“Well, well, well,” Essalina said, standing with her hands on her hips at the threshold of the little glen Rieren and company were using for their meeting. “Have I stumbled into a little conspiracy?”

Strange that they hadn’t heard Essalina come in. Had she already progressed far enough through the Ascendant realm that she could now actively control the aura of her presence? That was rapid. Rieren kept her scowl to herself, but let the realization sink within her to act as a reminder.

Winning alone wouldn’t be enough. She was seeking to use her victory as the true stepping-stone to get through the Exalted realm. But before she accomplished that, there were other intervening steps of power she would need to claim.

She couldn’t forget her class, after all.

“What’s it to you, Arteroth?” Amalyse asked. “What if this is a just a girls’ get together?”

Essalina raised an eyebrow and stared at Mercion. He coughed into his hand, catching on quick.

“I was just escorting Silomene to the… get-together,” he said. “Yes.”

“Well, if it’s a girls’ get-together, then surely I—”

“The Abyss are you even doing here, Arteroth?” Amalyse asked, bulling over anything Essalina might have said. “Do you always go for jaunty strolls by yourself that somehow involve spying on others?”

“I was simply intrigued about the monsters.”

Her eyes landed on Rieren. The gleam within promised a retribution for the fight they’d had in the first round. A fight Rieren had won.

“What monsters, Lady Arteroth?” Mercion asked. “All the qualified and competing monsters would be further inside the grounds, not at the battlefield of the first round.”

“Well, what do you suppose happens to those who become disqualified?” Essalina asked.

“They… linger, I suppose?”

“Correct. This applies for all those who weren’t killed off in the first round too. They are still lingering. Not within the grounds of the second round, of course, but upon the battleground of their loss.” Her mouth twisted into an abrasive slash of a smile. “Infesting it like the rot they are. Wouldn’t you agree that this rot needs to be excised, Lord Ordorian?”

Before Mercion could find some diplomatic answer, Amalyse stepped forward. “Who gives you the right to remove any rots?”

“Right is power, Arraihos. Power is right. When you have strength, it behooves you to use it as responsibly as you can, to the greatest benefit of your kind. Not taking action is the greatest crime.”

“Oh, you’re way over the line of taking action.”

Rieren had a feeling they were going to stand there and continue arguing unto eternity at this rate, but she’d had enough. “Have you anything you wish to say, besides insults and accusations?”

“Of course!” Essalina stared at Rieren with the full force of her ferocity. “You’re going to be defeated. Soon, you’ll fall. I wish it had been by my hand, but it seems fate conspires to keep you out of my reach for the time being. But it doesn’t really matter, so long as you truly end up crushed.”

“I suppose that does count as neither insult nor accusation,” Rieren said. “Worthless all the same, though.”

Rieren made to walk out of there. She would need to send a message to her companions that they would need to conduct meetings elsewhere. Perhaps they ought to start using Batcat as a sort of sentry too. Though, she’d have to see if the kitten would approve of such a task.

But Essalina stepped in front of her path. Annoying as that was, it was a little mollifying to note that the Arteroth scion was now staring up at her, just a little.

“I have a small inquiry before you leave,” Essalina said. Batcat stared at her unerringly as she spoke, but the Arteroth scion essentially ignored the winged kitten. Not that the tiny Spirit Beast had a daunting presence or anything. “Just wanted to ask how your friend is doing. You know, the one they called the Darkstalker. Such a devastating name for someone so… devastated.”

If Rieren had been anywhere in her past, she might have reacted to that challenge directly. She might have wanted to argue, to start bandying insults in return. Now, she barely felt a thing.

“The Darkstalker is recovering well,” Rieren said. “I will send your regards.”

If Essalina was surprised at Rieren’s disinterest, she didn’t show it. She didn’t even try to block Rieren as she attempted to head out of the clearing. But she didn’t have to. Someone else was coming in, straight towards them.

Naviel, Rieren’s opponent.

He appeared just as he had before, dressed in the Arteroth robes of gold-trimmed black. Upon closer inspection, the scar at the corner of his mouth made him look like he was smiling, but he decidedly wasn’t.

