The friends gathered in the private sparring arena, although this time things were different. One was that Gwen was absent. Azura had no idea where the half-badger kin was, but figured she needed time to herself. She had taken the news of the betrayal rather badly. The other different thing… was everything else.

Gerald stood tall off to the side, a war maul with a massive head held in both hands. The head of the hammer was oversized and appeared to be made of several pieces held together with glue. Azura would have dismissed the weapon as a faulty construction if it hadn't been radiating powerful ki.

Tabatha stood in the middle, excitedly bouncing back and forth from one foot to another. With each step, there seemed to be an unfelt breeze shuffling her clothes.

Lastly, Hamal stood calm and composed. He didn't appear to move, but his posture could change without her notice as shadows warped strangely around him. Freaky.

"Ahem, thanks for meeting with me. The battle at Deepmere is fast approaching, so I want to see how well you've progressed. We will be the vanguard during the assault, and our actions will save kin lives," Azura said, her face darkening. "And end those who resist us. So, let's see what you can do."

Azura dropped into a ready stance, her ki rapidly flowing through her body. "Begin!"

Unlike the previous bout, there was no mad rush at her. Gerald cracked his neck as he stepped onto the arena. Tabatha grinned as she flitted around like a dragonfly chasing a swarm of mosquitoes. Hamal… it was hard to know where he was. He wasn't invisible, yet her eyes struggled to track him. Azura might lose his presence altogether if she couldn't feel the blood flowing through him.

The four cultivators waited for someone to make the first move. Azura had learn patience and the cost of acting recklessly. She could wait. That didn't turn out to be necessary. With a burst of wind, Tabatha threw out a punch from a dozen paces away. She was infusing the wind she made from a punch into her ki. Clever. The blast of wind tried to cut at Azura's skin and push her back. All it did was ruffle her hair. Whatever the technique was, Azura could tell the rabbit-kin was inexperienced at it. The girl used a lot of ki to produce such a minor effect. Minor was a relative term. Several trees behind Azura had splintered from the force. Tabatha seemed shocked that Azura was unfazed. It cost her as Azura sped forward before the young rabbit-kin could regain her composure. A strong punch sent the girl flying backwards. She either lost control of the ki step technique or had intentionally released it to put some distance between the two of them. Whatever the case, Azura had to abandon any follow-up as a hammerhead came for her chest. Azura crossed her arms, funneling an excess amount of ki into her arms. The strike landed with a force that made the meteor strike she had taken from that dragon feel like a rose petal in the wind. The arena cracked beneath her from the impact, sending debris flying. Yet for all its destructive potential, she held firm, exhausting a vast quantity of ki to endure the blow.

"Tough," Gerald grunted.

"Strong," Azura retorted with a similar grunt.

Gerald attempted to pull his weapon back, yet Azura held it in place with her ki. She didn't want that to hit her again. A surprising surge of ki erupted from the weapon, erasing her control, freeing the weapon. Azura gaped in surprise. Gerald overpowered her control? How! She had spent years mastering that. Desperate to get some distance, Azura expanded her ki flowing into the ground to encompass Gerald's position. If he truly had gained such mastery, then this would be a minor inconvenience that might allow Azura to reposition. Instead, Azura instantly broke Gerald's relatively shallow footing. His ki no longer secured him in place. It was relatively easy. Azura capitalized on his unsure footing, kicking the bear-kin off the arena. Gerald flew backwards as Tabatha rushed back in, her fists a blur.

Azura blocked as best she could but the rabbit-kin was so damn fast! Azura had a brief flashback to when she and Toren would race. The rabbit-kin had always been swift, and his younger sister had taken after him. More blows landed as Azura retreated, trying to find an opening. The girl was fast. Too fast. Her ki was being rapidly exhausted. If Azura did nothing, Tabatha would soon find herself out of usable ki.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

As if, Azura thought. She wouldn't win through attrition. Azura used the same technique against Tabatha that she had used against Gerald, disrupting the ki that held the rabbit-kin in place. It was significantly harder to break the girl's control than it was for Gerald. Tabatha's ki steps technique was deeper than the bear-kins, but she managed it. Without her footing, Tabatha lost control, tumbling aside.

