Path of the Berserker-Chapter 51Path of the Berserker 5 -

I blasted through the frigid air with [Ride the Lightning], racing to reach the ground as quickly as possible. A thousand feet away, I spotted Rhe Su Long doing the same thing. She hit the ground a couple seconds faster than me, causing a torrent of snow to jettison into the air.

The next thing I knew a blade came shooting across my face.

I thought she had thrown something at me, but only when a second attack came, did I realize it was Rhe Su Long herself who had covered that huge distance in the blink of an eye.

Son of a bitch!

Only my sensing of her killing intent had caused me to deflect her attack at just the last second. I parried a third and fourth attack of her twinblades as we twisted in midair combat, sparks and lightning flying.

“Damn little cheat!” I shouted at her with vehemence. “I hadn’t even hit the ground yet.”

“Not my fault you’re slow on the uptake, Bull man!” She twirled with a spin of her blades, water forming around her. “And if you want to hit the ground, then fine! [Twin Dragon Falls]!”

A huge volume of frigid water cascaded from her, hitting me with the force of a falling star. I slammed into the ground hard enough to sink through the snow and at least twenty feet of the rocky ground below it. A jolt of pain assaulted my spine as debris flew in a massive explosion of rock and shale. The water kept coming, filled with spectral energy that threatened to snuff out my Flame. I fought back with [Sacred Soul Shield] and had to cycle my Frenzy through [Death’s Door] just not to drown.

I dug deep and released a burst of [Wrath of a Thousand Slain Souls].

The lightning crackled through the torrent of water, flash-evaporating it and freeing me from her deadly spectral attack. I backflipped through the air with [Lightning Walk] gaining distance from her as I regained my bearings.

“Looks like the Little Princess has claimed victory over the opening salvo,” the announcer crooned. “No surprise there, given the difference in cultivation realm between the two. Let’s see if that Hell World training can make up for it or if the Iron Marshal is going to find his limit today!”

I glanced at the score as the crowd went wild with excitement.

Odds: 9:7

Time – 59:23

Little Princess

Iron Marshal

Shit, she scored that much already?

I evoked [Mark of the Demon] heightening the strength of my Frenzy techniques, while remaining hidden within my stage makeup and bull helm. I didn’t think I would need to use it so soon, but with a score like that right off the bat, I needed to pull out all the stops.

“They cheer for your defeat, Bull Man,” Rhe Su Long said as she slowly descended. “Just as they should. Your princess was a fool to pit the likes of you against me.”

Anger filled me at her obnoxious tone, and the fact that it was coming from what looked like a twelve-year-old only heightened my contempt.

“She ain’t my princess,” I spat. “And the only one being defeated today is you, bitch!”

I flew back at her with [Lightning Drill of Fury], filling the air with sparks.

Our weapons met and she countered my spin with a spin of her own.

“[Twin Vortex Stream]!”

It felt like I’d hit a brick wall and with a burst of spectral water she sent me flying backwards again. I hit the snow-covered ground hard, some hundred feet away, rolling onto my feet.

Shit...

Even with [Mark of the Demon], her techniques were just as strong or even stronger than mine. I’d probably need to use [Mark of the Arch Demon] to truly be on par, but that would add demonic details to my bare skin that red paint alone couldn’t hide.

A high-pitched laugh filled the distance between us. “Don’t tell me that’s all you have? Seems I’ve overprepared for nothing.”

I grimaced. “Little girl, I haven’t even warmed up yet.”

Despite my words, it was still just bravado at this point.

That opening move was no joke. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Her speed was incredible and that exchange just now told me she was just as strong as an Awakened Deep Dweller or more. It was a reminder of what difference a realm could make in a fight. Not to mention she was on a planet that played to her water aspect, no different than that pervert ‘little finger’ I killed on that icy spaceball while on my way to Du Gok Bhong.

Shit… that felt like ten years ago now, but the lesson was the same.

Rhe Su Long wasn’t just a realm above me—she was on damn steroids right now.

I channeled my Frenzy, heightening my reflexes, but I dared not add [Mark of the Beast] to even the odds. Not with the Qi screens broadcasting the both of us jumbotron style. [Mark of the Demon] I could get away with, but no way could I grow fangs and claws. I recalibrated the fight in my mind. I’d just fought and killed a dark god from beyond the stars, but here I couldn’t pull out nearly as much strength as I did then.

Which meant this battle had to be all about skill.

