Chapter 652: 652
The two kept at it until after midnight, finally calling it a day when Penny managed to win her first match. That was enough to convince Vala that she had mastered her new Class skills, despite the fact that the Demon had been holding back to make up for the four hundred level difference in their power levels.
Cain woke up the next morning to see Vala styling Luna's hair into tiny braids, the same style that she herself favored. They looked a bit strange on a human since Luna didn't have horns or wings, but they wouldn't get frizzy or come untied during the day.
Cain saw that the others were up, so he motioned for either Tena or Solara to come over and have their own hair done to get the day started. The girls gave him an eye roll, but they dutifully came over and let him brush and fix their hair before breakfast.
The camp was much louder than usual, almost like a Carnival, and Cain wondered what had happened to make everyone so excited so early in the morning.
The answer was obvious. He had left the Training Arena up, filling the training grounds, and the Disciples were making good use of it this morning to go all out on each other without fear of death or dismemberment.
The recovery room automatically healed participants when they arrived, which was a simple necessity to the Seraphim, but a great luxury to the cultivators of this world.
"Master Cain, what sort of Divine Artifact is this?" Elder Ling asked as the Forbidden Treasure Sect came out to get food.
"It's not an artifact. It is an energy control skill. I created it last night for my Disciples to fight in after Penny learned a new skill." Cain explained.
"Did you get a new one? I don't recall a large demon in your team." The Lotus Blossom Kitchen Elder asked as Vala filled a plate with meat.
"She's a friend, summoned here to help out for training. Not many creatures at her level can defeat her in a sword fight." Cain told the burly woman.
"What about above her level?" One of the Lotus Blossom Elders asked.
She had just reached the Immortal Rank, and the Lotus Blossom Sect wasn't known for their brutal fighting techniques but for their peaceful cultivation style. Vala didn't look the least bit concerned by the aura of Immortality that the woman displayed.
"You can go next if you like. The disciples in the arena seem to be almost done. I am sure that fighting Vala will prove to be a very valuable experience."
Vala looked even more excited about that than the Elder who had challenged her, and the others began to get a bit concerned that this might make the Lotus Blossom Elders look bad in front of their disciples.
"Demons are always stronger than humans at their own level. That is just a given. Even five on one, Spirit Rank Cultivators would be hard-pressed to land a single strike." Vala said simply, having tested that theory yesterday before she returned to the camp.
The Disciples cleared a path for the two of them to head to the arena, where they bypassed the line of Disciples and walked straight into the recently vacated arena floor.
"Vala versus Elder Xiao," The referee announced.
"Hey, aren't you going to invite your neighbors in to watch since you are running your own competition out here in the plains?" An Elder from the Sect next to them asked.
"Yeah, after blocking up the pathways all day yesterday, wouldn't it be only polite to let us spectate your side competition in that lovely arena?" An Elder from the Sect beside them asked.
"Sorry, Gentlemen, the Lotus Blossom Sect rules are strict. This is a training match, not a competition. No outsiders allowed." Elder Ling called back.
Of course, that didn't stop the Elders, who simply flew up high enough that they could look down into the arena and use an energy control technique to look through the distortion caused by the compressed space.
Elder Ling could only sigh and take a seat to watch the match in the arena that was large enough to hold ten thousand Seraphim, not just a few dozen Disciples that were currently there.
The two contestants saluted each other, and Elder Xiao spoke a few words before the referee dropped the flag.
"No need to go easy. I am confident in my skills."
Vala grinned back at her. "If you say so, I won't go easy on you. The arena won't allow any permanent harm to come to contestants either way."
As soon as the referee dropped the flag, an intensely overbearing aura flowed out of the demon, and Pestilence activated as she flapped her wings and raced forward. The pressure was enough to almost force Elder Ling to her knees since she wasn't used to Demonic Oppression, but she recovered quickly, blocking the strike and flowing into a series of beautifully linked attacks.
"That is the core of the Lotus Blossom Style. I didn't expect her to go all out so soon." Elder Ling whispered to Cain.
"If she didn't, she would have already lost. Just watch."
Five attacks into the flow, Vala counterattacked, stopping the Elder's momentum and driving her backward around the ring. The Demon was faster than the Elder by a large margin, and even the graceful and minimalist style of the Lotus Blossom Sect had nothing on the brutal efficiency of Vala's combat technique.
