The next morning Will and Alea found themselves back in the same observation box. Will was calmly meditating, while Alea paced back and forth.

  “You know it’s hard to focus with you pacing like a caged animal like that.” Will said with his eyes remaining closed.

  “I can’t help it! Ever since seeing your fight I’ve been itching to hit something!”

  “Just remember you’ll be facing those in the Mind Realm. These guys will be stronger, faster, and have more experience in using their element. Whoever you face, hit them hard and fast.” Will says as he opens his eyes. “You’ll have to push yourself as hard as you can every single round to even give yourself a chance at winning.”

  Alea scoffed. “Just worry about yourself sparky. I got this.”

  Will scoffed himself at the new name, but remained silent and went back to meditating.

  The Core and Spirit Realm cultivators will face off first just like before, with the Mind Realm division using the same format but not beginning their fights until after the other two divisions were finished.

  With half the field gone, there would only be thirty-two fights of the initial two divisions this day. With each round of five fights at once, that means that today’s matches will only last just under two hours, with the Mind realm division last another two hours as well.

  Eventually the roster for the first five matches of the Core and Spirit realm fights appeared and this time Will wasn’t in the first batch. He stopped his meditation and paid attention to the fights. One in particular caught his attention; the sand user was fighting in the first round.

  He walked up with a look of boredom on his face. But as the ref was explaining the rules his expression turned to one of arrogant superiority.

  If seeing how skilled the cultivator was yesterday didn’t make Will want to fight him, then seeing the smug look on his face sure did.

  There was almost nothing Will disliked more than a pompous bully; and that’s exactly how the elf was coming off.

  As the fight commenced, the elf didn’t immediately call forth his sand. Instead he simply blitzes the innocent looking water user he’s facing.

  She was small, a little mousey, and honestly Will thought would look more at home in a library than a fighting ring. She wore billowy robes that seemed to allow for freedom of movement while not immediately giving away which direction her body might be setting to strike.

  Will knew this because it seemed like the elf was having a slightly difficult time predicting the woman’s movements.

  She strikes at the sand user again and again using seemingly razor sharp whips of water. She manages to keep him at bay and seems to hold her own for a couple minutes.

  However you can only combat pure speed and power with those types of moves for so long.

  Right as Will thought the woman was done for, she did something surprising. Instead of lashing out with a blade of water at the silver haired elf again, she floods the fighting ring with a thin layer of water.

  Suddenly the elf’s movement speed slowed by half.

  What the…

  Sensing his confusion, Alea spoke up.

  “He was using his sand to lesson the friction under his feet. It would take incredible timing and control, but theoretically, if you could pull it off, he could increase his speed, especially in short bursts, exponentially.”

  The revelation made Will realize what the woman accomplished. Flooding the ring turned the elf’s fine sand to mud, canceling his technique.

  The elf seemed to sneer at the woman. Then in a overwhelming burst of power the elf seemed to pull an immense amount of sand from his surroundings, specifically outside the ring. He formed two absolutely massive spikes of sand to either side of his two outstretched hands and launched them both at the woman.

  The mousey girl pulled a layer of water in front of herself at the last possible second. The defensive shield blunted the spikes of sand and took the lethality out of the attack, but the size and momentum of the spikes turned battering rams couldn’t be stopped. She was sent flying from the ring and the second she left the rings perimeter, was caught by the ref before she was sent flying into another circle.

  Alea snickered next to him. “I think he demonstrated more power than he meant to in that fight.”

  “He was trying to hide the extent of his abilities to maintain an edge.” Will said in realization.

  “You’re surprised? We knew people would be trying to do this.”

  “Not surprised by the move, more surprised at the extent. That was a lot of power he was trying to keep hidden. Playing things that close to the chest can be risky.”

  Alea shrugged. “Perhaps. But the risk of death here is basically non-existent. And depending on how far traveled he is, there’s a small chance he’ll see any of these people again.”

  Will understood her point. And did he really have any room to talk? He might have a good reason for hiding his power, but he was still doing what the elf was only to a much more extreme extent.

  He watched the remainder of the other fights and waited as patiently as he could for the roster for the next set of fights to be shown.

  His turn finally came as the third round roster was shown on the screen.

  Alea nodded at him but didn’t say anything. She seemed to sober up a little from her previous high energy state.

  His opponent this time was a fierce looking woman with blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was his same height, but slight in stature. She didn’t give off the feeling of weakness or frailty though. Will could tell that she was powerful in her own right. He could tell by the way she moved, she flowed with a grace and a strength that he immediately respected.

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  She smiled at him as she walked up.

  “Care to surrender blue eyes? I’m sure you can tell the difference in our strength; you don’t stand a chance here.” She batted her eye lashes at him.

  He laughed out loud and rubbed the back of his neck. And, embarrassingly, couldn’t prevent a slight blush from forming. “I’m good. Decent of you to offer though.”

  The girl tilted her head slightly at him. “Well aren’t you an innocent one.” Then she smiled a predatory smile. “They’re always the most fun to play with.”

  “Enough talking.” The ref interrupted them. “The rules are as follows…” the ref spouted off the rules that haven’t changed since the armored pair announced them on the first day.

  Will set himself into a ready stance as the ref finished speaking.

  “Begin!”

  Almost before the ref had finished speaking, the blonde blitzed him and led her attack with a perfectly executed punch. He could tell how much power she was generating and her speed was impressive.

  Unfortunately for her Will had noticed how blitzing your opponent seemed to be a common theme here and was prepared for it.

