So that was how Ska and I ended up on the bracket for this tournament. It was the quickest and most legitimate way to gain entry to the Bazaar. There were a hundred spots and everyone was given a random placement. From what Don told me, there were three former champions in this round. He pointed out their names on the massive board.“There is Hegar, looks like you and your friend lucked out, he is on the opposite bracket. Although, that means only one of you will be going to the end, assuming you got what it takes.”I just shrugged and motioned for him to continue.“Rasputin… yeah, he gave himself that name, is on your bracket. Dark magic mostly, although he can summon undead. It makes him a real pain to fight or most people, not that it helped him against Hegar. Then the last one is Natalia, or she likes to go by the name Mistress of Pain. Poisons and curses are her specialties. It seems she is also on your bracket and probably will be your first real challenge. She is a nasty piece
After that unprovoked attempt at my life, my interest in watching the matches waned. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was sequestered in with the other participants I may have just said screw it and walked out. I was fine with testing myself against the people with a duel, but I wasn’t here to fight to the death. Earning access to the Bazaar wasn’t worth that much in my opinion. I had other places I could access if I needed to.***“Well… looks like that moron Henrich nearly died,” The Don stated dismissively.“Yes, the man was always a bit of a hothead, but to try and kill someone after he lost is truly low. We will have to get rid of him, can’t go having people like that ruining our tournaments.”The Don nodded, “want me to take care of it now or after?”Charles Lemont rubbed his chin in thought. “Go deal with it now, he is still injured and will make less of a fuss.”The Don nodded and was about to leave before his boss spoke up.“The two fighters you brought in are quite something
Ska ignored the noise from the mass of people as he flitted through the trees and tall grass that had replaced the open sand from the previous day. This was his element and he already knew where his opponent was thanks to Hunter’s Scent.The mage was sitting in the center of a burned-out ring of grass with short flames surrounding him as he was preparing a spell. Ska growled quietly in annoyance as a portal opened and a fire elemental stepped through.Fire was not Ska’s favorite thing to deal with. Looking around he spotted a fist-sized rock. He picked it up testing the weight before he hurled it with impressive speed and accuracy at the back of the mage’s head. The flame circle flared up to intercept the attack but the rock didn’t care. It flew through the barrier, clipping the mage on the ear as he turned to see what the barrier had intercepted.Ska could see blood pour from the wound before he dashed back into the forest, the elemental hot on his trail.It was foolish for the mage
Even before I could see the contestants, I could hear the stomping and chanting of the crowd. It appeared Hegar the champion had made it to the Semi-Finals, it was also my first chance to see the figure.Out of one side of the arena stepped a comparatively short man. Maybe a head shorter than I was. What he lacked in height he made up for in girth. The man was like a solid slab of muscle. His bulging arms poked through the sides of his breastplate, being the only part of him unarmored. From head to toe, he was festooned in full enchanted plate mail. It was colored a macabre dark red but seemed to glow with power. At least I hoped it was paint and not blood. Going by the dull grey scratches that cut through the paint I assumed it was mithril.His opponent turned out to be the large man with the massive hammer, and while he didn’t get as many cheers as the champion did, he got a fair share.The fight was a clash of monsters as both men charged in and just started swinging. Hegar with a
I was helping clean up the mountain of corpses. I knew I didn’t have to stick around and do it but that would be a dick move. I might be an asshole, but I wasn’t a complete prick. Dead civilians were lined up and covered with any available fabric. Eventually, survivors would have to go through and see if their loved ones were among the dead.As for the Sons of Autumn dead, they were tossed into a pile in an open pit. A few eager fire mages were making sure that everything burned properly. I couldn’t blame them for wanting some way to enact revenge on the people that had attacked them.It was during this cleanup that I spotted two people approaching me. One I recognized as Don but the other well-dressed man I didn’t know.“Paul, I finally found you. Let me introduce you to my boss, Charles Lemont.”“It is a pleasure to meet our savior,” the man said, holding out his hand.I gripped the man’s hand and gave it a shake. The man seemed unconcerned about the blood and dirt that now covered
Our little trip had taken quite a bit longer than expected. But I hadn’t been expecting to sign up for a fighting competition and then be forced to fight off a group of religious nuts. So I guess three weeks being gone wasn’t so bad, all things considered.I did notice that over half of the sensors had failed in the time we were out of Saint June though.Ska decided to stick with me for now and I decided not to stop off near Houston. I did send Martin a message though so hopefully he could update me on what was happening.As we approached the town, I only saw one of the barges. I had hoped both would be here but I would inquire about that after I landed.“Is there anything to hunt around here?” Ska asked as we stepped off the ramp.“I heard there were some elementals north of town. East just leads you toward the sulfur springs where we defeated the Jackals. I’m not sure if there are any dungeons near the mountains, but I would imagine there should be a few.”Ska rumbled in discontent
