Gleam Karma Cultivator Isekai

Todd and Chance bowed to each other. Gold mist leapt to Chance’s fingers as he straightened to find Todd already charging at him. He thrust his hand forward, sending wisps of the Essence out and swinging his urumi to keep the other boy back.

The other Shikari raised a hand. It glittered with faint energy and the sword whip rang off it with a clang as if it had hit metal. Then he was upon Chance. A wisp of gold Essence brushed across Todd an instant before he drove his fist into Chance’s stomach.

The blow sent him tumbling back, and Chance only barely managed to stop himself before he slipped past the arena boundaries. He staggered to his feet, gasping for the breath that had been knocked from his lungs.

Todd charged him once more. Chance steeled himself, doing his best to ignore the pain, and flicked his wrist. The urumi lashed out, but the blades glanced off his raised arms and shot harmlessly to the side.

Chance darted to the side. He was just a little faster than the other boy, which let him buy enough time to draw the urumi back to its resting position with a snap of his wrist. It hissed past Todd on the way back, scraping across his back.

Judging by the noise it made, Chance didn’t suspect for a second that he’d actually managed to cut Todd. Something about his body was just too difficult to carve through. Johnathan’s admonishments echoed through Chance’s head.

My attacks aren’t strong enough because they don’t have any Essence behind them. Maybe that’s what Todd is doing – reinforcing his body with Essence.

Chance’s heart hammered in his chest, the heat coiled around his heart pulsing with every beat. He called on his Essence, trying to imagine it flowing into his urumi and inundating the metal links.

Todd charged at him again. This time, the boy kept his hands out, trying to take up as much space as possible and corner Chance against the edge of the circle. He probably could have slipped past the larger boy, but instead, Chance stood his ground.

Golden light slithered down his hand and the handle of the urumi grew warm as it entered the blade. Chance reared back and went to flick his wrist to send what he hoped to be an empowered attack out.

Instead, his wrist struck something hard and he helped in pain, dropping the urumi in surprise as he found himself nose to nose with Drake. Pain shot down his forearm and he dropped the urumi. Todd skidded to a stop.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Drake growled.

Chance cradled his injured wrist. “What do you mean?”

“You were pouring Essence into your blade,” Drake said, nudging the fallen urumi with his foot.

“And?”

Drake gave him a flat stare. “It was completely unstable. It could have done any manner of things. This is a tournament to see which of you is the better fighter, not which of you can blow yourself and the other one up. Techniques must be done with a pattern and intent.”

“You’re off your rocker,” Todd said, his eyes wide. “You were going to attack with a weapon just pumped full of Essence?”

“It seemed like a decent idea,” Chance said through gritted teeth, rubbing his wrist.

“It wasn’t,” Drake said. “This match is over, as I had to interfere. Chance is disqualified for reckless endangerment of himself and his opponent.”

He tossed Chance a small green healing pill. He caught it with his good hand, fumbling for a moment before throwing it into his mouth and suppressing his anger. The pain pulsing through his wrist faded as a bone reset itself.

Todd shook his head. “You’re insane, man.”

“More like clueless,” Chance grumbled, picking his urumi up as he walked off the arena. “How was I supposed to know that was a technique? The other proctor just said my attacks need to have Essence behind them.”

“That doesn’t mean use techniques.” Todd laughed. “That sounds more like he meant your attacks didn’t fit the Essence you were cultivating. Like air attacks would logically be fast or have some aspect of air, you know?”

Chance scrunched his nose in annoyance. “Ah. Well, crap. I wish he’d just said that. Oh well. Honestly, I did better than I thought I would. Sorry for almost blowing us up.”

“Live and learn,” Todd said with a chuckle. “Bummer we didn’t get to fight much, your abilities looked pretty interesting. Looking forward to seeing you at the real tournament whenever it comes around.”

“Likewise,” Chance said, heading back to his team.

Bella gave him a sympathetic smile and Yeo crossed his arms, glaring at Drake.

