Chapter 599: The Tournament Favorite
The moment it was once announced that Ren Jin Yan was to go face to face with the Thunderscale Dragon Otter, precisely one single emotion could be felt emanating from both the audience and the participants: pity.
Although, it came in two different flavors of pity.
First was general pity, which came from mostly the contestants.
“Oh that poor bastard.”
<
{Zephyr Father, please guide this soul into your embrace after his demise…}
“If he doesn’t die, he’ll at least get a real nasty scar.”
They all agreed that this man’s luck must’ve been absolute dog shit.
While the other was…thirsty pity.
“Oh no! How can someone so pretty be damned to such a cruel fate?”
<
{I’d hit that, well, would’ve hit that…}
“Wait, is that a guy or a girl?”
“Does it matter? They’re hot!”
A good chunk of the crowd thought it was an absolute waste for someone this handsome/pretty to throw away their life in such a manner.
Regardless, the general consensus was that Ren Jin Yan was a pitiful yet beautifully androgynous fellow who most certainly would end up as otter food…or at the very least, with terrible electrical burns and claw shaped scars all across his body.
It was under this presumption that everyone was soon caught off guard when Ren Jin Yan didn’t just survive his encounter with the Thunderscale Dragon Otter and defeat it, but also reaped a rather hefty benefit from the whole affair that only a select few would’ve been able to notice.
The servitude of the Thunderscale Dragon Otter herself.
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The reason everyone was cheering Ren Jin Yan’s name…
Among the countless biome marbles that composed the [Myriad Marble Garden], there was one particular marble that stood out from the rest due to not being the host of a biome.
Instead, this particular marble hosted a space that housed a massive arena that looked to be something straight out of a ruined city.
“Grrr…”
And it was in this particular arena, that a very angry, very dangerous aether beast was growling and snarling in frustration, as lightning danced across its furred form like snakes swimming in the sea.
“Grrr…”
The Thunderscale Dragon Otter huffed, growled and scratched at the arena’s dirt floor, frustrated at the fact that not only had it been transferred from what was essentially one cage into another, but the fact that the aforementioned cage was being used for some kind of “event” that relegated her into being a prop piece!
While the Thunderscale Dragon Otter didn’t know the meaning to a lot of words, it understood enough to know that it was essentially being played with, which she found to be unacceptable.
“Grr…”
Being defeated was one thing, being captured was another, but being forced to fight some random punk ass warrior for the amusement of a bunch of weaklings was complete and utter bullshi-
*Bwoom.*
“Grr?”
“Oh, I guess we’re going to get right into it then. A pity, I wanted to see what special biome I would’ve been tossed into. Oh well.”
“Grr…”
Catching the Thunderscale Dragon Otter completely off guard, an androgynously beautiful young man, dressed in a fine silk martial outfit and wielding a scholar’s sword, appeared out of nowhere in the same manner in which she appeared in this arena space. The Thunderscale Dragon Otter paused as soon as it registered the fact that someone had appeared in this arena alongside her.
However, this emotional stunning lasted for only a moment.
“Grr…ROAR!”
Moments after regaining her composure, the Thunderscale Dragon Otter opened her mouth and unleashed a powerful blast of lightning that threatened to either take off Ren Jin Yan’s head from his shoulders in a violent outburst of lightning, explosions and fire, or it would just absolutely annihilate him, leaving nothing behind but an ashen figure imprinted on the wall.
The speed in which the blast was traveling already made it difficult to defend against, but making the attack even more dangerous, the Thunderscale Dragon Otter infused a bit of dragon force into the attack.
Unless Ren Jin Yan had something up his sleeve, a treasure, a skill, anything, he would be annihilated in a single hit.
Fortunately, he did.
While a majority of people watching the fight weren’t able to see this moment, those who could saw how the young warrior began to infuse his sword with energy.
“HA!”
*BZZZT!*
“GRRWGAT?!”
A special type of energy that allowed him to not only defend against the lightning blast, but also deflect it right back at the Thunderscale Dragon Otter.
A feeling of deja Vu came over the dragonic otter beast as she saw her attack being deflected back at her, and this feeling enraged her.
“ROAR!”
Learning from last time, the Thunderscale Dragon Otter opted to dodge her deflected attack instead of countering, leaping to the side as her own lighting blast destroyed the arena wall behind her.
