The sounds of battle filled the night as Maximilian and Justinian moved into action. This new conflict was perfect for Maximilian. In the air, the puppets were forced to make a choice. If they ignored him, he could rain down attacks until they were dead. If they went after him, they had to disengage from their opponents. Something that left them open to attack by the former opponents. By the time the puppets made their way toward him, it was too late. He was high enough in the air that getting to him just exposed them to more attacks. That wasn't to say everything went well. Several of the survivors were either too hurt to fight or fled immediately. That lack of damage forced him to exert more energy than he should have. Fortunately, Justinian was present. The warrior fell onto the battlefield like a meteor. Maximilian wasn't sure he'd be able or willing to leap from this high up and land with a spear. The result was more than worth it. He slammed into and through one puppet. The puppet practically exploded. From there, the warrior threw his spear through one puppet only to follow up with a beam of golden light.
Maximilian watched him for a bit longer before he focused on his own tasks. The weaker puppets stopped coming, which only left the smarter ones. The ones stronger enough to reach him. Maximilian expanded his Dao fields. Electricity and wind tore into the first puppets to arrive. Wind sliced through the stone of the ouppet while his errant streaks of electricity attempted to blow it to pieces. Yet it wasn't enough. Maximilian released the platform underneath him a second before the first puppet arrived. He grinned as he went into free fall. He pointed his finger up toward his energy as bluish-white power arced between his fingers. A moment later, he fired. A beam of pure electrical power. The puppet tried to deflect the attack with both of its hands, but how could that be enough? The puppet resisted for a fraction of a second before the beam shot through its hands and then the rest of its body. The electricity illuminated the night sky. Maximilian paused for a moment. The display touched on something. More specifically, it reminded him of lightning. Not real lightning but metaphorical lightning. The lightning of ideas. He held the thought until the darkness of the night returned. He formed a bed of hurricane-like winds to catch him as he returned to the battle. He considered running into the sky again but abandoned the idea. There were three puppets on the way, and he had seen enough. Justinian was doing his job, and he wasn't willing to take on more enemies than he could handle now.
He shifted into a seated position and formed a ball of compressed wind. His wind bullets weren't exactly high-powered attacks, but they were fast. Fast, and they cost little in terms of spiritual energy or mental energy. He unleashed several bullets, one after another, until his instincts warned him. He dodged the first palm strike and placed his palm flat against the puppet. Another beam of energy tore straight through it. The second and third puppets joined the first a moment later. He had several more ideas, attacks that could combine two or even three of his dao, but now wasn't the time. He activated and imbued Static Bolt to blow a hole in the head of one puppet. His danger sense flared as the final puppet came from his blind spot. Maximilian had just enough time to raise his hand before he struck. The attack forced him back almost ten feet and sent hot pain through his hand and down the length of his arm. His hand numbed almost instantly as he focused on the last opponent. The puppet was stronger. He could probably match its strength if he imbued his body with energy and Dao, but it wouldn't be worth it. As for as Agility went, they were closer than he thought. As long as he didn't lose track, he could fight three of them easily enough.
He smiled as the puppet resumed its attack. Or at least tried to. It barely crossed half the distance before a combined assault of wind and electricity tore it apart. Maximilian was off before the body hit the ground. He searched for Justinian, but the warrior was gone. Either he had traveled too far away, or he was fighting somewhere else. Either way, he decided to trust that the man could handle himself. He scanned the battlefield before picking his next target. As much as he wanted to help everyone evenly, he was just one person. He had to prioritize the people from Earth. He focused in a group of lizardfolk who were in a savage fight with a single puppet. The trio held their own, but that was mostly due to the savage and ruthless nature of their attack. They fought with little care for their lives. No matter how hard they were hit, they kept getting back up. Maximilian unleashed a half dozen lances of electricity. The attack arrived in the blink of an eye. Just in time to prevent the puppet from claiming one of the trio. Spiritual energy surged into his dantian before the flash faded. He gave the trio a nod and was about to leave when they did something he hadn't expected. The trio tossed him their tokens. The tokens turned into beams of light when they were halfway to him. He briefly considered asking them why they did that, but he decided not to. They made their choice, and he needed the tokens. He turned and rejoined the battle.
