"Man, that was really stressful," I sighed, sitting down before taking a swig of water and letting out a sigh of relief.

I sure was doing a lot of talking these days, my introverted nature was being trampled on mercilessly.

​​

"You did great, Kuro, I'm so proud of you!" Smiled Persia, kissing the side of my head as she wrapped her arms around me from behind.

If she's trying to make me feel better...then it's totally working. The strategy meeting had finally ended, and after we finished, Presde made a bunch of small huts using Earth Magic for everyone to stay in. There hadn't been any additions or changes to the plan I'd layed out, which hopefully meant that there weren't any major holes in the plan.

We were taking a break for about an hour, after which we'd begin preparations for the plan. Namely, Storing more attacks to use for the diversion, making sure everyone understood how the barriers we were going to be using worked, using the Appearance Copy and Paste spells on the lapdogs tasked with the diversion, and sorting out any other minor issues that needed to be taken care of.

We had also decided on the fifteen that'd be heading straight for the castle. Valaque and all seven members of the Retribution Tier for starters, then me, Persia, Ekai, Az, Vi, Instructor Tabbs and Fuo. I noticed that Lagusa looked at Persia and Az with curiosity...he probably had a list of Adventurers that would be a threat to them, but since they were still student Adventurers, they were probably overlooked.

Anyway, it was hard to leave out people like Selesa, Les, Yuur, Gela and a few others, but we couldn't include everyone, otherwise there wouldn't be enough people sweeping the north-to-west and north-to-east areas. Anyway, since we're on a break right now, I should let myself relax a bit and not think-...I was snapped out of my thoughts as I heard a commotion outside. Great, now what?

"Whatever's going on, it doesn't sound good...let's go see," Remarked Persia, with a bit more curiosity than concern...Cat Girl, indeed.

But she had a good point.

"Yeah, the last thing we need is conflict between both sides before we start. I'll go check."

I stepped out of the hut and walked in the direction of the noise to see what was happening...okay, what's going on here? Gela and Rex looked like they were arguing, while a bunch of people on both sides were watching. Why is no one stepping in? I certainly don't want to be the person who has to take on an annoying role like that, but...

"...what's the matter, you scared?" Gela inquired tauntingly.

"Huh!? What'd'ya say to me!? I'll crush you, bitch!"

"Yes, that's it, come at me, I'll tear you to shreds!"

Should I step in...ahhhh, but I don't want to...goddamn it...ughhh...tch, this might get ugly if left unchecked, so I have no choice...fuuuuuck...I should step in.

"Hey, knock it off, what's this about?" I exclaimed with a loud clap of my hands, interrupting them.

"Don't look at me, this crazy bitch just came up to me out of nowhere and challenged me to a fight, with the condition that if she wins, she takes my spot in the fifteen that are going to head for the castle!"

Oh, yeah, when I picked the people on my side for the fifteen, she'd looked pretty miffed at being excluded. In hindsight, I really should have seen this coming.

"Sounds interesting, I say let 'em duke it out! What do you say, boss?" Chimed in Rion with a look of intrigue.

"Yeah, I'm all for it, why not?" Agreed Valaque with a grin.

Seriously? I don't know what exactly I expected the leader of The Empire to be like, but I definitely didn't expect this. And had he just been watching this the whole time in amusement? And I wasn't too keen on letting our two sides, which were enemies being forced to work together, fight each other...but on the other hand, maybe some 'friendly' competition in the form of exhibition matches might help ease some of the tension...

"Fine...but I'll step in if someone's about to die," I relented with a sigh.

"Now we're talking, fuck yeah," Smirked Gela with a lick of her lips.

"Well, whatever, I guess I could use letting off some steam," Shrugged Rex, extending his claws with ice as he let out a sigh.

Okay, so I guess this is happening then...wait, was someone supposed to signal the start of the fight or-?

"Here I come!" Exclaimed Gela, zipping towards Rex rapidly using Flight, as he spread out his wings and swiftly ascended with a strong flap.

Well, she's proactive, if nothing else.

She followed after him, wind swirling around her talons and metal claws. She swung a couple of wind blades at him, he managed to evade them, but she was closing the gap. Huh, she's gotten pretty strong and fast, I haven't fought her or seen her fight for quite a while, but she's definitely improved a lot since the last time I did.

