After the guild’s strategy meeting, one strange thing happened, Armstrong specifically told the six of us not to get into a fight. He mentioned that we needed to conserve our strength before our fights and logically that makes sense, but it's still weird hearing Armstrong say “don’t get in a fight.” Since I know that I’ll be fighting someone from the Kraken guild I decided to do a little bit of reconnaissance to see what I could learn. I still can’t find Nazuko, so I guess I’ll have to do the stealth mission myself.

I felt the need to disguise myself so I’m not instantly recognized by the opposing guilds and there’s one thing that comes to mind when getting a disguise. I pop back over to my room in the castle using the city's portals. Blue is finally awake as it plays around in my room rolling around in a circle. When it sees me it stops, its little white dotted eyes light up happy to see me as it hops towards me. I pick up Blue as it continues to stare at me.

“Okay Blue I’m gonna need your help. Please tell me out of all the miscellaneous items you’ve eaten, one of them has been a mask?” I request.

The blue slime hops up and down before transforming into a blue mask. It has an eerily creepy happy face design, but I suppose that it’ll do for my purposes.

“Alright blue, time for us to go spying on the other guilds.”

I don a black trench coat before putting on the mask and jumping out the window once more. As I make my descent towards the city, I use a burst of wind to blast me toward a local bell tower.

“Okay time to plan out my approach. How should I go about this? Mythril, any suggestions?”

“Analyzing. Gather information on where the members of the Kraken guild are currently staying. Acquire a telescope, and use Azura’s enhanced hearing potion to eavesdrop from a distance.”

“Huh, good plan, why didn’t I think of that. Alright let’s go pay Willow a visit, she might know where the Kraken members are staying in the city.”

I dive off the bell tower into a portal that leads to the general vicinity of Dragon’s Descent. I walk in through the back and unsurprisingly the fights in the guild have once again ramped up to normal. I walk up to Willow who is filling out paperwork related to the tournament.

“Hey Willow, I need some information,” I say, interrupting her work.

“That voice….Will? What’s with the mask?” She questioned.

“Don’t mind the mask, definitely not doing anything suspicious. I just need information on where the Kraken’s Deep is currently located in the city.”

“If you say so, but you know what Armstrong said,” she began.

“Yes I know, don’t get in a fight. I’m not going to, just doing a bit of information gathering. That’s technically not against the rules right?” I argued.

“No, but I’m not supposed to give out that kind of information. That might lead to an attack on their guild.”

“Oh come on, everyone in the city knows where we’re located.”

“That’s true, but-”

I cut her off by placing a bag containing 100 gold coins on her desk.

“Change your mind yet?”

Her face scrunches up, before sighing lightly.

“50 more and I’ll tell you,” she answers reluctantly.

I placed another 50 gold on her desk.

“They’re situated in the Westernmost part of the city. There’s a large aqueduct near the border where they have set up a temporary dojo. I heard the members fighting are probably wearing a special gi with the guild’s insignia stitched on the front,” Willow reveals.

“Dojo near the large aqueduct on the western part of the city, gotcha. Thanks Willow,” I say before running into the city's many portals.

The longer I stay in this city the more I realize just how big it is. It’s probably a 100 square miles or even bigger. I must say having a city that is interconnected by portals is pretty convenient. One thing I wonder about is what powers all these portals, there’s no way that Vasavir alone could serve as the energy source.

I did end up going through the wrong portals a few times and going in the opposite direction, but I managed to make it through to the Western border. I picked up a telescope from a nearby merchant and I huffed it to the top of one of the biggest buildings or towers I could find. Assuming there are people in the Kraken guild that are at my level or stronger, they can definitely sense aura. I need to keep my aura usage down to a minimum and lower the constant aura field I’ve subconsciously developed as part of my training. I take a quick gulp of Azura’s hearing enhancement potion before looking through the scope. Ugh, there’s that weird aftertaste again, it tastes like earwax this time.

The view before me expands as I see the dojo from a distance. The fighters are sparring with one another outside while some use training dummies or a sturdy piece of wood. There’s an assortment of fighters all wearing the guild’s gi, but I can barely see if they have a special symbol differentiating them from the others. I’ll need to approach this from a different angle.

“Mythril, I need you to scan for fighters around my power level, that’ll give us something to work with.”

“Scanning.... Completed. I have approximated around 16 fighters who are in the same rank as you.”

“16? Right, I forgot that not everybody who could qualify is actually fighting. Can you mark them for me or something like that?”

A strange runic symbol appears in my field of vision hovering near the fighters. I see a group of them practicing kicks while a small woman who is a foot shorter than the average height of the fighters instructs them. I’m going to assume that’s the guild leader, I know without a doubt that’s gotta be her. I don’t even need Mythril to tell me how strong she is due to how much aura she’s giving off.

I try to focus and drown out the noise from the surrounding area as I adjust the magnification on the scope.

“Attention men, I want all of you to be at your best for tomorrow’s tournament. No going to sleep late and be sure to eat well tonight. You all will need your energy for the tournament,” the small woman began.

The fighters are practicing their attacks in unison with perfect form.

“Since we will be fighting the Griffin guild first we can afford to take it easy as we tend to be a good matchup against them. I’ll let any of you who wish to fight first take that one. However our second match will be against Dragon’s Descent, we know for sure they’ll be sending out their hardest hitters. More importantly there’s no way that amongst their representatives the Heroes won’t be a part of their team. Meaning we need strength, we need skill, and above all else we need the drive to push ourselves beyond what our bodies are capable of. Who wants to take the honor of representing us here!” She commanded.

One man I’m all too familiar with steps up in front of the guild leader.

“Miss if I may have the pleasure of representing our guild if they do choose one of the heroes. I have actually fought the first hero in battle before and we have a score that needs to be settled.”

“Sirius… I see, then who am I to deny you that right. HAHA! Fine if Dragon Descent sends out the first hero as their chosen representative I hereby elect you our representative to fight. Make sure to win,” the small statured woman laughed.

“Thank you, I’ll be sure to win,” the stoic man with dark blue hair announced.

Sirius then performs one kick that causes the earth to shake, even sending out tremors all the way to me.

“Shoot! It took my entire party plus an imperial knight to defeat him the first time and now I have to fight again on my own!” I cursed out loud.

Suddenly as if in response to me musing, the guild leader turned in my direction.

“Hmm, I sense a malicious aura somewhere,” she stated.

I frantically cover my mouth and get down, paranoid that someone could see me from here. How the hell could she sense me from all the way over there, I have to at least be a mile away. My aura only spiked for a brief second.

“Hmph, must have been a stray animal or something. Men let’s continue this talk inside, I have something I need to show you,” the guild leader tells them.

The marked men all follow the petite woman inside the dojo, exiting my field of vision.

Tch! I don’t think I can get any closer without them sensing me. Guess this is the end of my little reconnaissance mission. At least I know who I’ll most likely be fighting tomorrow. I need to seriously think of a strategy to deal with Sirius, no doubt he’s gotten stronger since our last fight.

The Next Day

I wake the next day to find entire bags of gold, jewelry and other miscellaneous items lying on the floor of my room. I see Nazuko lying asleep amidst the gold as if she is making a gold snow angel. Damn, just how much stuff did she end up stealing while she was out? While I don’t really want to be in charge of monitoring her activities, my concern for her arrest grows slightly.

I decide to wake her by placing Blue directly over her face so some viscous fluid ends up entering her mouth.

She ends up waking up by spitting the slime and immediately going for a cup of water to cleanse the taste from her mouth.

“Ack, ka, bleh! Ah why does slime taste like cotton,” Nazuko complained.

“Why do you know the taste of cotton? Also don’t you think you’ve gone a bit too overboard with the stealing? I’m not protecting you this time if you get arrested again,” I tell her.

“Hey this is actually me being conservative, you shoulda seen it. Gold, jewels, magical items galore. People from other states love showing off their crap. I had to be choosy about the stuff I wanted to take. And they make it so easy too, just a quick run by as people get into fights with each other over who they think is gonna win in the tournament,” she gushed.

“Really, then mind telling me what you’ve got then,” I sighed.

The small thief jumped off her pile of gold looking through her newly acquired bounty.

“Absolutely, firstly I decided to go with a bunch of gold until it dawned on me that some of the magic relics people just happened to be carrying around with them were worth so much more. For example, take this magic shield I acquired in the midst of the public duels that happened during that cultural festival,” Nazuko said as she pulled out a silver shield that had a complex runic design on it.

“Hey hold on, I recognize that thing from yesterday. That’s what they called the Riflettere,” I say, recognizing the magic shield.

“Yep certified Oclana magic smith work right here. Didn’t the emperor comment on how that shield could reflect magic attacks of someone as powerful as a Messiah rank?” Nazuko commented.

“No way that’s real. That has to be a counterfeit or something, you couldn’t have actually gotten your hands on something that powerful.”

“Wanna try if it's for real?”

Nazuko held up the shield, goading me into attacking her with a smug smile on her face.

I raise my finger to fire a wind bullet at the shield. The small magic projectile clashes with the item before coming back and hitting me square in the chest. The blast ends up launching me back onto my bed, while knocking the wind out of me.

“Ow, fuck. That thing is for real.”

“Oooh it is real, I had my doubts about that one. Maybe we should give this thing to Lilith later?”

I slowly get up looking around the room for whatever else she might have gotten.

“Any other powerful items we shouldn’t be in possession of?” I questioned.