“What a prick of a proctor,” Yeo complained. “You probably wouldn’t have done anything too bad, and it’s not like they don’t have a bunch of healing pills. He shouldn’t have interrupted your match.”

Chance shook his head. “No, I’d much rather he did if that was as dangerous as he implied. I don’t want to seriously hurt someone. It’s better for me to just get disqualified than possibly kill someone.”

Yeo harrumphed. “Whatever. I bet you could have gotten way farther if you hadn’t gotten stopped.”

“There’s always the final tournament,” Bella said. “It’s not like this is the end all. Chance is right.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Yeo agreed. The tournament continued around them. Every match grew closer, and the best of the fighters quickly started to filter themselves out of the rabble.

“Bella, Todd,” Drake called. “You’re up.”

“I’d like to withdraw from the rest of the fights,” Bella said. Everyone in the area stared at her in shock.

“Curious. Understood, you’ve been withdrawn, and we’ll just assume you lost this match,” Drake said with a shrug. “Congrats on your second free win, Todd.”

“Doesn’t feel like much of a win,” the large boy grumbled. “Why don’t you wanna fight me?”

“Nothing to do with you,” Bella said while Yeo gawked at her. “I just feel like I’ve gotten what I’ve come here for today. I don’t want to fight any longer.”

Todd grunted. “I see. Well, whatever you want.”

“You didn’t withdraw because I got disqualified, did you?” Chance asked Bella.

She leveled a flat stare at him. “Of course not. I had my own reasons.”

Yeo rubbed his forehead. “Now I’m going to have to win for all of us. Talk about pressure. That’s just cold, Bella.”

“You’ll live.”

Several more fights passed. Yeo won once more, although it took him considerably more effort. It was clear that the remaining students were all almost at the same skill level. It didn’t take long until there were only two undefeated students left – Yeo and Jake.

“Oh boy,” Bella whispered. “This ought to be good.”

Chance wasn’t so sure himself. Everyone sat in front of Drake’s arena as the proctor called the finalists of the tournament up to take their places.

“Good. I was worried you might get crushed before we made it against each other,” Jake said with a cocky grin. “It’s unfortunate we didn’t meet until the finals. Your rank is going to end up inflated because you made it this far.”

“Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you,” Yeo said, resting a hand on his kusarigama.

“Enough prattling,” Drake said. “I want to get lunch. Begin.”

Metal bloomed over Jakes’ body, encasing him in his suit of armor as Yeo summoned his second kusarigama. This time, he didn’t call out the name of the move. Chance found himself wondering if that was a good thing.

Neither of the Shikari bowed to each other. Yeo’s sickles arced through the air for Jake, who batted one to the side with the shaft of his hammer and blocked the other with his arm.

“Not going to work,” Jake laughed, starting toward Yeo. “You can’t hurt me, Yeo. Not with that pathetic bastardiatzation of what Metal cultivators should be.”

Yeo didn’t respond. He yanked the sickles back, causing them to whistle past Jake’s head. He didn’t even bother ducking – his armor just warped behind him, forming a plate. The sickle rang off it with a clang before Yeo yanked it back into his hands with a glower.

Yeo spun the weapons, building momentum, and threw them both out once more. Jake let them pass him, then reached out and grabbed one of the chains as it slithered through the air. His metal-encased hand crunched clean through the chain, and the sickle flew to the side, falling to the ground behind him.

“And your aura control is still pitiful,” Jake observed. “Have you done nothing since you got to Gleam? Or did you just spend all your time posing?”

“This is a fight, not a debate,” Drake said. “Shut up and fight, or at least try to do something while you blabber. I’m more bored than you could possibly believe.”

Jake shrugged. He leaned forward, erupting forward with a burst of motion and swinging his hammer at Yeo. The lithe boy ducked under the attack and thrust a palm into Jake’s stomach. It thunked harmlessly against the armor and Yeo vaulted back before the hammer slammed into the ground in a brutal overhead swing.

