The Jade Shadows Must Die [Cultivation LitRPG]

Rix followed the Quartermaster down the row of training cells towards the centre where the old master sat.

"Little early to feed the fades," he said, his nose once again buried in his manuscript.

The Quartermaster chuckled. "Be nice, Zhen. I have high hopes at least one of this lot will survive." Then, addressing them, she continued. "I'm kidding. People almost never die in the trial. You should all be up and walking again within a week."

In spite of the threat of imminent bodily harm, Rix found himself smiling. There was something innately likeable about the woman, which was only furthered by what she said after she led them through another door and out of earshot. "That's Master Zhen. He'd much rather nobody know who he is, which is why it's so much fun to tell everybody. He's the prison Weaponmaster. I would consider it a personal favour if you were to ask him for training sometime soon. He doesn't like to advertise it, but his role obliges him to provide each of you one hour a week."

Rix blinked several times, taking that in. "That seems…uncharacteristic for this place."

The Quartermaster snorted. "I wouldn't read too much into it. It might seem like a rare moment of humanity from Spiritlock's owners, but in reality, the board had to drag the concession out of them so they'd be allowed to send fresh Whispers to dive. A bit like applying a bandage to a severed meridian, in my opinion, but it's something."

Rix nodded. Any kind of training was going to be valuable in here. Especially with the style problems he was having.

The room they'd been led into was set up with an individual version of one of the cages outside. The main differences were the hatch at one end and the stone pillar down the other. Also, there were two prison guards standing nearby. They looked positively bored by the assignment.

"The cleanup crew," said the Quartermaster with a toothy smile, following Rix's gaze.

Once in front of the cage, she turned to address the three of them. "No doubt you've heard stories about the Fractured Realms and fadeborn," she continued. "But the truth is, nothing can prepare you for what it will be like in there. The Fractured Realms don't care about fairness, and they don't give second chances. The moment you get complacent will be your last. This trial is about your strength and skills, to a point, but it's also about mental fortitude. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you can't keep a cool head in the face of what's in there, you won't stand a chance."

"How many people actually make it through the trial?" asked Kiro, his tone leaving little doubt as to what he thought of his own chances.

"About a third," the quartermaster replied.

The man grinned, looking pointedly at Rix and Luna. "Well, that's unfortunate for you two."

The Quartermaster took him in with a flat gaze. "Since you seem so confident, would you like to go first?"

Kiro cracked his knuckles and held out his hand, and after a few seconds, a short steel jian sword appeared in his grip. "Let's get this over with." Apparently, the soulspace lock was lifted in this place too.

Rix didn't know what to make of Luna, but Kiro seemed to almost want to be disliked. Perhaps he had the talent to back up his arrogance, but Rix found that people who projected as hard as this guy rarely stood up when it counted.

"If you just position yourself on the mark there," the Quartermaster said, indicating a white circle on the ground. "Now, this is a trial, so while the threat will be very real, I'll be here to make sure you don't actually lose your life."

"Unnecessary," said Kiro, moving into place. He turned and gestured at Rix and Luna. "Bear witness to the beginning of my ascent! I've been learning my family's sword style since I could walk. This creature will be cut down like the corn before the scythe." As if to emphasise the point, he suddenly spun his sword around himself in an elaborate series of gestures before coming to rest in a low battle stance.

From behind his back, the Quartermaster raised her eyebrows at Rix and Luna. Rix found a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Apparently he wasn't the only one that found the man a bit much.

"You think he practised that little speech in the mirror?" Luna asked Rix.

The Quartermaster cleared her throat. "What's waiting for you behind the gate is a basic prowler. A common weak fadeborn you'll find around the low-tier section of the Fractured Realm. They're quick, but fragile. I'm not going to give you any more information because part of being a diver is being able to study your opponent and change strategy on the fly."

Kiro nodded. "I'm ready."

"Very well," the Quartermaster replied. She took a step to the side and laid her hand on the stone pedestal that stood in the corner of the cage. Rix felt a burst of mana, and then at the far end of the room, the hatch ground open. The other side was only darkness. For a moment, nothing happened; then from somewhere deep within, a growl emanated and something stalked its way out of the opening.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Rix had heard countless stories of different kinds of fadeborn. They were fixtures in the Chronicles. Centurions like heavily armoured bears, many-limbed Praetors with a hundred snapping jaws spread across their whole body. He'd seen pictures and imagined himself in battle with them. He'd thought himself prepared to see one in the flesh.

He was wrong.

The thing that stepped through the hatch should not have existed. It was about the size of a large dog, but that's where the similarity to any normal animal ended. It carried itself on six lithe legs, all bent the opposite way to what nature intended. And rather than ending in a foot, each leg simply narrowed to a razor-sharp point that clacked gently on the ground as it slunk forwards. A faint clicking noise vibrated through the air as it moved, something insectile and chitinous that fired a primal reaction in Rix.

The fade's body was black and wreathed in a kind of dark smoke that somehow hurt to look at. Worst, though, was its face, long and eyeless and tipped with sharp protrusions of what appeared to be black bone. It was like a wolf crossed with a spider wrapped tightly in a nightmare.

