Savage Awakening 117. Tomb Kings (IV) (Patreon)

A/N:

(2/2)

I have edited 116 to

1—play down Zane's 'feel-bad-about-beating-up-Mike

2—include a brief lil monologue by Mike in the astral realm before shit goes down

3—show Zane's full beatdown of mike, including a different end

//

Zane checked out the treasures inside.

The first was a single feather—red at the center, radiating out to yellow at the edges. It flickered and smoldered just sitting there. Fire Laws poured out of it like heat waves.

Feather of Astoria, Fallen Phoenix (A)

Fallen Phoenixes are the closest cousins to True Phoenixes. Godbeast blood runs in their veins. Like True Phoenixes, they are born knowing the Elemental Law of Fire. Their feathers are among the most potent sources of it in the universe. Handle with extreme care: this treasure is prone to eruptions. This feather was collected from Astoria, spirit pet of a Vin Elin, Inner disciple of the Azure Flame faction.

Lots of proper nouns Zane didn't know there, but he got the gist. He was happy with this one. This would do.

The next was a handful of seeds floating around each other; arcs of lightning buzzed between them like they were tiny tesla coils. They were filled to the brim with Electricity Law.

Lightning Lotus Seed (A)

Lightning Lotuses bloom in the Peak Gardens of Mount Thundercrest, during the Everstorm—a once-in-a-millennium celestial event in which tribulation lightning strikes for ninety-nine days straight. At the end of it, each Lotus Seed is deeply saturated with pure Electricity Law. When consumed they grant massive boons in essence and Electricity Law.

That seemed good too.

Then there was the Wood Law treasure for Reina.

Ten Ring Gourd (A)

Crafted from the wood of a thousand-year-old gourd vine, each of its rings marks a century of growth, knowledge, and power, offering a profound connection to Laws of Elemental Wood. This Gourd was cultivated by the Sage of the Silver Heart, Elder Monk of the Temple of the World Tree.

He pocketed them, nodding. Always the same few Factions. He swore he'd seen these names three or four times already—and each seemed based on an Element.

It would probably be a few days yet before he could really make use of the treasures. He still hadn't recovered from his last breakthrough. But he was sure he could find things to do to fill the time. For one, he had a few spars to get through. With Avery and also that Eze guy. He knew he was at least a cut above folk like Mike Masters; he had to be among the best in the world. But where did he rank in there?

Really he was just eager to have a really great fight. He'd been eyeing the same six or seven names at the very top since months ago… now he was finally here.

There was also that Hell Array to try out. He'd give it a real go this time; he liked how you could actually go all out. When Zane fought, he was never much worried about death. But he still had to care about it. There he could disregard it entirely. He could go fully ballistic if he wanted. He smiled.

Yes. There was lots to do. This place had been set up to be some kind of theme park for World Rankers; he'd make good use of it.

Speaking of—

"Is there some way I can speed up my soul recovery?" He asked Elias.

“Sure there is! Every Dojo’s got a soul sauna. Soak in there for a few days and you'll be fixed right up.”

Zane nodded. "One more thing. I want to go back to Reina. Every night, if I can. How can I do this?"

"Ahh—for that you'll want a regional teleportation portal. Pretty easy to set up between high-ranked Beacons. For you, buddy, I'll do it at cost! That'll be twenty-five high-grade essence stones."

Zane stared at him.

"… Alright," said Elias, coughing. "So maybe that's a slight exaggeration. It's really only twenty."

Zane kept staring at him.

"Fine, fine! You caught me. Fifteen."

Eventually they settled on four. Elias was a little miffed by the end of it, which was a good way to confirm it was the actual price.

“You must make dozens of high-grade essence stones a day,” said Zane.

“Well—hundreds,” Elias corrected. “But do go on.”

“And you’re fighting this hard over a portal.”

“It’s not about the money,” said Elias, grinning a ‘who, me?’ grin. “It’s the thrill of the chase! Oh, don’t you give me that judge-y look. Like you never hit things just to hit things.”