The night turned into a blur as Maximilian shot from battlefield to battlefield. He wasn't sure why there were so many puppets. Compared to the earlier nights, this was a war zone, yet Maximilian wasn't upset. He felt better about every aspect of his fighting style. He knew that fighting provided insight, so this wasn't a surprise. He stopped sealing his killing intent or his aura. Instead, he used them to transform himself into a beacon. One that was impossible to ignore. Several times, he had been forced to fight other trial takers—people who had either gotten too greedy or viewed him as a monster.
The former he beat and robbed. The latter he left alone. He wasn't interested in fighting people who had lost their minds, and most of them were terrified. By sunrise, Maximilian had lost count of how many puppets he had defeated. All three of his daos had been pushed to their limits to keep him going. Despite his best efforts, he had been forced to take numerous attacks. Attacks that would have forced him to retreat. Even with that, he realized advancing his daos again would take a lot of effort. He had an idea of what to add to them, but it felt like trying to form a snowball by rolling it down a mountain. Slow progress, which wasn't a problem. He was impatient, but he knew better than to get too greedy. He had more than a few things to worry about.
Maximilian took a moment to confirm that the battle had ended before he returned to the ruins proper. He ducked into a nearby building and took a seat. Even though his daos hadn't taken a step forward, he had improved a lot. His killing intent had gone through a baptism of fire. It was hard to explain the change in a way that made sense. His killing intent had crystallized to the point that it had an almost tangible effect on the world around him. It wasn't quite an attack. That said, it still affected people. For people weaker than him, it created a fight or flight instinct that made people stupid. Most of the time, they just stood there. Like a deer in headlights. Some people who turn and just run away, while others would attack. Neither option helped. The fighters behaved like wild animals. They assaulted him, but they might as well have given up. Either way, it was something he was interested in. He still didn't like how it felt. Even that had changed, though. It had gone from a wild, primal battlefield to an organized one. Now it felt more like armies doing battle. Not that it made him feel better. For the first time in a while, he reconsidered his options. If he could find a good enough method to use it, then he might avoid purging it. He would be an idiot to ignore a potential weapon.
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His killing intent was the most drastic improvement, but it wasn't his only. Nor was it his favorite. That had to go to the advancement of Storm Manipulation and Flowing Sky. He had gotten to explore both skills throughout the night and had to admit they were amazing. Storm Manipulation improved his overall energy control. He hadn't even needed to watch the teachings to advance it. He had also learned the difference between his free energy control and a proper skill. There wasn't really a difference. At least not a direct one, his earlier comparison to training wheels was both correct and too shallow. He could create Flowing Sky without the skill, but it would be a lot worse. He would need to combine the concepts manually. A process that would take too long and too much effort. Especially when he could just activate the skill and imbue it with his dao. Which was the other difference? He wasn't sure why it worked like that, but since he could add the dao to a skill, he could improve it. If he manipulated the Dao directly, he couldn't. Which meant if all things were equal, an imbued skill would be stronger than a direct energy manipulation. He would need to take the time to study the next stage. He had a few ideas on what it would focus on, but it wasn't worth going in blind. The skill was meant to teach, and he would be wasting it if he ignored it.
The situation with Flowing Sky was different. He had advanced it a stage and gained another laser. His control had improved a bit, though it wasn't an agile skill. He wondered if he could create some sort of mirror to reflect the lasers around. Maybe if he could figure out how to alter his Dao of Rain, but if that was possible, it was a long way away. He had no idea how to go about beginning the process, let alone what a finished product would look like. Altogether, the night was beyond eventful. He wasn't sure he was strong enough to fight the rest of the imperials, but he figured it would be close. He was close to level 32 as well, so he would get a boost in power. He still had no idea where Justinian was, but he figured they'd meet up again as soon as the sun was fully up. It shouldn't be too difficult for him to get back to their meeting area. Which meant he needed to recover now. His head felt like it would split open if he tried to use his Dao again. He closed his eyes and withdrew his fields and aura. The sudden lack of killing intent was a bit like falling into a cold pool of water. He started his cultivation technique and slipped into meditation. A few hours later, he opened his eyes and got to his feet. Meditating didn't feel as good as sleep, but it was better than anything else. He cracked his neck and looked around. He searched for anything of value in the building. A few moments later, he took off. He scanned the streets as he made his way back. Corpses from all species and factions littered the ground. The image seared itself into his mind.
