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n“Want company?” I asked Iona.

n“Brrrpt?” Auri was also offering to come.

nIona shook her head.

n“You should get enough sleep. You’ve got a long day tomorrow.”

nI snorted in derision.

n“We have a bye tomorrow. We’d have to screw up beyond belief to lose.” I retorted.

n“It’s still not fair to ask you to stay up all night.”

n“What are girlfriends for?” I asked rhetorically, then saw the look on Iona’s face. “And don’t say what you’re thinking.”

nShe closed her mouth and smirked at me.

n“Thanks. You can come if you’d like. I doubt it’ll be particularly comfortable.”

nI shrugged.

n“Eh. I’ll just loot some of the pillows, and make myself a nest.”

n“Brrrpt?”

n“Yes, I did get the idea from the bestest bird ever, how’d you know?”

n“Brrrpt.” Auri puffed up in self-satisfaction.

nThe four of us wandered down to the local tabernacle after dinner. Fenrir curled up outside, the Priests less than amused by his presence but nobody was willing to make an issue out of it. Iona and I, trailed by an excited Auri, went inside, and without issue, found a small private chapel for her.

nIona kneeled down in her full armor in front of the altar, and started praying.

nI arranged my pillows around me in a small fortress of fluff, and sent a quick prayer off to the moon goddesses. They were Iona’s patrons after all.

nI didn’t know what to say, so I kept it short and sweet.

nHeya! Thanks for looking after Iona! I appreciate it!

nI teleported out a single book, getting ready for a long night. My stash of them was running low, otherwise I’d read two at once. If I burned through them too fast though, I’d have nothing to do, and boredom sucked.

n“Brrrpt?” Auri asked me ‘quietly’.

n“She’s doing a knightly vigil.” I wanted to laugh at the pun. “Staying up all night praying to her goddesses.”

n“Brrrpt?”

n“Yeah, you can go hang out with Fenrir if you want.”

n“Brrrpt!”

nA blazing streak of flames was left in the air as Auri left to do something more fun.

nWatching Iona though?

nThat never got old.

nI settled further into my pile of pillows, and waited out the night as Iona prayed.

nI blearily stirred as Iona gently shook my shoulder.

n“It’s morning. You should probably get ready for your own event.”

nMy new and improved senses helped me know it was just barely, technically morning. I went outside, and yup, the sun was a mere suggestion on the horizon.

nAuri and Fenrir were still outside. Fenrir was curled up like the largest cat in existence, his tail almost covering his nose. Auri was sleeping on the tip of his tail, every exhalation of Fenrir’s stirring her flames.

n“Need any help getting ready?” I asked my love.

nIona shook her head.

n“I appreciate you staying with me. Thank you.”

nA quick hug and a kiss later, and I was off for my own preparations.

nWeigh-ins were first. Each team had a combined weight limit of 700 lbs of equipment, and I could easily imagine what things could look like without a limit, with magic involved.

nLike. A team with enough money and motivation could bring an entire mobile base, or even a flying fortress! The weight limit, along with the gemstone ban and age limits, were the major limiting factors.

nSarama, Iris and myself were all ‘lightweights’. In other words, we had the tight-fitting School uniforms that were as light as possible, weighing less than a pound each. We were all issued daggers, and Sarama and Iris were both bare-footed. I had on my fancy traction-improving boots.

nEverything was enchanted. The big issue with enchantments was powering them. We’d need to use our mana to fuel the enchantments, and if we were doing that, we weren’t using our mana on other things.

nLike Nova Lance to the head.

nSarama’s potion supply counted against our weight limit, and was easily the single largest weight expense. The second largest weight ‘expense’ was going towards Pascal’s and Sir Polarton’s armor and weapon sets, which were significant. Ling Li was a medium weight, the cultivator requiring a heftier range of weapons, without full heavy armor.

nNaturally, backup weapons and spares for the armor pieces most commonly damaged were part of our loadout. It wasn’t unheard of for teams to make the finals, and the heavyweight warriors were simply missing pieces of armor. The only thing that was allowed to be replaced was simple clothing.

nMelt a sword into slag? Better have a backup sword, or fight with the melted metal. The third option was to have a crafter on the team who could fix and supply weapons, like how Sarama being on our team allowed us to use potions.

nBookwyrm’s Hoard was, interestingly enough, a problem. It was impossible to verify that it was empty, but I wasn’t the first Spatial mage with personal storage. I thought it was complete bull** that anything stored inside my Spatial storage counted against our weight limit, when magically conjuring the exact same thing with a conjuration skill didn’t count – and retrieving stored items cost about twice as much mana as conjuring the same thing!

nIt was completely unfair, but I didn’t write the rules.

n“Place all your gear here please.” The faun running things pointed to a large magic circle painted on the ground.

nMost of our gear was already on, and I summoned the first spellbook – my offensive magics one – and placed it on an empty spot. One at a time, I grabbed my pre-written spellbooks and added them to the pile, the faun dutifully noting the details of each one. It’d be a minor penalty – aka losing the current round, and automatically losing a second one – if I took out a book that wasn’t ‘registered’, even if it was a mundane book.

nI supposed, in theory, I could conjure up an extra-large book and drop it on someone.

nI’d be obligated to say meep meep if I did.

n“Is this everything?” The faun asked us.

nI looked around at my teammates.

n“I’ve got all my gear on. Ling Li?”

nThe cultivator nodded.

n“Sir Polarton?”

n“Everything on.” He said without even opening his mouth.

nHonestly, the bear could at least do a better job pretending he wasn’t a 9 foot tall polar bear.

nA quick round of confirmations – with Sarama hovering over her potions like an overprotective hen – and I turned back to the faun.

n“All set!” I confirmed.

nHe worked his magic, and confirmed the weight.

n“691 lbs. Thank you for making this easy.” He said.

nWe exchanged a round of high fives – I dodged getting swatted by Sir Polarton’s idea of a ‘gentle tap’ – and quickly started to change into our gear.

nIt was time!

nThere was another ceremony to kick off the ‘finals’.

n“It is my great pleasure to announce the finalists of the 211th Gladiator Gauntlet! This year we have a star-studded cast like none before! First…”

nI wanted to roll my eyes. Dude practically gave the same speech every year.

nIt had taken Shirayuki explaining it to me in small words, but I managed to get the logic. This was one of the times we were highly visible. This was one of the moments to show off. By showing off here, we got the attention we wanted, attracted eyes, and then by winning after, we got people interested in sending their kids to the School.

nWe hammed it up.

nSarama juggled ‘potions’ – really colored water, enchanted to glow – and her Potion Handling skill made it flawless. Ling Li had an elegant dance of her leaves around her, while Pascal had his wolf-mask in fierce and snarling shapes, ‘snapping’ at leaves that got close to him. Sir Polarton was flexing and stretching like he was some sort of Body Builder, and Iris was seated on a moving throne of Ice, Lightning sparkling around her and through her chair.

nI was being a little less subtle.

nI just made a giant arrow out of Mantle of the Stars pointing down at us.

nDifferent teams had different approaches, depending on their personality and goals. Iona was silently studying the Rolland team, and the Lithos team was trying to stay small and unobtrusive. Hapensburgs were acting like the entire event revolved around them, while Wizard’s University was shooting off celebratory magical fireworks.

nThe elven Academy members were all but turning up their nose at the whole thing, while Chanlaar had their own display of skills.

nI think. They usually had an Illusionist showing off a completely different set of skills, given how easy it’d be to scout their elements otherwise.

nI wanted to walk around the various competitors at some point, and see what I could see. The World Around Me easily penetrated all but the strongest illusions, letting me see what was real. There was usually a powerful illusionist team, and they could take anyone by surprise. Extra so if they were smart and careful about it. Unlike that idiot team Iona had beaten.

nThe stands were a bit light, but that was understandable. The biggest draw of the under-30 event was showing off how different places educated and trained their newest generation. Or so I thought. Solid for people thinking about their legacy and heirs.

nPeople who just wanted a good show went to watch the unrestricted bracket, going on at the same time in a nearby arena. That was one impressive show, and I admitted with no shame that I snuck over there to watch the events when we were done.

nA few vendors moved around the stands, selling hot food and cold beer to anyone with the coins to pay for them, extracting every last bit of value out of the tourists.

n“… without further ado, let the game begin!” The Announcer roared, and one at a time we filed off the field, into one of the waiting rooms.

n“Hey! School of Sorcery and Spellcraft! Great! You guys are up first, follow me!” A faun enthusiastically bounced up to us. The World Around Me was more or less automatic, letting me know he was authentic.

nWe’d caught a fake a few years ago trying to direct us somewhere else, which would’ve had us miss a round. That was part of the nonsense Shirayuki had been fighting against.

nWe followed him – unfortunately ruining my chance to quickly consult with Iona – and were soon at another door, back into the arena.

n“… and from the north entrance, one of our favorites! Give it up for the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft!” The Announcer shouted, and we exited again to cheers.

nI ignored the crowds this time, my eyes snapping to the four remaining members of the Lithos team. Three men and one woman, all of them dressed like the Raiders they were portrayed as. Unlike the popular rumor, their helmets did not have horns on them, but most of the other depictions were accurate.

nThey weren’t the nicest neighbors, using their longships to sail up and down the major rivers, finding villages and other small settlements to raid, pillage, and loot.

nMy sources of information might be a hair biased though.

n“Shirayuki’s deal with them is we’re supposed to take them out fast and hard.” I reminded my team. “Ling Li, sorry, going to hold you in reserve for this one. Iris, do you want to do it or should I?”

nThe selkie thought about it a moment.

n“Two and two?” She suggested.

nThat sounded fine. Enough to quickly take them out, but neither one of us would burn so much mana that we couldn’t do anything in the teamfight portion. It’d also give them 2 points, giving them a tiny edge in the rankings against teams that were entirely eliminated. A small concession.

n“Go first. You need the regeneration time more than I do.” I told the selkie.

nShe nodded.

n“Teams, present your candidates!” The Referee called. Iris and one of the Lithos warriors both stepped forward, on opposite ends of the generous arena. It wasn’t the flat stone of the preliminaries, no. It was back to the fortress setting I’d seen earlier.

nThe two teams could see each other clearly, across a dirt field. To the west side, there was a small fort, surrounded by a moat and with a small drawbridge. To the east side there was a small stand of trees acting as a ‘forest’.

nAdding in some small torches along the inner walls of the fort gave the eight basic elements some representation each. Earth and Air were easy and obvious, from the dirt ground, the stone walls of the fortress, and… well, Air was everywhere. Water was in the moat, while the little torches provided the Fire. Metal chains supported a Wood drawbridge, and I expected a variety of mundane weapons inside the fort. The little grove of trees were also obviously Wood, and the shadows they provided were Dark.

nThe games being held during the day gave the obvious Light, and with that, the basic elements were all represented in a mix the game organizers believed was optimal. Nobody who relied on Water Breathing would be missing a body of water to use, and anyone who could Rapidly Grow had trees to start.

nThe field changed from year to year, but the idea was the same. Give people common resources they’d normally have access to, so they could best show off. Unfortunate for people who had advanced elements like Sand, but those were the breaks.

nThe fort was also the tiebreaker. If, say, a flying Mage shot up into the air, and couldn’t beat a Warrior on the ground, they’d otherwise stalemate. The fort allowed for a tiebreaker – whoever controlled the tower in the middle uncontested for long enough would automatically win.

nLastly was the arena shields. Powerful wards, they didn’t let skills in or out. Aura skills were prevented from going in, stopping interference, and the combatants could unleash powerful attacks without worrying about the crowd.

n“Fame. Glory. Honor. Fight!” The Referee announced, and the fight was on!

nIris walked forward as the Lithos warrior charged across the field, working on closing the gap. Most fights started that way, the two contestants simply meeting on the field of battle and exchanging blows.

nIris let him get inside her maximum range, then waited. And waited. And waited some more. Her rapid leveling had constantly increased her range, and there was no sense in showing it early.

nWhen he was close enough she let out a steady stream of Lightning, the bright flashes and thunderous sounds hiding what was happening to most viewers. I could see no problem, and everyone saw the Lithos warrior’s shield flare a bright red, as the many-colored lights sparkled all over the arena, signifying the end of the round.

n“Victory to the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft! The School shows once again why it’s one of the favorites to win the whole thing!” The Announcer crowed as Iris and the Lithos contestant walked back to their sides.

n“An excellent victory.” Ling Li graciously allowed.

n“You’re still good for a second, right?” I asked Iris. She nodded.

n“Only a quarter of my mana. I could take them all!” She said.

n“You probably could. Let’s stick to the original plan. They might have a trump they’re hiding, and want to go down in a blaze of glory against us, instead of the original ‘let us beat them’ arrangement they made.” I countered.

nIris and their second contestant took to the field, and the second match ended within seconds of the two contestants meeting. Iris’s initial blast of Lightning did nothing, some skill protecting the Raider, but a blizzard in a bubble put him away nicely.

nShe returned back.

n“Strong work.” I told her. “I’ll take it from here.”

nIris looked a little disappointed, but she knew it was the right call. I knew roughly what her mana to power ratio was, along with how many skills she had, and she was running low. The eternal curse of a mage – we were amazing for a few seconds, then nothing.

nI stepped forward.

n“The School is making a substitution!” The Announcer called. “We have the star of the School herself, Elaine Elaine! With fearsome Radiance magic, a nigh-unbreakable shield, and a powerful Warrior class, this combatant is a powerhouse and a half, and easy on the eyes to boot!”

nI was going to strangle the faun’s scrawny little neck at the end of this. With that said, I didn’t mind the misinformation about my third class being spread around.

n“Fame. Glory. Honor. Fight!” The Referee ended my misery at the Announcer’s antics, and the fight was on.

nFor about a second.

nMy Nova Lance had reach. I could hit a combatant standing on the other side of the stage from where I was standing, and I had no issues showing it off. They’d already seen it in prior years, and people had to declare when they were fighting unshielded.

nThat was obnoxious. Bartolo had let everyone know I was an Oathbound healer about three minutes after he’d betrayed us, and people quickly gelled to the fact that going into a fight unshielded against me severely hampered my options. I hadn’t been a good enough wizard at first, nor had I gotten my biological upgrades done yet, and the year after had been rough. It wasn’t a spar, and it wasn’t a real fight, so I found myself entirely bound to do absolutely no harm to my opponents. They knew it, and completely abused the fact.

nI had more tools at my disposal to fight back now. Two years of seeing what tricks people came up with, and how they got out of what I’d thought up had refined my arsenal of wizardry.

nAll in all, it was good to be a high level Mage.

nI basked in the brief adoration of the crowd and the announcer, not even needing to move to reset myself.

nThe next round was much like the first, and I still had a large chunk of mana. A blinding Nova Lance to the eye, carefully going through the eyeslit, and we were the winners.

n“Winner of the singles portion. The School of Sorcery and Spellcraft. 14 points to 2.” The Referee announced, his words magically amplified.

nThe Lithos team shouted their surrender. I assumed. I didn’t know the language.

nThe Referee did though, and my suspicions were quickly confirmed.

n“At 25 points to 2, the winner of the first round is the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft!” He decreed.

nI skipped out on the Announcer’s inane, overly eager analysis in favor of finding Iona.

nThere wasn’t much I could say or do for Iona while we were waiting. She sat, almost perfectly still, and I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Honestly, the only thing I could do for her was be here. Be her support.

nI knew how much this meant to her.

nFrom where we were waiting, I could occasionally see flashes of lights from the unrestricted arena, along with hearing their Announcer giving the blow-by-blow of the fight.

nThere were some skill-shenanigans involved with the shield for those events, and the actual display. The events were over in seconds, the Immortals involved able to trade blows so quickly that it was over before the average viewer could see what was going on. They were somehow capturing the fight, and playing it ‘slowly’ for everyone to help with the excitement.

nThose events were also risky. Genuine death was a possibility. The Black Rose couldn’t teleport out people at that level, and his shields were up against people of the same level he was. There was a strong possibility that an attack would penetrate his shields, and be lethal all at once.

nPredictably, the crowds loved it. The event had more professional Gladiators than the other events, and I knew that only a tiny fraction of the world’s powerhouses were showing up for it.

nSoon enough, it was Iona’s turn to fight.

n“Hey.” I grabbed Iona’s hand as she started to leave. “No matter what happens, remember I love you. Okay?”

nShe squeezed my hand back.

n“I love you too.” The Valkyrie said, before leaping down onto the arena. Fenrir and Auri joined her a moment later.

nI ignored the fluff they said about the Rolland team. Boo Rolland! Go Iona!