  Will dodged smoothly to the side and was about to land a short but powerful jab at the woman’s side, but two things happened at once that took him by surprise.

  A cut formed along his cheek, and his fist was met by a weird invisible barrier covering the woman. It had give to it, so it was able to absorb a good deal of his blow. The woman used the momentum of his own attack to push herself back and give herself a little distance from him.

  “Huh.” She said. Her tone sounded surprised, but her eyes were all predator. “And here I thought the only one’s speed here who might come close to mine was the sand user.”

  Wind.

  Will was sure of it. The barrier, the cut, the speed. It all rang like wind to him. This is going to be a challenge.

  A big grin spread across his face as he felt his excitement rise and his Qi begin to circulate even faster. Something he noticed happened when he got truly invested and pumped up during a fight.

  …

  Astora looks at the boy across from her and her eyes narrow slightly. She sees his muscles tense, his stance widen. She looks at him and begins to wonder at what she’s looking at exactly. The innocent boy who actually blushed when she teased him, has a smile stretched across his face that unnerved her slightly. It wasn’t evil or anything, but there was an excitement there and a surge of energy around him that came with it. It was almost a building of power around him. It was almost like…like cultivating during a fight. Which she knew to be impossible. Could it be a manifestation of his element? What even was his element? In his last fight and this one he hadn’t shown it.

  Which pissed her off. Was he taking her lightly? Could he even use an element? It was rare, but some cultivators were unable to manifest or utilize one.

  This boy was so odd. That dodge to her strike was more than just impressive, it shouldn’t have been possible, not at their level. Especially without utilizing his element to help him with his speed.

  He wasn’t just fast. She was fast. He was something different, on another level that she didn’t think could be reached in the Spirit Realm.

  And that punch! What kind of power was that? Who has both speed and power at those levels at the same time?

  And that look on his face. It wasn’t scary, it was invigorating. He wasn’t trying to be intimidating, she could see that. If she had to guess, she would say he was excited by the challenge.

  It wasn’t a concept she usually enjoyed herself. She liked to overwhelmingly overpower her opponents to a point where they had no chance against her.

  But now, looking at him with that look in his eyes, that excitement that seemed to be pouring out of every inch of him, she became excited.

  She wanted to see what this man could do. She wanted to pit herself against him and come out on top.

  She decided to not hold back. One way or the other she was going to show this boy what she could do and come out the victor!

  She began gathering her wind around her limbs to prepare a devastating combination of attacks that would-

  The boy suddenly appears in front of her.

  So fast!

  Her eyes widen as she tries desperately to leap backward to avoid the upward slash of one of his long knives.

  I didn’t even see him draw it!

  She barely evades the slash but she’s immediately put on the back foot.

  The boy strings together combination after combination. A non stop string of moves with barely any wasted movement flow from him and keep her from retaliating.

  Finally she manages to push him back with a blunt blast of wind.

  She resets herself quickly and charges at him, determined to put the pressure on him.

  She can’t give him a second to breathe. Element or no element, he’s an incredibly talented fighter, and has the strength and speed to back up his technique.

  She slashes down at him, a blade of wind leading the way. He evades it and goes to strike at her side again, but the same move won’t work on her twice.

  She can generate a blade of wind from anywhere on her body. They aren’t as strong as they would be from her limbs or channeled through a weapon, but they’re enough to injure most cultivators at her own tier and below.

  Crap, a feint.

  The boy stops his punch barely into it being started and drops to the ground so quickly it looks like he vanished, completely avoiding her blade of wind. He then sweeps her legs out from under her in the same motion.

  She immediately releases a concentrated blast of wind downward and shoots herself up into the air.

  She can’t believe he’s forced her to resort to this.

  He’s good. He knew not to use the same move twice. But avoiding a blade of wind from that close? This shouldn’t be possible.

  Something was bothering her. He shouldn’t be this fast. And at the moment of him avoiding her attack, did she see a small flash of light? Is he a light cultivator?

  She pushes herself higher into the air to give herself an extra few seconds of preparation. It looks like it’s all or nothing.

  She gathers a column of wind around her right arm, gathering as much wind as she can in the short time she has in the air. She spins it as rapidly as she can to help generate as much power as possible. She then narrows the end around and over her fist. The attack forms a perfect, incredibly condensed and highly destructive tornado around her arm. She had never planned on using this technique in this tournament, but she doesn’t want to take any chances with this guy.

  She begins her downward descent, using a gust of wind to propel her towards the ground to add power to the strike.

  Why is he just standing there grinning like an idiot?

  Fifteen feet from the ground he sends a long knife directly at her face. The precision and power behind it are incredible.

  She angles herself slightly to the side so she can avoid the blade but stay on course. But her eyes are drawn to the blade as it barely grazes her cheek and flies past her.

  She looks back too late. In the second her eyes left him he vanished!

  She looks to the side with wide eyes as the boy is turning in the air to put power and momentum into a full kick.

  The move connects with her midsection and impacts her like a cannon and sends her hurtling into the ground.

  She hits hard and is left stunned. She struggles to breathe as she tries to move her limbs.

  Boy or not he hits like a hammer.

  Get up you fool! Get up!

  Just as her limbs begin to respond and the dust from her impact settles the boy appears above her.

  In the stretch of a second he has both of her arms pinned beneath each of his legs and his remaining blade pinned to her artery along her neck.

  A moment of stunned stillness takes her as she grasps the position she’s in.

  “I….I surrender.” She growls out through gritted teeth.