Here you are my Lovelies, sorry for my long absence. It is mostly because I burnt myself out on cute and fluffy, so I began writing some of the Dark stuff that fuels my soul! Jokes aside, I am back from my two week Hiatus, my Mother IS fine, if that was a concern for some of you, she had no relapse, I just needed a break. But, I shall be popping several of these wonderful ideas, and chapters out like candy as I finish them, and they are PR'd by the lovely BlissForgotten!

This Chapter is from Suzuki, of course, her first tournament fight, and a little bit more of a glimpse into Jessica, followed by Obsidian at the end. ^.^

As always, much love and Cookies.

Suzuki POV -

Once they had left, I sighed. Maybe this would make the possessive Jessica open up some. It was a pity, Jessica was a beautiful girl, and yet she was attracted to Sidnie like that. I liked Sidnie, but her child like nature in regards to reacting to others was a little annoying to me personally.

Jessica was more to my taste, but I knew a lost cause when I saw one. She was head over heels for Sidnie. That didn’t mean I would not try my best to win, I had every intention of winning this tournament. It helped that I was relatively certain that Sidnie was straight, judging by how she reacted to the Dick Head who felt he was better than others, or that any girl who liked girls just needed a good ‘guy’. Incidentally, he would still not be in that category because he was not a good guy.

But enough of that, I had a tournament to participate in. I had signed up to use my Naga for this fight. The limitations were the use of two Variants, and only up to a Tier 3 Evolution. Numbers were limited to around 1000. It gave the matches a sense of detail, and management requirement to the players, and the fans.

The downside, I could not actually use my Tier 0 species, they were Tadpoles. But I could use the rest. I’d managed to evolve them into a rare species that went under the Naga category, a kind of odd mixing of Snake, and Hammerhead sharks. They were called Hammerkin, by the system, and were apparently difficult to receive, according to Father.

I had personally wanted to find the route that Led to the Origin Naga Race, but Father had forbidden it, instead having me work toward hidden Species that were difficult to gain, or discover them. Which led me to the Hammerkin. A Tier 2 Evolution from an elongated predator called an Eel shark. Why they developed a Hammerhead appearance once they evolved to a semi-humanoid form, I did not know, but it was an interesting blend.

They held a human torso, though dark grey in coloration from the shark skin. I had formed them along the same methods of Japanese Culture, and Bushido. Father would soon order me to see who was stronger, my Rabbits, or the Naga, I knew it would happen. But I still silently hoped it would not.

As it was, I had Yuki select 900 of the Hammerkin, and 100 of the Tier 3 Evolutions which seemed to be more akin to Great Whites, in terms of their heads, and size. They were roughly double the height of the Hammerkin, though like all other Naga Species they retained a snake like lower body, perfect for swimming, but also allowing them to live outside the water. They would be my Commanders within the army, and I had her take the forces from one of the smaller Lords within the Ocean Society of the Naga in my Dungeon World. This way, it would not upset the balance of power within the Naga society much, should I lose.

Yuki accepted her chores, laughing lightly at me through the watch, her voice coming out clear, and soft from the watch. I’d attached a set of specialized headphones so only I could hear her.

“Yuri, you never fail to amuse me. Always meddling in others affairs when it annoys you.”

I frowned, and shrugged. “It had begun to grow tedious, Yuki. I couldn’t have Jessica anyway, beautiful as she is I don’t go for the Runway Model types. If Sidnie had her personality, I’d be more inclined toward her. As it is, they are my friends, though I find it amusing Jessica is jealous of me.”

I could tell Yuki was thinking a bit, she was rather like an older Sister. She also liked to pick on me like one.

“Well, do you intend to lose then? Or win and confess your ‘feelings’ to Sidnie.”

I sighed, muttering a bit before responding. “I intend to win, I would like the Horse Race for myself. But I have no intention of confessing to Sidnie, with feelings I do not have for her. I don’t believe I set a time on when it must be done.”

