Northstrider looked to Yerin, who looked like she hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep in days. She paced nervously, her hand clenching and unclenching, her hair was disheveled, and there were bags under her eyes. Even her black sacred arts robes were in disarray.
Yerin had obviously never put much stock in her appearance, but this still struck Shoumei as strange. Had she been fighting already? Had someone threatened her?
Shoumei focused. Every win for her was safety, prosperity, and a bright future for her family.
And while Yerin could beat Shoumei in any one-on-one contest, this was two against two.
Yerin’s Blood Shadow flowed out of her, carrying a black sword from Yerin’s soulspace, and the spirit’s state of existence had clearly improved. It barely had a pink tinge to its skin now, its crimson hair and eyes being the biggest difference from Yerin herself.
The Shadow looked just as unruly as Yerin did, prowling and snarling like a caged beast. Something had Yerin’s soul in disarray.
When her Blood Shadow was summoned, Yerin nodded.
Northstrider told them to begin.
As the command still hung in the air, Yan Shoumei unleashed Crusher.
There were three methods for cultivating a Blood Shadow…although since the clone technique always failed, there were really only two. The most common was raising the Shadow as a weapon, a shifting tool, and it was this method that Yan Shoumei had used through Truegold.
But when she’d been given the opportunity to enter the Ghostwater facility, as part of preparing her for this tournament, the Sage of Red Faith gave her special instructions.
In his pocket world, Northstrider kept samples of rare and powerful sacred beasts. Some were the only individuals remaining of their kind, while others were unique in their own right.
When she retrieved blood samples from those ancient and powerful creatures, the Blood Sage showed her how to integrate them into her Shadow, creating a spirit whose power dwarfed her own.
She called him Crusher.
A monstrously muscled humanoid body formed from the blood madra she usually wore as a cloak. The Shadow inherited its body from a Deepwalker Ape that had mutated its spirit to focus entirely on physical strength.
Crusher’s fur was thick and shaggy, taken from the blood of a bear dreadbeast that had inherited power from the Wandering Titan itself.
The spines that rose from his back and the claws on his long fingers came from the diamond dragon, who had been the only member of its species.
The wolf’s muzzle and tall, rabbit-like ears must come from the other, more common blood samples that were mixed into the spirit for balance and tempering.
Crusher’s final, hulking form stood more than twice Shoumei’s height, and its strength…
As sacred artists advanced, the line between sacred artist and sacred beast became more difficult to distinguish. While humans and beasts advanced differently, there were fewer and fewer differences at each stage until the differences disappeared at the peak of Archlord. Everyone reached Sage or Herald the same way.
But as a result, it could be hard to pinpoint a sacred beast’s exact strength relative to a sacred artist. You had to measure the relative weight of the madra you felt.
Crusher did not feel like an Underlord. She didn’t know how to describe his power, but he gave off the spiritual impression of overwhelming, impossible physical power.
The moment Crusher manifested, he roared.
The ground shook. The aura quivered. The light in the cave-like arena trembled.
Yerin and her Blood Shadow, both of whom had rushed forward immediately, staggered as blood aura caused the roar to affect their bodies directly. Blood streamed from Yerin’s ears—madra usually preserved a sacred artist’s hearing during combat, but the roar was too powerful. Yerin should have focused her spirit to protect her ears. Now it was too late.
Crusher appeared next to her.
He didn’t have a spatial artifact…or any sacred arts at all, really. He did have incredible leg strength and dexterity.
Yerin managed to spin and get her feet beneath her, raising her sword to block. The blade began to glow with an Enforcer technique.
Crusher slapped her.
Yerin caught the blow with both hands on her sword.
And stopped it.
Shoumei’s shock froze her thoughts. Crusher’s strength was so great that it worked on a conceptual level, according to the Blood Sage. It could bend the rules of the physical world with its strength, as Heralds or Monarchs could.
Crusher couldn’t do so to such a degree, of course, but no one below Herald should be able to stop his attacks. No one.
The ground shattered beneath Yerin’s feet, and if ordinary laws still held sway, she would have been sent flying into the distance by the difference in their weight alone. But there was the clearly impossible scene of Yerin taking a blow the size of her entire body and not budging.
Until a moment later, when Crusher put more power into his hand.
Then he hurled her entire body across the arena, and Shoumei could breathe again.
A rippling crescent of sword and blood madra came at her like a wave, and she Forged a Red Crystal to protect herself.
Shoumei didn’t practice a Path, exactly, but a collection of blood techniques intended to synergize well with a Shadow. This one created a multifaceted diamond of red madra around her, protecting her as Crusher did the fighting.
The Striker technique from Yerin’s Blood Shadow hit the Crystal, shattered it, and crashed into Shoumei’s unguarded body.
If she had met Yerin in an earlier round, this might have been the end. But she had made it to the top four, so she had earned her own gifts.
The technique hit Yan Shoumei and launched her backwards without penetrating her skin. It stung, but not a drop of blood was drawn.
The Silverscale Iron body was common for fishermen. Many sea creatures developed madra attacks when they grew old enough, so fishermen needed to be able to endure those techniques with their bodies. It fortified her spirit’s natural control inside her own body, creating resistance to spiritual attacks.
But even that wouldn’t have been enough against a Striker technique from Yerin, so the Dragon King had chosen his prize for Yan Shoumei carefully. He left her the Ancient Scale, a Divine Treasure that added further protection.
Together, that combination meant that she could wade through Striker techniques from a crowd of Underlords without a scratch, and as she advanced, it would show even more dramatic effects.
Her enemies would have to use Ruler techniques against her, or they would have to get in close.
Which was where Crusher came in.
Yerin’s copy didn’t hesitate as Yan Shoumei weathered its technique. It had already covered the gap between them, sword aura gathering around its blade as it prepared the Endless Sword.
Crusher leaped on the Shadow.
Yerin’s Shadow twisted and swung its blade with both hands, slamming against the monster’s plunging body. The air twisted with an explosive crack, wind blasting away from the blow, and Crusher was sent flying.
But the other Blood Shadow’s head exploded too. Crusher had managed to release a kick as he was knocked away, and it popped the Shadow’s skull like a grape.
Its body collapsed as blood madra sprayed all over the arena. The Shadow’s head began to writhe and re-form immediately, but Yan Shoumei stood over it.
A rain of bloody needles fell from her hand, shredding Yerin’s clone.
As she stood there and waited for Yerin’s Blood Shadow to lose its form completely, she casually turned to regard the blinding silver light gathering in one corner of the arena.
Yerin was gathering up madra and aura into her sword, growing in power and density as it threw off waves of silver-white energy. The technique was radiant to Shoumei’s eyes, and her spiritual sense cried a warning.
Shoumei didn’t move.