Gaius Antonius & Zeno Angelus - Riches In The Mud
- Location
- Germany
The room smelt acrid and the black smoke producing that smoke hung on the roof of the ball room like a misshapen smoke signal. It's just lightweight enough to curve and huddle around the top of the pillars, which look remarkably similar to architecture found around Golden Devil cities.
That train of thought doesn't have time to linger long before the new entrant into the ballroom is noticed and scrutinized for his worth by his competitors without shame. Some mutter beneath their breath, while others whisper to the fellows of their city beside them. And all of them already calculated the variable he represents for their plan to take home the win for their city. As one of 100 managers allowed entrance into the Grand Twelve City Alliance Unity Tournament, Ya Zan already knew that much. Standing in the doorframe and being stared down by the little cliques forming around the tables is another experience entirely separate from the usual cultivator meeting. Surrounded each by the most lavish of dishes the Organ Meat Desert could muster, none would show weakness in front of the Magnate.
'They could clean the sticks up their behinds..' a quick mental smack shuts up his papery companion.
As Ya Zan finally crosses the most garish red carpet he has ever seen and finds an unoccupied spot to stand among the 'lesser' managers. Not lesser in any kind of might-sense, more in the political sense. All of them on this table in the distant table wisely kept their mouth shut, because they could not weather the ire of Xia Liwei. His name may be connected to greatness, but none of it extends to slights upon his businesses. Rumors around the table circulate how many cities the portly magnate of Wugui city has already conquered by economic might. Some say three while the more connected managers dispute he may have even reached into their own territories at all.
"Mwahahaha!" With that boisterous laugh from the only man sitting among the gathered cultivators, the room becomes silent as a grave.
Chewing on his gold stuffed wood pipe he says. "Welcome my guests to this most auspicious of events. I hope you all had no problem reaching this finely decorated ballroom of mine?"
Leaving no room for answers to his rhetorical questions he continues. "Ho, We all know why we are gathered here, so let me cut to the chase. We are gathered to see good fights and deepen connections among the Cities." WIth a heave and some creaking he stands up. "This ain't no ordinary tournament dear guests."
A new round of murmurings start. Whispers of keeps, holdings and unity flow around Ya Zan. Few among the unaffiliated managers merely raise eyebrows, while the representatives of the Cities quickly establish a pecking order and just as promptly stop speaking entirely. The atmosphere in the room gained a new edge.
Meanwhile the Magnate of Wugui walks leisurely down the ballroom with a gold encrusted horn in hand and a smile on his lips. "The rules are simple. Since normal tournament brackets are simply not feasible with these contestant numbers, I have decided to let them fight for commemorative coins to determine who will advance.
Having reached the door the balding Magnate continues. "With every contestant eliminated, their manager will remove themselves from the presence of the Twelve Cities Alliance Greatest and…
A voice amongst another 'lesser' table makes itself known "Then why do they not simply fight until enough remains?"
Murmuring starts again, while the Magnate sits down on his seat overlooking the ballroom. The sun shimmering through the bamboo forest and the arena's shutters frame the balding cultivator's head. "And not allow you outsiders to see the might of the Twelve City Alliance, Yi Huangwu of the Bei?"
The named wandering cultivator said no more. Others rushed to fill the oppressive silence. While long ingrained diplomatic reflexes would demand they kowtow before even this lowliest of the Jingshen. The 'lesser' manager simply stands among his crowd, taking the rebuke from the Magnate.
The Magnates smile grows alongside the money of several purses beside him.
"Let's show them how we'll do business!"
______
Each of the twelve Grand Cities achieved its economic power through some primary focus, and Wugui City's came from Wugui River. Incredibly wide and deep, this river ran down from the mountains and continued for hundreds of miles before culminating in a lake to the south and brought with it a great amount of fish, freshwater and mineral wealth. By farming along the banks of this river in the famously arid Organ Meat Desert, Wugui City had endured since the death of the Turtle Child and the creation of the desert in one form or another. It had been burned down and rebuilt, conquered and reconquered by all manner of governments, but it persisted through it all, because it filled such a valuable niche.
One of the exports made possible by Wugui River was bamboo. So common as to be almost worthless in the Plains, bamboo was a sought-after resource in the desert, and quite a bit of it was grown here. And now, one of the larger bamboo forests would provide an appropriate battleground for the preliminaries. One hundred Foundation Building level Cultivators, all entrants into the tournament who had earned the right to participate, milled about just outside the endless sea of tall shoots.
