Edited by: KenChi死
People sitting on the balcony around the arena were whispering to each other. Well, I’m not surprised about that – a few of them are gamblers, and as the Oni entered the arena… well, those who put money on me… let’s say that their finances may suffer some kind of damage
* “I owe you apology” She said standing few meters from me, yet not looking at me directly “When you came in, what I saw was nothing more but amateur. The way you moved, the way you acted. Seeing your lack of actual experience I allowed myself to judge you and call you unworthy as a fighter. But then you showed me something far more important than just pure skills.” She made a small break to catch a breath and then she finally made eye contact “You showed us determination, wild stubbornness, great adaptability and fortitude. There is only one way I can satisfy the insult I cast upon you.”
You will take me on beer? Fine by me
~The Oni race is a bit crazy when it comes to war, battling and so on. Their hierarchy is pretty elastic. You can easily get promoted thanks to your achievements on the battlefield and so on. If you are on the bottom of the hierarchy you can forget about talking to the one in the middle of it. And dueling… well, if two warriors of same class would have met, and one would refuse the sparring without a really good reason, it’s like nobility being slapped in the face by a peasant. Not every can be granted from sparring with higher class Oni. Oh, lucky, lucky you!
Yeah, I am overflowing with joy. Such distinction. I am deeply moved.
* “I will treasure the knowledge that you will grant me.” What else could I tell her in this situation?
She chuckled
* “I know that you, humans, have different view on our tradition. I met one years ago. Just like you – a novice. Almost frightened by the very idea of holding the blade in his hands. But, just like you, he had potential. I showed him a few tricks, now I wonder, if he became as good as I thought that he could be.” She smiled weakly
* “Mind telling me his name?” If he was really good I could do some small research. I am just curious how strong he was.
* “Does it matter? It was over a hundred years ago. And his magic potential was equal to zero. He is dead by now. But maybe… I don’t remember his first name, but his family name was Jericho.”
… say what?
* “Old man?” Her eyebrow twitched
* “Old man? You mean he is alive?”
* “Y… yeah, at least he was... like three days ago?”
She grasped her weapon tighter
* “And what is his position and your connections to him?”
The aura around her turned a little dangerous.
* “H… he is head of the adventure guild in the Capital of Neira…. And he is a living legend. And um… I am an adventurer so… um, he is… my boss?”
Better not tell her that he is training me…
* “So… after over a hundred years… he didn’t even bother to step by and say hello? Even as he was an adventurer and could travel ANYWHERE. Kid… I will teach you a few move… You will show to Jericho… and tell him that Nori sends her regards. And now… the lesson”
… Now I know from who Ol’ Jeremy took such an attitude about training.
Nori moved surprisingly slow. She was still faster than me and each strike of her pole would leave my bones broken, but she was still holding back. Just enough so I could react.
And now I saw how much the styles of her and the ol’ man were different. Jeremy fight style is minimalistic. He uses simple, yet very precise strikes. No unnecessary movements… unless he is bullying someone… when the strike would be parried he would switch the handle of the weapon in his hand, and perform storm of chained attacks.
And here she is almost dancing. Lots of feints before actually striking, making those strikes way less predictable. A very annoying fighting style, it requires lots of focus to keep track of blows.
And this may be the reason why Jeremy prefers fighting “plain”.
She feinted a high strike in the head, I raised my spear to counter, as I was raising my weapon, she lowered hers to once again feint an attack to the guts. I tried to react once again, but before I could block the strike she hit in yet another place. I was hit in the chest, dangerously close to the throat.
I took three steps back gasping for the air.
And I shouldn’t do that. I definitely shouldn’t give her any more space.
High thrust, I needed to duck in order to not get my head crushed, but as only her weapon was above me, she brought it down right on my shoulder.
Crap, I need an opening.
I look at her stance.
Nope, no opening here. Striking now would be the most stupid idea possible, for I would be simply countered. But using the fact that I am not a bright man which does not like the idea of being a punch bag..
I evaded yet another blow and tried to attack. In a normal battle I would be dead already, her position was simply far to good comparing to mine, she could strike me twice in the time that I needed to hit her once.
But she retrieved her weapon and blocked the attack, I tried to do same thing that Jericho, shifted the way I handed spear and strike from the opposite direction.
She also changed the way and blocked yet another strike… she passed her pole from one hand to another behind her backs. She barely looked at me… wait, she is not looking at me at all, just keeping me in vision.
