and his wife, "so, do we have your support?"

The man sat silently for a few minutes, lost in thought.

"While your cause is a just one—I will have to deny my support," he said, causing the three heroes to glance at each other. "Unfortunately, the tides of the era and the political happenings in the capital won't allow me to back your efforts at the moment."

Roa stood up.

"Your ancestor, Righteous Vay fought along with us at Black Fortia. Fight with us now, Lord Vay. Fight for the most-righteous cause," the Sunflower pleaded.

"And look at what happened to my grandfather. He was killed, along with most of the leaders of the revolution, only to be remembered as a failure," Pardus said, shaking his head.

"You're wrong," Roa said, causing the man's eyes to grow wide, and his eyebrows to curl. "You're wrong. Righteous Vay was not a failure, because the revolution is still alive. We would not be meeting with you here today, if it were not."

"Yes, but," Vay said.

Roa stepped closer, kneeled down, and looked up into his eyes.

"The people are in chains, world after world is falling to the Old Order, as Nature withers beneath our feet as the Great Death spreads. The Tree of Life in the Palace is dying, the Basements are flooding, people are drowning, and the Sacred Balance is collapsing. If you do not help us, all this one day will come knocking on your door too, no matter how far away it may still seem to you today."

Pardus sat in silence again, and glanced at his wife.

"Alright. You have convinced me, Sunflower. You are—very persuasive," he said, causing the three heroes to smile at each other. "I will give you the directions to the capital in due time. In the meantime, win that tournament, and I will lend you my greatest fighters. But, you must keep me up to date at all times, so that I may lend you my hand at the appropriate time."

Then, the wealthy man stuck his hand out in front of Roa's face, showing him his ring. The boy looked up. His eyebrows raised—he wasn't expecting that. A feeling of disgust ran through him. He hated the rulers of the world, those who had often ensured the growth and protection of the status quo at the expense of the many. Those whose hands must have been filled with rings to be kissed in allegiance of those more powerful than the common person. The Sunflower swallowed his pride, and thought of the greater good. Afterall, a kiss on a ring was nothing, compared to the help the revolution could receive from the powerful Free Man. He closed his eyes, and his lips met the ring.

"Well, that went better than expected," Elevar said, as the three of them met in private after Vay and his entourage left.

"I said to follow my lead," Nirvana shot Roa a nasty look.

"We got what we wanted. That's all that matters," he said.

In his heart, however, something felt off about the whole thing. He felt ashamed of bowing down to anyone. His heart was troubled, for more reasons than one. He took a deep breath and thought of the tournament ahead, as he stared at his discolored palms, now purple, gray and charcoal black.