I was taken back by this declaration, but I held my cool and keep myself out of her way. I trust Helen. It might sound meek coming from me, and it would've been better if I asked her what the fuck was going on before just bidding my time those cursed three days, but it is over now. I don't think she will fall for his poison candy apples once again.
I've never seen her this agry and determined but Julius thinks he was thrown a lifeboat.
"Anything! Finally, you came to your senses! What do you desire, my love?"
"First, answer me with the absolute truth! Did you know the knights would abuse aunt Mercy?"
"If you lie you die on the spot," I add. "And don't think you can lie to me. I'm the biggest expert in lies there is in these parts. I can just summon your ghost to interrogate later."
Julius hangs his head and answers, "No. It is not like they told me anything or I ordered them to do that..."
Oh, no. You are not getting away in a tangent.
"But you knew," I pressure him, "that bringing two hundred knights that misspell the words 'dirks' and 'milk' to spend the winter holed up in a frontier town would end up with them abusing the town's women. And you just handed them the town's hottest mom on a silver plate without telling them to restrain themselves. Tell the truth and you won't become bug food right now."
"The truth, Julius. For someone aspiring to be a knight, that is disappointing."
"Yes! Yes! I knew it could happen, but I didn't..."
"As I thought," Helen cuts him, with an ice-cold voice that gave me the shivers.
The Viscount sighs and asks.
"What is your second condition to come with me?"
"Defeat me and my pets in a duel to the death."
River Cocytus would be a happy hot summer beach right now, compared to the mood that took over the room. There is one thing I fear more than having my soul break. Losing any of my companions, especially these two girls.
I take two, three steps back and someone supports me from behind. Zahariel. "Have faith," the angel whispers to me.
Julius looks confused, "You are insane. Dueling to the death? What do I gain?"
"Your freedom. Your life. We will take you to Mirfield and let you live there and rule it however you want. You can even take my corpse with you to play with as you wish. Because that is the only way you will ever touch a single strand of my hair again. Dead. If you refuse? I'll feed you to Mittens right away."
As she says that, the blood mantis bursts into the room and crawls under the ceiling. Seizing the cage with both scythes, it rattles the thing back and forth with impressive strength.
Julius and Cloude scream in terror as the mantis drools over them. "Wait! Wait! Wait! Let's talk."
Enraged as I've never seen her, Helen shouts. I can swear there is an aura emanating from her.
"There is no talk! Fight or die! Grendel will restore your job, your armor, even that Shining Blade you fancy. You, Julius of the Shining Blade, Viscount of Mirfield against me, Monster Bride of Willow Hill. Wheat head, consumption girl, winter child, failure magician, whatever slur you toss at me. At dawn tomorrow, there will be only one of us alive in this world!"
He kneels and begs,
"I am sorry I lied to you! Please think it over!"
"Do you think I am this angry because of a single lie? Grendel lies almost as often as he breathes. But he looks after those we care about. You handed over the mother of my life companion and dozens of town girls to become sex toys for two hundred knights! You have no right to breathe the same air as me. Grendel, fix him up. Everyone else, please clear the pit. We are fighting here in a few minutes. Mittens, sharpen your claws."
With a majesty worthy of an empress, Helen strutted out to one of the waiting booths. Mittens followed giving happy clicks. Marcy went after her.
"What job do you want, my lord Viscount? Magic Swordsmen?"
"Yes."
Possession!
"Party invite Julius."
Julius has joined your party.
"Job change, Julius to Magic Swordsman."
Job changed.
"Cloude, I am going to switch and possess your body now, so the goblins can watch the duel instead of you. You should volunteer it if you want to watch."
The boy shrugs his shoulders and submits, "Yes, whatever you want. I've given up already. Kill me for all I care."
"That is up to Marcy. You are only alive because they still care for you. I have no love for betrayers."
He lets out a dry laugh, "It is freaking weird seeing Julius talk like this."
"Enjoy. Because tomorrow he won't talk at all."
I shake hands with Cloude and jump bodies. Julius takes a while to reorient himself, but he is fine.
"Here is your gear," I say from inside Cloude's body and take out his armor, the Shining Blade and other paraphernalia. "Is it all you need, Viscount?"
He dons the armor over his clothes, straps the sheath of the Shining Blade on his waist and nods. It seems that getting his crutch back made him confident all of a sudden.
"I am ready. At least I'll enjoy killing your woman right in front of you. I know you will murder me after we are done here either, but I'll die with a smile."
