Chapter 205
One match after another passed, and thetter parts of the Spirit Building tournament ground away at the remaining participants until only two remained. Hoyt was one of the two. He wasnt quite at peak Spirit Building, but he was only one star away. That one star still made any hope of victory more difficult, but he wasnt going to give up without doing his best. He might not want to <em>be</em> his grandfather, but he didnt want to disappoint him or anyone else either.
His opponent was a formation specialist from Heavy Mountain Gate. She was a sturdy built woman, older by more than a few years but still well within the age requirement, and at the very peak of Spirit Building. The age difference meant more experience, and unfortunately cultivation talent wouldnt necessarily make Hoyt ovee any difference in practical training.
What <em>would</em> help him, though, was advice from someone on how to defeat her specific brand of using formations in battle. Elder Rana would be the one most qualified to give him that sort of advice, but Hoyt wasnt interested in getting advice from someone much stronger than himself. He would understand Catarinas advice better anyway.
You have to win, she said. Because Eira beat the person who defeated me, if you defeat <em>her</em> with my advice, it shows Im better at formations.
Hoyt wasnt sure if he followed the logic there, but he understood that Catarinas confidencey in her skill in formations, and it wasnt undeserved. What do I need to do?
The best thing you could do would be to reverse the formation to restrict her, Catarina said, But thats not something easy to do without knowing exactly how her formation gs will be arranged.
Hoyt nodded. So then?
You could flip one over, she noted. Theyre sturdy and not easy to move, but in the arena they wont be defended with a barrier so its more feasible.
Hoyt nodded. Since formations required precision, most of them devoted part of their energy to ensuring their solidity to some extent. Either that meant arge barrier with the gs on the opposite side from the target, either trapping them inside or keeping them out, or individual barriers on each g. The gs didnt need to be so well defended as to resist any form of attack, just well enough defended that attacking them would leave an opening for the formation specialist to exploit.
You wont have to worry about her carving runes into the surface of the arena, Catarina noted, Because not only is it disallowed in the rules it just wouldnt work. So you only have to deal with gs. She might have other types of formations she hasnt demonstrated, but the biggest one is the pressure formation. You should be able to handle that pretty well Catarina stroked her chin, Shell probably use that one, and if you disrupt it in the right way it can prevent her from setting up anything else. Youll just have to deal with it while also fighting her.
Hoyt didnt feel entirely prepared even after Catarinas exnations, but hed worked with her on formation rted topics before. While hed rather have her there to handle that part, it unfortunately wasnt a group tournament. To be fair, Eira would certainly be stronger in the context of a group battle as well, but just having to deal with fighting and leaving the majority of formation matters to Catarina would make his life so much easier. But since that was the way things were in this particr tournament, he had to get all the advice he could before the match started.
-----
Seeing her up close, Eira was even broader in the shoulder than Hoyt had thought as he watched her previous match. The build of a cultivator didnt always match with their actual level of bodily strength, but Eiras at least indicated that she didnt neglect cultivating her body. The more important thing was therge quiver she had on her back, out of which stuck several spearheads.
Hoyt readied himself, considering whether he should immediately attempt to disrupt her formation to stop it from being formed, or whether to spend that time inbat with her, trying to find an opening as she was distracted setting it up. He knew she wouldnt be exactly <em>vulnerable</em> during that time or she wouldnt have made it to the finals, but at the very least her hands would be upied for a few moments at a time with something besides just engaging in melee with him. Catarina hadid out the pros and cons of each option, but ultimately the choice rested on him.
When the start of the match was called, he chose to move forward for a direct confrontation. He did prefer straightforwardbat tactics, but in this case it was actually somewhat of a deception. If he didnt show any intent to deal with the formation, Eira would be surprised when he actually did it.
Though Hoyt started off with a movement technique, augmenting his legs with fire and rushing forward, Eira still had a few moments where she was undisturbed. That was when she drew the spears from the quiver behind her, one at a time. She didnt throw them at Hoyt, but instead the arena around them.
Formation gs were usually rather small things. Even in a storage bag, it was inconvenient to carry a pile ofrge objects. But a waist height g had certain limitations on its structural durability and even the way it stabilized itself. The spears stabbed into the sand that made up the majority of the surface where they were having their final match, anchoring themselves deep. The gs hanging from them unfurled, revealing something akin torge battle standards. Several of them were in ce before Hoyt reached Eira, but they werent enough to create any actual effects immediately.
Hoyt understood that being stubborn about being too simr to certain people would limit his options inbat, so he didnt just run towards his opponent. In one hand he carried his battle axe, but his other hand remained avable for ranged options. As spearsnded in an emerging formation around him, he quickly tossed two small throwing axes, wreathed in me. Eira deftly avoided them, but at least she had to divert some of her focus for a moment.
