“Blood Soldier N zero six zero eight four nine eight, and Blood Soldier N zero five zero six four three five, please come to the stage.”
“See you later,” Cecilia said, waving her hand at Alnea and Yuri, as she jumped back onto her small platform with Forne, and willed it to move towards the stage. She had barely moved towards the stage though, when another guard called out a different set of numbers.
“Blood Soldier N zero five zero six zero three nine six…”
“That is my identity number.”
“Let me see your strength, Vestia.”
“It will not disappoint you.”
“…May Goddess Ilea be with you,” Alnea said, choosing to stay away from the storm brewing between the girls.
“…Thank you, Alnea,” Vestia said, nodding at Alnea with a smile, as she too moved towards the stage. But not before winking at him once again, and earning him another glare from Yuri.
“…What do you think of her?”
“…She is the kind of Wanderer that I used to think all Wanderers were.”
“Oh? And what kind is that?”
“That kind that knows how to use her head.”
“…Are you saying that we do not use our head?”
“I am not talking about us… And you cannot argue that she always comes up with points that we miss.”
“…She just has more experience than us, allowing her to see the problems from a different perspective. Just give me some time, and I will be better than her in everything.”
“Of course. After all, my Yuri is the best.”
“Who is your Yuri?” Yuri said, turning towards him to glare at him. Her voice though, soft and mellow, revealed how happy she was to hear that compliment.
“Still, regarding Vestia… I don’t feel any malice from her. She may be a little mischievous, trying to provoke you and Lia from time to time, but from the moment she asked to join us, she has not said or done anything against our interests. All in all, I think she is a valuable addition to our team.”
“…If I had even a little doubt about her usefulness to the team, I would not have let her join us. So, don’t worry. I will not make things difficult for her. I just wanted to know what your opinion about her was.”
“My opinion… Well, we already know how smart she is. Now, let us see how strong she is.”
Vestia reached the stage amidst the chants of the Wanderers in the stands, demanding for more fight and blood. The Arena… It surely brought out the most primal instincts of these Wanderers. Even though they knew how precious Blood Coins were, they still dared to spend their Blood Coins just to watch other Wanderers fight and bleed. Maybe that was how they derived their spiritual sustenance. From the miseries of others. Just like their ancestors.
In the days long gone, when an order had yet to be established between the Orthodoxies, things used to be more primal. There used to be no conspiracies, no intrigues, and no complicated relationships either. Each Orthodoxy used to be for itself, fighting the world for its survival. In such a chaotic world, surviving for one more day was like winning one more battle. And nothing could be better when they did not even have to fight. Just watching other clans fight for their survival… Watching the other Wanderers bleed to their death… That was how the concept of an Arena first came into being. Or at least, that was what the records in her clan said.
Back then, when her clan could rely only on its itself, the Erwein Forest always used to be in the danger of being wiped out. Goddess Weina… She may have been a Grand Goddess, but her strength did not lay in fighting her enemies head on. Thankfully, she had quite a good relationship with other Gods in Tes’ pantheon. Whenever the Erwein Forest faced dangers, the Goddess could rely on the help of other Gods.
The Weinas, following in the direction of their Goddess, had also developed in a similar fashion. Their contacts were spread throughout the Tes Domain, and even to a few more prominent clans outside of the Tes Domain. They might be just a Grand clan in name, but even the Supreme clans would not dare to take them lightly. As for the ways they had developed their contacts…
Vestia paused as she stepped onto one of main stages, and glanced back towards Alnea. His eyes were fixed on her. And the Serpian girl, of course. But that did not matter. Weinas always liked challenges. Besides, she was still not sure of her choice. Adding a potential Mystic Wanderer to her clan would be a good choice, but getting the support of a Grand clan would be better.
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Yet, getting the support of a Grand clan could only add to the soft power of her clan. Tying a potential Mystic Wanderer back to her clan on the other hand, would add directly to the hard power of her clan. And if the boy had the guidance of her clan, reaching the Grand Rank would not be an impossibility. A potential Grand Wanderer, or the support of a Grand clan…
Shaking her head, Vestia turned her attention back to the man in front of her. There would be time for her observe the boy and make her choice. At the moment though, she had to focus on her opponent. A man with a squarish face, and slick hair combed towards the back of his head, clad in a yellowish golden robe. A decent robe, with no signs of wear or tear.
“Well, well, well, who do we have here?” the man said. “If it is not the vixen of the Erwein Forest that has been in the limelight recently.”
“…I am pleased to hear that rumours about me have spread to the point that anyone can recognise me. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about you.”
“…A glib tongue, and a strange fighting style. They say that once your enemies get entangled in your methods, they lose all their fighting abilities. That is how you got the name vixen. I wonder if that is true?”