"What would you say they've got planned? This all seems a bit childish for such a big competition." Said one Expert, tapping experimentally on one shoot and confirming it was, indeed, just bamboo. "Hunting for coins is a bit weird."
"Who's to say? Maybe they want to test more than just fighting strength." Said another, who slowly chewed on a long piece of herb. "The tournament's got all sorts of rumors around it too. Hordes of workers coming and going for years to multiple arenas, none of them being told more than they need to know. It's all very clandestine."
"Feh! A tournament ought to be just that, a tournament!" Scoffed a third Expert, this one bearing the distinctive metallic coloration of a Golden Devil. "The more you complicate things, the less pure a contest it is. Shouldn't they want to see who's got the most martial skill?"
"Blunt as ever, you Devils are." The second Expert sneered. "Some people value more than just brute force."
"That's no reason for such bizarre rules…" The Devil grumbled, crossing his arms and turning to the side where another Devil stood, tapping his foot and smoking a cigarette. "Am I crazy, my Clansman? Gimmicks like this are just inefficient, aren't they?"
The other Devil, a tall man with a pinched face, clad in simple armor with padded leather underneath, took a moment to mull over that. "I don't know, seems fun. Nothing wrong with fun, at times like this." He said laconically, punctuated by a shrug. The first Devil, finding himself unsupported, gave a loud harrumph and walked off.
That was good, the taller Devil thought. He'd rather not hold a long conversation, with this uncomfortable mask. False skin, the reliable kind, at least, took time to apply and time to settle in. He wouldn't be seen through unless someone looked very closely for a while, but still, there was no need to tempt fate.
Gaius had really gotten himself wrapped up in something wild. He rolled his neck and worked his jaw, stretching the artificial flesh and trying to make it settle faster. Zeno's schemes were, as usual, brilliant, but Gaius was too famous to participate as himself. Cosus Aetius, an unknown Centurion with no fame or great deeds to his name, would be his disguise for the duration of this tournament.
A rail-thin man in fine robes walked onto the scene, bearing a slip marked with a projection array. He casually tossed it up above his head, where it shattered into motes of light, which then formed a magnified image of himself. That, obviously, got the attention of all the entrants, but the well-dressed man even cleared his throat on top of all that.
The man's voice, a well-practiced baritone which didn't match his face, boomed out, magnified by the projection. "Welcome, warriors, to the preliminary round of the Unification Tournament! Exactly one hundred of you have qualified, but that number will not be admitted into the tournament proper! Among you, less than one in three shall advance; exactly thirty two!"
He produced a small wooden chest, about two feet wide and half as long and tall, then opened it, and his much larger double did the same. "Scattered through this bamboo forest are eighty chests, just like these. In each, there are two coins." To demonstrate, he placed the chest on the ground and took out two golden coins, holding one in each hand.
"There are one-hundred sixty of these coins in total; thirteen representing each of the twelve Great Cities and four of them blank. To advance to the tournament, an entrant must gather at least five coins, then cross the finish line on the other side of the forest." He then pointed in that direction, as if they somehow wouldn't get it otherwise. "If you cross with more than five coins, the excess will be loaded into new chests and launched into the forest."
The announcer rolled up his sleeve, revealing himself to be wearing a thick, sturdy leather glove with five metal circles on the back, four on the back of the hand and one on the wrist. He placed his two coins onto two of the circles, where they held fast. "You must place your coins onto the back of your glove; anyone caught smuggling coins in any other fashion will be disqualified immediately. Remember, we have scrying arrays observing the forest."
The announcer waved his hands dramatically, his smooth, deep voice beginning to crack and trace along a more shrill, harsh one underneath. "The preliminary ends when thirty-two of you have crossed the line, leaving us with our first round's contestants! There are no other rules!" With that, the announcer moved out of the way and the projection dispersed.
Everyone had known the gist of this round going in - that they would be hunting for tokens of some kind - but these rules made things more intense. There was no time limit, meaning endless chances to succeed. A disappointing start wouldn't mean failure. Gaius prepared himself for the bedlam to come. The bamboo forest couldn't have covered more than thirty square miles; in an area like that, the scale at which Foundation Experts operated would guarantee many encounters for all of them.