My desperate attempts on landing a blow were insufficient. And with each passing blow, I was slower… less precise.
My exhaustion was kicking in. Small rest between fights, allowed me to somehow keep going, but as I was denied the proper rest, each time I fought I was getting tired faster.
I doubt that I could fight like that for more than 10 minutes. It is only if she would rise the tem…
Fuck. Of course she raised the tempo.
She restrained from attacking, instead she started countering each of my strikes.
* “Do you understand the trick?” she asked
I didn’t. I had no idea. For me it had no openings. Bah, even if it had, I couldn’t properly use them for the difference in our speed is simply too big.
Swing from the right, she parried in fluent movement that looked like part of a complex dance, then without even a second of delay she took another step and thrust into my guts.
I couldn’t react in time and the blow left me grasping for air.
Once again I was forced back, but this time she didn’t push me further and allowed me to restore my balance.
Yet the weapon in her hands never stops moving. Even when she wasn’t attacking or blocking, it kept dancing in her hands… Wait…
Those are not only feints. I mean… yes, it is one of the purposes, but it’s more like… this battle stance of hers is focused on dealing with many opponents at the same time – by playing with her pole she switch the places she guards. Of course, she always has time to quickly shift it, but most of the time her weapon covers center and one of the sides of her body. The very reason why it is so effective against me is because I simply can’t follow her movements… Well at least I should show her that I understood the lesson… More or less.
I began to imitate her movements, of course in an extremely clumsy manner.
Now as I am mentioning it… I shouldn’t have done that…
As she noticed that I could follower her moves, she began attacking, mostly to let me get a proper grasp of my full capabilities of this stance.
And once again my head got almost smashed, but somehow I parried the powerful strike. Not that she was impressed, Bah! She didn’t even stop! Instead she kept improving both power and speed with each passing strike. Ha-ha… I’m going to die.
But I finally got somewhat skillful with this! It is getting more and more easy to predict where my weapon should be at the time, the way to pass the spear from one hand to the other is also getting more and more fluent… if not for that tiredness…
Fast pov change
This kid is a monster. I wanted to torme … I mean train with him for a few hours. I started as I used to, by showing the capabilities of my stance – saying bluntly – by using it on him via attacking and then defending. He had lots of problems in the first phase, he was simply to focused on not getting hit. Apparently this is what martial arts are for him. We view it as part of our life, as self-improvement. Mastering spirit by mastering body. For him… It’s purest desire of surviving. Not that this is bad, but may elongate the training.
Then I allowed him to start attacking.
He has keen eyes, He simply knew that I left him no openings. He hot hit (ED: I’m not sure if what this means.) a few times. I was a bit afraid that I overdid it, humans tend to die after receiving blows that an Oni would barely feel. I let him rest for those couple of seconds, as I kept maneuvering the pole.
And then his gaze changed. He looked at me for some time like he was in trans. And then he kept moving in the very same style. If someone would look at us from the side, he could tell that we were acting like two sides of a mirrors.
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…He is bluffing, is he? He is just mimicking the same movements, but he simply CAN’T know how to use it properly… no, I need to check it!
I attacked.
… For all the gods… He was not bluffing! It was not mindless repeating the action, he knew how to use it!
The spear was dancing in his hands… but he barely knew how to hold it at the very beginning! He was reeking of an amateur! Maybe he fought with it once or twice, maybe even as his life was in danger, but geniuses need a week of strict training under the eyes of masters to grasp it properly!
And here he is, tired, battered, and barely keeping his eyes open…
What is he? No, it can’t be happening. He is just like this ungrateful brat Jericho… No, even Jericho needed a whole week,
It can’t be happening! Impossible! Impossible! This style is complex. You first need to repeat dozens of moves thousands of times to make your muscles remember them, then you need to work on your reflex so you can follow after the movements of enemies during battle, and then hours of meditation to find inner peace to never loss your focus!
I lost my temper. I start attacking faster and stronger, just to forcibly prove myself wrong. But he kept blocking, even performing attacks from time to time…
Can’t be happening…
I kept attacking stronger…. Faster…. Stronger… Faster!
And I overdid it. Once again I forgot about the difference in strengths between Onis and Humans. One of the swings that were simply too fast for him hit him in the chin.
In a second his focus vanished from his eyes and his body fell unconscious on the ground.
