Chapter 149: Chapter 219 – Necessary Qualifications

The newly-arrived valkyrja skilfully slowed her descent and landed next to Ast’s group, just by the short metal stub left behind the torn-off absorption pillar. She wielded a simple yet definitely sharp silver spear, resting its butt on the floor. 

Since she wore thin leather armor, Asterios could tell that she had a firm figure with her chest being on the smaller side. It was pretty obvious that the woman was a Valkyrie, being the closest to a human female, considering Bryn’s descriptions of their genders from the past and the more well-endowed Valkyrie’s troubles and insecurities.

“Councilor Bryn, care to explain what has just happened?” she asked, trailing with her gaze over the deep, damaged trench running to the very edge of the arena.

“There’s no need for honorifics, Skodul. I’m amongst friends,” Bryn replied and showed a slightly awkward smile. “I apologize. My goal was to use the absorption pillar to call for you but I underestimated my companion’s strength. This is the result.”

“This was done by one person?” Skodul’s brows rose to her hairline. “I was going to berate you for using a combination attack on an unsuitable target but it seems that I was wrong.”

“That’s right. This situation is my fault,” Selene joined in. “I stupidly assumed that the artifact doesn’t have a limit since Bryn didn’t mention anything about it, or perhaps made myself believe that it would be high enough for me to go all out.”

The older Valkyrie laughed to herself openly. “It’s been ages since I’ve seen anyone push it past the red stage yet the first outsider I ever meet completely annihilates the device. You must be a powerful individual.”

“The price for that power definitely isn’t low.” Selene gestured with her eyes at her still partially limp arm. “And it would have been much higher without the invaluable help I received and keep receiving.”

Skodul followed her gaze and they both stopped at Asterios. She rubbed her chin while scrutinizing him from top to bottom.

“So, this is the rumored monster that has been spotted in our ARK now and then. Unless there suddenly are more of those men loitering around.”

“Most likely one and only.” Asterios chuckled.

“Master is not a monster!” Miria pouted with a cute frown.

“I’m just repeating what I’ve heard.” Skodul shrugged at her. “What do you need from me, Bryn?”

“We will be hosting internal War Games in three days. I’m managing the Power Division so I came to inform you about the need to prepare the arena properly. Can you do that?” Bryn asked.

“What? War Games? Why now?”

“I’ll be blunt with you. I need to mobilize our forces to aid us in reclaiming the Descending Spire. No one will follow such an operation unless we prove to everyone that we are in possession of the necessary fighting power to make it happen. There’s no better place to do that than the War Games,” Bryn explained.

“You are insane. But I guess you aren’t completely delusional.” Skodul smiled wryly while taking one more glance at the carved trench. “It won’t be easy but I think you might have a chance to sway the crowd with someone like that by your side.”

“Oh, I have much more than her. Each person you see here is more or less equally strong. I’m not betting it all on a single key piece. Although, Master will certainly play the biggest role in it.” Bryn glanced at Asterios. “I need you to register him as my representative and let him participate in my stead. The others will join too but on their own.”

“Minus one.” Grea raised a hand. “I don’t fancy getting my ass beaten even if it’s done by hot, badass, winged babes. There’s only one person who can go after my ass however he wishes.”

Asterios shook his head at her wide grin and lustfully dancing tail. Skodul smirked at them and turned to look at him too.

“Fine. The others are in. But, as for your representative, I need to conduct an additional test. That’s just the rules. I can’t only take your word for it in this case. Technically, they should go through one too like all the other participants, but I know that you aren’t a deceiver.”

“We don’t mind getting tested if that’s necessary,” Tina replied.

“That could actually be fun!” Miria added.

“I have a lot to prepare if we really are hosting War Games so I’d rather skip those. You will be able to test yourselves during the battles. Participation examination isn’t anything special,” Skodul explained.

“It’s as she says. But, if you would really like to experience it, we can arrange the tests after the competition.” Bryn nodded and glanced at Asterios. “Are you fine with this, Master?”

“Naturally. What do I need to do?”

Skodul raised her spear and hit the ground with its butt. The metals clanged together and the entire area began trembling and emitting whirring noises. That spooked everyone and they looked around in confusion. Countless lines appeared on the floor as it started shifting, moving, and repositioning in the form of regular squares. Only the tile they were standing on remained stable.

