As they fought, Dreiki began to understand what Tadios meant when he said there was a lot to learn about someone through how they fought. Tadios fought like he was expressing himself. Every punch, kick, throw, and spell was an extension of who he was as a person. He was straightforward and honest, but there was also gentle playfulness about him. He knew his strength, and he did not need to prove it. He fought to live in the moment and enjoy himself, not to hurt the person he was fighting. It was a careful dance he led with Dreiki, knowing the difference in their strength. At first Dreiki had misunderstood it was because Tadios pitied him. He thought he held back because he had to. The truth was, Tadios wanted Dreiki to live in the moment and experience that strange sense of calm amidst the chaos of battle. To know that fighting was never a lonely activity.
That’s when Dreiki landed his parry, stopping his fist only a few inches from Tadios’s jaw. He felt it. He might have been able to land a heavy blow on him. He might have even knocked Tadios out with it. But that was not the point of sparring. There was no victory in downing someone who was holding back, “Guess I’ll be your rival in three years, huh?” Dreiki said with a grin.
Tadios blinked in surprise before returning that grin, “More like two and a half now.”
They continued sparring until they heard Ezo bark in the distance. The bat drake rushed towards them with someone jogging close to his side. They were dressed in white fur which made them hard to spot in the snow, two black horns poked from the hood of their cloak. They stopped in front of the two of them.
“Uh, who’re you?” Tadios asked, putting his hands on his hips, “I thought you told your drake not to lead people here?”
“I did,” Dreiki looked over at the stranger again.They had wrapped everything up to their tail in white fur. He couldn’t even see their eyes from under the combination of scarf and hood. They looked to be expecting something from him. Standing awkwardly in place as if they wanted Dreiki to respond. If it had not been for the way Ezo trotted happily in place around the stranger he would not have recognized her, “Luna?”
The figure let out a muffled, “Ding! Ding! Ding!” From under her scarf. She pulled off her hood to reveal neck length blonde hair which fell daintily over one eye before she brushed it off to the side.
Tadios snapped his fingers, finally recognizing her,“Oh, you’re the Nephilim girl from a week ago! You’ve got horns now!”
“You cut your hair too.” Dreiki noted, “It looks good.”
Luna nodded proudly, “I needed something else to cut while I grew them back.”
“I didn’t know you cut your horns.” Dreiki said, leaning forward to inspect them. They were a similar shape to Rixam’s. It made sense, since devils and angels were the same creature, “I always thought they were just smaller by default.”
Luna scratched the back of her head, “Yeah, well, I don’t really like how they look on me, so I file them down whenever I can, but I wanted to participate in the game too, so I grew them out. I’ll probably cut them again when the game’s over.”
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“I see. Where did you go for the past week? I haven’t even seen you in the tents for the past week so I was starting to get worried, but Rixam told me it would be alright.”
“I wanted to surprise you with it, so I let Rixam and Gornax know I’d be out training in the wilderness this week. I made an igloo for myself and slept in the snow. It helped me get a lot better with my ice magic.”
“You did this to surprise me? Why?”
“Maybe ‘surprise you’ wasn’t the right way to put it. I didn’t wanna tell anyone in case I couldn’t grow them out in time. That way you could plan without me.”
“Well It’s definitely a pleasant surprise,” Tadios said, “Seein’ as you’ve got horns now that means you’re joining our team right?”
She nodded, “Yup! I talked to Corvio this morning, I’m officially a part of the game now. I am now under your direct command.”
“Glad to hear it!”
“So, what’s been going on since I left last week?”
Tadios and Dreiki filled Luna in about the current situation. At Dreiki’s suggestion, the Tiburs had adopted a hit and run strategy which preserved their numbers and allowed them to pick up some victories. Because of this, Deka’s elite had turned their efforts towards crushing and assimilating all the noble factions which had not fallen in line yet. Deka’s faction now outnumbered them by about ten people.
“But since you’ve joined that makes things a lot easier,” Dreiki said, “Your summons can fit perfectly into the plan.”
“And what is the plan?”
“We’ve conditioned our enemy to believe they’ve got us rallied,” Dreiki said, “Our only advantage before was that we outnumbered them. Deka has also brought all of the rogue factions under his banner.”
“It sounds like they have us rallied to me,” Luna said, crossing her arms.
“That’s only if we look at this war game as the Tibur vs. Deka. Like I said, there were several factions of rogue nobility. Those rogue noble factions were our enemies too. They targeted Tibur more often than other nobility. If anything, Deka has helped us by spending his resources to get rid of them.”
“That makes sense,” Luna said, “And I bet those rogue factions didn’t go down without a fight either. Deka’s probably got less loyal followers in his army now than he did when he started.”
“Exactly. His headcount might be up, but his morale is low. Once we deal a hard enough blow to them, they’ll start to bleed members.”
“And this week is when we hit ‘em hard.” Tadios said, punching his fist, “I’ve been itching for a good fight, and now I’ve got a few new tricks to show off.”
“We’re going to target their leaders and take them out to sow chaos in their ranks. Tadios already has a few challengers who would not refuse a fight on equal terms. With him paving the way, we can gather momentum and steal a victory.”
“And what do we do as Noxa? They wouldn’t ignore us if we’re the ones who challenge them to a fight.” Luna said.
“You’re right, and that’s why my plan is not to have us fight. At least not directly. If Noxa are agents of chaos, then I say we sow chaos. Remember what we did with the bandits?”
Luna nodded, “But this is nobility. Their resistances are higher to those sorts of things.”
“They’re still children in the end, just like me and you. If anything, I think they’ll be more susceptible to the potions we’re cooking up.”
“Potions?”
“Love potions. Or, more accurately, love bombs.”