Volcatia didn't bother to read over any of it.
Obviously.
She might not have seen any Status Windows since she disabled the Notification ones, but she'd seen this one more than enough times.
She already knew everything there.
Well, maybe Inventory was new.
Huh.
Eh.
She arced her hair upwards.
It wasn't real hair anymore.
Her inner current surged.
"Scorpio!" shouted someone in the spectator seating.
A massive, rumbling roar sounded out from the crowd.
Belenus pushed down on the road to try and retake his feet. The surface cracked under him, but he was unable to rise.
She hadn't been eagerly awaiting this moment.
It was just inevitable.
"You killed my family," Volcatia said.
"You disgraced my brother's legacy!" Belenus shouted, barely audible through the screams and cheers of Onyxfell's citizens.
"You were my friend," Volcatia said.
"We were never friends!" Belenus shouted. He spat towards her, but the glob of spittle sizzled and evaporated as it came close.
"I won't have to feel guilty then," Volcatia said.
Her eyes flickered.
"SCORPIO! FULMINIS! SCORPIO! FULMINIS! SCORPIO! FULMINIS!" roared the crowd.
She wasn't annoyed that she hadn't been forgotten anymore.
She was making a spectacle.
She held her fist in the air and sent fulmen—electricity, though she didn't like that word as much—coursing through it to erupt upwards in random patterns.
The spectators lost their fucking minds. Some jumped up and down. Some waved their arms in the air. Some embraced the people standing beside them. Most were shouting and screaming.
A young old woman sitting nearby rolled her eyes and gestured for her to get on with it.
Volcatia didn't feel like getting on with it though.
She'd been asked to make a spectacle like she'd done in the past.
She felt like doing more.
She was more than she had been in the past.
And she had that idea still.
She opened her hand and motioned to the assembled crowd just as she'd done so many times before as they chanted her name.
The noise of the crowd dropped rapidly.
Changing.
A tense silence arose.
Anticipation.
Other than a continued crashing and screeching of metal from behind, obviously, but she'd get to that soon.
Volcatia grinned.
She'd missed this.
"VICTORY-SEEKERS, YOU'VE GOTTEN WEAKER!" she shouted as she always had.
The crowd booed, just as they always did.
"Shut up!" yelled the cheating Char.
There was a loud crash behind her.
She chuckled.
This was going to be fun.
"Victory-seekers!" she shouted again. "I come before you today to right wrongs! What say you?"
"SCORPIO! SCORPIO! SCORPIO!" they chanted, those nearest looking at her with awed expressions.
"This man murdered my family!" she yelled, pointing to Belenus. "I demand vengeance! Here! Now! What say you?"
Would they trust her at her word?
"KILL! KILL! KILL!" the spectators screamed as they pumped their fists in the air.
Obviously they would.
She was Scorpio Fulminis.
She had no need for lies.
Even after six years, her reputation had only grown.
She was a legend.
"You disgrace yourself!" Belenus called out. "Battling wi—"
"MARCUS CAMELIUS BELENUS, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A BATTLE TO THE DEATH!" she bellowed, deactivating her aura.
The crowd exploded into even more eager cheers.
Now she was making a spectacle.
Belenus struggled to his feet at last, grasping his hasta and panting.
"System command: k, four, n, n, f, five, r, v, a," Volcatia recited.
The blue Status Window displaying her status shrunk.
"VICTORY-SEEKERS, BEGIN THE COUNT!" she yelled.
Belenus glared at her and took up a ready stance.
"ONE!" shouted the spectators as she raised one finger into the air.
She grasped the Status Window and pulled it towards herself.
"TWO!"
She slapped the Status Window against her free hand.
"THREE!"
Belenus lunged forward with his hasta raised.
Volcatia waited.
He was slow.
He was weak.
She really didn't know why she'd bothered to wait all these years.
She thought about it now while she waited.
It just didn't make sense!
What the fuck was she thinking back then?
The idea of it brought a slight frown to her face.
All those times she'd idly thought about it over the years.
Time she'd wasted thinking about it.
She was done wasting time on it though.
Volcatia stepped to the side, hefting her Status Window.
Belenus vanished, emerging from a nearby shadow as he slowly passed through the air towards her in mid-lunge with his hasta outstretched.
She slapped him in the head with her Status Window at a slightly downwards angle, following through on her swing.
Blood, bone, and brain exploded from the head she'd just smashed.
She deconstructed the particles flying slowly in her direction, changing the configuration of their atomic structure to ash and air.
She'd spent a lot of time watching fire do the same to wood to understand how it worked.
She decided to be slower, and then she was.
The decision to be faster wasn't even a conscious one at times.
That was fine though.
Humans didn't always decide to do things they did.
