Chapter 0173 - Finnigan

Hana's hands trembled, Caoimhe chirped and vomited a red sludge. It dripped onto the stage. It was just like the fog, somehow, the Basket Drake was exhibiting traits from the Iron Blood Mist Dragon.

Finnigan morphed into a Tiger like creature, scales covered his body.

'Body Transformation Techniques?' Hana had seen something close to it in Jeannie.

He roared and released his aura. Boasting, he spoke to the crowd. "Hurry up and surrender, only the strong are allowed to enter our inner sect." When the last word was spoken, he began to charge.

Hana pressed her hand to the ground sending her up in a strange trajectory. It was unpredictable for Finnigan to retaliate, she struck his back, flipped in the air and spread her wings.

Noticing her stance, he turned to swipe, throwing a smoke bomb out and firing a beam of energy that cut through the smoke in trails of green. It was fire, fire unlike the black flames. As it struck her wings it knocked her back and she fell from the sky. The green energy was absorbed into the wings, a tail of green appeared near the edge of her wingspan. It matched the energy he had just fired.

"What's this?" Finnigan roared again, he leapt in tiger form toward her, clawing toward her eyes. "Here little birdie..." Three slashes of energy came from his foreleg and he rolled to the side to swipe again when she dodged.

Hana saw him clearly, the Eagles Eyes technique was increased when she had drawn out her bloodline, her perception had also grown significantly. Hana called to Caoimhe and then pulled the hammer from her storage. She waited, poised to counter his next strike.

'What is she doing?' Finnigan didn't understand, when fighting others, all of them would have chosen to take the offensive. 'This girl is strange..' His figure fluctuated and he returned to his humanoid form.

His red hair stood out in the arena. The wind blew, a bird flew through the arena floor and passed near the shield. It was like someone had rung a bell, Finnigan rushed forward and yanked a sword from a hidden storage device. He threw it in her direction and pulled a second one out to slash at her feet.

Hana flew further up into the air and scoffed.

'Even I know not to let myself get backed into a corner!' She had switched positions with him and the Hammer was already coming down from a near 360 degree downward thrust. Afterimages appeared in her movement, the hammer drew a circle as it passed and crashed down on his sword. The sword shattered and Finnigan skid back.

"Good, Good." Finishing his breath, he threw out a formation plate and kicked at it with all of his remaining energy. It almost caused him to pass out but the plate activated, he drank a potion directly afterward and watched it sail toward Hana's position. 'that bitch is as good as dead. oh well, shouldn't have made me get serious.' There was a sinister look on his face, his eyes bore an expression of distaste.

Hana had read about formations, it was nothing new to her to see the design. 'winters death crash? Why would he want to kill me?' Hana's mind spun out for a moment while the formation plate surrounded her. She grabbed her wrists and hoped for the wing's to cut like they did before. She channeled her energies and increased her aura by twenty percent, spinning in a circle she intended to use the momentum of the incoming blast to propel her away.

When the tips of her wing's cut through the blast, it cleaved it in two. Sharing a magical trait with incoming attack, it had broken the formation lines and shattered the spellwork. An explosion happened just behind Hana, Caoimhe took the brunt of the explosion and came crashing down into the corner of the stage. Hana yelled and her power increased by a fold.

The resulting accumulation of energy caused her body to erupt and a wave of the energy swept across the stage.

"YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" Hana yelled in a manner she had only seen her mother use once. It caught the entire arena off guard, when she launched toward Finnigan the spectators stood up and cheered her on.

Finnigan concentrated his energy on his defense for the incoming strike, an energy shield formed in front of him and his body took a bracing stance.

When the two struck, the collision of energy shook the arena to its foundations. Rocks and blocks that made up the stage were cast out and into the surrounding shields. Some of them remained but a lot of them were turned to powder. Finnigan lost his form entirely and flew backward like a wet rag. He landed in an L position with his feet in the air, resting against the shield, he was unconscious and bleeding from the left arm.

