Lirio sat on the couch of their waiting room with a silent Selene. The final fight of the day, his battle with Seiji Otsuki, was delayed for an hour due to the current state of the arena following Cora’s… display. Somehow, Seiji Otsuki managed to turn Princess Cora into a monster. Not only had Cora reopened old wounds in Selene, but she’d put more fear in his love’s heart than their master did. Whatever Seiji had done to her, it was terrifying.
Anger swept over Lirio like a strong wind, and he allowed it. He’d shown kindness to Seiji. Favor. He even felt a touch of admiration for the boy in his ability to overcome adversity. How did Seiji repay him? By sending a demon after his lover. Not for the first time, Lirio read through his stats. He rarely felt excitement before a battle, but Lirio relished the opportunity to punish Seiji for his actions.
LIRIO SILVA
TIER 7 FIGHTER
HEALTH: 70
STRENGTH: 75
STAMINA: 75
MAGICAL STRENGTH: 35
MAGICAL STAMINA: 35
AVAILABLE SKILLS: ROYAL SHIELD, ROYAL ARMOR, ROYAL FLARE, ROYAL SHADOW, ROYAL CANNON, ROYAL WRATH, ROYAL ASSAULT
Seiji Otsuki was still just a Tier 4. One wave of Royal Cannon and he’d go down like the Pit Demon. Lirio felt a smile tug at his lip, but stopped when Selene spoke up from their position on the couch.
“Be cautious of Seiji Otsuki, love. If he can turn Cora into that, it's all too likely he can turn into something far worse.”
“He’s a lower Tier than I am,” Lirio blurted. He hadn’t meant to say it so suddenly, but he’d been thinking it. While Seiji was impressive, Lirio was three Tiers ahead of him. The boy could hardly threaten him.
“He was a lower Tier than Alexandros, too.”
Lirio didn’t respond to that. As soon as they’d raided the tower in the Hell Pit, they sped in the direction of Cora and Seiji’s battle with the Alex Twins expecting to find Seiji dead or crippled. When they were instead greeted by Alexandros’ mutilated corpse and the story of his torture at the hands of Seiji…
“I–”
“Servant Silva, your battle will be beginning shortly. Please come with me.”
Lirio and Selene both turned to find Miss Thea at the door of their waiting room. He felt Selene jump at the sound of her voice, and another wave of anger filled him as he couldn’t help but blame Seiji for it, however unreasonable it was.
“I see.”
Selene looked into his eyes and gave him a reassuring smile, though it wasn’t as intense as it normally was. He tried to hide the rage he felt, forcing a smile on his face and pulling her into a kiss to reassure her. Hadn’t Seiji announced that he and Cora would pass the Valkyrie Exam? At least the boy could dream.
He approached Thea, hardening his face with his back turned to Selene.
“Good luck, Servant Lirio,” Thea challenged, low enough that only he could hear.
Before Lirio could react to it, he was whisked away to the stage.
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Lirio coated himself in his Royal Armor. It was yellowish white here, likely due to the same aura keeping Haven afloat. If he were being honest, he’d missed the reddish-white hue it took on in the Hell Pit. As Seiji struck Lirio with all the force he could muster, Lirio continued to think about the colors his Royal Armor had taken throughout the Exam.
Is this who I should be worried about? His attacks are far too light to harm me.
Even though he wasn’t even a mage, Lirio could still likely match Seiji in magical output. Out of curiosity, he decided to try. He’d never trained Royal Assault. How could he have? He just unlocked it an hour ago. Using an untrained ability was one of the most foolish things you could do in a battle. If his master watched him do it, she’d throw him off the side of Haven. Lirio did it anyway.
Lirio sidestepped a boot of blue fire and blocked the right punch packed with Seiji’s bomb attack. Lirio punched Seiji faster than he could see and cast his Royal Assault. He’d seen Selene do it, he’d been on the receiving end of it plenty of times. Yet, when he struck Seiji with what felt like a hundred blinding punches all over his body, Lirio still felt a bit of shock by the fact that he’d done it.
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The final punch sent Seiji flying into the far wall of the arena, just below the crowd in the lowest part of the stands. Rather than let up, Lirio summoned a Royal Shadow and threw the black ball of aura directly at him as he tried to recover. It detonated on impact, though Seiji appeared unscathed. Lirio winced.
That was Dragon Stance, right? How much had he–
“That hurt!”
To Lirio’s astonishment, Seiji began to laugh.
