Free Web NovelFollowing a nice break, spectators quickly returned to their seats for the next matches of the day. Kanae came back with a cart full of food for her friends and family. Arenade availed herself to some whiskey, and Edina had joined them following the end of the previous match. The squirreling lich was the center of attention. Teana, Nelly, and Mikki bugged their aunt about how the fight went, and Edina was more than happy to regale them.
"Queen Kanae! Or should I say, Empress Kanae?" a deep voice called out from behind.
The former Necro Lord Thored descended the steps into the VIP booth. Donning a red and yellow robe, the horse beastman gracefully introduced himself to the people around him.
"Is this seat taken?" Thored gestured to the sparsely occupied row in front of Kanae.
"No, please sit! And you can just call me Kanae. How have you been enjoying Radevic?" Kanae asked.
"Very well! The food is exceptional. I especially adore the seafood that comes straight from Port Kandis. Most of Artaggon is locked in by mountains, and the only fish we have come from the Cup of Carsin, which Lord Charron strictly controls to prevent overfishing. Oh, how I love biting into smoked tuna!" the horseman gushed, then turned around to meet her eyes. "By the way, Minestra tells me she is up next and will be facing a lamia named Garuda, the Knight of Umber. Who do you suppose will emerge the victor?"
Kanae distinctly recalled easily defeating Garuda during the Hollow Glades incident. At the time, when Artaggon and the Commonwealth were still at odds with each other, Minestra had attempted to win the lamia tribes over to her side. They foiled those plans, and Kanae ended up being the one to unite the tribes against the herzulith. However, it took many of them to defeat Minestra, and she had thrown Garuda around like a ragdoll then.
But the lamia had since been training to become a Knight of Color, and Petyr did mention that she was somewhat promising. Coming from her of all people that had to be worth something.
On the other hand, Minestra wasn't a slouch in combat. Herzulith were naturally gifted in strength and dexterity. Their second pair of arms was enough to trip up any fighter used to facing a single pair. She also wasn't one of Lord Charron's demon lieutenants for nothing.
"I think we're just going to have to see," Kanae said as Archbishop Patrice walked out to the arena.
"This tournament isn't just to demonstrate the strength of Aidenhall peers, but also the prowess of our allies. Long have we been tied to Ortesia, an imperial collar wrapped tight around our necks. Not anymore. From the north, we have made allies in who was once our sworn enemy— Artaggon. For this occasion, they have sent a champion of their own, the herzulith warlord of Suvius, Minestra Val'doun!" the archbishop boomed.
Impassioned cheers greeted Minestra as the four-armed demon stepped out of the tunnel. She wielded two longswords and a staff, while her fourth limb went without a weapon. A leather cuirass guarded her chest, and a skirt made of the same material cut in long strips draped down her knees. The herzulith looked like a gladiator.
"And her challenger, hailing from Hollow Glades, the Knight of Umber! Garuuuuuda!" Patrice spared no breath in uttering her name.
The hulking giant of a lamia slithered out from the opposite tunnel entrance, leaving a trail in her wake. Garuda needed no armor except for her scales. A heavy bone mace clenched in each hand looked like they could easily crush someone's head in.
"I have something to say. May I?" Minestra asked the archbishop.
"By all means." Patrice handed her the scroll.
Minestra's gaze circled the stadium until she looked Kanae's way.
"Kanae, I plan to ask your hand in marriage when I win!" Minestra shouted.
The entire stadium gasped.
"What?! My answer is no!" Kanae threw herself against the railing and yelled.
"Why not? You said yes to the high elf!" Minestra pouted.
"I'm so sorry about her…" Thored palmed his face, sighing.
Archbishop Patrice snatched the magic scroll back and began the fight. Garuda dealt the first blow while Minestra was distracted. However, she caught the mace in her free hand.
"Heh. This won't go the way it went down before!" Garuda taunted.
