To Win and Lose (3)

Once she was unconscious, Shui placed his forehead on hers and drew a special inscription mentally. This was the first time he used it on a human, but he didn't doubt whether or not it would work.

'Puppet.'

This inscription allowed him to control an object inside a range determined by the strength of his soul. He wasn't strong enough to use this on someone who was awake, but in her unconscious state Shui controlled her to move towards the exit. While she left, he also thought about his situation.

'This is checkmate, isn't it?'

He couldn't think of a way to escape. Even if he used the arrays to their fullest, the most he would be able to do is leave the academy, leaving the city wasn't an option. And he could already feel Rizer focused on him. Since he had no way of completely blocking or hiding from his spiritual sense, Shui wouldn't be able to escape. Using the arrays to cause mass genocide as a threat wouldn't help either; it might make Rizer infuriated enough to look for his family and kill them as well.

Once Emily was far enough from the martial academy, Shui picked up the seal and the dangerous light died down. Since he knew he couldn't win, he had to accept it.

"So, are you gonna kill me?"

Shui spoke with no fear on his face, and this displeased Rizer. However, he knew that he couldn't afford to become too emotional so he stuck with the plan he had in mind. Rizer might seemed stronger than Nikolai, but he knew he couldn't kill Shui in public.

"You deserve death for what you've done, but since you haven't killed anyone I shall allow you a chance."

"Hmph, what chance?" Shui snorted. He couldn't believe that this 'chance' could be anything good.

"You shall be sent to the training ground made by our founder. If you survive, then we'll let this matter go."

By the time Emily reached Nikolai's mansion, the effect of 'Puppet' weakened and she regained her consciousness.

"Huh? Why am I...?"

Once she remembered everything, her first thought was to rush back to Shui but she knew that by herself, she wouldn't be of any use. Instead, Emily hurriedly entered the mansion and went to Nikolai's office.

"Oh, you're finally back. Can-"

"Master! Senior brother, senior brother he.."

After hearing the story, Nikolai burst out of his residence fuming in anger.

"How dare those imbeciles touch my disciples! They must not put me in their eyes!"

Nikolai's advance was obvious to everyone in the Cyrus. As he flew on his flying artifact, no mortal could raise their heads and even those in the Soul Realm had to restrain their spiritual sense.

Before he made it to the martial academy, Rizer's group blocked his path.

"Where are you going, Sir Nikolai?"

"You bastard Rizer! Show me where my disciple is right now before I crush your school."

Even though Rizer was levels above him, Nikolai didn't fear him. Unlike what the ignorant ones thought, Rizer knew that as an array master, Nikolai's wealth would allow him to have several artifacts and other trump cards that could scare even him. And so, though he didn't regret his decision to attack Shui, he acted courteous in front of him.

"I'm afriad he's not here at the moment, but I don't mind showing you to him."

Nikolai detected something off about Rizer's phrasing so he asked warily, "Where is he?"

"Blue Mist Gorge."

"You-! Bring him back now!"

"Oh Sir Nikolai, you know I'm unable to interfere with anything in that place. Our founder created that place with the sole purpose of training our younger generation."

Blue Mist Gorge was the training place for Soul Realm students that was made by the founder of Cyrus and had a barrier that only accepted those below Earth Realm, but rejected all other presences. Furthermore, even geniuses in the Soul Realm would die in the gorge, much less someone like Shui. And so, rather than a training location, it was more of an execution ground.

"Rizer, that place was meant for those in the Soul Realm, and even your top geniuses don't dare to enter there! And yet you send my disciple to that wretched place?!"

"Oh, didn't you know Sir Nikolai? Your disciple defeated mine despite being an entire realm below him. I'm sure such a genius will be able to make it out."

Nikolai had heard from Shui that he defeated Rizer's disciple, but he wasn't told that the disciple was in the Soul Realm. And even if Rizer was the one to say it, he still couldn't believe it and thought he was lying.

