Undying C86: Settling a Score (draft)
One"day High: So you"re saying...you"ve all been eliminated?
Di Qi Ju: Ah...mhm.
Lee Sole"shot: His abilities countered me too hard, I couldn"t help you settle that debt beforehand. Sorry Boss.
One"day High:...
One"day High: It"s fine, I sort of expected that.
One"day High: At least I didn"t get eliminated prematurely so my plan hasn"t failed yet.
At this very moment, One"day High was standing before us with a water dragon in one hand and a fire dragon in the other. His posture made him look like a caveman armed with some kind of strange weapon.
However, his dressing wasn"t the least bit primitive: a protective fireman"s suit that almost covered all of his body and a helmet that protected his entire head.
If I had to be more precise, he almost looked like some kind of first responder to a biological attack on Earth.
One"day High: There"s still one more match today, as long as I pa.s.s that, I can enter the main matches.
One"day High: However, that"s not important...you all know about it as well, my last opponent is Nine Heaven.
Di Qi Ju: Mhm, Lee Sole"shot just mentioned that.
One"day High: Sole"shot, what kind of techniques did Nine Heaven show in today"s match?
Lee Sole"shot: About that, I originally wanted to investigate that a bit more but he seemed rather conservative in his attacks. All he used were those weapons and one wish ability.
Lee Sole"shot: My instincts tell me that wasn"t all he had up his sleeves.
One"day High: What were those weapons and what was that ability?
Lee Sole"shot undid his shirt once more and revealed his chest; One"day High"s face twitched as he saw that.
One"day High: Throwing weapons? They were faster than your arrows?
Lee Sole"shot: No, he stabbed those into me himself.
Lee Sole"shot: He mentioned that he had some kind of wish ability that allows him to charge a person with superhuman speed. He was faster than anything I had ever seen before.
Lee Sole"shot: That speed was faster than my bow drawing. By the time I drew my bow, he was already attacking my arm.
Lee Sole"shot: In order to guard my arms, I had no choice but to neglect my chest region. As a result of those minor injuries, the judge called the match.
One"day High:...
One"day High: Given how hard he countered you and his merchant background, he must"ve researched every opponent beforehand.
One"day High: Hah, he"s a warrior and yet he acts like a merchant...his victory wasn"t even a result of his combat strength.
Di Qi Ju: Well...either way, how about taking out those blades first, Sole"shot.
Mo Chuan: What about Halfmoon Leak"age? Has his match ended?
One"day High: He has a more precise style of fighting like he wants a perfect victory on top of a guaranteed one. His match should be over anytime now.
Mo Chuan: Halfmoon Leak"age a.n.a.lysed this problem before as well, he said that Nine Heaven might have attained some kind of unique ability.
Mo Chuan: What do you think that unique ability could be?
Lee Sole"shot: Hmm---I didn"t notice any unique ability just now, he felt like a normal human opponent, a strong person but still a normal person.
One"day High: I watched his other matches as well, other than his agility, there was nothing special about his moves.
Di Qi Ju:...it could be a kind of wish ability that was invisible to the naked eye.
One"day High: Oh?
Mo Chuan: What"s that?
Di Qi Ju: Ah…
Di Qi Ju: ---nothing, it"s just a guess.
Di Qi Ju: By the way, it"s already lunchtime, we should hurry up and grab a bite. Aren"t the next few hours crucial for One"day High?
Di Qi Ju: We can continue discussing this later.
Mo Chuan: That"s true, blindly guessing won"t help us, at the end of the day, you still have to rely on yourself, One"day High.
One"day High: Ah, I know.
Mo Chuan: I"ll send Miss Bailey off first. Turns out that there"s no Death matches today so there"s no point in me being here at all.
(TL: Matches in the Battle of Death will be referred to as Death matches from now on. And yes, I know the word "deathmatch" exists.)
Mo Chuan: ---Bailey, let"s go.