-"Winner! HANA MAKER!" The Announcer cheered.

The Crowd was chanting her name but her focus was not on them. Searching the surroundings, she couldn't see Jeannie. She had been reminded about her during her trials and worry was quickly taking over.

"You've done very well, come. This way." An Elder swooped in and opened the shield. He picked up the Basket Drake and approached Hana. "Here. Follow me." Leading her off of the stage, the medical teams went to look after Finnigan and the Announcer quickly introduced the next contestant.

There was silence.

She called once more.

-"Jeannie Yudiserra" the Megaphone echoed Jeannie's name around the arena but no one came forward. "It seems there is something the matter, our next contestant is..." She introduced the person after Jeannie and continued with the trials, there were still over a hundred people left to go through the contest.

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In a tent by the side of the Arena, chairs were set out for the Arena Gauntlet Qualifiers.

An Elder stood in front of the group, he was tapping his feet waiting for the go ahead. All the people that had been expected to pass to the inner sect or core discipleship's were accounted for. He started to Speak.

"You will call me Elder Silver, today you've passed into the Zao Sect. In a moment you will be appraised by our teachers, and those that are looking for a disciple will choose from you." Elder Silver thrust his hand down and made a 'fwwwe' sound with his robes.

"From this day forth, you all will become Inner Sect Disciples. Failure to follow duties will be met with appropriate punishments, Do not share these secrets outside of the Sect. These are Bloodoath Contracts for Inner and Core Members of the Sect, Mark them." he watched as five scrolls were passed out, they hovered in front of each of the new disciples.

Hana slit her finger and threw a drop onto the contract. 'Hmmph' It glowed intensely and then a red field enveloped Hana momentarily. 'I suppose this is the way.' She thought and then the others in the tent did the same. Four more glows passed inside of the tent and then five elders walked into the room.

"What's all this.. these are just kids, again, what do I look like, a fucking babysitter?" One of the Esper Elders complained, waved his hand and left without a disciple. It was his third round through to look for a disciple. He stood by the side, unwilling to pick from the group.

"Yes, but every tree must grow before it bares fruit." A Smart looking Elf pointed to Hoji, "You, Hoji. Lets go." He threw out a token and Hoji caught it.

Holding the Token in his hands, he could feel a faint trace of his new master's aura. On the outside of the token was written the name 'Uttenu, The Wolf Commander.' "Uttenu?" Hoji spoke his master's name.

Uttenu backhanded the top of Hoji's head. "You will call me Elder or Master if you prefer to use the name my students use. Learn your manners." He grabbed Hoji by the wrist and disappeared with a movement technique.

The Next elder was the Elder Dragon Ace Aerial Fighter, William. He was only a child when he first arrived on Shiyan, more than twenty years had passed for him. If there was a group of elite fighters in the kingdom, he would be ranked in the top four. William chose Iccess, the Contract would ensure that Iccess didn't lose his temper.

There were three of them remaining.

Hana watched as the other two were picked and only she remained. A handful of elders spoke among themselves by the side and finally a dark presence walked through the door.

The other Elders were shocked to see him arrive, he had almost been written off of the list of Elders, having been in seclusion for years. Walking in, his body was covered in deep black feathers, they shined like crystalline ice. Flames burned across his body, black flames. Standing in front of Hana he placed both hands on her shoulder and measured her strength.

Pushing down, he tried to sink her down to her knees. 'So Good, so young.' The Elder thought.

"Good." He released her, grabbed her wrist and they disappeared from the tent.

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About five minutes later they stopped moving long enough for Hana to catch her breath. She was almost being dragged the entire way and they had gone for some distance before stopping.

'What is this place?' she wondered. "Master, What place is this?" she asked.

"Oh, Good eyes. Good eyes. My Nest. You will call me by name, given to me by your father. I am Lu Sha. In the presence of others in the Sect, call me Master. Your father will not have it any other way." He stomped his foot and dispelled her wandering mind. "Attention, my student."