One by one, thick, tall walls made their way onto the surface and locked themselves in the empty spaces. The screech of metal gradually quietened as more elements fell into their positions and the regular cracks slowly disappeared. Soon, the ground was assembled again, with a completely different design. They were now standing in the very middle of what looked like a giant maze.

“Awesome!” Miria jumped around with pure joy.

“I don’t think you understand how much,” Grea whispered under her breath, taken aback by what they had witnessed too.

“I wonder what else can this incredible contraption bring out,” Silvia mused.

“There are a lot of modes and formations, and even entire simulations. This arena is one of the ancient wonders that our kind managed to save from destruction by integrating it into the ARK before it was launched. Pieces of knowledge and technology have been lost but the engineers and scholars are doing a great job at maintaining it.” The veteran Valkyrie regarded their surroundings with a gaze filled with pride.

“That’s still amazing. Was there anything else that you managed to save?” Asterios asked.

“I think part of Brage’s archives belonged to our race’s Divine Library in the past but that’s just a rumor I’ve heard. It’s possible that every ARK has some kind of inheritance from the city it was built in. We don’t mingle that much with each other except for trade and some other occasions so there isn’t that much the public knows about those. The Council might. In any way, it’s not like we could hide this enormous structure so we are one of the ARKs with their cards laid out.”

Asterios took a peek at Bryn and she showed him a soft smile that wasn’t that hard to decipher. She definitely knew something but couldn’t talk openly about that knowledge or chose not to. He felt like she wouldn’t mind sharing it with him and the others in a more private environment, though, so he nodded to signal that he got it.

“What’s my task, then?” he asked, though partially sure about it already.

“Reach any of the exits within the given time limit. That’s all,” Skodul answered. “What do you think about a minute?”

The faint smirk on the mature woman’s lips made it quite apparent that she was just being a tease. Bryn’s quiet sigh further supported that assumption. Perhaps it was a provocation meant to curb the overconfident applicants. 

But, Asterios smiled back at Skodul and cracked his knuckles. “It doesn’t matter how, right? I just need to get through this maze on my own?”

The woman raised a curious brow at him and nodded. “Correct. Any external support is prohibited. Let me know when to start the timer.”

“You can start now. I won’t take long.”

Asterios exchanged smiles with his mates and the girls stepped back, already aware of what he was going to do. Their movement confused Skodul a bit but she assumed that they didn’t want to accidentally help their friend and unintentionally disqualify Asterios.

She couldn’t be more wrong.

A frown appeared on her forehead as he walked up to a solid wall and stopped in front of it. The closest entrance was just to his left. The time was already ticking too.

Then, right after Asterios took a deep breath, a powerful spiritual aura burst out of his body and dark crimson serpents of mana swirled around his figure. Since the high maze hid them away from any prying eyes of his potential future opponents, Asterios didn’t have to hold himself back and quickly materialized his tail, wings, and a lot of scales over his body and limbs.

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Skodul watched him take another, incomparably bigger and longer breath, which sucked in not just air but also the crimson aura. Her intuition then tingled in the back of her mind and her head snapped to the back to see Bryn shielding Ast’s group with a thin barrier. She immediately unfolded her wings and pressed them together in front of her to cover as much of her body as she could.

And she did it just in time as a fraction of a second later, an immense wave of heat crashed into her and a loud humming and sizzling noise filled her ears. A red glow illuminated her feet and the brass ground around them. It lasted only for about five seconds and retreated as fast as it had begun.

With some lingering warmth tickling her feathers and body, she withdrew her wings and her eyes immediately turned wide. Asterios stood in front of a straight path of melted metal, with the almost liquid edges slowly losing their glow. The tunnel he had created reached as far as the very end of the arena. As for its size, its diameter was wide enough for a person to comfortably climb through all the holes if they could somehow deal with the still-hot metal.

“It looks like I’m getting better at controlling the spread,” Asterios mused and turned his face to the Valkyrie. “Do I have to go back and forth? I can cover this much distance in a flash.”

“No… This will do…” Skodul replied, still partially in shock.

“Also, I hope it’s alright. I kind of destroyed a decent part of your maze,” he continued while recalling his features back.

Skodul shook her head, finally getting a hold of herself. “You don’t need to worry about that. The metal is self-regenerating. After I send it back under the arena, everything will be reformed in a few hours. Well, almost everything. The absorption mirror is an exception.”

Selene chuckled softly. “Sorry.”

