The Greatest Fight [progression cultivation isekai]

X2.5.8 - And the Winner Is...

Roa looked around. The spectators were going wild. When he glanced up at the podium, he saw the announcer and several other monks surrounding someone. It was Hopper.

"He won," said Rosso. "Your hit—didn't land on target, and he was able to evade most of it. That took you out, immediately. I did my best, but I was no match for him. He was much stronger than I was."

"I see," he said, laying down again. He stared at the sky, and he thought to himself, "—another—failure."

"Hopper of Smy is our champion! We will now award the winner with the prizes!" shouted the announcer.

The champion waved at the crowd who was jubilant.

"We would like to offer the robes of the Centuries. This will allow you to become one of us monks of the Celestial Dojo. Will you accept?"

"I do not."

"Hopper of Smy rejects the offer of joining the Dojo!" said the announcer.

"Thank you all for coming to the tournament. It has been our honor to host you all. I am the Grand Century, head of the Dojo. I will now award half of all of the aura that were given to me by the participants of the competition. Hopper of Smy—do you accept this prize?"

"I do."

The old monk placed his hand on the champion's chest and a blinding flash enveloped them both. The air was electric—to the point that Roa's arm hair began to stand. Thero stood next to them and said, "the transfer of energy is immense."

"How much?" asked Roa, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"I would estimate—somewhere around—20,000," said the robot.

"That's ten times our strongest fighter," said Rosso.

When the transfer was complete, the monk asked the winner to give a speech. Silence descended upon the Dojo. Hopper walked up, and began to speak.

"My—dear, dear participants, I have come from afar to enter this tournament. But, I must admit," he said, staring at his glowing fist, his aura swirling around him like a hurricane, "that I have not been completely honest with you all." The people in the crowd looked at each other. "For you see—my name is not really—Hopper. Nor is my real goal to only win this tournament."

Hopper suddenly morphed, causing a gasp from the audience.

"Shit," said Rosso, grabbing Roa, pulling him up and away.

"Who is it? I can't see," shouted the boy, trying to understand who he morphed into.

"Let's go," said Nirvana, grabbing Roa by the other arm.

"I don't understand. What is going on?" the Sunflower asked, barely able to keep his head up as the others dragged him away.

"It is with great regret that I must inform you all to be—out of compliance with the perfect laws of the Order of the Worlds," said Hopper on the loudspeaker.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked the Grand Century in the background.

"What the hell is happening?" asked the boy from Earth, not getting a response from the others.

A blast rocked the place and people began to scream.

"It's a trap!" shouted someone from the crowd as another blast exploded.

Roa finally gathered the strength to stand on his own, and turned himself around. When he looked up, above the ring, he saw floating above it a Shadow. He noticed the smile, and the cracked mask and anger filled his heart.

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"Briteside," he said. "It was him all along."

"That's right, Sunflower," the Shadow appeared before him. "You're on the brink of death, I have won untold amounts of power, and most of all—you managed to bring all your fighters in one place for me."

"We'll kick your ass, together, then," Roa said, defiantly.

"I think not," Mister Briteside said as hundreds of Shadows began to appear in the air. "Welcome—to the end," he said, lowering his face, as his disfigured grin mocked the boy.

"Fight—" shouted Roa before getting dragged again by the others.

"No. We are not fighting this fight," said Nirvana, carrying him with Rosso. "We need to get out of here."

Blasts lit up the place and soon the whole dojo turned into a bloody battlefield.

"We need to—" Roa said.

"You need to shut up, you can't even walk," Nirvana said, stumbling inside one of the temples.

"The Shadows—they're attacking! Help us," Indigo asked one of the monks.

"Come with me," he said, bringing them inside dark, underground halls and chambers.

The whole crew was there, as well as many of the fighters that had faced them during the competition. More explosions shook the walls.

"There are two Exits inside of the archives of the Celestial Dojo. We don't usually allow anyone through them, but this is an emergency," the monk explained.

"What numbers are the Exits? Where do they lead?" asked Elevar.

"One leads to Grand Market, it's numbered 7344.6, somewhere near the Slums of Moriah."

