"That's my girl!" Master Dilroy shouted from the VIP booth he was sharing with his many sons and his wife.
His wife gave him a strange look. "That's the one you've been treating like your illegitimate child?"
His eldest son nodded with a frown on his face. "You shouldn't shout about something like that so publicly, Father. You might jeopardise your position as a duke. It's bad enough that you're always in a foreign kingdom, but at least that's understandable since your duties as a master soul oracle supersede those of your noble duties."
Another of his sons wore a smug expression as he said, "Besides, you shouldn't say that she's 'your girl'. Just because our kingdom is friendly towards other species, that doesn't mean that you can go around pretending that a child with legitimate rights to the leadership of the Crimson Foxkin Clan is your own daughter. That's just asking for an assassination of one's character."
His youngest son - who was still in his early 30s - shrugged. "What's the harm? Like you said, our kingdom doesn't discriminate. Everyone back home already knows that Father doesn't really care for his status, so I see no issues with him indulging himself a bit."
"Jerome, that's not really the point," Master Dilroy's wife said in a fed-up manner.
"You should take a page out of Mr Immortus' book," another of Master Dilroy's 6 sons said to his entire family. "That foxkin, from what I hear, treats everyone the same, commoner or king alike. Dad, if you want to treat that kid like she's our little sister, then I support you. I'll deal with any blowback that might affect the family name for you."
Master Dilroy beamed a smile. "See? This is why Elliot is next in line for the dukedom. You boys should learn a thing or two from him."
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Meanwhile, elsewhere in the stadium in a booth of equal grandeur to the Dilroy family's, Lossa Redtail was holding onto the railings tightly as her eyes intensely watched her granddaughter Breena fight so skillfully all by herself.
"She's grown so much... To have two Primal skills at such a young age..." Lossa was beyond proud.
Tiera and Trella were also present with their parents and a few of the stronger members of the Crimson Foxkin Clan. The two children approached their grandmother and Tiera asked, "Isn't that because Mr Lone is fixing her body for her?"
Lossa smiled faintly. "No. A beastkin's physical condition means nothing when it comes to learning additional Primal skills. That, my dear Tiera, is a hallmark of true genius with a deep connection to their patron Primal."
Trella frowned. "I don't understand."
"You don't understand what?" Lossa asked. Her eyes were still firmly affixed to Breena as she systematically took out challenger after challenger all the while trying to make her fighting seem far flashier than it actually was.
"Why am I the next patriarch? Wouldn't it have made more sense to have Cousin Breena or Cousin Rachel replace you as Matriarch? I mean, Breena's more talented than me and Rachel has the founder's power... Well, I mean, she made more sense before her accident, anyway..." Trella said sheepishly.
"Son! Don't say something like that! You're more than talented enough as you already are!" Tama - Tiera and Trella's mother - said in worry.
Lars - the two children's father - nodded sharply. "You were always going to be the next leader of the clan, Son. Don't doubt yourself now."
Trella peered over the booth's railing at his far more powerful younger cousin and then he glanced at the now-crippled Rachel who was being supported by Swind. 'Even like that I bet she's still stronger than me... It's so frustrating being so... ordinary...'
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Muradon's massive projected face displayed a picture-perfect smile despite his decisively average-looking face. "And there we have it! It was a close fight with Breena Redtail not coming out of it unscathed, but she has successfully defeated all of her challengers!"
Breena held her broken arm as she hobbled back towards The Wanderers. 'At least with this much, the humans shouldn't be too upset. Now it looks like it was a close fight.'
Halfway through the match Breena had noticed that more and more people were showing dissatisfied expressions and some were even booing and jeering for her to get hurt, so, she did what she thought was the most sensible thing to do.
She let an Ice Spear pierce her arm right at the joint between her forearm and bicep, making recovering functionality in her arm essentially impossible again without the aid of incredibly powerful recovery-based magic.
'I hope Master and Mistress aren't angry... Everyone got more excited when I let myself get hit, after all...' Muradon kept going on and on about the fight and how bravely everyone had fought but Breena wasn't listening to him.
Before long, she had returned to Lone and co. Wasting no time, Lone wrapped his arms around the girl and sighed deeply into her ear. "Idiot." The next moment her destroyed elbow was as right as rain.
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He pulled her back and smiled at her before he kissed her forehead. "You did great out there, Breena. I'm proud."
Breena was about to reply but she found it impossible to say a single word for some reason. Tears trickled out of her eyes and her cheeks became flushed. She didn't know what to do. A flood of emotions had suddenly washed over her like a tidal wave.
Hearing Lone saying that he was proud of her... it had hit her deeper than she had ever expected it to.
Soph smiled through her headache. She was fine with Lone hugging Breena. Even she knew when it was appropriate to be petty and when it wasn't. Unconsciously, however, her eyes floated over to Breena's tails, and, not a moment later her gorgeous emerald-green pupils expanded in pleasant surprise. "Four..."
Eolande raised an eyebrow. "Ah, Breena grew another tail? Congratulations."
Lipsilk nodded. "Well done, Child."
Swind smiled faintly. "What a surprise."
Rachel was obviously still a bit out of it but she still managed to mumble a soft, "... Fluffy..."
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Due to the surprise additions of Infa and Garadia to the actual fighting roster, they had been grouped together as the dragon duo and anyone who wished to fight them had from the start of the contest to just before their fight to sign up for the match.