“Hmm, powerful huh. I found this potion bottle that transmutes water into any substance that you mix with it. Only works in small quantities and only twice a day. Don’t know how helpful that will be with our certified potion maker Azura. Having more of a bad thing isn’t something to be proud of,” Nazuko commented.

The sight of Nazuko shaking a bottle filled with a healing potion reminds me of my days testing experimental potions for Azura.

“True, but her potions do have utilities. In fact I used one the other day while spying on the Kraken guild.”

“You went out spying on the other guilds? I thought that was illegal, or at least less illegal than what I was up to.”

“Nah, the rules specifically stated no fighting outside of the tournament, so I should be good. In fact Ryder should be fighting soon, I really need to head over to the stadium. What are you gonna do with all this stuff?” I asked.

“Obviously I can’t leave it around for the servants to come find and report us for. Soooooo I was thinking a certain someone with a pocket dimension could maybe help me out,” she implied.

I sigh before opening up my pocket dimension before signaling for her to move.

“Make it quick! I have places to be.”

“Quick is one of my middle names, among quiet and hot,” Nazuko said as she zipped around the room tossing things into the pocket dimension.

“Do you even have a last name?” I inquired.

“What’s yours?”

“Na- Not falling for that,” I say as I catch myself from her trap.

“Heh, I’ll get you one day.”

In an instant the accessory covered bedroom is cleaned up with only traces of slime on the desk. Nazuko picks up the blue slime on my desk before heading out with me as we take the castles’ portals to the stadium.

“Why did you take Blue with us?”

“I saw quite a few ornate sets of armor in the stadium halls. I figure letting Bob roam the halls with me is an easy way to snatch some apparel.”

“Great not only will you be committing crimes, but now my pet slime will too,” I say, too tired to really care.

The stadium is already writhing with excitement as people are putting down bets on which guild wins the first match. With the hordes of gold being tossed around I can see how Nazuko was able to get away with stealing so much of it. These people are loaded and surely wouldn’t notice a single coin pouch go missing.

Nazuko and I make our way to the stands where we meet up with the rest of Dragon’s Descent. Azura and the rest of my party are seated just right behind Armstrong, while Quincy and his party are right alongside them. However the presence of Akane, Warren and their child have yet to be detected.

“Hi guys, please tell me that I showed up late and have been disqualified,” I say as I walk up to them.

“You wish,” Quincy responds from behind a book.

“Ah first hero there you are, just in time for the first fight to begin,” Armstrong says he greets me by giving me a hard pat on the back.

“He means just in time for you to see me win,” Ryder says with determination in his eyes..

“Hah! That’s the spirit. Be sure to give the crowd a nice show,” our buff guild leader says heartily.

“I’m concerned he’ll do more than just that,” Azura spoke up.

True, if anything could break a barrier it's definitely Ryder’s explosions.

“If he makes a big enough explosion the smoke screen will be the perfect cover for some thieving,” Nazuko claimed.

“Tch, so she didn’t get arrested after all,” Remi muttered under her breath.

A familiar sound of horns blaring interrupts us as the emperor emerges from within the stadium and sits down at his throne. Everyone’s faces turn to witness the emperor begin his speech.

“EVERYBODY ARE YOU READY TO READY TO BEGIN THE WESTPHALIAN GRAND SKIRMISH!” Emperor Marcus yelled out.

The crowd gives off a small roar in response to Marcus.

“WHAT WAS THAT! I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

The crowd yells even louder as they begin to get hyped up.

“ONCE MORE EVERYONE, WITH SPIRIT THIS TIME!”

The crowd yells so loud that I see one fellow pass out from the screaming.

“Now that's what I want to hear! It is officially time to begin the tournament.”

One of the emperor’s attendants emerges from behind him presenting him with a scroll.

“To begin the tournament, our first match will be between Dragon’s Descent and Angel’s Folly. Guild leaders please send out your representatives now!” The emperor commanded.

We all turn to look at Ryder who tightens the red bandana around his head as he stands up with cannon in hand.

Armstrong stands up as he prepares to announce Dragon’s Descent’s representative.

“Representing Dragon’s Descent we will send out our strongest bombardier, Ryder!” Armstrong claims as he pats Ryder on the back.

“Isn’t Ryder our only bombardier?” I ask quietly.

“Yes, but it sounds good so don’t argue with him,” Remi answers.

“I see an archer of remarkable strength, we will be sure to have a nice showing,” Marcus commented.

At the opposing end of the stadium lies the guild of Angel’s Folly. The guild leader of Angel’s Folly stands up to announce their representative for the fight. I’m making an assumption that this person is the guild leader due to their level of aura I can feel from them. They have an incredibly uncouth appearance, their entire face is covered in a mass of hair, so much so I can’t even make out their face.

“Representing. Guild. Send. Blast Magician. Diesel,” the hairy person announced.

