**The Valley Tournament**
The crowd remained flabbergasted by the sudden appearance of Lance of the Golden Roses and his unorthodox callout for Greed of the Black Wolves.
The announcer was at a loss for words as he had gotten word that Lance had forcibly made his way up from the Warriors' Keep, even injuring one of Daz's mages in the process. Not to mention that each of those mages were easily S rank mages on par with an Ace or a Vice Captain. He looked to Daz at this time for some direction, but he only held a stoic look as he pondered what to do with Lance.
"Sire, will we not stop him?" the announcer asked.
He sighed, closing his eyes to think, and then said, "I'll allow it."
The announcer gasped at his decision. "Will we really, sire? This is against the rules…"
Daz opened his eyes, revealing their hazy, gray hue. When he looked back to the announcer, he said, "You don't know it yet, but sometimes people end up humbling themselves through the choices they make."
He snapped his fingers, and a digital scroll appeared in his hand and a pen in the other. He then opened it and started writing, giving it to the announcer when he finished. "Say that," was all he said as he walked away and made his way back to his throne next to the Royal King, where they watched.
The announcer read it to himself first and hesitated for a moment, but then finally spoke through the mic, "Well, ladies and gentlemen… seems we have an unusual turn of events this round. I have discussed with your Arcane King, and he will allow this sudden challenge. We will call this a 'sudden-death match', and whoever wins this round will automatically have a spot in the finals."
The crowd wasn't sure what to make of this. If it had been anyone else in the arena at this time, they would have booed and complained, but after witnessing Lance's last two matches, they dared not utter even a peep. It was also due to his status as second to the Valley's princess and being 1st Vice Captain of the Valley's number one Guild that he was able to get away with the act.
"So now, folks, with your first challenger already in the ring, let me bring out your second challenger here and now… If I may have Greed of the Black Wolves, please re-enter the arena at this time!"
He made my way from the Warriors' Keep all the way to the halls just before the arena. There was no need for introductions this round as it was spontaneous, and both of them had already had one or more matches from earlier in the Tournament.
Hands in his pockets and a solemn look on his face, he entered the arena.
The moment felt long and drawn out as he could hardly even hear the cheers of the crowd. He knew for a fact they were just cheering to cheer—for the sake of the sudden-death match and not for him. He could tell they didn't know how to perceive him just yet, especially after that first match with Wilren.
When he made it yards away from Lance, he looked to his left, where he saw his crew and then to Belle, who seemed conflicted with the match.
He half-smiled at her, and she gave him a nervous one back. It had seemed to be an awkward situation for her—her 1st Vice Captain versus her lover.
When he scanned the Black Wolves, he didn't see Ophelia among them, but she was always going off doing whatever she pleased most of the time, so he hardly gave it a second thought.
Havoc turned around to speak to Code, "Huh? Where's Ophy?"
"No idea." He replied disinterestedly.
"You'd think she'd be present… especially for the Cap's fight, right?"
Code didn't respond. All he did was turn his head to where she had been sitting all this time up until now, and an expressionless look took over him.
He's right, he thought. Why, now of all times, does she choose to disappear? Did she…
Back in the ring, all Greed could keep thinking of was what he needed to do in this match. He was no longer looking to win this Tournament. He never wanted to be here in the first place. But, there was something else on his agenda, along with a promise to keep that was more pressing at this time. And ironically, it centered around this match.
He had been taking notes on the way Lance had been acting up until now. He was normally proud and cool-headed, but here and now, all he saw was heavy aggression in his hazel eyes.
"I've got to thank you, Golden Boy," he said to him. "You saved me the trouble of winning my last match to face you."
Lance glowered at him. And Greed exchanged it with a taunting glare and half-smirk.
It was then; the Knight of the Desert and the Bane of the Valley finally faced each other for this sudden-death match.
***
**an unknown place**
At an unknown location, three girls faced a mysterious creature. The room they occupied was large and made of stone. Darkness was the color from all sides of them, as they could not see how far the room went. Above them was the labyrinth of stairs and halls that continued to move and shift in every direction. No sense was made of it, nor this place.
The three girls were: Love—2nd Executive of the Golden Rose Knights, Viper—3rd Executive of the Golden Rose Knights, and Raeyn—(official) 2nd Executive of the Black Wolves.
"I think it's safe to say that none of us know where the hell we are or whatever that Keeperforsaken thing is…" Viper said as they all assessed the spider centaur before them.
"Mhm…" Love replied nervously.
"Aye," Raeyn said.
The girls readied themselves as Viper said lastly, "So, for the sake of pleasantries, I'm gonna call this place 'the Void' and that thing a 'void beast'. Any objections?"
"None." Both Raeyn and Love said.
Raeyn and Viper rushed the void beast while Love stayed behind, throwing her hands together to cast a spell.
