In the high-up, quickly-made fortress, questions and accusations were being thrown around. Zixiao stood in the middle of it all, weathering them with a wide, calm smile.

'This ruins everything,' grumbled Luo, frowning heavily at him. 'What was the point in me building all of this? We are going to be forced out!'

'It seemed obvious to me,' spoke Maodon musingly, 'that the Tournament wouldn't let us just hide up here. But you were so confident. I didn't want to be impolite and opted to trust that you were prepared for that.' The others all looked to him, nodding, their manners suggesting that they, too, had guessed all this. 'The time is ripe then, friend Zixiao, for you to show us how you intend to rectify this.'

Before a series of events had culminated in him gaining a Seed and becoming a Cultivator, Zixiao had worked as a storyteller. As he strode calmly and confidently through them, he felt not even a tinge of unease. Storytime.

He stopped before the wide, thick, sweeping length of earth and stone Luo and some others had cobbled together, gave it a rap with his knuckles. 'Nicely done, friend Luo,' he said, grinning as he turned to regard them all, picked the man out of the crowd with a nod. Luo straightened slightly, arms crossed and chest out, but frowning still.

Through the holes in this wall, sized for them to shoot the barbarian weapons through, Zixiao could see the same strange red mist that the others had all been staring out at a few minutes ago. When the announcement had come, they'd all clustered here, looking out at the arena.

It was pressing inwards from the edges, flowing steadily into the arena from all directions. Shrinking it, bit by bit.

And yet, though they were right on one of those edges, there was none here.

'You are all wise and capable,' he began, projecting his voice, 'thus you will have noticed that we are not drowning in red mist. Despite the fact that we are on the very edge of the arena.

Some of his of his "wise and capable" allies looked around, staring up at the cliff behind them—notably free from red mist—as though seeing it for the first time. The more dangerous ones kept their eyes on him.

'So what?' spoke Lewei. 'All that proves is that this area happens to be within the safe zone—for now. Every few minutes it will randomly shift and grow smaller. The odds of this spot remaining safe all the way until the end are minimal.'

'That's right,' said Yulan. 'We should leave now, before it forces us. Go down as a group and sweep through this place. It's what we should have done from the start!'

Zixiao smiled. 'If any wish to leave, they can do so. But don't expect to be let back in.'

'So you do have a plan,' spoke Maodon, smiling at him. 'Well, what is it?' The old man was just as canny as Zixiao had heard.

'Yes, I was aware this would happen,' confirmed Zixiao, and he couldn't help a grin as all their attention focused on him. The way they hung on his every word… now this was his kind of power. He drew a small necklace from his robe, holding it by the chain to display the sigil.

He saw in their widening eyes and suddenly thoughtful expressions that they all recognised it. They should—it was the same sigil as was drawn on all the black banners around the Duel Arena. The symbol of House Morvain.

'You've already joined them?' asked Xiren, curious.

'How are they?' added Yulan. 'Are the perks good?'

'Of course. The best. That's why I joined. For starters, House Morvain controls the Duel Arena. I can't go into too much detail. But for those who made the wise decision of joining them, House Morvain has seen fit to give some information relevant to this particular portion of the Tournament.' His smile grew even wider. 'So rest assured—this place where we now stand will remain within the safe zone. In fact, at the end of this Tournament, I promise you we will be quite safe and happy up here, protected, while all those out there fighting and being foolish will be forced to approach us. In the end, we will have the greatest advantage. Our victory is already assured.'

'You had better be right,' he heard a grumbled voice. Crucially, this came from one of the weakest Cultivators there.

Zixiao's gaze locked onto the man, and his face twisted with performative anger. 'Had I? If you doubt me, why don't you just leave? Those who accept my honesty and my truth shall stay. And those who doubt—they can all scram!'

'What?' the man croaked, eyes widening.

He stepped forward, glaring at the man who had spoken. 'Your lack of faith offends me. Get out of here. I don't want you here.'

'I was just saying! I… I didn't mean anything by it!' The man stared wildly around. 'We all thought it!' There was a rapidly growing space around the man.

Zixiao strolled into that space. 'Did we? Or was it just you? This brings me to another point. Something Xuejing mentioned.' At that, he saw them all stiffen slightly. 'There are too many of us here,' he pronounced casually. 'We have two more people than we need. With your doubting, you have just shown yourself as unworthy of our brotherhood. How can we trust someone so lacking?' He pointed to the wall. 'Luo will make a hole for you to leave through.'

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

'I'm not going!' snarled the Cultivator. 'I've been here from the start! I put in some of the work!'

Zixiao looked around at the others. 'My friends, there is a cancer that must be excised from our midst.' His Soul Sense unfurled, and his grin widened another notch as fully half of those around him sent out their own.

In only moments, the doubter was gone, and Zixiao knew his position was unshakeable. He smiled around at them. 'Thank you, my comrades. We have removed one doubter. I hope we will not have to remove another.'

He knew that within their minds one fact remained: There was still one person who needed to be removed. He saw some watching him warily, wondering if he might choose that individual now.

But Zixiao just smiled at them. No, he'd keep that in his back pocket. It would ensure no one went against him, because the first to do so… would become his target.

###

Nicolai and Pal were able to settle in and take their time, because the Nara Clan Cultivator was already engaged in combat, against an Earther.