The announcer raised his arm and tapped the tips of his shoes together, causing him to rise ten feet into the air. At this point, many in the crowd were rolling their eyes at the ostentatious display. The announcer, in Foundation Building himself by the looks of things, would need an expensive artifact and lots of qi to float so effortlessly like that, and he was using it for mere dramatic effect? The dozen or so Devils in attendance seemed particularly disgusted at the sheer waste.
"BEGIN!"
A clamor of wet squelching sounds erupted, as many of the entrants rushed headlong into the forest, breaking or cutting down the shoots in their way or simply running atop them. Many others, however, took a more cautious approach. Some twenty or so instead turned and began to run along the edge of the forest, and the rest followed the frontrunners more cautiously. Gaius, for his part, was a member of that last group.
Two coins per box, but five to pass? Many of the Experts immediately noticed this incongruity, and began to understand the implications. Someone who found three chests would have an excess coin, and while simply crossing was possible, this created the possibility of coins being exchanged or shared. Factions and groups would likely form, to gang up on lone entrants for their coins. Furthermore, it was guaranteed that excess coins would be built up and shot back into the forest, introducing more chaos as new, untapped chests were added to the area.
Before long, all of the trailing Experts drifted apart from one another, until there was no one in Gaius' immediate view. This was entirely logical; entrants would start fighting one another over coins any moment now, and no one wanted to be an easy target. In fact… was that a ringing of steel on steel, about a mile up ahead? yes, it was, and there was the sound of crackling fire somewhere else. Little by little, the sounds of violence began to ring out.
Gaius Antonius could approach this very differently; he would just get in there. He would send out his Dao Emanations to search the whole forest at once, then make a beeline for the nearest chest. There would be no need for subtlety when the opponents were all in Foundation, given he could dominate their souls. Cosus, on the other hand, was not a King. Cosus was not even an unorthodox Cultivator, and thus had to act intelligently and cautiously.
Off to the side, he spotted an entrant in the distance in the gaps between the shoots, two points of light glinting on her glove, but didn't engage. It had only been ten minutes; there were so many undiscovered chests, so there was no need to fight yet. In fact…
Gaius ducked down, grateful for the curtain-like shoots which kept him relatively isolated. There, before him, was a chest he'd spotted about half a mile back. He'd been jogging at an unassuming pace, so as to not catch the eye of any potential watchers, and evidently that had worked. Flipping the little wooden box open, he beheld two coins, each about half an inch across, one of them blank and the other bearing the heraldry of Wugui City. Sticking the little metal discs onto his glove, the King felt a bit of tension escape his body.
Having any coins was far better than having zero, because it meant the round couldn't pass him by. All the coins had to be turned in in multiples of five to end the contest, meaning unless Gaius was defeated and lost these coins, he was sure to make it through eventually. And eventually was the keyword there; he was hoping to only cross the finish line after half of the winners had already been decided. Ideally, he wouldn't even be in the first twenty - he needed to look entirely unremarkable for this plan to work.
By his estimation, about an hour in would be a good time to finish, but milling about after gathering five coins would just attract suspicion. Gaius would take his time, and get his coins slowly. And so, the disguised King took a winding, leisurely route through the bamboo forest, layer after layer of mud caking his boots as he made a big show of creeping around and looking very serious and alert.
This look of alertness served to leave Gaius unmolested for another ten minutes, but that wasn't going to last forever. Behind him, a Cultivator bearing unfamiliar heraldry and wielding a large curved dagger attempted to pounce on Gaius from above, and he turned and dodged the attack by a slim margin. The attacker, a stocky man with a scarred face and close-fitting, practical clothes, was every bit the image of a street brawler. An understated look for someone in the second Great Realm, but perhaps he didn't care about appearances that much.
Or, perhaps, he simply wasn't anything special, Gaius thought, noting the lack of any coins on the Expert's glove. After sizing one another up, the two clashed again, the assailant pulling out a second dagger and Gaius sticking with just one sword. In a place like this, without much room to move around, a bulky implement like a shield would just get in the way. He backed up, deftly deflecting several attacks and keeping his opponent at bay with his longer reach, and fought the urge to yawn; this was just boring.
Win in unimpressive fashion: that was his mission statement, both now and for the duration of the whole tournament. He needed to be an underdog, someone who barely scrapes through with all of their might and a generous serving of luck. Someone who, by the Grand Finals, would be a joke, someone with no serious chance of victory.
