Chapter 393: The Gladiator Gauntlet IX

I released [Channeled Blink] as Iona was teleported off the field. Rules and regulations be damned, I wasn’t going to let anyone die in front of me. Mormerilhawn was on top of his game, teleporting Iona and the archer out to the waiting healers the instant before I was going to unleash my skill, bypassing the arena’s barrier and blasting them both with heals.

That had been way too close.

“Round 7 winner…” Mormerilhawn was cool and competent. That wasn’t to say he didn’t know what the current score was, and how teleporting out both competitors at the same time looked. We were all hanging onto his every word, waiting to see who the winner of the singles segment was.

And he knew it, giving the crowd a moment to work itself up.

“Team Iona! Current points are 14-0 in favor of Team Iona! Rolland no longer has combatants for the singles portion of the team event, and we will now move onto the team fight portion.”

He teleported away on the last word.

It was a day of miracles. It was a literal miracle that the goddesses intervened, and an even bigger one that Iona had somehow won, against all odds. Okay, maybe that one wasn’t such a miracle, I had faith in her. I was on my feet, cheering with everyone else. Underdog stories were popular. Just about everyone liked the story of the plucky [Knight] showing up a bunch of nobles.

I split my mind with [Parallel Thoughts]. One kept cheering, while looking at Auri and Fenrir, waiting for Iona to show up again, while the other started to work on a magic mandala.

Shame I couldn’t say anything to Shirayuki about not letting Iona into our team. She had helped quite a bit with Iona, and her reasoning made too much sense at the time.

The columns of light from the moons were still active, moving around, letting everyone know where Iona was. Right now, she was in one of the medical rooms, buried in the stadium, and the moonbeams were slowly marching along the stands as Iona steadily made her way back out to the field.

The reaction to being in the moonbeams was mixed. Most people didn’t care, occasionally having a minor elated look to be in the spotlight for a moment, or a disappointed look when the light didn’t do anything for them. Some fearfully jumped out of the way, not wanting to risk the touch of the divine, and a few lunatics pushed and shoved their way just for the chance to touch the light.

Iona walked out the door a few moments after I finished composing my mandalas, and with a thought, a dramatic wave, and [Lepidoptera], I slammed a blinding array of Radiance into being in front of myself, empowering it. The runes glowed, and bright letters formed above them.

Iona, the Dusk Valkyrie!

I had a fancy crackle of explosive noises going off, which was entirely lost as the crowd collectively lost their damn minds again.

I was in no position to criticize. I was up against the wall to the arena, screaming myself hoarse with the rest of them.

“What a show! What an incredible performance by Iona, the Dusk Valkyrie!” The [Announcer’s] voice magically cut through the din, perfectly hearable without being shouty or loud. “That was only the singles section! Iona hasn’t participated in a single team fight so far, but it sounds like she’s got quite the grudge against the Rolland team! Will Iona fight? It’d be some moonshot if she managed to beat them all! ”

Iona bowed her head, her hair waving in the non-existent breeze. Fenrir snaked his armored neck forward, nuzzling her. The Rolland team was huddled up, discussing.

The distance, the noise of the crowd, and how quietly they were talking didn’t matter to my new and improved senses. I could pick their conversation out, and eavesdrop no problem.

Heck, I could even tell that two of them smelled an awful lot like each other, and from what I knew of the Rolland nobility, that would be something of a scandal if it came to light.

“... we fight. The Valkyrie struggled against myself and [Lady] Isabeau, and just the two of us together could probably win. That’s before [Lady] Annora comes into play, and the rest of us.” Prince Elric said.

“We’ve lost the round, but we can exit with good grace. Being at the absolute bottom of the ranking would be humiliating. Even the Lithos team got two points!” Annora agreed.

“Shields on though.” Isabeau shuddered. I wasn’t too surprised that she was advocating for them, given how she’d just been sliced in half. That tended to refocus and sharpen one’s perspective on safety equipment and life.

Mormerilhawn teleported back to the field. An opaque barrier appeared in the middle of the arena, hiding what the two teams were doing from each other.

“Contestants. 30 seconds until the teamfight begins.” Mormerilhawn declared. Iona started to climb up onto Fenrir’s back, getting her weapons sorted. Auri flew onto his head, the three of them clearly planning to act in concert.

I didn’t have much hope for Fenrir or Auri to make a large difference in the fight. The two of them were still 256.

The seats around me shifted and warped, leaving me sitting on my own in the stands.

