CHAPTER TEN: CHALLENGE FIGHTS

[Winter.]

As we’re sitting upon the arena and watching the other fights happen, I stare back at the other people Yuqi had introduced me as part of their group: Chaewon Kim, a second ranker in the water users and Hangyul Lee, another second ranker in the air users—both very good upon their elements, and both very powerful, but still humble—they had also accepted me and Jaemin in our group, and we had already exchanged numbers, promising to visit upon Seulgi unnie’s house when they have the chance.

They’re also set to fight others later, since I heard that some low ranking people like to challenge high rankers to overthrow them from their rank, something that had been encouraged after Seulgi unnie, apparently, had beaten high rankers within just three years and had come up to the top with little to no resistance—but I heard that some other low rankers who could not do so are just shamed and labeled as an embarrassment when they lose.

“You really can’t rush ranking systems like this, since it’s built to become a standard for how strong a person can be—Miss Seulgi had quickly disproved of that, controlling the ranks with her powers however she wishes.” Chaewon says and I smile sheepishly, knowing that is really my sister’s style as I got to know her these past few weeks—flamboyant, always showing off, but her fire is surprisingly tame most of the time.

“But that’s why the Challenge Fights are there, isn’t it? It’s surprisingly fun.” Hangyul says, chuckling as he presently plays with a ball of air dancing upon his palm—and our attention isn’t really on the fighting that is happening but upon this current discourse that we have at the moment.

“You’re just playing with your fights, Hangyul. If you want to play, then why don’t you beat Soyeon unnie first?” Chaewon says, and I laugh at that as Hangyul grumbles, the ball of air upon his hand disappearing so suddenly, glaring at Chaewon who only laughs at that, spraying Hangyul’s face with the water she conjured out of nowhere, and Shuhua stops the two of them from fighting right there.

“Hangyul Lee versus Riko Yamazaki. Please step upo the arena within two minutes or the challenge would immediately be forfeited with punishment.” The announcer said after the arena had been cleaned up after the last fight that we had barely watched, and Hangyul messes with Chaewon’s hair before stepping down upon the arena, Chaewon grumbling while I moved back, wanting to know this man’s power since he is number two, after all.

“The Regional Ranks would be determined after the fights are over, and I’m barely at the edge while Hangyul’s ninth.” Chaewon says, and I stare back upon the arena, wondering about the others’ ranks, especially my sister’s ranks and all that, since I know that my sister is pretty strong as well as Joohyun unnie, and I’m even curious as to what Taeyeon unnie—no, Lady Taeyeon’s rank is.

“Here, I can see it in your face that you’re so curious about those ranks.” Chaewon says, and I nod as she gives me a piece of paper, probably a copy of the ranks she had taken from the testing  grounds earlier, and I widen my eyes as I see the names written upon it.

TOP TEN REGIONAL RANKS: ASTERIA REGION

1. Taeyeon Kim
2. Seulgi Kang
3. Irene Bae
4. Reina Kang
5. Jeon Soyeon
6. Son Chaeyoung
7. Yeji Hwang
8. Hangyul Lee
9. Kim Chaewon
10. Sooyoung Choi

“The top four had never been changed for eight years, or ever since Miss Seulgi climbed up upon the ranks, overtaking Lady Reina of the Kang Family and Miss Irene Bae, although I haven’t really seen that woman before.” Chaewon explained while the fight is slowly getting started, the man named Riko Yamazaki stepping up, and I could see that he has the same cocky smile as the one who had challenged me to a fight.

“That man… he’s with that Suzuki guy, right, Yuqi?” I ask, pocketing the paper while Yuqi nodded and leaned back, sighing as she tied her hair up and leaned back, watching the fight unravel from where we are, ignoring the glare that Suzuki guy is giving me from across the arena.