The headless body of Marcus Camelius Belenus fell over backwards from the momentum of her strike and landed on the remains of what had been his head.
It didn't feel good.
It felt the same.
Too much time had passed.
She'd seen too many things.
Volcatia imagined there were plenty of humans out there who didn't care about things like this.
Just like her.
The crowd chanted her name.
The momentary rush she'd felt faded.
She was bored again.
She tapped her Status Window against her shoulder and sighed.
It was fun for a moment at least.
Yeah.
Yeah!
She didn't plan on battling in the arena ever again, but just this, just this one time…
It was a little fun.
"Um, Vol?" a voice called from just next to her.
She turned her head.
Mina stood next to her with an anxious expression. "I'm unsure what's happened, but Carl's—"
"Finally!" shouted the cheating Char in his way that broadcast his voice around the stadium.
Oh.
Right.
Volcatia had completely fucking forgotten about him.
The cheating Char's machine pressed one foot down on Carl's squirming form. "You're going to oppose me, Scorpio?" he called.
"Get off my friend," she called back.
"I knew you would!" he shouted. "It's earlier than I was planning, but how do you like this!"
A bright light flashed, and the Status Window in her hand disappeared.
"I disabled your stupid System across the entire city!" the cheating Char yelled. "Now shut up and do what I say! Got it?"
Volcatia rubbed her forehead.
How much of a fucking idiot was this guy?
Maybe…
Could he be a noob?
She liked the feel of it, but she still wasn't totally sure what it meant.
She glanced back at Aquila.
The Imperatrix nodded.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Seemed like she'd forgive Volcatia after all.
Great.
The crowd was booing.
An increasing number of people were throwing fruit and other foods at the cheating Char.
Wasting food was very human of them.
But how to make a spectacle of this…
She'd wanted to beat him to death with her Status Window.
A fitting death for a cheating Char in Onyxfell.
Annoying.
Eh.
More annoying was that at some point she'd have to smash whatever giant machine he'd just activated.
She could feel the charge flowing through it deep underground.
"Step back," she said to Mina as her smile returned. "Far back."
Maybe it wouldn't be that boring.
She started walking towards the man-shaped machine.
"Carl, stop fucking about!" she shouted.
It seemed like the thing to do.
"Stupid mech weighs a ton!" Carl grumbled loudly, still trying to push the giant machine off himself with his ten million Strength.
Actually.
Now that she thought about it, how did he even manage to get his Strength stat that high?
Huh.
Not that it mattered.
"STOP!" yelled the cheating Char. "Don't come any closer, or I'll crush him!"
Carl's clothes weren't seeing much victory, but he seemed fine himself.
The machine had a few small dents in it, mostly around its head.
The cheating Char's metal arm came up with its clawed hand outstretched, starting to glow.
Time slowed as her reflexes activated.
What the fuck was he even doing though?
Oh.
A small piece of metal shot out of the machine's hand towards her.
What did Carl call it?
Railgun?
She thought about it.
Eh.
She didn't like it.
Not a good name.
Electromagnetic Force Cannon.
Now that was a fucking name.
She hadn't told Carl her name for it because he seemed to really like his own.
She directed the current in her body outwards. It crackled as it emerged, the amperage of the continuous, uninterrupted, unlimited flow heating the air. The blue light coiled around itself, and she slotted her right arm through the spiral while it continued to extend outwards.
It was helpful that she could use her own body as a magnetic core for things like this.
If the cheating Char had bad aim, he might accidentally kill someone.
Yeah, she could just grab the fucking thing out of the air, but she was making a spectacle.
And maybe having a little fun.
The chunk of metal flew slowly into the space in front of her hand, drawn in by the electromagnet she'd created as it flew towards her.
All that time spent fucking about with magnet shit from her Electricity Knowledge was turning out to be really useful.
Weird.
Still no fucking idea how it worked though.
She adjusted the flow of her current, again using two fingers as guides—conductors—as she split the energy into positive and negative components, holding the metal loosely in the space between them with her thumb and other fingers.
Her fingers were a guide, but the current was hers.
She sent a charge shooting through one half, forcing it across the chunk of metal and along the positive conductor back to herself.
The great thing about her Electromagnetic Force Cannon was that the conductors were as long as she wanted them to be.
Brought back memories of when she'd tried to skip giant chunks of metal across the ocean.
The space around her hand flashed brightly, and the light followed the metal with a loud boom as it fired back at the cheating Char's man-shaped machine, striking it in its head at an upward angle and blasting a hole clear through.
A really big hole.
Fine, she blasted the whole fucking head off, and the area where it had been was starting to melt.
She got a little too excited trying to make a spectacle.
Magnets were fun, even if she didn't understand them.
She decided to be slower and relaxed her current.
She was still fast though.
Fuck, was it…
She rubbed her forehead.