She shot up towards him and swung her metal claws up at him, as he swung one of his hooked raptor claws to counter her claws, deflecting them away. He then swung his other hooked claw at her head, she tilted herself back to avoid it while swinging another couple of wind blades at him. He let himself plummet to avoid them, but got a small cut on his left shoulder as he did.

Gela fluidly shifted her position in mid-air till she was facing his direction and zipped down towards him, grabbing his shoulders and digging her claws and talons into them, before flying down while pushing him down towards the ground.

Before he could crash down, he swung his hooked claws at her midsection, forcing her to let go, though she made sure to twist and wrench her talons and claws out of his shoulders as she let go, eliciting a stifled cry of pain from him. As he gritted his teeth and swung his hooked claws at her, she wasn't able to fully dodge it, a shallow gash left just above her left hip.

Rex spread his wings open to halt his descent, before hurriedly getting out of the way as she fired a couple of wind blades at him. He was starting to look pretty frustrated, because while neither of them were particularly dominating this fight, Gela was doing slightly better, and was slowly chipping away at him.

She was currently firing wind blades down at him, preventing him from getting back in the air. This move was something she usually avoided since she preferred a more hands-on approach...but I guess this time, she actually has a motive to win, instead of just fighting for the thrill of torturing her opponent.

Rex was avoiding taking any direct hits, but couldn't evade them all, getting scratched and grazed with every one of Gela's swings. He looked like he was starting to get desperate, trying to find an opening to get away from her barrage of wind blades. Meanwhile, she had a blank look on her face...fighting using long-ranged attacks really bored her, huh, she wanted to directly feel every injury inflicted on her opponent. And then, she stopped her assault.

"Screw this, this is no fun...," She sighed dramatically, before swirling wind around her talons and metal claws, extending them out about half a meter each..huh, that's new, "Come up here and let me tear you apart!"

"Huh...?" Muttered Rex, looking initially confused as the barrage of wind blades ceased, before gritting his teeth with a glare on his face and flying up after her, "Don't mess with me, I'll kill you!"

He was probably thinking that she was going easy on him by letting up her attack...but she was doing it for herself and her own enjoyment, there was no doubt about that.

"That's more like it!"

His shoulders were bleeding pretty badly, and he was covered in cuts and grazes, while she was pretty much unscathed except for the shallow cut in her left side. As he closed in on her from below, he twisted his body up rapidly and swung his hooked claws at her, which she flew back to evade before hovering down till they were on the same level. She then drove her wind-enhanced metal claws towards his throat, he began to dodge, but couldn't fully evade it, as she plunged them into his right shoulder.

He let out a cry of pain but bit down on his lower lip with a fierce glare and grabbed her forearm, squeezing it and tightening his grip. Right as he began to crack and fracture the bone, she swung her talons at his face with a slight wince of pain, which he narrowly evaded, letting go of her right forearm and pulling her claws out of his shoulder. At this point, pretty much everyone had come out of the huts and were watching the fight.

Gela began to swing her claws at him again, but before she could strike, he rapidly spun himself around, whipping his tail towards her and slamming it powerfully onto her left side and knocking the wind out of her. He then flew over her with a quick flap of his wings before she could recover, balled his fists together and slammed them down towards her head as hard as he could.

She tilted her head out of the way at the last possible second, his fists crashing onto her left shoulder with a loud pop, dislocating it. He then drew back his hands and began to swing his claws at her throat, when she suddenly wrapped her legs around his waist, upsetting his balance, before swinging herself up with all her strength, slamming her head onto his with a resounding impact. Woah, that was loud...

Rex was completely dazed by that, but Gela looked like she still had her senses, despite streaks of blood running down her forehead. As he began to plummet down dizzily, she didn't unwrap her legs from his waist, instead firmly gripping his left shoulder with her right hand, the claws digging in again, and then slammed her left shoulder against his jaw, pushing the dislocated joint back into place and knocking out a couple of his teeth.

She then halted their descent using Flight, hovering in mid-air while holding him with her legs...she then raised her hands with that familiar sadistic smirk of hers, licking her lips as her face began turning red and her breathing turning heavy in anticipation. Yeah, time to end this fight, in fact I probably should have stepped in a while ago, but...I have to admit, that was kinda entertaining...

