Savage Awakening 469. The Summit of the Ages (II)

A/N: Bonus chapter!

//

That week he got his first postcard from Evan. It had a drawing on it, all watercolors, of a tower spearing into the clouds, each layer as wide as a kingdom. You could vaguely see what was going on inside through its archways. Gears cranked through one floor. Another seemed a water world, drifting with dolphins.

A tiny Evan popped up on the card. Chomper panted beside him. He had on a backpack and a little hat. He waved.

“We just arrived at the station!” He looked a bit sleep-deprived but still chipper.

“I met some really cool people on the train.” He pattered up to a large fellow and pointed. “That’s Orin! He said he’s met you before. He let me try his hammer!”

Sure enough, there was Orin Thunderfist with his wire-frame glasses. Small world.

“That’s Emily! She comes from just outside the edges of the Galaxy. I didn't even know folks lived out there…”

“Hey there,” said a white-haired, violet-eyed lady. She wore priest’s robes.

Evan then went around and happily pointed out six other friends he made on the train.

“It’s all starting tomorrow…” Evan was buzzing.

“I didn’t really know much about the tower before I came, other than what Miss Reina told me when she gave me her briefing. But they have all these plaques around, see?”

He went up to one—this giant fresco, right outside the mouth of the Tower.

He showed them off one by one. The first was of a white-haired, built old man wielding sword and shield.

“That’s the Delver King!”

He was facing down a horde of skeletons.

Another was of the King gritting his teeth, glaring at a red eye in the sky.

“It says the Delver King gave his soul to the tower,” said Evan. “This is where he made his last stand… but somehow he got even stronger when the Monster Overlord struck him down! It says his soul became one with the tower.”

That was indeed what it said on the mural.

“But he did it to protect his tribe and give them a place to stay,” said Evan. “They’ve lived there ever since…”

Evan got a little quieter. He grinned sheepishly. “I guess I didn't really realize it had a history like that,” he said. “I went and read up on the Delver King—all I saw were all his adventures. It made him sound like the greatest hero ever…”

“I wonder why they left it out,” said Evan. He thought about it for a little. “Maybe it’s ‘cause it wasn’t a happy ending.”

He looked up at Chomper. Chomper panted.

“I guess that makes sense,” said Evan. “But… to me, it just makes him sound like even more of a hero.”

Chomper panted some more.

Evan nodded. “Mhm! I think so too.”

He gave one last wave. The scene winked out.

There was one day left before the Summit began. The streets were so packed the ants went faster than people.

Zane found it all quite stuffy—he was constantly bumping into folks in the main thoroughfares. It was quite hard getting to his favorite fountains.

He ended up wandering around the edges of the mountains, taking in the views, waving at some of the monks. Quite a few temples out there. He’d done a surprising amount of sightseeing this trip—just general tourist stuff. As much as he could remember, Cloud City was a very pleasant place.

He was just making his usual rounds, munching on some cloud cotton candy—though he couldn’t tell how it was any different from normal cotton candy—when he felt an odd aura signature. A subtle thing. If he didn’t have Sage Mind, he doubted he’d even have noticed.

Shrugging, he headed out to investigate.

It went quite far out of the way. He had to leave the beaten path, hopping over a medley of streams and stones all the way to the edge of the mountain, where a thick of waterfalls threatened to carry anyone who tread near over the cliffs.

There—hidden in a little cave—he found a single rune. A giant one—bigger than nearly any he’d seen, like the ones on Earth’s anti-Monster satellites. But it sat there dormant.

It looked like it had been pretty recently applied too, drawn in some tar-like substance.

Now that he was up close, he was sure of it. Up close, he could confirm it—this stuff felt much higher-tier than everything else…

He fished out a recording crystal and took a snapshot. He’d have to ask Reina what it was about. He had a pretty good guess.

He wandered off to the fountains, still munching.

***

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said the announcer. “Welcome… to the moment you’ve all been waiting for—the opening round of the Summit of the Ages!”

The crowd was on its feet, stomping.

“On the left—with an undefeated record, having finished every enemy in prelims with a single splash potion—it’s the ‘Mad Alchemist,’ Gu Ying!”

The crowd showered down boos, but Gu Ying just shrugged. He was a wizened old man, stooped and very wrinkly. But his aura was no less strong than any of the top talents Zane had fought.

“Don’t let his look fool you!” said the announcer. “He might look like a frail old man, but Gu Ying’s tough as all hell—he’s tested all his worst poisons on himself! His body can take almost any kind of attack—physical or soul… and just one splash potion can take down even the mightiest of foes…”

Gu Ying grinned toothlessly at Zane, licking his lips.

“On the other side… Jack!”

By the sounds of it, the crowd wasn't sure what to make of him.

“…Not much is known about him,” conceded the announcer. “But he did make it through prelims with ease, wielding his… unique… martial art.”

“It’s called the Way of Rock,” said Jack. He waved his rock for emphasis.

“The Way of Rock!”

Lots of folks looked at one another in the crowd. But there was some polite applause.

Across the ring, Gu Ying grinned even wider.

***

“Cheer up, will you?” said Kira. “You’ve been a wreck all weekend!”

“I… don’t know if that’s helpful,” said Ryu.