So fucking annoying.
She couldn't even slow down if she didn't stop whatever stupid machine this guy activated?
Huh.
Maybe it was good that she'd used an electromagnet to catch that metal chunk.
What to do…
She looked at the ground.
How far down was this thing?
Urgh.
Too annoying.
Volcatia discarded her shell and surged into the sandy dirt.
Her senses vanished save for her Electricity Sense, but that was fine.
She charged towards the biggest current she could feel.
The newest one.
She entered the circuit, and it instantly overloaded.
She felt her current spread throughout the city, pulsing into metal boxes here and there, each one exploding in turn.
Easy.
She moved back to her previous spot and into her shoes, exchanging her position with that of a quantum state from a superposition of the her that had never left.
Her shell restored itself.
She blinked as sight happened, followed by smell, followed by feel.
She tasted the inside of her mouth.
She heard the absence of sound that came with being too fast for things to create sound.
"Inventory."
Volcatia bent down and took her shoes off, then pulled a new set of clothes out of her Inventory since her old ones had been burned away.
She hated that part of the skill.
Annoying.
Everything about this was annoying.
She'd liked that shirt too.
Felt comfortable.
Good feel.
This one was same-y, but it didn't feel…
Wasn't exactly the same.
She put her shoes back on.
At least they didn't have laces.
How fucking annoying would that be?
She couldn't imagine.
Always tying and untying and tying…
Yeah, obviously not something she'd ever do.
It was amazing her shoes could be as durable as they were.
Great decision.
Okay.
She was ready.
Felt like that had taken ages.
If she wasn't immortal, she probably would have died of boredom in the time it took for all that to happen.
She decided to be slower, and she was.
Finally.
The cheating Char's machine staggered backwards.
Volcatia grinned heroically as she looked to Aquila.
That was really fucking—
"W-what did you do?!" shouted the cheating Char.
Volcatia groaned.
Was this a joke?
"Carl, is this a joke?" she called.
"Huh?" he Carled at her.
That was the word she'd been looking for.
Her annoyance vanished.
She loved finding great new words.
This one was perfect.
She was tired of the cheating Char though.
How long had it even been?
Felt like he'd been faintly annoying her for months at this point.
Maybe around six months, actually?
Just boring now.
She attached the machine's chest to her hand, ionizing and bonding all the air molecules between them and then moving the air aside so her hand was directly bonded to the machine.
Attaching things always brought back memories.
It was the first thing she'd done with Electron Manipulation.
Mostly by accident.
She imagined nobody could ever be Smart enough to figure out how all that electron shit really worked.
She'd spent a whole year watching wood burn just to be able to mimic it for deconstructing things.
A boom thundered out as the machine was sucked to her hand.
She detached the machine from her shell and tore at the white metal, ripping it away in a large sheet and tossing it aside.
She was really fucking tired of this guy.
He was just wasting her time now.
Where was he…
She ignored the cheers of the crowd as she continued to dig into the machine.
This cheating Char was too good at hiding.
After clawing out a few more big chunks of metal, she reached an empty spot with an empty chair.
Really?
He fucking ran away?
She deconstructed the entire machine to make sure.
It turned to ash, and there was still no…
URGH!
Okay.
Okay.
Fine.
Completely fine.
Volcatia was annoyed again.
She rubbed her forehead and turned back to Aquila, but the old woman just shrugged.
"SCORPIO! SCORPIO! SCORPIO!" screamed the spectators.
This wasn't a good end to the spectacle.
She might not be smart, but even she knew that much.
Mm.
Carl had, in a vaguely impressive display of speed, Carled on a new shirt from his Inventory and dashed over to Mina, and they were now sharing a hug.
Belenus's wife was crouching by his body.
The crowd continued to chant.
Volcatia felt like she had to do something.
She needed an idea…
It was times like this that she wished she was Smart.
Instead though, she stood in place while she paced back and forth.
What to do…
She glanced to where she knew Carl was once more, but it seemed like that hug was going to take a while.
Aquila was making some hand gestures at her, but she was still wearing the cloth over her mouth, so…
There was an idea…
Volcatia tapped her chin.
Aquila…
She was close to having the idea.
She could feel it.
She just needed…
Oh.
Obviously.
She forgot she was a legend for a moment.
Volcatia stopped watching and held her hand up to quiet the crowd.
It was amazing that she still could.
She'd been gone for six fucking years!
Humans were too easy to please.
Just like her.
She'd gotten so entertained by figuring out a new word she liked that she stopped being annoyed at the cheating Char for wasting her time.
Very human.
"Victory-seekers, ignore the idiot Char! It's been six years!" she called out, turning as she spoke to address the spectators on all sides. "The Imperatrix set me with a task then! It took time, but as I always do, as the Empire always does, victory was found!"
