Though the Female Sects matches weren't as popular as the open-class matches, there was no shortage of advanced skills and incredible matches on display that morning.
So far, only one of the Sects seated in their vicinity had been up, a technical Sect that specialized in wisdom-based cultivation. Their unique method allowed them to imbue knowledge that they gained with lasting energy, allowing for perfect recall and increasing their personal power as they studied.
For a certain mindset, it was an incredible technique, as it only required one to obtain and memorize a continual stream of knowledge to advance. Unfortunately, the end result was not very impressive in terms of combat power. It was clear that they all knew this, and even their Elder was impressed with the four minutes that they held out against a mediocre blade cultivation Sect team.
The whole point of them coming here was to gain more knowledge, and studying combat techniques in isolation only gave them so much data to build off. Fighting and learning from their opponents, then analyzing the results afterward, was highly beneficial to the team members.
The only sad part was that none of the morning teams used skills that Cain's disciples weren't already very familiar with from the Outer Sect competition. The Outer Disciples had been much better than usual, and they had seen everything that the teams this morning could do on display earlier in the week.
Since the Stadium had some vacant seats even halfway through the day, the matches didn't stop for lunch. They just let the spectators come and go, giving them a hand stamp to get back in. Cain's team and the Lotus Blossom Sect had no need of that, as they packed a lunch, and the Shadowed Blade very rarely bothered with food stalls, as they had so many qualified chefs within their sect.
"Oh, we are up next. Don't expect much. Our opponent is one of the weaker teams." The Shadowed Blade Sect Elder informed them.
The opponent wasn't just weaker, they looked positively terrified to hear the announcement that they would be facing the Shadowed Blade Sect, but they steeled themselves for battle, unwilling to forfeit without even trying to fight back.
The Sect name might be scary, but they hadn't seen the team in action yet, even if it was the all-ladies secondary team that the Shadowed Blade had prepared for this arena while their Championship Team, as the Elder called them, fought in the main matches.
They were an assassination Sect, though, even if they claimed to have reformed a long time ago and offered a variety of bodyguard services and staff training as well as off-the-books missions. They didn't rely on brute physical strength, so there was no guarantee that this team was any weaker than the other, and it seemed that everyone present knew it.
The disciples all perked up, hoping that they would get some inspiration from this match. Even if the opponent was weak, they might still learn something.
That wasn't an option today, though. All five of the Shadowed Blade team members started the fight with [Shadow Step] to rapidly approach their targets and knocked four out of five out with a single strike.
The team leader managed to block the attack of the Shadowed Blade team leader, and a short back-and-forth unarmed fight followed before the Shadowed Blade leader signaled to her teammates, who knocked the last opponent out with a strike to the back of the head.
"Pop Quiz Time. Inner Sect Edition." Cain announced.
"If you were to fight that final battle, what would be your strategy to deal with the Shadowed Blade team?" Cain asked his disciples.
"I Cast Fireball." Sabbat Announced.
"But they're so close. Are you sure that's a good idea?" The Shadowed Blade Elder asked.
"I didn't ask how close they were. I cast Fireball. I am immune to my own flames, so I can cast it on my own location and fill the entire arena in immolating flames." Sabbat explained.
"Not a bad option. Setting your opponents on fire will greatly demoralize anyone that you face." The Elder agreed, then looked to the others for their answers, keen to hear alternate ideas of what her team should prepare for should they encounter a team as creative as the Forbidden Treasure Sect Disciples.
"Swirling Dragons, to create a defensive perimeter around myself, then [Rumbling Strike] on the ground to make their footsteps unsteady, followed by [Flame Breath] and engaging in close combat." Tena decided.
"High Risk, but high reward. A fairly standard strategy for fighting while outnumbered, but well suited to an unarmed fighter with your energy dragons skill." The Shadowed Blade Elder replied.