“Suzuki Yamazaki… even if he’s the cockiest of them all, he still isn’t the highest ranked member of their little family.” Yuqi explains, sighing as she massages her forehead, as if watching the fight between those brothers is making her head hurt, and she had also explained to me earlier that all of them had beaten that Suzuki, but I wonder about the others?

“That Riko Yamazaki is rank six, I think? And then the one that would challenge me later, a girl named Rui Yamazaki, is currently rank ten, so they’re pretty powerful.” Chaewon says, and I hum in reply, wondering what would happen in this little fight as the official steps back, and soon the fight starts.

I widen my eyes as Hangyul’s hair color immediately turns red, and he moves across the arena with a speed that even my eyes can’t comprehend, and I could see the sheer panic upon that man Riko’s eyes, as if he did not expect Hangyul to be fast like this—

Intense air hits even us, the spectators, as Hangyul rushes towards the enemy and hits him with a force that immediately stuns him, having enough force to knock him out from where he’s standing—his body flying from his original position and towards the walls, and Hangyul doesn’t even stop there.

In a flash he already reached Riko’s position before the man could even recover, and I wince as Hangyul unleashes a storm of punches that hit against Riko and his hands raised up, a petty attempt to shield himself from the man’s punches, and in a last attempt of frustration and a burst of energy, Riko puts everything in a punch that was enough to knock back Hangyul from where he was standing—knocking him back a measly few meters.

“You er!” Riko shouts, but suddenly a great pressure knocked him into the wall, not letting him move forward or even move at all as I notice Hangyul with a smile that I had never seen from him ever since I met him earlier; I suddenly notice Chaewon beside me laughing while Yuqi and Sunghoon is snickering, watching the whole scene unfold.

“The damned devil wakes up again.” Chaewon says with a chuckle, and I look back upon the arena to see Hangyul’s hair already turn white, and now I could see the air coming from him, coming with gusts that are as sharp as a knife—all directed upon Riko who put up a wall of air to deflect it, but a lot still hit him—cutting him immediately in different parts, and I could see him immediately wince in pain at that.

The force of that Powerborne State he’s in caused his clothes to be ripped in shreds, and soon a lot of girls upon this arena shouted in cheer upon him, and I see Yuqi and the others laugh while they shout in cheer teasingly, and I see Chaewon sighing while picking up a jacket from a bag that I noticed they had brought since earlier.

(She tells me that they had always brought Hangyul a bag of spare clothes since he almost always destroys his shirt whenever he fights—she gives me a sweater when she notices the cuffs of mine burned off, and I thank her in politeness.)

“Powerborne State: Storm of Knives.” He utters, and soon after a wind storm appears, all directed towards Riko who could barely even stand as he puts up a barrage of air that would serve as a wall to block off those attacks, but I could see one seeping through the cracks, aimed directly upon his heart—

It stops, aimed above the skin where one would hit his heart and put him in danger on the spot, and soon the wind storm around him stops, and he stands there with a heavy breath, looking back at the official who couldn’t even let the spectacle that happened before their eyes sink in, and so another grabbed the mic and shouted the results—

“Hangyul Lee, Winner!”

The whole arena cheered as Hangyul offered to help the very injured Riko to the infirmary but he just swatted the hand away, using his air to support himself while he walked out of the arena, and Hangyul just sighed as he’s back to that serious mode, the smile that is painted upon his lips—a mischievous one, at that—disappearing with his State, and he marches towards us and takes a seat beside Chaewon, grabbing the jacket that she had laid out for him and wore it immediately.

“Nice work, Hangyul.” A woman says, a chuckle escaping her lips as she marches towards Yuqi and does the most unexpected thing she does—putting a kiss upon Yuqi’s lips, and I only stare in shock as she sits next to Yuqi, leaning down upon the seat while staring back at me, a faint smile upon her lips while she nods, acknowledging my presence and shifting her attention to the fights while Hangyul chuckled and hit my shoulder gently with his hand, breaking me from my daze.

