Sorcerer, Ray Starling
Today was the ninth day of The Tournaments, but instead of watching it, I was just looking around the bazaar.
The clan member participating today was Kasumi, but she’d been eliminated in the preliminaries and I didn’t know any of the people who made it through, so I just didn’t feel like watching it.
Kasumi wasn’t the type to fight solo, so her loss wasn’t really unexpected, and we’d already held a little consolation party for her during lunch.
I really didn’t know who to bet on this time either, so I just went with a name that caught my eye—someone called “Grimms.” The sum I put down was smaller than any of my previous bets, but the multiplier was only behind Rook’s, so I’d still make some good money if he won.
Also, I currently didn’t have Nemesis by my side.
Well, actually, I did—but she wasn’t coming out of the crest on my left hand. She’d been meditating like this a lot more ever since our battle against that Overlord.
At first, I thought this was a sign that she was evolving, like what had happened in Torne. It didn’t seem to be a one-day deal this time, but there was no mistaking it: Having already evolved three times, she herself could now sense that her next evolution was drawing close.
There was something else she’d said about it too.
“Ray. This is conjecture, but...my next evolution will likely grant me the you-know-what.”
“Huh?”
“My ultimate skill.”
Ultimate skills. Bearing the Embryo’s own name, they were the greatest, most powerful abilities in any Embryo’s arsenal, and the supreme manifestations of their core traits.
This meant that her next evolution—her fifth form—would set in stone her nature as an Embryo.
Nemesis was currently reflecting on herself in preparation for that, and instead of disturbing her, I decided to just walk around alone.
“Hm?”
But then I noticed a couple of familiar faces. There was Juliet, looking somewhat down, with Chelsea right by her side. They’d noticed me too.
“What’s up, you two?” I asked as I approached them.
“The favors I carry, newly bestowed... They cannot yet be awakened,” said Juliet.
“I wanna test my new MVP rewards, but no arenas are open,” huh? I thought. I get it.
This reminded me that she’d been the one who won the Tournament on the fourth day, as well as beat the UBM to take the MVP reward afterward.
“Because of the Tourney, the arenas are bein’ rented by people who don’t usually use them,” said Chelsea.
“I see...” That made sense—duelists weren’t the only people participating in The Tournaments, and with the arenas being the perfect place to practice one-on-one fights, there were probably hundreds of people trying to rent them.
“And it’s the final day tomorrow,” Chelsea continued. “Not a single arena is open.” With the prize being a Mythical MVP reward, it was no wonder the participants were taking this seriously.
But because of that, these two hadn’t been able to do any training...
“Why not use our place, then?” I asked.
“Huh?”
My clan’s base was the Eighth Arena, and it had the same barrier that all the others did.
I’d even used it myself to test the axe that had blown away my arm.
“Can we?”
“Sure. It’s not like it costs us anything. Someone else might be using it, but the barrier can be separated just like in the other arenas, so won’t be a problem.”
If there was someone using it now, it’d probably be Figaro. He was participating in tomorrow’s Tournament. There was probably enough space for everyone there.
“Thanks! Maaan, there’s nothin’ like a good friend!”
“And so, we descend upon the citadel of the Light- and Dark-Wielding Hero Clad in Violet and Crimson... (We’re visiting Ray’s place...)”
“Hm? Juliet? What’s wrong?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. She’s just cute like that.”
“I don’t really get it, but okay...” Well, Juliet was still a middle schooler in real life, so it was probably best not to pry.
Anyway, that’s how it was decided that I would let these duelists into our base.
“The Eighth Arena, huh? I’ve actually never been there,” said Chelsea, prompting a nod from Juliet.
“Really?” I asked. “You two are proper duelists, so I kinda assumed that you’d been to all of them.”
“The ranked battles all happen in the Central Arena, and there’s more convenient places for warm-ups and sparring,” Chelsea said. Well, looking back at it, whenever I joined them for sparring, we never did use the eighth.
“If we go to arenas besides that, it’s usually for their events, but...” Juliet added.
“Ohh...” Right. Since the eighth was in a bad location, it never attracted much of an audience and was operating at a net loss, so it probably wasn’t economically viable for them to do any big events.
That makes our base sound like some rural horse-racing track that was on the verge of shutting down, I thought.
“By the way, can you fill your arena with water?” Chelsea asked.
“I never tried, but I think you can.” Not every arena in Gideon had this feature, but some could be filled with water for aquatic fights, and I was pretty sure ours was among them.
