Chapter 66: Tournament Day 1 (Part 8)

[And we have yet another upset with Lord Fili de la Saxum! Lord Saxum unfortunately has dropped out and Torpal "Longsight" has moved on to the next round! Lord Saxum was the favorite to win this battle with 4:1 odds in his favor in the Betting Pools! Winners may pick up their earnings from the front desk or let it ride for their further bets!] - Judico

[But moving right along we'll introduce a Preliminary favorite, a up and coming idol that is sweeping the tournament with only one loss to her name! LIGHTNING FLASH KAAAAAAAAAAREEEEEEN!!!] - Judico

The last fight had been routine, a basic fight with almost no real surprises despite the long-shot odds for Torpal who, unfortunately for Lord Saxum, seemed to be a hard counter for his more basic tactics. Lord Saxum, a traditionalist from a neighboring country and oldest son of a prominent noble family, he'd gained early recognition through his no nonsense fighting style and had quickly subdued several Monster Outflows from a Wild Dungeon, with assistance from a militia of course. His ability made him no slouch but it also made him poor at adapting to unfamiliar non-straightforward fighting styles such as Torpal's. As such while he'd overwhelmingly lost he'd come out of it relatively unscathed with only a few broken bones, his armor and shield taking the brunt of the damage in his fight. He'd even waved at the crowd while limping out of the Arena which had gotten him just as many cheers as it did jeers. The later more than likely a result of lost money from gambling.

Rose's group, Karen included, had spent most of the fight coming up with tactics for use against the more roguish fighting style of Torpal but somehow Karen didn't think it would be an issue for her. His next opponent was Edgar and she doubted he'd be able to put up much of a fight against the G*ku-looking motherfucker. Regardless it was a good idea to consider how she would use her unique body-type against explosives and traps. She had to assume that at least some of them would be effective against her afterall. Their group continued to think up various countermeasures for her future battles against potential foes up until she was notified that it was now time to head down to the waiting room, leaving the rest of the group within the opulent viewing booth.

[U-Ugh....!] - Aerin

[Finally awake huh? That was really stupid you know?] - Edgar

[Shut up you lesse- ...just be quiet Edgar.] - Aerin

[Hmm? No lesser race talk this time? What about misplaced arrogance that a puny human such as myself won against a mighty Elf?] - Edgar

The blurry outline of a hospital room greeted Aerin as she regained consciousness, her body throbbing with immense pain. Briefly noting that her body was now back to normal she thought back to the fight from earlier, nearly drifting off into sleep again. Only to have an annoying voice break her out of her drowsiness, that damn human. Whipping her head towards the sound of his voice she started gearing up to rip into the physical manifestation of her hatred before her only for what he'd said when she lost consciousness to well up in her mind as well as her former opponents injured state that he'd apparently gotten while trying to save her. She'd realized about halfway through their battle that he wasn't hitting her as strongly as he was able to, pulling his punches to keep from killing her.

Instantly deflating she one again leaned back into her hospital bed. She was a member of a superior race afterall, being magnanimous was a character trait right? Right? To tell the truth she no longer knew what to think, if it was only a case of her needing to grow more and come into her own power then it'd be acceptable to lose but what she'd used, that limit breaking pill, had changed everything. The truth was that she SHOULDN'T have lost, yet she had. And not only had she lost but the person she'd lost against hadn't taken advantage, if anything he'd only gone as far as he did to save her from her own mistake. Her memories of the last bit of the fight were scattered, the pill caused continuous and immense pain throughout use and made her memories disjointed as a result, but what she did remember was that the man in the same hospital room as herself had pushed himself far beyond his limits to save her life. Both the way he spoke before the fight and what how he'd acted throughout told her that it wasn't only for his own benefit that he'd gone so far. She was willing to view him in a better light, maybe even reevaluate her thoughts about his race as a whole.

[Now listen here you le- Ow! ...forget it, it's not important.] - Aerin

[No that was petty of me, I apologize. And thank you.] - Edgar

[Ha? For what?] - Aerin

[For referring to me as an equal. Now get some rest.] - Edgar

Of course that didn't give him free reign to insult her entire race so when the muscle bound moron pushed his luck she immediately sat up, determined to lay into him only for a wave of pain to rock her body. Immediately changing her mind about asserting anything, at least for the time being, she lay back without continuing while trying to play it off.

What happened next shocked her however. The man beside her, the one that looked to have as much social skills as a rock, apologized! And not only that he followed up with gratitude, baffling her. What could he possibly be thanking her for, she'd tried to kill him and if she'd had her way she would have succeeded. Yet in spite of her knowing he knew of her former intentions he was not only apologizing for his words he was thanking her on top of that? Why?!?

