Chapter 38: Prelims Day 1 (Part 4)

[Shit!] - Karen

[Behold my visage that marks the storm! Ice Lance!] - Mage

[Slow down a little why don't you?!?] - Karen

Dodging another blade-shaped icicle in the increasingly full arena Karen lamented the fact that she had been unable to end the fight instantly after the round started. Apparently the mage had been prepared for her tactic of speed-running fights and had set up an enchanted item that instantly locked on to any source of water within a meter of the mage as the smug bastard had excitedly explained. The damn thing had nearly shocked her when she'd triggered it but luckily she'd noticed the thing sparking in the small delay before it fired. That by itself wouldn't have been too big a deal but then the damn mage had proceeded to rapid-fire the wrong end of the Kinetic Magic spectrum. Those ice lances were damn cold too and she had no interest in becoming a popsicle.  The only question was why the mage was able to launch ice, aka frozen water, around the enchantment that he'd so proudly explained to me.

Dodging to the side once again as an enormous spear of ice lodged into the arena behind her she thought about how to approach this problem. The man had effectively nullified the weakness of mages afterall so why wasn't everyone using the same tactic?

<Must be some kind of weakness.> - Karen

[Forfeit this fight! You don't have any losses afterall so you have nothing to gain by getting yourself hurt here!] - Mage

Muttering to herself Karen made sure to keep an eye on the situation to see if any changes occurred, if all else failed she could just tank the electrical enchantment and finish the fight but something told her that wasn't a good idea. The thought of what electricity would do in a body made primarily of water was a bit terrifying and she didn't want to risk it. Hell she could probably outlast him if it came down to it as well but that seemed like cheating to the competitive slimegirl. Now if only she could figure out why everyone didn't use this...

[Huh... It can't be that simple can it?] - Karen

[S-Stop muttering to yourself and forfeit already!] - Mage

Focusing her eyes on the man she noticed something she hadn't seen previously. The man hadn't moved, like at all. Now conserving your strength as a magic caster and not wasting your already poor endurance was certainly a smart move and wouldn't be strange on it's own but besides the man's arms that he used for casting spells his feet were rooted to the exact same spot he'd been in since the fight was started. Not even a small deviation in fact. The abnormalness of staying perfectly still in a battle brought attention to this as normally you'd move at least a little to defend yourself but the man had done nothing of the sort the entire battle, in fact he'd been so still that when the battle first started she'd thought that she was too fast for him to react. Maybe positioning was important for this enchantment to work?

Eye's narrowing in concentration as a plan came to mind she started to circle the man and as expected he only turned his upper body to follow her movements, his hands and mouth constantly moving as more and more spells were launched at her. Ducking behind a particularly large grouping of embedded ice lances Karen sped up suddenly while she was out of sight, using her speed to launch herself into another group of icicles breaking several of them while grabbing the largest one and causing her to let loose a small cry of pain as she felt her body slowly freezing starting from her arm.

[W-What are you doing monster?!? That will just finish you off even more quick... Hii!?!] - Mage

Gritting her nonexistent teeth through the pain she turned and threw the frozen spear as hard as she could, directly at the man's foot causing him to jump back for the first time this fight.

[Oh shit...!] - Mage

[Bye bye!] - Karen

Glancing down at his feet then back at me his face paled as we both noticed his own enchantment start to come to life, with me nowhere near him. Mockingly waving at him as the sparks spread out I barely noticed a blur rushing past me directly into the range of the explosion of electricity just as it went off. Still reeling from the bright light the blur from a second ago became clear as the smoked dissipated. It was one of those Aegis guys! Specifically a man? in a giant suit of shining plate armor, and under one of his arms was the currently unconscious mage. Warily backing away from the intimidating man? Karen kept her eyes on him suspiciously, flinching when he? raised his? other hand in her direction.

[Aegis Company confirms Lightning Flash Karen as the winner of this bout due to knockout.] - Armored Man?

What came out of the suit of armor was the most disjointed voice she had ever heard, so distorted in fact that she couldn't even tell whether they were male or female. The suited human?'s voice so disturbed her that she only barely caught the announcer acknowledging her win as her eyes locked on the intimidating Adventurer's form. Seeming to either not notice or not care about her scrutiny the suit of armor slowly walked past Karen and lay it's charge on a stretcher that several nurses brought out for the mage.