Pov back,
You have lost 20th WaveYou have been rewarded for lasting 15 waves1500 candies
Your skill [Fire magic] has leveled up [Fire magic] is now Level 9New manifestation: [Rune of fire]
Your skill [Spear usage - novice] has leveled up 3 times. [Spear usage - novice] has ranked up[Spear usage - novice] Level 10 is now [Spear usage- apprentice] Level 1New manifestation: [Spear of Mirage - stance]
Halloween Candies:3324
I woke up in some dark, dry, warm place. With my body heavy from exhaustion and an almost blank mind. Something poked me in the cheek.
* “Hm… maybe he will never wake up…” I hear Liz talking to herself “…what a shame… hmm… well… definitely not going to wake up any time soon… tsh-tsh, poor Alice, sleeping wherever you want… it’s dangerous, you know? Someone could… use you… hehehe… thehehe… hahaha…. Ooookay… you are asking for it… don’t blame me…. here I come!”
I opened my eyes.
* “O…Oh! Alice! You are awake! Thanks goddess! I… I had no idea what would I do if you wouldn’t ask anytime soon! I thought about looking for someone to help… but in the end you can’t trust anyone! You never know if you would encounter some kind of… pervert? Who knows what they would do with their dirty hands to such a young nice piece of ma…”
* “Where am I?”
Oh god! My head!
* “You were sleeping for quite some time… and the time of that very dimension ran out. So, as it was said at the very beginning, you were moved to the [waiting room]. You can decide here if you want to eat candies or use them for other prizes… soooo?”
* “Prizes?”
It was hard to focus.
* “Aha! The very ending of this show… TA-DA!”
After ta-da, in thin air a wheel of fortune appeared. It had four dominating colors, black, red, green and blue.
* “So, you have over 3300 candies. You can bet any amount, and then I will spin! Blue means exp in purest form, green is item, red is losing candies for nothing and black is tricky-trick! A gamble! May be something good, may be bad. Let’s say that my putting 100 candies and rolling and getting [Blue] you have 100exp! But as you hit black you can get 500! Or lost 500! Or after you would get a powerful angel-slaying blade! Or less powerful stone! Or you would get a toad! Or porn magazine! Or permanent blessing! Or curse! You get it? So how much are you willing to…”
* “All in and spin.”
* “Wait what?”
* “Ya deaf? I am tired of those games. I just want to rest a little. Just do it.”
* “over 3300 candies… it may be nice… but if you would get red… you would basically left empty handed…”
* “Alice hears you, Alice doesn’t give a damn. Spin it.”
* “But… horrible things…”
* “Spin it.”
* “Everlasting curs!”
* “Spin”
* “Never-ending suffering!”
* “SPIN! NOW!”
* “Kay, Kay! Just don’t cry as you [black]… Here I come!”
It was pretty funny to look at a pixie trying to spin a wheel 10 times bigger than the very pixie.
* “Gyuuuah… Khaaa! Gurururu!”
* “Need help?”
* “Nah! Therere… I am… Kwuuuuh! Fine! Turarara!”
* “You are red all over your face.”
* “Tis but emotions… can’t you… guuuuah… feel the… khuuuu… suspension?”
* “The only thing that is suspended for now is the wheel”
* “Shhh, Now…. One… two… MAXIMUM! EFFORT!”
The wheel started moving.
Blue, Green, Red, Black, Blue, Green, Red, Black, Blue, Green, Red, Black….
It was slowing down
Blue, Green, Red, Black.
Almost stopping
Blue
It was barely moving
Green, the movements almost stopped.
Red. It stopped. Well Fuck me, here come noth…
Black.
Wait what? Eh, what was I even thinking? This is Heira’s place. Of course it would end on black.
* “Kho-ho-ho, now we are talking! Please! Oh merciful goddess! Cast upon this little ungrateful brat!”
The darkness inside the room started getting denser and denser as it was cumulating in one particular place. The darkness turned into a humanoid shape. Heira, of course.
* “My, my. Are you serious?” She was chuckling “Really? I thought that you would have learned your lesson after the gamble house…”
* “Don’t mention that filthy place.”
I groaned as I recalled in my mind as I left that place in nothing but my underwear.
* “And here you are, doing exactly the same thing.”
* “Listen, that place was amazing. I really appreciate all the efforts you put into creating it just for me… but 24 hours without sleep isn’t good for decision making.”