Penny spoke next. "I am thinking [Entangling Vines], followed by [Enduring Will], [Regrowth], and [Noxious Spores]."
The Elder looked confused, so she continued. "I am a Lycan, but my cultivation style is that of Nature Control, with an emphasis on healing and plant-based spells. So first, grow vines to fill the arena to slow their movement and bind the unlucky, followed by a spell to prevent me from being rendered unconscious, dazed, or befuddled by illusions, and a long-duration healing ability, finishing with an area release corrosive poison magic."
"How long do the first three steps take?" The Shadowed Blade Elder asked.
"Roughly half a second in total? It's a bit long, and I would be relying on the shock of the vines appearing to redirect some of them, but I think it's a solid start. Once the poison is up, I can transform and fight as a giant wolf or just with a Lycan's claws."
The Elder nodded happily at the description. "Well thought out. A bit pressed for time, but if you can dodge the first few attacks while casting, I think it would be devastating."
"I think I would have the hardest time of all of us. I am short on area effects other than [Holy Presence], and I am a melee fighter, so five-on-one is a bad matchup for me. My best bet is to hit who I can with [Smite] and then try to tank the rest of the blows and test my blade against theirs." Jen sighed.
The Elder nodded. "Five-on-one is not an easy fight when you are relatively evenly matched with an opponent using a similar style. There is no guarantee that the other's plans would work, but they do have more flexibility to plan than most do."
Cain thought about her options for a moment, then made a suggestion. "You could wait for them to begin to Shadow Step and activate [Bulwark]. That would absorb the first set of attacks, and it has a chance to paralyze those that strike it. Then [Shield Glare] to blind the ones in front of you, giving a momentary advantage. If you can take it to three on one early, you can leverage the sword and shield style and your [Smite] to try to draw out the battle and eliminate the others."
It wasn't a great option, but the Crusader wasn't a damage-focused class, and taunting them to attack her was pointless when they were going to do that anyhow. It really was better as a team player than solo.
"So, in a fight, she is the frontline? To distract and draw the attention of the enemy, absorbing damage while the others deal with the greatest threats? It is an admirable talent and gives a group battle an advantage that a group of individuals couldn't easily overcome. It was hard to tell in their fights due to the nature of the battles." The Shadowed Blade Elder asked Cain.
"Exactly right. If she had timed [Bulwark] right, she might have survived the last attack by the Holy Guardians as well, leaving two members against the exhausted team. But hindsight is twenty-twenty, and that's just a matter of gaining more battle experience." Cain told her.
The Elder didn't seem to understand the hindsight reference but got enough of the sentiment to follow what Cain was saying.
"You don't make them compete for resources?" She asked Cain, with a dawning realization of how strange his Sect was.
"No, all events are usually group events, so the rewards are spread between everyone who took them on. That encourages them to work together as a team, which is invaluable in a fight against Mythic Beasts and other such opponents.
"It works out very well for us. Since we all need different things, it is easy to spread them out based on who needs what, and then we balance it out with little things if we can't find one big thing for someone." Luna explained.
"And if food were a cultivation resource, Luna would never leave home again." Penny laughed.
"Oh, there is another match starting. These ones look really mad at each other. Does anyone know them?" Tena asked, pointing at the ring where ten cultivators all glared at each other. The teams were well spread out as if they couldn't even stand the members of their own teams, much less the fighters on the other side.
"Oh, this should be good. Their Sect recently split between two possible inheritors, and it seems that the two sides aren't as unified as they pretend. There were a lot of lives lost in the division. The rumor is that the final agreement was to split the sides evenly by power to end the bloodshed, but that led to an even larger fight about the resources since you can't split a Library when there is only one copy of most of the advanced manuals.
They were facing each other in silence, but that wasn't nearly entertaining enough for Luna.
As the referee hesitantly called the start of the fight and the two sides continued to glare at each other, she decided to give them some loud advice.
"Slap the stupid out of them all. The last one standing wins."
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m