One moment there was nothing but air. The next, two beings were next to me. Their very presence screamed in [The World Around Me], a twisted otherworldly distortion that made me want to put an ice pick through my eye. They were impossible to begin comprehending, they-

I turned off [The World Around Me], and life snapped back into focus. Two women were on either side of me, unfolding chairs. One was in a dress of pastel blues, the other in light yellow… sundress had to be the wrong word, must be a moondress.

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 36 -> 37]

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 37 -> 38]

….

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 55 -> 56]

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 56 -> 57]

Joy. I could only hope the levels were due to witnessing the divine, and not because I was in massive amounts of danger.

I’d love to turn the skill back on, and rapidly acquire levels, but I was genuinely concerned of going utterly insane. Mortal minds were not meant to gaze directly into the faces of gods. My skin was prickling, and I was starting to sweat.

They set up in an impossibly short amount of time, lounging on their chairs, feet propped up on a footstool, and a pair of parasols shading them. Not that they needed shade from the sun, they’d already moved a fucking moon to block it!

Selene and Lunaris had come down to watch the games.

“Fire.” Selene pointed at Iona, whose armor and weapons erupted with divine flames. She startled a bit as her equipment began to harmlessly burn.

Well, it was harmless for her. I did hear Auri’s shriek of appreciation all the way across the field.

“Food.” Lunaris pointed into the crowd, at one of the vendors. A pair of beer mugs and a half-dozen snacks zipped into her hands, entirely ignoring whatever anti-theft skills the seller might’ve had… and the arena’s famous shield. She handed one… over? Through? Behind? Me to Selene, then looked out at the field.

“Yellow? Oooooh, no no no, we can’t have that.” She tutted. “Blue!” Lunaris pointed her finger at Iona’s divine flames, their color changing from a deep gold into a blazing blue.

“What! That color was great!” Selene protested. “Gems.” She pointed at the poor robbed vendor, a small torrent of glittering gems falling out of the sky, onto his tray.

He grabbed what he could and started to try and make his way out of the crowd as more people dove for the falling money. A dozen vendors changed path, angling towards us, hoping to get some of the divine bounty.

“Iona’s color is blue. It’s always been blue.” Lunaris primly replied.

I just stood there and sweated as the goddesses bickered over my head. Somehow. Even though I was standing and they were sitting on either side of me.

“Contestants. Five seconds until the teamfight begins.” Mormerilhawn was eyeing the goddesses warily.

“It’s about to start!” Lunaris rapidly patted Selene’s arm. “Mana.” She pointed at Iona.

“Four.”

“I can see that! Also, mana? Iona’s not going to notice she’s got unlimited mana.” Selene said.

“Three.”

“I know. That’s what makes it funny.” Lunaris sounded way too pleased with herself.

I somehow both heard and smelled Selene rolling her eyes as she took a swig of her questionably-acquired beer.

“Two.”

“Disintegration.” She pointed her finger at Rolland’s team, and my heart jumped into my throat. I looked over, starting to breathe again as Isabeau simply looked shocked and despondent about losing her bow, instead of the goddesses having annihilated one of the competitors or something.

A hue and cry went up at that.

“Match pause!” Mormerilhawn aborted his countdown, teleporting over to us. He fearlessly looked up at the goddesses.

“I must insist that you refrain from any further interference in the match.” He was polite, but firm. “Divinely assisting your chosen is one matter, but directly fiddling with the opposition can not be tolerated. Any further interference, and I will need to eject you from the match.”

The two goddesses looked at each other and laughed.

“It’d be funny to see you try…” Lunaris said.

“But we’ll stay out of it! Somewhat.” Selene took another long draft of her beer. “Should we?”

Lunaris didn’t answer, instead the two goddesses shifting, standing to either side of Mormerilhawn. The elf was cold and cool in the face of overwhelming power, and they each put a hand on his shoulders.

“See cheaters!” They decreed in unison, and Mormerilhawn’s eye twitched.

“Shoo.” He swatted at the goddesses like they were mosquitoes, and the two shifted back to their seats.

I was continuing to keep very quiet, and as still as I could. I didn’t imagine for a moment that them appearing to either side of me, while shifting the rest of the crowd away, was any sort of coincidence. Not with my close relationship to Iona, and their patronage of the woman.

And I was a little good at putting my foot in my mouth. Hard to commit linguistic cannibalism if my mouth stayed shut. Actually, could I cast [Mute] on myself?

I spun out a [Parallel Thought] to work on that.

[*ding!* [Parallel Thought] leveled up! 29 -> 30]

[*ding!* [Parallel Thought] leveled up! 30 -> 31]

Oh fuck me sideways. I canceled trying to figure out how to cast [Mute] on myself, and went all-in on analyzing the situation, applying every single bit of what I’d learned in my life and read in books towards figuring out what the fuck I did next.

