AGAINST THE EIGHT
1407 Words
MONITORING ROOM...
EINKO CORP...
The monitoring room was filled with twice the previous amount of engineers, Mr Einko himself was still seated before his screen, he keenly observed the screen.
"This is incredible sir." An engineer could not suppress his excitement.
"Ben is progressing extremely faster than normal gamers, I think his mind is just downloading the previous imprint." Another engineer added.
"Hmmm." Mr EINKO was in deep thoughts. "What about the malware ?" He questioned.
"Sadly the growth is also rapid, it has engulfed about twenty percent of the entire programming." One engineer replied.
"Sir, that Ben is the only hope we have if we want to do anything. We have sent in various gamers and even provided them with prepared characters. The Malware has utterly crushed them, they claimed it has a face called Zelu. I think we need a face too." One woman seated beside Mr Einko spoke this time, she was also an engineer.
"I totally agree with director Gwen."
"True Sir, very true."
"A wonderful idea." Various engineers voiced their supports.
"So what do you suggest we do to help him, director?" Mr Einko asked the director.
"We send in our best gamers and help him lead a revolution against the malware, our programmers will give him all the support he needs on the outside." She quickly replied. "And since this malware has the intelligence of a real human, I will go in too, to help in the confrontation."
BACK IN THE NEURO WORLD OF MYTH...
THE IMPERIAL CULTIVATION GROUNDS...
The entire Imperial cultivation grounds was tense, everyone knew that the coming days had a lot to unfold, like a season of extremes was fast approaching. So many events, legendary ones, were expected to occur.
The names of the institution's top five students had already gone round, the one that attracted major attention was that of Matero. True, he was acknowledged as a rare talent, but no one expected such a junior to make the list. The news of him receiving multiple challenges had also reached everywhere, but the fact that he actually accepted and intends to fight them all once travelled faster than any other piece of information.
Matero was challenged by a lot of top ranking higher disciples, some of them even had the strength of core disciples and Matero was just a brat at the first realm. The tension in the atmosphere grew as the time for the matchup approached. Today was going to be a spectacle, a matchup like no other. This was more than a handicap match.
Matero was back at Kerepa's quarters, he was seated meditating. He wasn't using soul retrieve, he was just organising his abilities and getting ready to cross cultivation realms. He wasn't bluffing when he accepted to fight all his challengers at once, he actually had a lot of trump cards and the vital element of surprise. His plan was to shock everyone by attaining the second realm, he knew they would never expect him to attain that height in such a short time. The case was that he could attain the second realm with almost no effort, he just wanted to do so at the right time.
An immense aura broke out of Matero's body, the entire hall quaked, the light from the wall seemed to diminish by half for a while. Somewhere outside the hall, Koi had a sensation and a bead of sweat broke from his forehead.
"Is he really human?" Koi couldn't suppress his fright, a lot of things were attached to what Matero just did. One was that Matero just attained the fifth step of the first realm days ago, it should take at least a year for a normal cultivator to cross into the first step second realm, but Matero just smashed that logic.
Matero's first step aura was far greater than that of others at the same step in the same realm, it was more refined and powerful. Matero could feel chakra bubbling within himself, soon he would be able to attack physically through air, he could feel the drastic changes in his body.
Like every other cultivator, his life span had been extended and will continue to be, so far he steps up. Matero knew of a realm that made one a true immortal, this is no longer about increase in life span, it is a stage where you will only die if you are killed, but right now, he was still far off.
"Well, this is not so bad for now." Matero observed his new level of strength and smiled, he could remember a few months ago, when Elder Guan almost killed him, now he was just two steps away from that level. "Oh, I have a matchup." After a while, he rose to his feet and left the hall. Where he sat already had scorch marks, like the body lifted was on fire.
The entire arena was filled to the brim, some disciples even had to stay outside. A lot of Elders and masters were in attendance. Matero and two more core disciples were already challenged and all the matches were fixed for this day. Everyone wanted to see three of the top five in action, especially Matero. Who was not only the youngest but also the lowest in cultivation. The fact that he would fight a lot of disciples at once still baffled everyone, they all wanted to see him regret his folly.
Matero's match would come first and so all the challengers were already in the arena. The eight quickly stepped on stage once it was time, if they successfully defeated Matero, they would fight within themselves for the spot. Once again,
Matero was no where to be found, everyone started counting, if Matero doesn't show up on time, then he forfeited the match. Just before his time ran out, Matero could be seen walking briskly into the arena. Clothed in purple robes, ladies marvelled at his blue hair. He moved with surging confidence, not a hint of fear on his face and when he set his eyes on the eight on the arena,he smiled.
"He acts like he has won."
"Where does his confidence come from?"
"Today is gonna be fun." A lot of disciples whispered excitedly to one another.
Finally arriving on stage, Matero stood at one end and the eight stood at the other. The eight pulled their swords, Matero smiled once again and pulled his sword.
"To make this faster, I suggest the eight of you charge at once, also endeavour to put all your strength into that one strike." Matero was still smiling innocently. "You might not be chanced to attack after that." His face slowly returned to it's calm demeanour, no one could figure out what Matero was thinking, he became expressionless once more.
"This bastard really wants to die, Cho go first." A male disciple referred to as Danny ordered. He was the strongest higher disciple, his strength rivalled even core disciples.
At the order, a short disciple clothed in black dashed towards Matero, his name was Cho and he would test out Matero first.
"s***h and bang." With his aura fully released, he sent out a strike once he was close enough to Matero. Cho was at the first step of the second realm, the same as the other seven who challenged Matero.
Matero slashed out and the swords of the two collided, there was an extremely loud bang and Matero felt it in his head. This was the effect of Cho's technique, the strike comes with an explosive effect.
"Bam." The figure of Cho was blasted of the stage, a trail of smoke followed him and his body crashed into the spectators below.
"What?"
"One clash."
"What monstrous strength." Everyone was surprised, fear gripped those on stage.
"I already told you, you will be chanced to strike just once." Matero smiled. "Please, use your best attacks henceforth."
- Writer