As she had come into sight, the Nara Cultivator and her opponent had just finished an exchange of blows. Now they spun apart and paused, considering the exchange and keeping their distance. She held her twin blades up and ready. Her opponent was a large Cyborg who held no weapons because he needed none. His arms and hands were bionics, boxer-type. The pair were in a small clearing in the jungle.

Nicolai watched intently, eager to learn all he could. He left the job of watching Pal to Threat Analysis, which was noting the way Pal's eyes had flicked briefly from the fight and over to Nicolai. It said that Pal must consider this the perfect opportunity.

Pal was already messaging Jex, filling her in on the details. The pertinent one from Nicolai's point-of-view, was that Jex was still some distance away, not yet in position for Pal's plan.

So, he focused on his true opponent. Nicolai was mostly interested in what the Cultivator was equipped with. Her Soul Sense also stood out—a small silver ovoid, just large enough to encompass her body. Just from looking at it he could get a sense of its solidness.

Threat Analysis was already mapping every ripple it sensed from her and the surroundings. No other Cultivators nearby, it reported, before working to identify her Symbiotes.

Silver Net in the left arm, Threat Analysis said after a moment. Lightning and movement-based Symbiotes in her torso and legs. Very defensive Soul Sense setups in both her head and right arm. And her Skin Shield is unusual—something to do with light and darkness. Most likely a counter to laser attacks.

The Nara Clan Cultivator stood poised, watching her opponent carefully, ready to spring in any direction. From the ripples, Threat Analysis identified her twin short-swords as Tier 2 Artifacts, though quite weak ones. It told him that they were definitely able to pass through shields up to Tier 2, and were probably also capable of Soul-Sense directed flight as well as something else. However, based on what Nicolai knew, it was very unlikely she would be able to use them for more than their anti-shield capabilities. One who wasn't yet Tier 2 would typically only be just about able to activate such Artifacts most basic functions.

The Earther she fought was a big, bald man with light brown skin, his head shiny in the light. His lower jaw was replaced by a bionic fixed in a permanent, lipless grin, and his loose tank-top revealed that he was mostly chrome from the neck down. Predominantly Level 1, making him what Threat Analysis would identify as: Level 1, 85% full-borg. His boxer arms stood out—they were Level 2. Bionic arms and shoulders built for close-up combat, a single punch capable of bursting someone's head apart with the force of a shotgun blast. They were plated, too, and thus would work well to block attacks.

All his Level 1 stuff, meanwhile, was focused on strength and acceleration. Threat Analysis had given Nicolai a full rundown on what the guy was equipped with, which he'd skimmed through. Thus Nicolai was unsurprised when the Earther moved in a sudden explosion that sent out a spray of dirt from where he'd placed his feet, dashing straight at her.

Through his zoomed-in bionic eye, Nicolai made out the way the Nara Cultivator's face flickered, briefly surprised. He guessed she wasn't used to fighting someone so fast, who wasn't even using any Symbiotes to gain that speed. She dodged back but wasn't fast enough to get out of the way. One of her blades flicked up to block, but just blocking that Cyborg's lightning-fast left jab sent her staggering. She raised her other blades in a crossed-guard just in time to intercept the heavy right, but even from this distance Nicolai heard clearly her pained grunt as the blow knocked her heavily backwards, weapons almost jarred from her hands. She tumbled over, rolled and sprung back up. The Cyborg grinned between his raised fists as he stalked forward.

'I recognise that guy,' murmured Pal. 'He calls himself, heh, Puncher Joe. Was one of those who joined the group. I've got comms with him…' He trailed off and turned his head to shoot a sneaky smile at Nicolai. 'But seems to me that there's no reason to clue him in that we're here. In fact, this is quite good, isn't it? We might be able to use this to take her down. She's the one most dangerous to you, right?'

Based on that logic, the best move for Nicolai to make was the opposite of Pal's suggestion. He should reveal himself and help Puncher Joe take down the Nara Cultivator, since the man's setup seemed a good counter to her own.

But Nicolai had other things on his mind. He was concerned by Jex's smartgun, and the large group of Cultivators lurking up in that fort.

'That's a good idea, Pal,' murmured Nicolai, and he briefly reactivated his H-gram to have it return Pal's sneaky, conspiratorial smile. The merc's widened into a grin and so did Nicolai's H-gram, until they let out twinned chuckles. Look at us, the laughter seemed to say, Thick as thieves, oh yes, we are definitely working together now!

Nicolai returned his attention to the Cultivator. He found it interesting that her Tier 2 blades hadn't cut through Puncher Joe's arms. A vibroblade, aimed precisely, would have gone through.

He found himself wondering what would happen if a vibroblade struck an Artifact blade—would the vibroblade simply shear through? How would his Angelic Blade fare? He was fairly sure it would do better. After all, it had sliced through Borg with ease back in the castle. But, the Nara Cultivator's blades were Tier 2 not Tier 3, which he supposed must be part of the difference.

'Didn't expect to encounter someone like me, did you?' Puncher Joe distantly called out. He raised his fists, laughed. 'I'm perfectly suited to fight you, girl!'

The Nara Cultivator raised a scornful eyebrow. Then, with a loud crack, lightning began to spit and hum over her body. It started around her feet and ran up and up, circling and spidering over her until it was everywhere, forking in constant angry angles.

When she moved, her speed more than rivalled the Cyborgs.

'Uh oh,' muttered Pal.

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