“It's inappropriate.” Tyr frowned. “You cannot submit an entrant to the ascendancy trials if they are not of your nation. That is the law, you can't recruit foreign aid.”
“Are you a foreigner?” Alexandros asked, as if the answer to that question was unknown.
“Are you an idiot?” Tyr replied with a question of his own, if the primus was a little less so, he'd punch the man square in the nose. “This is ridiculous, and I do not accept. Don't you feel pain when you lie to people like that?”
“It doesn't matter.” Alexandros chuckled. “The people have spoken all around the republic, and it wasn't truly my fault. Therefore, I feel nothing but an interest to watch you fight. My punishment does not only come from lying, but manipulating ones thoughts in a way that violates their free will. I told few lies, almost none. Twisting the truth is another thing entirely, I let them come to the conclusions of their own and so I am absolved. You are, by near unanimous senate vote... There was some guy, some lard of Leygein who voted against you, but he'll be taken care of. Gillenos, I think, claimed you had sex with his daughters. I'll admit, I'm curious, is that true?”
By way of answer, Tyr simply glared at him.
“I didn't think so, they are incredibly ugly young women, my daughter would be a far greater candidate for your affections. In any case, honorary citizenship, and in the eyes of all the kingdoms, you are now a Lyran man. We do allow for foreigners to earn citizenship, after all. Half of this nation are expats.”
Tyr groaned. “I wish you'd have at least warned me you were going to do that. We had a deal, Alexandros.”
“We did.” Alexandros nodded. “But if I told you, you would have fled. Hence, I felt pain for that – so believe me when I said that I've paid my price.”
“But why?”
“Because not only did you violate the sanctity of a restricted zone, but all of the entrants I would have preferred to submit are now dead. Only Rafael and Daito remain, men I am aware of and wished to enter, but neither will of their own accord. You are free to do as you please, and also free to face the consequences of your actions. Keeping with official law is not a violation of freedoms. Strange, I know, it makes no sense but few things do these days. Talk them into it, and accept. Build a team, and you'll be forgiven for what you did.”
“And what, exactly, did I do?” Tyr asked. “What was that thing in the meadow?”
“You're about to find out one day, and I doubt you'll like it.” Alexandros sighed, vanishing without another word.
“I'm going to hurt you, one day, you rat fuck.” Tyr grunted toward the wall of an empty room.
The powers of a primus were confusing, they didn't make much sense. A cast iron pan set on the table of the chamber flew into the air and took him directly in the mouth, flattening him.
–
“...Lina?” Jura frowned. Naturally, she was part of his team and there was nothing he could do to stop her. He hadn't tried to, and that made the woman happy, the respect there to insinuate that she was good enough to stand beside such notable figures. But there was another that she was unsure of... “Isn't she the paladin that followed Girshan all around?”
“I'm literally sitting in front of you, we spent three years together...” Lina's lips made for a flat line, staring at the group of people facing her opposite the table. “You have those two here and you're surprised that a level four mage was invited to join your team?”
She indicated Tiber and Samson respectively. Both had no magic and were relatively unremarkable. It wasn't her calling them weak, necessarily, but they were quite obviously just normal people. A good warrior or soldier, even a hundred of them, was not worth a single mage with the talent to reach the 'arch' identifier. And she was near the point, hence why she retained any authority at all despite her incredibly unfortunate string of failures.
“I have a plan for them.” Tyr's tone was similarly flat. He wasn't much interested in this woman, but she was a mage and had fought, deserving some respect. He still didn't like her, but didn't need to. Tyr's life was riddled with constant failures. This time, he'd win. “Is Alexandros your father?”
Lina nearly jumped out of her seat. “...No! That would be ridiculous.”