(Un)fortunately, this was planned.
The lighting blast has kicked up a huge amount of smoke and dust as it destroyed the arena wall, obscuring vision for both otter and audience alike. This meant that Ren Jin Yan was now given free reign to go all out for one attack.
“That was a surprisingly powerful attack…I wouldn’t mind making you my subordinate in the least bit!”
“Grrr…grr?”
As the Thunderscale Dragon Otter tried to reposition themselves to prepare for a follow up attack to her failed one, a strange presence made itself known right above her head.
One that was overpowering, overwhelming and made her blood tremble in submission. Or to be more precise, it made the blood she had ingested all those decades ago, roil in fear.
“Whimper…”
The Thunderscale Dragon Otter had enough time to turn her head upward and see, hiding in the smoke and dust, was the coiling form of a true dragon.
A true dragon that just so happened to be staring right at her.
[•••!]
“Growl?!”
The next thing she knew, the dragon shadow let out a soundless roar, followed up by the appearance of a young warrior dispersing the shadow and smoke, sword in hand, radiating with an ancient power that forced the dragon otter to focus on a single choice.
Submit or die.
“Grrr…”
Had her opponent been anyone else, she would’ve chosen to die.
In the face of this particular warrior though… submission was a far better choice.
As Ren Jin Yan got closer and closer to striking the dragon otter’s head, the latter lowered her head on submission right before the attack landed.
A smile formed on the young warrior’s face as he saw this sight.
“You made an excellent decision following me.”
After this short statement was made, the warrior’s attack landed on the dragon otter’s form, encapsulating her entirely and causing her to disappear!
To the rest of the world, it looked as if the young warrior had somehow turned the tide and annihilated the Thunderscale Dragon Otter in her entirety, solidifying her place as the tournament favorite for this competition.
But to those who had a sharp eye and even sharper senses, they would’ve noticed that the sword the young man was wielding looked a little bit different than before.
That on the sword guard, which initially had three different colored jewels decorating it was suddenly accompanied by a fourth one that just so happened to be the same color as the eyes of the recently “slain” Thunderscale Dragon Otter.
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[Whoa…]
[Yeah…that was…wow.]
[A masterful performance if ever there was one.]
[I didn’t even know that was possible]
[Just…just to be clear here,] Hurricroak interjected, [we all just saw some crazy androgynous looking girl go one on one with that Thunderscale Dragon Otter and won, right? Because they had what I can only describe as “superior” dragon force?]
[Yes,] Nepherage answered, [we-wait…girl? You think that’s a girl?]
[Yeah…,] Hurricroak nodded,[can’t you see their face? That is way too soft and smooth of a face to be a guy. That is clearly a woman crossdressing as a guy.]
[I am indeed staring at the same face, which is why I can tell you that the jaw is too strong and the eyes are too masculine for that warrior to not be a guy,] Nepherage argued.
[Oh you are blind, those crazy feminine eyes. Also, my women’s intuition is telling that’s a girl, and it’s never wrong.]
[Can’t use that argument, since I’m a woman too.]
[Shit, you right…]
[Uh…guys?,] Spring Brawler interjected, [does it really matter if that warrior is a man or a woman?]
[Possibly,] Hurricroak and Nepherage answered simultaneously.
[Uh…why?]
[Ro…mance…]
[He’s right though,] Hurricroak agreed, [there’s a nonzero chance the maestro will have to fight this dragon force girl and we need to know if that will lead to some star crossed lovers thing.]
[Dragon force guy.]
[Girl.]
[How…how could this situation possibly lead to romance?,] Razorstella pointed out, [we’re in the middle of a tournament with a good chunk of the competitors being family members.]
[Because it always seems to happen,] Hurricroak, Nepherage and Frosttusk all answered in almost perfect unison.
[That…was unnerving.]
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“Achoo!”
“Gesundheit.”
“Uh…thanks,” Zhen Liu thanked Iona as he suddenly sneezed.
He briefly wondered if someone was talking about him behind his back, before realizing that he did indeed have multiple somebodies who would literally in his head, but right now, he had a story to finish.
“Now…where was I?”
“You were talking about a hippo?”
“Right, yeah…Geyser Hippos…”