Five years’ worth of martial focus sent tendrils of adrenaline running through my veins as I went through my Axe and Glaive forms, eliciting a thrill of excitement from the crowd. I cultivated the stray energy and blasted back into the fray.

Rhe Su Long sent a Tsunami of water flying at me, but I resisted it with a combination of [Indifference] and [Struggler’s Resolve]. As the wave hit me, I [Trudged] through, taking a slam to my Dantian reserves. I broke through on the other side and engaged her in close combat, sparks and lightning flying.

We darted across the battlefield, covering miles at a time as we engaged in bout after bout. The world slowed around me as I matched every sword stroke and parry with one of my own. But it wasn’t just reflex that had me moving so fast. I could see the match playing out before me, five and six moves ahead of time.

I knew she was good before, but now, I was good enough to know just how good she was. She was a high-tier Diamond bracket contender for sure. Good technique and speed. Capable of beating most, probably. But I’d trained at the feet of ancient masters that the tournament crowd had never seen before.

As I matched her pace and anticipated her movements, I could sense a growing irritation and even fear come from within her. After five minutes of furious combat, I began to unpack her particular style and tendencies. I knew when she was going to feign an attack and retaliate with a huge Qi Technique to punish me. I avoided those where I could, shifting to the side as she unleashed streams of water that could level mountains. After five minutes more I had learned enough to go on the offensive. I summoned my Frenzy and doubled my speed, scoring hits with swift strikes from my axe as I parried and countered every attack she made.

Her eyes grew wide with incomprehension as fear creeped into her soul.

The crowd roared with excitement and lemonade as I pressed on.

“Seems the Iron Marshal has had enough!” the announcer egged them on. “His technique is impeccable! And going toe-to-toe with the infamous Diamond Bracket champion like this while scoring hit after hit? It’s unbelievable!”

Rhe Su Long’s fear peaked, her strikes becoming careless and desperate as she tried to fight back and even the score. But I knew her entire repertoire by heart now. I capitalized on every attack, striking back with either my Axe or a delayed swipe of my Glaive. Although I scored points, doing actual damage was a different story. She shrugged off my [Spectral] hits with little signs of slowing down.

Still, the score was looking much better now.

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Odds: 9:12

Time – 41:45

Little Princess

Iron Marshal

Rhe Su Long snarled with aggravation as our weapons locked. “You’re nothing but a brutish oaf! I can’t believe I was ever attracted to you.”

My stomach soured but I held it off with [Indifference]. “I’m not letting you creep me out this time. Keep your damn smut talk to yourself, you freaky little bitch.”

I punted her away from me with a swift kick, sending her tiny body bouncing across the snow. She picked herself up slowly with a mirthless laugh.

“You have no idea what I’ve sacrificed for this fight, do you?” she said as she stared at me across the distance. “I’m stuck in this body now, thanks to you. My only escape from it will be ascending to true godhood.”

“Sounds like a personal problem to me,” I said with [Indifference].

She scowled as her anger soared, and I cultivated every bit of it.

“Enough of this,” she said and slowly her body began to glow. “I wanted to disgrace you by beating you in my mortal form alone, but I must admit, you seem to have finally learned to use that ridiculous weapon combination of yours, but it will make no difference now.”

In a flash her body transformed, growing more than ten times in size. Huge blue scales formed into a snakelike tail below her waist. Above it her body fully matured, becoming a woman with a head of flowing blue hair and glowing armor that barely covered her flawless skin. Her eyes glowed with celestial power that bore right through me as a leer spread across her perfect face.

I’d seen this version of her before, but only in spectral form.

Now here she was, the almighty naga queen in true physical presence.

She butted the hilts of her two swords together and in a flash of power they elongated to form a giant double headed glaive—a twin headed naginata. As she spun it in a martial form, the snow around her melted, becoming water that attached itself to the blades with a bluish hue.

“Witness now my true form, Bull Man,” she said, her voice now deep and mature while echoing with power. “I will soon be done with this ridiculous mortal realm forever, to inherit my true form for all eternity. But before I do, I’ll be sure to send your soul to hell first.”

*

*

*

“The Iron Marshal is ahead! 78 to 56! Odds now 9 to 12 in his favor!”

Fia’s stomach roiled with anxiety as one of the guards announced the score from beyond the gate. She wasn’t sure how they were getting the information, whether by some sophisticated Qi-stone communication or one of them simply popping in and out of the Pai Fang.

The effect, however, was clear.