“…”

It would take a day to set up. Elias said the concierge would let him know when it was done. The warlock gave a wink and vanished.

***

The next morning, Zane met Avery and Evan upstairs for breakfast. The restaurants in their skyscraper spire of a hotel were for World Rankers only. Which meant they were a lot less crowded than the food courts and barbecues and food stalls and public restaurants scattered across the campus.

This restaurant was a fancy one. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows showed the rolling green hills of the bay; a wall of fog crept over the Golden Gate. The tables were covered in a creamy tablecloth, with so many little forks and knives Zane wondered if it was meant for a family of mice. They mostly served fruits and cheeses. In colors that never came on earth—pink cheese that melted in your mouth and blue grapes that tasted fresh as glacier water, but sweeter.

Avery greeted him with a wave. "Heyyo!"

Evan, meanwhile, gave him a big hug.

"You did it!" He beamed. He was all excited. "You saved northern and southern California once and for all!"

They all sat down and started eating. Evan clearly didn't know how to use the forks and knives, judging by how clumsily he handled them. But he did his best. Avery frowned at all the utensils, then used her longest, thinnest knife like a skewer and started going at the cheeses like she was spearfishing. Zane tried what Evan was doing for all of five seconds, gave up, grabbed a handful of cheese in one hand, and a handful of grape in the other, and just started stuffing them in his mouth.

Evan wanted to know every little thing about how the fight went down, so Zane told him; Evan gasped and ooh'd the whole time. Avery, meanwhile, fell off her chair laughing when he said how he ended up hitting Mike. He frowned at her. "What?"

"Sorry," gasped Avery. "It's just…you better never ever change, ya big lunk."

Eventually, they wound back to what Avery and Evan had been up to.

"I've been teaching him new stuff," said Avery. She grinned. "Here—watch this!"

She turned to Evan, who was still nibbling on a cheese wheel. "What do you do if someone gives you a piece of candy and tries to lure you into their van?"

Evan swallowed a bit of cheese. "I don't go in the van!" He said proudly.

"Correct! Why?"

"'Cause just because they're nice to me doesn't mean they're good people!”

"Exactly."

As a reward Avery gave him a piece of candy, which Evan accepted quite happily.

"I'm learning," Evan informed Zane.

"…What?"

"He got scammed out of a bunch of essence stones yesterday," said Avery cheerfully. "So I beat up the shopkeeper and got them back for him. Now I'm making him scam-proof and bribe-proof!"

Evan nodded, all excited. Then he blinked at Avery. "Wait…you said you asked for them back nicely."

“…Huh. I did say that, didn't I?" said Avery.

"Yup."

"Well, uh. Drat. It seems you've caught me in a lie. Anyway, back to the point at hand—Evan's bribe-proof now!"

Evan blinked. He seemed to be a little confused trying to figure out just what part of all that to focus on. He ended up latching onto the positive bit—he beamed. "I'm bribe-proof now!"

"Huh," said Zane.

Evan sat there basking happily for about three seconds. Then he blinked. "Um. Avery? I have a question."

"Shoot."

"How can you tell if they're really trying to trick you? What if they're just being nice?"

"That's a great question, young grasshopper," said Avery, nodding wisely. “You have to look at the person. Some people are just not nice people. So when they act nice, it's weird."

"Oh!" He chewed on that thought for a bit. And also on the cheese. Then—"…But how can you tell if they're nice people or not?"

Avery frowned. "Don't you ever look at someone and just get—y'know—bad vibes from them? A bad feeling?"

"…No?" said Evan, looking baffled.

"Hmm." Avery inspected him closely. "Hmmmm. Say. What do you think of Elias?"

"He seems like a really nice guy!" Evan beamed. Then he wilted a little at the look on Avery's face—"…I got it wrong again, didn't I?"

"Oh boy," sighed Avery. She put her hands on her hips. "We've got a lot of work to do."

"I think I'm just really gullible," Evan told Zane. He seemed rather sad about it.

