by Sakon Kaidou
Before that, though, I took one last look around our box. The ones in here were me, Nemesis, Rook, Babi, and Marie.
Due to Nemesis and Babi being Embryos, the two had gotten in here for free. However, I hadn’t known that beforehand, so I’d tried to get in after returning Nemesis to the crest.
“This is not something I like saying, but I felt like a dog about to be carried in one of those portable crates,” she said.
What kind of comparison is that? I thought.
“Oh, right. You’re the dog here,” she went on.
“Could you not dig up a memory I want to forget?!”
The dog ears disappeared this morning, and I want them gone from my head, too!
“They looked quite good on you, though,” she said.
...Yeah, whatever.
Anyway, we five were the only people here. My brother, the last person in our box, still hadn’t arrived yet.
Did he stop by a shop or something? I thought. Oh, well. I’ll just wait for him while watching the match.
There was a semi-event going on in the battlefield below. It was a perfect chance for me to reassess how duels work.
First, once the people stood on the stage, they set and agreed to the battle conditions. Then, they activate a special duel city barrier and begin fighting.
Inside the barrier, any injuries received, including fatal ones and player death penalties, disappeared after the battle was over. That allowed for deadly-yet-safe fighting.
The safety of the spectators was accounted for, as well. Multiple layers of barriers separated the audience and the duelists, letting through only sound, light, and the fighters’ enthusiasm.
Of course, dangerous light like lasers or dangerous sound like destructive sonic explosions were blocked, too. Though apparently, players under level 50 — like me — could pass through the barrier unhindered, which was the reason why I couldn’t participate in duels yet.
Also, the box we were in had come equipped with various devices. For example, there were monitors imbued with farsight magic, letting us observe the battle from numerous angles. The battle’s sounds reached us, as well, including the words of the participants and the names of the skills they used. All of it made for a highly simple and convenient viewing experience.
These boxes were used by wealthy tian nobles, traders, and Masters who wanted to analyze the fighters on the stage.
“But many are just enjoying the duel, right?” I said to myself.
Due to no one’s life being in danger, there were a lot of people who participated in duels. It was a popular activity among Masters and tian fighters alike. However, the main attraction of the arenas was the duels between Masters, and after seeing the fight before me, I could totally understand why. It was simply on a different level.
“Hhaahhhh!” shouted one of the Masters in the fight before me.
She was a black longsword-wielding, gothic-looking girl with black wings reminiscent of fallen angels sprouting from her back, and she freely flew around the space inside the barrier while leaving black feathers all around her.
“Blackwing Orchestra!”
Each and every one of the innumerable scattered feathers released jet-black wind blades. They formed a dark lattice which rent the air as it surrounded the enemy, fully intent on slicing her apart.
However, the opponent, a girl wearing a pirate hat and swinging around a giant golden ax as if it was no big deal, tightly gripped her weapon and forced it into the stage’s stony floor. “World Reversal Waterfall!”
A moment later, the seemingly-empty stage’s surface released a great flow of water with a force far more immense than a flash flood’s.
The jet surrounding the girl was much like the skill’s name: a reverse waterfall. It made the surrounding black wind blades completely vanish.
However, at that moment, the black-winged girl broke through an opening in the waterfall caused by the clashing between the water and the feathers, and slashed straight at the pirate girl, who still had her ax stuck in the stage.
The pirate girl used her left bracer to block the attack, but it wasn’t enough. It broke through the material and damaged her regardless. But at the same time, the gothic girl bent her body due to injury.
Right as the pirate girl raised her left hand to protect herself, she used a blind spot created by the enemy’s attack to launch an offensive skill with her right hand, creating a ball of water which hit the gothic girl right in her abdomen.
The winged girl instantly jumped backwards, and the pirate girl’s ax cut through the air where she’d just stood. She’d probably been aiming to make use of the gothic girl’s loss of posture, but it hadn’t worked.
The two spread out, creating some distance between them, then stared at each other, predicted their opponent’s moves, and clashed once again.
“Damn, they’re good,” I said. I was a bunch of tiers beneath them, not just in terms of basic stats, but playing skill, as well. “But I can still see them.”
Which was strange, since Marie had told me that high AGI would make people immensely fast.
“Oh, that’s because the flow of time is set to slow down inside the barrier,” she said. “From the fighters’ perspective, they’re moving at their actual battle speed, while we in the audience see it in a speed that allows us to properly observe what’s going on. There’s a limit to this, though.”
“Well, that’s convenient,” I said.
“Truly,” she agreed. “That’s how it works from a player’s perspective. But according to the setting, this is lost technology from an old civilization.”
So the arena itself is the same kind of thing as Silver, huh? I thought.
“I’d say it’s necessary, though,” she added. “If they fought at their normal speed, not even a tenth of the spectators could see what’s going on.”
Well, that sure says a lot about just how fast they’re fighting.
“They’re Juliet the ‘Black Raven’ and Chelsea the ‘Vagrant Golden Sea.’ Both are highly experienced Masters with sixth form Embryos. They’re also on Altar’s duel rankings. The former is fourth, while the latter is eighth.”