The attacker - who Gaius was fairly sure hailed from one of the Twelve Cities, though he couldn't tell which - shot a blast of lightning from his mouth, exploding a patch of bamboo shoots as the Devil deflected it off to the side. He pantomimed numbness and pain in his sword arm, baiting his opponent into pressing the offensive. This carried on for a while longer, with Gaius using basic techniques with no flash and shutting down the attacker with the bare minimum of force needed. Once he was certain of everything the Expert could do, he slowly turned up the heat.
Bit by bit, Gaius' opponent gave ground, came out the loser in exchanges, and built up superficial wounds. Rather than crush this nobody, Gaius simply used about twenty percent more power than his opponent could bring to bear, slowly and reliably breaking the man down. Finally, after another ten minutes, the attacker cursed and ran off, trail market with drops of blood on the muddy ground.
Gaius sighed - that was just embarrassing, but at least it was Cosus giving that lackluster performance, not him. More importantly, thirty minutes had now passed, meaning he was halfway to the time at which he wanted to pass.
He kept up the journey, and did not face any more attacks, owing mainly to his inconspicuous mode of travel. Knowing that he could afford to take his time now that he had coins, Gaius stayed out of the limelight and let entrants wear each other down. Again and again, he would duck out of the way behind a thick cluster of shoots as a pair of combatants shot by him, and each time he wished he could take part. But unlike Gaius, Cosus was not strong, so he went on his way.
Near the center of the forest, Gaius came upon another entrant with two coins, dressed in blue and green robes and carrying on his person a single well-maintained saber. From the state of his hair and clothes, he'd been in a few fights already, which might mean he was already tired. At least, that's what Gaius hoped.
"Would you like to have a go as well, stranger?" The man asked, turning just enough to affix Gaius with a dangerous look. "I've had no luck at all with those boxes, so I'm just going to fight until I have five coins."
"I'll take you up on that." Gaius said, drawing his sword. Damn it, it still hurt to talk. This man seemed like a tough customer, but there was no shame in taking a shot.
______
Barely noticing another manager being escorted out of the room, he focuses his attention on the important part of this room. Watching on his own Jade screen, something surely imported from some plain power, simply because of its ludicrous need for spirit stones no Golden Devil would ever approve of, Ya Zan grimaces under the expensive shawl. At a glance around his table, many others beside him share similar expressions, while suffering under tittering and whispering badly-told jokes from far off tables. The golden smoke had at some point settled as a low hanging dust cloud on the ballrooms floor. Some dropped half-eaten fruits even glint with a rough coating.
Ya Zan thought to himself. "We cheated with our disguises to get in unnoticed, but does the lack of honor for advantages in our actions even matter with such a rigged tournament? His stooges clearly get their coins far too easily and that's not even mentioning Gaius' current opponent!
Papery thoughts interjected. 'I wouldn't worry too much. He has some experience with stealth, right?'
'He is a King. They are the opposite of stealthy in Dao terms. Secondly the amount of spirit stones spent for surveilance by such a comparetively minor power is stupid and thirdly keeping up that ruse in front of such active opponents isn't the kind of experience he is used to.'
Appendix merely sends him a mental grin before his thoughts are interrupted by an approaching manager. A quickly scribbled formation allows for some semblance of privacy. "What the fuck is this scorpionshit, devil?"
Taking care to look more confident than he felt, Ya Zan made sure to not show his thoughts on his face. Being outed by the disciple of the Stone Breaker would be the embarrassment of the century. Raising an eyebrow he answers factually. "The formation will make our conversation seem like gibberish to others."
"Not that, the tournament! This was supposed to be an honorable tournament. Aren't you Devils all about upholding your laws?
Rolling his eyes Zan answers with a drawl. "As an Outsider working for them I wouldn't know…" A glare and some carefully expressed qi on his formation makes the point of the Stone Breaker clear. "Of course some kind Devils told me they let these folks be… autonomous… in exchange for assured taxes."
Clearly not liking the answer he would continue, if not for another manager tapping his left shoulder. "We will talk about Quiguai later." is all he says, before being escorted to his table. The churning in his stomach didn't abade after these words.
______
It wasn't going well. Gaius flew back, breaking several bamboo shoots over his back before catching himself. His opponent flicked his blade, splattering flecks of blood on the ground, and returned to a relaxed, neutral stance.
Limited to a small fraction of what he could do, Gaius had no hope of overcoming this man. He could definitely do it if he used everything, but that was right out; at any moment, a scrying array could be on him. Instead, he feigned pain, clutching at his wound and running off. The swordsman took a few more swipes at him, cutting a swathe through the shoots, before giving up and returning to his previous spot.
