Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 29-30 (Patreon)

Different sort of pre-chapter note today! I've been looking beyond the completion of SC3 toward my next project for a while, but consider this the official announcement.

TWC is xianxia-inspired, but in a different direction than SC. Instead of modernizing certain cultural and narrative tropes, it will draw more on xianxia power tropes (like discrete tiers) in a wholly original setting. I tried to do something a little different with the core concept of power, making it concrete in a way I haven't seen before as opposed to most systems where characters gather abstract energy. Please look forward to it!

Chapters of SC3 will continue to be posted according to the normal schedule, all the way to the end, but I will have increasing creative time meanwhile. I think I'd like the two series to overlap to a degree and I'm considering posting TWC on RoyalRoad, which would mean you guys get early access to TWC too. I'm not sure exactly what form or schedule that will take, so this is me actively soliciting opinions people may have. My general plan is clear, but I'm always open to input.

Anyway... these chapters cover a new Showdown event, with double chapters preventing an almost literal cliffhanger. I'm pretty pleased by how this event turned out, so I hope you enjoy it. ^-^

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Chapter 29: Caged Aura Sphere

As Rick and H fought back and forth across the training room, Rick reflected on how well he was doing. He didn't actually expect to win, but he felt... competent. After so long struggling to pull together his new portfolio, it was an amazing feeling.

Fighting hand to hand, he could mostly keep up with his mentor, and if any blows slipped through, his defensive cores shrugged them off. When H launched aura bolts or embers from the sides or behind, he could feel them like flies tickling in the back of his brain. Each time ranged attacks approached him, they were sucked into the last of his crystal spheres. Though he was often overpowered by his mentor, he naturally drew on his demonic bond and managed to hold his ground.

When at last they parted, H gave him a reluctant nod. "That wasn't embarrassing. You've come a long way."

"Thanks." Rick could feel the improvement in himself, but wanted to check his portfolio to see the difference in hard numbers.

[Name: Rick Hunter

Ether Tier: 11th

Ether Score: 489

Lucrim Generation: 91,000

Enhanced Generation: 164,350

Current Lucrim: 12,900]

[Rick Hunter's Lucrima Portfolio

Foundation: 3800 (Lv VI)

Dark Blood Kettle: 17,900 (Lv IV)

Triune Golden Spheres: 73,350

- Defensive Sphere: 26,250

- Absorption Sphere: 22,600

- Sensory Sphere: 24,500

Offensive Lucore: 14,350 (Lv VIII)

Defensive Lucore: 38,700 (Lv IX)

Bunyan's Step: 16,250 (Lv IX)

Demonic Fusion (Katenka): 24,500 (Stage I)

Graham's Stake: 30,150 (Lv IV)

Economic Bond (Bftgage & Ythsil): 2000 (Stage II)

Total Lucrim: 147,650

Enhanced Total: 221,000]

If someone looked at his generation rate from the outside, they might conclude that he had over 200,000 lucrim, which was insane. Rick had made the app separate out the values of the Triune Golden Spheres and the demonic bond so that he could still see his base generation rate. It continued to slow as it got closer to six figures, which he'd heard was a major hurdle. Now he could understand why fighters valued alternative methods like the spheres or bonds.

The difference between himself now and the fighter he'd been several years ago was huge. An ordinary Birthrighter with lazy training and a generation rate of 100,000 lucrim would no longer be an overwhelming threat to him. Of course, he'd moved on to more dangerous opponents, so at times it felt like he'd made no progress at all.

That thought made him frown and look to H. "How far have I come, on the scale of the Showdown? I can win a few minor events, but I'm obviously no celebrity."

"Your momentum is good, but your current position isn't." H pulled out a cigarette and lit it slowly while he spoke. "There are a lot of people in the junior Showdown who could beat you, it's just that you haven't gone up against them yet. Obviously the senior Showdown is out of your league, much less those who are truly at the top of the world. But you're on an upward trajectory, unlike those who will clearly plateau long before that."

"What happens to those who do?"

"Some become the elites of a specific tier. Others retire and try to get a job training others. After all, those who train wouldn't work with others if they could fight at the highest level themselves."

