Chapter 185 - 186: The Sky Dome — Part 2

Chapter 185: Chapter 186: The Sky Dome — Part 2

Daniel looked at the man for a long moment.

Then he laughed.

It was a warm, easy, delighted laugh, and it startled the bodyguards. He leaned an elbow on the rail, turned to the nearest floating sphere, the one with the red lens, and gave it a friendly little wave.

"Hello," he said. "Are you the camera?"

"Don’t talk to the drones," said Vance.

"Forty-one million viewers," Daniel told the lens, cheerfully. "That’s a lot of people. Hi, everyone. I’d like to point out three things. One: this man just called a four-foot girl a pet. Her name is Fluffy. She is the bravest person I know. Two: he just offered to buy a woman who doesn’t belong to anybody, because nobody has ever had the right to sell her. And three..."

He pointed up at the counter over Vance’s head.

"... his sponsors can see this."

Vance’s smile slipped. "That is a private feed."

"The little red light is on."

"It is not..."

A soft chime rang. Over the dock, one by one, the holographic banners around Vance’s ship began to flicker.

[NOVA-COLA: SPONSORSHIP SUSPENDED]

[HELIX AUTOWORKS: CONTRACT UNDER REVIEW]

[SKYLINE BANK: WE ARE DEEPLY CONCERNED]

The viewer counter jumped. Fifty-two million. Sixty-one million. Seventy-eight million.

The woman with the tablet closed her eyes.

"Mr. Vance," she whispered, "the board is calling."

"Not now."

"All four of them."

"I said..."

"They have also sent a ringtone," said the woman, faintly. "It is a funeral march."

Vance stood perfectly still. His face had gone the color of paper.

"Thank you for your time, Kaelen," Daniel said warmly. "I really do hope your day improves."

He strolled off along the skybridge with his hands in his pockets, whistling. Behind him, the four spheres hovered in the air, red lenses still glowing, still recording, still very, very live.

---

The Sky Dome was louder than the Colossus Ring had ever been.

Ten thousand people packed the tiers, and above the black sand a vast translucent screen floated against the clouds, showing Daniel’s face four stories high. Hovering vendors drifted between the rows selling noodles and glow sticks. Two commentator drones with painted-on mustaches circled the arena, arguing constantly.

"And here comes the Napper!" cried the first.

"A man who has never lost a fight!" said the second.

"A man who has never fought a woman who walks!"

"He raced her and cheated!"

"The gate did not care!"

The crowd howled with laughter.

Daniel walked out onto the sand, and on the other side of the ring Yun Xi was already waiting. She was barefoot, in her plain grey robe, hands tucked into her sleeves. She handed her paper bag of dumplings to Examiner Qin, who took it with the grave dignity of a man accepting a state secret.

"Hold these," she said.

"I will guard them with my life," said Qin.

"Rules are the same as the duel," said Elder Jian, from the edge of the ring. "Submission or incapacity. No killing. Begin when ready."

Daniel and Yun Xi looked at each other across thirty meters of black sand.

"You are loud," Yun Xi said.

"You said that."

"I am saying it again."

"Is this where you tell me I’m going to lose?"

"No." She tilted her head. "This is where I tell you not to hold back. I have never lost a fight, Daniel Black. I would like to find out what it feels like."

"That is the most dangerous sentence I’ve ever heard."

She smiled, tiny and sharp, and began to walk.

---

She did not rush. She never did.

Yun Xi strolled across the sand with her hands in her sleeves, and the grains did not shift beneath her feet. Daniel raised a pistol and fired.

"Sure Shot."

The bullet crossed the ring in a bright flat line and clipped her left shoulder. She stopped. She looked at the little scorch mark on her robe.

"Hm," she said. "That one I did not outrun."

"Guaranteed hit."

"I noticed."

She started walking again. Daniel Blinked. He appeared ten meters to her left, with a pistol raised, and she was standing in front of him with one finger extended, tapping him lightly on the chest.

"Ahead," she said.

He Blinked again. She was there. He Blinked behind her. She was already turning to meet him. Every time, the same patient face, the same small tap. Ahead. Ahead. Ahead.

"This is annoying," said Daniel.

"I know."

"How are you doing it?"

"I do not move faster than you." Her voice was soft. "I move earlier. I step into the second that has not happened yet, and I wait for you to arrive."

The big screen above the arena flickered, and a line of text appeared beside her name.

[TALENT: SEALED. RANK: SSS.]

The crowd gasped.

"That’s cheating," said Daniel.

"It is a talent."

"Technicalities are my favorite kind of law."

"I know," said Yun Xi. "You say it often."

A translucent panel blinked into being in front of Daniel’s eyes. He had been ignoring it for a week.

[Stage Three Awakening Available: Shadow Scout]

[Cost: 100 MP. Confirm?]

"I wanted to nap," Daniel muttered. "That’s why I didn’t pick you."

He sighed.

"Confirm."

---

The shadows rose like water.

They came up from under the sand, from behind the pillars, from the long bent shadow Daniel cast across the arena floor. They darkened. They took shape. A figure stood up out of the dark, then another, then ten, then fifty, and every one of them was Daniel Black.

[Class: Shadow Scout. Stage Three Awakening: LEGION OF SHADOWS.]

[Summon up to 300 shadow clones. Each clone has 25% of your stats, shares your skills, and can swap places with you at no cost. Duration: 60 seconds. Cost: 100 MP.]

Three hundred Daniels stood on the black sand.

The Sky Dome fell completely silent.

==========

[ "Listen, I’m not saying you have to give me a Power Stone... but my pet goldfish, Mr. Bubbles, is currently holding my laptop hostage. He says he’ll release the next Chapter only if he sees a Golden Ticket. Don’t let Mr. Bubbles win. He’s a tyrant. ????"]