Timeless Prominence

Conv-Munzkr. Those who joined the Great Sects abandon their original family name, and take on the name of the sect. Still, it was obvious that this man, Munzkr must be related to the fallen outer advancer Dunzkr from the Convergence Sect. It was rather common for families to name their descendents in a similar way.

“Rein,” the watcher sounded in the hood. “Due to the current unique circumstances, the Halls have a mission for you. You will be awarded five thousand contribution points, the equivalent of a black star mission.”

Rein felt his heart thumping in anticipation.

“Use this opportunity to truly ignite a war within the Great Sects. The Great Sects of the Evergreen Mountains are a total of eight. They are led primarily by Convergence Sect and Uni Sect. The secondary sects are made up of the White Lily Sect, Sun Sword Sect, One Formation Sect, and Pill Ignition Sect. The remaining fringe sects are Harmony Sect and Demon Taming Sect.”

“Your mission? These eight sects do not see eye-to-eye. Convergence and Uni Sect have been butting heads for decades. The Sun Sword Sect has staunchly stood behind Convergence Sect, while One Formation Sect has supported Uni Sect. Now, Convergence Sect has lost Dunzkr. Take advantage of the discordant situation. Push it to the brink. Kill their talents and upset the balance of power. We will prevent any interference from the sect representatives.”

Evermore, Rein felt that the Halls’ message of hunting demons and devils to not be entirely accurate. At least, to him, it seemed as if the Halls were very interested in the Great Sects being in turmoil.

“The Great Sects interfered and cost lives when we retrieved the ancient relic from the west. They clearly do not support our objectives.” Rein had to restrain a chuckle. Even now, the watcher sought to justify this mission.

No matter. As long as he achieved his personal goals eventually.

“I will do my best,” Rein replied confidently. Playing mind games? A common trait of all merchants.

Initially, Rein would not have participated in such a conflict. His original plan was to silently join the Hall of Heroes and quietly build a reputation from completing missions. However, he had to defend himself when Dunzkr, an outer advancer, had targeted him on the battlefield that night.

Well, what happened has happened. Now, some within the Great Sects wanted to take his life, primarily because they could not target the main culprit, Supreme Jensure. Rein knew he would be hunted once in the western wilderness. But, if the Great Sects had an internal crisis, then he might face less retaliation. That was why he agreed to the mission, even if he might make many more enemies in the long run.

The best method was to kill as many Convergence Sect talents as possible. This should upset the balance of power. Then, the next question was, should he attempt to kill the man named Munzkr that now stood before him in the arena…

No… Rein decided this for a simple reason-- if the Great Sects were targeting him, this first man must be feeling out the situation, and should not be an important talent.

Already, he could see a few other men and women lining up on the side, ready to follow after Munzkr. Some of those should be valuable targets. He should lull them into a false sense of security.

Rein picked up a bronze staff that was completely clean with no inscriptions, and removed his Halls robes. The rule of no inscribed armaments had long been implemented-- it was to prevent those of deep background from abusing their significantly better weapons during duels.

“Begin!” The female host announced. This female advancer belonged to the Fusion sect, judging by the sigil of five interconnected stars on her robes. They must have been identified as relatively neutral despite occasionally contending against the Hall of Heroes.

“How about a bet?” Munzkr sneered provocatively while brandishing a bronze sword. “If I win, that woman of yours belong to me!”

“Hmm…” Rein played along. “Very well. But who’s your lover? For this bet to be fair, your lover will become my woman upon my victory, no?”

He could see no sign of any woman that seemed intimately interested in Munzkr’s impending battle.

“Unless you don’t have one? You are of the Convergence Sect, right? Perhaps one of your fellow disciples can offer theirs up for the bet.”

“Unnecessary! Only half-shod disciples bothered with dueling the Halls in the past! Not this time!” declared Munzkr.

Rein could see that a small group of women on the side appeared rather disgruntled by their conversation. On observation of their sect sigil, he identified them as members of the White Lily Sect. He quickly came to a conclusion that this was an all-female sect. His mind spun and came upon a chance, though he was beaten to the punch.

“You silly~” Behind him came Suey’s coy voice. “Aren’t you the weaker one of your group, little Munzkr? Your brothers would surely beat you in a duel… so perhaps if you win… I might as well belong to one of your seniors~”

Rein could see a vein clenching in Munzkr’s forehead.

“Ohh wait nevermind…” Suey added with a giggle. “Who’s your sect leader? I might as well become his since he would beat every single one of you in a duel!”

Rein could not resist a smile. Perhaps he and Suey had begun their interaction in a debaucherous manner, but since then, he discovered a ferocious element within the woman that had a habit of appearing at the right moments. It amused him to no end.

The group of women from the White Lily Sect also had smiles on their faces. 