Yeo spun his remaining kusarigama, then extended his hand toward the other one. The broken chain links along the ground rattled and snapped back together, reconnecting with his sickle and pulling it back over to him. With a battle cry, Yeo sent them flying out once more.

“I don’t think trying that over and over is going to do very much,” Bella muttered. “Jake’s defenses are way better than Yeo’s offensive abilities. He can’t hurt him.”

“Don’t count him out so easily,” Chance said defensively, although he couldn’t find any real reason to disagree with Bella. Yeo really did seem to be at an enormous disadvantage. He’d never tell his friend, but Jake seemed to have a point. Then again, he wasn’t a Metal cultivator, so Chance preferred to think that Yeo knew something both of them didn’t.

Yeo buzzed around Jake, his sickles clanging off the other boy’s armor as the blurred through the air. Jake just kept a steady pace after Yeo, occasionally accelerating to try and get a strike in.

While it was undeniable that Yeo was far faster and more nimble than his opponent, he was clearly starting to get tired, while Jake had barely exerted himself. Every passing second meant the fight tipped more in Jake’s favor.

Chance’s hands clenched as he desperately hoped for something to shift and give Yeo at least a single blow on the other boy.

“Don’t do anything,” Bella whispered to him. “I know you probably wouldn’t, but I think we both know Yeo would be pissed if he found out you used your magic to help his fight.”

“I wouldn’t do something like that,” Chance muttered, unclenching his hands. “I just really want him to win.”

“With your Essence, you better be careful with just how much you want him to win,” Bella replied.

With a loud crash, Jake brought his hammer down on top of the chains of one of Yeo’s sickles, shattering it once more.

“Hurry it up,” Drake called. “I’m going to call this a draw if one of you doesn’t start getting an advantage.”

“Are you kidding? He’s exhausted,” Jake replied. “I’ve got the clear advantage.”

Yeo bared his teeth, panting. Yeo spun his undamaged kusarigama, then whipped it out in a wide arc. It flew past Jake and he yanked it back, flicking the long chain like a whip. The sickle snapped, rapidly changing course to fly for Jake’s neck.

Once more, it rang off Jake’s armor. Jake grabbed the chain before Yeo could retract it and pulled. Instead of losing his balance, Yeo released his weapon and hopped back, stopping at the edge of the arena. Jake threw it to the ground and brought his hammer down on top of it, shattering the sickle.

“No more weapons, Yeo,” Jake said with a laugh, barreling toward him and raising his hammer.

Yeo didn’t respond. He flicked his fingers up, then bared his teeth in a savage grin. “Metal Dragon Art: Lots of tiny little pieces of shit.”

The scattered links of chain littering the ground leapt from the ground like a swarm of gnats and zipped for Jake’s face. His armor shifted, but it was impossible to block the small horde.

Thin lines of blood carved across Jake’s face and he squeezed his eyes shut, batting at the storm at it nipped at him. He quickly recovered his composure, gritting his teeth and snarling. A large portion of the metal dropped from the sky.

“Still no aura control,” Jake snarled. He wrinkled his nose and coughed, gagging. “Blast. You got some of that shit stuck in my throat.”

Yeo’s face creased in concentration. Several of the metal pieces started to rise again, but they shuddered and fell as Jake redoubled his own control over the metal. Then he charged Yeo once more.

There was nowhere else to run. Jake swung his hammer and Yeo twisted, trying to dodge the large weapon. He was almost successful. Instead of catching him in the chest, it clipped him in the shoulder.

Bone cracked and Yeo tumbled across the ground. He rolled to his feet, his teeth gritted in pain, but he was out of the circle.

Jake lowered his hammer, fury burning in his eyes. His face was still crisscrossed with thin cuts, and blood trickled out of his nose and ears. Yeo met his gaze, extending his hands as the shattered pieces of his Kusarigama slid across the ground and reformed.

“Jake wins,” Drake said, yawning. “Finally. Congratulations on having one of the most melodramatic and boring fights I’ve ever seen. Seriously, for all that talk, couldn’t either of you actually have an interesting ability?”