I let Maria steer the fortress since she knew where we needed to go to start our search. I had ways to locate both Javier and the barge but they were both beyond the range of either option currently. At least I hoped Javier was just beyond the range. The other possibility was not one to dwell on at the moment.My working sensors were still picking up people following us but once we crossed out of sight of land and headed over the open ocean, they wouldn’t be able to track us as easily. I’m sure they already knew where I was headed, considering their capabilities and reach.Ska was downstairs keeping Maria company while I worked on my armor. It was going to be three full days of flying to cross the ocean. I only took breaks to help charge the mana hearts every few hours or so.I examined the armor in front of me, slowly turning it on the rotating dummy. I was checking all of the layout work I had added to see if I made any mistakes before I started on the actual carving. My Mage-Bane a
It was a full three days before my Reaper title picked up Javier’s location. That gave me a good estimate of how far the tracker reached. I figured it was around a thousand miles. It wasn’t a perfect estimate though as the barge was traveling away from us almost the entire time.It seemed that whoever was giving the orders on the barge wanted to get into South America. Probably to avoid exactly what was happening right now. Maybe they figured if they got far enough away, even if I could track them that I would just write it off. Well, they didn’t know me very well. The barge I didn’t care too much about, it could be replaced but I had grown to like Javier. He was quiet but worked hard. I treated him and Maria more like siblings than employees.I tried to follow the path of the barge as closely as I could. It would seem whoever was in control skirted over the Pacific Ocean to avoid the larger population centers. That was probably smart, seeing as Mexico City looked like a wasteland and
Was the person in the mirror really Henry and not an international supermodel?Henry could not help but wonder.However, Mia's reaction told Henry that it was not an illusion.Mia's mouth was wide open as she walked to Henry's side in shock. She looked at him in the mirror and was amazed."Oh my God, Henry, I never realized that you're so handsome! Gosh, you look so good."As Mia spoke, she couldn't help but touch Henry's firm chest."Oh my God, these firm pecs are worth dying for…"Henry looked at Mia, who was acting like a pervert. He shook his head helplessly and slapped her hand away."Alright, now that I've changed my clothes, let's hurry to the banquet before we go late. I'm not known for attending any events late." Hearing this, Mia finally came back to her senses. "Ah, yes. We have to hurry over. With such a handsome companion by my side, I'd like to see if those little b*tches will still show off in front of me," Mia proudly said as she pulled Henry's arm.After that, they q
Martin strode down the hall of the capitol building with a worried smile on his face. He was a bit greyer now but he still oozed charm and confidence. Time had been kind to him.The city had become a booming metropolis in the ten years since Paul returned, after his year and a half of being missing. Martin knew something had happened because one day a bunch of massive flying ships had come from nowhere and obliterated the ships that had been harassing the city non-stop for over six months. They had quickly taken care of Lord Vik’t and his remaining forces, the man managing to flee back to his homeworld before the Guild caught him.When Paul had returned, he had returned a quiet man. You could see the loss in his eyes. But the man pushed on and his businesses flourished, producing the Earth’s mightiest warships and most advanced runic items. Then five years after Paul returned, he took a fleet of ten of his capital ships and vanished for another year.When he returned again, the ships
As soon as the pirates realized the Guild ships were approaching the island, they broke off the fighting and retreated toward the edge of town to dig in. They weren’t stupid enough to attack the Guild but it seemed they wanted to ensure there wasn’t an accidental incident.One of the Guild ships docked and the Captain stepped off to greet the three of us. I had been carried over by Barcos and Em’ah on the same chair she plopped me in the night before. My legs were looking less like mashed potatoes now and instead looked like mushed putty. It was hard to ignore the sensation of the bones moving around within my shattered legs but I was managing.“Captain Paul, I hope this wasn’t a last-ditch attempt to hold off your enemy. I can assure you, we will leave for safer shores immediately if it was.”I ignored the man’s condescending snark before replying. “You have the agreement from the Director?”“I do,” he smiled. “Do you wish to review it?”I nodded and he produced a stack of documents