She giggled, and mentioned how Jessica may see that as well, though I doubted it. Jessica was to caught up in the worry of me winning to notice that loophole placed within for my benefit.

I checked the match line up. We were in a bracket system, four blocks. I was Block C number 9. Each block had 10 people per block, and it was a knock out system. When each block had a winner, the block winners would fight between each other, then the two finalist would fight for the prize. It was a relatively small tournament, each match was designed to last about half an hour in length. It gave us time to move on the fly strategy wise, while keeping it somewhat short and allowing us to end it before 5 P.M The Final match was set up to a time limit of one hour.

There were more rules and regulation for each Tournament depending on the Tournament. The Rose Bowl was a relatively set rule guideline though. Normally the first Tournament new Adepts would join to get a feel for the transitions of number limits, and the other small things.

For my Variants, I only had two, a common one dealing with Water, naturally. I also had an Uncommon one that a few of my Shark Naga could actually control the rocks. The minor Lords within the Naga society tended toward that Variant being born a lot though, mostly because their domains were closest to the land mass my Rabbits were slowly expanding, and growing on.

My first match was against a young woman. A few years older than me, based on how she held herself. Probably some College student. Her race was Rodents, and she seemed to be favoring the Rat Species. That would be difficult, the Rodent Race were tenacious, and the Rat Species itself held a variety of diseases, and pestilence inducing abilities based on the Variants. The Rodent Race was actually the only one to date that commonly bred variants dedicated to diseases, and the spreading of such. Father had tried to force me to use the Rodents first, but Mother had stepped in, for once, stating the Rabbit would give him a more interesting research project. I still did not know why he wanted me to do it, but Mother had helped me keep the Rabbits I had wanted. I loved their ears. I smiled a little at the memory before connecting. My first match would soon begin, the fact it would be the first tournament I used my Shark Naga in would be a very interesting factor.

COnnecting, I had Yuki give me control of the Minor Lord, Lord Nagashi, and began setting up the Soldiers and the Commanders. I split the 900 Hammerkin into ground of 100, each led by one of the nine generals of this Lords house. The vast majority of my Shark Naga held water abilities while each of the Generals were earthen based. Nagashi himself held sway over Granit. The grouping allowed me 9 manageable small armies, while the other Great White Naga were placed under my own direction, my personal guard, and each more than willing to slaughter anything that got near me, or rather Nagashi.

It was always odd, controlling the Shark Naga, they felt weird to me. Mostly because I prefered working with my Rabbits, they were my favorite after all.

My nine Generals slithered their way to me, the voices of each as they did a dipping bow were both deep, and primal.

“My Lord, we are ready and within formation. We can strike at anytime. We know not why you have called us here to fight, no doubt at the behest of the Eternal One. We shall win honor in your name, however.”

I waved my hand, and they slithered back toward their positions. It still felt weird, the majority of the Shark Naga had learned some things were odd, and begun referring to me as the Eternal One. Yuki stated that to them, I was like the Ocean. The Eternal current that gave them life. It was problematic because it created a God based faith that I would be unable to live up too.

With the Rabbits, only the Shogun, Bushi’s descendant knew anything about me, because I actively told his house. He knew exactly what, and whom I was. In return for keeping the peace, and going about my plans I gave them the means to survive, and grow without requiring anything at all.

His warriors simply believed it one of his skills, when I called him to battle with his people. A kind of test to pit them against invaders of strange lands. True, in a way.

I was getting far too distracted of late. It was rather disconcerting in truth, so I focused more upon the issue at hand, feeling the odd ancient predatory intelligence of Nagashi beneath the surface of my control, moving around the mind like the mighty leviathan he somewhat resembled.

One of the Great Whites would be my messenger. I had half an hour to gain victory, or defeat. I sent him toward the furthest right army under the control of Hido, a very disturbing Great White that would no doubt need put down one day. I smiled after I sent him with the message to have Hido take his forces and go as far to the right, and into the forest as possible. I still had the habit of naming each, and every single one, until the naming algorithm was ingrained within the system and the Race began naming based upon the ones I called them. Now I just called them the names they were born with mostly, but I had pet names for a few of my favorites.