"Garuda. I thought you looked familiar." Minestra's staff sparked at one end.
Earthen golems rose from the ground to grab hold of Garuda's serpentine body. She flung several away and crushed some underneath her tail, but more continued to rise. While Minestra held on to one mace, she thrusted both swords forward.
Garuda had a longer reach and caught Minestra by the wrist just before the tip plunged into her chest. The lamia's rows and rows of teeth clenched down on the second sword. Although locked in a stalemate, Minestra's golems pummeled the length of the serpentine body. A single sweep of her tail knocked them all away. This was a far cry from their last encounter, when Minestra had punted Garuda out of commission in Hollow Glades.
The same tail attempted to coil around Minestra, but she knew better than to get caught. Abandoning her swords and letting go of Garuda's mace, the herzulith jump-roped over the tail. It shot up to seize her. However, she grabbed back. Before Garuda could swing with both maces, Minestra flung the lamia over her shoulder. Garuda went flying. Now this was a familiar sight. Herzulith strength at its finest.
"Huuu!" Claudia cheered from Kanae's right. "That's what I call a fight. Damn, I wanna jump in there and join them. Hey, that Minestra's into you, right? How come you don't wanna just take her?"
"I don't know… Minestra being so romantically aggressive makes me feel weird. I wouldn't have minded if it was just sex," Kanae said.
Both fighters were savage in their attacks. Garuda's downward swings cratered the ground. Her long body effortlessly slithered through the arena's sandy surface, leaving Minestra unable to put any distance between them.
"Haha! Do I intimidate you now, demon?" Garuda cackled.
Minestra scoffed. The chase around the arena led back to the start, where the herzulith picked her two swords back up from the ground. Armed again, Minestra gave Garuda the fight she wanted. Sword and mace came to blows, but every time their weapons made contact, it was the former's steel that began to crack. Swords weren't made to parry the blunt impact of a mace after all.
With every clash, Minestra summoned golems raining down on Garuda. Although they were like gnats to her, their endlessness was beginning to wear on the lamia chieftain's patience.
"Minestra uses mana to make those golems, right? What class is she crowned?" Edina asked.
"I don't think Minestra's ever told me. It could just be that her staff is enchanted with the ability to summon golems," Kanae explained.
"Hrmm. I'm willing to bet those swords are enchanted to contain a pool of mana," the squirreling suggested.
"What makes you think that?" Thored glanced over his shoulder and grinned.
She rolled her eyes. "Well, for one? That shit-eating smile of yours. Secondly, you'd expect someone like Minestra, who likes to get in your face, to wield swords made of adamantine. Can't enchant adamantine. Can't imbue them with magic. That's the trade-off for something almost unbreakable. Those weapons of hers clearly ain't adamantine. So, why not go with that metal? To be able to have them enchanted. I used to only be able to summon a limited number of undead. At least until I tapped into other sources for mana."
"You would be correct, Lich." Thored nodded affirmatively. "Minestra's weapons are unique in that they are enchanted to contain a pool of mana, as well as using that mana to empower them and golems."
The cracks in Minestra's blades glowed with arcane energies. Her staff, which was topped with a crystal ball at one end, absorbed the mana seeping out of both swords. She summoned another golem, this one towering like a gargantuan.
Garuda froze underneath its shadow. She turned around slowly and had to crane her neck to see the top. Both maces flew out, smashing into the side of the enormous golem's right leg. They didn't so much as make a dent.
"Shit—" Garuda uttered before being smushed underneath one foot.
When the golem lifted its leg up, the lamia laid unconscious underneath the footprint in the earth.
"The Knight of Umber has been defeated. Minestra Va'doun is the victor!" Archbishop Patrice announced.
"Kanae!" Minestra waved.
"I already said no!" Kanae yelled back.
Despite being victorious, a sulking Minestra dragged her feet out of the arena while clerics rushed Garuda out beside her. The gigantic golem eventually returned to the earth, back from whence it came.
