BlaiseCorvin
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Past Life Hero 2, Chapter 54
🕑 Added 2024-02-24 01:40:48 +0000 UTCThe exhibition matches weren't actually scheduled until the next evening, but Max did not plan on resting until then. If he still had a mortal body, he would have had to, but as a three-star mana body Blade Sorcerer, there was no reason not to train any moment he had the opportunity. He started his day the way he always did: meditation and working out. But today, he focused less on the physical and wanted to spend more time with his spirits.
For several hours out in the woods, he went through drills with all of his spirits. Active use of Trill's power was extremely interesting. Unfortunately, Max was still nervous about using it too often. Some uses would break his concealment and he didn't want to reveal to anything or anyone watching that he had assimilated Remnant spirits. Not being able to use Trill's full abilities in the match was definitely going to be a handicap. On the other hand, the notion of [disruption], granted by Dura, was extremely useful, although mentally taxing to use. It turned out disruption had a wide variety of applications. As a concept, or modifier for his abilities, it extremely flexible.
For instance, Max found that he could supercharge his strikes using the power of disruption–probably the most simple application of the concept. Almost by accident, one way he found to use the power of disruption was with his shield. He'd been practicing with the magic shield that his new sword Blackmist Incident could conjure, and he found that if he inserted a bit more mana into the construct itself and then also layered some element of disruption on it, it would actively mitigate the kinetic energy or mystical power of whatever was striking the shield's face.
This made his shield orders of magnitude more effective.
He was actually glad nobody had been there watching while he discovered this application of his new power. At the time, he'd been hitting his own shield, bashing his sword against it, and blocking it over and over again, trying to get a good idea of the shield's limits and capabilities. As he experimented with various energies in both the sword and the shield, realizing that the power of disruption could be used defensively had been amazing. He'd been so surprised he'd fallen on his butt in the forest.
***
Finally, Max received a summons to attend his exhibition match. The message that he received from Mong Hao Han's assistant instructed him to go somewhere different, a location in the Summoner academy grounds; not the building in the central area that he'd been told before was the competition arena. Max shrugged and didn't think much of it. As long as he was still in the Summoner Academy, he was relatively safe and didn't really worry about schemes by Regal or anybody in the other Path academies of the Quartet.
When he reached the meeting point, though, he was surprised to see several other Summoner students, including all of his friends who had won participation slots in the end-of-year competition. Momo spotted him the same time he noticed the group, and she walked to his side. Reflexively, Max used a bit of Trill's power to cover both of them for privacy as she whispered, "I thought you were going to your challenge matches by yourself."
"So did I," said Max.
Gantry caught his attention and raised an eyebrow. Max shrugged back. A moment later, though, the headmaster rounded a bend and walked into view, followed by three other professors, including Grave Call, Professor Happy–who Max had not seen in some time, and one of his least favorite people in the Quartet, Professor Dalton.
Max nodded respectfully to Grave Call, the least he was required to do to maintain protocol. Professor Dalton, the Dean of Discipline and Extracurricular Student affairs noticed and scowled at him. Max gave her a sweet smile back.
He reflected on how deeply his perspective had changed.
Everything in the Summoner Academy looked different to him now. As a three-star mana body, three Path Challenger, Max was all too aware of his current limitations, but also fairly confident that none of the professors, except maybe Grave Call, would be able to give him a serious fight now. That was only for the Summoner academy, though. The other Path academies, he wasn't so sure.
"We're not going to the usual location in the central area," said the headmaster without preamble.
Eolus shot up a hand to ask a question, but the headmaster ignored it. He said, "We are leaving right now. Let's go, we're already running a bit late." And with that, he started down the road to the gate out of the Summoner Academy. Some in the group looked confused. Max was at first, but then realized that for better or worse, the headmasters were bringing the current end of year competition fighters to this exhibition match. Max decided that it could be a blessing or a curse.
His fight was going to have an audience.
***
Max was interested to see that the building they were heading to was the same one he’d gone to after his duel with Territ Mond. This was where he’d made his first deal with the headmasters. However, this time, Mong Hao Han ushered the group through a different door. Momo whispered, "This is not where we had our matches. We were in the Summoner academy area."
Gantry added. "This is where they have the full Quartet competition at the end of the year."
