Amorra wondered how her attack on a simple dump had gone so poorly. Of the choices she had to enter the CityNation of Maelstrom, this area seemed the best. She’d planned on raiding the area, setting up fortifications, and assaulting the backwater civilizations dense populous with advanced rune craft, science and anything else her people could think up. Yet, they’d been beaten so quickly that Amorra began to research not only who she’d attacked, but who she’d partnered with for the supposed attacks. Mr. Kim hadn’t kept up his end of the bargain thus far, and Amorra settled on an absolute destruction of both the business man, and whoever owned what she now knew to be a decommissioned Ikarus base. Her troops had been rushed on either side by 10-foot tall tree folk, and Living Armors. At the same time, forced to fight a strange organization of Cultivators and even mortals that made gaining any kind of ground impossible. Sitting in the captain’s seat of her ship, she watched two scenes on screen alongside the rest of her crew. One being the footage of their first attack, and the second being the livestream of Arson during the prelims. The young man had become the third most watched competitor for the event, only behind a combined group of three siblings that took second, and a masked youth named Maestro. The bowman was first in viewership, and ranked first place in the prelims as well. Second place being Arson, who should have gotten first place for multiple reasons from what she’d already seen so far, and third place ended up being the female of the Crown family members. “Do I even want to know?” Amorra asked the question, but was truly in a state of internal turmoil over watching the competition. The adolescent Arson she knew had been far stronger than this young man and Amorra worried that he wouldn’t be able to play with the sleeping light dragon that lay behind her. “It's him for sure, something may be blocking his power, but the way he defeats his foes makes me sure of it,” said her royal guard. She’d been asleep for the event but her entire crew had watched. Now she found herself worried, as the rest of her crew seemed once again captivated by what was on screen, and she wondered if something horrible had occurred. “He isn’t mortally wounded, is he? He’s using potions for sparks sake,” questioned Amorra. “No, my lady. Just watch. Things are about to get good. He might not be able to regrow an arm like he once could, but he definitely has unseen power." Arson faced the trio with the second highest viewership, and Amorra was stunned that he hadn’t lost to them, but the chase that unraveled next was absolutely not what she’d expected to see. Arson destroyed a second section of the stage. The explosion enough to launch him skyward, and scatter the siblings. After he dropped from the air and darted toward the tower in the middle of the illusionary jungle, Lilith was seen on her own stream coming to her feet and doing the same. The content spliced and displayed in a smaller box on screen to increase the intensity of the footage. “What’s inside the tower?” asked Amorra, only to be shushed by her attendant. The man looked back with a subtle bow and blush on his face before he spoke up in an attempt to save himself from the queen's wrath. “I mean, please remain silent until the end. Trust me, my queen, you don’t want to miss this.” Amorra’s squint was equivalent to a glare when wielded, but distracted by the images being displayed, she nodded and watched. “So, Carter, what’s the plan here? There is likely to be a lot of competitors in this next area. Anything to excite our audience?” The announcer for Arson’s broadcast spoke and Arson answered as he rushed across a large bridge to enter the tower. A mote could be seen surrounding the structure, the waters swimming with various aquatic creatures Amorra knew to be carnivorous in nature. “No plan. Just seeing if the treasure chest is still on top!” Arson kept his full on sprint up, taking the occasional glance back at Lilith who’d been joined by her brother Orbit. Both now in a chase to run Arson down. “Ahh yes, this treasure chest has been mentioned many times. What do you believe is inside? Anything worth mentioning?” “No clue, just want to know if it is still there. I think I heard from a classmate that it changes every time!” A group of competitors fought at the entrance Arson ran toward. Almost a dozen opponents fought not each other, but a ten-meter golem, that stood beside two five-meter golems that defended the entrance. The Golems seemed to be made of stone and lined with runes from top to bottom. Their bodies consisted of stone that had been shaped into eccentric armors from times long past. Arson was seen raising his hand pointing toward one of the two smaller golems. His weapon swooped through the air toward his target wielded by two autonomous hands. One of the hands let go of the scythe and punched out in front of the weapon with a burst of speed and force, while the other gripped the weapon’s strange circular handle. Amorra watched semi-awed by the next few moments. The golem Arson targeted was blocked by punches and slashes from his weaponized constructs. This allowed the group of cultivators that struggled to break into the tower to freely attack one out of the three defensive golems. Arson rushed in, running up behind a young man swinging a great sword. The horizontal slash meant to kneecap the largest of the three golems did manage to collide ineffectively across the stone