“That’s Jeon Soyeon noona, the first rank and Yuqi’s girlfriend. Surprised?” Hangyul asks while I look back at her, and see her smiling upon watching the fights, and I understand why Hangyul doesn’t want to fight her—she is the girlfriend of his friend, after all.

“Chaewon Kim versus Rui Yamazaki.” The announcer says, and Chaewon only sighs as she steps down upon the arena, and I stare at her enemy coming from the other side—looking so angry, probably because one member of her family had been beaten, and I know that she would be very driven to win this, especially with how she’s throwing dirty looks upon Suzuki who is looking so intent upon beating me.

“You don’t have to worry.” Sunghoon says, a smile upon his face as they leaned back, and I feel it—like Jaemin’s force resembling that of mountains, Hangyul’s stormy winds, like Seulgi unnie’s fire that was tame but would rage if needed—there she had it.

An ocean, raging to be freed, raging to flow against the enemy, with waves that could topple the mightiest of ships that would dare sail upon it.

Chaewon stood before the enemy, Rui having a smile upon her lips as the two of them waited upon the signal of the official to start, and as the official stands back, I widen my eyes as two strong waves crash upon each other so instantly—no hint of hesitation present.

“Powerborne State; Oceans of Peace.” Chaewon utters, and waves crash upon the arena, suddenly filling up with water, but Rui had deflected the waves just fine, seemingly settling in upon this arena now filled with water up upon their ankles—but seemingly, the State was calmer than I thought, and it was deadly calm, like a predator waiting for its prey to fall unto the trap.

“Hmm… I’d want to play with you, but something tells me that I should end this instantly.” Rui said, a laugh escaping her lips, but it soon changes into a frown as Chaewon is not even an inch fazed upon the woman’s provocation,, still standing with that ready stance and her foot steady upon the ground, and I notice that almost no vibrations come from her, but all from Rui who is shifting her positions as soon as she stands, like not wanting Chaewon to catch her being idle.

“Powerborne State; Water of Life.” Rui utters, but she widens her eyes as the intense flood that comes from her State soon disappears into none, all lulling down upon that same ankle deep water, as if every effort that she would make to activate her Powerborne State would only be cancelled by Chaewon’s State—and Rui’s only chance to defeat her would be facing her head on.

“That technique’s really pesky, since it would work on all elements: ice would be melted, fire would be staunched, earth would be muddied, air would be cancelled, and of course, water would only be absorbed—which is the reason why she is almost unbeatable.” Yuqi says, and they soon tell me that when Yuqi was still a newcomer in the Asteria Region, she had made the mistake of challenging Chaewon to a fight—ended up getting her handed to her, as Sunghoon’s words were.

“Almost?” I repeat the word, and Hangyul chuckles as he leans backward, pointing to himself.

“Hangyul had always been unbeatable in physical fighting without powers, and that is the reason why Hangyul is still ranked higher than her in the Regional Ranks, because he had beaten her into a physical fight when she had cancelled his powers using that State.” Shuhua explained, and I sigh at that as I let my attention go back to the fight at hand, and I widen my eyes as Rui is still standing meters away, but I notice that she’s struggling—

Chaewon’s binding her feet with the ankle high water that’s between the two of them, and Rui struggled to move away, and even Chaewon’s footsteps does not cause even just a ripple or two upon the water that seemed so peaceful, as its name is—but Rui is still paralyzed, unable to move, Chaewon sighing as she moved closer to the woman until she’s directly in front of her.

“You’re only tenth, and now I think that you see why the rankings had been unchangeable for a long time.” Chaewon says, and Rui only grits her teeth, still struggling to move against the deathly grip that the water has against her feet—I notice the water rising up, enveloping her into this cocoon looking thing while the water around the arena slowly dissipated into none, and soon, with just her hand moving upwards, the cocoon rises up, along with Rui upon it, rising higher and higher until it slowly drops.

