"May it all burn"
Friede's words of terror.
Her name was Lyndell Morgoth, Scion of the Bow, Heiress to a sacred weapon that many times throughout Vermillion's war-laden history helped drive out both the enemies of king and country. A true noble lineage dating back from the great migration from the old world, proud and towering above the would-be peasantry turned merchants or the lower classes that dared to compare themselves to the true rulers of the kingdom.
A beautiful woman in her own right, with statuesque looks, long flowing autumn red hair and the slight tan of skin that made her look so alluring, she had been asked to join the cult of Saal'Xhir more than once, and yet one of her more striking figures beside her height was her golden eyes, legend goes that the Mad God himself blessed the Morgoth antecessors.
A chance encounter with one Mava O'Xav had the young woman pledge herself to an Entity from beyond the cosmos, powered by Heresy together with her new friend both women thrived within Vermilion's High Nobility, until both of them fell in love with the third prince, fearing an unmendable crack in their friendship both women communed with the Entity, who in her kindness managed to mend the ties that bound both together, agreeing in a system where both would share the prince.
The price for such a Divine Intervention was an easy one to pay, chaos to the realm, for it could not strike at the All-Father in his home but it could make the life of his beloved and spoiled creations pure hell. Their plans were working until the peasants sent in their champion to steal their beloved, Hope, the very mention of the name made Lyndell curse inwards as she communed with the Spirit inside the Sacred Bow, an ancient elven Archer whose thirst for killing was so big, so unquenchable she committed foul magic to live on as the weapon.
Mava finished eating the imported pearls from the Shogunate and turned to Lyndell "I wonder who our Benefactor is, a weak God defeated by the All-Father perhaps? in one of his many conquests?" her elven heritage showing itself as her ears perked up, blushing at their tips, Lyndell always found it mesmerizing how her skin would shift in blue hues whenever she looked at the woman, a blessing from her elven side of the family she was told.
With short hair, green eyes, and a figure many a woman in the Academy would kill for, Mava was a beauty that made Lyndell herself take a second glance every once in a while. Still, both women were madly in love with Arthur, the third prince being an obsession that bordered on delusion and mania, and they had gone to great lengths to ensure their love wouldn't be denied.
Until the Duchess of the North personally came knocking, for the very first in their lives they felt fear seeing the sheer assault the last Wulfgrem heir conjured, together with the Arch-Mage's son and that peasant boy now turned noble by the pact that tied Vermilion with the Orcs.
"Have you talked with the Queen? do we have the go-ahead?" Mava spoke again "Our Benefactor has already given the poison, Hope won't survive the arrowhead, and not even the Undying will be able to touch her soul, total oblivion as promised" She grinned after that word, Oblivion was on both their minds of late, especially after news of Lucrezia starting to date the peasant.
"Without Lucrezia to back her little peasant whore, we can strike when the competition starts" Lyndell spoke "The queen gave us the go-ahead, she was quite pleased when I spoke of killing Hope, she asked for Lucrezia's head as well but I doubt we will be able to strike at both, still the pieces are in motion Mava, soon we will have our beloved prince to ourselves, and our Benefactor will be more than pleased with the chaos we will unleash"
"A shame the Sacred Sword and its users are...unavailable at the moment as well, and the Shield remains away" Mava spoke with a wolfish smile on her face "I've paid off the Officials who will watch over the fight, the man doing the schedule and your Knight-Commander right-hand man, now we just got to wait for the day of the slaughter my friend, just a few more days..."
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Lyndell ended her talks with the weapon and rose up "And he will be ours"
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"And the Sword Spirit won't respond to your commands then?" Lucrezia asked as she saw Hope ready herself for the group's training at the gym's arena, the young woman and dear friend shook her head "Nay Lu, she refuses to aid me, I've stowed the blade away as you said but it does vex me much, especially given how horrible the previous owner was" she sighed, the third member of their little group, Vivenne adjusted her gear and said "Worry not, we don't need that stupid weapon anyway"
But we did, Lucrezia bit the inside of her mouth in exasperation as the clock ticked for her, events from the game were somehow happening again, small things like side quest chains that she thought she had already done by completing their end stages early, dialogue, events with people from the outside, in a bold move even by her standards she had consulted with Kaine about it, in a way to avoid getting any eyes being cast on her of course but still...
"...Nothing, If anything the Big Woman is pleased of late" the mage spoke with a puzzled look on his face "Yesterday she broke a contract with an important Goddess that commands Fate and Luck as well, a big expansion on her Sphere of Power came with that deal and she assured me it would be great for the Church, it did feel off the way she said it, something to investigate, I will need to summon Hope for this..."
She sighed inwardly and got up dusting herself off in the process, Kaine's voice an echo in her mind "Right then, onto the arena shall we? They should be there already" Hope and Vivenne nodded and the girls walked, greeting friends along the way as the halls and corridors grew wilder, finding the entrance to the gym was not hard given almost all of them were regulars to the place, even Vivienne who usually shirked physical activities decided to work out after a while.
Good for the body, Good for the soul Lucrezia smiled at the words, Fiding Richard and his motley crew talking, and the prince doing push-ups near them. It was a heated discussion Lucrezia could tell by the way Rose and Richard were emoting and Hvtial rubbed his chin, often she would find them in these engagements as the fiery woman was keen on speaking her mind, and Richard more than once disagreed with her.
"...Gods preserve my hide, the calvary arrived!" Hvtial spoke out loud "Lucrezia please knock some sense into these two before me and Tomoe lose our minds" The big dragonkin rushed to greet her and the others, Hope laughing "You big goof, control thy woman!" Richard shook his head as he backed away from Rose who was still red in the face and ready for round two.
Hugs and Kisses went around as the group shared a silent moment of love and friendship between themselves, Arthur being the last as he cleaned himself with magic, afterwards they sat down on a table near one of the fighting pits of the arena, ready to discuss their training for the Interclass tournament.
"What were you two fighting?" Lucrezia asked as she snuggled up to Richard, kissing him softly, he chuckled "Fighting Styles and Martial Arts, her family is famed for grappling and throwing skills and I wished to learn some of them, yet our dear Rose was quite adamant she wouldn't share" he faked a whisper, making the one in question snap back at him "Enough before I make sure your little girlfriend won't be having any children you ruffian" she pointed to Lucrezia "your man is out of control, beat some sense into him for me will you dear? because my oaf of a dragon refuses to do so"
The group laughed at the antics and made short commentary on it, before moving on to the reason for their reunion "It is indeed group combat, and single combat tests, none of us made it into the other categories, not even Lucrezia with her Blessing tailed for crafting or her skills with cooking" Arthur spoke out loud, commanding attention of his peers "I've seen the official documents myself before they posted here in the Academy, but they have yet to draw the lots with our names..."
Arthur got up "I fear something is off with this whole affair, these competitions were disavowed for years, and someone forced the hand of the Dean to make this happen" Lucrezia didn't a name to be said, after all very few people could move that old elf.
Together with the news she got from Kaine, she could be sure of it, that nasty encounter from the game's story would make itself manifest, Hope would be struck down by fell magick and poison, and the perpetuators, the ones that Kidnapped her before would be the ones who committed the deed.
And yet...
"The Queen" Richard spoke and Arthur nodded "Not much we can do then, other than get ourselves ready for the blasted thing and make sure we win, I don't think she will attempt at Lucrezia again, not after that whole mess in the Fields" the group nodded and more words were exchanged before they got into the fighting pit, ready to train in the most ancient way of battle.