The Iron Veil Order took their dear sweet time sending somebody up. Eventually I started tapping my foot impatiently, using my Nebula to amplify that sound, something that took a few tries to get to work correctly. It made me feel a little self-conscious. Which was silly because it was not that anyone could tell. If something like that doesn't work right, you can't hear it.

István for his part hadn't moved a muscle. He took a small bow when they did eventually send up a hulk of a man, someone I would have thought better suited towards matching up to Viktor. I wasn't sure what they were thinking, other than more mass meant he could tank any blows better. Maybe he was just the one with the biggest brass ones.

Not that it's gonna matter, I snickered to myself. Celistar looked at me with an amuse grin and Viktor just looked jealous that István had stole his thunder.

"Don't worry about it," I said, resting my hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure there are more than enough victims to go around."

Celistar stared at me before bursting into a fit of giggles in her usual musical tone, while Viktor gained a rather vicious looking grin. Across the way, I saw the man who'd been speaking earlier staring at me, not even trying to hide his surprise.

It was only once I saw this that I realized what I'd actually said. Also, that the guy with the other side could apparently hear really well. Hmm, I'd have to keep that in mind. Not sure if he was using something he had to keep active like the magnifier that Brother Cháo was using earlier, or if it was closer to an attribute of his cultivation type.

While I was idly pondering how loud Liam would have to fart before he heard it, both of the competitors had gained their positions. The big guy sank into a fighting stance where he had his hands out in front of him like claws, almost, while István merely stood with his hands resting at his side.

With a kick, the opponent left his position, moving very fast indeed. Somehow he was slower than Qīwù, which was surprising considering they should have a large gulf in power. Wasn't sure what made the difference, if I was honest. Yet more questions for Celistar, but not right now.

He closed on István, who still hadn't really moved. I was inwardly a little nervous about my maneuver, but I'd fought with my two "Elders" and was confident they'd at the very least be able to put up a fight.

At the last moment, I saw István just kinda rotate around the incoming blow, it was really odd looking, like he slid in a semi-circle arc while not moving a muscle, but was suddenly was to the side and facing his passing opponent. The motion reminded me of a door opening on a hinge, but that wasn't the kind of thing a human should do.

The other Elder's eyes widened, but he was too late to react as István hit him in the back with a knife hand, the whole thing so quick it gave me the vibe of a snake biting.

At first I thought that it was just kind of a love tap, but then I heard a shriek instead of the dull thump I had thought the blow would make. The sound arrived a bit later than I expected, but I noticed that the dust kicked up by the man's footsteps also seemed to be moving a little slower. Weird.

At the same time I thought that, the feeling vanished. The man on the stage took a tumble that he quickly recovered from, but as he stood, I realized there was a sizable gash on his robes that went all the way to the skin and then some, a bleeding tear across his back.

István himself had his hand back at his waist, looking at his opponent calmly, as though nothing at all had happened.

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It appeared this infuriated the other man, so he immediately jumped back towards István, determined to prevent his prior dodge with a set of massive strikes that were as wide as they were unpredictable.

These barreled towards an extremely calm István, who at the very last moment just slid out of reach. Every. Single. Time.

By the third motion I was watching his feet. I could see the Nebula move there, but couldn't figure out what he was doing. I could see streaks of it on the floor after he moved, slowly wisping aloft, but clinging to the stone in some weird way as well that gave it hang time. I was definitely finding out what he did later.

Man, all these questions were starting to make me itchy.

Eventually the man had him backed into a corner and stared down at him, looking triumphant. "What are you going to do now, 'Elder Scholar'," he said, putting some fairly heavy sarcasm on István's popular title. It kind of pissed me off, but it wasn't my business to put him in his place.

What happened next was so quick that I couldn't really register it, but the net outcome was the man being blasted out like a rocket across the arena, folded in half, trailing thick streamers of a cloudy substance that dissipated quickly. Moments later an odd high-pitched popping sound rang out, like a bottle of Grandpa's home-brew that suddenly had the cork rocket off when it wasn't done quite right.

He called those 'bottle rockets', which seemed fitting.

Anyway.

The guy cleared the far edge of the arena and hit the ground in a pile, before slamming into the wall, where he wasn't moving. István bowed to him like he was still conscious to see it, and then walked away, having never uttered a word.

The guys on the other side were dead silent, before springing into motion. They ran down and had several people holding their hands over the man before even moving him, in what I assumed were some sort of healing arts. None of us had gotten injured when I'd been there to witness, so this was new to me and I was staring intently.

I watched the Nebula move down the arm of the practitioner before it spread out into the skin of the receiver in a bunch of concentric patterns, almost like stacks of dishes. Each 'plate' was fainter than the one before, but I could see parts of the energy sticking on certain things, what I assumed must have been injuries or maybe bones. I didn't have a ton of resolution at this distance so I was limited in the information I could gather. If I only had that magnifying seal right now.

Viktor had fairly leapt from his seat, barreling towards the arena, and completely skipping the stairs up towards the platform in favor of a single large leap up there.

He then stood with his hands clenched into fists as they cleaned up what was left of the guy who'd had the misfortune of going against István. His eyes stared intently at the wreckage, as if he could glean some enlightenment from the marks.

It took them some time to move aside their first opponent, and a much more wiry man took his place. Viktor looked him up and down, before scowling. He looked about as pissed as I'd seen him. Apparently this man did not meet his standards.

"Send more." He said, very quietly, almost a growl under his breath. "This won't do."

Yuuuup, that checks out.

"Excuse me?" said the leader of the other side. I still had no idea what his actual position was. Let's just call him 'Elder Junior', or something.

So yeah, Elder Junior called out to Viktor. In response, the man rammed his fists together and they made this 'whump' noise that while not sounding that loud, I felt with my entire chest, like he'd somehow hit the air itself.

"I said, 'send more'." he repeated, looking at the man like he was an idiot. Which, fair. You can't knock down a mountain with only one shovel, after all.

Not that three was going to make much difference.

Elder Junior worked his mouth a few times, before he gave up and borderline yelled at two other men to get up there. They both took looks at Viktor, then back at their injured comrade, before painting what I could only describe as 'resigned' looks on their faces and ascending the platform.

They got together and all three settled into corresponding fight stances, something that looked well-rehearsed.

Then they kicked off. Their movement wound across the platform in different directions, seeking to confuse Viktor's senses. And they were fast.

I saw it in my vision before anyone else could. An actual wave of Nebula rose up in Viktor, something I'd never seen before. Usually there would be just a flutter of Nebula produced exactly at the point of impact, just when needed. It shot down his arm, towards his hand.

Then that huge barrel of a fist went into motion.

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