Max slowly nodded. Now the venue made sense to him, even if it might not for the rest of the Summoner academy students.
Mong Hao led them down a long, downward-sloping hallway. At the end, he opened a door and ushered them into a huge chamber. Max raised his eyebrows when he saw the ring in the center of the enormous floor. There was an identical ring above it on the ceiling. Now that Max knew a bit more about magic circles and such, he could recognize pieces of some of the incredibly precise spellwork that had gone into each ring.
At each corner of the room, there was a symbol representing one of the four Path schools of the Quartet. Mong Hao Han led the Summoner group to their corner just as the Replicator academy group appeared. The Elemental Shifter group and the Mystic Spear people were already settled in their respective corners. It seemed that all four schools had arrived with the same size groups: the headmaster, three professors, and a total of eight students. Max was the only irregularity, and there were definitely eyes on him as the summoner group approached their corner.
Each corner had seating for many more people than the different schools had actually brought. Around the room, there were orbs near the ceiling that Max assumed were recording devices of some kind. After all, when the official Quartet competition took place, others could watch; Quartet students in addition to the Quartet-born.
Once his group was settled in the corner, all four headmasters walked forward to a small podium and interacted with it. Soon after, there was a flash in the middle of the room, in the center of the large ring, and a new person was standing before them all. She was lean with short spiky hair and wore a formal robe, similar to the headmasters', but a bit less ornate and with a large insignia on her chest that Max had never seen before. On one side of her belt was a wide, fairly bulky leather pouch. No, that’s a sheath, he thought. It was covered by a flap, so Max could not see the weapons it held, but based on its size, he assumed it was for holding large throwing knives similar to the ones Momo carried now. On the woman's other side were a few small pouches like the ones the headmasters usually wore.
Before Max could see her face, she removed her cowl, revealing a prominent scar down one cheek. The moment she appeared, Max felt a strange sense of danger from her that he didn't understand. It was unlike anything else he'd ever experienced in his life. And he noticed that she immediately swept her gaze across the room, as if assessing a potential threat. He readied himself, but before he could do anything to embarrass himself, Ming Hao Han announced, "Thank you for joining us, Adjudicator."
At that moment, Territ Mond stepped forward. "We ask for an adjudicator to preside over this exhibition match. Circumstances that are not necessary to describe right now require secrecy to be enforced. You are here not only to act as a judge but also to help us ensure that word of this match does not spread."
She's an adjudicator, huh? thought Max. He'd heard of them before. They were like managers over the different Quartets, except each was part of their own team as well. He didn't know how to read the insignia on the adjudicator's robe, but he assumed that she wasn't the highest on the totem pole, or she would not have come here herself. In fact, he assumed that she was fairly low in seniority, but that didn't mean that she was weak. Everything Max had read about the Quartet system stated that adjudicators should be respected and cooperated with at all times. He doubted that many regular students in the Quartet system even saw an adjudicator in person before they went back to their world.
The adjudicator turned, sweeping everyone with her eyes, ending up staring at Max again. Now he had a pretty good idea of why. After all, this entire exhibition match was being held because of him.
When she spoke, she had a surprisingly musical voice, considering her appearance. "Let me introduce myself. I am Adjudicator Ni Na Long Swan. You may call me Adjudicator Swan, which is how I am generally addressed. Before we begin, I need everybody to carefully read the screen they are about to be shown. To help you understand what you are going to see, the screen will tell you that in order to proceed or participate in any fashion in the upcoming end-of-year competition, you must agree not to talk about this exhibition or spread information about it with anybody who is not currently in this room. This means taking every reasonable precaution to prevent others from learning of it. If you do not agree, you will need to leave right now, and you will no longer have a place in the competition. If you agree, the system will enforce this contract by immediately causing you pain or even killing you if you violate it."
Suddenly a screen popped up in front of Max, full of what he assumed was the Quartet version of legalese. He still read the entire thing, unlike some others he noticed just hit the accept button immediately. But sure enough, the system contract more or less mirrored everything that Swan had said. Max clicked his acceptance on his screen and looked up to see the last few others in the room doing so at about the same time.
Adjudicator Swan continued, "The reason we are gathered here today is an irregular request from the four headmasters of this quartet. Will Max Cunningham please raise their hand?"
Max did as she'd instructed, and suddenly every pair of eyes in the room was on him.
