The Ruler of Ruin

The creaky elevator took us back to the surface after a breakfast of eggs, potatoes, and steak. I didn’t complain about the heavy nature of the breakfast since I was still fairly ravenous from yesterday. I still had a couple of Stonefruit I could pull out of the Belt of Diana if things got desperate enough, but I was trying to save the energy-dense fruit for a time when I really needed them. Maybe after I recruited Xian I could pop back to Schieferon and stock up. I’m sure that Rock Lord Granix would be happy to hear that Chrys remained safe, and that we had wiped out the Scavs.

“Your first match today will be with the Barakin Nerina,” Sabin told me and the others. “Would you all like to watch from one of the VIP boxes, from the fighters team area, or the general crowd?”

Remy, Chrys, and Claire all murmured quietly to one another. I had no problem hearing them, but my hearing had gotten a little better. Not nearly as good as my sense of smell and taste, but any improvement seemed like an advantage I’d happily take ahold of.

“We’ll watch from Emery’s side,” Remy answered after they discussed it amongst themselves. Claire sulked a little, she’d wanted to see the VIP booths, but Chrys and Remy had outvoted her.

“Good luck,” Sabin wished us well, and wandered off.

“I’ll take you to the fighters pit,” Sven chimed in. The young rascal of a gnome led us through the vast underground tunnels beneath the arena to one of the fighter prep areas.

“Can I watch from here too?” Sven inquired while Chrys, Claire, and Remy settled onto benches and took stock of the arena. It looked a lot like the white arena, only bigger, and with areas of rock rising out of the sand to create high ground, low ground, and barriers to ranged attacks.

“Sure,” I answered and adjusted the black gloomweave clothing. Unlike the bed I’d destroyed last night, the strange black silk held up to the rigors of being my clothing with more than adequate style. I owed Amaranthine and Liora a thank you, but I needed to get something a bit more my style. Armor, preferably. Incredibly dense scales or not, a lifetime of wearing clothing, and years of wearing armor, had left me attached to the idea. I was still a little disappointed that the Wyrmscale Armor turned out to not be actual armor.

“We need to get you some more intimidating equipment, kiddo,” Remy said, practically reading my mind.

“What, you don’t think people will wet themselves at a dragon man dressed in gloomthread noble attire?” Claire asked with a big smirk, her voice full of teasing.

“If they know what it is, or who gifted it, they would do well to wet themselves and flee,” Chrys interjected earnestly. “The name of Lady Sadow is not unknown across the Gossamyr, and the collar is embroidered with the Evernight Rose. Those who can read the warning signs on display would known to avoid conflict with one so attired.”

“It does?” I asked, craning my neck this way and that to try and look at the collar. Thanks to my new anatomy, I really couldn’t see the collar that well and had not given it a thorough look over when I’d taken it off.

“Yeah,” Remy answered simply. “Sadow is a powerful name. With her as the Dustwalker patron we were allowed safe passage through realms that are usually death for folk from Solarias.”

Claire made a face at Remy, but didn’t start a verbal sparring session about Amaranthine this time. I didn’t understand why Claire acted that way to Remy about Amaranthine, but not to me. Maybe she didn’t realize the extent of my involvement with Amaranthine, or my shadow? What kind of a scout didn’t notice a male dragon’s shadow wasn’t his own, but that of a gorgeous fey?

The arena above us shook slightly, and the high pitched voice of a gnome filled the arena.

“It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, and its time to fiiiiiight! Have we got some humdingers for you. First up is a new challenger fresh from the White Arena, where he conquered the novices with a straight sweep to the top in a single day! Give a hand for the Elegant Dragon, Emery!”

I grimaced at my companions, who were all pointing at me and laughing. Even Remy.

“I need new clothes,” I groaned, before I took the side exit that led into the arena proper. I pulled Delirium of Ruin into my right hand before I made it onto the sand of the arena. I didn’t want to give away too much about my abilities, and as far as anyone else could tell they might think I’d pulled it from storage instead of summoning it.

The center of the arena was a low land of very soft sand, surrounded by rocky outcroppings that had been gouged, chipped, and cut at over the years. I suspected one of the gnomes used earth magic to repair the rock whenever it got too damaged.

“And his first opponent for the day, Nerina of the Barakin. Not only is this mom of thirty a demanding matriarch amongst the Barakin, but she’s their preeminent master of the whip. Can her sonic cracks and fast footwork stand up to the raw power of a dragon? Let’s find out, here she is, Nerina!” The crowd went wild for Nerina, or rather, a small but very vocal minority of the crowd went wild for her.

Nerina, like those cheering for her, looked like a humanoid hamster. White and brown spotted fur covered her body, and she had strong, muscular arms with a whip in each hand. Her muscular legs spoke of a high powered runner and jumper, but the docile and cute face made me struggle with taking this Nerina seriously. I didn’t want to judge, but come on, I was supposed to be scared of a rodent person?

“I’m going to rip your scales off and make them into armor,” Nerina told me proudly.

“Begin!” The announcer shouted.