Nearly an hour, and Gaius still had only two coins. It would be fine to increase his haul by now, and thankfully, he'd been watching closely even as he fought that swordsman. A new chest had landed about a mile to the north-east, and he would be there any minute now.
Sure enough, there it was, lodged in the mud on its side. Keeping his eyes peeled for anyone else trying to muscle in on the prize, Gaius knelt down and opened the box, adding two new coins to his glove. These ones depicted the heraldry of two other cities, Zhongshan Zhan and Lian. Now only one coin away from finishing, The Seeker smiled with satisfaction, then headed in the direction of the finish line. Even if he couldn't cross yet, he'd like to see what was going on over there.
What he saw was, in fact, about what he expected. The shoots grew less dense about half a mile out from the finish, giving him a clear view of a thick line of bright red bricks built a few inches above the mud, to make them visible in the messy environment. In front of that line, which stretched out a mile from the river bank, quite a few entrants could be seen facing toward the inside of the forest, waiting for someone to come through.
Gaius clicked his tongue in annoyance - that was a risky strategy, but a smart one. Anyone coming out with five coins could be ambushed by several of these impromptu gatekeepers at once, who would split up their coins between themselves, either by agreement or force. This unstable alliance could collapse at any moment, but it made it quite difficult to actually slip through.
"Bunch of vultures. Is digging in the mud not good enough for them?" Scoffed another observer to Gaius' side. He turned, beholding a female Golden Devil, wearing light amounts of metal armor over thick, well-fitted cloth in shades of dark red. Her close-cropped hair accentuated the sharpness of her cheekbones, giving her a dangerous appearence. She carried no weapons, and the abnormal thickness of her fingers and hands told exactly why.
"Can't fault it if it works." Gaius shrugged. "I'm Cosus."
"Katerina"
"Coins?" He asked in a deceptively casual fashion, watching the Centurion closely in the corner of his eye.
"Four, just like you." She shot back, fingers twitching and qi circulation speeding up.
Gaius took a moment to think, careful not to make a single unnecessary moment, lest the combative tension boil over. "If we fight, the winner'd go through with three dead coins. Bit of a waste."
Katerina let out a long, slow breath, relaxing just a little bit. "True, true. Might as well relieve a foreigner together, then."
That matter settled, the pair turned back into the forest, creeping about together until they came upon a fight between two entrants. One gracefully wielded a long ji, and the other swung a heavy mace. The bout went back and forth quite a bit, but the two Devils were in no rush. Finally, the mace-wielder went down, speared into the stomach, and his opponent closed in to take his coins.
Before he could do so, however, Gaius charged out of the shoots, swinging his sword fiercely and putting the fatigued warrior on the defensive. After several clashes, the opponent's attention was affixed entirely on Gaius, and that was what Katerina pounced, flashing out with an intense burst of speed and impaling him in the back with two fingers, which glowed with a dangerous red light.
"I thought the competition would be stiffer than this, all things considered." She muttered, wiping the blood from her hand.
"It's the prelims. It'll get harder." Gaius shot back, cursing the ache in his jaw, as he pried two coins off the fallen mace-wielder's glove. He affixed one to the final circle on the back of his wrist, then tossed the other to Katerina, who did the same.
Five coins, nice and neat. All things considered, Gaius had been rather lucky to not get caught up in more fights than he had. All that remained now was that 'defensive line' by the finish. "Gotta break through the finish too." He said, leaving the offer unspoken.
"No reason not to work together, then." Katerina nodded stoically. "We'll do it while they're looting or fighting someone else."
The moment came soon enough. An entrant, perhaps confident in the fleetness of his feet, attempted to get past the ambushers, dodging several arrows before one struck him in the thigh. On cue, three Experts pounced on their prey and began beating him into the dirt. The deafening clash of two Experts was an attention-grabbing affair, especially if one happened to be one of those fighting.
The two Devils dashed across the field, passing by the chaotic melee. Their first prey mostly subdued, two of the ambushers broke off and chased after the pair, firing off all manner of sorcerous projectiles. Gaius turned around to cleave a boulder in twain, only for a spear-wielding Expert, who had been running behind the attack, to strike at him. Katerina covered him in that moment of vulnerability, striking the enemy with several bolts of red light.