[...that was... an interesting bout young monster. But you should watch your back, you're not making any friends by winning here.] - Armored Man?

Eye's widening at the Adventurer's words that could be interpreted as either a warning or a threat she was about to turn to ask what exactly they meant by that only to see that they were gone, either ran away or invisible she had no clue. Pondering the mystery of the encounter Karen made her way back to the waiting area as the cheers from the audience reached brand new heights.

[That was amazing!] - Veronica

[You were certainly impressive. By the way what's with the tagalong?] - Malaise

[...nice to meet you...] - Shade

[It is this one's honor to meet Mistre... Miss Karen's companions. This one is Kurata.] - Kurata

[This one?] - Malaise

[Mistress?] - Veronica

[Don't ask...] - Karen

After her last fight she'd been informed by some of the event employee's that she would not participate in any further fights for the day and was welcome to either watch the following matches or attend to her own business. She'd chosen the latter. As such she was now having dinner with Austin's 3 roommate's and her new follower who she couldn't get rid of no matter how hard she tried. The five of them were eating at the most extravagant cafeteria she'd ever seen and while this wasn't the first time she'd been here she never got used to just how opulent the whole thing was.

If she was the old Karen she knew that her current situation would have made her tremble from nervous energy the entire time but apparently those kinds of reactions were impossible for her slime body to replicate without consciously doing so. No adrenaline afterall. However the lack of ability to shiver nervously didn't do anything to alleviate the near panic that she'd been repressing all day. The fact was that while she acted cocky and self-assured the enormous crowd that had been entirely focused on her for several consecutive hours had taken it's toll on her non-existent nerves.

[You okay? You look... umm... well you look different.] - Malaise

[Yeah! You're even more see-through than usual what's up?] - Veronica

[O-Oh right... U-Umm how do you guys deal with... <...crowds...>.] - Karen

[How do we deal with what?] - Malaise

<...c-crowds...> - Karen

[Could you speak up we didn't catch that?] - Veronica

[CROWDS DAMMIT! How do you deal with crowds?!?] - Karen

[Huh?] - Malaise and Veronica

[...] - Shade and Kurata

That had done it, they know that I have stage fright! It was at this time that I also realized that Slime Girls can blush apparently, which only made my now purple face turn an even darker shade in embarrassment.

[W-Wait do you have stage fright?] - Malaise

[...yes.] - Karen

[Wait seriously?!? Did you not know how big the crowd would be at this thing?] - Veronica

[Yes dammit! I knew! I just... I just hoped that it had gone away since the last time...] - Karen

[Wait what happened last time?] - Veronica

[I... uhh... I threw up all over the front row?] - Karen

[Slime Girls can vomit?!?] - Malaise and Veronica

[I... guess?] - Karen

[Wow... but stage fright huh? How did you deal with it while fighting then?] - Malaise

[I just... focused on the person in front of me? It wasn't until my high from those battle's wore off that I realized how much stress being in front of so many people was giving me... And now I'm feeling a bit sick to my stomach...] - Karen

[Hmm... You know, the sayings that you use sometimes... they're similar to Rose actually? You never did tell us the whole story about how you met each other.] - Malaise

[O-Oh? I thought I had...] - Karen

[Nope! You just said that Rose would tell us.] - Veronica

[Y-Yeah! I think she should t-tell you guys the details! I'll just say that we met each other before she came here same as we said last time. Yep!] - Karen

<You know... You're as bad at lying as Rose is... but I'll let it slide... for now.> - Malaise

Gulping at the intense look in the foxgirls eyes I felt a fear far greater than the one I'd felt towards crowds only a little while ago. Without Austin here I didn't know exactly what was safe to tell them, his experience with this world far greater than mine. Sighing gratefully as she relaxed I focused on absorbing the gigantic pig-like creature that had been provided to me, not really tasting anything in my nervousness.

[I truly don't know! I'm sorry.] - Random Pedestrian

[Over a dozen Beastmen vanished overnight and you're telling me you’ve  heard nothing? You're in the same building for the Goddess' sake!] - Arlen

[I don't know what to tell you, I heard nothing, now leave me ALONE!] - Random Pedestrian

[Wait but I...! Dammit.] - Arlen

Getting the door slammed in his face for what felt like the hundredth time Arlen wasn't having a good day. First he'd been worried about the continued disappearance of his future fiancé Rose and the fact that even though the tournament was already starting she still hadn't shown up yet. And then, while he was worrying over something that he was unable to change regardless he'd been tasked with solving a disappearance case of their own. Apparently over the last week or so almost a full hundred Beastmen had vanished without a trace, their apartments and houses ransacked in what looked like robbery but was far too coordinated to be anything other than a concerted effort by some large organization.

Immediately facing trouble with his investigation he'd attempted to contact Principal only to be told by her assistant that she was unavailable leaving him to figure out his next steps on his own. As a result here he was, interrogating scared commoners.  Like this last person. He was aware that he knew more than he was telling the Prince but the man was scared. Every person he'd talked with that knew anything was, of what he had no idea but whatever it was it made every single witness keep quiet out of fear.

[Hah... It's never easy...] - Arlen

[What do you mean she's not back yet!] - Richard

[I was under the impression that our granddaughter was promised to be returned by the opening of this tournament. Was that incorrect?] - Daisy

[No ma'am, Manic Blade is well known for being a man of his word. He specifically left a message for myself to enter Lady Rose into this competition so I still believe that he will make sure she is present for it.] - Night

Narrowing her eyes at the older shapeshifter in front of her while letting loose her prodigious magical pressure any lesser being would have nearly died from the intense killing intent alone. However, Principal Night was no lesser being. As such not only was she completely composed under the enormous pressure emanating from the aging Lamia she was nearly unaffected, with only a slight trembling of her hand while pouring refreshments as the only evidence that she was withstanding anything at all. Even Richard, Daisy's husband, had some difficulty operating normally under his wife's anger.

[H-Honey! Tone it back a little. There is no reason to attack those unrelated as of now. We can always raze this city to the ground if Rose doesn't show up by the time her first fight is scheduled. Only right that this Academy falls if it can't protect it's students afterall...] - Richard

[Of course Grandpa. If our grandbaby doesn't show up then this organization doesn't deserve to exist... More tea please.] - Daisy

[Right. I understand your anger... Former Myth Class Adventurer Daisy de la Amchier, the Volcanic Calamity. I just ask that you allow us more time before taking out your anger on our historic Academy.] - Night

[So you did your homework... I put that life behind me long ago. And we both know that Myth Class doesn't exist, the highest class is S-Rank afterall.] - Daisy

[Oh right. I forgot that it was an unofficial rank accorded by the Guild and not an actual classification... Your husband was the only person that could rein you in if I remember my history correctly?] - Night

Now if anyone else had made the threat of destroying such a large organization with S-Rank adventurer's currently in the city as well as several S and A class former adventurer's within their faculty you would be forgiven for thinking that it was useless posturing. In this case however Principal Night was entirely aware that these two were more than capable of making a good go at it and even possibly succeeding. Daisy de la Amchier, Matriarch of the Amchier Duchy, was well known for being a powerful individual. Her subjects loved her and her enemies either feared her or were already dead. Even the Adventurer's Guild itself was absolutely terrified of her, giving her a wide berth and going out of their way to bend over backwards whenever she requested anything.

Despite this they were silent on why exactly their higher ups avoided angering her and none of the lower member's were old enough to have been around whenever this policy had been enacted. Even some of the administration of the largest Guild Hall's were too young to know. It had taken many informant's and burning several contacts to acquire the records of the old Lamia's adventuring days and when she did even she was shocked by the revelations.

[You were known for being a City-Killer right? The only one able to stop your trail of destruction at the time was the person that eventually became your husband, Richard de la Amchier, known at the time as The Unsung Hero. I believe you were the duo that dealt with the last summoned hero when they went rogue? You're legendary within the Adventurer's Guild but information about your true identity is kept under wraps. I assume that was your handiwork?] - Night

[Seems you did a bit more than a little homework... don't think you can threaten me with that information. It's kept secret to protect the Guild... not the other way round.] - Daisy

Narrowing her eyes more and more while she was speaking, the woman before her let loose her full power, letting Principal Night know just how far the gulf was between them and truly she hadn't meant for the information she uncovered to be used against the two powerful individuals before her. It wouldn't had done any good regardless.

[No no no. I didn't mean it as a threat, I was intending it as an acknowledgment of your abilities. That I know all this should tell you that I truly believe it when I say that I would stake my life and reputation on your granddaughter being returned before the end of this tournament, no matter what happens.] - Night

[What a... appropriate turn of phrase. You may well have to pay with your life if she is not returned... unharmed.] - Richard