A small betting pool had established itself in the line of people still trying to get inside. Gamblers were yelling and screaming, trying to trade their opening bets with one another as bookies tried to keep tallies of it all.

It infuriated and disgusted her all at once.

Max was winning, just like she predicted.

But there was now no way for them to get inside.

Unless…

“What if we just pushed our way through?” Fia said.

Her father, Master Hei Dong shot a look of incomprehension back at her. “Are you mad, girl? The guards would kill you on the spot.”

“Not if I distract them,” Kel Zhi said.

Hei Dong groaned. “Not you too. Don’t encourage her, Kel Zhi.”

“She may be right though, husband,” Rhi Dong said. “We’ve tried our best to outwit them. That may be the only way in now.”

Jian Yi cupped her chin. “I don’t usually support plans like this, but we are running out of options.”

Fia nodded as her resolve steeled.

“We have to take the risk. Everything Max has fought for until now is depending on me getting to that court on time.”

“We do know the timing of what’s going on inside, thanks to them,” Jian Yi said, jutting her chin at the bookies. “If we did it right after Max wins, with all the commotion, you might be able to get through. If anything, once you’re on the other side, the attention it might draw will bring you to Max’s attention as well. It would give Max a reason to pause the princess’s announcement of their betrothal even.”

Hope lifted in Fia’s heart as she played the scenario in her mind. “You think so?”

Jian Yi merely frowned and shrugged. “It’s a guess at best.”

A pause of uncertainty lingered.

“Well, I think it’s an awesome plan,” Kel Zhi said, elbowing Tu’lok in the ribs. “Me and Tu’lok here will act as your distraction. We’ll start a fight. Jian Yi and Master Hei Dong can run interference, trying to break us up. Master Hei Dong can then call to the guards for help. While they come running, Fia, you and Mother Dong run inside. Easy as that.”

Kel Zhi said it with such conviction that Fia’s heart swelled with hope and belief.

She looked about and everyone else seemed to think the same.

“Let’s do it then,” Fia said. “All we have to do now… is wait for Max to win.”

*

*

*

A huge upward swing of Rhe Su Long’s glaive caught me right on the tip of my chin.

I concentrated my defenses at just the last second, my [Diamond Lightning] technique taking the brunt of the force as I took a walloping uppercut that sent me spiraling head over heels. It felt like my head was being torn from my body, but my [Diamond Skin] and [Diamond Core] kept the blade from slicing my skull in half at least.

It did nothing to stop the pain though.

I saw stars as I struggled to correct myself in mid-air with [Lightning Walk].

A ‘killing intent’ forced me to react blindly, summoning my [Spectral Form] for added protection as another swipe of the glaive caught me across the midsection. The translucent form of my [Sacred Soul] did little to stop it, and I cried out as blood and lightning flew, my ablative [Diamond Lightning] technique sparing me from being cut in half yet again.

I shot backwards with [Ride the Lightning] gaining some distance from the monstrous snake woman now hungry for my blood. In that second of reprieve I took stock of what the hell had just happened.

It was another cheap shot, opening salvo of hers.

I had seen the wind up. Calculated just how far to backstep to avoid her first strike.

What I hadn’t counted on was that damn snake like body of her shooting forward like a cobra to place me right in the firing line. I’d done my best to correct, ending up taking just the tip of her blade, but it was enough to knock me for a loop.

Then suddenly I felt something else.

My bull mask slipped, cracking into two pieces.

Shit!

I released [Mark of the Demon] just as the halves split apart.

They fell to the ground far below me, landing in the snow as my face, now sans my true bullhorns, was revealed. Below me, Rhe Su Long, the Naga-goddess grinned broadly with a mixture of lust in her eyes and contempt in her heart.

“There’s that handsome face,” she said. “A pity I’ll have to ruin it. Unless you’re willing to change your mind, that is. It’s not too late, you know?”

“No thanks.”

“Are you sure? That spectral form of yours is even more enticing.”

I wasn’t sure if she was being serious, or just trying to get under my skin again, but either way, the bitch had me on the backfoot now. Not only was she in her fully transformed state as a Lesser Deity, but I had to just drop my only advantage as well.

The [Odds had just shifted Against me] drastically.

As I cultivated the fresh Frenzy from my Flame, I sensed something else.

Something familiar and pulsing from within Rhe Su Long.

Dark Frenzy.

I smirked at her. “Looks like you’re a cheat in more ways than one. What did you do? Resort to demonic cultivation to break through to the next realm?”

Her eyes flashed with both shock and anger.

