Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 34
Edward Ailloss
“My lord, I have news from the academy.”
To the guards’ relief, he stopped their sparring session. The twenty or so guards helped each other off the ground, many of them nursing small injuries. Edward turned to the old spymaster. “Tell me, at the very least, that Sam is finally there. I’m beginning to think sending him was a mistake, no one else can keep up with even basic swordplay.”
Varik paused. “He arrived a few days ago and is already in position. But the news I brought is slightly more significant.”
Edward gave the man his attention, the past few weeks had been rough. Without Sam, the only person he could spar with evenly was Helena, and just thinking of her wrath caused a shiver to shoot down his spine. She hadn’t appreciated their daughter running away, even if he had a good reason to force her into a marriage.
Needless to say, he was eager to have Sam back. “What is the latest development?”
“It seemed that there is an influx of specialized combatants in the academy, and not just from House Calman.” Varik paused. “I still can’t be sure, but from the information that my agents have gathered, it is likely House Ramotar.”
“What?” Edward paced back and forth for a moment, thinking over the implications of what Varik had just said. House Ramotar would have had to send the combatants months in advance, around the same time Dante entered the academy. “Do we know why?”
Varik hesitated. “One of my agents has discovered a possible cause, but it is still just conjecture.”
He was getting somewhat impatient, and waved Varik on.
“I prefer to only relay things that I can be certain of…” Varik released a sigh. “One of my agents was stationed in House Danton for the last twenty years, and he swears that the boy’s servant bears a strong resemblance to Mia of House Went.”
Edward froze. “How sure is he?”
“It’s hard to say. House Went was eradicated over twelve years ago, Mia would have only been seven years old…” Varik’s tone made his doubt clear. “That said, my agent swears by it, and the servant bears the same first name.”
Edward paused his pacing and rubbed his chin in thought. “That doesn’t make any sense, they wouldn’t have been able to keep it a secret for so long… if they are using her out in the open as a servant. Besides, after his sister’s death Damian Ramotar utilized the best Seers, and they all came to the conclusion that there were no survivors of the attack.”
“I agree my lord. But… if it really is Mia of House Went, it may substantiate some of the rumors surrounding House Calman.”
He thought it over for a moment.
Would the Calmans really use Wraith Collars?
“How much would Mia know about House Ramotar’s manipulation techniques?”
Varik thought over the question for a moment. “It’s hard to say, but based on the information I have regarding House Ramotar, even at the age of seven, she would have at least some knowledge regarding their world essence control techniques… as long as her mother began training her early.”
Edward was having a hard time holding back his cursing. If House Calman learned how to amplify their world essence control through mana, as a house of magic Classifications, they would be far too dangerous.
“Get a message to Damian, we need to find out if his niece really was captured by the Calmans. I need an answer, quickly. Offer our support if you need to.” Edward began to pace again. “Tell Sam to prepare himself, we may need to take Dante out of the academy immediately. We can’t let him get caught up in the fighting if the academy turns into a war zone.”
“Yes my lord.” Varik limped off, eager to accomplish his new orders.
If the Calmans were truly responsible for eradicating House Went, a house war would be starting soon.
Edward released a sigh, it may be time join forces and crush House Calman.
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Mia let out a sigh. “I still can’t believe you agreed to join a commoner team.”
Dante looked over curiously. “It can’t be that bad, can it?”
Mia thought about it for a moment. “… I suppose not. You have the protection of House Calman, they have all but claimed you. Still, commoner teams don’t fare well in the arena.”
“Wouldn’t killing get a team disqualified and banned for three days?”
Mia nodded. “Killing the opponent will ban your team, resulting in forced disqualification, but if you’re already going to lose, there are no real repercussions.” She glanced back at him. “Any noble would be disgraced by losing to a commoner team, so as soon as defeat is obvious, they go for killing blows.”
That meant he would need to keep his guard up if the fight turned in their favor, even if it was unlikely that he would be the one targeted.