It sounded self-deprecating, but Rick didn't believe it. There was too much of a vicious edge to H, both his personality and his skills. So Rick only smiled and said, "And how does this all compare to those who fight with their lives on the line?"

"Good question." H stared at him without expression for a time, his cigarette burning away at an unnaturally swift rate. Eventually he turned away. "Get ready for your match tomorrow. This one will require everything you have."

Despite the rising tension, Rick slept well that night. Maybe elite athletes worried about their records, but he was happy so long as he was growing and also getting paid. Yes, it would be good to do well in the fight and get a seal, but the recognition meant nothing to him. A loss could actually be more valuable, if it allowed his defensive core to grow.

In the morning, Rick was up early and ready. H gave him a sour nod and then guided them to an armored limousine that took them directly to the Showdown arena.

While most of the arenas Rick had fought in looked like modern sports stadiums because they also served that purpose, the Siberian arena was nothing like that. It was a menacing circle of dark stone several stories high, used for nothing but combat events. There were large stands, but in the events so far, they'd mostly been filled by grim-eyed fighters, not true audiences.

When they passed through into the fighter areas beneath the stands, Rick noticed that things were a little different this time. He still saw the usual fighters and other representatives, but he could hear a crowd. A crowd that had already been drinking, from the sound of it. Profit might not be as important in Siberia, but tonight was clearly the one that mattered for honor or whatever standard they used.

"There's only one Caged Aura Sphere event and I don't have the sphere generation technology, so unfortunately your only preparation will be video." As soon as they entered their room, which was completely bare, H turned to him and began pulling something up on his tablet. "The event should be well-suited to your current level of skill, but you need to make sure there are no surprise disqualifications due to the arena."

Not sure what that meant, Rick took the tablet and watched the video of past matches. The competitors fought within a large sphere of nearly clear aura, attempting to knock one another out of the sphere. Though the bottom of the sphere touched the ground, there was nearly nothing to stand on - which meant that getting pushed in any direction could disqualify a person.

He'd expected the competitors to be holding themselves in place with Lucores, but watching past matches quickly revealed that the sphere itself was the trick. The aura seemed to react a bit like a floor, but a weak one. Fighters could land on any part of it and stick there, or even run along the sides, but if they struck it at speed, they broke through and were disqualified.

After reviewing the past matches queued up for him, Rick realized that H was right. Not understanding how the sphere worked might cause a few problems, but it wasn't the center of the event. Simply a staging ground for the battle within.

Rick set it aside and meditated until it was time for his event. It felt like almost no time at all before H was kicking him in the side and grunting at the screen. Taking a deep breath, Rick rose to his feet and headed out toward the arena.

In past events, he'd been able to ignore the roar of the crowds. The stadiums had been bigger than the time he'd participated in the multi-tier tournament, but it was much the same. But that day, the crowds were chanting and even singing. When he looked into the audience, he saw many groups of grim fighters, some of them looking less than human due to demonic fusions.

Though he tried to pull his gaze back down to the aura sphere glimmering in the center of the arena, Rick's attention was caught by a small group opposite him. Little different from the other groups of sponsors, yet...

Alger stood among them, his hands laced atop his cane. For once he wasn't wearing absurd colors, simply a black coat with blue linings. It made him menacing, though in a slightly generic way... but the manic grin on his face was visible even from the distance.

"Someone you know?" Katenka spoke softly from over one shoulder.

Not wanting to look crazy, Rick merely shook his head slightly and kept moving forward.

"Focus. I'll do what I can, but this is mostly on you."

With that, she faded away, but it had been enough. Rick kept his gaze down, instead examining all the other contestants approaching the sphere. Most he didn't recognize, but Raggest was on the opposite side. The younger man looked utterly focused, as if he wasn't even aware of the audience around them.

An official stepped up beside the aura sphere and raised a finger just beside it. "The Caged Aura Sphere will now begin. As soon as the sphere is lit, warriors may enter. Any remaining on the ground when the sphere is completed will be disqualified. The match will continue until only one warrior is within or in contact with the sphere. Begin!"

The woman's finger tapped the side of the aura sphere and it burned brighter with the infusion of energy. Several fighters launched themselves into the sphere immediately, one getting hit in the face with a burst of white light from Raggest, who fired instead of entering. Clever, but it wouldn't last long, because the rush of aura was now sweeping over the floor to disqualify any who lingered.