"Hmph, there's no point in continuing this stupidity. Be prepared for consequences when I get back Rizer."

As Rizer watched Nikolai fly in the direction of Blue Mist Gorge, he smirked. Although he would definitely face some punishment, he had bought enough time for Shui to be transported. Once he was out of the way, it would be easy to take care of Tin outside of the headmaster's eyes. All of his sacrifices would be worth it to make his disciple the next headmaster.

"Kick him in there."

With a shove, Shui found himself knocked into a blue mist-covered abyss. After he surrendered, Rizer wasted no time in rushing him over here. Shui had already heard about this place so he knew what he was getting into. However, it was still better than getting killed. And since the trial hadn't ended, he couldn't give up yet. But before any of that, there was an intense emotion he had to express.

When Shui hit the ground once more, he rolled down a steep slope before somehow landing on his feet. There was mist blocking his view of the sky, but sunlight still peaked through to light his path. Without much thinking, Shui dragged his bruised body to the base of what appeared to be an orange boulder. On his way here, since he had his energy drained by a pair of blue stone handcuffs, he was at the mercy of the instructors in charge of moving him. Despite the beating, he had to be grateful that they took off the handcuffs when they knocked him in here, thinking it would be too sad if he couldn't even struggle.

When his feet were stopped by the orange boulder, Shui lazily took a step back, gritted his teeth and then slammed his fist against the rock with his full strength.

"Ahhhh!!!!"

Even with martial intent, he could barely shake the dirt off of it and his fists quickly became painted in red, but he continued to punch the landform. He made sure to hold himself back when he surrendered, but now that he was by himself he let all the frustration out.

"Damn it! Now that I think about it, I should have told Nikolai right away. There's no way they would dare harm her, but I just-. Damn!"

"I didn't think it through. I should have been more careful. If I had just started calm!"

During this rare outburst, Shui didn't care about his injuries or how painful it would feel once the adrenaline stopped, he just wanted to release his anger on something. But surprisingly, even in this reckless state he was using martial intent instinctively to do as much damage as possible. As the damage piled up, cracks began to appear on the orange boulder, from which revealed dim light. As he continued punching, the boulder revealed its true crystalline appearance and he felt a heat that could burn his fist when he made contact.

"Ow! You wanna laugh at me too!"

Unlike usual, Shui didn't bother analyzing what the crystal truly was. From simply pounding it, he changed his objective to breaking it. Despite bones breaking and the smell of burning skin reaching his noses, Shui seemed to become some sort of berserker. This wasn't just because of how frustrated he was. Unknown to Shui, due to the intensity of his emotions, he was being influenced by the demonic nature of the World Assimilation Art. For the moment, it was only making him more reckless, but if he didn't satisfy it he would be in danger. Fortunately, the World Assimilation Art was also triggered as Shui devoted his power into every punch.

Shui subconsciously started absorbing solar essence from the ore. He would have known this if he was clearheaded, but the boulder was actual one big piece of solarinite. Solarinite was a special ore capable of absorbing and storing light from the sun to form concentrated solar essence. Such a big piece would be auctioned for barrels of black gold or spirit gems, but since no one had made it out of the gorge in a long time, it was never exposed.

With every punch, Shui unconsciously absorbed the solar essence from the solarinite and converted it into power to attack.

"Ahhh!!!!!"

Sensing his power surging to its peak, Shui stopped his barrage for a moment and tightened the muscles of his right arm before smashing through the solarinite with it. He created a hole barely enough to be compared to his fist, but felt surprisingly satisfied. He then looked at his body and noticed the faint black markings that appeared on his skin.

'When did I break through to Connection stage?'

As Shui pondered how it happened and how much stronger he got from this breakthrough, the perfect training targets apperead.

"Grrrr...."

A pack of hyenas with spikes made of bone peeking from their spines surrounded him. With his burnt and bloodly fists, it was no wonder that he attracted beast spirits. However, he wouldn't be the prey.