Bailey: Oh...okay.
Di Qi Ju: About that, hold on for a moment.
Bailey: …?
I signalled to Mo Chuan to leave us alone for a moment after which I pulled her to a remote corner.
Bailey: What"s the matter?
Di Qi Ju: About that, I hope to perform a trade with you.
Bailey: What kind of trade?
Di Qi Ju: Don"t be scared alright?
Bailey: ...huh?
I gently undid my shirt and revealed the spot near my heart.
In her eyes, there should be a conspicuous scar there. Buried underneath that spot were two blades, Nine Heaven"s and Bailey"s.
Just now when she attacked me, Mo Chuan was actually a step late; the knife wasn"t blocked at all, instead, he only managed to slice the knife after it stabbed me.
Thus there were two metallic sounds, the first was these two blades colliding with each other and the second was Mo Chuan slicing apart the knife with his claws.
I"m not sure if Bailey herself noticed this.
Bailey:...
Bailey:.....
Under her ever-widening eyes, I used both of my arms to pull apart that scar and retrieved the two blades.
It wasn"t painful. Whether in terms of actual pain or phantom pain, it wasn"t painful at all.
Other than surprise however, there wasn"t any sign of fear on Bailey"s face. Looks like she really was numb to such violent acts.
Di Qi Ju: About these...this is my "wound", and this other knife belongs to you, Bailey.
Bailey: ...oh.
Di Qi Ju: Now, I"ll give this piece to you, while I keep your knife by my side, is that alright?
Bailey: ...why?
Di Qi Ju: Why…
Di Qi Ju: Because, I don"t want all of us to bear our own wounds within our heart.
Di Qi Ju: They, and all other related matters, should be taken away by others. All that should be left behind is the experience we use to grow as person, shouldn"t it?
Bailey: Okay…
Bailey took that blade and gingerly held it in her hands.
Di Qi Ju: When the Three Battles has concluded, I"ll come to find you again.
Di Qi Ju: I hope that you"ll help me fulfill a wish, at the same time, I"ll help you fulfill a wish as well.
Di Qi Ju: When that comes, I"ll explain it in detail, alright?
Di Qi Ju: It"s just that during the period of the Three Battles, I hope you will wait for me.
Di Qi Ju: If you trust me...I promise that I won"t disappoint you like the person you waited for previously.
Bailey:...
Bailey:......
After a delay, Bailey turned around and sprinted to the coliseum"s exit.
Mo Chuan:, Hey, why are you running off?
Bailey: ---if you hadn"t saved me as well back when Naysis was attacked, there"s no way I would place my hopes on you.
Bailey ---you understand me?
Di Qi Ju:...
Di Qi Ju: ---understood.
Di Qi Ju:......
Bailey"s matter will just have to be set aside like this for now...
Mo Chuan hurriedly chased after Bailey while One"day High signalled for a lunch break with a tilt of his head. At that moment however, Lee Sole"shot quietly approached me and in a soft voice, whispered.
Lee Sole"shot: Hey~, Little Ju, so what was going with that woman just now?
Di Qi Ju: Woman?
Lee Sole"shot: That woman who immediately ran away after hearing Boss High"s name and seeing that he was walking over.
Lee Sole"shot: Why did you want us to hide that matter from him?
Di Qi Ju: About that…
Di Qi Ju:...
Di Qi Ju: Even though it"s only my gut feeling...but I feel that now"s not the time for the both of them to meet.
Di Qi Ju: Hopefully, I"m not wrong about this.
Lee Sole"shot: …??
……
……
On the first day of the Three Battles…
This afternoon"s atmosphere seemed a lot more orderly than before.
With the rapid and chaotic end of those elimination matches and the arrival of the Three Battle"s master of ceremonies (MC from now on), the fish market-like atmosphere began to settle down. The Three Battles finally had a grand tournament atmosphere to it.
MC: ---next up, we have the last round of the preliminary matches of the Battle of Righteousness!