Archbishop Patrice suspended the rest of the fights for the day until tomorrow, a surprise to everyone hoping to witness a few more rousing rounds of combat. Kanae grew suspicious. She wouldn't have done that without good reason.
"Teana, take your sister Mikki and head back to the dormitories. Go with them Nelly," Kanae instructed.
"What? But we promised to hang out with some friends," Teana groaned.
Despite complaining, they did as Kanae told them.
"What's the matter?" Arenade leaned in and whispered.
"Just being cautious. I think the archbishop cut the fights short today because she expects danger. Maybe you should take Suvee and Kanade to Brighton?" Kanae suggested.
"Eh? Uhh…" She averted her eyes and blushed.
"You can't keep from fucking the goblins for one day or what?"
Arenade pressed her index fingers together.
"W-We were going to roleplay an adventurer getting caught by a horde of goblins today," Arenade muttered quietly.
"You know what? I'll have Esta look after them in Silver Hall. You go and get those dicks." Kanae winked.
People vacated the stadium, and Kanae asked Esta to take Suvee and Kanade to Silver Hall. The girls were more than happy to have a sleepover with Feraline. Everyone went their separate ways as an early night stretched across the horizon. Although winter was upon them, the mild weather only brought a modest chill.
Kanae wondered if it was snowing up in Ehmvier right now. Maybe when summer came around again, she could take the entire family to Kandis. Vizier Duran had no choice but to give her a royal welcome.
The evening drew to a close with no signs of an attack. Maybe the archbishop was acting out of paranoia after all. A knock came late at night after Runald had fallen asleep in bed, and Kanae was about to hit the sack, too. She grabbed Lust from the weapons rack and tiptoed to the door.
"Who is it?" Kanae asked.
"Your archbishop," the voice replied.
Kanae opened the door to find Archbishop Patrice in a heavy cloak. Petyr leaned against the far wall, arms folded.
"A moment of your time in private?" Patrice asked.
"Runald's sleeping inside, so both of you be quiet," Kanae said, letting them both in.
Patrice pulled her hood off coming through the door. Petyr walked straight to the fireplace that was still crackling. She extended both arms out to warm up.
"It's starting to occur to me that I hang around high elves more than my own kind," Kanae joked.
"I'd argue that lately high elves have been more hospitable to you than succubi," Patrice fired back.
"So, why are you two here? Usually, you send servants to fetch me to meet with you," she said.
The archbishop motioned for Kanae to join Petyr by the fire. They took a seat on the couch across from each other. Kanae on one side, Patrice on the other, and Petyr opting to stand.
"I plan to enter the tournament and face Petyr," Patrice said.
"What? Why?" Kanae gasped.
Petyr finally turned around. "We know with certainty that there are Queen-Mother succubi infiltrating the city. Vesh and Motta discovered more who are charmed by them. A few were clerics employed to work in the Basilica of Saint Rue."
"Okay… but why are you two fighting?"
"They have had many chances to act," the archbishop began, "but I wonder if they do not make any moves because the basilica is my residence. We need to make a public spectacle. Petyr and I will fight. She will defeat me, badly enough that I am put in a coma. I will not truly, but they must believe it. My incapacitation should be the impetus to spur the cultists into action. Amethyst, I want you, Alicia, and Ivory near the basilica and be ready to act. Alicia's Magical Stealth should keep you in low profile, and Ivory being crowned a Monk gives her an advantage over succubus charm."
At every turn, the Cult of Lust and Depravity and the Mistresses have been screwing with them. They even snatched their sister back and stole the lamp containing an elemental lord. This was a good chance to get back at them.
"When?" Kanae simply asked.
"Tomorrow night after the tournament. Petyr and I shall be the last to fight. In the meantime, you three will embed yourselves into the cathedral and lie in wait. I have already spoken to them beforehand," Patrice explained.