Bryn came closer with the others and shrugged. “It is what it is. At least we are now aware of what its upper limit is and that it’s represented by black color.”

“May I ask what that was? It didn’t feel like any spell I’ve ever seen,” their examiner asked.

“Since it may be necessary to reveal to convince everyone anyway, I guess I can let you know that I’m supposedly a True Dragon. That back there was just a Dragon’s Breath. I’m not sure if that’s exactly magic or if it isn't something completely different like an innate ability,” Asterios replied.

“Dragons, huh? They exist only in the legends of the old world. Some academics say the Scourge killed all of them off. It’s hard to imagine beings with the ability to fly and this much power being done by those creepy bastards.” She stroked her chin. “In any way, you passed. I can’t wait to see what you can do in a fight. Though, try not to cook any of our warriors alive. Even the defensive layers the arena can grant to the challengers won’t be able to stop these flames completely.”

“I’ll be careful. Our aim is to gain more people, not reduce their number.” He chuckled.

Afterward, everyone watched the older Valkyrie trigger the shuffle of the arena once more and they observed the various mechanisms and magical formations at work through the gaps in the floor. It was a stunning sight. Countless blocks and tiles moved around the intricate underbelly of the arena. Many elements caught the attention of Miria and Grea especially, the former because it was just so interesting, and the latter because it was just so ingenious.

When everything clicked back into place, the destroyed ground and the damaged outer walls had been fully replaced while the broken pieces were being reformed and repaired. It looked as if nothing had happened in the last half an hour. Only they knew that one absorption pillar had been lost forever.

With their job done, Asterios and the others returned to the residence he and the beastfolk girls had examined earlier. They made a brief tour inside with everyone present and went out to grab something to eat, deciding to try one of the places Bryn recommended.

While eating, their Valkyrie friend explained the rules of the Power Division in detail. After the registrations would close, the contestants were shuffled and put into pairs. The arena was big enough to hold six to eight matches at the same time and that was how it would be conducted. Whoever lost in their match, would be eliminated out of the entire tournament.

It did seem a little harsh but the goal was to find the strongest person amongst them all so there weren’t really any brackets or leagues. If you ended up against someone way above your level, it just meant that you weren’t strong enough. It was that simple. 

In valkyrja culture, it rarely bothered anyone as their kind—at least in terms of women raised in Tyr—followed and respected a militaristic discipline. Everyone strived to grow more powerful, of course, but they didn’t really ridicule those below them. Helping each other out was a much more common practice. And learning from the better was a good way to hone oneself.

Therefore, the War Games, and particularly the Power Division, was just one huge bracket where everyone's opponent was predetermined from the start. Each person had their own path leading up. It changed only slightly, depending on who out of the two people fighting for the spot to compete against them won. In the end, the last matches were guaranteed to showcase the strongest contenders, and that was when most of the non-combatants came to watch.

The other competitions had their own rules too but the form of putting people against each other remained the same, to some extent. The contestants still competed against each other mostly in pairs, even in the Care Division. 

The exception was the Precision Division, which was open for any users of thrown and projectile weapons. That particular discipline focused on the individual's physical ability and trained skills rather than their power, abilities, magic, or other things aiding them in a normal battle. 

As Bryn explained, there were a few smaller disciplines in that category, where the challengers aimed to score the furthest throw, the highest number of the most accurate shots, and similar feats. The arena allowed for many combinations and simulations that were exciting to watch and spectate. Precision Division was the category the valkyrjas considered pure entertainment for the audience, displaying the hard-trained skill of their defenders and warriors. Though, the entry wasn’t limited only to them, and even the non-combatants could give it a try.

After Ast’s group was done eating and listening to Bryn’s explanations, they returned to their house for the night. Bryn stayed with everyone, though she took another room for herself, not wanting to disturb them with her presence. Asterios had a feeling that it wasn’t the whole truth but he didn’t want to push their friend out of her comfort zone. 

In the morning, Grea decided to return to Kraedorion and hole herself in her research back in Glimmervale. No one had any objections since they had to wait three days for the War Games anyway. Bryn chose to separate from them too after Asterios urged her to focus on her responsibilities and plans rather than remaining by their side just to entertain them as her guests.

The rest of them, meaning Asterios, Miria, Selene, Tina, and Silvia, spent some time together or in smaller groups by walking around Bryn’s breathtaking flying city. They found out that moving in smaller numbers attracted a bit less attention and the valkyrjas living in the ARK were less wary of them.