It wasn't his fault, but it still irritated him. He had wanted to protect everyone and had saved a lot. Intellectually, he knew better. He knew that everyone who was still in the trial had chosen to be here. That they had chosen to fight here. He pushed down the annoyance as he reached his destination. He stood in the air for a few moments to make sure no one else was hidden inside. He didn't have any scouting abilities, which meant he had no way to see spies or anything. He had faith in his ability to react to any surprise attacks, which is why he settled on making himself a target. When no one bit after five minutes, he made his way to the ground and stepped into the building. He braced himself just in case, only to relax when he saw Justinian. It was clear that the warrior hadn't had as easy a time as he did. He was covered in a lot of wounds. Maximilian moved quickly to try and heal the man.
"I would ask how your battles went but I got the idea." Maximilian attempted to add some humor to the situation. Though he was being honest. Justinian's aura had improved. If he had to guess, the man had gained a level or two. Which was pretty good. His killing intent had also improved, though not to the same extent as his own. Altogether, they had both improved.
"I had to check the leaderboard to be sure you hadn't gotten yourself killed," Justinian added, his eyes locked on the light blue water that streamed into and across his body. "I was worried when you hadn't returned last night."
"Yeah, sorry about that. I had gotten a bit further away than I planned. I wanted to avoid getting pulled into another battle, so I stayed where I was."
The two took a moment to recap everything they had been through. At the end of it, Maximilian had to admit the night had been busy. Justinian had found the imperial camp but decided to stay far away. He assumed that either or possibly both the king and at least one prince were there. The change in the trial likely dealt a massive blow to their camp. Defending a small army wasn't easy. He also figured that the royals were likely not the type to risk their own lives for their subordinates. In that way, bringing so many followers was a burden. Since he had never seen the king, he wasn't sure how they compared, which made him hesitant to mount an all-out assault. He also knew that he had limited choices. There was no way they didn't know about him by now. All of that was a choice for later. Right now, he had his hands full healing Justinian's injuries. A process that took a bit longer than he expected. It was a situation of quantity making the process more difficult rather than quality. The man had a lot of small injuries. When he finished, he leaned against one of the walls.
"I imagine the inner region will open soon. I am not sure if that puppet invasion was meant as a trial within a trial or if it was the city defending itself. Either way, my guess is that we are all moving into the final stages. I'm pretty sure I know the answer already, but I am still going to ask. Do you intend to stick around? Or leave early?" Maximilian asked.
"Staying. I am not going to throw my life away, but I want to see what the final rewards are, same as you."
"And what if we have to fight for it? I am sure you understand that the trial's rewards are based on the tokens. Tokens that are being funneled toward fewer and fewer people. A final battle between us all is inevitable."
Justinian stood up and shrugged. "Doesn't bother me. I will fight either way. If you end up being my opponent, then I will fight you. If not, then I won't. I see no need to kill you either. You are still the strongest person on Earth. I am confident that we will need you."
Maximilian chuckled and nodded his agreement. He wouldn't frame it quite the same way, but he couldn't disagree. Honestly, he saw no reason to kill the imperials either. He didn't know what the other world was like, and the last thing he wanted was the responsibility of throwing a nation into chaos. Though if the second prince was any indication, he doubted he would have a choice. "Agreed. Let's take some time to finish recovering and cultivating before we set out. I didn't see any changes in the barrier on the way over."
"Very well. You go first. You healed me, so the least I could do is keep watch over you."
He considered refusing since he wasn't injured nor did he feel bad, but he acquiesced. He knew that whatever was about to come wasn't going to be easy, and it was better to be overly prepared than underprepared. He sat in the lotus position and started his cultivation technique. Energy flowed into his dantian as he slipped into meditation. He reviewed each of his last battles. Absorbing whatever insights he could from his actions, the puppets and even Justinian, in certain situations. Everything offered him a new step forward. He even spent some of it focusing on his dao. He had a few ideas for additional daos, including one related to ice. Despite that, he decided not to formalize it. He was at the cusp and felt confident he could do so whenever he wanted. The thing that held him back was his class. He wasn't sure what the class would give him if it gave anything. The last thing he wanted was to advance something only to get a better thing later. He wasn't sure what would happen if he ended with two ice-related daos. Unfortunately, now wasn't the time to consider it properly. All too soon, he opened his eyes and locked eyes with Justinian. There was little he could do but go forward.