Like rain, blessing an empty field, it drops—only that Rui is dropped down from an almost deathly drop and the water that break from the cocoon crashes upon the walls of the arena, and Rui lays down upon the ground—seemingly unmoving at first, but then she coughs out water from the cocoon that she was enclosed in, and she could no longer move.

“Chaewon Kim, Winner!”

Cheering was the only thing that’s heard upon the arena as it was deafening—turns out Chaewon is a bit popular as she had also ranked first before, and some people had always admired her for forming her own technique without the sponsorship of other families, and that she had been living alone for quite a while—she had been such an icon to others that everyone had cheered upon her as she let her enemy fall down upon the ground defenseless.

“Well, you may rank higher than her, but she still has more fans than you.” Yuqi said with a laugh, and Hangyul only chuckled at that, folding his arms together while Chaewon chuckled and waved upon the people playfully, then sitting down next to me while she waved her hand over the cuff upon her pants down her ankle, and it dries fast, and soon there’s no trace that her pants were drenched at all.

“Suzuki Yamazaki versus Minjeong Kang.”

My name reverbrates against the speakers, and it takes Hangyul and Yuqi pushing me to stand up and proceed towards the arena, taking the same path that Hangyul and Chaewon had taken earlier while proceeding down the steps of the spectators’ seats until I arrived at the center of the arena and Suzuki is at the opposite of me, standing confidently.

Show off your power, Seulgi unnie had told me earlier while we had woken up early to train before this exam and this event, and she had spent three weeks with me developing a new technique that was only for me, a new State that only I had owned and a State that not even the Kang Family have—a technique that I own.

I made and refined the technique upon the time that I had been given, the three weeks that Seulgi unnie had left for me to refine that technique, and I know that it isn’t comparable to the techniques that she owns aside from the techniques that she had inherited from the Kang Family, but I can feel it and its famiiliarity upon my veins as I take off the two limiters that I have—

I stare at Seulgi unnie who is now watching at the sidelines, and she smiles at me as she makes the sign that is meant for me to take all of them off, and even if there is still a hint of hesitation upon me, I rip them all off and put them all in my pocket, going to put them all later after this fight and as I look up, I see Suzuki’s cocky smile disappear.

As I slowly let myself lose control the fire raging from within me burns through the sweater that I had brought here, revealing a shirt and jeans that Seulgi unnie had bought for me and modified to be fireproof, and Suzuki backs away, his cocky expression slowly turning into fear while he backs away, and I take the chance to walk towards him.

“You… why did you hide that power?!” he says, panic upon his tone while he sets the floor on fire, aiming to slow my steps while he moves backward, making me chase him all across the arena, but the fire that he had laid out does not even bother me one bit, walking nonstop towards him.

“I hid it because… how can I put people like you in your place if I show it in the beginning?” I utter, and stop walking while he stares at me, bewildered upon what I had said, and how could I even stop my fire from spreading when all it wants is to be let out, and this man had challenged me to a fight where I could do just that?

“Powerborne State: Hell of Damnation.” I utter, and the ground quakes beneath me, liquid fire rushing through the cracks that had proven too much for Suzuki to take as he runs away from the fire that had overtaken the ground, but my State chases him whenever he goes, until his foot is caught under the fire—immediately, chains spring from the ground and coil itself upon both his feet, giving him searing pain while he cried out, but he had easily cut the chains that bound him, running away as fast as he can while he fought off the chains that chased after him with blasts of fire.

“! Face me head on, and not just your goddamned State, damn it!” he shouted at the top of his lungs while he then decided to run forward, against the hell that I had created aiming to bound him down with the fiery chains that had materialized from the ground, and I know that he’s attacking me head on, so I whip out the thing that I had been practicing with Seulgi unnie.

“Powerborne State: Immortal Inferno.”

A sword made of fire materializes upon my hand, and it is already too late for him to back away as it plunges through him from his chest and penetrating to his back—but I had made it so that it isn’t solid, and that it would not kill, but the sword erupts into fire, disappearing as he burns like a man that had been set on fire—the chains upon my other State seize him and burn him as well, leaving marks upon his exposed arms and upon his neck, and he falls upon the ground while the sword materializes upon my hand again.

