RD 4 Ch 50

"What?” The Mul Branova said, sounding beyond confused as the stone statue she'd been fighting bled into the ground, disappearing, only for another statue to grow back up on the platform in front of her.

She picked up a single system coin. Not even an F-ranked monster would drop something this low. She cursed and looked at the two others who had supported her in the fight.

We had just begun training in the Trial of Kings and they were not expecting such poor drops.

"Don't worry about the gold," I said, my voice causing all of the Mul Branova to stiffen. "Just continue fighting." 

Our group had been traveling for about two weeks over land, working to reach the Trial of Kings. There were not enough resources to go around in our eastern fortress bordering the Demon Lands, in what used to be China. We’d run all the instances dry and even sending forces out to probe the demons just wasn’t cutting it.

This was one of the more difficult parts of making a large force. Keeping them stocked with food was difficult enough, but to keep them all growing we needed monsters and instances. Yet, by concentrating them in a fortress meant that for several days travel in every direction was completely clear now.

In fact, Mul Branova from every fortress that didn't require a boat had rushed here, over six thousand of them were here training. I had also cycled three of the generals and their armies into the group while spreading the others out as best as we could. All reports we'd gotten thus far were that the demons had pulled back, which meant that my idea for the tournament was working out wonderfully.

All clans and powerful initiates had their eyes on the opportunity to get an M-ranked bloodline, causing them all to shift into their own preparations. Though, I wasn’t entirely convinced that was the only reason.

Clans had been separated for so long that they hadn’t really had a chance to test each other in a long while. This was a time for each of them to show where they stood. It was a time to show power and earn respect. They were going to establish a pecking order.

Even though they were competing through their younger generation, they took it personally, wanting to put their best foot forward. And while the demons might have held the Wukong clan, the Heavenly Fist sect, and possibly others, the Demon Lord knew he had to show up and present the sects well for the very same reasons. And the M-ranked bloodline was a nice little temptation for everyone involved. 

And while I did not specifically care about showing off at the tournament, I certainly had my own purposes that I would reveal to all of them when the time was right.

Merlin’s voice broke me from my thoughts. She leaned against her staff, resting her head on the crystalline structure. "I think I'm going to take a break from teleporting around if you don't mind, Bran," she groused.

I flashed her a giant smile. "One of these days there will be enough SSS rank materials to go around that people will start building portals."

Simone turned to me in a flash, her smile lighting up. "Do you think we could get some between the Mul Branova Fortresses?" 

"Eventually," I promised. "But not now, we have to continue to let our forces grow." 

I was now traveling with thousands of Mul Branova, as well as Winnie, Roger, and General Cao’s armies. All of them were throwing themselves at the first few ranks of stone soldiers. Every time someone got close to a platform, a single soldier level 150 would jump off of it. The soldiers were odd in that they had no rank when inspected.

The Trial of Kings was unlike instances. While it gave full experience for killing something that was level 150, it gave only a single system gold coin. The experience was nice, but the lack of any other goods or loot made it less appealing than other farming.

Yet if instances were scarce, this was much better than nothing to keep my army growing.

Most of the fighters currently stood in small groups of three to five, taking on a single level 150 stone soldier. The stone soldiers came equipped with a simple gladius and shield. They weren’t overly difficult to pin down with multiple fighters, really they were meant to, as a whole, challenge an army.

Beyond the rows of stone soldiers were more pedestals. First they contained bronze, then silver, and then gold. Each of the pedestals grew larger with more soldiers on them with each wave. By the gold set, there were well over a hundred.

The purpose was for some leader to bring their army and open the way to the trail of kings. However, in the first life I cut through this room with five people, far beyond our current strength.

I stood there with my arms crossed, watching everyone work. Some of the men in the army were trailing over to the Mul Branova, and slowly they were all working together. Soft steps came up behind me, and I turned to see Winnie standing alongside me.

"So, this place," she said slowly, "Circe says it grants a few people quite a bit of power. Does it?" she asked, noting the massive scythe made of ice resting on her shoulder. 

"It does, but I'm not sure any of us are prepared for what's within the trial." I said.

She watched me, her eyes saying more than her words.

I waited, seeing if she would press further. Her eyes narrowed. I was afraid this day was going to come, and I could feel it coming sooner with each second. The problem with Winnie was that while she was strong and had a life or death grudge with the Demon Lord, she was a drawn weapon ready to strike at any moment.

“You may not be prepared, but I would do a great number of things for the power to kill the Demon Lord." Winnie said, turning to look at the doors beyond.

I stared her down, hoping that she would stop.

She was a very rigid woman. But then she lifted her scythe off of her shoulder, spinning it around and stamping the butt into the ground as she glared at me. "Then I would like to challenge you, Lord Bran." She said my name with a disinterested tone, as if she was only saying it because it was the same way an old woman might refuse to shorten someone else's name. 

I let out a sigh and shook my head as a blade made of my own blood slid into my hand. I perched my palms on the pommel, blade down as the weapon bit ever so slightly into the stone between my feet. 

"I suppose you were always going to test me. Why not today?" I smiled at Winnie.

She grabbed her scythe and spun it artfully around herself, picking up a small frosty wind that pulled at the edges of her robe. 

"If I beat you, I'm going to go in there," she said. 

"You have to go in through all of that," I gestured at the massive army of stone and metallic soldiers before us. "While I can assume you're able to push yourself fairly far, Winnie, I can say with confidence you cannot push yourself all the way to the end. Not as you are now." 

Her eyes flashed dangerously and she moved.

I stepped to the side, my blade striking the shaft of her scythe, only to duck low as she jerked it towards herself.

The blade passed a hair's breadth above my head, and a few cut strands trickled on the ground.