“Liar.” Tyr sighed, understanding why her name had occupied the top of the list of potential candidates. “Regardless, I can see now why he mentioned you by name. You must've had a father in the republic since you are obviously of western blood, and he didn't seem to be too fond of the senate or the concept of their nepotism. In that case, we'll accept you. I will outfit you with artifacts, either by my hands or through channels I have with the Anu--”
“Anu!? What do you mean Anu?” Lina had her own considerations of the vicious beasts, as did her father. One who hadn't been much of a father at all.
“Watch your tongue.” Tyr warned, brows lowering dangerously. “They are my friends and allies, and I will not hear anything beyond praise about them.” He paused, breathing deep. “Okay. Tiber, Samson, Jura, Lina, Daito, Rafael, Lina, and myself. Eight people, we need two more. Any ideas? Hogan? Why don't you join us?”
“I'm a dwarf. We claim no citizenship but that to our people. Here, that doesn't count, and there's not a chance in hell I'll let them adopt me.” The mustachio'd Hogan replied gruffly, a puff of his pipe to seal the deal. “Never much liked fighting if the objective wasn't killing anyways, find another. I'm sure they'd take me on since I'm registered to a guild in the nation, but I don't want to.”
“Have you made contact with Girshan and Yana? I bet I can talk Alexandros into doing the same thing he did for us.” Tyr asked his wife. She looked nice, dressed in normal clothing and a bit puffy around the eyes from drowsiness. It was late at night, and she showed more humanity than the rest. She shook her head, though. Like Tyr, she had not managed to make contact with them. They'd left, and could be anywhere in the world by now. Losing both Xavier and Abe was too much for them.
Tyr was stumped. There was nobody else, and neither Daito nor Rafael were offering suggestions, considering they were at the head of the guild. A guild with far too few people, only through Daito's suggestion would they participate.
“We could throw in Mikhail and Fennic.” Tyr suggested.
“Hell no.” Mikhail waved it away. He was there in the back with Fennic, playing – and undoubtedly losing – at a wager over chess. “Tiber and Samson are built differently. Miss me with requesting that we participate in a fight against mages and saints. Word is the hero Aurelius might participate this year, not a chance I'm going to let him cut me up.”
“I also will have to decline.” Fennic said. “I trust you, brother.” He nodded to Tyr with an easy smile on his face. “But you could find better near anywhere.”
“I'll do it.” Kirk said, hopeful, but he couldn't. He was no citizen of the republic and while orcs were mistreated, maxxid were... They were maxxid. A rarely seen race that was viewed as monsters, and when not – many had considered them a familiar to Benny. Even as he asked, he knew the answer. “It's not your fault, brother Tyr. Only know that if I could, I would stand at your side. As he would've. What about Rakkis and Camille?”
“Just bloat.” Tyr replied, looking to the mentioned people who hung around the guild hall, not odd considering they were official members now. Aiding in the stoppage of an apocalyptic event did wonders for your resume. “Rakkis is, and no offense, a bit too weak. Camille is very able but she's an enchanter, and that is exactly how Daito is going to fight. To be honest, we don't need ten. We could almost assuredly win with these eight, but they want ten and two alternates. So I planned on making you those alternates and keeping mostly to the original team. I'm sorry.”
Both of them waved his apology away. Tyr took care of them, and would continue to do so. They were Hunters, and they were also close friends of Benny. “It's well enough that we are alternates. A great honor, but I echo the same sentiments as your man, it's daunting.”
“I understand. Ajax then.” Tyr nodded in satisfaction. “Ajax said he would fight, but I wanted to hold off until we were sure Girshan wouldn't be an option, and I don't blame him for that in the least. I hope they are doing okay. That leaves one. Does anybody have any ideas?”
Nobody did, and that was obvious. Daito could suggest people from his village, but to volunteer them would be inappropriate. Unnecessary, too. There was no challenge in this, he only did it in a support role to see how far Tyr could go if he was pressed. Which, likely, he wouldn't be. He'd already grown strong enough to the point that he could probably win this fight by himself, considering the fact that he was... Well... Immortal. Then again, a mage could just freeze him and let the match go on, with the points system being what it is – he'd probably lose in that case. Despite that, everyone else was strong. Most people of ability didn't participate in events like this, if they did – the clans would always win – that was a near guarantee.