That made sense, considering how well they were fighting.
“I think I saw the one in the pirate hat when we were eating sweets,” said Nemesis.
Now that you mention it, yeah, she might’ve been there, I thought.
Nemesis turned to Marie. “Are ‘Black Raven’ and ‘Vagrant Golden Sea’ their nicknames?”
“Yes,” she nodded. “As for jobs, well, the former is a Fallen Knight — a Superior Job derived from the dark knight subgroup of the knight grouping — while the latter is a Great Pirate — a high-rank job from the pirate grouping.”
Oh, Black Raven is in the knight grouping? I thought. I’m not sure whether it makes me feel any affinity for her. I mean, her equipment is a bit scary-looking...
“I sincerely doubt the girl would like to hear that from you, of all people,” commented Nemesis.
What’s that supposed to mean?
“By the way, are Superior Jobs common?” I asked.
“Not when you look at the whole picture,” Marie answered. “Still, there are far more of them than Superiors, Masters with Superior Embryos. If I had to guess, I’d say that people with Superior Jobs are in the quadruple digits. Even tians can get those jobs, after all.”
That was a greater number than I’d expected.
“Strong Masters stuck with high-rank Embryos often go for those jobs,” she added.
“But despite being strong, this ‘Vagrant Golden Sea’ lady doesn’t have a Superior Job, right?” asked Rook.
“Oh, Chelsea is one of those who’ve yet to discover a Superior Job she could take,” said Marie. “There are tons of jobs with unknown conditions, after all.”
Well, her status makes sense now, I thought.
“Having your Superior Job get occupied before you even know its conditions must be tragic,” I commented.
> “Oh, that happens a lot,” said Marie. “Some Superior Jobs have similar conditions, after all. There are even people who have taken two of them.”
“What an unfair world... Ah!”
As I listened to Marie’s explanation, something big began happening in the match. The wings of the Fallen Knight, Juliet, disappeared, and a moment later, countless black feathers gathered around her hands. Soon, they all began whirling around her arms, accelerating to speeds so great it became hard to differentiate them.
The Great Pirate, Chelsea, swung her ax and made its wide middle part face her opponent. Then the golden ax part vanished, leaving behind a hole which released a powerful flow of golden seawater.
Using all their magic and technique, the two reached the limits of their power and unleashed their ultimate attacks.
“Corpse-Eating Bird — Hræsvelgr!”
“Golden Bull Tsunami — Poseidon!”
The stage became overwhelmed by the clash between a dark whirlwind and a golden tsunami.
Even with all the layers of barriers separating us, the visual pressure and the sound waves reaching us were still overwhelming.
The struggle between a tornado and a tidal wave — likely the results of their trump cards — made for a sight that felt completely otherworldly.
Their Embryos were in their sixth forms, making them four tiers above Nemesis. Naturally, their destructive power was immense. It wouldn’t have surprised me if both of those attacks were doing enough damage to instantly pulverize Gardranda.
However, there was more than just power to them. The entire battle that had led to this moment was a show of just how skilled they really were.
“So, is it safe to assume that these attacks are the ‘ultimate skills’ you told us about, and that their Embryo names are Hræsvelgr and Poseidon?” asked Nemesis.
“Yes,” she said. “These attacks are their Embryos’ ultimate skills, each named after the Embryo itself. They express the Embryo’s dominant characteristics, which is why Hræsvelgr is a dark-wind mixed-element magic attack, while Poseidon is a liquid-summoning skill.”
“Is there a difference between liquid-summoning and the water element?” I asked.
“In the simplest of terms, liquid-summoning is physical, while elements, including water, are magic. By the way, the liquid from Poseidon’s ultimate skill is basically standard-temperature molten gold, and is far heavier than normal water. It can easily flatten fortresses.”
“How luxurious,” I said. “Damn freaky, too.”
“Well, it all disappears after the attack is over.”
That made sense. A person that could constantly spawn gold wouldn’t be good for the game’s market price.
“But man, I’ve gotta say, you’re pretty knowledgeable about them, aren’t you?” I asked.
“They’re frequent duelists, after all,” she replied. “There’s lots of info about them.”
That was the thing about duels. Masters who participated in Gideon’s duels would receive rewards regardless of whether they won or lost — though, naturally, the victor got more. For those who fought in this arena’s main events, the reward could easily reach 5,000,000 lir. With today’s event being so special, that number was multiplied tenfold. Naturally, those are some high returns, but they came at a high risk of giving information about yourself to the spectators — other players included.
Marie had demonstrated this cost quite well. Being part of DIN, she knew everything from the two girls’ jobs to the details of their Embryos’ ultimate skills.
“Still, there are frequent duelists about whom we know absolutely nothing,” she added.
I was silent.
“That’s why I’m very excited about the next match.”
The battle on the stage reached its end, and Juliet the Black Raven proclaimed her victory.
With that, it was time for the main event.