I point it at him while he backs away, still probably feeling the intense pain of being burned by my intense fire as well as the ghost feeling of being stabbed upon his chest, and the chains that still bound his feet and his arms, leaving marks and burn wounds everywhere—

“Minjeong Kang, Winner!”

The sword disappears as well as the State upon the ground as I sigh, using the time I could get from walking at the end of the arena towards the spectator seats to catch my breath, and before I sit down next to Chaewon and the others, I put on the six limiters, and this time I don’t feel as tired as I did the other practices before.

“Wow… that was…” Sunghoon says while I put on the sweater that Chaewon had given me, and I chuckle embarrassedly while I notice Jeon Soyeon staring at my wrists, at my limiters, and she chuckles as she stares at me again.

“Of course. You’re Miss Seulgi Kang’s sister, aren’t you?” she asks and I nod at that, for Seulgi unnie really hadn’t prohibited me from telling others that I’m her sister, so I told them that I am her sister—and they don’t pry more, and I thank them for that.

“Minjeong Kang, huh?” a voice says, and I widen my eyes as I look at two people approaching me—a man and a woman, sitting next to me upon the spectator seats while the others bow at them, and I find myself bowing down at them to—who could they be?

“I’m Jinyoung Park and Jung Eunji, rank three and four respectively.” the man says and I nod at them, but why are they here?

“What do you say to fighting the two of us later, for the main event of this day’s Challenge Fights? Winner would take my rank, and if you win then you’d become rank three.”
 

[BONUS CONTENT.]

[Start of Transcription.]

POWERBORNE ARCHIVES: A STUDY ON THE POWERBORNE STATE OF EACH ELEMENT

(last revision: fifteen months ago)

Upon a study that our officials had conducted upon every family and every user having these so called States, we had arrived in a conclusion and had disseminated this information that would better understand what are these so called Powerborne States, and how it affects a user’s performance and power level.

First off, a Powerborne State essentially means activating a new level of power and changing the environment to better suit the user’s elements and basically provide the user with an almost endless supply of their power coming from the changed environment and not just from their bodies, where the element is flowing freely and is still limited by a person’s capability to handle an amount of power that they have—a Powerborne State essentially makes a person’s power even higher than before.

These Powerborne States are observed to be possessed by mostly users that had come from a family, as the States are often techniques that are inherited from a family, having distinct techniques that are strictly disseminated upon users belonging in the same family, as this is what often differentiates them from the other families who use the same element.

Some Powerborne States that are inherited by users in families that we were able to have permission to disseminate are the following:

1. Kang Family’s Hell of Damnation (Fire)
2. Lee Family’s Storm of Winds (Air)
3. Lee Family’s Storm of Knives (Air)
4. Choi Family’s Kingdom of Discord (Earth)
5. Kim Family’s Empire of Frost (Ice)

There are also some users who had developed individual States, and had still enabled us to share these information to the public:

1. Chaewon Kim’s Oceans of Peace (Water)
2. Yeji Hwang’s Waves of Destruction (Earth)
3. Jeon Soyeon’s Air of Blood (Air)
4. Irene Bae’s Eternal Winter (Ice)
5. Seulgi Kang’s Eternal Furnace (Fire)

These States could often work together or even displace one another, but two people had successfully developed techniques that could help each other and work together; but we had been prohibited from sharing that information, as it would be used to take care of any threat that could happen in the Asteria Region.

These States could also manifest in changes of appearance such as lighter hair color, lighter eye color and even the manifestation of the element upon the user’s body, but States often take a lot of energy to be maintained upon a certain environment, so users are trained on keeping their stamina and their energy intact, able to regenerate energy effortlessly to take care of their ever depletive States.

[Transcription End.]