Expressing herself to this effect she was stunned into silence by his reply. She treated him as an equal?!? When? How? Did she think of him like that? Searching her mind she lapsed into silence as she considered her thought around him and how she'd treated him in the last few minutes. Was it true? Did she really consider a les-- a human her equal? No? She didn't think so, but Edgar personally? She didn't know.

And with those thoughts swirling in her head Aerin, the Elf fell asleep.

Edgar wasn't sure what to think anymore, when he'd first met the little Elf she'd treated him as less than herself. Almost beneath her notice in fact. She very obviously viewed all other life as beneath her and the beginning of their battle had illustrated that fact quite clearly. The way she fought with an almost regal disinterest in any tactics he'd used reminded him of some of the fighting style's of noble's he'd met over the years. Skilled yet inflexible.

That had changed however as the battle progressed. As Aerin's mask began to crack, her tactics became more fluid and creative, her skill rapidly increasing as she began to view him as more than just an insect to squash. Her usage of that limit breaking pill had shown that. He assumed that such a alchemic creation would normally only be used in a situation where death was nearly certain regardless and using it during a non-lethal battle would normally be unthinkable.

At least it would have been normally. The problem had occurred in the weakening of Aerin's long held beliefs, her mind struggling to hold onto those misconceptions as all the evidence before her showed that it was a flawed mindset. He'd noticed it while fighting with her, the lie within her heart. It came out in her moves, in her fighting.

It was often said that warriors would never truly understand each other until they crossed blades and while that was an oversimplification to an extent it was none the less true. In life and death situations you got to see what a warrior stood for, what they would risk their life for. And what he'd seen in Aerin was a deep sadness, a confusion and a kindness. He somehow just knew that she hadn't ever believed the oft-told superiority of the Elves, that something had happened in her past that led to her closing herself off from her true feelings, whatever they were. He wasn't sure whether that would be a permanent change but hoped that what she'd experienced here would shift her thinking for the better. But whatever happened he... needed... to...

And with that unfinished though Edgar followed the Elven girl into sleep.

[LIGHTNING FLASH KAAAAAAAAAAREEEEEEN!!!] - Judico

Karen, waiting in a side room off of the Arena, nervously "stepped" into the limelight, her non-existent heart heart hammering in her ear as she felt the weight of the crowd pressing in upon her. That pressure, far stronger now than it had been previously, made her nearly throw up despite being told that it was supposedly impossible for humanoid slime's to do so. It took everything she had to keep her fully dissolved lunch down and as a result she only caught the tail end of the introduction of her opponent, a green-haired girl with green skin and green clothing....

A tree? The hell is that?!?

[...Arbor de la Liz is a member of the elusive race of humanoid monster's known as Dryad's with control over living plants! Lady Liz, as a result of her families contributions, is an honorary noble of the city-state of Lunaris in Fastus to the North with her family being responsible for the booming logging industry of the area. What a coincidence that out of the 14 contestants in the Tournament 2 of the 3 humanoid monster's face each other in Mortal Combat! Perhaps with is a battle for the ages that Destiny herself stepped in to arrange! Well whatever the case Fighter's Ready Yourselves!] - Judico

[You nervous child?] - Arbor

[I-I'm fine, thank you. Don't worry.] - Karen

[Understood, I'll not let it affect me then.] - Arbor

[BEGIN!!!] - Judico

Contrary to her seeming to ready herself for battle Karen was baffled when the Dryad before her didn't move a single inch, her feet rooted to the spot. Her guard, initially high to deal with the apparently gung-ho Plant Lady, lowered almost instinctually as Lady Arbor made no moves to attack or even defend herself.

[Uh....? You okay?] - Karen

[I'm fine child, do not worry yourself. In fact I'd be more concerned about your own well-being.] - Arbor

[Huh? Oh shit!] - Karen

Disarmed by the seemingly defenseless walking, talking plant before me I worriedly asked how she was doing, I wasn't about to attack a completely unresisting opponent afterall. What she said next reminded me of a common trope amongst Dryad's in both film and novels, plant manipulation! Feeling a low rumbling from beneath me I immediately leapt to the side as a thick root burst from the solid rock of the Arena floor. The root then retreating underground after seeming to glance around in a way reminiscent to the prairie dogs she had once seen in a zoo when she was younger. It almost seemed like it was searching for her?

Her question was answered a moment later as she narrowly avoided being impaled from below once again. The brief rumbling of rock allowing her to dodge by a narrow margin.