As Enkidu walked in tow with all of the Twelve Bloodline inheritors, it brought Enkidu a strange sense of restlessness. They were much powerful people than him, with social ranks in a completely different universe compared to him and yet he didn't feel like the odd one out... He felt like he could belong there as well.
As the last inheritor hopped on the platform, the world around them turned black, as if they were in a video game and the zone they had been in loaded out of memory. A huge blast of light hit his eyes full force, making him squint as his vision recovered.
The sight Enkidu saw was incredible. It was a rocky desert. Pillars of rock rising out of the ground like trees, peppered all over the place, but they were all the same. Even to the smallest indentations and shape. The sound blasted heat into the desert and even though it was obviously fake, his prana sense couldn't see through the illusion.
Kiana snapped her fingers and twelve chairs made of rock materialized under them.
"This is uncomfortable as hell." Another female inheritor with purple hair and crimson red eyes said.
"Gotta keep the theme going." Kiana said with a proud smile on her face.
From far into the distance, a rectangle shaped white light appeared. It was more blinding than the rays of the sun raining down upon the damned rocky desert. Through that door, a young man with a deep shade of red hair walked through, sheathed sword in his right hand.
He wore nothing but compression clothes, the same as everyone else, although Enkidu had his own suspicions that they did more than make them look sporty. His eyes were a wild yellow, as if he was looking into the eyes of a wild tiger.
As he took his weapon out of his sheath, the blade was pure, neon red. It gave off an incredible amount of prana for just being out of it's sheath. Red aura rose like smoke from the young man's body like steam, more and more prana circulating from within his body to his weapon. It burned with crimson flames as the excess prana burnt into the atmosphere.
"That young man there is my one disciple and my source of pride, Cindral Solfane. It wouldn't be fair to you if he got to use his signature weapon and you did not, so do make your request."
Enkidu gave a quick glance to the ring on his finger before that voice he had gotten familiar with warned... If you use that, you'll only become more suspicious. Or rather... Hmm... I have an idea!
The blue ring shone opening a portal in space through which Enkidu put his hand through. As soon as Enkidu felt some weight through his wrist, he pulled his hand out to reveal the same sort of weapon Cindral used. It was in the form of a katana, but instead of a silver blade, it was all blue as if it was taped all over. There was not a sheen, nor did the materials look too exquisite, but it was good enough.
Julius glared at Enkidu, his thoughts very well hidden behind his stoic expression. He sighed and sat back down, effectively signaling the start of the battle.
Enkidu had expected a rapid dash and to have a crimson blade centimeters away from his face... but instead, Cindral did dash towards him. Cindral was simply slow. Enkidu chose to take his chances and dash at full speed sword held in both hands, ready to swing down with incredible force.
It had taken Enkidu half the time it took Cindral to cover the same distance, and yet the blade that was at Cindral's side was on a collision course with Enkidu's. Cindral's blade picked up speed, moving three times as fast. During that short moment when their blades clashed, Enkidu could feel through his sword an abnormal weight behind his opponent's weapon.
Due to the difference in prana pools available for usage, Enkidu managed to avoid being sent flying from that one clash, but the impact traveled through his entire body.
Enkidu didn't have much skill in martial arts or weapons fighting, the proof being the incredibly sluggish transitions in stances.
Cindral would swing from the left with so much forge, it could Enkidu in half as easily as slicing butter. Enkidu would try to position himself in such a way with both his hands over his head, attempting a fluid parry, but it was no use. Enkidu could not match the timing necessary for that move to work, resorting to simple teleportation.
Each time Enkidu's feet would touch the ground, Cindral would be there ready to cut him down. Then they proceeded to a dance where Enkidu would teleport in quick succession, only for each strike to get closer and closer to his neck.
On Cindral's face, a look of absolute focus and eyes that did not see friend or enemy, they just saw 'opponent' and the intended outcome of each and every single one of the hundreds of attacks he had performed so far.
To kill.
It didn't take long for all of that teleporting around to drain Enkidu's prana reserves, forcing him to go fully on the defensive. His weapon burst ablaze and as he threw it away it burnt into ashes that were carried away by the wind.