“I’ll pay for the water... Actually, I’ll just provide it myself. Would you mind if I did that?”
“I’m pretty sure it would take up the whole arena, so if someone else is using it, you’ll have to ask them. If they’re fine with that, then I see no problem.”
“Thanks! That’ll be a big help! I’ve been on a losing streak lately, so I need to do some serious training!”
“That so? Speaking of, what day did you participate in?”
I hadn’t seen her name on any of the public rankings in The Tournaments, so I’d assumed she’d been unlucky and gotten a bad matchup during the preliminaries...
“...Day six. I got matched with Kashimiya in the prelims.”
“Ohhh...” Yeah, that’d do it, I thought. Even the public battles ended in seconds that day.
“The reward didn’t attract much attention, and I’m pretty strong against lightning, so I thought I had a chance,” Chelsea added. “Though, looking back at the whole escape thing, that UBM was probably too much for me.”
The UBM released on day six had broken the barrier and flown off somewhere, escaping not just Kashimiya, but all the Superiors present—Shu included. Thankfully, it seemed like the UBM hadn’t caused any incidents since.
Still, there had been a serious counterplan meeting about it, and both Shu and Figaro had both been called to participate as observers.
“Speaking of Kashimiya, I wonder when he’ll challenge Figaro,” said Chelsea.
“Oh, Figaro himself actually asked him about that,” I said.
“What did Kashimiya say?”
“‘I will challenge you when you can duel me with all your strength.’”
“You mean...?”
“The sharpest fang in the Lion King’s maw? (Figaro’s ult?)”
Chelsea and Juliet instantly understood what Kashimiya had been referring to.
Indeed—while Figaro was the strongest duelist in the kingdom and possessed incredible power, he was actually handicapping himself by never using his Embryo’s ultimate skill.
Figaro had sworn that he’d never use his ultimate skill in a duel until he got another chance to face his close friend and rival, who’d disappeared following some event in the past. Figaro was so serious about this oath that he hadn’t even used his ult against Xunyu during the Clash of the Superiors.
“’Tis not that I do not grasp the desires of the great and powerful, but time flows ever onward toward its ultimate end... (I understand wanting to fight someone when they’re at their strongest... But I wonder when he’ll get to do that.)”
“Well, for Kashimiya, it’s less about his duel ranking and more about overcoming a great obstacle,” said Chelsea. “He just wants to fight someone powerful—becoming duel champion is kind of a bonus.”
Looking back, that was more or less how he’d been with Tom. Even though it was a bad matchup for him, Kashimiya had challenged Tom again and again, until he eventually emerged victorious with the techniques he’d honed throughout it all. He improved himself by overcoming those who were strong—these great obstacles.
For Kashimiya, duels weren’t the goal, but just a means to that end, and that was why he didn’t care about staying second in the rankings.
He would remain there until the day he could fight Figaro at his strongest.
“But if that’s how it is, I say let him keep waiting,” said Chelsea. “I’ll just beat Julie, Tom, and Kashimiya too, then challenge Figaro myself!”
“Our ambitions are equally matched—and yet, only one shall bear fruit. (I was thinking the same thing! I won’t lose to you, though!)”
Those two really were duelists. I was looking forward to their fights as both a friend and as a spectator. If letting them use our arena would help them on their path, then that was all the more reason to do it.
And what of you, as the leader of Figaro’s clan? Nemesis asked telepathically. She must’ve woken up at some point.
Knowing Figaro, he’d just be really happy they got stronger and gladly fight them both, no? I thought back at her.
That is true, came her reply.
As far as Superiors went, Figaro was relatively normal as a person, but when it came to combat power and fighting spirit, he might’ve been the craziest guy around. Who else would keep fighting after literally getting their lung ripped out?
Continuing to gossip, we soon arrived at our base. Thankfully, no one was using the stage, so they could have aquatic fights just like Chelsea had requested.
I actually joined them myself, and sparring with them made me realize that they’d grown stronger too—especially Juliet.
She’d actually died more times than me, though, so I felt like it’d be a while before she mastered her two new MVP rewards—especially the one she’d gotten using the gacha ticket.
Once we were done, I told them that they were free to use the arena for practice anytime.
But man, Juliet’s MVP reward... I honestly would’ve loved to have gotten it myself, I thought. The Carriage House of Legend I pulled from the gacha isn’t exactly disappointing, but the thing Juliet got would’ve fit my fighting style so well.