It was all a show, a joke, the ritual of significance that was the ascendancy trials had devolved in the last few centuries. People didn't care like they used to, and without the participation of the primus' it was largely a waste of time to most.
Jura could use darkness magic, and that was about it. She wasn't your typical mage, but she possessed physicality enough to challenge them. Tyr could use all magic sans darkness, at the level three standard, reaching beyond that without that deus ex machina known as song magic was not possible for him just yet. And he was not permitted to access the choir in the tournament, Alexandros was aware of these things he could do – calling it 'soul magic'. Something forbidden, active use of it was made an oath between them. According to the primus, it could easily kill someone even through the wards designed to stop such a thing from happening. Tyr didn't want to, whatever the case, song magic, soul magic, whatever it was, it had been a learning tool and nothing else. He could do far greater things if only he could figure out how to bypass that medium by which the spira was controlled.
In any case...
Lina and Rafael were both water mages, very competent ones. He could equip Tiber and Samson in gear necessary to give them the equivalent immeasurables of air mages... Maybe. But that left a big gap, Brenn had talked about how important elemental balance was in Elemento, and the arena would be pretty similar to that, just without so many rules.
“We need either an earth mage or a fire mage.” Tyr said. “I can probably fill the position of the latter, maybe, but not the former. Not well, in any case.”
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“Preference on the fire mage.” Rafael offered a rare piece of advice. “The platform the games take part on is resistant to earth magic to prevent a fast win. Lina, can you use ice magic?”
She nodded.
“Then we can achieve the same effect through physical projectiles or barriers earth mages might use. Geomancers have complained for ages about the inequity in these challenges, stuck to throwing rocks mostly, they aren't very useful unless one is either exceptionally talented or creative. Some bring their own bricks into the challenge to make up for it, which is not against the rules. Ten years ago, at the last ascendancy trials, a man wearing a gourd full of sand made it to the finals of the individual circuit – for example.”
“A fire mage it is, then.” Tyr nodded. He wracked his brain for one that he knew, coming up short – they weren't so common. His mother had declined to participate before leaving to parts unknown, suddenly stuck on this side of the gate and separated from her 'squad'. Thus far, nobody had exploded, so that was good – but she wouldn't help them. Disappearing without a goodbye, it irked him just as much as the rapidly devolving situation he was roped into. After all that time, all of his suffering, she'd completely ignored him, and his father. “I don't know any fire mages here...”
Just then, the door opened slowly and a gray face poked beyond it. A man with craggy features, so bulky he could barely fit through the door, entered the room with a respectful nod to the others. Goaded on by the man behind him.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I'd like to participate in your entry to the games.” Valkan said. “To represent Anu.”
“As will I.” Goroshi, behind, him – said the same. “I don't have much to represent, but Rose told me you needed help, and I was born in Lyran lands.”
“...This is incredibly random.” Tyr squinted, eyeing them skeptically. Seeing not one, but both of his old mentors again was bizarrely convenient. Valkan could use any magic now, just as Tyr could, but better. Goroshi on the other hand was the first high ranked adventurer he'd ever met, and by all considerations an able warrior. “But appreciated.”
“Welcome back, son.” Daito smiled, while Goroshi did nothing but glare quietly at the man. Eyes barely visible through the voluminous hood he wore over the metal mask. Not so different from Tyr's own, actually – on his suit of black armor.
“This has gotta stop.” Tyr groaned. “Why is everyone related...? Hells, how do you even have a son!?”
Daito shrugged. “Don't sweat the details, young man. The complexities of which would be lost on you.”