Mormerilhawn touched his vest again, his voice amplified once again, booming through the stadium.

“I have unfortunately been compromised by an unavoidable gift given by one of the parties involved in the match.” His voice was impressively neutral. “The match will continue to be paused until a new [Referee] is located.”

Given the sheer quantity of [Referees] they had running the events here, and that we were literally the center of attention, there was a new [Referee] on the field before Mormerilhawn had even finished speaking.

“Contestants. 30 seconds until the teamfight begins.” He promptly stated, and the two teams tensed. Fenrir began an awkward, galloping run in the section they were allowed to roam in, flapping his wings and taking off right before the end of the section.

“Drink?” Selene somehow offered me a mug from a perfectly reasonable angle, in spite of being behind me and to my side.

I mentally discarded the how as ‘divine shenanigans’, and worked overtime on figuring out how I should react.

Polite offer of a beverage. Known person giving it to me, extremely unlikely to be spiked. Healing would purge any mundane toxin, before my abnormal biology is factored in. Safe to accept. Social norms dictate I accept it, thank them for their generosity, and take a sip.

“Thank you.” My voice came out far more mechanically than I’d hoped, and I took a polite sip.

I wanted to spit it out, and spray beer across the field. I hadn’t tasted anything so foul since drinking Aegion’s ill-advised experiments!

“Awww, no spit-take.” Lunaris sounded disappointed.

What?

“She’s far too polite and careful.” I could practically see Selene sticking her tongue out at Lunaris.

“Contestants! Begin!” The [Referee] yelled, dropping the veil between the two teams. Where had the time gone!?

“Wooo! Go Iona!” The two goddesses cheered in unison, a pair of goofy little flags popping up in their hands. They vigorously waved them, cheering on their [Paladin] with gusto.

Selene and Lunaris were bantering about me. They were clearly close. I was an outsider. They wanted something with me. I could interject into their conversation, but it might be rude. They had just criticized me for being too polite. Perhaps the most polite option was the incorrect one. Maybe…

“So, what are your intentions with our [Paladin]?” Lunaris’s voice was unexpectedly serious, the question clearly directed at me.

Elaine.MANDALA has encountered a critical error.

“Buh, uhhh… cuddles, kisses, and massages? Moonlit walks? I guess?” I stuttered out as Fenrir and Annora, mounted on her griffin, charged at each other in the sky. Annora and Iona both had lances out, although Fenrir’s long neck was a massive liability in the clash that was about to occur.

“Hmmmm…” Lunaris trailed off with an unhappy tone.

“Tut tut. Cuddles and kisses? That doesn’t sound very serious at all.” Selene said. “What are you planning to do for work?”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

How did they not know that?

Actually. Who cared why they were asking, time to perform. Without stuttering. Or having bad answers. Short and sweet might be best here…? I’m not sure if they cared too much about money, or social status, or anything like that.

Uh. What did they care about? Knowing that would make this so much easier.

“Healing people.” I answered.

“Are you religious?” Lunaris asked, and the interrogation was on.

It was surreal watching Iona fight while the goddesses interrogated me. One moment Grimwald was unleashing a torrent of flames at Auri - a stupider move I couldn’t imagine, as she effortlessly seized control of them all and sent them back at him with a derisive brrrpt - and the next, I was being asked if I had any plans for children by a goddess.

I got to watch Fenrir blasting the grounded team with Lightning and Ice coming from his mouth, while hearing Lunaris handle petitioners at the same time she was asking me questions.

“Would you say you like books or Iona more?”

Well, shit. The easy, obvious answer was Iona. That’s what they wanted me to say, that’s what I felt. But what if they thought it was a lie? Wait, they could see lies, couldn’t they?

I was back in full overthinking mode as Iona realized she had unlimited mana, and unleashed a torrent of [Blizzard Shot] from up high, blinding most of the audience and attempting to bury and freeze solid the Rolland team. Most of them vanished under the onslaught, and I could hear Auri complaining about all the ‘bad water’ and ‘nobody could appreciate her in these conditions’.

Honestly, letting Auri into this event was a mistake. Her ego was going to get way too big, and she was going to get more ‘second Triumph’ ideas.

“What do you think about Iona’s math skills?”

Finally, an easy one!

“Oh, they suck.” I heard the words slip out of my mouth, my eyes widening in horror. No! I had been so careful until now to keep the filter between my brain and my mouth intact!

The two goddesses just burst into laughter at that one.

“Oooh, she’s finally fun!” Lunaris clapped her hands in delight.