They flanked it on both sides; Raeyn with a swing down from her scythe, and Viper with an incantationless spell as a tangle of winged snakes protruded from her arm.
She shot them out, and the winged snakes stormed the spider centaur on its right, while Raeyn's scythe slashed its left.
Whipping the winged snakes away and taking no damage once again from Raeyn's attack, it went for a counter, stabbing the ground with one of its massive insect legs, and the pierce caused a fissure between them.
Below them awaited only more darkness from the long, narrow opening, remaining suspended there for a moment.
Love then chanted her incantation,
"Arrow Magic: Field Shift!"
As if being pulled back by an unseen force, Viper flew over to Love, avoiding the drop. Raeyn, however, went the opposite way…
When she flew toward the spider centaur, Love shouted, "What!? Why did she go that way? I pulled her back to me as well!"
Viper said nothing and observed as Raeyn landed on the other side of the fissure with the beast.
The beast was quick to respond, spinning with one of its large legs on a path directly where Raeyn had landed; and she had barely gotten her footing as she was struck on the arm upon arrival. She grunted and hopped a distance away from the beast.
"N-No! I-I'm sorry! You weren't supposed to go that way!" Love shouted to her.
When she did, the beast whipped its head over to her and jumped over the fissure it created. But before it landed, with a hand and her middle and index fingers extended in front of her, Viper chanted,
"Primal Creation Magic: Flying Serpent Wall!"
Her incantation summoned a multitude of winged snakes from the ground that intertwined with each other and formed a net between them and the beast, getting caught and tangled in the web of winged snakes.
"Love!" Viper shouted, and she nodded as they shifted backward with Love's spell.
When they were a good distance away, Viper, still with her one-handed hand sign, chanted the second part to her incantation, "Haze!"
Right then, the net of winged snakes the beast had been captured in opened their mouths, and a green gas fumed out from them.
The spider centaur was now covered in a green smokescreen, inhaling the unknown substance into itself.
It struggled within the web of winged snakes and began to suffocate, flailing its insect and humanoid limbs in all directions.
Then, following Viper's spell, Love made a quick hand sign and threw out her hands toward the beast with another incantation,
"Arrow Magic: Center Point!"
A volley of pointing arrows appeared and glowed red, marking their spots on all sides of the beast—even in the air, they formed and then disappeared just as quickly. Then once all areas were marked, she chanted again, "Crush!"
The beast then began contorting inwardly along with the suffocation of smoke that the winged snakes had spewed—like it was being compressed from all sides by some unseen force. And by design, the winged snake net also constricted it tighter as well.
A loud crack sounded as the ground below it cratered and it had stopped moving…
Love and Viper straightened themselves while the beast's body steamed and they observed it, looking to see if it was truly defeated.
"D-Did we do it?" Love asked hesitantly.
Viper was silent.
"Viper?"
"Something's off…" she replied wearily.
Right then, the beast twitched, and then began flailing once more. It grabbed the ends of its humanoid mouth and started stretching it open. Something seemed to be coming out of it.
Then from its gaping mouth a head appeared—the same as its original as if forced itself out. It spurted out like it had regurgitated and then the rest of its massive body followed afterward, spider legs ripping its old mouth open to let its abdomen through. Then with one slash, it dispersed Viper's Flying Serpent Wall.
Viper and Love's eyes widened in shock.
"I-I-It shed its skin!?" Love questioned disgustedly.
"That's not all…" Viper added.
As the girls observed the beast, its skin looked like it had darken a shade and its eyes glowed a menacing red from that eerie, dual humanoid head.
Then, from above, Raeyn jumped over it with her large scythe above her head, flying down and crashing on top of the beast. The ground cratered again from her impact.
"Hey, is she stupid! The Haze is still in that area!" Viper shouted.
The strike was successful, but once again, it did no damage to the beast as it lowered its head and then reached for her with its four arms. She hopped off of it, and once she touched the ground, she spun—leading with the scythe as she did. The motion was meant for a slash, but because the beast seemed impenetrable, she tripped it instead.
It fell forward and caught itself, crawling creepily over to Raeyn at startling speed.
Its spider legs were now in the air as they stabbed her shoulder, side, and left leg—grunting with more agonizing pain with each pierce.
The looks of horror flooded Love and Viper's faces as they witnessed it.
"Love, do something!" Viper commanded.
Frantic, Love threw her hands out and attempted to pull her out and away from the beast while pushing the beast away in the opposite direction. She was successful in pushing away the beast, but as for Raeyn… she had sent her in the same direction as well, digging the beast's pierced leg deeper into her.
"Love! What the fuck are you doing!?" Viper viciously shouted.
Love panicked, "N-N-N-NO! I pulled her out, I swear!"