Scythes were odd weapons that often had two stages or more with each attack. Of course the giant blade was dangerous in its own right, but at many points it could be spun, or pulled back.

Unlike a sword or axe, you had to be cautious with how you blocked and always aware of that blade’s position. 

"You have fought someone with the scythe before," she said with a smirk, stepping back and squaring up against me.

My sword rested loosely in my hand as I watched her carefully.

Winnie was above me in stats and she was once considered the star of the strongest Sect in the world. Her scythe was a unique weapon and I’m sure she destroyed many who went against her treating it like a strangely shaped axe. 

In truth, I thought they were quite easy to deal with after figuring out the standard attacks. There were only so many. Although the same could also be said of swords depending on which system a person used to train. 

Winnie disappeared like a chill breeze, appearing beside me as her scythe blade ripped through the air.

I caught it with my sword, turning my whole body against the blade, and pushing with all my strength where the blade met the shaft. I had to lean back, the reach of the blade at that point was enough to punch through my chest if I guarded too close to my body.

Winnie clicked her tongue as she used my strength to somersault through the air, her blade making a last attempted attempt to cut me as it sliced away from my sword.

If I had rushed to follow her, I would have fallen right into the particular trap she was setting. So instead, I waited. 

She landed in a crouch and exploded forward. She was fast, far faster than me. Instead of trying to match her speed, I needed to minimize the movement required to react to each of her attacks. 

The truth of the scythe, despite its large size, was that it was a weapon of speed. The bladed crescent at the end was large, but its weight wasn't a problem for any initiated. Instead, the concern would always be how quickly it could be swung back around, and the finesse of the wielder, of which Winnie proved she had plenty. 

Each time her scythe cut through the air, it was more than just a slash, it was also like a fisherman's hook. If she could get the blade behind any part of my body, all it took was a simple, swift tug from her, and she'd rip that blade straight through me. Add in the blade’s size and it severely limited where I could move at any given time.

So instead, I stood still in this fight. And beyond strategic placement, it was fun to watch Winnie get frustrated as I stood still and she continued to fail to hit me. Yet she continued to zip around me attacking from nearly every conceivable angle.

"I told you, Winnie, you aren't ready," I repeated, blocking another attack from her. 

So far, she had kept it to a fight with weapons and not skills, for which I was thankful enough that I wasn't going to point that out and open up the opportunity.

I caught her next slash, letting its force carry my sword over my shoulder and keeping my blade on hers, closing off the option of her pulling back and slicing off my arm at the shoulder. 

Winnie's eyes flashed, and she only grew more animated she became to make her strikes more complex, sliding through several combinations.

Yet I focused on minimizing my movements to combat her steadily increasing speed.

She came at me again, striking as if she were wielding an ice pick.

I caught the very tip of her blade, turning it aside, rolling my shoulder underneath the shaft and transforming my parry into a horizontal slash aimed straight at her midsection. 

She kicked off the ground, launching herself backwards, and my blade only managed to cut a warning scratch through her robes. A single drop of blood congealed at the edge of the cut. She glared at me, furious, but she stamped down that fury a split second later, her expression icy as she glanced down the hall to the massive set of doors at the end.

What lay beyond them was left up to our imagination. 

"If I go through there, I'll get even stronger too, and trust me, I will go through there eventually," I said. "But it's not just a challenge of whether you can swing your weapon the correct way. It's a challenge of whether or not you're worthy to hold the power given." I glared and waited for my words to settle in, realizing as I waited that everybody surrounding us were staring at our fight.

All of Winnie’s disciples, as well as a fair number of the Mul Branova, were watching us with shock on their faces. They had stepped back away from the stone statues to gawk at our fight.

The Mul Branova had bright faces with wide smiles, meanwhile Winnie’s people had a strange look of confusion. It seemed that they didn’t even understand why Winnie lost.

"I don't believe I called for a break," I said, turning to our onlookers. "Back to work." 

Their spines quickly straightened and nobody met my eyes, as they went back to fighting the statues. 

I turned back to Winnie, but gave Circe a knowing look as I turned, hoping she heard my next words as well.

"If I told you, Winnie, that stepping through those doors would mean you could kill the Demon Lord with a snap of your fingers, what would you do?" I asked.

She glanced over at the past once again, a look of longing in her eyes. "I would take that power at all costs," she said. At least she wasn't lying. 

"And that is why you cannot. As I said, the trial is not just a test of combat; it tests who you are." I jabbed a finger at her. "And a woman that would throw all of this away for the power to kill her enemy is not the person that's going to get the power that lies behind those doors. So forget it, Winnie." I could tell she wasn't as dissuaded as I would have hoped. Her eyes kept being drawn back towards the door. My gaze then shifted to Circe. 

"As for you, you're coming with me." I told her.

Circe jerked like a marionette who had had her strings tugged. "You say that like I'm in trouble." 

"Who says you're not? It's clear you told Winnie at least something about the Trial of Kings." I gestured over at the doors.

The name only seemed to make Winnie's eyes burn more fiercely.

"And now she is going to become a problem. Are you mad that I said that you could not successfully take the trial?" I pressed.

"Water under the bridge," Circe said, waving her hand dismissively. “She asked about this place is all.”

In truth, I believed her that there weren’t any ulterior motives. Yet I still had something to do with her. "Come with me Circe. Simone, keep watch, please. And if Winnie should try and run into the trials, don't stop her." I instructed, not wanting Simone to get hurt.

Those words caused Winnie to turn around and frown at me.

"Just make sure to find the second best amongst her sect to replace her as general. She won't be coming back if she enters those doors." I put steel into my voice. 

On one hand, I completely understood Winnie’s desire for more strength, especially after the rise of demon armies. Having strength became everything. But I also couldn't have these women throwing their lives away.