In a moment of inspiration, everything fell into place. Gerald had more control over his weapon because it was infused with a core fragment. That allowed him greater control. At the same time, that meant he had fewer pieces of his core inside himself. That caused his ki radius to be reduced and his control outside his body to be weaker. Tabatha had no limitations, so her ki radius was larger and she had better control. Neither of them could match her. Not only did Azura have years of practice, but she also had more core fragments than her two friends combined. In any contest of ki control, she was supreme. She had this. That was when the shadows at her feet struck.

Shadows with the thickness of silk erupted from the ground, stabbing at her legs. Azura grunted as more of her ki was exhausted fending off the unexpected attack. A flare from her blood sense indicated where the actual threat lay. She turned just in time to catch a fist on her hastily raised arm. Hamal gave her a cheeky wink as he stepped back, his guard flawless. Azura reached for him, attempting the same ki-disruption technique she had used on the others. Hamal appeared to have anticipated her actions because a thread of his shadow connected to a distant part of the arena, pulling his body to the left and out of reach. By directly using his attuned element, Hamal would be rapidly exhausting his ki. However, with three opponents, such an expenditure would work in the rat-kin's favor. She had to keep the pressure on him. Azura leaped to follow, but a metal something collided with her side, sending her tumbling.

Azura flipped in mid-air and pulled herself to the ground with a tug of ki. She looked up just in time to dodge that strange metal object as it sailed past her head. The force of its passing rattled her teeth and sent her hair whipping about. A glance showed her what this mysterious attack was. The maul's head with Gerald's ki in it. It was flying about on its own as Gerald stood on the far side of the arena, his eyes closed, face scrunched up in concentration. By installing a piece of his core into this weapon, he'd overcome a weakness that Azura had been struggling with. Range. He could effectively use physical attacks beyond his sphere of influence. It was an inspired use of his core fragments. However, the cost was apparent. Azura could feel the bear-kin's ki rapidly being exhausted. His new technique had the same limitation as directly controlling an attuned element.

Azura had no further time for consideration as all three cultivators attacked in unison. Gerald's weapon's head flew back to the waiting shaft, where it seamlessly connected as he charged at her. Azura deflected his first blow but was halted from any retaliation as a wind-infused ki strike drove her to one knee. Tabatha had leapt high into the sky, where a breeze kept her aloft as she rained down a flurry of ki empowered punches upon her. Azura rolled out of the way, trying to reposition, and that was when Hamal struck. If it were just Gerald and Tabatha, Azura could have managed. Against all three working together… Azura couldn't hold. Her dodge was abruptly cut short as tendrils of shadow lashed, wrapping around her limbs, halting her momentum. A burst of ki disrupted the shadows, but it was too late. Tabatha's strikes finally caught her, forcing Azura to the ground. That was when Gerald arrived, maul raised over his head for a two-handed strike. The maul descended, and Azura only had time to increase the flow of ki in her body before the blow landed. The strike shook the entire arena, sending a fountain of dust and debris high into the sky as the blow landed solidly on her chest.

The new liquid cultivators stood together, breathing heavily, their ki exhausted as they waited for the dust to clear.

"Did we get her?" Tabatha asked between panting breaths. Then she looked worried. "We didn't hurt her, did we?"

Unable to wait, the rabbit-kin used the last portion of her unexhausted ki to clear the dust. In a crater, Azura lay unmoving. Before any fear could set upon them, Azura's hand twitched before she sat up, rubbing at her chest.

"Ow. That hurt," Azura said, getting unsteadily to her feet. "I think I'll just do one-on-one matches from now on. You guys are awesome." Azura gave them a brilliant smile as she held back her disappointment. She thought she could beat them still. They might have exhausted their ki, but Azura's was also close to that state. If Gwen were here, she would have been soundly defeated. Azura didn't let the despair grow. After all, it was about time she explored another path of power. Each time Azura had burnt a piece of her ki, she'd felt something more. Something greater, some higher concept or command. She didn't have the words to express it, but if she wanted to stay ahead of the pack and lead the way, it was time to figure it out.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.