“What are you–”
Seiji appeared right in front of Lirio, faster than he could’ve reacted. Wait… what? Seiji’s Magical Strength was no higher than 45. There was no way he could move that–
“You aren’t trying, Lirio.”
Before Lirio could even respond, Seiji hooked him in the stomach, following that with an uppercut loaded with a blue bomb. Lirio felt his brain shake as the impact dazed him, his vision growing hazy. Lirio stumbled as his brain whirled, but Seiji continued his assault. Seiji clawed at him with the same technique he used to cut through the Pit Demon’s leg, blood spurting as Seiji continued to cleave.
While his 70 Health was enough to heal those wounds, they still hurt. If Seiji kept going like this, he wouldn’t just lose. He’d be–
“How are you still alive?!” Seiji shouted, his face clearly dejected. “Dragon Claw is sharp, Cora said Dragon Claw is sharp! Do I need something sharper? Deeper? This–”
“Shut your mouth!” Lirio roared, panting as his body healed from the gashes. Some of those had reached up to his neck. If Seiji had aimed higher… “This is a competition, remember yourself!”
Seiji completely ignored him. Instead, he looked down at his right hand, opening and closing it like he’d just learned to use it. His eyes widened as he stiffened it, all fingers standing pencil straight. No, blade straight. Seiji let out a wicked smile as he formed Dragon Fury in the hand, shaping it to form a point around his fingers.
When he looked into Lirio’s eyes, Lirio felt fear true fear set in. It wasn’t just the fear that he would die, it was the fear that his death was inevitable – as though no matter what he did, his death would be the only outcome. There was no point in fighting. Tiers didn’t matter here. His death had been decided by the heavens above.
Is this how you felt, Selene?
He felt guilt as he recalled Selene’s fear. Part of him knew that a single training session with their master would’ve been enough to bring her back to normal. Another part of him, a selfish part of him wanted to be the one to comfort her. It hurt to know that he’d never get the chance now. There was still so much he wanted to say to Selene. Do with Selene. It’d become a fantasy of his to bring her to Tierroeste and turn the place into a colony of Haven as Valkyrie Endora had with her Servant. Now, he’d never get the chance.
“Tell Selene–”
Lirio froze the moment he looked up at Seiji. He’d expected to find the manic expression that’d been plastered on his face for the past few moments but instead found the boy looking horrified, just as he had when they’d found him after he killed Alexandros. Seiji didn’t move an inch. There was no aura gathered around his body. He just… looked into Lirio’s eyes.
His master’s voice yelled into his mind at the same time his own thoughts came flooding back. His story didn’t end here. His life didn’t end here. He’d promised to split the heavens apart for Selene, and he couldn’t do that if he was dead. Rage boiled up and out of his mouth as he roared his frustration.
Seiji seemed to shake himself, but Lirio didn’t give him an inch to budge. He coated his body in Royal Armor and kicked off, gathering a Royal Shadow in one hand and a Royal Flare in the other. It was only fitting Seiji be defeated by his own technique. Lirio poured all of his power into them. He wanted Seiji gone.
The attacks detonated against Seiji’s chest, exploding in a massive plume of gray aura. Seiji again flew into the back of the arena, clashing against the wall with enough force to form a crater. Just in case he’d used Dragon Stance, Lirio gathered Royal Shadows in both hands and threw them at Seiji. Over and over, he pelted Seiji with the bombs of black aura, enough times that smoke began to form around Seiji. That didn’t matter. He had the Magical Stamina of a Tier 3 Servant, he could keep throwing them as long as–
“The battle is over, Servant Lirio,” a voice whispered into his ear.
He turned to find Miss Thea standing beside him with a hand on his shoulder. She looked disgusted. When the smoke cleared around Seiji, he could see why. The boy lay in a bloody heap on the sandy floor surrounding the stage. The audience didn’t cheer, and Sir Lasko didn’t announce his victory – though Lirio imagined he may not have heard it.
“I… I see.”
Lirio took a deep breath as he finally remembered himself. Sir Lasko did announce his victory now, though the resulting cheers weren’t as loud as they’d been earlier. They felt forced and awkward.
“Otsuki…” Thea muttered from beside him.
“He was going to kill me!” Lirio found himself saying. Though it was meant as a whisper, it came out closer to a shout.
Thea once again looked down at him in disgust, though Lirio couldn’t understand why.
“I will send you to your waiting room, and you will await further instruction. Now go.”
Once again, Miss Thea sent him away before he could react.