* “My, my… You are tired? You want to rest? Am I… Am I boring you?” She was teasing me, you could easily hear amusement through her anger.
* “You? Boring? The last thing I can tell about you is that you are boring.”
* “Ah, Should I then forgive you for your insult?”
* “That would be extremely kind of you, my lady”
* “And I am a generous goddess.”
* “Oh, yes you are.”
* “And merciful atop of that.”
* “Indeed.”
* “And so very beautiful.”
* “Like blooming flower in the moonlight.”
She chuckled even more.
* “I am to soft for you… Well… But… this world is mine… I can bend it to your will... do you fancy making yet another deal?”
Something is bit fishy here
* “I am all ears.”
* “As you know... you may got something nice from the fortune wheel… or bad. Really, really bad. But, I can cancel this. But you would have to make a wish.”
* “What’s the catch?”
* “You can’t ask for anything for yourself. Be someone’s else Santa instead. There are restrictions, of course. So? What will you do?”
* “Whos Santa you wish me to be? There are not many people I know, and even less I want to give a gift.”
* “Um… Pardon me… I couldn’t do anything but accidentally overhear your conversation… as I was sitting here for the whole bloody time as no one paid me any attention…” Liz spoke “… but I may possible know one poor soul that could require some help.”
Here we are….
* “Alice… I know that I was a pain in the ass… but I did it to enjoy myself. Having 24 hours of life may bring out your worst side… Oy, scary miss…” now she turned to Heira “…could it be perhaps possible… to attach me to his? I will be a good girl…”
* “I am not the one you should be asking.”
No, don’t look at me like that.
* “Alice… pwetty pwease…”
* “How is that supposed to work?”
* “Easily, Pact extension. She would be your familiar. Just like Baho… Sebastian. Or Kaito, or everyone else. So? Are you taking her as your familiar? Or you wish to gamble?”
* “Why do you care?” I was still curious. Something was not right.
* “Cuz’ it will be hilarious. I enjoyed every single second watching you. And you simply can never have enough good laughter.”
A weak sigh left my mouth.
* “Where do I sign?”
* “ALICE! I LOVE YOU! I WILL BE A GOOD GIRL!... or not. Depends won’t you prefer…”
* “Fret not.” Heirsa smiled as some kind of scroll and needle appeared in her hand. “Just drop your blood here and here. And it will be done.”
* “That’s it?”
* “Blood is the currency of life. Ducat of soul. Of course it will be enough.”
I took a needle and stabbed my finger. A small drop of blood formed on the surface. I slowly bring it to the paper
* “Here it comes! Oh boy! I will enjoy my time! So much food to eat! And maybe I will touch Alice when he falls asleep! The-he-he life can be beautiful!” The blood almost touched the paper “I will enjoy tormenting this candy-boy.”
I froze in place.
* “What did you call me?”
* “He?”
I moved my hand away.
* “What did you call me?”
* “… Um, Alice… If I offended you… then sorry… but you know… this is pretty important for me, ya know? So if you could…”
* “Up until now, there was only one person that called me same way.”
* “Maybe I heard it somewhere?! I was hanging with you for the past 24 hours! So…”
* “if it was spoken in the last 24 hours I wouldn’t mind. But it happened a few minutes earlier. One of the succubus called me that. Heira… you mind telling me again, what is the purpose of this mark you gave me before sending me here?”
* “Alice, please, I am running out of time, so if you could…”
* “Stop it, Zanez, you fucked up. That’s rare for you to fail.”
* “Tsh.”
* “Maybe someone would enlighten me?”
Liz, or Zanez, started changing. Soon there was no longer a pixie in the room. Instead a little chubby succubus took her place.
* “What a shame. We could have looots of fun together. But you had to ruin it…”
* “Give me your hand, Zari” Heira said “As you already joined the threads, the mark made you into… a target. For succubi. As you know, devils and angels have many restrictions. They mostly need to be summon… or accepted via special ritual. As with angels those are very complex… with devils it may be waaay easier. Like pacts.” She smiled pointing at the scroll
* “And why did you do that?”
She came closer, embraced me, hugged me, and whispered in my ear
* “For fun and giggles.” And chuckled “No, honestly. I feel so, so lonely hear…” She started pressing her index fingers “… the more you dwell into darkness, the greatest influence I would have on you. The greatest influence, the more time we can spend together.. I envy Aira so much… You have to understand, that I want something for myself too… You aren’t angry… are you?”
