(Author: Hello all. I hope you liked the multiple chapter release today. I am also writing another story but as a side project with random releases. My main focus is this story so no worries. At last, Liao and Guan face off. Cao and the others get to fight Bull Warner and get their revenge. The third round is here! The Knight Destroyers vs. the Blazing Tigers. Last release of the night. Enjoy.)

Chapter 12: The Fated Battle

Liao was quiet as he put on his armor. He put on the space ring with his blade inside on right hand. He also put on the amber Twin Star ring that contained all the qi he had spent nights infusing qi with. This was an advantage his party had to their opponents. He also wore the jade medallion he received from the Great Dragon God on his neck. The jade medallion glowed before he exited his cabin.

"The time has come to kill the son of Xu," the Great Dragon God declared. "I will be watching. Behead the son of Xu and I will do your family a favor. You humans are in a civil war in the Wei dynasty against the rebels right? I will destroy the rebel forces as your reward."

"What? You can do that? I thought you don't care about mortals?" Liao asked.

"I don't," the dragon god replied. "But you seem to care much about your new family. Whether it's the pain of the loss of your parents or the influence of the real Liao Lu, I don't care. It gives you an incentive. Incentives brings results. Kill the son of Xu and I will destroy them all. I am a dragon god. The Great Dragon God."

"Than why don't you kill the Xu family?" Liao asked.

"That's why I brought you to this planet. Killing them is easy. Watching you grow and witnessing your experiences is fun. It is entertaining. If you become an immortal so powerful that none can oppose you, not even training will relieve your boredom as there is no one who is your match. Kill the Xu brat. Behead him!"

The jade medallion stopped glowing and the dragon god's voice disappeared. Hunluan hissed in sympathy, knowing its master's troubles.

"If I die, what happens to you?" Liao asked as he let Hunluan slither across his neck.

"Nothing happens to you if I die, but if you die, I die," Hunluan replied, its word ominous in Liao's mind. "My soul is sealed to yours. I don't care if I die today master. I would have been eaten by the mythic purple bear. You killed it and I ate its corpse. Unlike you, I don't have a purpose. Most mythic beasts don't. It's what makes us free. A simple eat or be eaten world where strength, cunning, and instincts determine whether you live or die. It's quite refreshing."

Liao laughed and shook his head as he joined the others. He used to have a simple life once. A life with no responsibilities, but he was forced to grow up. He was in charge of a party and a sort of champion to a dragon god. His life had become anything but simple.

"The day of the third round of the Roshalt Battle Extravaganza is here. Today the top eight teams becomes the top four teams," the official began as the audience took their seats. "Our main event is a death match! Apparently there is some bad blood between the two parties from our very own Twin Star Academy! The match ends when one side surrenders or is killed. Those who fall off the stage will be thrown back in. There is no escape! Without further ado, contestants, take your places!"

Liao and the others waited in a private room guarded by the staff of the academy to prevent any foul plays. Liao was talking to Cao about how Cao could deal with Bull when a staff member entered the room.

"Liao Lu? You have a visitor. Please proceed to the designated area," the staff said and led Liao to the room opposite of the waiting room. Inside, Liao grinned widely as he saw General Zhao.

"Hey there kid," General Zhao said and shook Liao's hand. "Your grip is stronger. Good. I sent a report to your father about your past victories. Lady Fei was not pleased to hear about your scar and tattoo."

"Mother?" Liao said as he searched his memories.

"Yeah. She'll probably want to know why you have those tattoos. By my experience with reclusive monks, they contain hidden weapons. Don't they?" General Zhao said, his face hardening.

"How did you know?" Liao asked, startled.

"I may not be a strong Spirit Emperor like General Hui but I am stronger than your two brothers at Spirit King stage. I've seen a lot during my military campaigns," General Zhao answered. "So, what are you hiding?"

Liao sighed, relieved that the general didn't suspect the jade medallion. He focused lightning qi into his left arm and five daggers floated around Liao, white lightning crackling in between the daggers. The lightning was the same color as the lightning the two-headed dragon used, but his fire qi was still the regular color and not white as well."

"You're not using that during your death match," General Zhao said. "You're a crafty one like your dad. Who are you fighting?"

"Guan Xu," Liao said. "He's the other third sage Spirit Sage besides the leader. I renamed Tiger Fang to Violet Bone Claw and intend to fight him using destruction and ice qi. My main problem lies in his defense. I am confident in defending myself as I have more than enough qi to negate his fire qi techniques. Guan's steel qi technique is my main problem as he covers his body with steel qi. He is slower but he has the strength of a Spirit Sage."

"Quite a predicament," General Zhao noted. "Why don't you fight him with talismans?"

"They only seal mythic beasts," Liao answered, confused.