MC: All the contestants merely have to win one round in order to enjoy a warrior"s welcome in the main matches!
MC: This afternoon, we have a couple of contestants who have a deep connection with each other!
MC: Both of them were once a pair of dastardly merchants from the Country of Numbers, however, both of them have given up on the darkness and returned to the light. Now, they"re both here in the honorable Country of Skills to win a position of glory for themselves!
Di Qi Ju:......
MC: Their names are--- "One"day High" and "Nine Heaven"!
Crowd: Roar----
MC: Contestant One"day High"s weapons are a water dragon, a fire dragon and a protective suit! Are those even a warrior"s weapons or is there some sort of special trick to them?
MC: He has announced that he won"t come into direct contact with any part of his opponent"s body at all and instead, will rely completely on his weapons. Looks like he"s pretty confident in his gear!
MC: Even though such "Gear-dependant contestants" don"t really go far, let"s pray that he can make history for such methods!
MC: Nine Heaven"s weapons are...he has decided not to use any weapons and will instead rely on his own body to attack, similar to a fight in the Battle of Loyalty!
MC: Even though he used those short blades in all of his previous matches in the morning, why did he suddenly decide to change after matching up against a gear-dependant opponent?
MC: Is it because of his supreme self-confidence, is he showing contempt for his opponent, or is it because he has already found the weakness to One"day High"s attacks?
MC: Now---let the battle begin! Will the both sides exchange some opening words!
One"day High:......
Nine Heaven:......
The pair exchanged an icy glare with each other.
One"day High had basically undergone a full makeover with his entire body being wrapped up in protective gear, even his expression was hidden from view right now.
Nine Heaven on the other hand, didn"t change much except that he tied up his long hair into a ponytail.
This battle wasn"t just important to One"day High, it was to me as well so I focused my entire attention on the stage.
I wonder if Breiya, wherever she was right now, felt the same as well.
Nine Heaven: One"day High, these past few days, I checked the information I had of that incident and I"ve finally remembered who you are.
Nine Heaven: Frankly...all I did was to fulfill Three"floral Dawn"s commercial goal, that was why I purposely investigated your personal affairs and relations and set that trap to prevent you from attending the conference.
Nine Heaven: However, never could I have imagined that you would fall for it so easily, it almost felt like you weren"t a citizen of Numbers at all, thus, I quickly forgot about it.
Nine Heaven: That woman must"ve been more important to you than your career, right?
One"day High:...
Nine Heaven: Then, after sacrificing so much, did you attain that woman?
One"day High:...
Nine Heaven: ...ah, I guess that"s true. If you did, you wouldn"t be standing here today.
One"day High: Since you already know so much, how about we cut the c.r.a.p?
MC: Oh oh oh---such a shocking speech!
MC: These two seemed to be acquainted with each other since a long time ago, and there even seems to be some kind of feud between them!
MC: Will this match end up being a grim battle of vengeance??
Nine Heaven: How about this, since both of us aren"t merchants anymore, how about we cut to the chase?
Nine Heaven: What are you trying to do here, One"day High? What are you after?
One"day High: Hmph…
One"day High: Soldier, merchant and now a warrior. Aren"t you living a fulfilling life, Nine Heaven.
One"day High: I wonder how many people you stepped on to achieve that?
Nine Heaven:...
One"day High: I"m going to create an opponent that you will never overcome, Nine Heaven.
One"day High: What I want is to push your warrior life off a sheer cliff!
Nine Heaven: Hoh...a weakling like you?
A fearless smile crossed the icy lips of Nine Heaven. On the other end, One"day High pulled down his visor hiding his face in the process and prepared the weapons in his hands.
There was no need for anyone to announce the start of the battle, both of them had started already.
Nine Heaven, One"day High: ---how about we test that out!?!?
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Footnotes:
Credits:
Special thanks to Kaung Thant Win Naing!!