It was a match which would involve Gideon’s ultimate king of duels, number one on the Kingdom of Altar’s duel rankings: Over Gladiator, Figaro. His opponent was number two on the Huang He Empire’s duel rankings: Master Jiangshi, Xunyu.
The curtains were about to rise for the Clash of the Superiors.
◇
The Kingdom of Altar had four Masters with Superior Embryos.
I’d seen them battle — no, completely annihilate — the PK clans surrounding the capital, so I was more than aware that their power was stupidly immense.
According to Marie, low-rank, high-rank, and Superior Embryos were all on completely different levels.
“To compare, low-rank are like dogs, high-rank are like tigers, and Superior-rank are like dragons,” she said.
Naturally, this made for a difference so great, it left no room for hope for the lower creature. No normal players could match Superiors and their absolute power, so it was inevitable that they researched and gathered as much info on them as they could.
Therefore, because both dueling Masters were Superiors, most of these curious folks were focusing on their Superior Embryos.
There was so little info on the Kingdom of Altar’s Superior Embryos that not even DIN knew much about them. Even the names of three of them were a complete mystery, while their abilities didn’t even leave the realm of speculation.
The one Embryo that was known was High Priestess Tsukuyo Fuso’s, but that certainly couldn’t be said about the other three. Previously, Marie had suggested that the King of Destruction’s Embryo was a battleship, but again, that was nothing but speculation. People merely assumed that based on the glimpses of a large shape lingering around the complete and utter destruction he left in his wake.
Due to this desperate lack of info, players were still eagerly searching for hints about their abilities. And, of course, a match involving Figaro was nothing short of a perfect opportunity.
“So that’s what’s been keeping you busy, huh?” I asked Marie.
“Yeah.”
After the semi-event was done, there was a thirty minute interval until the main event began. It was used for maintenance of the stage and the barrier. Marie spent a lot of this time taking out various equipment from her inventory and setting it up. She was going to record the fight for her Journalist work.
Rook and Babi, seemingly tired from something they’d done in the afternoon, were spread out on their chairs and sleeping.
Better wake them up when the match begins, I thought.
Nemesis, as was standard with her, was emptying food she’d bought at one of the stands here.
After watching my party members, I began looking around the arena, when...
“...Huh?” I said.
“Hm?” she added.
Nemesis and I noticed something.
We saw a black shape disappear into the hallway below, and it was highly reminiscent of the black bear suit that my brother wore.
“What do you think?” asked Nemesis.
“Shu isn’t the only one in this world to wear a suit, but it looked very similar to his.”
However, assuming it was him, I could only wonder why he was there and not here in our box.
“I’ll go check,” I said and stood up.
“I’ll come with you,” said Nemesis.
After telling Marie that I’d be back before the event started, I went to search for my brother.
The arena’s inner hallways were stony and had a design similar to the one used in real life sports stadiums.
Sure, there weren’t any vending machines, but there were people selling light food and drinks. With the main event getting closer, many people were rushing to stock up on snacks or to answer mother nature’s call, causing the hallways to be pretty crowded.
Though it didn’t matter to the players — who logged out and did their business in reality — this world had flushable toilets. They were based on magic and were quite common in middle and upper class households.
Baths existed here, as well. However, they weren’t too common in commoner residences, s
o most people opted for public bathhouses. I was even told that one of the twelve districts here in Gideon was known as the bath district.
First a Colosseum, then bathhouses... this city is strangely similar to ancient Rome, I thought.
“I don’t see Brother Bear anywhere,” said Nemesis.
“Strange, considering how much he stands out,” I commented.
I didn’t know for sure whether it had been him or not, but I had little doubt that I’d seen a bear suit...
“Hm? Doesn’t this look suspicious to you?” she asked, pausing outside a corridor.
“It says ‘Staff Only,’ though,” I said.
“We can just pretend that we got lost. I can even act out a good lost child.”
“...Might I ask how?”
“Meow meow mew meow, meow meow mew meow.”
“That’s just the mewing kitten from that children’s song!”
“I really don’t like how it ends with the kitten still being lost.”
Well, it asked a crow and a sparrow for directions, so it’s to be expected that it didn’t find its way.
Now, back to the matter at hand...
Nemesis and I entered the staff-only hallway. I expected to get confronted instantly, but it seemed that the arena staff were too busy preparing for the event in other places, leaving the hallway empty.
After going a bit further, I heard a familiar voice from behind the corner. Stealthily, I took a peek at the two speakers.
“We have two among the spectators. One’s the guy from Caldina, and... Dryfe’s King of Beasts, I think.”
“I see. I’m sure getting some attention, aren’t I?”
“Well, it’s the first time you’ve been in an arena battle against another Superior. They’re probably thinking that they can finally get info on you.”
“I’m not really hiding it or anything, though.”
“Yeah, it’s just that your Embryo’s effects are simple and not flashy at all.”
“You might be right.”
“Also... overall, the city’s enthusiastic, but I’m smelling something really fishy. I saw some shady-looking kingdom people. They might be planning something, so you should be on your guard. I’m warning you because you’re usually dense about stuff like this.”