limb, but also lifted Arson upward after he stepped onto the tip of the blade with a single precisely timed step. “Focus on the smaller ones!” No one listened to Arson at first as he climbed up the body of the largest armored stone golem. That was until Arson artfully dodged a fist aimed at him from the large creature by backflipping off of its armored stomach. His weapon moved through the air and was held horizontally by his constructs, which slipped beneath his feet as he crouched aerially. “Is this why many fear living weapon masters?” asked Amorra, yet she received no answer. The only sound in the area beside her voice, the sounds of battle that came from the screen in front of her. Arson launched himself from the shaft of his weapon up and over the second large fist swung toward him, barely missing the strike. A rune covered fist whistling by his head managed to ruffle his hair as it brushed by at an incredible speed. Arson’s weapon moving as he front-flipped over the arm to meet his open hand. The weapon was once more clenched in its owner’s own hands, Arson uncurling even as he cocked his arms back to strike. He roared as he fell toward the largest golem’s chest and he swung. An explosion of red water rippled down the edge of his blade in a torrent of focused mana. His scythe’s blade pierced right through a solitary rune on the creatures shoulder, and Amorra was shocked to watch the water like energy on his weapon pour into the crack made by the blade. An explosion was heard but not seen, and the arm went dead, dropping to the creature's side useless and unmoving. Arson dangled from his own weapon. He smiled at the shocked faces below, his two constructs now defending him against the golem’s other arm, which now flailed violently in an attempt to strike at Arson. After the shock passed over Arson’s actions, the young man had already climbed onto the golem's shoulder, and pulled free his weapon. He then lifted his weapon once more, the scythe’s shaft beginning to spin violently. The white gold tinged water once more lined his blade, which created a glowing halo of destruction while his weapon spun like a fan’s blade so quickly the weapon’s shaft could no longer be seen. Arson smashed down the spinning weapon. The blade sliced directly through the golem’s shoulder, cleaving the giant arm clean off, the limb falling onto one of its smaller companions. The smaller golem toppled underneath the weight of the arm that was almost longer than it was tall. The nearby cultivators swarmed the fallen creature. Blades, mana infused strikes and even elemental magics broke down the smaller golem, while Arson hacked at the neck of the larger golem. This time when Arson yelled for the group below to strike the other smaller bodied golem, they did, and to Amorra’s own shock, they took down the creature unaided by Arson. It was primarily the efforts of the three reunited Crown siblings, but what happened next was even more confusing than anything else she’d seen Arson do so far. “What is he—“ Amorra was cut off by screams of excitement and cheers as Arson stopped beheading the largest golem, and dove from its shoulders, into the tower it protected. “Run, young master, run!” yelled her head attendant. Odd flames could be seen rushing across the fake jungle so powerfully that many of the remaining scions that hadn’t made it to the tower were either evacuated by the MegaPlex’s security staff, or left to means of their own. Most using teleportation talismans, or ancient artifacts given to them by their guardians. Arson followed by the Crown trio were seen running through the tower as it was burned from its base. The various floors came with their own difficulties, all of which were dodged completely with speed, or ignored by Arson and the siblings. “Running is only going to make this worst for you,” roared Tartaria Crown, the young man’s inner wolf slowly coming to the forefront. The more they ran the higher they rose, until they got to the Eleventh floor. They’d run past elementals, a multitude of various golems, and even a professional team of hired mercenaries. Arson’s rear had been defended by a spinning scythe held by constructs for most of the sprint, but he’d still managed to be struck by both an arrow that remained lodged in his arm, and a strange acid that was eating through his opposing forearm. A dense layer of muscle now visible with each thrust of his arm, the acid already worked through the dermis, now eating its way to the bone. “Oh my,” said Amorra. Lane continued to give a full commentary the entire time. Amorra coming to enjoy her interaction with both her fans and Arson. “Did you catch it, my lady?” Her attendant, the man looking away from the action for the briefest of moments. “Catch what?” “The pillars, my lady, the pillars,” said the man his voice filled with excitement. “It’s okay, my lady, we missed it too,” said the man with a chuckle, his eyes locked once more on the screen. The final floor was nearly empty with the exclusion being a large knight three meters in height. The armored figure was completely covered in runes, the masterwork standing directly in front of the stairs that led upward. Arson ran up the stairs on the far side of the room from the knight. The sounds of a battle on the verge of becoming a massacre amidst a stampede of monsters and cultivators at Arson’s back. The young man never stopped, excluding the time it took to take in the area, and turn around, heading directly away from the knight. Amorra gasped before