Rick leapt just before it reached him. As he flew through the air, for a moment he was sure that he would bounce off the aura and fall, disqualified in utter humiliation. But not only did he push through the barrier without much trouble, no one attacked him when he entered.

With space to breathe, Rick experimented with the oddly sticky aura. Even though he was against a nearly vertical wall, his shoe had traction and he could stick his hand in the aura and hold himself in place easily. This wasn't so bad. He summoned the Triune Golden Spheres around himself and got ready.

Almost immediately, the golden gleam attracted the attention of a woman near the top of the sphere. She had her legs hooked into the aura so she could hang upside-down, using both hands to rain destruction on all the other competitors.

Rick had no choice but to leap aside to avoid the bursts of aura, which sent him sailing through the center of the sphere. Other fighters tried to target him as he moved... yet he could feel them. He didn't need to think about it, he just felt something moving toward his back. In mid-air Rick used a Bunyan's Step to change his direction, throwing himself to the side of the sphere again.

As soon as he finished, there was a fist flying for his face. Rick jerked his head back, tumbling down the side of the sphere and barely righting himself. He should have known that no one at this level of competition would be surprised by his swift movement, so they'd already calculated his trajectory and moved to intercept him.

With another fighter swooping down toward him, Rick used another Bunyan's Step to escape. Once again, he had someone attacking him almost as soon as the movement had stopped. If not for all his footwork training, he would almost certainly have been knocked straight through the side of the sphere and disqualified. He realized that they could easily predict his movements because he would always stop against the sphere.

On his third leap, Rick stretched his sensory Lucore to its maximum. He appeared on the side of the aura sphere with a foot flying toward his head, but this time he expected it.

Rick grabbed the kick and swung the person directly through the side of the sphere. The man broke through the aura, desperately scrabbling to get a grip on him, and shot out into the arena. As far as Rick was concerned, that meant he no longer existed. All that mattered was the world contained within the sphere, which was still filled with warriors.

Eliminating one of the people targeting him had earned Rick a bit of breathing room, since they knew that he wasn't an easy target. He took the time to examine the rest of the fight, but it was a chaotic brawl. Too many of the other fighters had flight or agility Lucores, leaving his Bunyan's Step feeling a little rudimentary. Throwing himself into the middle of that fight would be a mistake.

But there was one person remaining stationary: the woman at the top of the sphere. A fighter attempted to creep up the side toward her, only for her to turn at the last second, an arc of aura bursts hammering him into the side of the sphere. He barely managed to cling to it instead of being knocked through, but had to fall back. Clearly she was prepared for a frontal assault.

Smiling, Rick readied his ranged defense Lucore and prepared to leap. He threw himself directly at the woman and she naturally met him with a series of bursts that would have hammered him straight back down. But at the last second Rick drew all of the bursts into the crystal sphere within him.

For a split second he saw the shock on her face, then his knee slammed into her chin. She smashed back through the top of the aura sphere, briefly flailing in the air before coming back down.

Though she landed on top of the sphere, furious and only slightly injured, red aura began to cling to her. She'd been out of contact with the aura sphere and was thus disqualified. Cursing in Russian, she jumped off the side and fell away.

Realizing he was a target at the top of the sphere, Rick leapt through three different Bunyan's Steps around the sides of the sphere, just to escape anyone pursuing him. Clinging to the side of the sphere was easy, but it was also risky, since a good blow might knock him out regardless of his defensive cores. He crept closer to the bottom where it met the ground, trying to find another target.

Someone flashed in front of him and Rick caught a glimpse of fists covered in flames. He dodged the first strike, but his attacker was coming with a rapid flurry of blows and eventually he could only block, bracing his aura against the flames.

Suddenly Rick was hurtling backward through the air. He realized that he had been tricked: the flames were a distraction, hiding the true nature of the attack. It hadn't attempted to harm him, simply push him with a great deal of force so he was disqualified.

He felt his back hit the aura sphere and break into the cold air.

-

Chapter 30: Warrior's Reward

If Rick had been the fighter he was a year ago, he would have lost. He might have given up, or he might have fallen from the sphere before he even realized what was happening. But after juggling so many different Lucores, Rick had already figured out what had happened and he reacted on instinct. As he broke through, he reached out and used his own aura to grab the edge of the sphere.