I swiftly entered Vampire Mode and shot up at top speed, grabbing her wrists right before she could plunge them into his midsection and tear it open. I then held her by the back of her neck, and Rex by his tail, and zipped down to the ground, dropping them down as I landed and returned to my natural state. Three seconds taken to break up the fight, not bad.

"Are you kidding me, I was just getting to the best part!" Complained Gela with a look of dismay, before shaking her head as her eyes glossed over, "Wha...?"

Given how hard she slammed her head onto Rex's earlier, it certainly wouldn't be surprising if she had a concussion...she must have been running purely on adrenaline and excitement, which kept her from passing out or getting dizzy...and right on cue, she collapsed onto the ground, losing consciousness.

"That...was...awesome!" Exclaimed Valaque with a glint in his eye, "This girl was about the same speed as Rex, and physically weaker, but damn, talk about tenacity! That was like, wild and feral and stuff! I'm all for switching her out in the fifteen and take Rex's place!"

"Yeah, great...someone should heal them now, especially your guy, he's kinda bleeding a lot...," I replied, nodding at Rex.

"Hm? Oh, sure...someone heal these two, and in the meantime, let's have a couple more fights, get some excitement flowing and get everyone pumped up for the mission, you know?" Suggested Valaque eagerly.

Wow, he really didn't care about Dino-boy very much, did he? And yeah, sure getting everyone motivated for the mission would be beneficial, but...if someone ends up dead, regardless of which side they were from, it'll have the opposite effect and only heighten the already-heavy tensions between the two sides. He'd probably protest if I straight up turned him down, so I'll take a different approach...

"In that case...let's take a vote to decide, all forty-nine will vote-...or I guess, forty-seven since these two are out cold."

I didn't like putting it to a vote since it took the matter out of my control, but it was probably my best bet...

"Whaaat, is that really necessary? Can't we just go ahead with the fights? Fine, I guess that's fair. But wait, we've got more voters available, the lapdogs tasked with the ambush and six remaining researchers, they're busy helping Arturo inspect that barrier spell, but I'm sure he won't mind if-!"

Nah, let's just get it over with ASAP.

"Yeah, let's just have everyone currently present out here vote."

Five minutes later, we had the results of the vote...and almost everyone voted in favor of it. Well, I wasn't expecting that. Guess they'd really been entertained by that first fight, huh.

"Seriously, you guys want this?" I sighed in exasperation.

"I am puzzled as well, I see no benefit to this," Agreed Ekai, one of the few people who'd voted against it.

"Well, I don't know if I'm speaking for everyone, but I was feeling really awkward and uncomfortable around The Empire people this whole time, but after that fight, the vibe around here feels a bit less uncomfortable, you know?" Replied Selesa, raising her hand before speaking.

"I couldn't quite put it into words, but that's exactly it, the tensions seem to have eased after that fight," Spoke up Vi in agreement.

What, that's it? Seriously? I mean, I figured that benefit might arise as a result of this, but I didn't expect it to have worked so well. Well, after I was the one to suggest to vote, I couldn't very well protest the results now...

"We're not here to befriend these people, they're still very much our enemies...but I suppose we can't afford any friction during the mission, and if this helps alleviate that, then fine, whatever," I relented with a sigh.

So, yeah, this was happening. Can't let it get too out of control though, so I'll have to limit the fights to a reasonable number.

"Damn, nearly everyone voted in favor of this, awesome!" Grinned Valaque triumphantly.

"Yeah, yeah...let's keep it to five fights, or four since the first one already ended. Now it's a question of match-ups-," I began, looking around.

"Fight me!" Interrupted Valaque, challenging me.

What?

"Huh? And why should I-?"

"You said we'll settle who's the strongest, remember? And that the strongest will get to fight the Vampire King!"

...crap, I did say that. But I was just trying to get him to shut up so that we could finish the meeting...do I really have to fight him? Wait, on second thought, this might not be so bad...after all, gauging what he's capable of might be useful for future reference...specifically, when I need to kill him after the Vampires are dealt with...

"Alright, then, fine...I'll take you on, Tirayze Valaque," I replied with a slight smirk.

"Yeah, bring it on...uh...wait, what was your name again?"

...seriously?

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