Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Inauguration

Chapter 21: Inauguration

  

This was it.

They were about to embark on their expedition. Everyone was kitted up. Parth could feel the tangible tension in the room. For him, it was the same old jitters he would get before every fight of his. He knew that it would pass. When the first punch was thrown, he’d be in his comfort zone. It was the others he was worried about.

Moira seemed to hold it better. She did have experience combatting nerves before her sports meets, but this was on a whole other level. Fights always carried that extra edge. At this level of violence, even more so. Although, he hoped that their training with Don would be enough to at least not freeze up.

Kwame looked like he was on the verge of losing it. The Knuckleball was lazily floating around him, and he started at it as if it was the only thing holding him together. Parth patted him on the shoulder in a comforting gesture and motioned at the floating metal ball.

“We need to conserve every single drop of mana before we go inside,” he said kindly.

Kwame nodded and recalled the artifact back to its resting place inside the pocket dimension linked to his tattoo.

“Yeah, just nervous,” mumbled Kwame.

“I get that. We’ll be fine,” said Parth.

He looked at his team and nodded in affirmation. He was responsible for them. He was the oldest of the lot. He was the most used to fights out of them all. He would not disappoint them.

“Keep going through the tactics. That’ll keep your mind away from things,” said Parth. Kwame nodded in agreement and began flicking through the contents of his ring, zeroing in on their tactics handbook.

Moira silently did the same as Parth plugged his metallic disks to the back of his ears and drowned himself in music.

He did a routine check of his equipment as he listened to his music. Everything was in place. Everything was ready.

The entire team was studded in nifty-looking armor. It was not bulky at all. It even looked flimsy from some angles, yet it was anything but. It was made out of Ormium-B. Or rather, Black Ormium as the locals called it. It was the synthetic version of Ormium, the alloy their artifacts were made of. It was an amalgam of the two best metals found in Viz. Mithril and Orihalcum were mixed to make Ormium. It was the best of both worlds. Synthetic Ormium was not as good as the actual alloy, but it was close.

He understood that it was expensive. Lord Kach had spent a lot on them just to make sure that they were safe.

The designs of their armors were similar. The only difference lay in color. Parth’s undersuit was completely black. The undersuit itself had vital regions where armored padding was present. On top of all that was a combat suit of sturdy weave, over which the Ormium-B plates were placed to add more protection. His armor plating was of the same black, with red accents, and a slight red tint. Which was the same color scheme as his gauntlets. There was no plating below his elbows for obvious reasons. The metal plating itself did not hinder movement. It was extremely lightweight. The design itself was futuristic and hence looked slim and sleek.

There was a flexible hood on his back, and a tubular cloth around his neck, which he could pull up to cover the lower half of his face. These had armored padding stitched into them as well. The hood had a visor too if anyone needed it. Once the hood and the neck wrapping were pulled up, they went rigid and held in place until he manually pulled them back. It was a convenient mechanism. 

Moira had a royal blue suit with purple armor plating. The purple metal had a blue gradient, which made it look ethereal. Her artifact had too many colors, so it looked like they settled on the purple of the joker cards, and the blue of her hair, eyes, and wings.

Kwame had a light blue combat suit with gunmetal grey plating. The accents on the plating were the same blue as his suit. Once again, themed around the color of his artifact.

Of course, the two of them had the vambraces and armored gloves that Parth lacked.

All of their gear was polished matte. This was to ensure that it did not glint under light and draw unwanted attention.

Every team had different looks for their armor. It ultimately depended on the stylist hired by the patrons. Parth liked his team's aesthetics, so he had no complaints at all.

Apart from the armor, they all had several accessories as well.

First and foremost were their supply boxes. Each of them had a rectangular box with straps like a backpack.

Parth ran a finger over his supply box absentmindedly. It was not big enough to restrict movement. At the same time, it was easily detachable and attachable if needed.

One might ask how such a box would be enough to last them the whole week they would be in the dungeon. The answer to that would be magitech. It had spatial enchantments built into it that allowed it to act as a nerfed bag of holding. It could hold a lot of things, but there was a total mass limit. Not to mention the fact that things that only fit the opening could be stored inside. Overall, it had the necessary amount of food and water to last close to two weeks. The extra rations were there in case they couldn’t make it out of the current trial in the stipulated time, or if their teammates lost their boxes. There were other knickknacks for survival and rudimentary first aid kids. Unfortunately, potions could not be placed in the containers. Anything that had mana would disrupt the mechanics of the thing and lock it all down. So, mundane supplies it was.

What was not mundane were their other accessories.

Each of them had a utility knife strapped to their calves. The blade was tinted gold and possessed a glowing edge. It had a minuscule magical crystal inside its handle that fed mana to the edge, making it sharper than it was. Such a tiny enchantment did not consume much mana and hence the core was enough to keep it in working shape for a lifetime.

The blade itself was made of Orihalcum. The golden metal was one of the two naturally occurring metals in Viz that could seamlessly conduct magic and hold enchantments. It was the sturdiest of the lot, and hence favored in weapons and armor. As one might guess, it was not cheap at all. Even such a tiny utility knife cost a fortune to Parth’s middle-class sensibilities. Which put into perspective how expensive the armors really were. Ormium was far more pricy than Orihalcum, after all; synthetic or not.