The person the winged women warmed up the fastest to was obviously Miria. The panthergirl’s cheerful, excited, and always curious nature captured hearts at a rapid pace. Other girls didn’t have it that much harder considering the fact that, except for the lack of wings, they weren’t that far off Bryn’s race. But when it came to Asterios, they had to often explain that he wasn’t a monster and what exactly a man was. 

Most of their conversation partners grew a bit more comfortable after comparing him to their Valkyrs, just with a slightly different body shape and a flat chest. It was the closest to the male representatives of both races. To some extent, Asterios was an ugly duckling, just like Bryn, but on the other end of the spectrum. While Valkyries were considered unattractive with bigger chests, Valkyrs were the opposite, with smaller sizes being the less desirable ones.

Besides sightseeing and interacting with the residents, Asterios and the girls visited the arena numerous times and at different hours of the day. They managed to catch some individuals training while under the careful watch of Skodul, who managed the battlegrounds. Now and then, they even caught the entire units of valkyrjas practicing together. That allowed them to gather some information on their opponents in general.

After three days passed, the time to head to the arena for the first matches finally arrived. Grea rejoined them to watch their attempts. Since Asterios and the other girls would spend most of their time in the section prepared for the contestants, Bryn invited her to the VIP lounge. As one of the Council members and the person partially responsible for the competition, she obviously had the best spots available. But, Grea decided to follow them anyway and sit with everyone whenever they wouldn't be in the waiting room.

The ground was split into eight even rectangles, separated by thick metal walls and additional spiritual barriers. The walls were low enough for even the people in the bottom rows to comfortably observe the entire place from their position. Though, the audience still moved around and shuffled to get closer to particular fighting blocks when a better-known contender was going to show up.

A speaker kept announcing the pairs and the locations of their fights. Out of everyone in Ast’s group, it turned out that Miria would have the first chance to spar with her opponent. She snuggled to Asterios lovingly and coaxed some fluffy kisses from him before jogging away to her own, small arena. The others followed shortly after her and awaited the battle, observing the upcoming event from the lowest row of seats just at the top of the outer walls, which was reserved for participants.

Before the pair began duking it out, a referee signaled to Skodul, and a thin, magical membrane of barely visible green tint covered their bodies. It was the barrier Bryn had mentioned to them during her explanations. A loss was confirmed when one of the contestants surrendered or their safety shield broke. It was supposed to stop a critical attack, but naturally, nothing was fully guaranteed so all the participants had to be aware that accidents could happen.

The very moment the referee started the fight, Miria’s opponent soared into the sky as far as the upper barrier allowed for it, taking a defensive stance against the unknown enemy.

“No fair!” Miria stomped angrily while glaring at the winged woman.

The Valkyr she was facing, judging by her quite hefty chest, smirked at her from above. “There’s no such thing as playing fair in a real battle. Utilizing your advantages is the very basics of fighting.”

“Fine…” Miria grumbled under her nose. “I wasn’t planning to use it this early but it looks like I have no other choice without Master’s assistance...”

She curled into herself while the confused Valkyr watched and then roared into her surroundings, spreading her limbs wide. The beastly yell echoed through the arena as black fur quickly crawled up Miria’s skin. After drawing enough of her bloodline out, Miria lowered herself into a crouch and locked her eyes on her flying opponent.

The poor woman barely uncovered her ears when she saw the tough, metal tile under Miria’s feet bend inwards and the panthergirl shot towards her like a cannonball. She didn’t get to make a single flap of her wings before a fist smashed right into her stomach and her back crashed into the top segment of the spiritual cage, causing the magical webbing to glow brighter.

Both women began falling towards the ground right after; the limp body of the Valkyr spiraling down like a fly smacked out of the air, smashing into the tough floor with a loud thud. Miria landed with the gracefulness of the feline that she was and showed her tongue to her fallen opponent. 

A moderate cheer caught her attention and she turned her face towards the audience, where a bunch of valkyrjas were applauding her performance. Of course, amongst them were also Asterios and the other girls, smiling at her happily. She grinned back at them and showed the victory sign with her fingers before slowly heading off the stage, passing by the healers rushing towards the unconscious Valkyr.

Asterios chuckled wryly as Miria disappeared into a tunnel underneath them. “I’m getting really worried about this tournament now.”

 

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