So long as Love's Arrow magic spell Field Shift was active, it covered a wide range of the terrain she chooses to cast it over, allowing her to move any and everything within the space wherever she needed it—whether or not the person or object was touching the ground, as her field spell covered the air in its designated area as well. Anything now within her jurisdiction of control has to move when she commands—like a new rule that must be followed on par with gravity. However, that didn't seem to be the case with Raeyn… at least, not in the way that she understood.
Raeyn grunted again in pain, and blood gushed out of her mouth.
Within the spider centaur's grasp, it snarled in her face and opened its jagged, horrifying mouth as it sprayed her with its gunk from within.
Its slimy, tentacle of a tongue slithered out and licked her from her leg, trailing up to her waist, then between her breasts, and then to her mouth at an unbearably slow pace; licking off the gush of blood seething from her teeth.
When it tasted her, its white eyes dilated, and it raised its four humanoid arms from the ground, standing up on the rest of its massive insect legs, simultaneously repositioning itself.
It began to grow claws so sharp, they were like machetes on its fingers. It snarled obsessively again to her, and then, without warning, slashed her all over her body over and over again, unforgivingly.
Shadows swallow up her eyes as Raeyn groaned from the endless slashes poured onto her like boiling water, ripping her clothing and scarring her beyond recovery. A waterfall of blood gushed out from every fresh wound, splattering and spilling every which way. It kept on and on until the blood that flowed down her now exposed toes formed a crimson pool beneath her bare feet.
"Love, save her, goddamn it!" Viper screamed.
"I can't! she'll just—"
"Do it, you pussy! Do it now!!"
Love closed her tear-filled eyes and raised her arms in a desperate attempt to move away Raeyn… but it only made the situation worse…
Raeyn heaved as her nearly nude body slammed into the humanoid part of the beast's torso. It cackled maniacally like a human and a monster altogether as it began to violate her, groping her mutilated body like some sick and twisted fantasy.
"I can't watch this!" Viper yelled as she bit her hand, and it bled.
When the blood dripped on the ground below her, she made a hand sign, and then another consecutively with both hands, and threw her bloody palms to the ground frantically,
"Primal Creation Magic: Flying Serpent God!"
In front of her now, the ground shook and a black pentagram formed, glowing hauntingly as it appeared.
Through it, a massive black snake head appeared from below. The wings on its head were more sinister, like those of a dragon, and its hiss was more of a growl when it emerged completely, twisting and suspending itself there as it locked its yellow eyes at the void beast before them.
Viper roared as she summoned it, turning her veins black and signaling the Serpent God to charge toward the Keeperforsaken monster.
Its bolt rippled the stone ground as it passed by in the air. Blocks of stone flew up and out and even back into place as it swam over at an alarming rate. It opened its mouth and it was massive, teeth sharp and large as claymores. And just as it was about to make impact, the void beast grabbed Raeyn's slathered body with a single hand and used it as a shield against the Serpent God.
Viper ground her teeth and widened her eyes when it did this, "Stop!!" she yelled as she hastily withdrew her attack before she accidentally struck Raeyn.
The Serpent God stopped mid-air seconds away from chomping onto Raeyn, but that bit of hesitancy was all it took for the void beast to send a flurry of unseen strikes down the Serpent God's neck.
It bellowed as it gushed black blood and toppled onto the ground lifelessly. Then before it could get the chance to recover, the void beast made a hand sign with its other free hands muttering what sounded like eerie nonsense to them… and a spell had been cast.
Right then, the endless slashes rained down onto the Serpent God from the ethers, slaughtering it beyond recognition.
"It…" Viper uttered in disbelief, "It cast an incantation!?"
The look on Viper's face said it all, as the void beast treated her most powerful spell—her Flying Serpent God—like it was utterly nothing.
"What… What the hell… is this thing!?" Viper said, horrified.
Love began silently crying as if the situation had traumatized her.
The circumstances grew more dire with Raeyn mutilated—dying and Viper's spell severely missing its mark. It was at this time; hopelessness had at last found them. Utter, embarrassing defeat.
The void beast loosed a rippling breath as it slowly lowered Raeyn and she had at last dropped her dear scythe she had been gripping to distract her from the pain.
And when it fell, its clang upon the ground was muffled as it submerged in her pool of crimson.
When the beast looked back at her, its eyes were wild and demented into a swirling white. It looked at her bloody mess of a body and went to engage its awful tentacle of a tongue but when it heard the sound of her weary voice, it halted in shock.
"Sorry to disappoint… but you don't get to have the pleasure again."
Her face was still shrouded in shadow as her sopping silver hair draped over her eyes, but the one thing this beast saw then was her glowing, ominous yellow eye through it all.
Then with every last ounce of her strength, she dipped her foot into the blood pool and kicked up her scythe. She grabbed the crimson dipped scythe effortlessly and swung a single strike onto the void beast. It was a weak strike in comparison to her other attacks earlier, but once the blade touched the beast, she chanted, "Reverse."