The attackers discouraged and driven off, Katerina leapt across the line, a small smile finally blooming on her stern face. Gaius, for his part, made sure to let her go first, so as to knock his place down one more spot.
Stepping through just after Katerina, Gaius slowed to a stop and looked around, beholding the ones who had already made it through. With no further instructions, everyone was milling about, waiting for the round to finally finish. Not counting Gaius, eighteen people were here, making him the nineteenth to get through.
He scowled and looked down. To an onlooker, it might appear that Gaius - or rather, Cosus - was upset that he hadn't placed higher. In truth, Gaius was hoping for a worse placement, as nineteen was a lower number than would be ideal here. Still, he supposed, it could have been worse; he was still in the second half to get through, and anyone who saw him would have seen nothing noteworthy. An entirely unremarkable Golden Devil Expert, who had mostly avoided getting in fights, and had succeeded with the help of luck and teamwork. Cosus Aetius would not be one to watch out for going into the tournament, something which could hopefully be maintained going forward.
Several more people came through in the following half-hour, until twenty-five had arrived. By that point, the ambushers began to break into all-out, brutal infighting, and several more passed over the line in quick succession. With that all done with, those that could still stand went back into the forest, and around the two-hour mark, one last person crossed, bringing the preliminary to a close.
The announcer appeared again, crooning over the strength of those who had made the cut, the perseverance they had shown and blah blah blah. Gaius tuned him out, and instead looked over the other thirty-one entrants, trying to suss out who was noteworthy. Katerina was fairly strong, from what little he had seen of her performance. There was also that swordsman with the grass-colored robe. There was a tall hooded man with an oversized artificial hand, who gave off a foreboding feeling Gaius couldn't quite place. Finally, there was an old man with some kind of strange whip-sword.
Of course, it wasn't like he could go off his gut alone; Gaius was hiding his strength, after all, so it stood to reason that others might be doing the same. He smiled, looking forward to the spectacle to come.
______
Before the contestants could come into the room to receive the Magnates' word, Zan was taken aside by one of the Magnates' underlings, meeting at one of the freshly conquered tables, where various colorful dishes were laid down by one of his chefs.
The black-haired underlings' hair, thrown back with surely more honey than sense, motioned for others to clear the area. His lack of finesse was the point of this whole show and all in attendance knew it. "I'll cut to the chase, foreigner. You saw the 32nd with a bow getting in barely and his clothing getting off worse than him. His manager already got shat on for his stupidity and his champion won't make it far because of it.
With a raised right eyebrow he looks the manager of Gaius in the eyes "You get me?"
Yan Zan didn't move, just stared back; his lack of comprehension clear.
Yan couldn't help himself. No one had threatened him so amateurishly before. How did one respond properly to such incompetence? Everyone saw his conduct for crying out loud!
"Ugh. Do I really have to spell it out for you? The less you cooperate, the steeper the slope is going to get, I hope you understand that. Or perhaps you'd rather be in the company of that Jingshen, and his dead-last fighter?" The small man pointed to the table of results hanging in the middle of the room. A picture of the champion's appearance changing every now and then.
Yan asked, amused. "And the obvious 16 getting through are just a part of the business then?
The underling grins back. "What can I say, that man up there, everything he touches turns to gold. He always knows the best venture."
Yan answers without missing a beat. "Funny, I once heard a legend about a man who turned anything he touched to gold. It didn't end well for him."
"Hmpfh. What is it you want? Control of a city or would you rather have all the night ladies bow to you?"
"No-"
The underling steps uncomfortably closer and answers in a harsh whisper. "You dare, junior? With a new heaven approaching and finally unifying the Twelve City Alliance?"
"OF COURSE!" An ear-to-ear splitting grin frames Zans' face at the only true answer.
Other underlings quickly depart with him in tow, allowing him only a rushed "You will regret this!" as a parting call before new murmurings break out over the underling's scandalous conduct with a manager.
A sudden clap stalls all talk. "Now, now, no need to get overly hasty, friends. The main course is still before us." As if a Dao technique was woven into this room, all listen with rapt attention to his every word as the Archtrader of Wugui explains his plans for the future.
Xia Liwei congratulates the remaining thirty-two managers, who have earned the right to enjoy the afterparty. This sets the remaining crowd into a frenzy, finally noticing the smaller pool of competitors. Gossip begins flying, including discussions about the proportions of those who made it through.