n“And on the south side! We have Team Iona! This warrior single-handedly fought her way through the preliminaries with a perfect, undefeated record! That’s right Lords and Ladies! Valkyrie Iona here won every single fight to stand before you today!” The Announcer shouted. “Will her record continue? Or can the Rolland team successfully bring her down? Find out soon!”

nIona stepped forward without her helmet on, and began speaking. Someone involved with the event quickly caught on, and magnified her voice for everyone to hear.

n“I am Iona, the Dusk Valkyrie. Know that I am sworn to tell no lie, that I have taken a sacred Vow to that extent. Every word I speak here today is the truth. The history of the Valkyries is a storied one, a tale you are all familiar with. Under promises and treaties with the royal family of Rolland, we settled down in the country, having been promised support. Yet, when the Valkyries took to the field to defend Rolland, the Duke left us to die. When it came time to support us after years of upholding our bargain, the Queen abandoned us to the cold.” Iona paused a moment, letting the murmurs ripple through the crowd.

n“I name the nobility of Rolland cowards. The craven lot do not deserve the thrones they sit on, nor do they deserve the crowns they place on their heads.”

nI sucked in a cold breath through my teeth. Those were fighting words. If Iona said anything remotely like that in Rolland, they’d do their damndest to arrest her, try her for treason, and summarily execute her… if they didn’t skip straight to the last step.

nThere was no way they could back down from the challenge. The loss of face on the world stage… I had a hard time trying to figure out how bad it was going to be. Bad. Big. Even I could tell, and I had the social skills of a dimwitted goldfish.

n… wait, there was no way Iona tailored that speech to my level of understanding, was there??

nRolland was definitely off my list of future destinations, at least in the near future. Maybe I’d give it a few generations before I poked my head in there again.

nOne of Rolland’s members stepped forward, and I recognized him as the Shining Prince. A solid candidate to rebut Iona.

n“I am Prince Elric Morgans, brother to the Queen, Duke of Bellington and Champion of the realm. The poor Valkyrie across from me is sorely mistaken. We filled our end of the bargain. We upheld our oaths and promises. The Valkyries failed. They failed to protect their land. They were inadequate to protect their people. They permitted monsters to breed and level in their lands, then spill over into their neighbors, where they ravaged the population. What were we to do? Let them continue to be weak, and destroy us from the inside out like some parasite? Or cut the festering wound out?”

nHe let the crowd process that.

nI pulled a face. Ouch. That particular speech had been a little too on the nose. There was a little too much truth to it.

n“For this insult to our honor, I demand that we fight without shields. To the surrender. Or is the Valkyrie the very coward she decries us to be?” He taunted Iona.

n“I gladly accept your challenge. Make your peace with your gods.” Iona shouted back, magically amplified by the arena.

nThe prospect of real bloodshed was getting the crowd excited.

n“Both parties have agreed to an unshielded match. A reminder that killing a surrendering foe will not only get you entirely disqualified, but is illegal, and the penalties are stiff.” The Referee announced.

nThe nasty part left unsaid – killing a foe in the heat of the moment happened. Everybody knew what they were getting into. Fighting unshielded was rare as a result. It was just a game, nobody wanted to die.

nIona reformed her helmet around her head as he spoke, picking up her glaive and shield. She was strong enough to use both at the same time comfortably, so why not?

nI saw her bow her head slightly, praying to her patrons right before the fight. The Shining Prince himself stepped up as her first opponent. He had full heavy plate on, while carrying a greatsword as wide as his thigh, and almost as tall as he was.

nRuination. A blade forged of the magic metal ruinite, able to corrupt, destroy, and absorb other metal it came into contact with.

n“Fame. Glory. Hono-” The Referee was starting the match when the world shifted.

nThe skies went dark, and on long unused instinct, I looked up into the sky. Ready to see a flock of ravenous dinosaurs ready to descend upon us and feast.

nWhat I saw made me wish there was a ravenous flock of pterodactyls ready to descend upon us and try to eat us alive.

nThe moons had been knocked out from their normal orbit around Pallos. One was superimposed over the sun, creating a total solar eclipse.

nThe illusion on them shattered, revealing pale blue and yellow orbs. A column of light radiated down from each of them, anointing their chosen Paladin on the field.

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