His body jerked away from him, out in the cold air, but his arm remained inside the sphere.

For a moment he hung there, disoriented outside the sphere. The crowd cheered thunderously, nearly stunning him, but his instincts insisted there was no time for that. If he wasn't disqualified, he needed to get back inside before he was targeted.

Bursts of aura began slamming into him, but Rick held his defensive cores firm and dragged himself back inside the sphere. He'd barely pulled his head in when he was hit head on by a blizzard, but he channeled lucrim to Katenka and she manifested around him in a swirl of snow. Not only did she prevent it from freezing him, she managed to blunt the force and he was able to fully pull himself back into the sphere.

"That was great!" Despite the fight still going on, Raggest turned to him with a grin. "But others are going to try to copy you."

Rick didn't understand at first, then saw that the idea of partially leaving the sphere had caught on. A woman was crawling around the outside to get into a better position, while someone else hung on the outer curve with just one hand inside.

Raggest gathered aura in his fists and then unleashed two massive beams simultaneously. Without a firm grip, both of the contestants were blown away from the sphere and immediately disqualified. Though Rick braced himself as Raggest clenched fists again, no more blasts came his way.

"I want to fight you without any tricks!" Raggest grinned, then threw himself at another opponent instead.

Did that mean a temporary truce? Though Rick didn't trust it entirely, he didn't target Raggest. There were fewer competitors now, which gave him more space to work... but also made him a target. A huge woman was stomping around the side of the sphere toward him, walking on the steep angle as if it was even ground. Running would just seem like cowardice, so he braced himself for a brawl.

Her fist hit hard, but it was nothing his defensive core couldn't handle. But the force pushed him back a step, and he lost his balance while trying to keep his foot in the aura. Before he could catch himself, another blow came. Rick managed to block that too, but it sent him staggering.

He realized that if he kept that up, he would never regain his balance. So Rick gritted his teeth and let the blows through. They hammered into his chest and head, each one slamming into his defensive core. But without trying to block, Rick was able to regain his balance and push back, gripping the side of the sphere some distance away. That earned him a moment, but only a moment as the woman leapt at him with both fists rising overhead.

In midair, a white-hot beam of aura blasted her out of the side of the sphere. From the other side, Raggest gave him a thumbs up.

But a moment later, he was struck by a flurry of dark motes. They impacted strangely as they struck him, not exploding but seeming to shake his entire body. Raggest shuddered as his body was battered by the flood of motes, but managed to raise his hand toward the man who was releasing them.

A beam shot out, but for the first time, Raggest saw it stopped. It hit a wall of motes and they seemed to consume it, eating pieces of the beam with each impact until it was reduced to nothing. The storm of particles only intensified, battering Raggest down to the bottom of the sphere. He tried to summon a barrier around himself, but the motes ate away at it as well. They would obviously overcome him soon and he would be forced outside the sphere.

For a moment, Rick hesitated. It would be a good strategy to let Raggest get eliminated, but he discarded that as bad sportsmanship. What made him hesitate was the hungry way Alger watched the match, and that nearly forgotten dream...

Rick leapt off the side of the sphere, trying to absorb the motes. They shifted direction, swept into one of the crystalline spheres, and Rick closed the distance to his target. But the man frowned at him and began releasing more, and suddenly the sphere felt unbelievably heavy. Though Rick tried to absorb them better, he realized that was a mistake. They were overwhelming his capacity to absorb and some motes began to touch his body.

Each impact didn't hurt, they simply left part of his body feeling as though it was completely gone. If he hadn't been under assault, he would have looked down to check that they hadn't erased holes in his flesh. His defensive core strained to compensate, and the Dark Blood Kettle surged as it rarely did, but he could tell that it wouldn't be enough.

Then a beam hit the man in the chest and the assault of motes stopped. He managed to hold on, but Raggest released another beam and struck him against the side of the sphere. Their opponent struggled, forming a wall of motes that ate away Raggest's next attempt.

Rick plunged directly through it, his elbow slamming into the man's jaw. Their opponent finally flew backward, leaving the sphere and collapsing to the ground.