The trails of fire left behind by the thrown axes limited Eiras movement, but he had no concerns directly moving through the mes. Earlier in the tournament Alva had caused herself trouble by improperly using the same technique, but when sufficiently practiced and properly executed it wouldnt harm the user or their equipment. It wasnt meant to be used by channeling anger anyway. It could, but Hoyt found that was simply bound to tire the user out and have inconsistent results.
The technique had undergone much development during his use of it, but Hoyt preferred mes powered by passionate ambition. The core of it would always be the same energy of the Ny-Nine Stars, but much of cultivation was about more than just the surface level effects. Fire might seem to be fire, but some burned bright and were fleeting. But the best example was always a star, which burned bright and powerful butsted. An admiration for the stars was one passion Hoyt got from his grandfather, even though he preferred not to be seen as relying on him in any way.
His axe swept across in front of him, driving Eira back as she fought with a spear in one hand while still using the other to throw her gs elsewhere. Wherever he went Hoyt left a trail of mes, allowing him to control the battlefield and his opponents positioning. His movements pushed Eira back towards a point that would be outside the formation as it was currentlyid out.
She did her best to keep Hoyt at bay, jabbing with her spear while steadily retreating. Several more spears went out, nearly finishing the formation. Hoyt pushed forward, winding up an attack as Eira threw one final spear towards a far corner of the formation. His axe chopped down vertically, but she dodged away to the rear,pletely avoiding the powerful attack. But she wasnt his target anyway.
Instead, his axe chopped down into the sand. Though the topyer was light and fluffy, it became denser the deeper it went- and at the depth the spear-banners pierced to it was quite tough. Sand sprayed out in all directions, digging a half trench next to one formation g and shattering the barrier protecting it.
Pressure began to weigh down on Hoyt even as he reached to grab the spear, yanking it upwards as the barrier struggled to reform. The small bit of pressure that the formation could create in a moment was nothingpared to what he had experienced before, and Eira had pulled away from his attack. That gave him enough time to flip the spear over, driving the cloth-wrapped portion of it headfirst into the ground. As he did so, he surrounded the spear with mes.
He had no intention to try to destroy the spear. It was enchanted to be durable, and it would be a waste of energy. In fact, it suited his purposes even better if it remained. Catarina had told him which specific gs would cause what effects if he inverted them, but the main thing Hoyt got out of it was that all would be beneficial to himself or detrimental to his opponent, which was the same thing.
The mes werent there to damage the g. They were there to melt the sand around it, turning it into ss. It only took a moment, and then Hoyt pulled the heat out of the area to use for his next attack, solidifying the ss and augmenting the mes surrounding him briefly.
Hoyts axe deflected Eiras spear as it stabbed towards him, lingering mes sticking to the other weapon. A momentter they flickered out, and as many of the rest of his lingering mes also began to fade Hoyt realized hed gotten the most annoying possible result. A general disruption of energy in the area. It would make it nearly impossible for Eira to set up another formation, but some of his techniques would also be less useful.
Even so, it only minorly disrupted the energy directly in contact with Hoyt himself. He was like a ball of fire moving across the battlefield, leaving puddles of melting sand around him as he moved. He was careful to not directly melt the sand under his feet, since he wanted to have a vaguely stable position, but he took little care for the rest of everything around him.
Though Eira was a formation specialist, her spear techniques werentcking. They were quick and powerful, and would have been quite a pain to deal with if Hoyt was under restriction. As it was he still found that her slightly higher cultivation allowed her to output just a bit more energy than he did. But him unexpectedly disrupting her formation threw her off bnce, and even when she dodge Hoyts attacks there were slight effects.
He couldnt hope for a good cut or even a bit of singed skin with every swing of his axe, but Hoyt continued to pressure Eira. She was sweating, from exertion and the extra helping of heat Hoyt was directing towards her with every attack. Though the fire was originating from around him, he was actually able to remain mostly rtively cool.
Hoyt stopped thinking about the battle, though that didnt mean he lost focus. His body knew what to do. He just had to guide his energy to do what it should. He fully intended to win, even as his shoulder and side were pierced by a spear consecutively. He got his own wounds on Eira as well.
Though sometimes he had been loathe to admit it, his flow of energy was much like his grandfather. He was the best example Hoyt would ever have, the pinnacle of power in the Order of Ny-Nine Stars. One day Hoyt intended to reach that level of power, or maybe even go beyond it but for the moment he could look to him as an example of what he could be. Maybe he would even stop being stubborn and take advantage of his presence while he was still around.
His axe swung down, cleaving a section of sand in two as Eira held up her hands in surrender. The fire around him faded. Perhaps he had done enough. Winning a Spirit Building tournament should show he had his individual aplishments. Even if he didnt choose to learn anything from his grandfather, he should at least spend time with him in hisst days.