“That's not what I meant! I thought you said--”
“He did his duty in providing my grandfather with an heir to his line as at the time he had no other children. No more needs to be said.” Goroshi scowled. Tyr was almost certain Daito had claimed to not have any children... Or the ability to make them at all... Magic was a truly phenomenal thing, but it troubled him to know that Daito had almost certainly lied to him.
“Will this be a problem?” Jura asked. Unlike the others, she remained unfazed by the recent entrants to the room. Both were strong. Hell, one was Anu – and they all seemed to know each other in any case. “You don't seem to be overly fond of one another.”
“That's a good question...” Tyr complimented her. Jura was very talented, an observant woman capable of getting to the root of things. She had good instincts developed over the course of a dangerous life. He'd come to trust her a great deal.
Goroshi shook his head. “I was invited to watch, but it would be an honor to fight beside my deadbeat father once again.”
“You were eighteen when I left.” Daito clucked his tongue in annoyance. “Deadbeat...?”
“Regardless.” Goroshi turned toward Tyr, ignoring the man who had presumably brought him into this world. The latter feeling an oncoming migraine again. “World on the street is that hundreds of adventurers are petitioning the senate to get a slot on your team, since you are taking interviews. If you'll have me, I'd like to participate.”
“Why?” Tyr asked. “You always said you never cared about money or glory, why now? And that's ignoring how incredibly random and coincidental this is. Like... What are the chances that you'd show up here at the exact moment we were stumped on who to add?”
Goroshi stared back at him impassively. “Rose told me you needed help, and you know of our affiliation. I was unable to secure a pass for the individual challenges, because you hold them all. Thus, I'll fight on your team if offered one of these passes. Also... I've been sitting on your roof and eavesdropping for hours, as for this guy.” He thrust his thumb at Valkan. Tyr observed how much better his common had become over the last few years as well, feeling a bit of vain pride at the idea that he might have spurned this development. Goroshi didn't have any friends, beside Rose, and while he didn't seem like the type to have a heart to heart – Rose had been pretty clear in thanking Tyr for helping to open him up to the world. “I found him snooping around the lobby. Said he'd come to meet you, so I brought him inside. I am a Hunter, and have full range of all these facilities.”
“Ah...” Tyr frowned, a bit dazed all told. “And Valkan? It's not that I don't appreciate seeing you again, but I am curious. Would it not be a problem for one of your kind to participate? How did you even get through the city? People are terrified of Anu around here.”
Valkan sighed. “I didn't want to, I have little interest in fighting, but my father wishes for us to unveil the new and improved spellbreakers. Our version of them, at least – converted and designed to be less costly and more efficient. Getting through the city was easy, though. People look at me no differently than a beastkin, very few people have ever seen Anu in living memory and lived to tell the tale. Imagining fanged giants with angry eyes. Though it is good to see you as well, my apprentice.” Valkan smiled softly, taking Tyr's hand in a bone crushing grip to shake it until he felt like the whole limb was going to come off. “By law, we are proxy citizens of the republic, just like the orcs. We cannot vote, naturally, but as protectorate states we are not considered foreigners. Technically... You've broken hundreds if not thousands of laws in your time, what's one more?”
Every kingdom level nation was given a specific amount of passes to use in the combat portion of the tournament. All races were allowed participation as long as they could secure a valid pass. People from all over the world would gather even two years for this, but only the fifth consecutive event on the 10-year anniversary of the inception of the first games would it truly become a spectacle. A game the various empires typically stayed out of, but now they would play to win. Sending their best and brightest from across the continent.
Honestly, Tyr figured it would be boring – not out of pure arrogance but because it was quite obvious. Daito alone was incredibly strong, at a level that few Tyr had ever met would be able to match. Goroshi was a platinum level adventurer, and so was Rafael. Their team was unbelievable stacked and Alexandros had given them the maximum allotted budget to outfit themselves, a vast sum of gold. They'd use as little as possible, Tyr's pockets were big enough and he had no interest in falling into debt to that particular weirdo.