“Shut your mouth, bitch!” Munzkr felt enraged with embarrassment. “The Patriarch is a telekinetic advancer! It would be--”

“Oh dearie~” Suey patronized in a soft voice. “Aren’t you, yourself a shell advancer? Yet, here you are, in the inner advancer ring…”

“I limited my strength…” Munzkr replied lamely. It was an open secret that Rein was being targeted.

“How about this,” Rein interjected. “The bet can still be on. However, since you don’t have a lover to make the bet fair for me, one of your seniors must offer one of theirs. If I win, I will offer her up to the White Lily Sect.”

Rein was attempting to take a shot in the dark. If the Convergence Sect stood at the top… he wondered if any of its men had ever targeted the female members of the White Lily Sect. The White Lily Sect shouldn’t be directly interested in a conflict against him. Perhaps his words would ignite some historical bad blood between the two.

Munzkr’s response was to charge at him with his bronze sword. He had no desire to continue the trading of words, concerned that he might accidentally anger one of his seniors.

In a few blows, their weapons already broke. Weapons with no inscriptions lacked magical reinforcement, especially with lower grade materials. Convergence Sect had sent forth someone who had tempered their body, since this was an advantage in the inner realm, where most advancers are unable to fully expel aurae up to their skin. Rein, too, had tempered his body. As such, those bronze weapons broke, and the two men could only rely on their fists.

Rein knew that his draconic body along with its unique tempering art, only possible with draconic lightning, was one of a kind. However, he wasn’t completely sure how it measured up against the tempering arts of the Great Sects.

He had contended against Xeeseir, who had tempered his body as well extensively. Upon reaching major success in the red draconic lightning stage, Rein only needed fifty percent of his strength to overpower Xeeseir physically. Xeeseir had claimed that his tempering art was a hard-earned unique art.

Rein began with but thirty percent of his physical strength.

The two simultaneously struck each other in the chest, and Rein easily stood his ground while Munzkr was sent stumbling backwards by ten feet.

The skin of his body seemed to undulate in a pattern similar to the hypnotic circles of the Convergence Sect. Rein’s keen mind soon understood the opponent’s art.

The Convergence Sect practiced advancer arts that relied on the concept of amplifying their strength through combining multiple waves of power. The body tempering art of its members must rely on some sort of concept where its flesh and muscle cooperate to gather strength in waves.

Rein grinned. An interesting concept. Yet, what would happen if he struck multiple times in succession with no rhythm? Rein had come up with this idea based on his understanding of disrupting the flow of water ripples.

He lowered his strength to twenty percent, and began a flurry of fists with no particular rhythm. Initially, Munzkr kept up with the flow, but the undulating flesh of his body soon seemed to ripple with a disorganized pattern. The man must not have mastered the tempering art of the Convergence Sect. Rein suddenly raised his strength to forty percent. The skin upon Munzkr’s body began breaking and the man was sent tumbling out of the arena with blood leaking out of his whole body. Rein had yet to even test out his ‘Frog Leg Release’ skill…

“Victory. Rein of the Halls.”

Rein had allowed the battle to drag on, hoping to draw better advancers into a lull-- his goal was to earn favor with the watcher by removing the more talented seniors of Munzkr.

“Nunzkyr.” A beautiful female advancer from the Convergence Sect stepped forth. Rein widened his eyes. He initially thought to avoid killing for a few rounds, but this was the perfect opportunity.

Based on his understanding of human nature, Rein knew that many men had an instinct to protect women, especially a beauty. If he were to take this woman’s life… it should enrage the following advancers from Convergence Sect. He might easily take a few more lives due to their rage-filled carelessness.

A hook of the fingers and the second battle began.

Unlike Munzkr, Nunzkyr immediately wrapped parts of her body in an aurae-skin. She wasn’t breaking the rules-- peak inner advancer are capable of wrapping around fifty percent of their body in an incomplete aurae shell. Munzkr simply did not have the time to do so once Rein began his onslaught.

Her mouth opened and she began a series of screeches with the aurae skin around her throat forming a half-complete art.

Rein found his ears ringing as he was stunned by a sudden crescendo in his ears. Then the red draconic lightning within his body responded and reawakened his mind! He barely reacted in time to block one of  Nunzkyr’s fists that made him fall back a single step.

He had to admit, he was surprised. He had assumed that only outer advancers could perform such ranged attacks, but now he understood that was not the case. Nunzkyr had attacked with sound to stun his mind. Sound was something that even a baby could make, and Rein’s guess was that the Convergence Sect had an art that allowed its users, even their inner advancers to create some sort of sound that would converge and amplify to stun their opponents.

Luckily, the red draconic lightning in his body also had a protective mechanism. Not that his toughened body would suffer much anyway.

Rein’s guess was that this art would be significantly more potent if used by an outer advancer, who should be able to integrate their aurae directly into the sound waves.