Bingo…

Then suddenly her gaze settled, becoming more resolute. “I told you… you have no idea what I’ve sacrificed for this fight. But it doesn’t matter now. You’ll soon be dead anyway.”

She suddenly animated with celestial speed.

A body the size of a bus, sprung into the air on a river of flowing spectral Qi. She slithered towards me like lightning, and I had to use the same to try and escape her reach. I [Lightning Walked] in a sprint, swinging my Axe and Glaive to deflect the Spectrally charged Naginata that was now spinning like a helicopter blade.

Sparks and lightning flew as our weapons collided, and I could feel the strength of her attacks shaking my [Spectral] form to its core. My Dantian was depleted to half, just from defending alone. If it ever ran out, I’d be dead in seconds.

I used every ounce of my martial training to balance the score.

But I wasn’t fighting just a cultivator anymore.

She was more spirit-beast than human now, and her size and speed was putting me at a strict disadvantage. We clashed above the snow, lightning and water colliding to form cascading showers of mist born rainbows in the frigid air.

The battle rose to a fever pitch and I powered through it with a desperate sense of [Struggler’s Resolve]. My martial training had me weaving and spinning between her attacks, but my speed just wasn’t enough to dodge them all. I took hit after hit, the pain rifling through me right down to my [Diamond Core]. I fought back where I could, landing [Lightning One Chop Cleaves] and [Three Log Chops] on her massive snakelike tail, but with my strength versus hers, I was barely leaving a scratch.

“Looks like this will soon become a battle of attrition the Iron Marshal has little chance to win,” the announcer shouted, spelling out the obvious for the masses to see. “The score is slipping and so too might be the Iron Marshal’s resolve.”

That son of a bitch, I thought, as my anger spiked.

But he wasn’t wrong.

Right now, I was experiencing the true difference of realm superiority.

Without my [Marks], I was just an average Sacred Soul Realm Cultivator versus the power of a minor god. I was getting my ass kicked good and proper just like he’d said.

But he didn’t know jack shit about my resolve.

I thundered away with [Ride the Lightning] and summoned the power of [Wrath of a Million Slain Souls] in my palm. I poured on the Frenzy, draining my Dantian to less than a quarter as I pulled out all the stops.

“Something is happening folks!” the announcer shouted. “The Iron Marshal appears to be unleashing an ultimate technique!”

That got Rhe Su Long’s attention, and she jetted towards me with her naginata raised high.

“Two can play at that game!” she bellowed. “[Twin River Heaven’s Dive]!”

Shimmering blue water erupted from the tips of her glaive as she directed it straight at me. But I had a head start on her.

“[Lightning Kiln of Fury]!”

The space between us exploded in a nuclear fireball.

Snow for miles around us instantly evaporated as the shockwave and heat expanded outwards.

Whaboom!!!

Screams of shock and panic came from the crowd but the announcer’s calm voice pierced through the chaos in the air. “No need for alarm folks. We are completely safe at this distance, but that might be a different story for the Little Princess.”

Those words gave me hope for a second but as the blinding fireball cleared, Rhe Su Long’s enormous body blasted through looking virtually unscathed.

Shit!

I barely had a chance to raise my defenses, before her own martial technique struck me dead center in the chest.

Wham!!

My lungs collapsed as the weight of a mountain crushed them and instantly, I was propelled into the ground at blinding speed. I blacked out for a second, my ears ringing, the world growing silent as all my senses were disconnected from reality.

I came to wheezing, the copper taste of blood in my mouth. As my vision cleared, I found myself at the bottom of a 50-foot-deep crater of hard rock that was slowly filling with water. Every organ in my body was shattered and I knew I was now clinging to life through [Death’s Door].

The floating islands of the arena closed in to get a better look at what was left of me as the Qi-screens gave me an external view of the torn-up piece of meat my body had become.

Not good…

Rhe Su Long then appeared, slithering to the edge of the crater.

I could see now, she hadn’t come through completely unscathed. Her spectral armor was shattered and many of her blue scales had turned red like a lobster. Her countenance had changed as well. Gone was the smug superiority and instead it was replaced with a steady killing intent focused on my demise.

“I’ve played with you for far too long,” she said. “No way should you have been able to harm me in this form. There is something amiss with you Bull Man. But whatever it is, it ends now.”

As she slithered down the crater towards me, I dug deep for my fleeting strength.

I had less than ten percent of my Dantian left.

And whatever decision I made next, could well be my last.