"If there's one thing I know, if the enemy is more powerful than you, use your brains and your tools to beat him. You are weaker than him. Far weaker than I like, but talismans can help you level the playing field."

Liao put his daggers away and saw General Zhao take out a deck of eight talismans with dark purple qi embedded in white paper and one with black paper. He was shocked to discover that the qi was destruction type qi.

"These are called chaos talismans. They're not that powerful but only those with destruction type qi can use them," General Zhao said, giving them to Liao. "They are similar to flying daggers but strike with qi instead of a blade. Once infused with qi, you can move them in any way you like using your mind. The black paper talisman is the master talisman. If one of the eight talismans is destroyed, you can create another talisman by infusing the black talisman with your qi. I thought you might need them. I just didn't expect you to fight one on one with one of those two Spirit Sages at the third stage. These talismans require both your hands to control them with your qi as you move them with your mind. This means you can't defend yourself as you use them. They are a last resort. Some martial experts might have discovered that your tattoo harbors hidden weapons and those talismans are a great alibi. Good luck little Liao. Show them that power isn't everything in this world. Resourcefulness is another method to survive."

The talismans disappeared into Liao's tattoo and he bowed deeply in gratitude to General Zhao. The general had gone out of his way to give him the talismans. He was truly grateful as he had another weapon to use against Guan.

"Now, for our main event!" the official said after three hours. "Three of the parties have claimed victory and moved on to the final four! It is now time for blood and death! The world of martial experts is a cruel one and this is but a small taste of that world! Two teams! One spot! Participants, approach the stage and get ready!"

Liao walked onto the stage with the others, his hand gripping Violet Bone Claw tightly. Bull pointed at Liao and said something but Liao's attention was on Guan. Guan Xu, a youth wearing shining silver armor with two swords covered in fire noticed Liao and smirked.

"The final match of the third round: The Knight Destroyers vs. The Blazing Tigers will now begin. The match ends on one side surrenders or is dead. Unconsciousness does not count as a surrender. Surrender also does not count if the winner refuses. Sorry folks. The real world isn't that kind and neither are the rules! Fighters, are you ready?" the official asked, and waited for confirmation. "Let the match BEGIN!"

Ling immediately ran forward and appeared in front of the three Spirit Knights, attacking them and forcing them back. Cao brandished his halberd and covered it in fire qi. He ran at Bull with Richard behind him. Sakura nocked an arrow, waiting for an opportunity to shoot Bull as well as to check on Ling. Ling may be at the first stage of Spirit Sage cultivation, but the Knight Destroyers couldn't afford to take a risk as they did not know how well the three Spirit Knights fought as a team. When Marcus watched the Blazing Tigers fight to gain info, Bull and Guan took all the glory and had the three Spirit Knights WALK off the stage.

'They're sending you to deal with me?" Guan scoffed as Liao approached him. "You must want me to end your life!"

"I am going to cut off your head," Liao growled and began using the Sundered Heaven Force. The audience gasped as they saw the baleful blade aura on Violet Bone Claw. Even General Zhao was momentarily startled, before nodding in admiration. It was surely a powerful technique that could help him.

Many eyes turned as they saw the ten school beauties take a seat in the audience. When they saw Yueying, many whispered about her relation with Liao. They all knew it was not a common relationship and many hearts were broken.

"Hmph," Guan said as he saw Yueying's eyes look at Liao. He had felt fearful about the blade aura but his jealousy and anger overcame his fear. He focused the steel qi into his meridian channels from his dantian and soon Guan's body was covered in a metal colored qi. The ground seemed to crack with every step as Guan's weight also increased.

Liao covered his body with ice qi and soon his appearance became all white as if he was covered in snow. Even his eyes and his individual hair strands were covered with snow that never seemed to melt. This was the ice qi technique he mastered under Devil Locket. He called it the Snow Armor technique and began running at Guan Xu.

The audience's attention was focused on the two, knowing this was a fight they could not miss. Liao would slash at Guan while Guan parried the blade with one sword and countered with the other. Liao would occasionally hit Guan as his mastery in combat was better due to his two years in the military in life or death situations while escorting the supply lines. However, his attacks only seemed to scratch the steel qi and never penetrate it.

Guan's swords of fire would strike Liao but Liao would constantly supply ice qi, quickly repairing any damage to his armor of snow. The audience was amazed and wondered how much qi Liao had. Without all that qi, Liao would not have stood a chance against Guan.

Guan was frustrated as his limits were restricted with his steel qi. He was a walking fortress but Liao would dart in and out of his range. Guan decided it was foolish to cover his whole body with steel qi and only covered his enforced his chest and arms, freeing his legs and allowing more mobility.

Liao cursed as Guan suddenly became faster. He spit blood as Guan cut him slightly by striking the same place quickly before Liao could repair the damage to his ice armor. Yueying and the audience gasped as Guan slashed Liao's chest over and over with the second sword in the same place the first sword would hit. A small trail of blood would spread across the stage as Liao tried to fight back.