Thanks to the group becoming so small a consensus is quickly established, after tables and managers move with the changing tides of political favor. It doesn't escape anyone's notice how many of the ones in the bracket - exactly sixteen - are from one of Xia Liwei's five cities. Just over half of his thirty fighters have made it through the preliminaries, but the number is just small enough that it could be an unlikely coincidence. No one wants to be the one to accuse the host of cheating without substantial evidence. As the underling showed, it could be them next.
Almost as a second thought many managers notice the composition of the brackets. Of the remaining sixteen, five are Golden Devils, eight are from the seven independent cities and three are from elsewhere.
This sets Zans' thoughts running back. Back when they concocted this scheme, after they met in an underhang near a fork in the road towards the Twelve City Alliance. They didn't mean to meet there; it just happened.
'You both were reeally aimless, like bored enough to think of ways to beat a nascent soul at go aimless.' Appendix interjects.
'I mean, our musings helped pass the time.'
'Mmhm, let me show you what you two sadsacks actually did.'
–
With a thud two glasses joined the rest on the counter of the little Inn Zeno and Gaius walked in some hours…or was it days ago. Point is, they were officially drunk enough to talk and the owner left them hours ago with the keys and the barkeeper.
Slouched over the counter Zeno says." Hey, Gaius."
"Hmmh?"
"What should I doo?"
"I dunno, use your fame? taking another gulp he continues without the slur of his drinking companion. "They call you Fate-Seizer for changing the fate of Nascents of Clan and the Jingshen by stealing their tribulation treasure, heh."
"I know, but that ish not the point. I losht the heaven-metal…stuff. How am I gonna beat up shitty young mashters in Quigai? Tell a young mashter to stop daring, because of my fame?"
Sipping on his drink Gaius says. "You're now in late Foundation and managed to survive a trial. You'll find a way. Me, I don't even know if you're real, if any of you fuckers are real."
"Fuck you mean I'm not real? Reach out and touch me, I'm right here!" Zeno replied in bleary confusion.
"Nothin' makes sense anymore… once had a dream that lasted two years, when I was in that prison. I've only been out for one." Gaius held his head in his hands and descended into mumbling. "Blood and darkness, ninety-nine seas, chopsticks, restaurant, don't eat in the restaurant, time is all connected…"
Both look at their half filled drinks, the almost empty cupboard of ingredients before them. The monkey in his cage still dutifully midnight blue smoke with sparkles in them.
"Gaius?"
Sighing, Gaius hands out another drink. "Out with it."
"We 'ould win loots of stones in a 'ournament nearby."
WIthout missing a beat, Gaius asks. "How would they not recognize me instantly?"
With a eureka moment happening behind his eyes, Zeno turns around and excitedly points at his friends eyes. "Facemashk!"
"Facemask? And what about the rest?"
Shrugging Zeno responds. "Eh, just fake it like the infiltration mission in Shen Kingdom."
"Beatin' up some vassals for prize money… 's decent pay, I guess. But it seems a little small-time. Where's the huge payout coming from?"
"That's the thing, no one can say for sure, buut my stones are on the blood madness. Shpecifially the mountain clans sudden need for medicine. Normally they could produce it themselves, but you know."
"I see, you mean it's finally gonna happen." Gaius finished his drink and propped his head up on his hand. "Every fucking fifty years, as far back as anyone can remember, word goes around about how the Twelve Cities are gonna unify. You think someone's making a serious go at it, so there's gonna be big money moving around?"
"Exactly! The new policies for entering secret realms and the blood madness put a…a hive of scoprions under the trade routes of…ugh.. Twelve City Alliance! You know?
"Big money comin' down the pass, big, flashy event getting thrown down in Wugui…" Gaius rubbed his chin, starting to like the sound of this more and more. "Put those together and you get very, very big bets. We play the odds right, and the prize money'll look like a beggar's paycheck by comparison." Or at least, he said something approximating those words. Between the drinks and the excitement, it was getting a little abstract.
Raising his drink with a far too confident smile, considering his alcohol level, Zeno asks. "Are you in the prize of several experts' lifetimes?!"
"Gonna need at least half of it to pay for that fuckin' thing's tab." Gaius snorted, looking at the middle of the bar where a certain five hundred pound fish lay unconscious, surrounded by several empty barrels. "So why not?"
---
AN: words: 6501/2 = ~3251 words per person
@no. , @Humbaba
Last edited:
