Chapter 62: Tournament Day 1 (Part 4)

[Well this is interesting... You fought that?] - ???

[Wah!] - Malaise

[Sweet Goddess!] - Veronica

[Who are you?!?] - Karen

[Where'd you come from? Are you an enemy?] - Rose

[...Enemy?!?...] - Shade

[Hahahaha! I'm not an enemy, don't worry.] - ???

[Well that's good, for you.] - Annabelle

Karen was shocked, their group had settled in to VIP seats in an enclosed box to watch the Tournament. The one fighting, that G*ku looking guy from before. And he was far stronger than when she fought with him, it was like he'd been playing around while fighting her, never really taking it seriously. The man in the arena however, was fighting far more vigorously than their bout. His speed far beyond what he'd displayed in their fight, his skill seemed to be beyond that as well but for some strange reason his blows kept missing the Loli Elf that was his opponent. She didn't really understand what was happening but it seemed that, as strong as Edgar was, the Elf, Aerin, was far above him in ability. This was the second shocking thing and it sobered her instantly, it seemed that she had been taking this Tournament too lightly.

It was in one of these moments of introspection that a soft, female voice spoke in her ear startling her. Instantly their entire group reacted, jumping into action immediately as they went into combat stances. None of them had seen nor heard the woman approaching them. And what a woman she was. Small, only about 3 feet tall or so, she reminded them of their dwarven teacher but her build was less stocky and more lithe so she was either exceptionally skinny or was something else. Her face however, was adorable, button nose and childish eyes with a mature feel to them that an actual child would not wear. She was, in Karen's eyes at least, absolutely beautiful. Nowhere near Rose's level of course but she had a bit of bias on that front admittedly.

The smol lady in front of them, smiled. Contrary to their hostility and surprise she seemed not to care and maintained a nonchalant attitude, treating their threat as less than nothing. Laughing lightly at their reaction she was about to take a step forward only to pause when a angry-looking Annabelle came into focus behind her, a wicked looking blade in her hand.

[Wow! It's true then?!? Annabelle the Unseen is playing babysitter to some noble brat?!?] - ???

[I don't know who you are but I know of no-one by that name, now you have 3 seconds to tell us why you are here and THEN we'll listen to your identity.] - Annabelle

[Annabelle?] - Rose

[Don't worry Young Miss, I'll take out the trash.] - Annabelle

[Woah woah woah! I definitely didn't come here to pick a fight with a- Ahem! -with someone of your caliber! I'm only here because of her. I wanted to get her first-hand impression of the one down there.] - ???

[And who exactly are you?] - Malaise

[Ah! Right sorry about that. When you're in my class you get used to not being in the spotlight. Ahem! It is my honor to make your acquaintances Young Miss's, my name is Lucem, I'm a gnome artificer.] - Lucem

[Artificer?] - Rose

[Think of a cross between an engineer and a thief. I'm both stealthy and I pack a mean punch with technology! Hahaha!] - Lucem

[Enough! Why did you really break into my Mistress' box?] - Annabelle

[I meant what I said, I only came because of that Sentient Slime over there, I was interested in her fight with that martial artist and wanted nothing else. Ah! If you still can't trust me I guess I can tell you that I'm part of the Aegis Company party! The leader actually!] - Lucem

[So you're the leader of that group keeping all of us safe?] - Malaise

[Yeah, I mean technically some of the group is actually stronger than I am but they're all lug-heads so they'd just get us killed if they took over. Long story short we're one of the few S-Class Parties in the Guild. I guess you could say we're a big deal. Hmmhmm!] - Lucem

[Okay so why are you so interested in that Edgar guy? Seems to me that you'd be more interested in that Loli Elf he's fighting.] - Karen

[Oh right, it's actually because he's fighting on such equal ground with an Elf that I'm interested. How much do you actually know about the Fae?] - Lucem

[Honestly? Not much. Our school curriculum doesn't really go over the Faelands and there isn't much credible knowledge outside of Research Dissertations. I'd wager I know the most about Fae and even that's woefully inadequate.] - Malaise

[I just know that Elves and Fairies are Fae.] - Rose

[And Succubi right?!? Isn't that what your grandp-] - Veronica

[Shut up Ver! F-Forget about that, she doesn't know what she's-] - Malaise

After introducing herself and reassuring them that she was not here to attack any of those present Lucem had made herself comfortable in one of the cushy VIP seats, sipping on a drink that a server brought in, much to the irritation of a certain Lamia maid that was currently shooting daggers from her eyes at the offending Gnome.

Her relaxed state, earned from her absolute confidence, served to further reassure the group that she meant them no harm and they allowed her to stay while they watched the match unfolding beneath them, continuing their conversation as they did so. It was at this point that a strange topic was brought up. Fae. What did the group know about them? The kind of question that would feel right at home on one of those deep analysis video's in her old world. Their answers illustrated how little they actually knew and some of what the did know wasn't something they could share with others. Unless of course a slightly too honestly Succubi spilled the beans immediately. Which she did.

[Oh that's alright, although I'm surprised such a young Succubi knows about such an obscure myth about the origin of Succubi. It's not really well known and isn't taken too seriously afterall.] - Lucem

[R-Right, a myth. That's where she got that from...] - Malaise

[Nevermind that! Why did you ask us what we knew about Fae?!?] - Karen

[Oh that! Well I wanted to see how much you knew about their combat abilities specifically. Even more specifically I wanted to see if you knew how far above us they are in skill levels.] - Lucem

[Huh? Are they really that strong?] - Karen

[More than that, the one down their is only about 70 years old, barely an adolescent in their race, and she's able to overwhelm experienced fighter far older than she is development-wise. A fully grown Elf is basically unstoppable except by a Summoned Hero. Or someone with, similar abilities... Makes one wonder why one is in this Tournament in the first place...] - Lucem

Luckily the little Artificer only laughed in response to the dropped bomb, treating it like a curiosity rather than anything important. Apparently there existed an obscure reference to the creation of Succubi in some unnamed myth and the gnome took our little Demonic Fae's slip of the tongue as proof that we'd somehow read that document.

What happened next however was more concerning. Lucem's description of just how powerful Fae, specifically Elves in this case, actually were made it all the more strange that one would be participating in what would effectively be a child's game to them. Even if said Elf was technically a child. Logic found it strange as well, what could she be doing this for? That question, as important as it might be, was put on the backburner in an instant however as the small Gnome girl looked at her meaningfully while bringing up Summoned Hero's, almost as if she knew, or at least suspected, her abilities. Her next comment even made it seem like the Elf might be here for her which was ridiculous! Lucem, seeming to watch for a reaction, broke her gaze after what felt like a full 5 minutes. It seemed she wasn't going to pursue whatever suspicions she had, at least for now.

[Well thank you for your time! The food and drink were fabulous thank you. If you want to get ahold of me just tell one of the staff and they'll find me.] - Lucem

[Ah right! I had a question before you go!] - Karen

[Oho?] - Lucem

[Who is that Armored Guy in your party? He, or she I guess, spoke to me after they announced my win. They said something about watching my back?] - Karen

[He... Spoke to you?] - Lucem

[Yes?] - Karen

[Like on his own?] - Lucem

[I think?] - Karen

[....Iron. We call him Iron.] - Lucem

[That's... a strange name.] - Karen

[That's cause he can't speak on his own... Anyway something just came up so I have to go, I apologize for the abrupt departure.] - Lucem

Several minutes had passed since the Artificer had interrupted their viewing on the Tournament and in that time she'd spent most of it scarfing down food and drink from their personal room server in between talking with Karen about her feeling's on the current bout. She seemed genuinely interested in our Slime Girl's experience when it came to her past fight.

But like all things it came to an end and Lucem began to bid them farewell only to be stopped by Karen as she remembered about the other member of her party she'd met. That one that had interrupted her fight with the mage earlier in the Preliminaries. Her face, initially a smile, fell immediately upon hearing out her question, a troubled frown taking it's place which became more clouded as she asked Karen to clarify about their encounter. But, on the plus side she finally had a name to put to the warrior. A strange name but even stranger was his party member's confusion about him speaking to her at all. The Gnome girl left in a hurry a moment later, seemingly to deal with whatever she had just figured out.

[Limit Release!]  - Edgar

Aerin was in shock, during the Preliminary Tournament she'd been busy with her mission and hadn't paid any attention to the contestant's present at that time but she'd heard afterwards about this human's ability. Not enough it seemed as what she saw was far beyond anything her subordinate's had mentioned to her. They'd told her that his ability somehow increased his combat potential by ramming Mana through his body to Physically Reinforce it. It was similar to her Storm Dance spell as well as nearly two dozen other similar spells and abilities that did the same thing to varying amounts.

The difference however completely invalidated any comparison between those abilities and the one in front of her. It was like this human had completely turned off any of the limits on his abilities to effectively mirror that of an Ancient Fae. The one in front of her made her feel like she was looking at her Master from so many years ago, albeit a far less powerful version of him. She didn't know how he'd done it but there was no way such an ability didn't come with massive downsides, the sheer recoil on the body from that much power coursing through it would tear apart nerves and blood vessels in the best case and cause lethal damage in the worst case. Yet somehow he was fine. She could detect no physical damage being done to his body.

On the contrary his healing seemed to have sped up as well and her sword strike, initially a deep, lethal wound through his upper stomach and into his lungs, was already healing. Having pulled her sword out of the man when she took some distance from him she'd left behind a massive stab wound which was now closing up at an astonishing rate. It simply made no sense.

[What was that?] - Aerin

[Oh this? If you can still win even after this I'll tell you everything you want to know. Although...] - Edgar

[...no one ever has.] - Edgar

[Geh! Fuck!] - Aerin

She was shocked, in disbelief at what she was seeing. But more than that was the feeling of anger that a "lesser" race would stand up to her for so long. She had to admit that this particular one was definitely a cut above the rest and a part of her even respected him for that, but he should realize his limits. She didn't know what the drawbacks of this mysterious ability he used was but such a thing would only serve to prolong the inevitable. She was destined to win in the end, regardless of the struggling of the ant.

Which is why she was more than a little unprepared when said "ant" caught her by surprise with a direct blow to her abdomen, her small body flying backwards through the air from the impact as an uncharacteristic bit of profanity slipped past her lips.

[You!?! How dare you?!? You inferior being! You failure of the Gods! Dragon's allies!] - Aerin

[I don't know about any of that but... you might want to grow up and stop looking down on me or...] - Edgar

[...you'll regret it.] - Edgar

[Tch! It won't work this time!] - Aerin

Anger, seething and unmitigated rage coursed through her being. A prodigy among her peers, she had been trusted with a mission of the utmost importance. One that required her to travel from her home and live among the "so-called" lesser races. At the time she'd thought the moniker of "lesser" was a bit harsh, they were both speaking and thinking beings afterall. Oh how wrong she had been. At first she had a smooth trip, interacting with the various Noble's in search for her prey or at least a rumor of it. That had quickly gone down hill however when a "Lord" or something similar had apparently taken a liking to her appearance and rather than attempting to court her he'd sent his goons to kidnap her. They'd failed of course and she'd punished the corrupt pervert by beating him within an inch of his life then leaving him with his "King" expecting him to punish him appropriately. Instead he'd attempted to arrest her for her actions regardless of her reason and after she'd dealt with him as well she found out just how shallow her previous relationships with various other leader's had been. They'd all turned on her in an instant. She'd become hunted by the ones that she treated like equals, the ones that she went out of her way to accommodate, the one's that she'd shared special knowledge with to help them. All of the people she'd helped became her enemy overnight. She'd barely escaped with her life after that, the numbers of pursuers far too large for her to deal with.

Escaping North after that event she'd quickly found that almost all races treated each other with the same level of aggression. Human's hated non-humans, non-humans hated humans. It was all so... pedantic. That's when she realized, her mentors were right. The Fae were the superior race, all other races were inferior and while you could treat a "lesser" race nicely you had to remember that just like an animal they couldn't resist their baser instincts. Just like a pet that still had a bit of it's wildness remaining you had to be on guard for their teeth to snap at an outstretched hand.

This was why this HUMAN'S call to stop looking down on him sparked her anger! She'd been through so much because of his race! She'd gone through too much to view human's as any more than wild animals with a little bit of intelligence. And she'd put him in his place.