laughing at what unfolded. Arson took his scythe into both hands and raced toward the closest pillar to his position and swung. Amorra had seen him do this a few other times and thought nothing of it, until he cut this pillar, and the entire structure seemed to shake slightly. Arson didn’t stop, running toward the next closest pillar. Lilith Crown finally eclipsed the stairs, and the sounds of chaos grew as she yelled. “What in the sparks are you doing? We have to get out of here alive so I can beat you in the tournament!” Lilith darted toward Arson who was nearly at the third pillar on this floor, her path close enough to the knight guarding the steps that led to the roof. Arson cut through another pillar, and turned around as the entire structure shook violently. All of the cuts through the pillars had been clean horizontal cuts, until the last he’d sliced with a downward diagonal cut that made the pillar begin to slide out from underneath the roof. The green and blue flames rushing up the sides of the tower now even more violent than before. “Do you think it is still up there?” Lilith frowned at Arson’s question. A large knight rapidly closing ground behind her. “What in the bloody embers are you talking about, fool? Don’t you see this place is completely ablaze?” screamed Lilith as her brothers, followed by a bestiary’s chapter worth of different creatures. “Lilith, we must leave now!” Her brother Orbit teleported to her side, running toward Arson who shrugged, a wall of flames at his back. “I guess I’ll find out shortly,” said Arson. The roof collapsed in on itself as half the pillars holding it upright crumpled. Arson smiled before he rushed toward the still standing portions of the room, the stairs below closed off by the collapsed portion. The knight caught up to Lilith and Orbit, swinging a large longsword, causing both siblings to dodge out of one set of dangers into another. The still falling structure shaking violently now, causing a continual rain of rubble to come down from the ceiling above. Arson ran past the knight that still chased the siblings, and toward the edge of the room with the stairs that led upward. The crown siblings weren’t far behind Arson at this point, as Tartaria was the closest one to the opposing side of the room, and Orbit had teleported his sister out of danger and toward the still fleeing Arson. “The scene on film was once again spliced to show the tower from the outside, more of the pillars below that had been sliced finally giving into the pressure brought on by fire and Arson’s earlier actions. By the time Arson reached the roof, the entire structure was tilting. The cameras that followed him showed him burst onto the rooftop to see two flying cultivators floating only a meter off the falling structure in a tug of war over a large chest. “Well I'll be…” Arson didn’t stop for a moment. Pulling a strange coin from his pocket, Arson tossed it beyond the pair. The small glimmering object opening a portal just behind the chest. “No…” “Yes indeed, my lady,” said Amorra’s attendant. Arson jumped through the portal created, with a dive, his arrow-penetrated arm extending his scythe up toward the chest, while his two constructs pushed the box far enough downward for the chest to be hooked. He and the chest disappeared through the portal. The two flying cultivators flew through after him followed by Lilith, Orbit and Tartaria Crown. It was then that Amorra's attendant finally looked at her. The sight of a very familiar dump coming into view. Both screens in front of her now showing nearly the same scenes from different sides. One screen showing a poorly planned attack from one angle, and the other showed how easily her actions had been wiped away, the image of the refined area of the dump now perfect once more. “Find out what happens on company property on our private feed, and for more you can always subscribe here on BHC news. Thanks again for watching, Cultivators.” Lane closed out the video and the area beyond her ship was revealed. An immense forest all around her, trash keeps could be seen like mountains in the distance so large that Amorra’s eyes drifted directly toward them. A place she now believed to be one that may belong to her beloved. “No one can survive the trials of the Ikarus Legacy, my love,” said Amorra. She rose to her feet and waved her hand, the images of the battlefield expanded in the air, and Amorra watched her lost battle with fresh perspectives on what she was facing. “I will save you from yourself, I promise,” proclaimed Amorra. Her focus entirely on every moment and movement displayed; the holograms positioned in front of her at angles that made it seem as if she was there herself; the quality was so impressive, and rich that it was hard for her crew below to look away and return to work. “Engage routine Silent Engagement... 17.” Many in the room stopped short, only a few daring to look at the queen. A warfare measure of this degree hadn’t been used since her father had been alive, and for good reason. Though many may know how dangerous an action being taken by the young queen, her head attendant couldn’t help but see how such a plan may actually prove more effective than normal in a situation like this. “Yes, my queen, when shall we begin the first round?” Amorra looked toward the dump momentarily, then back toward the footage. Speaking only after she confirmed internally that she could live with her actions. “3 days…”
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