I sent messengers to each of my Generals. Four of them in total would flank out into the forest, and converge upon the sounds of battle as I, and the remaining five Generals combined our forces and moved forward.

I had set up a messenger system, though I was working on a flag based messaging means that was still not fully integrated. For now, it had two of my Generals at the front, supported by the other two, while I remained in the rear, attempting to locate high ground for a sight vantage.

The only real issue with this of course was the fact in PVP battles like this, in tournaments, each player had his own method of fighting. the woman was a Rodent Fighter, they were tenacious, and crafty along with fast. I didn’t know what method she would use. The Rat Species had a variety of Evolutionary pathways, and breeds that could have been gained. It would prove difficult, more so if she combined each of her Tier Evolutions from 0 to 3 into a cohesive battle force.

It made me wish I had my Rabbits, but Father had insisted I use the Naga in a Tournament since I was using the Rabbits for my ‘waste of time’ as he called my classes. He’d helped fund and build the school for Dungeon Inc. But he did not agree with their methods of teaching me. To friendly, to focused on growing close to programs for his taste.

He’d have a heart attack if he learned I liked women as much as I liked men. I smiled at that thought, causing one of my Guard to flick his cold black eyes toward me a moment, before slithering forward a bit. My Father was a Bastard, and old fashioned, but he was my Father all the same.

We entered the forest, quiet as always. The Tournaments killed the natural life of the Dungeon Worlds used for these battles. Otherwise it would be a disaster, though the Master Matches did not, they were day long events, and battles depending on the Tournament.

A messenger came from my right flank, Hido had reached his position, as had Yi. They would remain behind, and at an angle while the main force went in to draw the enemy out. The Left flank messengers appeared as well stating the same.

We continued another half mile before anything of note occurred of course. A few of the Shark Naga scouts used their hands and snake like lower bodies to climb the thicker trees and give them a few more yards of vision.

One reported seeing an odd creature on two legs that looked like it was starved, then it disappeared into the brush. A trap, or a mistake, I did not know. I had Yoshi, one of my forward Generals send out twenty Hammerkin to scout the area, and spring the possible traps. I was effectively sending them to die for us, but while I regretted it, it did need done. Their deaths would have meaning, they knew this as well. It was still a bit hard to swallow.

Upon arrival, they cried out in pain. It was a shark roaring, deeper and more base than the leonine creatures. I observed, clenching the Sheath Katana strapped to me with a special shoulder rig.

They were dying, and I could do nothing. No doubt a trap was sprung. A messenger arrived a moment later.

“Shogun, the odd creatures sprang up from small holes in the ground, and jumped down from the limbs. The bodies appear to be leaking poisonous liquid. We assume the weapons used are dangerous.”

I growled, and the Hammerkin flinched back a fraction of an inch. The Rats were adept at using diseases and poisons after all. I should have expected this outcome. I had no one to blame but myself for their deaths. To make matters worse, time was slowly ticking down.

One trap sprung, and there were doubtless others. With a heavy heart I dispatched messengers to all of my Generals, on all flanks. They were to send out two groups of ten Hammerkin to spring the traps, to die for the greater chance of victory. The Rats had cunning, speed, and poison but in strength they were lacking. They swarmed, but never outright fought.

The roars of dying Hammerkin filled the clearing minutes later. Followed by a sudden silence, and then chittering and squeals. The Rats were coming.

“Form up, swords ready, watch the trees.” I had my messengers send this message to everyone. They would hope for more deaths no doubt, but with time slowly going down neither of us could afford to wait. As such, I also sent the order for my Shark Naga to move forward, ever watchful.

The main plan was to meet them in just an up front battle, and try to find the one my opponent was controlling. The time limits placed a large constraint on higher leveled strategic battles. It made me somewhat depressed that it would become a brutal slugfest where I could not properly limit the casualties.