"Not to worry, grasshopper!" said Avery. She gave him an encouraging pat. "By the time I'm through with you, you'll be a regular sleuth. It's like in those manga you like to read, right? So what if you're a bit of a silly goose right now? That just means you need your character arc."

Evan gasped. Then his eyes started shining. All his sadness washed away; suddenly he was all excited again. "I'm getting a character arc!"

"That's right! And fear not! I'll be your wise old mentor. This will be awesome." 

At this point Zane had long since lost the thread of what was going on.

***

After breakfast the two of them went off to the Light Law area again. Evan had just gotten his last Major Law, apparently. He was close to breaking through.

Zane, meanwhile, had planned to spend the rest of his morning recovering at that sauna Elias was talking about. Or sparring Eze if he saw the guy. Whichever came first.

He was just on his way to the Warrior Dojo when an explosion caught his eye.

An explosion rippling with the same Laws he'd seen on the Feather of Astoria. Laws of Elemental Fire. He stilled.

It came from a branching path; he went down it, and found a massive crowd—several hundreds strong—clamoring around what looked to be an arena-sized boxing ring. Pale blue wards bound it tight. When he inspected it a notification popped up.

Training Treasure: King of the Ring (A)

A winners-stays-on sparring challenge! The first fighter to reach Critical Health loses and is kicked out. The Ring absorbs all damage past critical, ensuring fighters can go all-out without risking their lives or their opponents'.

Current champion: Cain Hastings, World Rank #8

Inside, a battle was going down. Or rather, winding up.

A spear thrust out—and Fire Law torched the scene. It fell in a dazzling inferno, sweeping waves of flame cascading one after another after another—one after another as Cain stabbed out, an endless, building eruption.

There was a cry, then a flash of bright-blue essence.

Challenger: Nicoli Moore, World Rank #85, has been defeated!

"Good fight, lad! Well done!” laughed the spear-wielder. He was a chunky squat guy with a curling mustache. He looked vaguely familiar—had they met?

The challenger gave a little pained nod and ducked out of the ring. The crowd poured on raucous applause. Cain soaked in it, smiling, bowing.

"Thank you!” he said. He had a pleasant, booming voice. "Thank you, everyone! It's my pleasure. I must say. Just a day ago, I had a rather shocking and unpleasant experience that almost sent me packing my bags and sailing back to England. Well—I'm glad I stayed! I've shown a higher class today, my friends, than I thought I was capable of!"

The crowd seemed to agree. They started chanting—"Has-tings! Has-tings!"

"The Lion of Manchester!"

"The uncrowned king!"

Cain was loving it; he took a little victory lap.

"Who's next!" He roared. He even beat his chest. "Who's next? It'll take a brave man, I'll say! Why, in the form I'm in now—I daresay I could beat any man in the world!"

Zane was just about to volunteer. He was grinning just watching; those were fighting words.

It turned out someone felt exactly the same way. Because those words had hardly left Cain's mouth when a stark feeling shot up on the other side of the crowd—a feeling so strong it cut through the swathe of feeling-noise, shone singular and bright over it all.

It was a feeling of burning pride, a feeling of intense competitiveness.

"Is that so?" said a deep, measured voice.

An aura flared. A vast, unfathomably heavy aura; standing in its presence felt like staring down a ravine with no bottom. It towered over even Cain's.

And it silenced the crowd in an instant.

A man strode in from the edge of the crowd. A man built thick and dense; his muscles were starkly defined, his features strong and regal. He looked like a Terminator.

Emeka Eze

Essence Level 114

Signature Title: Touch of Death

The crowd parted, choking and gasping and shoving over themselves, like peasants before a king. He didn't acknowledge them. He only had eyes for the man in the ring. A man who'd suddenly gone quite pale.

Emeka leapt—and landed right in the center of the ring.

Then he leveled his eyes at Cain. And spoke.

"I'm next."

//

A/N: 

ngl thought i wasn't going to make it when i started falling asleep at the laptop 3 hours ago 

however I pulled through 😤