Actually I am furious. I am just not in a position to show it.
* “Are you? Please, tell me that you aren’t, or my heart will break.” There was absolutely no sadness in her voice either. What are you playing?
* “I would like to ask for the reward.”
She nodded with a grim impression.
* “Turn around.”
* “What now? You marked my arm for succbi, now you want to mark my ass for incubi?”
She burst into loud laugh. This time not a fake one.
* “That’s an idea! No, not this time, I am just giving you your reward. But I need you to turn.”
I did as she asked. I felt as she touch my neck, and soon after a small pendant was hanging on my chest.
Unknown Pendant [Unknown pendant]Grade???Level requirement???Effects???
???
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* “What is it?”
* “Oh, this, my little morsel, you will have to find by yourself. Oh, and just in case. Feel free to call for Zanez every time you would like to. I think she wouldn’t mind it. And now… Wake up Zari… Wake up… Wa…”
* “ek up! Wake up Zari! Fuck…. I think I hit him too hard.”
I woke up with terrible headache. Everything was still spinning around.
* “Zari are you ok?” It was Marika. “I am sorry! I am so, so sorry!”
* “What happened?”
* “Hay you don’t remember?”
* “remember what?”
* “Great Marika” Mrogul could be heard “You have broken Zariel. Well fucking done.”
It was a dream? Completely fucked up. There were no injuries on me. And I had many. But I need to check it. Just… how?
* “Guyz….”
* “You will have to take responsibility for what you did. What if he will be unable to use magic anymore?”
* “Guyz!”
* “I told I was sorry! He was freaking out! So…”
* GUYZ!”
* “What, what?”
* “I want to check something…”
* “Then just do it. Check if your head is all right.”
* “No, no like that. There is something I need to confirm… it may be the only way to do it, but… I am not crazy ok? I just have to do it.”
They looked upon each another.
* “Fine. Do whatever you like.”
Breath in, breath out. I don’t believe I am actually doing it. I inhale as much breath as I could and yelled loudest I could
* “CHASM OF DEATH!”
Nothing.
* “Nothing…” I repeated after myself. “Thanks gods, it was only a dream.”
* “Umm… so you needed to yell… after being hit in the head…. “Mrogul looked once again at Marika “Well fucking done.”
* “I… I think it can be logically explained… I mean… how many times were YOU hit in the head… were you dumber after th… no wait. You couldn’t get any dumber than you already are. Forget about that.”
* “Listen you blood midge… He, Zariel…”
* “Hm?”
* “Since when did you have that pendant? I was putting you on the blanket and I don’t remember it on you back then…”
Wait what? I looked once again on my chest
Unknown Pendant [Unknown pendant]Grade???Level requirement???Effects???
???
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…fucking great…
Pov change.
Heira was sitting in her chamber with glass of wine in hand. Yet another succubus came inside.
* “My mistress?”
* “Something important?”
* “No, my lady, nothing more but my concerns.”
* “Ho? What could possibly be so dangerous that you came by yourself?”
* “The… pendant you gave to the boy. I wonder if it was wise.”
* “What’s wrong with it?”
* “He… does not know what was given to him… He may accidentally use it.”
* “That’s correct.”
* “… On the other hand… there are lots of hints on it. If he would do some research, he could easily find out, and then… use it on purpose…”
* “You are right once again.”
* “Mistress… I am not sure what frightens me more… why did you do that?”
* “Don’t misunderstood me. I was going to give it to him anyway. If not now, then it would be in a chest at the end of the dungeon he is currently plundering. If not, it would be his reward for some quest from a mysterious taskgiver, as he would be hired via Guild. If not, he would be given it by a girl he would save in the forest from bandits or monsters… It’s occasion was good as every other…”
* “B…but why?”
* “Mayhem, my lowly servant… who am I?”
* “You are my mistress.” She said it without even thinking. From the bottom of her heart.
* “Aww, aren’t you cute? But that is not what I meant. What AM I”
* “The lady of chaos…”
* “And what could happened after giving such an item to ambitious boy?”
The succubus – Mayhem – only nodded.
* “Pardon me, my lady. Yet I still think, that giving the key to the hellgate to a mortal may not be the wisest.”
* “Oh, I never said that it is wise. But it doesn’t matter. I didn’t give it to him for any particular reason… but one…” She made a small break building tension “For one, good laugh.”
She cheered once again.