Apart from the utility knife, Moira and Kwame had something extra. They had a combat dagger each, strapped to the small of their backs. It was made of the same metal and had the same functionality. These were geared more toward combat though. In addition, they each had a hip holster that housed a handgun. Parth was intimately familiar with those weapons, as Don used the very same things to take shots at him during combat exercises. Moira and Kwame’s sidearms and daggers were of the same make and model as the ones Don used. Which was not a surprise, since those were the ones they had practiced extensively with.

Lord Kach wanted to saddle them with something bigger, but it seemed like the Dungeon interfered with advanced weaponry that employed a lot of mana. Mana blasters beyond the form and function of a handgun would just not work. At the same time, mundane weapons would be next to useless unless they had mana conducive metal.

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Artifacts reigned supreme. But right now, not everyone had enough mana to cut loose with their artifacts alone. Moreover, there needed to be something else in place to handle bad matchups. Parth didn’t have any such sidearms because it didn’t cost him any mana to maintain his gauntlets. Not like he would easily run out of mana.

He had tried using the pistol, but he quickly learned that he was a very bad shot. He was honestly better off using his vast reserves to enhance his body and engage in close range if he was in a situation where fire would not help him. Blows from a metallic gauntlet fortified by a mana-enhanced body were nothing to scoff at.

These emergency weapons were mostly for Moira's sake. Her cards could burn through mana very quickly if she had to use high cards in succession. Kwame could have his artifact out as long as he did not double its speed. That was where his mana drains spiked. Just having it out and moving it about took negligible mana in comparison.

As Parth was thinking of all their loadouts, their rings buzzed in unison. The ping cut through his music and he opened his eyes to check the message.

We’re ready.

The two-worded message was enough to get the point across. They all stood up and walked out of the room.

Within a couple of minutes, they reached Celeste's office. She was clad in her uniform as usual and was waiting for them outside her office.

“All set?” she asked, nervousness creeping up in her voice.

“As well as we can be,” he replied while Kwame nodded reluctantly in agreement. Moira just stoically stood there, not responding.

"We've done what we can. I hope it is enough. Before we go in, I just want to let you all know that my prayers are with you. Please return to us," said Celeste as her mask of professionalism cracked for a rare moment.

Words refused to come out as Parth just nodded in affirmation.

“Thanks for your help,” Kwame said in such a low voice that they almost missed it.

"I am just doing my duty," she said as Parth and Moira thanked her as well, just in case they weren’t able to make it out.

“Let’s go,” said Celeste as she led them all further into the building.

After several minutes of crossing various security checkpoints and identification processes, they finally reached their destination. It was a giant theater with a dais up front. Atop it stood a large statue of a D’Raac. Its coloring was quite baffling. Sometimes it seemed golden while at other times it had a silver sheen. Parth was sure that for a few seconds it looked blinding white even. It was enough to tell him what it was though. Ormium at its finest. The same thing that all the artifacts were made out of. But it seemed like this did not have any additional coloring done on top of it like the other artifacts. This could only be Byrone’s Boon. The artifact which was not bound to a voyager, but was used to pull people out of the dungeon and put them back in. 

He gazed at the face of Byrone, the man who had created such wonders. Somehow, the entire statue did not seem to portray someone who was a creator. It depicted a stoic warrior gazing at the distance. Parth even recognized his own gauntlets in the depiction, as they covered two of his six arms. He was wearing Andrea’s boots and Emilia’s circlet as well. Technically, they were all Byrone’s. Parth surmised that most of the wearable artifacts were studded on his depiction.

Taking another look at the Pygilist gauntlet on the sculpture's arms, he shuddered at the aesthetics of it. The black and red gauntlet was dear to him in such a short time. He couldn't ever imagine it in such a gaudy coloring. He was glad that Byrone had decided to paint it. As far as he knew, the magical metals retained the color that was imbued on them during the smithing process. Gold, Silver, and the occasional flashes of white did not suit his gauntlets.

As he was admiring the massive statue, he was roughly shoved aside as someone walked past him.

His body had grown stronger ever since he had access to mana, so he didn’t stumble. But it was rude nonetheless.

“Move out of the way, loser,” grumbled the blond man who had shoved him aside. He even didn’t bother to turn as he kept walking.

For a second, Parth thought of saying something crude, but he held his tongue with great difficulty. Who knew what kind of mental strain the man was in? Everyone was nervous because they were about to embark on a dangerous trial. Then again, the dude could just be an asshole in general. Still, he would give him the benefit of the doubt.

He looked around to see that while he had stood and admired the statue, his teammates and Celeste had moved on to a table where Lord Kach was seated. They hadn’t noticed this minor encounter at all.

Parth shrugged and joined his team quickly. He nodded respectfully at his patron and took his seat among his cohort.

A quick look told him that Emilia’s team was seated a couple of tables away. Her circlet was out in the open, for the world to witness. The girl was making a statement. They were afraid of her artifact and plotting against her, and she was taunting them to their faces. That took serious guts.

Since she had the circlet out, she could easily sense him, and she turned around to meet his eyes. He lifted his hand and flashed her a thumbs-up. She just smiled and nodded before she turned back to her screen, undoubtedly reading more. Which, Parth was sure was a façade for her monitoring everyone in the area with her extrasensory perception. 

The large theatre had several armored guards all around, on the lookout for anything untoward. Internal strife was pointless here, as anyone who engaged in open hostility outside of the stipulated combat zones would be in for a world of pain.

All of a sudden, loud music blared over the speakers and everyone began standing up one after the other.

Parth too stood up right before the nineteen-year-old king of Tava walked into the dais.

The King had taken the stage. Everyone knew what followed.

This was it.

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