"By the Gods, how many battles do you have to be in to develop a fighting style like that?" One of the Elders flying overhead asked as Vala started to use blade skills against Elder Xiao.
The Elder's defenses were surprisingly solid, a feature of her fighting style, but she wasn't getting a chance to fight back until she used an area skill that slowed Vala and let the Elder get a counterstrike in.
"So, Penny. Tell me, was she this mean to you as well, suppressing you until she had her fun?" Cain asked his Disciple.
"Worse. She just openly bullied me. At least Elder Xiao doesn't have to rely on her choosing not to strike back to survive the first minute. I realized last night after bed that she never used a single skill against me, from the start to the match that she let me win." Penny grumbled.
"Well, that is Vala. It's not surprising."
Vala had retreated from the Elder's skill and was bombarding her with black energy blades, faster and faster until the Elder's blade was barely visible as it knocked the attacks aside or cut them apart and canceled the skill.
Even the spectators outside the arena, hovering in the air, were shocked by that display of speed and skill. The chances were that if that attack were used on them, they would have been diced like stewing meat and ejected from the match.
"Since she can fight on par with an Immortal, I have to ask. How many fighters on that level can you summon?" Elder Ling asked Cain quietly as the match went on at a stalemate.
"Vala is unique in this world. But I can make thirty-six clones of her. It's just a shame she's not at her peak strength, or she could call a large group of Greater Demons to assist her.
When she was freed, she lost the Bonded Force that all Companions got, so in truth, she wasn't at her strongest at the moment.
Elder Ling looked pained at that news. One Greater Demon was a threat that every Sect took very seriously. Over a dozen of them were an unprecedented invasion that this world hadn't seen in ages. The Demons weren't at their strongest here in the Immortal Realm, and the Divine Realm cultivators could easily deal with any that managed to sneak in.
Elder Xiao was visibly tired now and had taken a defensive stance. Vala saw this and didn't want to draw things out any longer, but the Elder wasn't willing to give in easily.
"If you can take this last attack, I will give you the win," Vala announced, and fierce black energy formed around her body.
That should be [Shadow Strike], a skill she had learned when summoned as a Spirit Rank Demon.
Half of the arena vanished in the blackness before an immense blade was formed, crashing down on Elder Xiao faster than thought.
An instant later, only one contestant stood in the arena. Elder Xiao had vanished to the recovery room.
"What sort of skill is that? My Sect practices Shadow Techniques, but I have never seen a Spirit Rank anything use a sword skill that powerful." One of the neighboring Elders declared, ignoring the perimeter of the Lotus Blossom camp to fly into the arena.
"That is the true Shadow Strike, as practiced by Spirit Rank Demons," Cain informed him while Elder Ling glared at the intruder, who clearly didn't mean any harm.
The man shook his head. "I know Shadow Strike, and it is powerful, but not like that. Can she show me [Piercing Darkness] so I can get a baseline on her strength?"
Vala shook her head. "I am not a Shadow Cultivator, but a Demon. I don't know all of the pathetic beginner skills that you gathered."
The man didn't even look offended at that one. He only hopped down to the sand and drew his blade.
"Is this the skill you used?"
Darkness gathered around him, and a black blade flashed out, crashing into the sand in a much less impressive showing than what Vala had put on, but still an incredibly powerful show of Shadow Energy.
"Clearly, it is. But I suggest you maybe practice it a little before you show things like that in public."
Now the man looked thoroughly embarrassed, as his skill was near the pinnacle of Spirit Rank power, and it was dwarfed by the version that the Demon had used.
"My apologies. I got ahead of myself. I will work on perfecting the skill before I try to use it in combat." He replied with a salute of his sword.
He then flew back up out of the ring, thoroughly chastised. In truth, that skill was completely mastered. He simply lacked the power to activate it at the level that she did. It had taken most of his natural life to make it to the late stages of the Spirit Realm. He had neither the talent nor the potential to compete.
"Let's get back to the Disciples. No slacking on your combat practice just because the Forbidden Treasure Sect Master made you a fancy arena to practice in today." Elder Ling called to the Lotus Blossom members gathered in the front row of the bleachers.
"Referee, split the arena into four pieces so the Disciples can practice in larger numbers," Cain instructed, then got to his feet, intent on getting to breakfast before it was all gone.