It was a pretty simple affair. Ladder matches split between a 10 versus 10, 5 versus 5, and individual challenges. There were 'free entrants' that could gain the right to participate by fighting in a battle royale of sorts, but Tyr was sponsored so his team wouldn't need to bother with all that. It wasn't just combat either, every challenge under the sun was represented at the ascendancy trials. There was even a fishing contest, and all of it – unfortunately – was held in the flat lands between Amistad and Baccia, in a spot picked specifically for the event. Very close to the border of the former this year.
For races that existed outside of the standard identifier of 'nation', such as the dwarves, kijin nomads, and others like them – they were given special representation. If they chose to participate. The elves, despite having a nation, never had participated according to rumor. And in all his travels, Tyr had yet to see one of the isolationist members of that strange race. A lot of people said elves didn't even exist, and he was starting to believe that was the case.
There were almost no rules to separate races by their individual merits – all were equal in the tournament. Tyr had his own reservations and doubts about it all. First, it just seemed like poor timing. Their nation, the republic that is, was just one of many participants – but it had just gone through a calamity, and was still going through it. Alexandros said it was about hope, to provide a symbol, and because he'd wagered with both Octavian and Jartor that his team would win – and in the process secure some unknown benefits. Maybe for aid.
Secondly, Tyr was a primus. There was no question in him anymore, it was abundantly clear that his nascent aspect had begun to awaken. Perhaps it already had, and he was not weak. His faults as a person were what held him back, but when push came to shove, he was nephilim. A high human, the original members of their race, capable of things that would shock and awe an archmage. Nephilim were not so incredibly rare, but there weren't many primus', and there was no telling when he might manage to grasp his aspect and do something terrible with it. It was only a matter of time, he could feel it inching closer, whispering to him in his dreams.
A broken and defective product, maybe, but it would come. Eventually.
He indicated as such to Daito that it was inherently unfair. For example, if Vidarr participated, he couldn't possibly lose. Every year, he could go in alone, and leave alone – not requiring a team of any sort.
“The ascendancy trials are old, as old as our race. It was an opportunity to bond and challenge ourselves against the other races and nations, beneath the eyes of the gods. And historically, the primus' always participated. Not in the group trials, but lawfully you are not heir primus, it's a loophole in the current ruleset.” Daito explained. “You also seem to think that this is going to be easy for you, and it will be in the first set of matches. We're ranked and seeded based on the nation we hail from and any other measurables by a team of judges. Goroshi, Rafael, and I – are all platinum ranked at this point. That alone is enough to place us in a top-ten seed. Adding the others should bring us into the top five. We'll be fighting magicless knights and champions, maybe a few standard mages. But if you expect me to try, I won't. I participate only to see how far you've come in a controlled environment, I'm not here to carry you, and I don't care if we lose. The trials are a joke, in my opinion.”
Goroshi nodded, Rafael didn't seem to care either, and the rest of them just frowned. The revelation that at a minimum, their two most powerful participants 'didn't care' seemed... Juvenile, maybe? What did they mean, they didn't care?
“What if I accidentally kill someone?” Tyr asked, he'd discussed his concerns with using song magic – but Daito was adamant that Tyr was to continue practicing at it. Otherwise, he'd buckle under the pressure of his empathy, song magic wasn't just about playing an instrument – it was a medium by which his emotional control could be improved. He was of the same generation as Iscari, which meant that he bore an emotional aspect, without this tool – he might never reach his potential.
“I doubt even Ragnar could so easily destroy the wards that protect against mortal wounds. They are so powerful that they defy our understanding of magic, even mine.” Daito said. “I'm fairly certain they were crafted by Kothar himself. The godsmith, the trials take place in a different region each time but they're able to do that for some reason, and I have no idea how. In any event, you are well aware that using song magic is against our rules, you will not make use of it in combat.”
“Alright...” Tyr exhaled, he needed to do something else to settle himself. “I've got a lot of work to do. Valkan? What about holding a challenge of our own?”