“Lady Arteroth,” he said. He ignored Rieren and everyone else in the clearing. “The new training regimen has been prepared. Do you want to go and see how well it functions?”

Essalina flashed her teammate a grin. “Can’t you see, Naviel, that we have delightful company here?”

Only then did Naviel glance at the others. “I certainly see them, yes.”

“Take a good look.” Essalina jerked her chin at Rieren. “This here is the cretin that you’ll be destroying soon. The bug whose squished carapace you’ll have to wash off the sole of your boot.”

“We’ll see whose scraping whose insides off!” Amalyse said, raising a challenging fist at the Arteroth cultivators.

Naviel took them in for a moment, then turned without any comment at all. “I believe there is little to see here, Lady Arteroth. May we retire now? I have no wish to linger at the edges of… this.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Essalina smirked a little. “You really need to lighten up one of these days, Naviel.” All the same, Essalina finally turned away. “But you aren’t incorrect. Lead on.”

Naviel did so, back resolutely facing Rieren and the rest. She had always gotten the impression the man was far less emotive than Essalina. Someone in his position had to be clear-headed and calm at all times. It was part of what made him such an effective technical leader, in a very opposite sense to Essalina.

It was part of what made them a good team, both within the tournament and as commanders of their forces.

But in this case, where he was directly facing his upcoming opponent, the complete lack of reaction—the sheer negligence—made Rieren shake her head. Ironic, considering she had replied to Essalina in much the same way. But at least she’d had the grace of acknowledging when being spoken to. Maybe that was what Naviel was waiting for.

“Tell me something, Naviel Kruvain,” Rieren said. Time to make use of what she had learned from Amalyse. “What is your goal here? What would you do if you won the Trials of Ascendance?”

Essalina kept on walking as though Rieren hadn’t spoken. Perhaps she was trying to grant Rieren the same ignoring treatment. But Naviel had come to a stop. Slowly, he turned to face Rieren with a quizzical look, like he was surprised she had asked something actually worth answering.

“I seek the same thing many of us do, I believe,” he said. “A world that does not go the same way it did in the last timeline.”

“And winning a seat at the imperial court will assure that happens?” Rieren asked. “You think you can change the current direction of the court and the Emperor simply by staking your claim on one, measly position? Do you truly know how it works, do you understand the threads that make the imperial marionette function?”

That expanded question made even Essalina pause to turn back. A little scowl adorned her face. This was one area that she couldn’t trump Rieren on, no matter what she did or accomplished. She couldn’t overcome the superior knowledge that Rieren had gained in the past timeline.

Naviel, however, remained unflappable. “It will be a start. I never said that would be all I would do upon my victory. All our paths have many steps to tread, even after the Trials come to an end.”

“And what if your path ends before you can reach its end?” Rieren twisted the knife she had stabbed. “What if it is ended before you can go as far as you wish?”

For the first time, a flicker of emotion crossed Naviel’s face. A little expose of what lurked beneath the unruffled mask. “I know what happens then.” He said it with the certainty of someone who had already experienced it. Rieren smiled. In the last timeline. “And I know it will not happen in this one.”

Before Rieren could prod him further, he turned and walked away with stiff steps. Essalina spared a brief, calculating look for Rieren before joining Naviel and walking away.

Amalyse stepped up, frowning at Naviel’s back. “What were you trying to insinuate?”

It was Mercion who answered, sparing a glance for Rieren that was obviously quite impressed. “She was reminding them that she has experience that they lack. Even if one of them won, they wouldn’t be able to act on that victory with the same efficiency that Rieren can.”

Rieren nodded. She he had been part of the imperial court’s destruction in her previous life, the one who knew the ins and outs required to uproot the gods’ claws from the Mortal Realm. There were only a few other people who could claim the same, and no one affiliated with the Arteroth qualified. “Exactly.”

“Sometimes,” Mercion said. “I am quite glad Rieren is on my side.”

“You mean you’re on Rieren’s side, Lord Mercion,” Silomene said with a teasing little smile.