“That changes in the tournament final though. The three-day ban doesn’t start until after the fight is concluded. If a commoner team makes it to the final, the opponents will go all out from the beginning. To the best of my knowledge, only one commoner team has ever won a platinum tournament, and there was only one student alive on the team when the fight was over.”
Dante paused mid-step as he processed Mia’s words. “Why would any commoner fight in the tournament?”
Mia shrugged. “They are probably desperate. Students at the academy are eager to be employed by a noble house in the Outer region, but to do that they need to have the strength required.”
That seemed to contradict something that Alexander had told him. “I thought that all of the combatants go House Calman after the academy?”
Mia shook her head. “No, they only take the strongest combatants, the rest are sold to smaller houses that they control.”
“Sold?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course, the Calmans provide free resources to thousands of students as well as compensate lords for recruiting for them, where do you think they get the money?”
“I was told that the academy is free for combatants.” The new revelation was making his head spin, it sounded like slavery.
Mia nodded. “It’s free for the first quarter, when they are sifting through the students for the ones with the most promise, but to stay after that first quarter, all of the commoners have to sign a mana-bound contract.”
The academy was continually disappointing him time and time again. But he thought, that at the very least, the other commoners were getting a useful experience out of it. His opinion of the Calmans just hit rock bottom. “What do they agree to in their contract?”
“It depends on their potential. The weakest students sign for twenty years of service, and the most brilliant students only have five years of service, but usually its somewhere in between.” Mia shrugged. “For some of them it’s not a bad deal, the contract requires free food and shelter to be given to them, even though they don’t get paid.”
Mia glanced back at him. “For others… it can go bad. For example, if a lord finds a new mine but doesn’t want to pay for Miner Classifications, they can just buy up the cheapest contracts from the Calmans for cheap labor. Needless to say, the best option is to gain power while still at the academy. The contract price will increase with a combatant’s strength, and their chances of being a casual guard for a noble house will increase along with the price. If I had to guess, at least one of your teammates already has a buyer for their contract, and the circumstances are less than favorable.”
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Dante walked the rest of the way to the arena in stunned silence. That was slavery, even if it only lasted until the contract expired.
When he arrived at their meeting place, Jaseni rushed out to meet him with a smile on her face. “You came!” Then she seemed to remember herself, her smile disappeared, and she bowed. “I mean, thank you for gracing our team with your presence my lord.” She was carrying a sword, likely a Warrior Classification
Before he could even say anything, Haden came up behind her. “Please forgive Jaseni’s poor mannerisms, my lord, we aren’t used to being in noble company.”
Unlike Jaseni, Haden was carrying a shield, leaving him guessing at what Haden’s Classification could be. The shield was massive, almost as tall as his entire body and had a grate to see through where his eyes would be. Dante cleared his throat. “There is no need to treat me like a lord.”
Haden bowed. “Of course, my lord. We should hurry to the arena, they are waiting for us to start the fight. Please follow me.” He turned toward one of the corridors.
Then Jaseni gave another bow before turning and following Haden.
Really?
Dante just watched them walk away for a moment. Then, letting out a sigh, he followed.
As he caught up to the two of them, Haden looked back at him. “My lord, do you know the rules of team battles? The moderator won’t go over them before the start of a semifinal tournament match.”
“I know the rules for a one on one fights, but not team fights.”
Haden nodded. “They aren’t much different. The main difference is that a team fight is only over when all team members surrender or are unable to continue. Also, mana manipulation and world essence manipulation can be prepared prior to the fight.”
That was a nice change, but not necessarily for him. It meant that his speed in world essence manipulation would count for little… The fact that everyone had to surrender themselves could be dangerous as well. “Sounds simple enough.”
Jaseni nodded excitedly. “Yes! Now all we need to do is add you to our team.” Then, almost as an afterthought. “My lord.”
The two of them led him toward a receptionist who added him to the team and updated his Identification card.