"Yeah, dream on. The mantis alone would give me trouble one on one. Excluding Alvus and Alice that are civilian visitors, the only one you'd win against in this place is Cloude. And that is just because he wasn't power leveled by Hrothgar's babysitters like you were. I met them right at the beginning of autumn and traveled all the way through the valley to Heorot. I've seen what they do to level aristocracy. Subdue and drag monsters so the pampered nobility can give the last blow. Hrothgar did his killings sitting on a chair, for crying out loud."
Julius scoffs. "I bet I can kill the snake. She is a caster-type crested naga. I am immune to magic."
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"Sure. Shraaizar would love to show you how one-trick ponies die if you win. Anyway, Cloude any last words for your friend? I'll relay them."
----------------------------------------
After I convey Cloude's farewell words the Madman Viscount nods and takes his place at the fighting pit. We go outside and take seats on the VIP area, AKA 'a log was placed next to the edge of the pit so you don't need to sit on the dirt, master.' I cast a dynamic illusion over my host to make Cloude look like me.
Word of the duel spread like a wildfire in the community. Lots of monkeys, goblins and all the flame gorillas crowded the stone rim around the pit. I think except those on guard duty, everyone is here.
There near the edge of the arena, we can see Helen and her pets. Mittens is sharpening his scythes against each other. The bees are buzzing in place and the rats are with their hairs ruffled, ready to pounce.
The goblins stay by the ramp behind Julius, to block the exit. Cries, growls, and howls erupt as the monstrous nature of the audience surfaces in full bloom.
"Come anytime. Until you draw first blood I won't move!" Helen steps forward and offers her left arm. Mittens towers right behind her.
He raises the shining blade overhead to swing and the artefact shines. He runs forward, closing the distance. "Master, I'm sorry but I can't stand it anymore!!! Please stop this duel!" Charmma tells me over the telepathic link. What is going on with her?
The blade comes down wreathed in flames but is parried by Mittens at the last moment. Did he learn the bodyguard skill? I'll appraise him later.
Julius attacks again with half-assed swings. This is what happens when you level up but get no real combat training, relying only on the Skill System to move your weapon. His real proficiency is the same from his apprentice days. Over and over they are blocked by Mittens with ease. The shining blade even manages to shear a slice of the mantis' chitin, but soon it grows back. The idiot doesn't even change the element. Or he is completely oblivious that Helen's guardian is a fire-element monster.
The crowd of monsters begins to boo and cry at the not-so-bloody duel. Helen didn't move a step since that first swing, gazing at Julius with eyes that could freeze hell. Mittens didn't go too far from her to be out of bodyguard's range.
The boy does a stronger swing sideways but is parried hard and loses the grip on the shining blade when Mittens overpowers him. He stops in the same posture as he finished the swing, with his head, tilted to the side watching the shining blade fly and sink into the pit's floor.
Stepping backward, Julius raises his head and his eyes meet Helen's. The color of his face disappears. His shoulders drop. I'll pray every day to never meet these directed at me. Absolute hatred. Disgust. His fighting spirit just dies.
The Viscount's legs collapse and he falls on his knees first, and then back sitting on his feet. Arms limp by his sides. Head bent backward, eyes directed at a godless sky. "Master, please save the pretty boy!" once again Charmma pleads for his life.
"Mittens, finish him," Helen's voice without feeling or intonation issues the final order. She steps aside and the blood mantis raises his scythes, clicking his mandible as a madman would cackle.
The mantis lurches forward, ready to sever the head from neck. The scythes draw near Julius seemingly in slow motion. They descend but divert to the side meet two thrown spears. Mittens switches to defense and easily swats the javelins away.
Charmma and Downna run and stop in front of Julius, drawing their short swords.
"Who dares intrude in this sacred duel!" The booming voice of the flame fist elder fills the pit.
"It is me, Charmma, I'll fight in the stead of the pretty boy!"
"Me, Downna, I'll protect the pretty boy with my life!"
Alice makes a guts pose. I don't understand a thing. Her goblin friend is going to be skewered if nothing happens but she is pumped.
Oh, fuck. I just figured out. "Cloude, what is going on?"
"Trust me I don't want to have nothing with that. I heard nothing, I saw nothing." Freaking liar.
Julius wakes up from his despair-induced stupor. His goblin jailers willingly placed themselves in the way of an enemy three ranks above their own. Mittens is pissed. His prey was stolen. He loves human flesh, but there are not many chances to feast. He raises the scythes and...