Instantaneously, every single wound, every single slash, every single violation had been lifted from her and replaced with the beast's condition. And as for the beast… it had received all that it had delt onto her in return.
Like watching a glitch on a video tape, the flurry of assaults she received was given generously back to it—slash by slash, over and over and over again.
The void beast was rained with an endless wave. So much so that the back-to-back slashes upon it sounded like a sea of birds chirping unendingly.
Every strike now, unlike before, was dreadfully effective.
Deep cuts and on-the-verge severed parts hung off of itself as it continued to take the assault. A pool of onyx blood gushed onto the ground, waterfalling off from every angle as Raeyn stood before it, pristine like she was never heavily damaged in the first place, and emotionless as she watched the beast writhe in the same agony she had endured minutes—seconds before.
Because Raeyn's Contrary magic was a Condition type, her magic is always constantly auto cast—making her receive the opposite effect from any spell or physical damage done to her. Unlike her crewmate, Nash who adapts, she is still affected every time—just in a different way. But much like Nash, she is able to forcibly turn on and off her ability on herself to trigger a stack. When she finally turns it back on, her Contrary magic reverses all damage or non-damage from her and her only. However, when her magic reverses stacked conditions, it then takes on a different property. Much like a full cup of water, when more water is added, it spills over. So, in turn, if she chooses to touch another target at the same time, it triggers an offset—ripple—upon activation.
And though her scythe may seem like a magicless weapon, it is actually a specially designed weapon by Asura with the exact same ability as her that's easier to trigger. So, by merely dropping her scythe into her own pool of blood, it then gained the same conditions as its user. Therefore, once the touch offset activates, instead of shattering her weapon, it passes from her to her scythe, and then onto the touched target of her choosing with opposite conditions. As for her 'Reverse' chant… It is simply a trigger phrase based on feeling as opposed to an actual spell cast.
"Hurts, doesn't it?"
The beast shrieked in anguish all the while, as if it had done all of that mutilation to itself.
It desperately swung a large insect leg at her, but she dodged effortlessly to the side. Her back was now to Love and Viper yards away as she stood there with wounds healed entirely. She displaying her porcelain skin—now untouched and clean as she stood barefoot and now nearly nude with her Black Wolves rags on the verge of falling right off her.
The two Golden Rose Knights watched in awe as they witnessed her do whatever in Keeper's name she had done.
"Send me backward with all your might!" Raeyn shouted to Love.
She hesitated, "B-But if I do that, you'll—"
"Please! Just do it now!" Raeyn commanded.
Love held her breath, bracing for the worst as she intensified her field spell, and arrows that pointed in all directions all over the ground began lining up below Raeyn as if adding layers upon layers of speed 'backward'.
When it all finished lining up, it was like the reel of a bow with Raeyn as the arrow. Love flexed her hands and pulled with everything she had, yelling as she did.
And as expected, instead of going backward, Raeyn positioned herself forward toward the drastically injured spider centaur—the void beast.
She readied her swing, arm crossing over her like earlier, and the ground glowed; the arrows shifted forward by her doing. They linked one after another—the sounds of the links becoming a higher tune as they reached their final note. She leaned in, and she dashed at the speed of light, becoming a blur as she glided above the ground to her destination—right at the center of the void beast's core.
Relentless slashes still engulfed the beast, its form becoming unrecognizable as Raeyn drew ever closer at a dramatic pace.
When she met it, at last, she only swung once. A direct and purposeful slash. And that was enough.
She slid to a halt on the other side of it as if she passed entirely through it. Her scythe whipped to her side with one bare leg over the other, gracefully on the other side of the fissure. And her face was solemn, like she had anticipated that this was the only result of this battle.
The void beast disintegrated into large chunks of flesh, becoming nothing like it was, as only the heaping pile of itself exploded and rained down.
When Raeyn looked over her shoulder, the two Golden Rose girls were still in bemusement at what they witnessed her do. Relief struck them like a tidal wave as they rushed over to her, shouting the only thing they knew her as, "LADY!!"
Raeyn looked at them with a flat expression as she responded, "My name is Raeyn…"
Hehe… someone's popular! Ophelia said in thought. And unlike before, you are full on naked now, sissy!
Raeyn blushed when she realized she was completely nude; the falling rags having completed their final mission mid-slash. She was too preoccupied during the heat of battle.
Love and Viper had somehow crossed the fissure and made it over to her, hugging her from both sides dramatically.
The three—technically four—girls celebrated their win as they continued to shout gleefully in this unknown place.
Then Raeyn, shivering from the touch of their gold armor on her bare skin, asked,
"You two wouldn't happen to have extra clothes, would you?"