Name: Dante
Classification(s): Warrior
Living Quarters: Housing District 1 – Building 43 – Floor 3
Arena Rank: Gold (232/825 Credit Earned)
Arena Team: Hope
Arena Team Rank: Platinum
Credit: 2
Seeing his identification card, Dante turned toward Jaseni and Haden. “Hope?”
Haden scratched the back of his head, clearly embarrassed. “Uh… Jaseni thought of it, my lord.”
Jaseni’s face turned crimson.
team name was incredibly depressing.
And now there was an awkward silence between the three of them. Unsure of where to go from there, he spoke up. “Shouldn’t we get to the arena now?”
Haden nodded. “Yes, we should hurry.”
The three of them found an attendant and were led toward the entrance of the fighting pit. “You know the rules, but remember, no fighting until the moderator starts the match.”
Dante followed Haden and Jaseni's example by nodding.
As soon as their attendant received a sign from the moderator, he motioned them in. “You may enter.”
The three of them walked into the fighting pit, and he was more than a little nervous to fight in his first platinum fight, and not to mention one where two other people would rely on him.
Completely ignoring his surroundings, Dante focused in on their three opponents who were entering the arena from the other side.
There were two nobles from Housing District 2 and one from Housing District 1, who seemed to be the group’s leader.
He assumed that they knew who they were fighting, but hadn’t heard that he was filling as a teammate. Because as soon as the three nobles walked into the arena, their sneers turned into frowns.
The two from Housing District 2 had swords, but noble from the Outer region was carrying a bow. He hoped that the archer just had a Ranger Classification, which focused on increasing the power or speed of projectiles with its skills, some of the other ranged Classifications were far more dangerous.
“I’ll handle the archer, the two of you can handle the swordsmen.” Haden’s ability to take charge in the arena completely surprised him, his demeanor had changed entirely from the nervousness he had shown when bowing to him earlier, and was replaced by the confidence of a leader.
Dante nodded back to him, as did Jaseni. Then, seeing the blue glow that began to fill Haden’s shield, he started to fill his sword with world essence. He had been told that he had a full minute, so he packed it with as much world essence as possible before shaping it into a blade.
As he began shaping the weapon, the blue protective dome began to surround the arena. “The semifinal match between team Hope.” The moderator gestured to the three of them. “And team Rising Phoenix.” He gestured to the other three. “Will now begin. Fight!”
As soon as the moderator started the match, the archer released an arrow straight at him.
It wasn’t a killing blow, the archer aimed for his leg and he was easily able to slice down in time with just his agility and dexterity, not even needing his Blade Dancer passive.
He seemed to be picked out as the most significant threat, which he didn’t understand. As soon as he blocked the first arrow, a second came right after, and then the other two nobles charged him with swords barred.
He barely had time to bring his sword up to parry the world essence filled blade after he cut the second arrow out of the air.
As the two swords collided, Dante released a grunt, the noble was far stronger than he had expected. He used the brief moment of respite that he had earned from blocking the strike to examine the battle, wary of a second sword or third arrow.
He was relieved to see that Haden was in a position to block the Archer from shooting him, and Jaseni had somehow moved to intercept the second swordsman. She was far more agile than he had thought.
All that was left was for him to focus on the single swordsman in front of him, even though he was still cautious of a stray arrow.
After adjusting for the noble’s strength, it wasn’t hard to deal with him at all. After so many fights with Will, he knew how to best use his agility to avoid hard-hitting blows.
The key was to not meet the attacks head-on. Instead, he merely deflected the strikes while simultaneously using his Agility to narrowly avoid them, using up the least amount of energy possible. He actually had many chances to end the fight, the noble had several holes in his guard which would have allowed him to easily slide in and finish the fight.
He waited though, he didn’t want to take out his enemy until at least one more of their opponents was defeated. If he took out his opponent prematurely, it might put Haden and Jaseni’s life at risk.