“Yes! Alright Elaine, when are you going to propose to Iona?” Selene asked.

“Buh?” I responded stupidly, her question short-circuting me again. “Propose?”

“Yes, propose. When you ask someone to marry you. I thought you were the smart one!” Lunaris teased me.

“Oh, stop teasing the poor girl, she’s trying so hard to impress us.” Selene fussed. “Elaine, don’t worry too much. We’re already here for the show, and decided to say hi while we’re at it.”

“CUT HER IN HALF ALREADY!” Lunaris yelled to Iona. “Why do you think we empowered your weapons?!”

Iona was far too disciplined to flinch, instead taking Lunaris’s advice and carving through Annora’s adamantium armor.

Oooooh, that was going to be expensive, even for a duchy. Annora was so screwed, between losing the heirloom weapon and now her armor getting sliced apart.

“No pressure on the marriage thing. When you’re ready, you’re ready. Don’t worry, we’ll handle all the arrangements!” Selene cheerfully gave me a new nightmare.

At the same time, I could relax a bit.

“Oh, we’ll just elope then.” I flippantly responded. The Rolland team was down to just the Shining Prince, effortlessly cutting through Auri’s [I am the Brrrettiest] skill. Iona was flying high on Fenrir, peppering the prince with an endless barrage of arrows. Some were getting through, and it’d only be a matter of time before he was teleported out.

Iona’s victory was near.

I saw the divine blue flames gather around Auri, the little bird having figured out the trick of stealing the goddesses’s fire. She launched it as a tiny, spinning fireball into the mess.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 444->446! +8 Strength, +8 Dexterity, +70 Speed, +70 Vitality, +70 Mana, +70 Mana Regen, +70 Magic power, +70 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regen, +1 Magic power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid) per level! +1 Strength, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

[*ding!* [Radiance Affinity] leveled up! 444 -> 446]

[*ding!* [Radiance Resistance] leveled up! 444 -> 446]

[*ding!* [Nova Lance] leveled up! 444 -> 446]

[*ding!* [Lepidoptera] leveled up! 444 -> 446]

[*ding!* [Nectar] leveled up! 444 -> 446]

[*ding!* [Solar Corona] leveled up! 444 -> 446]

[*ding!* [Scintillating Ascent] leveled up! 444 -> 446]

[*ding!* [Kaleidoscope] leveled up! 444 -> 446]

And that little stunt had been worth two levels. In the mid 400’s.

Yikes.

Soon, Auri would be leveling me, instead of the other way around! It was exciting, I had more than enough of not leveling [The Dawn Sentinel].

The two goddesses' heads snapped in the same direction, vaguely east and upwards, Lunaris’s twisting unnaturally far.

“That’s our cue.” Lunaris grimly said.

“Elaine, it’s been wonderful chatting with you. One last note I’d like to leave on.” Selene was speaking quickly, right on the edge of what I could understand.

“Many, many, many people get the impression that just because we, or another god, favor a mortal, that we’ll constantly intervene. Press our fingers on the scale, keep them safe.”

“It’s not true.” Lunaris took over. “Please understand, we do not care if Iona dies. It simply means she goes from enjoying her time on Pallos, to joining us as an angel.”

“Much easier for her to visit!” Selene said. “She’ll always be with us. We can’t wait for the day to come.”

“We wouldn’t do anything like hasten her demise.” Lunaris said. “But we’re not going to bail her out of trouble.”

“This isn’t trouble. This is important to her… and look at all the new worshippers we’ve gotten!” Selene was practically salivating as she gestured around the arena.

She was right. Already I was seeing dozens, if not hundreds, of symbols of the goddesses, and more than a few people were on their knees or bowing, worshiping them. One enterprising vendor had already managed to get copies of the little flags Iona’s patrons had been waving, and was doing brisk business selling them.

“Rolland has no contestants left on the field. Victory in the teamfight portion, Team Iona! Final score of 25-0!” The [Referee] announced to an adoring crowd.

“Yes! Go Iona!” Selene cheered, jumping to her feet and waving.

“Enough chitchat. It was wonderful meeting you, goodbye.” Lunaris said, and without further ado, the goddesses were simply gone.

Lun’Kat’s illusions snapped back over the moons, and they started to drift through the sky again, baleful eyes staring down at us.

I looked up at them, spotting a distant figure high up in the sky.

My eyes let me pick out her iridescent black scales.

She circled as hundreds of powerful auras snapped into place, the effect rapidly cascading as more and more people noticed what was going on and turned on their effects. The air began to feel stifling and cloying.

The Stygian Deceiver circled once.

Twice.

Then left.