I had my own 100 Great White Guard move up as well, the fight would need to come to a decisive end quickly. More so with the counter slowly winding down, we had around fifteen minutes left before the match itself came to a close. I gnashed my teeth together at the idea. If we did not strike soon I would lose on the simple fact I had not killed anyone. It added the uncomfortable notion that the enemy may very well hide out for the remainder of the match, but judging by the movement in the trees and brush ahead that was not the case.

I sucked in a large amount of air through my mouth, opened wide and let loose a roar. It was a trademark ability of the Great Whites, they instilled Blood Frenzy within the other Shark Naga with their roars. I was still trying to understand exactly how it worked, but the end result was something akin to my Rabbits when they entered their Berserker state.

The difference was the Shark Naga Swarmed forward after the roar, echoing their own. The first rat that jumped down from the trees was captured in the mouth of one of the Hammerkin, and he gorged himself on the meat.

That was one of the downsides, the Shark Naga would stop to feast, rather than fight on if anything reached their mouths. Something I had not been able to breed out of them, nor has an option for purchasing such an effect been made available via the point system. The best I could hope for was that the Rats did not jump into my Shark Nagas mouths during the fight.

The other Great Whites were relatively in control, being the species that instigates the Blood Frenzy, or Feeding Frenzy depending on how you looked upon it, though they did enter that state sometimes as well.

Battle was met, and it was a brutal thing. Several Shark Naga fell to the poisonous cuts caused by the Rats blades, and bites. Disease ridden vermin! I slashed one in two while it was mid leap, and slithered my way into the middle of the fight, hunting for the controlled one. This is where it became difficult.

I tended to lead my Races in the charge personally, but a lot of players prefered directing from the background with setting traps, and then hiding it out and look for a chance to strike. I hated it, even if it was a sound strategy.

Another came at me, and I cleaved it in two, the dying screech as it gnashed its teeth at me, trying to find purchase upon my flesh with its disease ridden claws. I moved deeper into the fight. The dying roars of my Shark Naga, and the rats a constant vibration within the air. Still no sign of the Rat.

I found that odd personally, because the few players I knew who used Rats almost had to join in fighting, the Packs did not follow weaklings after all, and it was a more fluid society than any other aside from pure Beast Race users where the strongest led through might.

Beyond that it meant that the Rats would be less likely to follow whatever power structure they had if the leader was not present within the fight itself. It created complications, though few players regarded their species the same as I did.

One of the Great White Guards fell beside me, groaning in pain while blisters and sores spread along his blue-white body at an accelerated rate. I stabbed my sword through the culprit, growling out my anger at it. He screeched a single high note and died. I threw the Rat that I had stabbed from my sword and blocked a strike aimed for my backside, the instinct of the body I controlled saving my life.

I turned in a fluid motion to cut down the culprit, only to have my strike blocked by a surprisingly sturdy looking dagger. Following the line of his arm, I saw a far larger Rat-man. He was grinning a toothy grin, and I dodged to the right, using my serpentine body to the best advantage, where my head had been, a tail with a large blade strapped to it was occupying the space.

The controlled Rat…

Jessica POV -

I heard the vast majority of the cheering going around me, though I mostly ignored the match. I spent the entirety of the hour watching Sid, and quietly fuming inside with each cheer, and jump out of her seat excitement she expressed.

Jealousy was a very real thing for me, I did not like Suzuki, and I disliked most of the people who got close to Sid that displayed a romantic possibility. It both frustrated, and frightened me with how dense she was in regards to this.

I didn’t want her taken advantage of, I wanted her happy, and I wanted her. Three conflicting paths, because the second one may mean that she isn’t with me.

I bit my lip when she let go of my hand and cried out, her eyes alight with wonder and joy at something that was happening on the massive display. I sighed, turning to look, and froze a moment.

What I saw was an amazing battle between a massive Rat-man with a large blade strapped to its tail, wielding two medium length daggers while fighting Suzuki and her funky looking Naga.