With this woman now so close, Rein quickly recovered and a flurry of fists began.

“How is this possible? How could he recover so quickly? Our sister has the highest mastery of the Convergence Scream amongst us!”

“He’s also faster! She already has the strength of fifty stones among the top of body-temperers in our sect!”

These words affirmed Rein’s desire to take the life of Nunzkyr. If the Convergence Sect were to lose such a talent…

No longer hesitating, Rein lowered his body, gathered strength in his legs and performed the ‘Frog Leg Release’ skill!

The concrete blocks of the arena cracked as his body shot forward like a meteor. His shoulder crushed Nunzkyr’s chest and shattered her ribs and lungs, who could not react to the exploive ‘Frog Leg Release’ skill in time.

“Don’t you dare!” yelled a man on the side as he charged forth, but he was too slow.

Nunzkyr was now pinned to the ground by Rein’s weight, and the woman broke the rules in a bid to salvage the fight, wrapping her whole body in an aurae skin as she attempted to activate a shell realm art, believing that she still had a chance if she could use those more powerful arts..

Rein did not afford her this luxury as he activated his full strength. With a rapid number of fists, Rein repeatedly hammered the already breathless Nunzkyr’s head against the ground.

Nunzkyr lost her focus, her head vibrating under the aurae skin. In just two breaths, her aurae skin shattered. Her expression was one of disbelief at Rein’s strength of flesh, and she did not even have the time to concede as Rein’s fists splattered her brain matter across the concrete!

The Fusion Sect representative flicked her sleeves, and nonchalantly sent the approaching enraged man back to the side of the arena. A few attendants dragged the corpse of the woman off the arena.

“These fights were negotiated to be life-and-death struggles, unless one concedes or rejects the challenge outright. This is Rein’s victory.” Rein couldn’t help but wonder where Fusion Sect stood with the conflict between the Halls and the Great Sects.

As for conceding mid-fight…? One had to have the time to concede. Rejecting a challenge? Some fearful Halls members had, in fact, already been doing that. However, it is always a loss of face for those who did so, and such members are usually punished.

Rein himself had considered simply rejecting every challenge, prior to being given the mission by the watcher.

The remaining Convergence Sect members fumed, especially the men.

At the front table overseeing the whole event, a man dressed in Convergence Sect stood up in anger, only to find the Overseer Jeahz was also on his feet.

“Was this not the agreement, Sect Leader Xunzkr?” Overseer Jeahz casually wondered. He knew Dunzkr was a son of his. Nunzkyr? Probably his grandchild. Sect Leader Xunzkr’s eyes narrowed and an invisible force sent the platform vibrating.

“Calm down,” Jeahz scoffed. He, too, was a telekinetic advancer. He raised an eyebrow and the vibration dimmed to nothing. Sect leader Xunzkr was forced to sit back down with a harrumph.

The man that had been sent back by the Fusion Sect member overseeing the duel stepped forth again.

“I  am Conv-Runzkr! I challenge that woman beside Rein!” The man was seeking revenge by targeting Suey, no doubt.

“I reject the challenge,” Suey replied with an innocent smile. She cared not for demerits from the Halls as a result of rejecting such a challenge. Only Rein knew-- she did not join the Halls to gain opportunity within it. At least, if her words are true… she was here to well… capture him, one could say.

And this ceremony was no official competition.

“This is highly inappropriate,” commented a leading woman of the White Lily Sect group observing this arena. Suey must have earned her favor with her earlier words. “You Convergence Sect pigs are repeatedly challenging Rein with desire to kill, and you all are even shell advancers claiming to limit your strength in these duels.”

“Yet when defeated, you seek to drag another on the side in? As shameless as ever!” She spat at the ground while her sisters nodded. One of them appeared to be glaring hatefully at another man amongst the Convergence Sect group.

The watcher’s words were right. The members of the Great Sects must have long had disagreements. Rein was not surprised at all-- judging by their behavior, Reini honestly believed that some of these elites within the Great Sects behaved no differently to Beincen of House Larne.

“How dare you!” An invisible pressure suddenly brought everyone around the inner advancer arena to their knees.

“Now, now. Calm down, Sect Leader Xunzkr. These were stated in the rules. Lyne is also of the noble Xuere Clan!” Overseer Jeahz’s voice echoed over the plateau and the pressure was lifted.

Rein widened his eyes. Perhaps he wasn’t the only one given a mission. Lyne was said to be the most talented of the current shell advancers in the Halls. Did she receive such a mission too? She must have taken the life of a peak shell advancer belonging to the Convergence Sect.

Unbeknownst to Rein, Runzkr now received a telekinetic message from his sect leader.

“Runzkr. Use your shell advancer arts to kill the target, Rein, immediately. I have received assurance from the Fusion Elder Baejenh that the Fusion judge will not interfere!”