When Rick turned around, he realized that the sphere was almost completely empty. Only Raggest remained, straightening and wiping some blood from his mouth. He grinned, but didn't say anything. Rick found himself smiling back and let himself skid down the side of the sphere so they were facing each other.

For a moment they were silent and Rick became aware of the crowds roaring around them. He let that sound fall away and just focused on his opponent. At any moment Raggest would move, then the fight would begin.

He saw the other man's arm shift and leapt in a Bunyan's Step. When Rick caught the side of the arena, he saw blinding beams shooting both where he had been standing, and where he was most likely to have leaped beside Raggest. Doubting he could outplay his opponent that way, Rick went straight for him the next moment.

Though he felt a beam impact his body, Rick hadn't been planning to appear beside Raggest and then strike him: he ran straight into the other man shoulder first. Unfortunately, Raggest wasn't knocked back enough, digging his feet in and blasting Rick in the face with another beam.

There was no more time for technique, Rick just tried to pummel his opponent. He wasn't sure if his absorption Lucore was overloaded or if it didn't work against the pale beams, but every impact seared through him. Despite all the lucrim combined into so many cores, they were rapidly being burned apart. Rick started drawing heavily on Katenka's bond just to hang on a little longer and land a few more blows.

All at once he saw it: Raggest failed to defend his neck. Rick struck for the target even as he saw a blinding light flash at his chest.

When Rick could feel again, he was flat on his back on the arena floor. The bleary smears of white and black gradually focused into the dark stands around the stadium. Rick realized that he had made a mistake, going for a weak point when the actual goal was to knock his opponent out of the arena.

Which was empty.

Rick struggled painfully to get up, staring at the empty sphere. Across the arena, he saw Raggest lying on his back, having fallen out of the sphere as well. He had absolutely no idea what had happened... but then his attention was captured by the large screens overhead.

They were showing a slow motion replay: Raggest's blast had knocked Rick out of the sphere immediately, but the blow to the neck had sent Raggest falling backward. Rick had left the sphere nearly a full second before Raggest, yet the announcers and commentators seemed to be talking excitedly. One of the replays showed a close up of the strike to the neck, apparently approving of its brutality.

Abruptly worried, Rick looked down, but Raggest was struggling to his feet, grinning. "That was - ow - that was amazing!" He rubbed his neck in pain, but then rushed over to Rick. Though Rick thought he was probably in better shape, he felt burned out and didn't feel like moving so quickly.

Still, when the other man thrust a hand toward him, Rick was able to lift his arm enough to shake it. The crowd roared approval around them.

The aura sphere finally faded, leaving Rick momentarily blinded in the absence of its light. An enormous man with a beard half the size of his considerable chest smashed down onto the arena beside them. Rick instinctively tried to raise his arms to fight, only to have his wrist grasped and thrust into the air alongside Raggest's.

"Best fight I've seen in years!" The man roared out something in Russian, then turned back to them and stopped dangling the two by their wrists. "Mark my words, you both receive great seal of Siberia."

Rick found himself smiling. It hurt to stand and it was taking all his self-control not to rub his scorched torso, but he actually felt good. For winning, yes, but more importantly because the fight had been a satisfying success for him.

"I would like to pay my respects as well."

The sound of the smooth voice made all Rick's sense of accomplishment drain away. Alger stood beside them, both hands still over his cane, looking genteel except for the grin on his face. It spread wider and wider, as if it would tear out the sides of his face.

"This is what the Showdown should be! This is what the new generation needs!" Alger raised one hand toward them and a stylized letter A burned into the air in front of their faces. "I grant you both my seal as well, in the hope that you will go on to do great things!"

It should have been his moment of triumph, yet Rick could only stare at the mad grimace that no longer resembled a smile. Alger walked toward him, eyes burning with the fires of a thousand battles. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, ignoring the arena to speak to Rick alone.

"This is all I've ever wanted from you. Brutal striving, endless ambition. This is only the beginning, you know. In time you will grow stronger and stronger, leaving behind the limits of these civilized matches. There will be only the savagery of true warriors' spirits, and then, in the end, there will be only power."

Rick turned away from the mad grin and tried to focus on the cheering crowds.