As his fight with the noble progressed, he used the brief moments when the nobles guard slipped to slash at the noble’s sword. It would buy him a few seconds to glance around and see how the fight was progressing.
Haden seemed to be having an easy time dealing with the archer, he was standing a few feet away from the him, entirely covered by his shield and ready to intercept any projectile that came near him. Anytime the archer thought of intervening in the swordfights, Haden would use the opportunity to get in close and try to bash him.
It was a strange balance of offense and defense, and he couldn’t believe how well Haden was stopping the archer from firing his bow. The way Haden moved was incredibly practiced and methodical. And the way the world essence on his shield was controlled was done skillfully enough to allow it to double as an intimidating weapon.
Somehow Jaseni’s performance was more surprising. He had taken her to be a Warrior, but apparently that wasn’t the case. Her Agility and Dexterity were even faster than his own. She skillfully dodged her opponents swings completely, weaving in and out of each thrust while also managing to give the noble shallow cuts in almost every exchange.
The two commoners were far more skilled than any nobles he had seen thus far.
Dante refocused on his noble, waiting for Jaseni’s opponent to bleed out so he could deal with his at the same time.
“Dustin, buy me time!” The opposing team’s archer shouted out from behind Haden.
The opponent he was fighting immediately disengaged, the noble spun on his heels and ran toward Haden as quickly as he could.
He was slightly surprised by his opponents change in tactic, but he was waiting for something. Without hesitating, Dante charged his fleeing opponent and smashed the pommel of his sword against the noble’s temple, causing him to fall unconscious and crumple to the floor.
Dante sighed in relief, if his Agility hadn’t been higher than his opponents, that could have ended badly.
There was mocking laughter coming from the archer. “I’ll still kill that bitch!” Dante watched in shock as the archer sprang backward, away from Haden, and swung his bow to face Jaseni, who was still tied up in her own fight. Haden was on him immediately but was a second late.
The archer completely ignored Haden’s incoming threat. Releasing the arrow and taking Haden’s incoming shield head on, which knocked him out.
“Jaseni!” Dante couldn’t stop himself from yelling out as he charged toward her and her opponent. Thankfully, she seemed to process the shout in time to slightly twist away from the incoming arrow and just barely avoid a fatal shot to her heart, but it still slid into her ribcage with an audible thunk.
Dante didn’t pause, the arrow looked like it might have pierced her lung, and the noble who she was fighting was still attacking her.
Jaseni barely managed to avoid a swing, then threw herself to the side, rolling on the ground and snapping the arrow that was piercing her ribcage, likely making the wound worse.
The noble lunged toward her, intent on finishing her off.
That was when he finally made it to them. Seeing the noble try to kill Jaseni, who was clearly out of the fight and defenseless, his rage flared. Seeing red, he snagged the noble by the shoulder and yanked him up so that they were facing each other. There was brief second when they looked each other in the eye, Dante smiled maliciously, only having a brief moment to see the surprise on the noble’s face before he rammed his sword through the boy’s gut.
It was hard, but he stopped himself from twisting the blade and making his attack lethal. He wanted to. So badly. But after seeing what Jaseni and Haden went through to compete in the tournament, he wouldn’t ruin their chances of winning.
The moderator called out with a disinterested voice. “Team Hope is the winner, Healer!”
The healers rushed out. Immediately heading toward the noble that Dante had just rammed his sword through and ignoring Jaseni completely.
Haden was now kneeling over her, doing his best to stop the bleeding, but the arrow had definitely pierced a lung and she was now coughing up large mouthfuls of blood.
Furious and still filled with his bloodlust, Dante walked up to the two healers and yanked them up while jabbing a finger toward Jaseni. “Get your ass over there and heal her before she dies.”
“My lord, we need to heal the nobles first. It’s a part of the academy’s standard operating procedure.”
Dante smiled in response. “If she dies, I will kill all three of them.”
The healer audibly gulped, then nodded and hurried over to Jaseni.