While Rix couldn't entirely hold back his horror, next to him, Luna's expression was all giddy glee. "Now that's an opponent." She turned to Rix. "I'm not great at numbers, but six arms is a lot more than zero. Hope you're prepared for something that can actually hit back."

"I've fought people before," he snapped, although he was quickly realising how little that meant. Rix had been in his share of battles. He'd felt the sweet adrenaline of fighting for his life on more than one occasion. But it was always against people, humans with behaviours and weapons he understood. Not to mention four limbs. Nothing he'd done had prepared him for this. And this was apparently a weak fadeborn. What would it be like to stare down a Praetor or Centurion?

If Rix was shocked, Kiro looked positively rattled. All the confidence had leached out of his stance. As the creature took one halting step forward, then another, Rix could see the other man's blade trembling in his hands.

He opened his mouth, but before he could find his words, the fade attacked. Rix had expected it to run, but the thing covered the gap between them in a single monstrous leap, springing with its rear legs and flattening its body, aiming its two front spikes forward to turn its entire body into a long, powerful, two-pronged spear. To his credit, Kiro didn't remain completely frozen. As the creature launched itself, he found the courage to swing out with his sword, the tip beginning to glow with some kind of technique, but the blow came too late, glancing off the fadeborn's stomach as it skewered him through his two shoulders. The man's mantle crackled, but it barely offered any resistance as he cried out and collapsed backwards under the creature's weight, his sword skidding off to the side. Had his arrogance led him to assign no mana to strengthening his defences at all? Or was the attack simply strong enough to punch through even an augmented mantle?

Rix watched on in growing horror as the fade opened its mouth and let out a low, guttural noise. Up close, he could see the beast didn't have teeth in the way most animals did; instead its mouth was just a series of jagged edges, like a hunter's trap.

Kiro struggled weakly, terror painted on his face, but there was nowhere to go; the fade's limbs were embedded in his. If they'd been fighting somewhere not imbued with mana, the man would likely have been pinned against the ground. Rix's analytical side could already see how effective a hunter the prowler would be, particularly in the Fractured Realm where he assumed it was an ambush predator. The only way to survive such an attack would be to see it coming.

The creature reared backwards, opening its mouth again, and for a second Rix thought he was about to see a man mauled to death in front of him, but in the blink of an eye the Quartermaster was there, driving a knife through the fadeborn's skull. The creature collapsed on top of a whimpering Kiro, thick black blood spilling out to coat his face.

"That's a shame," said the Quartermaster, far too casually. "I did warn you to put a little something into that mantle."

The man was in no condition to reply, though he did cry out again as she pulled the creature off him, dislodging its limbs in the process.

"Take him to the clinic," she said, addressing one of the guards outside. Though Rix's heart was racing in his chest, she didn't seem even slightly perturbed.

Luna, too, seemed surprisingly chipper. "I guess he'll need to deploy that family sword style in the kitchen," she said, loudly enough that Kiro definitely heard.

As the injured man was carried away, she turned her attention to Luna and Rix. "So this was an excellent example of what not to do. Confidence is great, arguably necessary, but arrogance is likely to get you killed. Learn to toe that line and you'll go a long way towards surviving. Anyway, I hope you two learned something. One of the perks of not going first." She looked to Rix. "You ready?"

He let out a sharp breath. He wasn't entirely sure that he was. That word 'null' next to his style echoed in his mind. What if that was the edge he needed to pass? Should he say something?

He glanced at Luna. She seemed genuinely friendly, but he'd known her for all of five minutes. He wasn't willing to expose a weakness in front of another Martial Soul.

No, the style couldn't be that important. Even if it had been functional, he'd barely had an hour to come to grips with it. He still had his techniques, and years of his own combat style taught by harsh street necessity.

There was also Energy Surge, but he didn't want to use that unless he had to. He was still rattled by the letter under his door. Someone was watching, and where there was a single set of eyes, there could easily be more. That technique would only come out in the presence of other Martial Souls if his life was on the line. At least until he got a better handle on the situation.

"Let's do this," he replied, with more confidence than he felt. With his blood thundering in his ears, he stepped into the cage and up to the mark, possible strategies playing through his head.

He summoned his staff. The weapon felt heavy in his hands.

"Try not to die," called Luna from outside the cell. "I still want to win that favour."

Rix resisted the urge to argue. "Wasn't planning on it."

There was a familiar surge of mana to his side, but he only had eyes for the gate. It had remained open during Kiro's fight, but was now eerily still. Rix raised the weapon into a combat stance and braced himself.

Agonising seconds passed, and he briefly thought there had been a mistake. Perhaps he'd be let off the hook. Then, a hint of movement in the dark, and another fadeborn slowly materialised in the gap. To Rix's eyes, it was identical to the one that had nearly killed Kiro. Terror made flesh. It sniffed the air before creeping forwards, its eyeless gaze fixed on Rix.

The world seemed to narrow to a tunnel. Just him at one end and the fade at the other.

It was time.