“You will find out in a while.”
“Oh, I will find out much more than that,” the man said, smirking at Vestia, while licking his lips. “For example, do the women of Erwein Forest really taste like honey?”
“…You will have to have a tongue to taste anything.”
“…This is a free battle,” the guard said, interrupting the trash talk between the Wanderers. “The Arena will ensure your life, so you can fight to your heart’s content. But once the Arena decides that a battle has been settled, you cannot make any more moves, or you will be disqualified. Do you understand?”
“…Understood.”
“Let’s get on with it already.”
“…As you wish,” the guard said, urging his platform away from the main stage. “You can start when you want.”
The yellow robed man, eager to show his strength, and subdue the blue robed woman in front of him, rushed straight towards her, while urging his Aspects to surge out of his body, and wrap around his body in kaleidoscopic armour of blue, green, red, yellow, white, and black lights.
On the other end, Vestia was not sitting still either. Although the Aspects surging out of her body were not as varied as the Aspects of the yellow robed man, they were enough for her to keep her distance away from the man, while preparing other means to fight against him. But the man was not willing let her do as she wished.
Unable to catch up with the woman with just his Aspects, the man decided to use some strange Martial Styles. The blue, green, red, and white lights flickering around his body all gathered towards his feet, and merged with the black lights, before the black light erupted like a stream from the soles of his feet, pushing the man towards the woman at thrice his usual speed. He was so fast, that by the time Vestia could react, the man was already upon her.
In the end, Vestia could only condense her Aspects into a round shield in front of her chest, while trying her best to back away from the man. Yet the man’s pursuit was relentless. With red, yellow, and black lights covering his fists, he smashed the blue shield in front of him in just one hit. The woman, of course, recondensed her shield almost instantly, but it was smashed into pieces just as quickly. With the man so close to her though, she could use no other tactics to recondense her shield once again, only for it to be smashed once again. And again. And again.
The man… he was using his overwhelming power to keep pressing the woman. That was the only strategy against a Weina woman. To overwhelm them with absolute strength. From how the man had not taken down the woman even after smashing her shield nearly twenty times though, he did not have the absolute strength that he had thought he had. He could still overwhelm the woman, but not enough to defeat her in an instant…
But that did not matter. Since he could overwhelm her once, he could overwhelm her again. And again. And again. And so, the man kept pushing against Vestia, not giving her the time to do anything else other than block his moves. She was not even able to use her Martial Styles, and was forced to condense her shield in the more primal way. The man, on the other hand, used all the Martial Styles that he was familiar with.
Black Stream… One Point Punch… Shadow Steps… White Crane…
There were not many Martial Styles that the man was familiar with. Only ten or so. And they were not of too high a Grade either. All of them were of the Lowest Grade. But the man had almost perfect mastery over all ten of his Martial Styles. He could use them almost as well as the Wanderers who had created them. Coupled with the woman’s own incompetence, the man finally got his chance to overwhelm the woman once and for all.
If the woman had used her Aspects in conjunction with her Martial Styles, maybe she could have held longer. But without Martial Styles, continuous use of her Aspects in such a rough manner had completely drained her. Her face had become pale quite a while ago. There were even traces of blood leaking from her nose. Even her eyes had become blood red. The woman… she was tough, but in the end, she was finally unable to hold against his endless assault.
After defending against his attack, and taking two steps back, the woman tried to recondense her shield. And she almost succeeded too. But her drained Spirit failed to condense the shield in time. The man’s fist, covered in his Aspects, easily tore through the half condensed shield, and reached the woman’s face. He could already imagine the crunch of her bones, and the despair in her eyes. In the end, she was just a woman. Even if she was from the Erwein Forest—
To the man’s horror, his fist continued on, and tore through the woman’s face, and then her head, bursting it apart like a balloon. The man was not afraid of the blood. Or the fact that he had killed a woman. He was afraid of the fact that his punch had not triggered the restrictions of the Arena. Urging his Aspects to gather around his feet, and—
The woman’s body burst apart just like her head, as if it was a balloon, with all the blood red water from within that balloon wrapping around the man, trapping him before he could make any further moves.
“Congratulations,” Vestia said, appearing next to the large ball of water. “You defeated my clone. Unfortunately, there is no reward.”
Hearing the woman’s words, the man turned red from shame. Unwilling to lose so thoroughly, he tried to use all his means to get out of the water. Aspects, Martial Styles, and his Arcanas. None of them worked. He still did not give up, and even tried to use his Arcanas and Martial Styles at the same time. That did not work either. But he did not give up, and kept trying, and trying, until he fainted from the lack of air, and the Arena wrapped him in a curtain of blood red light, spelling the end of their battle.