Nerina leaped into the air in an arc over me. It was an impressive leap, she easily could have gone higher or further, but she wanted an angle of attack where she could try to entangle me with her whip, and land behind me. Instincts of the Gossamyr warned me about her entire plan of attack, and it wasn’t a bad plan, raw speed blitz to entangle your enemy, then use the moment of the jump to twist and drag your opponent into the ground.

Delirium of Ruin sliced nearly six inches of leather off both of the whips, and Nerina skidded when she landed, looking flabbergasted at what had happened. Black lightning crackled from my left hand, exploding the cut ends of her whips into ash, when I sensed they were about to shoot up and attack my eyes. Nerina had powers and wasn’t afraid to use them. While I dealt with the dismembered parts of her whip, she swung both whips and a cascade of sonic explosions accelerated down her whip towards me.

I struck out with my bare left hand, and activated my new ability, Lex Talionis. The sonic explosions reversed back up the whip, and exploded at the hands of the completely shocked Nerina. I was right behind those explosions, and Delirium of Ruin spilled the blood of the rodent all over the ground, and her lifeless corpse dropped to the sand in a pile. I stepped back to avoid the spray of fluids.

Maybe I still needed to hold back against these fighters? I thought that since they were also Topaz they might be an even match for me, but maybe it was my fault for not checking what concepts my opponent embodied.

“Nerina is down! The Matriarch of the Barakin has suffered defeat in record time. While this is a promising victory for our Elegant Dragon, it is sure to make his next match more difficult! Up next, the Elegant Dragon vs Aquablade Drenar, Patriarch of the Barakin!”

I didn’t bother leaving the arena floor when two young rodents came out and retrieved the corpse of the matriarch. I wondered what the Barakin actually were.

“They appear to be related to the noble and majestic capybara. I have no records of their existence from the Pre-Cataclysm Universe,” Arx Maxima informed my curiosity.

The male Barakin who entered the arena looked mad. He leaned down to soak his hands in the blood of Nerina and then smeared it across his furry face as if it were warpaint. Drenar’s eyes were full of rage and anger, and I could practically smell the fury exuding from him in waves. It tasted slightly bitter, but also sweet, like a very dark chocolate dressed with sea salt.

Neither of us attempted to speak to the other, and the dark vibe seemed to grip the arena tightly, the drama pulling the attention of all the spectators to us, even those who didn’t really care about the Barakin.

“Begin!”

Instincts of the Gossamyr warned me exactly what would happen, before it happened. I saw the pools of blood form into spikes that shot straight for my eyes. I let that part happen, and when the spikes were four feet from me, I invoked the power of Lex Talionis to reflect the attack at Drenar. The spikes of blood nearly hit the barakin before they suddenly changed direction and crashed into the ground in front of my opponent.

Drenar didn’t wait and charged at me even as the impact occurred, no doubt expecting to capitalize upon my distraction. I let him close the distance, and with Modify Vector amplified the velocity of his swords towards the ground. Both of his blades were made of a blue-green crystal that looked like water when light hit it. The blades were more durable than they looked, at least, because neither shattered when it hit the ground.

The rodent managed to shift its momentum into a roll. I couldn’t help but notice Drenar resembled a ball of fur when he used the move, and when he came out of the roll and jumped to his feet I was right behind him, multiple thrusts of Delirium of Ruin rained upon where his back was.

Water splashed me in the face. Drenar had created a thick globe of water at his back which absorbed the series of thrusts I struck at him with, and bought him precious seconds to spin and launch a series of water slicers, or blades of high pressure water, at my face. I reflected them. The first slicer I reversed the trajectory of straight back at Drenar, and the second and third I arced more widely at him to come in from the sides. Could he dodge that?

It turned out Drenar couldn’t. His powerful acrobatics allowed him to dodge the first hit completely. The second one he mostly dodged, taking only a shallow cut on his arm, and the third one hit him in the chest, at the same time I unleashed a Bedlam Bolt of black lightning. The rodent hit the ground, a bleeding, scorched mess.

Why do they keep going for my eyes? I asked Arx Maxima.

“They assume your scales are impenetrable like the dragons of stories, and so seek to attack your only two visible weak spots, your eyes.” Arx Maxima answered with what sounded like a guess to me. She couldn’t read their minds. Could she?

Are my scales impenetrable?

“No,” Arx Maxima answered scornfully, as if I’d asked something incredibly stupid. “Not even close to it, you have much growing to do before you reach that level of durability.”

“The Matriarch and Patriarch of the Barakin down in record time! It’s going to be a long, bloody day today, folks! Look, we’ve even got Miyuki herself here to watch! What brings you here, Lady of the Six Swords?” The gnome sounded as if he were addressing royalty.

“I came to see my latest apprentice fight, but it seems the newcomer is worth watching.”

I had no idea where Miyuki was in the audience, and there were no visuals to match the broadcast voices. Yet I knew something, instinctively. Miyuki was beautiful. Her voice had a confidence to it like Amaranthine’s. She sounded like a blade, her voice cut through all else to be heard. I had no idea what her physical appearance would look like, yet I already knew she would be sheathed an aura of deadly power, and was there anything more beautiful or sexy than that?

My mind drifted towards last night’s dream, and I shook my head. Maybe a few things were more beautiful than simple deadliness, but the allure was there, waiting for me to prove myself capable of challenging her.