In the meantime, with Breena's battle over the next one on the list was Swind and Rachel's.
"Now, esteemed guests, I'm very happy to announce that today's most unique challenge will now begin!" Muradon shouted. "As a friendly reminder, due to his lacking ability in magic, Swind Immortus has been given special permission to use any skill or weapon he so chooses as he fights, and, of course, the challengers are only allowed to use fire magic on Rachel Redtail!"
A serious look crossed the all-mage's face before he added, "Any attempts to break this rule regarding Rachel Redtail will be thwarted by Vice-headmaster Milos, leading Archon of the Petroleum Empire and the offending challenger will forfeit their right as a challenger, meaning no prize money for you if a wanderer gets defeated!"
With no further delays or hesitation, Muradon immediately announced that the challenge had started and that both sides were free to attack one another.
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"Hmm. Curious," a 9-foot tall man with a bald head said.
"Yes... What on Altros is that young man? I've never seen his species before and his soul is incredibly pure. I almost want to take him in as a disciple," an 8-and-a-half-foot tall man sitting next to him responded.
"That's who you're curious about? I'm more interested in the sheer amount of work that has gone into keeping that foxkin girl alive. Her soul is a complete mess, but yet, it still functions," the third and final man in the Divine booth who was 8-foot tall said as he waved his hand dismissively.
"My assumption would be that the one known as 'Lone' has used - and is still using - several various soul skills to keep her soul from fragmenting. Patchy work at best, but surprisingly effective," the tallest of the 3 brothers claimed.
He then raised his hand and made a few motions and muttered a few skill names. The next moment one of The Academy's students that had been assigned the responsibility of provided food and drinks for the VIPs entered the Divine booth with a cart of food.
"Eldest Brother, how many times have I told you not to do that to unwilling persons?" the 8-and-a-half-foot tall one asked chidingly.
"Ah, right. I always forget about free will and whatnot. Forgive me, Mortal," the eldest brother said as he cancelled his spells.
"D-Divine Weeping, Divine Spirit and Divine Rend... W-What am I doing here? I-I'm terribly sorry if I disturbing your viewing experience of the ch-challenge," the young mage humble said as he bowed his head.
None of them responded verbally. The shortest of the 3 simply invoked a skill and twirled his index finger around. The mage's body mimicked the digit's movements. Shortly following that, the Divine made his fingers walk. Naturally, the young man's legs did the same.
"You're just as bad, Youngest Brother," the 8-and-a-half-foot tall one complained as soon as the mortal had vacated the room.
The youngest brother shrugged. "I'm sure the child didn't mind. Anyway, Eldest Brother, what were you curious about? I have a feeling it wasn't what I or Middle Brother mentioned."
"Hmm? Oh, ah. I'm wondering how that human girl is able to harbour two souls within her body without instantly dying. It's a rather intriguing matter. I hear she has a headache. I wonder if they're related?" Clearly, none of these 3 Divines were ordinary, both in a sense of power nor in a sense of mental stability.
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"I honestly can't believe that 4 people tried to use stuff that isn't fire magic on Rachel so far," Lone commented with crossed arms.
Eolande nodded. "And they're all demis too, surprisingly."
"I don't dare to assume the reasoning of such sick people," Lipsilk said. "Who in their right mind would wish to harm the disabled? Can't they see how she smiles when she gets hit by fire magic? Such innocence is rare. Trying to harm that should be criminal."
"I agree. Anyway... Swind's doing really fuckin' well. Better than I expected since he hasn't been in a real fight for quite a while what with him being Rachel's primary caregiver," Lone noted in praise.
Even in spite of her condition, Soph still managed to squeeze out her usual response to Lone's usage of vulgar language. "Potty mouth..."
Eolande held her chin coyly and said, "Well, he has over 100 challengers, half of which seem to be from the more theory-oriented classes and they have quite a lot of powerful magic weapons themselves. I suppose they're interested to see his arm and tail in action up close."
"That or Redemption, his sword," Lone added. "I wonder if he'll get any skills or maybe..." he let his words trail off and chose to finish his sentence in private, '... use his world skill to try to kill them... I hope he doesn't. I really can't be fucked dealing with a serious situation. I just want it to be my turn and for me to get my free skills then for this whole competition to be done and dusted so I can focus on more important things.'
"Ah, right, Breena," Lone called the girl who had - after receiving permission - retreated to his shadow. "Did you get any skills while you were fighting? Or maybe a level-up or two?"
He was aware that her original Darkness skill Shadow Meld was unable to level up, but her new skill Shadow Snare could, So Lone was curious if such a fight had yielded his precious adoptive sister any gains.
"... I learned Acting and Physical Pain Resistance," Breena confessed. "Shadow Snare also gained a single level."
"Wow." Lone was genuinely surprised. "That's amazing, Breena. You really are a genius, huh?"
The girl knew that her master could easily have learned what she had in that fight and even more in less than half of the time, but still, the genuine tone in his voice made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. "Thank you..." she said before she slunk back into Lone's shadow.
"Still as anti-social as ever, that one, hmm?" Lipsilk noted offhandedly. "It looks like Swind is getting tired. Perhaps we'll have our first loss here?"
Lone smirked. "Maybe, maybe not."