As I watched the fire twister form, I wondered how much power could be controlled by Body Refinement Realm cultivators. Even my own control of lightning was beyond the pale. If we were already creating lightning tribulations and firestorms at our current Realm, what did that mean about our futures? Those novels I’d read about cultivators destroying mountains and parting seas might not be hyperbole.

The temperature from the fire Qi that was being released super-heated the water vapor in the fog and ice that I had distributed along the floor. The resulting steam had reached temperatures too high for most of the people fighting to deal with. Even those that could control fire found it that control tested when they began breathing super-heated water vapor.

The honing process we underwent as Cultivators allowed us to improve our physiology, but those advances came in stages, for those that had not completed honing their respiratory system, it forced them to ignore attack and defense and concentrate on healing.

The damage people were taking wasn’t significant enough to do any lasting harm, but it was vexing, often resulting in coughing as a measure to clear scalded lungs. And while not debilitating, coughing disrupted the smooth flow of Qi and the disruption of channeled elements that were being used with martial techniques.

As I moved, deciding it was no longer safe to remain in one spot, I had noticed that not everyone had gathered in the room below, two people were hiding just outside, waiting in the outer passage, skulking in the corridors that led into the room. My perception was less precise at that range, so I wasn’t able to decipher much more than they were in there. Unlike myself, who was taking advantage of the confusion and chaos below to pepper the unprepared with arrows, they had initiated no attacks.

It was clear they were waiting, gauging when it would be safe to make an entrance. They would only come into the room when they felt they had a chance to mop up whoever remained, after those of us fighting had expended a great deal of our Qi reserves.

I gave them credit, waiting for when the battle royal was winding down was a valid tactic. I would have used the same strategy if I hadn’t believed I could use the room's height to my advantage. My ability to walk on air was the only reason I’d remained in the room once the noise of battle had drawn the attention of so many other cultivators.

It was too late to second guess myself; I had a bigger more immediate problem. I needed to figure out a way to dealing with the heat that the fire tornado was generating, even as it was dying down, the last gasp of flickering embers, were still producing temperatures that remained crippling.

I was forced to combat the fire and heat with my own control over air and ice. It would be counterproductive to create ice or water to only have the heat react with my elements by super-heating them and releasing more steam, so instead I focused on producing a cooling breeze. The air currents responding by mimicking the biting cold of deep winter. I exchanged my Bow with my Tessen and began the opening movements to [Dancing Wind and Rain]. But instead of channeling air and water, I gathered streams of air and ice Qi. The [Tessenjutsu] accepting my modifications.

Opening and closing each Tessen, releasing a blast of arctic air with each flutter, I was slowly able to stabilize the temperatures, at least enough to protect myself. As I danced, transforming [Dancing Wind and Rain] into something new, into [Winter’s Bite], I was forced to strain to maintain focus and not lose myself to the sheer joy of creation.

The mechanics for this round of competition caused a few funny moments, especially when someone you were fighting against was removed and the person attacking was sent sprawling to the ground unable to react to the empty space that existed where another person had just been present.

The group from the same Sect that had been working together were among the first eliminated. I admit to taking unfair advantage, but they deserved it. They had drawn the attention of everyone in the room by releasing that fire tornado, of course, they were going to be targeted. As they were engaged in fights with other people, I continued to pinion them with arrows, until whatever the metric that was used to decide they were too wounded to continue engaged, and they were transported out of the labyrinth.

It took surprisingly little time for only one person to be left after that. She was looking around curiously, probably wondering why she hadn’t been awarded the win when the two people who had been waiting patiently in the outer corridors finally entered.

The first person to exit was using a metal whip that had been coiled and charged with fire Qi. He was as adept with his whip, I thought as I watched him lash the unprepared woman, as I was with my Tessen. He had broken cover first and was able to use the element of surprise to do enough damage to disqualify the young woman. She vanished in the same manner as the rest of the participants had. Without the chance to defend or even identify who had inflicted enough damage to disqualify her.

The whip seemed to re-coil by itself, returning to the young man’s hand, primed and ready to be used again. I wasn’t sure if that action was his use of micro muscle control, control that he had mastered with months of training, or if the whip had been enchanted to return to the coiled position. I was leaning toward advanced muscle control, micro-movements that I wouldn’t notice. It would be too hard to keep the whip from coiling after every strike with enchantment. And there would be times when he would need to follow up his opening attack.

His perception was at least as good as mine, evident when he moved, retreating enough that he could keep his back towards the wall, his movement suggesting he was aware of both the other hidden figure and me. He had selected a wall that would let him keep either of us from catching him a pincher attack.

I had come this far by picking my moments of opportunity. Most of my attacks using sniping tactics, taking advantage of the room’s dimensions. I was not ready to give up that advantage, at least not until the last person had entered the room, and circumstance forced me to engage. Our wait was short-lived as the final woman, garbed in the garish dress that all women had been required to commission and wear, finally entered.

She was brandishing a type of trident, three-pronged, but not as long as one would expect. It didn’t have the reach of a real spear, but the shortened length gave her added flexibility allowing her to adapt her attacks for range and melee. I had a suspicion that the weapon had a mechanism that would allow it to extend making it even more effective.

No one in the Flowing Water sect used either type of weapon, so I would have to be careful not to get blindsided by techniques I had no familiarity with. That realization would have come too late if I had been the woman’s target when she advanced her opening move.

I watched in disbelief as she threw her weapon, using the range to her advantage and launching a Tri-pronged Qi attack. She had to have a way to retrieve her weapon or could withdraw one from her storage device. No one would be so impulsive as to toss away their only weapon otherwise.

Each of the tines in the trident was adjusted to resonate with different affinities. I was able to detect metal and earth, easily, but her last affinity took me time to recognize. She had learned to blend metal and earth to form a magnetic affinity. The trident split into thirds as it reached him, the charged Qi attacks being deflected as the man began twirling a shortened section of his whip creating a shield and deflecting her attack.

The trident, rather than being deflected and removed from battle, curved. It was acting like a boomerang instead of a spear, her control of magnetism allowing her to control the weapon's path and return it to her hand. It reformed, reshaping the three tines back to the original form before she caught it.

Her control of the magnetic field was impressive, but it required more of her attention than was safe to spare. She barely had time to spin the trident back into En Gärde position before the sound of the whip cracking created another fire attack, the transition from defense to attack seamlessly. He had set up a temporary resonance between his whip and her trident, using the small fluctuations of air current for the path for the fire attack to follow.

The smell of cauterized flesh filling the room as the armor, what little there was, from her dress failed to protect her hand. The wound was probably not bad, but he had landed first blood and that would have a psychological advantage for him. I couldn’t tell how badly her hand was damaged, if he had done serious harm, it would certainly affect how versatile and agile her hand movement would be.

I wasn’t sure it would make much of a difference, her weapon was so large that nimble fingers were not a consideration. She relied on strength and Qi to control her trident, not agility and dexterity. But it was her dual affinity that would prove to be the decisive advantage.