30 Ask for Help (1/2)

Public Release: Feb. 27th, 2019 - 3:30 am EST

Cara's brow was covered in sweat. She wanted to curse but didn't dare open her mouth, lest she give the raging mana within her an exit. Her eyes turned bloodshot, he hands started to shake, and her skin blushed, making her look a bit like a ripe tomato.

A low groaning noise escaped her throat alongside a small packet of mana. She sealed her mouth shut. She couldn't afford to lose any excess; she couldn't afford any waste here. Her mind roiled and smashed upon waves of pain interspersed with euphoria.

The world around her shimmered like a breaking illusion. She shut her eyes briefly, closing them for a moment's respite, but she knew it would cost her. Without her eyes open how could she perfectly fuse the mana and materials in her new halberd?

Her eyes shot open and she decided to bear the brunt of everything. Her willpower almost seemed to manifest itself around her like a shield.

Her body cycled through extremes. She could feel her vessel cracking, she could feel her soul being literally split. Tears ran down her cheeks and her knuckles turned white.

Her hands never stopped moving. She never stopped putting together her weapon. Her mind felt like a dropped mirror, with shards broken in every direction. A black cloud of impurities separated from her skin like ash from an active volcano. The inside of the tent looked like a battlefield. Bottles were smashed and desks were ripped up. Wood splinters scattered as a terrible cyclone of air formed, surrounding Cara at the center of it all.

She couldn't hold her voice in. She threw her head back and roared, her voice like thunder. Mana burst out from her in that moment, and she bit her tongue to stop the flow.

She couldn't afford to fail. She knew that better than anyone. If she failed here, just who was going to slap her impudent disciples around in the future?

If she failed here, she could even end up having to live in this world with Zara forever…

An intense fire lit up in Cara's soul. Her newfound determination caused the entire folded space within the tent to shake.

It was as if she saw the ghost of Christmas future in that brief moment. She would not fail.

-

The City Lord swaggered down through the lower public seating. Many wondered why he didn't just sit in a private booth, but none of them voiced their concerns aloud. His gait looked strange; he leaned back while walking and stretched his legs as far forward as possible, rocking with each step as if to the beat of a song only he could hear.

The Dixon Head looked on at the scene with a grim face. He didn't want to fight the City Lord because he wasn't certain if he could win in a one-on-one battle, but the City Lord came to the venue with only two of his assistants. Was it hubris? Did he think he could handle the might of three of the Four Families alone?

Had he broken through to the next level?

The Dixon Head's Identify spell never worked well on the City Lord, so he skipped it entirely. He cast the spell he used on the green-haired woman, instead.

'Death Detect.'

The spell moved and analyzed the City Lord.

Normally, whenever he would cast Death Detect on the City Lord, the Dixon Head would get back numbers between 30 and 70 percent, usually dependent on whose cultivation was going better at the time.

The Dixon Head decided that if the number returned under 50%, he wouldn't fight the City Lord by himself. He'd have his Half Soul Knights fight with him, but if it turned up above 50% he would risk everything and go at it alone. He had his own pride as both a man and a combatant, after all.