His ring let out a bright shine before an incredibly beautiful shield formed on the back of his hand. It was large, almost large enough to tower over his body. It was all blue with golden accents around the center and the outline of the shield. Glyphs of an unknown language dotted all around the shield.
Enkidu poured a large amount of prana into that shield, imbuing it with such a blinding glow, the world around darkened in brightness as the light of his shield showered the arena with it's light, like a star.
Through the darkness, Cindral's crimson sword was but a flash of red, truly putting into perspective his speed and the amount of attacks he could let out in such a short amount of time. Calculating the trajectory of his blade, Enkidu shoved the hand carrying his shield to the left, crashing into Cindral's sword and sending him flying.
A surge of lightning arched at the point of impact, representing a clash of prana in which Enkidu won.
"Ho? Even though Cindral is said to have one of the most powerful Prana Qualities, he is getting pushed back like this..." The black haired man said, no longer acting the part of a villain. "That's very interesting... it could also be very dangerous.
"I concur." Kiyana said. "What was his name? Enkidu? What is his last name?" She added.
From the silver bracelet on her hand, a hologram of Enkidu's comprehensive information appeared.
"I knew it wouldn't work... just had to try." Kiyana lamented.
"Since the tower hasn't officially registered him, it's impossible for us to get any information about him that way..." The purple haired heiress said, her eyes steadily and calmly racing around, trying to follow the fight.
"If nothing else..." Julius said. "If nothing else, it looks like he has more combat experience than Cindral. That'd be fine if we were talking about an ascender, even a beginner from the first floor, but this guy came from the outside." Julius stated.
It's better you stop trying to fight him off like that. It only servers to sap your reserves even further.
I am aware... I just...
I know. This is just not the time for that.
Enkidu clicked his tongue in frustration.
Alright... I'll--
That's when he stumbled upon an idea.
Enkidu retracted his shield back into the ring, instead opting to summon a spear. It looked identically to Reina's down to the smallest indentations. He closed his eyes and slowly breathed in.
"Let him!" Julius shouted.
Cindral gave his master a quick glance, Julius giving it back for confirmation.
The entire world around him burned away into the flames of concentration. He could see every single move, every single muscle twitch, the way all of her muscles worked to pull off the moves she pulled on the second floor... including the way to enhance her spear.
Enkidu's eyes burst open, tightly grasping the spear, sending the remaining bits of prana he had left into the spear, transforming it in the same way she did.
Cindral's eyes were wide open, a sliver of a smile climbing on his face. He tightened the grip of his katana, sending an even bigger amount of prana into it, conserving just the minimal amount needed to keep enhancing his physicality.
"They say Emissaries are able to use pure prana... which would explain the fact that even after being pushed so far, that he hasn't display any kind of prana quality..." Kiyana murmured.
"Where did you hear that?" Another heir said, sitting next to the black haired man. He had short hair, cut military style and a well built body. His leaf green hair contrasted with his gray colored eyes.
"Just something my father mentioned a few years ago... I can't believe I can even remember this after so long." Kiyana said.
"Maybe... or maybe he is just hiding his power in order to trick us and infiltrate one of our families. If he is strong and either one of us lets him in, he could wreck a lot of chaos..." The green haired heir added.
Even though nothing had changed, Enkidu could feel the efficiency of his prana usage and circulation increase dramatically, need a fourth of the prana compared to before just for physical enhancement.
He twirled his spear with the back of his hand like a baton, gathering prana from the atmosphere as well, further enhancing the lethality of his spear. It shone brighter and to all of the people in that arena, the dramatic increase of prana in the spear paired with the increase in efficiency made their brows furrow.
"How is he doing that?" The black haired heir said in an urgent tone.
"That... Can that even be called a prana quality? Or is it just that he is far more comfortable with a spear?" The purple haired heiress questioned.
"Let's just watch." Kiyana said.
Prana flowed down to the very tips of his toes. Prana exploded forward, traveling through his foot with great vigor. It flowed through his feet and then through his core all the way up to his hands, all of it gathering into his spear as he flew like an arrow, aimed at his opponent's heart.
Shortly within his dash, he broke the sound barrier sending a sonic boom in a wide area, waking up all of the dust off the rocky surface they had been walking on.
In no more than a second, the only thing Cindral could see anymore was the tip of Enkidu's spear looming right in front of him.