Amalyse had something of the same expression that Mercion did. A brief look of awe and wonder. “May fortune favour your steps.”

Rieren thanked her, and the others too. “I will see you all later. And elsewhere. We cannot meet here again.”

Receiving wishes of good fortune from the others, Rieren hurried away. It was time she prepared and focused fully on her upcoming battle.

***

Before her match began, Rieren had to settle on one thing. All the training and sparring she had undergone courtesy of her monstrous allies was great and everything. But it wasn’t tangible progress.

After all, Rieren had decided to make some strong progress through her class, hadn’t she? That meant she needed another achievement. She had to find a way to accomplish something that the system hadn’t awarded her for yet. Somehow.

The list of what she could achieve overall wasn’t difficult to ascertain. She had gone through them before, after all.

But the real problem lay in manipulating circumstances to grant her that achievement. This was a scripted match, between herself and the sort of opponent she had already faced before, in conditions that she had already experienced. So how was she to manipulate to get something new out of it?

The nature of achievements was fluid and vague, but they were quite overarching in most cases. That meant Rieren wouldn’t be able to gain a different achievement for something different on a granular level. Changing little details wouldn’t shower her with a new level.

What she would need was something on a larger scale, something that went beyond what she had been doing so far.

But how could she do that against Nav—

The answer popped into her head with very little difficulty. Everything Amalyse had found out about him had sounded like he had some sort of commander-like class. A class that empowered—and was in turn empowered by—all those who were subordinate to it.

That was something Rieren could use.

On the day of Rieren’s match against Naviel, the crowd appeared to be a little more excited. Even before the gates were open and the competitors were walking into the arena, their loud cheers and murmurs of heavy anticipation flooded the whole place.

All the noise doubled when the commentator actually announced Rieren and Naviel, asking them to enter.

Leaving Batcat behind once more, Rieren entered the arena.

Forget the crowd, forget her opponent for the day, her eyes were fixed upon the match official in the centre of the dirt field. Rieren pressed her lips together. The same man. Skarlen Folster. Also known as Starloper.

Rieren’s true goal wasn’t just to win her fight against Naviel. No, what she truly intended to accomplish was establishing some communication with her long-lost friend.

Aside from getting another achievement, of course.

If only the system rewarded her for getting in touch with forgotten companions she hadn’t seen in ages.

“Good folks, our inaugural battle for the third round is about to begin!” the commentator yelled, voice echoing through the entire arena. “Show our competitors for the day just what it means to come this far into the Trials of Ascendance!”

The crowd certainly made a powerful effort. Their cheers and jeers raised in volume, enough to make the surrounding air almost shiver. If Rieren had been in that audience, she wouldn’t have appreciated the heightened exuberance.

“You know the rules already,” the match official said, looking from Rieren to Naviel and back again. He didn’t give any indication at all that he knew her. “You know you are to contain your powers within the bounds of the arena and you are to abstain from causing unnecessary harm to your opponent. Do you confirm?”

Rieren and Naviel nodded. Since Starloper was pretending to ignore her for now, she focused fully on her adversary. He had changed into half-armour that was similar to Essalina’s full set. Though, unlike hers, he had only worn the gold-trimmed breastplate. No greaves, no gauntlets, no other protection was apparent upon him.

Well, all the better for Rieren.

“May fortune favour your steps,” Rieren said, trying to sound conversational. Unlike Essalina, he hadn’t been antagonistic. Not really. She bore him no ill will.

And then Naviel’s face twisted just a little. “Your wishes are the spit of a viper, monster. I would spare the audience your distasteful presence and end you where you stand, but unfortunately, we are all bound by the rules of decorum here. You might just come out of this alive.”

Well. So much for not bearing him any ill will. Though, Rieren was curious what exactly had changed. He had seemed so much more even-tempered before. Now, his anger and contempt were on full display. He was intent on defeating Rieren.

“Begin!” the match official and the commentator yelled at the same time.

With raucous roar from the crowd, Rieren and Naviel started their battle.