The fight itself was brutal, and short lived, ending with Suzuki taking a dagger to the gut, but decapitating the Rat-man, signaling her victory. But it had been beautiful in it’s savagery. Suzuki displayed an unparalleled level of skill when using, and manipulating the Species within her Races.

I knew this, because I had started paying more attention to any of her matched that were televised after I learned just where, and for whom, my sexual preference lay. I always saw her as a threat, though I never expected to go to school with her. This was because of how fervently Sid actually followed her, she had a poster in her room for goodness sakes….

I clenched my hand in a fist a moment, releasing it and forcing a smile when Sid turned to me, going on and on about the match, I just smiled and nodded to her, despairing the outcome if Suzuki won, and hating the possibility of her losing. I was not ready to throw myself into the rejection, and possible loss of my best friend if I confessed. I’d made the most retarded bet while angry. I settled in, and continued watching the matches with Sid, trying to enjoy some of them, while ruminating about my situation.

Obsidian POV -

“Get that wall repair within the hour!” I bellowed at a group of gargoyles that had been tasked with the majority of stone structure repair for the main keep. I growled in sheer frustration. The Houses were decimated. My own, and two minor Houses were all the survived the cleansing of the remaining Wild Ones from my lands over the last few years.

“Aunt, are you well?” A quiet male voice, so like my Brothers when we were young asked me. I turned toward him, and patted his cheek gently. The last of my family, my own offspring having perished in the long War. Five survivors, my Brothers youngest children, two females, and three males.

Each had fought, and survived in the war of course, I accepted no weaklings within my Family, but I held a soft spot for these five. More so after my Brother fell ensuring I survived. I smiled softly, I felt I had a true soft spot for these children, barely 200 years old. No doubt the influence of the Power that helped me gain this Axe, Behemoths Fang.

I did not consider this one flaw a weakness, though I had killed a few who had felt my treatment of my remaining Family was unfair, as well as the last survivor of the only other Major House who wanted to claim one of my Nieces hands in marriage.

I would protect them, and they would protect me. I had made them my personal Guard, my Ebon Shields, after the shield their Father wielded. I granted them the right of having a House named after it, the broken shield their emblem, a reminder of the Sacrifice made that day for me.

I still missed my Brother as well, and his oldest, Barthus, looked just like him. “I’m fine Barthus, simply annoyed. The weaklings are moving too slowly, I will not allow this city to fall as it did before, surrounded by the Wild Ones.”

Barthus looked confused, but nodded his head solemnly. “I understand Aunt, I will aid in the reconstruction personally. My affinity for earthcraft is the same as Fathers. My Siblings can properly guard you while I do so.”

I chuckled lightly, and patted his cheek once more. “No, Barthus, leave it for the weaklings that could not fight as they should have. I have other plans for you, and your siblings. Find those you love, as your Father had, and grow as a Family. You shall be my Eternal Ebon Shield. I do not wish to see my Brothers line extinguished either. But only ever will you marry those you love. Brother was always so passionate about such matters...No doubt ‘Her’ presence..”

They tilted their heads confused, right, they did not know. I smiled it off, and went back to ordering the Weak Gargoyles and Fiends to hurry up, setting the Pit Fighters to work them harder before moving back to my Seat of Power. Ebonhold, I would turn this into a true fortress, equaled by none, and never again will we fall to the Wild Ones. Even now I had the Army sweeping my lands for spots where they may appear. They were killed on sight, and it would remain such.

My Hatred, my WRATH, would not allow a single one to live within my lands. I would make it a sport in time, because the fuckers continued to spawn. For now however, Rebuilding, reclaiming, and securing the land was the priority.

My only solace was that the Others had not taken advantage of my weakened state during the time of rebuilding. I doubted it would last, but I would make the most of the short time I had, secure my Lands, Secure the Borders, and rebuild my forces. I would march on them in the end, but for now I would rebuild.