Yeah, she was lying.
Heroically.
A legendary lie.
"VICTORY! VICTORY! VICTORY!" the crowd began to chant.
Maybe…
Would they just cheer for anything?
Nah, it had to be because it was her.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
Aquila was visibly shaking her head and making threatening hand gestures, but she was just being Aquila.
Volcatia held her hand up again after letting them chant for a little while.
She had to let them chant a little, or she'd upset them.
She knew all about controlling crowds.
This crowd specifically.
"When I left, the Imperatrix was near death," she called out.
The crowd gasped and began to mutter.
They were upset.
Aquila was a great Imperatrix.
"She was old! She sent me to find something to make her live longer!" she called.
Aquila paused in the process of implying that she was going to cut off Volcatia's head.
Yeah, even Smart people could be surprised sometimes.
Volcatia pointed at the young old woman. "I found it, and Imperatrix Aquila has returned to her youth to find victory for us for another hundred years! In the name of Sateus, I say to you: this is still your Imperatrix!"
Aquila might be surprised, but she'd been the Imperatrix for a long time. She took down the cloth from her face as she hopped over the stone barrier to walk onto the track, grabbing the speaking device from the commentator on her way.
Mellitus appeared at her side, his head turning this way and that.
"Your victory is a victory for the Empire!" Aquila declared loudly as she began her own victory speech without hesitation.
Intrepid as always.
"VICTORY! VICTORY! VICTORY!" the crowd chanted again.
Fuck, maybe they really would just…
Nah, this was Aquila.
Obviously they had to.
They…
It couldn't be that the cheating Char had turned everyone into idiots while she'd been gone, could it?
Aquila was already talking excitedly about something like she always did, vaguely sounding like she was already preparing for war against the Chars.
Volcatia grimaced.
Aquila was great, but…
She talked a lot when she gave speeches.
Could be hours before she stopped.
The crowd was chanting again.
Volcatia decided to let the old woman have her victory for as long as she wanted.
She'd already made a spectacle and had her own fun.
If she stayed, she'd be bored.
She moved to stand next to Carl, who was rubbing his hand through Mina's hair.
"Let's go somewhere else," Volcatia said just before she moved them all back to his workshop.
Carl frowned down at her "What? Hey, I might've missed your speech, but I kinda wanted to hear that."
Mina giggled and leaned against his side, wiping at her reddened eyes with her knuckles. "It appears you've once more found your victory, Volcatia."
Volcatia grimaced again. "Friends should call me Vol."
"Oh? We've become friends, have we?" Mina said with a raised eyebrow.
"You defeated that cheating Char, you—"
"Wait a minute, that freaking guy was cheating?" Carl demanded.
"Yeah, he was definitely cheating," Volcatia said. "Had guns on the front of his car he was using to shoot the tires of the other cars, and then he wasn't even fucking driving himself. Car was driving for him!"
Carl let out a long breath and ran a hand through his hair. "I knew it. He was cheating out of his mind when we went fishing too. Had to be. No freaking way he…" his grumbling trailed off into an annoyed frown.
"Fuck, that reminds me," Volcatia said. "Be back soon."
She needed to do this now or she was sure she'd forget.
She moved back to a spot under the racing track that was now deserted and walked up to the counter. "Claiming my victory. Carl Maximus Tempestates."
The man at the counter gave her a suspicious look. "You don't—"
She raised her fist and let a small surge of electricity spark through.
"Oh, it's you," he said. "Hold on." He walked to the side of the counter and disappeared behind a wall.
It was amazing that he knew the result of the race but didn't—
"Scorpio!" The man came rushing back immediately with a piece of paper and a pencil, his eyes wide. "I've been an admirer of yours since your first battle! C-could you…" He offered the pencil to her.
Volcatia sighed.
It had been a really long time since she'd done this.
She took the pencil and wrote her full name, drawing the i's as scorpio tails just like she always used to.
"Thank you, thank you," the man said excitedly when she was done, jumping up and down a little while holding the paper up to his face.
"Yeah, uh, can I just—"
"Right, sorry!" the man said, dashing off behind the wall again. He returned a few seconds later with a fishing rod, then reached under the counter and pulled out a hundred-mark coin. "Here you are!"
"Thanks," Volcatia said.
She tossed both items into her still-open Inventory.
Next she moved to a place outside the city.
It should be…
She decided to be faster, and she was.
A quick jog to the spot she'd judged earlier, and she found…
Where the fuck was…
She rubbed her forehead.
She hadn't thought about how far it might bounce.
Yeah, maybe she wasn't becoming smart.
That was fine though.
She decided to be as fast as she could be, and she was.
No point in missing whatever Carl and Mina were going to be doing to celebrate.