"Mittens, back off now! It is an order!" A leash of magic power pulls the Mantis back. The tamer authority. Helen approaches the goblins, "Why do you steal my prey? Why do you defend this human?" And speak with the monsters as an equal. Or is it Mittens that is speaking through her? It is hard to tell when the telepathic feedback is intense as it should be down there.
"We goblin women fight to defend our men! It is only natural to protect the father of our babies!"
Fucking shit. "Cloude, did you know that! Did Julius really fooled around with the goblins?"
"I have no need to answer that!"
"Answer or I'll delete your top-level skill. And then another. Another. Another."
"Fine, fine. Yes, Julius has nailed those two goblin girls every single day several times for quite some time now. I think he started doing that on the second day he was here. The goblins argued but they agreed you told them to give him anything he needed." Cloude mentally shrugs.
I trigger the intimidating presence and the whole arena goes silent. After getting everyone's attention, I jump down into the pit.
"Julius the human. Are you the father of the babies these girls are expecting?"
"How should I know? These goblins who... GAAAAA!"
And the former viscount got a severe case of goblin spear through the foot. Good old power javelin.
"Enough. Say goodbye Julius, you two. He clearly deserted you."
"Wait, master. We want to be near the pretty boy. He kind."
"He says nice things to us. Sweet words at night! He taught us about love!"
Julius has a mix of two parts shame one part rage in his face.
"Quite the philanderer we have here, right? The kind of man that will say anything to get under a girl's skirt. I'll spare you if you marry them, Julius."
The fallen noble can't hide his surprise, "What? Marry monsters?"
"You can choose. Marry these two and become a happy father or finish the duel and feed mittens with your own body. Charmma, Downna. If he rejects you now, your responsibility to your man is void. Understand?"
They don't like it. Fidgeting, they resign themselves though, "Yes, master."
Helen that was silently watching this development says, "Pick up your blade! Fight or die. Aren't you the Shining Blade, the killer of monsters? Here I am, right in front of you, a monster as well. There all around you, monsters. I will rather share my luck with those monsters than the ones hiding one inside!"
I remove the spear from his foot and heal his wound. "Decide, Julius!"
Cloude stirs in his own head. "Let me talk to him!!!"
I cancel the possession. Without MP and stamina, the illusion fades and my strength falters. It sucks every single time. I've to rely on the goblin spear as a crutch to not fall on my face. Uppa and the goblins notice Cloude being released and move to circle him.
"Back off. Let the prisoner talk! Don't worry, this one won't flee. Mittens is itching to hunt."
Cloude approaches Julius, "C'mon man! You can't just die and leave me here! And to be honest, we are treated better here than in any jail I've ever heard of. If you die, you lose. We are going to escape this place and watch all these monsters burn one day. What is the problem of putting up with those two goblins a little longer? As if you disliked when they laid with you. You have a choice that does not involves killing Helen or dying here! Don't die and leave me here alone!"
He delivers the right speech for all the wrong reasons. Around us in the gallery, I can see Marcy rolling her eyes on the VIP log. Mittens' body is saying 'won't I get to eat any humans today? Is that it? Did I get all psyched up for nothing?'
Helen loses her patience, probably because Mittens is whining inside her head and goes near the boys, "Made up your mind, my Lord Viscount?" Helen asks full of sarcasm before she delivers an ultimatum, "Speak now or lose even the right to choose!"
I must thank Julius for this rare opportunity to see Helen's darker side without being targeted at me. I am the mightiest monster around, but deep inside I am a coward. I can be intimidated into cowering by a girl half my height. But I digress.
The Viscount breaks his silence and blows up.
"Fuck you, monster whore! Why did you dump me for that hybrid body-stealing abomination?!? You are a disgrace to humanity! I would have made you a noble lady! Court Balls! Riches! Everything yo..."
Bzzz. SWISH. Tsssss.
Before any of us could even process the slur words, Mittens took off and sealed the deed with a flaming scythe to the neck.
Party Member Julius has died.
Helen (3-Monster tamer) has gained 3 levels. Marcy (5-Guildmaster) has gained 2 levels. Zahariel (4-Wizard) has gained 3 levels. Beowulf (4-Wizard) has gained 6 levels. +38 SP. Mercy (4-Sniper) has gained 4 levels.
Title PK awarded.
Those that cause the death of own party member.
Whenever someone without this title joins a party with title holder, a message "
A special "PK" icon will also be displayed in the party status should someone without this title remain in a party with the title holder.
The most bitter Exp message ever, and a shitty title to stain us forever.