"The Second Throat of the Palace is supposed to be somewhere in the slums," said Elevar. "And the other Exit?"

"The other one is numbered 922.35."

"922.35?" said Elevar, glancing at the Sunflower, now thoroughly unconscious. "We need to save the boy."

"We can head to Grand Market. There's a fountain of Ambrosia there," Nirvana explained.

"No. It won't help. We gave him some already, and it has not stopped or reversed the growth of the disease. But, I think I know someone who might be able to help," said Elevar.

"Who?"

"If we take Exit 922.35 we will eventually end up in a world called Carnassia. It's an extremely dangerous place, so I would recommend only a few come with us, to avoid any—unnecessary deaths," Elevar explained as the others glanced at each other.

"Sounds promising. Why would we go there again?" asked C-Saw.

"Because the greatest doctor in Free Society lives there, and she may be the only one with a cure for the boy," said Elevar.

More Jumpers rushed into the archives of the dojo along with more of the monks.

"They're killing and capturing everyone outside," said Cutlass.

"It's a bloodbath out there," said someone else.

"We can't let them get away with this!" shouted Nirvana, standing on top of a table, causing everyone to look at her. "Are you going to let them destroy even the sacred institution of the tournament? Are you going to let them kill your friends, your sparring partners, and your fellow competitors? Has everyone in Free Society become just a bunch of—cowards?" Everyone stood silently staring at her. "When many of you were asked to join the Greatest Fight you told us no. You told us that you had no interest in joining a revolution and get involved. We told you that we join the revolution out of necessity—not choice. We told you that the time would come when the Old Order would eventually come knocking on your very doors." She pointed at everyone there with her index finger. "Did we not tell you that? And you looked at us as if we were the crazy ones. Well—now you see why we came to you with words of warning—now that the Old Order has already come knocking."

"What can we do? They're too powerful!" asked someone.

"We stick together! We fight as one! And we have an ace up our sleeve!" she said, pointing to the Sunflower. Unfortunately for Nirvana, the boy was fast asleep, possibly already dead, and his head was tilted back as Rosso and Elevar propped him up like some cadaver. "Well—the Sunflower will get back on his feet, don't you worry. I will make sure of it myself. In the meantime, we gather in Grand Market, in the Slums of Moriah."

"Why? What's there?" shouted someone in the back.

"The Second Gate. The First has fallen, and now the Second's time approaches," she said with a grin. "All of you, if you want your revenge, if you have something still worth fighting for, or if you just want to cause some chaos—come with us. The revolution will not die today," Nirvana said, lifting her fist in the air.

She leapt down the table and joined her crew.

"Good speech. Now what?" said Rosso.

"You take the boy to this doctor, and hope for the best. I—we need the Sunflower alive," Nirvana said.

"And you?"

"I will bring the rest of the fighters back to Grand Market. We will prepare for the battle against Lord Misery, and begin to figure out who he is and where he is hiding. We will meet in the slums after you find the cure. Understood?" the pink-haired girl said.

The others nodded.

The groups split, one headed by Nirvana, destination: Grand Market; and the other headed by Elevar, destination: Carnassia.

"Carnassia?" said C-Saw, unsure which group to join. "Where have I heard it before?"

"I don't know. Maybe you've been there before?" asked Rosso, getting his supplies and preparing to jump.

"Excuse me, Mister Elevar, is this world known by any other names?" asked C-Saw.

He looked up at her, thought about it for a moment, and said, "why, yes. Most Jumpers call it Meat World."

C-Saw's eyes shot wide open. She headed to the other Exit.

"You're not coming with us?" Rosso asked, opening his arms.

She turned to him and said, "I understand you want to save your buddy," she glanced at Roa, "but going to Meat World is suicide."

"What? Why?"

"The place with the oceans of blood? The rivers of pus? The throbbing organs for hills?" she said.

"That's the place we are heading to?" asked Rosso, unfortunately receiving a nod from Elevar who jumped first into the Exit.

The boy from the desert sighed and looked at his unconscious friend.

"The things we do for friendship," he said, and jumped into the portal.