"How does the tested wish to proceed?" said the adjudicator.
Max glanced over at Mon Hao Han, who shrugged and gave Max a look of resignation. He still didn't like what Max wanted to do, and also didn't like that the other headmasters were not opposing Max's idea. It was obvious that at least two of them, perhaps all three other than Mong Hao wanted Max to fail this test. But none of them knew that he had achieved a three-star mana body. Most of them probably wouldn’t know what that would mean if Max told them. They knew that he was advancing in power rapidly, but likely figured they had a firm idea of where he was at, power-wise.
If he’d still relegated himself to the junior division, which was all he needed to do, he figured he had zero chance of failing.
But he knew himself. He wanted to rub the headmasters faces in their lack of true support. There was always the possibility that they’d try to wear him down with fight after fight, or some other unfair test, and he didn't want to risk the chance of being strategically exhausted. But most importantly, he didn't want to have to redo this little circus at the end of the year before he was required to fight in the actual competition.
Max stepped forward, and in a voice that carried all the way across the room, he announced, "Since we are here for me to be tested, I suggest that we save time. Originally, I was meant to only prove myself against the Junior Division Challengers. I understand that I still must satisfy that requirement. However, I would also like to suggest that should I win a match against them, that I also fight the most powerful senior Challenger.
Swan frowned. "How do we determine the most powerful senior Challenger? What exactly do you propose?”
"I suggest that the four headmasters confer and find candidates they agree on, I will respect their decision." Max smiled.
There was confused mumbling around the room from the students, while all the professors kept poker faces, staring at Max. The only two exceptions were a Replicator professor who couldn't help but let a pleased expression show through as her eyes tilted upwards, and headmaster Bojana. Max vowed to keep an eye on her the entire time, now that he knew a bit more about this quartet's sordid cast.
The four headmasters moved to the center of the ring, located over a hundred yards away from everyone else. After some talking, they eventually headed back to their corners. Max knew that Mong Hao Han had already discussed this suggestion with the other headmasters, but even if he hadn't, Max was sure they'd take this offer. After all, none of them were probably confident that their junior contestants could win against Max, but he was sure they believed he would have a hard time against the senior division fighters.
When the Summoner headmaster returned, he didn't glance back at Max but stared unwaveringly forward, maintaining a stoic aura befitting his station. In the center of the room, Adjudicator Swan waited until all the headmasters were back before she announced, "The headmasters have agreed to the tested's proposal. For the Junior Division, Max Cunningham will be fighting Plemdo from the Elemental Shifter School. If he wins that match, he will be fighting Lin from the Mystic Spear Path Academy. Max Cunningham, Plemdo, both Challengers, please step forward."
On the elemental shifter side of the room, a huge man stepped forward and crossed his arms. He seemed to remember where he was at the last second and hurriedly gave Adjudicator Swan a respectful bow. He wasn't wearing any weapons, just a loose robe. In the Mystic Spear corner, a man stepped forward holding an ornate spear and stiffly bowed to Swan, and then to each corner of the room, except for the Summoner corner. The spearman turned and gazed coolly at Max.
Max recognized him. He was the student who had killed him and destroyed his body in the Spear Path academy.
This is going to be fun, Max thought. He raised his hand, and Swan blinked. "Yes, tested, do you have something to add?" she said.
"I do," said Max. He grinned at the Mystic Spear Path corner and said, "If the headmasters allow it, in order to make this exhibition more challenging and entertaining, I would like all the Mystic Spear junior challengers to also join my opponent Plemdo in a junior bout."
The room erupted in noise, despite Swan's glower, and Mong Hao Han shook his head at Max. Max shrugged. The Summoner headmaster had to realize that if he could win against a senior challenger, much less the best senior challenger, he should have a good chance against five at once on the junior side too. What Max hadn't told Mong Hao Han was that the moment they walked into this room, he recognized the junior challengers for the Mystic Spear academy were all people who had thrown spears at Max and his friend in the central area.
As Adjudicator Swan restored order, Max shot the four of them a mocking smile as he instructed Saliron to recall the spirits he'd placed in their bones for marking and tracking. The spirits had done their job.
Comments
Robert Rosenthal
It’s finally on
Joshua LaBarge
Adjudicator Swan gives me John Wick lady Adjudicator vibes