Liao and Guan's fight was so fierce that they had gotten in the way of Ling and the three Spirit Knights. Liao, being stronger than the Spirit Knights, grabbed one of them and threw him in the path of Guan's attack. Guan slashed mercilessly as he didn't care about the Spirit Knights. Ling and the two remaining Spirit Knights were shocked at Guan's actions and stopped fighting to let them pass.

Liao noticed that Guan's face was not covered in steel qi as the Spirit Knight's blood sprayed on Guan's face. He breathed deeply and put his left hand on his chest, stabbing the open wounds with his fingers and froze them with ice qi. As Guan rushed past the broken body, Liao threw his frozen blood, the blood glistening like crimson glass fragments.

Guan howled in rage as the frozen blood scratched his face. He was a third stage Spirit Sage against a fifth stage Spirit Knight and he got wounded by his opponents own blood. This was utter humiliation to Guan Xu and he snapped. He discarded one of his swords and began attacking Liao as he went berserk. Liao grunted as he reflected each wild swing. Seeing Guan's new behavior, Liao decided to make his move.

Liao's wounds became bigger as he started refining the baleful blade aura. Liao had decided to call the move Void Slash as he stared at Guan, bloodlust in his mind. The audience watched as a giant arc of qi blasted like a wave as Liao swung his blade. Many people felt a shiver down their spine as the aura literally emanated fear. As Guan recovered from his rage frantically tried to block the qi wave, Liao used the opportunity to take out the chaos talismans. As he had no prior experience using them, he borrowed some of the qi in his amber ring and fused the qi into the talismans.

"This is the end!" Liao roared and threw the eight talismans. The crowd watched as Guan's sword was destroyed by the qi wave and his protection with the steel qi disappeared as the qi wave hit Guan. Guan was stunned by the impact and reacted too late as the talismans soared at his chest like flying daggers.

"Hidden weapons," Guan said as he coughed blood and fell to the ground. Liao panted heavily as he walked over to Guan, his breathing turning normal as he borrowed more qi from his amber ring. He stared at Guan's chest and saw that the talismans were destroyed. Liao's eyes turned cold as he lifted Guan to sit on his knees. Guan, having no strength due to the talismans, could do nothing as Liao loomed over him.

"I surrender. You win," Guan gasped, grimacing in pain with every breath.

"The Great Dragon God sends his regards," Liao whispered to Guan.

Guan's eyes opened in shock as he stared at Liao. How did the boy know of the Great Dragon God? Was he related to an immortal? Guan noticed the black medallion with a jade dragon engraved in the center.

"So that's why you wanted to kill me," Guan panted as blood began dripping from his mouth. "That monster sent you here. My family will investigate my death and discover the truth. The elders are Spirit Kings. They will avenge me."

"My father is a Spirit Emperor," Liao said as he raised Violet Bone Claw in the sky. "They don't pose a threat to my family. I lost my family once. The family members who truly cared for me. This time, I won't lose them again. Never again."

Some members of the audience winced as Liao beheaded Guan Xu. They all wondered what the two fighters discussed before Liao cut off Guan's head, but they were too far away. The two Spirit Knights that fought Ling were easily slain as Ling got used to their movements and took advantage of her superior speed and stabbed the two in the heart.

The crowd was disappointed as they saw Cao, Richard, and Sakura relaxing as they had already killed Bull. They were too distracted by Liao and Guan's duel and did not see how Bull died.

"The Blazing Tigers are dead. The winners of the death match are the Knight Destroyers!" the official announced a little too loudly, embarrassed as he too did not see how Bull died.

Yueying jumped onto the stage and caught Liao as he collapsed toward the floor. She waited for him to store his blade away and helped him off the stage. Marcus was ecstatic as he had proven his party was the best among the first years in the academy as the Blazing Tigers were annihilated.

"Liao fought well," General Zhao laughed and was happy that Liao used the chaos talismans. He didn't expect the talismans to be so powerful. He realized it was because Liao had infused almost all his qi in the talismans as his last attack. He shuddered as he imagined what could have been if Liao did not have the talismans.

"Hmm?" General Zhao said as he noticed Yueying catch Liao from falling, breaking his thoughts. "That girl named Yueying. I have seen her somewhere. I should include it in my report to Lady Fei and General Hui."

General Zhao decided to personally send the message instead of using a messenger. He knew he had seen Yueying before and was disturbed that he couldn't remember where. The crowd kept cheering as the Knight Destroyers left the stage. They had witnessed a great ending to the third round and were excited for the fourth round the next day.

Chapter 11: The Tournament's Start MAIN PAGE Chapter 13: Desolation and Fear