“What?” She crossed her arms. “I mean, sure. You lost in the tenth round. And sure—your ex’s with that Young Master douche now. But c’mon! This is Cloud City—you’re only here once in a lifetime.”

She punched Jun’s shoulder playfully. “Just enjoy yourself! Let loose some, forget her. Who knows—maybe you’ll even find someone better. …Maybe even someone who’s been there all along.”

“Kira,” said Ryu with a flat look.

“What?”

“Real subtle.”

“She’s right.” Jun shook his head, smiled weakly. “I’ve got to pick myself up—that’s what martial artists do. Besides—it’s not about me. We’re here to support Jack… I’m not gonna drag us all down.”

“That’s the spirit.” Kira grinned. She thwacked him again.

“…Why do you keep hitting me?”

As they headed to their seats, they bumped into a paunchy, drunk man with a patchy beard. “Watch where you’re going!”

Kira glared. The sight of an assassin girl dressed in all black—complete with black choker and eyeliner—strapped head-to-toe with gleaming knives, glowering at him, seemed to strike the guy dumb. “Hmph.”

They moved on down the rows.

“This arena’s just… huge,” said Jun. He shook his head. “There’s got to be ten? Twenty million in here?”

“It does make finding seats a struggle,” said Ryu mildly.

“Guys, the fight’s about to start!” said Kira. The announcer had started shouting. “Let’s go Jack!” she cried.

There came a swell of surprise—folks started standing up.

“We’re missing the action!” she said. “C’mon—let’s hurry it up.”

They barely managed to get into the right row when—CLANG!

The audience fell silent.
“…It’s over?” said Jun.

“That was fast,” said Ryu.

***

Back in the arena, Zane realized he’d made a mistake.

He’d worn combat robes this time. That was part of his prep—he realized if he was shirtless, like he usually was, it’d be a bit too obvious that being hit didn’t do much. If some top fighter’s all-out slash couldn’t even draw blood, he figured it’d draw quite some unnecessary attention.

Hence the combat robes.

That part wasn’t the mistake.

This Gu Ying guy’s poisons were really something.

He’d counted on his robes to hold off a clean hit. The fellow he’d bought it from—the manager at ‘Old Chow’s Emporium’—had said they were graded to withstand peak Ascendants’ most powerful attacks.

Zane had slumped the fellow pretty easily. Gu Ying was a puddle of robes at his feet. The trouble was the counterattack.

The poison had burned right through—exposing his untouched abs. To make things worse, the oily nature of it gave them a slight sheen, as though highlighting each muscle.

There came a terse silence.

“Ow,” said Zane, a little belatedly. He added a wince. “That really hurt.”

***

“Man!” Jun fought his way through the crowd. “I still can’t believe Jack took that so easily… I knew he was a master, but…”

He shook his head. “I wonder how far he’ll go?”

Ryu shook his head. “I’m not surprised.”

***

Near the bottom of the stands, there were a few private boxes. They housed the major sects.

“What was his name?” breathed Saint Earthshatter. A well-built—if oddly distributed—man. Most of his mass was like a rock climber’s—top-heavy, with lots of forearm. He was very old, and yet oddly robust for his age.

“Jack,” said his secretary. She adjusted her glasses as she studied the scouting report.

“All we have is that he practices the ‘Way of Rock’…”

“The Way of… Rock?”

“The only notes we have are from prior opponents,” said his secretary. “We don’t know how it works, precisely—whenever asked, he says it’s self-explanatory. And he waves his rock around.”

“I,” growled Saint Earthshatter. “Have meditated amid earthquakes that have shattered continents. Have buried myself in the planet’s core to know the undulations of its stone—I’ve raised mountain ranges with a slash of a staff! I know rocks.”

He jabbed a trembling finger. “That is not how rocks work!”

“…I don’t know what to tell you, sir…”

Conversations much like that one were playing out across the boxes.

One box held a Young Masters’ watch party.

There was silence at first. Then they all burst out laughing.

“Guess that Gu Ying wasn’t worth much after all…”

“Who gets dropped by a rock!?”

“What’d you expect?” said Young Master Song—handsome, with delicate skin and lashes. A phoenix perched on his shoulder, sneering. “He’s just some old man. Hitting an old man with a rock—anyone can do that.”

“Let’s see him fight someone who won’t fall over at a harsh breeze,” said the Young Master Pai, blue-haired, looking like a suave surfer in his ocean clan robes.

Young Master Song leaned in, grinning—“Did you see who’s up next?”

“Tell us already!”

He showed them the bracket. The box fell silent.

“Shen Long,” he said. “The Storm Prince.”

“That monster’s back?” croaked Pai.

Before his fall from grace, the Storm Prince had once challenged every top Young Master of his generation in all of the divine realm to an all-on-one duel. Including every Young Master at that table. An act of such brazen arrogance they had no choice but to accept.

Every Young Master there was still haunted by the brutality of that day…

Then Shen Long went too far. As an Inner Sect disciple, he’d challenged a Core Chosen—and crippled his cultivation in the duel.

For that, he’d been exiled for life.

…Until now.

“This Jack’s never gonna walk again…” said Young Master Pai. It wasn’t even gloating anymore—just pitying.