Groaning, I opened my eyes. All I saw was darkness. I tried turning my head or moving but it seemed like I was pinned in place.I fought down the urge to panic as I evaluated my condition. My arms were still broken, the sharp stabbing pain when I tried to move them told me as much. I could breathe though so my organs had healed after the beating I had taken. That was something at least.Seeing as I was in no immediate danger of dying, I checked my skills. My blood ran cold as I saw what remained of my abilities.[Rejuvenate][Multicast][Eye of the Storm][Aura of Rage][Calcifying Strike]Frostwave][Orb of Darkness][Energy Lance][Overcharge][Tempest Ball]That was the sum total of all the skills I now had. They had stripped me of every ability I had stolen from them along with every ability my second class gave me by default, making it impossible to recover skills by stealing them from others.I let out a morbid little chuckle as I lay there. Tears of frustration leaked from the
Those two words seemed to freeze everyone in place, but it wasn’t magic that caused it, it was fear. My body was frozen along with everyone else but my eyes rose into the air, tracking two creatures as they forced the magical fog away from the entire area with some ability.It was hard to tell by their alien physiology but I got the distinct impression they were looking directly at me. The initial fear was subsiding and people were starting to move again until the larger of the two squid-like creatures cast a spell. I managed to get off an Identify before the spell hit.[Ulq | Void Hunter/Maw of the Void | 47/41][Xiph | Psy Commando/Maw of the Void | 45/42]My body shook as I realized they were here for me but not a single person or even the entire pirate armada currently assembled here would be able to kill these two creatures.I felt the spell wash over the area and everyone was frozen again but a halo of golden light burst into existence above my head, washing away the spell’s eff
The meager fleet of ships I was now in charge of, rose from the dock and slowly spiraled into the air to get above the mist. The chaotic coloration of the mana storm was visible in the distance even through the mist. That meant the enemy was almost upon the island.The Retribution was the first ship to breach the thick covering and it was no surprise to see the enemy ships had spread out in a crescent shape to surround the island. Enemy fast attack craft zipped toward our location and I double-checked that everything was working as it should. I had also turned the mana accumulator back on.I sometimes wished I had been able to fit multiple layers of shielding on the ship. But my experiments in that regard had not gotten anywhere. Shields that close together acted like soap bubbles. Either they popped completely or merged together, but it didn’t increase the strength of the shield when they did. The only way to prevent this was to have separate bubble shields that only covered a certai
After weeks of sitting around, the Retribution finally got to fly again.Knowing we were leaving, the harbor was a beehive of activity. Cobbled together crews were drilling aboard the other captured pirate ships. The people knew it wasn’t a matter of if, but a matter of when another enemy would appear.As soon as Khikall got us away from the docks and any possible collision, I engaged the cloak. It was far more effective now that I could enable and disable the automatic recharging system. The massive disruption of mana we used to leave in our wake was now a tiny trail.I hadn’t had time to figure out a way to smooth our passing completely but this would have to do. I also had Em’ah watching for trails from a crudely assembled periscope. Now she didn’t need to be on the deck to use her Mana Sense skill.Speaking of skills… I had picked up a few from the last fight. I also managed to finally hit level twenty in my Maw of the Void class. I stuck two of my stats in Strength, one in Endura
I watched as the workers placed the last armor panel in position and began to weld it into place. It had taken a few weeks to repair the damages from our fight but the Retribution was looking almost new.The replaced sections were clearly visible by the heat transfer in the titanium. I could easily fix that when I turned the thermal defenses on. It should make everything a uniform color. Paint would work too, I suppose, but why cover up the beauty of the metal.It was a good thing the ship was complete, over the last few days, we had been getting reports from the Guild merchant ships that were stopping to trade, and they weren’t good.Large fleets of pirate ships spotted raiding islands. The Capital of the Avulian Protectorate was sacked and all of the leadership missing. The remaining fleets of the Protectorate were attacking any ship that wasn’t theirs or the Guild's. Cities burning due to the slaves I helped free, it was madness and it was spreading.Already I could hear concerned
Captain Grulaine hissed in annoyance as his second in command handed him his “orders”. His second flinched back and hurried out of the room. If he hadn’t, Grulaine may have cut him down in a fit of pique. It galled Grulaine to be under the thumb of another. He had gotten rid of his father for that very same reason. And now thanks to a series of unfortunate events, he found himself beholden to the damn pirate king Black Gar’s lap dog.How was he to know the repair yard where he went was controlled by that snake. If he had he certainly wouldn’t have agreed to the loan to effect repairs to his cannons and ship. Repairs that had taken far longer than necessary, and left Grulaine on the sidelines as the entire protectorate seemed to be crumbling around him. An opportunity-rich environment he wasn’t able to take advantage of.But that wasn’t the most galling part. He found that his repairs were delayed on purpose so Gar could tighten his stranglehold on the local pirates. By the time Grulai