We see a bald man with a goatee wearing a white lab coat stand up. All he has is a book in his hand as he steps forward from the stands.

“Ohoh, we have another fellow that specializes in explosions,” someone other than the emperor says.

I look up at the throne just to see exactly who that is, and I see Luther sitting down right beside Marcus. The fat knight has even set up his own lawn chair right next to the throne. The emperor doesn’t seem to care that Luther is seated right next to him as he has a look on his face that spells “meh I’ll just go with it.”

“Wait, was he always there?” Remi questioned.

“No I don’t think so, also why is Luther providing commentary?” I asked.

“Will that’s just the way that Luther is. It's beautiful,” Quincy says.

The two representatives jump down into the arena before commencing in a stare off.

“Ryder, I see you’re still gallivanting around with your feeble excuse for an explosion,” Diesel insults.

“You’re just jealous that my explosions are more powerful than yours. You can’t achieve results using your rudimentary methods.” Ryder fires back.

The two men begin fuming to the point where they nearly begin to attack one another. Before they engage, the arena begins shaking.

“Calm down you two, as eager as you two are to begin fighting, I haven’t even said start yet,” Emperor Marcus interjected.

“Does somebody wanna fill me in on what beef these two have against each other?” I ask.

Azura looks on at the two combatants before filling me in.

“Diesel and Ryder have a bit of an egotistical relationship with one another, particularly over a certain word that begins with the letter E,” Azura began.

“So they're angry with one another over the topic of explosions,” Remi puts together.

“Yes, usually they quarrel over the methodology and debate the existence of explosions as an art form. Ryder tends to lean on the more avant garde side of the topic, while Diesel is a traditionalist.”

“I didn’t think there was so much to argue about explosions,” I said.

“You’d be surprised, it's a topic that Ryder could talk about with as much depth as Quincy talks about history.”

“I’m not sure about that, Quincy has enough material that he could filibuster a political meeting for days straight if he wanted to.”

“I can’t help it, history is just too interesting,” Quincy says.

As we stare at the two of them there’s so much tension that I expect a tumbleweed to roll through. Right next to the emperor, his general, Hume, brought out a large metal gong that I’m guessing will be used to signal the start.

“Alright now that we have our two fighters, let’s begin this tournament!” Emperor Marcus stated as he swung his sledgehammer against the gong.

Ryder started off the battle with a blast from his cannon. The cannon shot impromptuly detonated in midair as if it were met with an invisible wall.

“Ah Ryder, always the innovator. You have no respect for the chemistry,” Diesel says as the book he was carrying starts floating now opened.

“What just happened?” I asked.

“Diesel’s magic is also explosion related, however his ability manipulates volatile gases in order to create the explosion. The gases must have caused a reaction with the sulfur inside of Ryder’s cannon ball,” Azura revealed.

Suddenly streams of black colored gas fly out of Diesel’s book and fill the arena.

“What is this, what could those streams of black smoke be folks?” Emperor Marcus poses.

Ryder quickly jumps away from the black smoke as Diesel snaps his finger releasing a small spark. The next thing I know a huge chain reaction of explosions are set off as the gas violently reacts to the presence of fire. What impresses me is the speed of those blasts, I see Ryder has barely managed to escape as the tips of his hair are singed.

“Look at all those explosions, it's starting to get a little heated in this place,” Luther says as he looks on intently.

Ryder starts shooting out larger shots from his cannon that are getting preemptively detonated, however these shots shoot fragments of metal forcing Diesel to dodge. He also whips out his flintlock for more precise shots.

“I prefer to take out my opponents with the force of the blast itself, but your ability makes that a bit difficult. However your gas can’t do a thing against a solid chunk of lead,” Ryder says as he aggressively attacks.

Diesel runs around the arena as he and Ryder exchange shots of projectiles and gas. For a magician I didn’t expect him to have this much physical ability.

“I’ve noticed Ryder is choosing to maintain a certain distance away from Diesel, plus he won’t fire his cannon,” I observed.

“The main reason Ryder won’t fire his cannon at close range is because Diesel’s gas will react with the explosion that goes on inside of his cannon, causing it to explode on the spot the moment he fires it,” Azura answers.

“So it’s basically essential for Ryder to keep a certain distance so he can fight.”

“Right, but Diesel knows that too. It's more beneficial for him to have a close range fight, despite the irony of being closer to the explosion itself.”

We see Diesel manipulate his gas, sending it behind Ryder before detonating it. The incoming blast forces Ryder to move forward, in order to avoid taking damage. At this point Ryder is struggling to keep his distance and is having trouble attacking.

“Folks, it seems that the bombardier Ryder is in a pinch. Whatever will he do now,” Marcus announced.

“Yes it seems like our red haired friend is certainly in dire straits,” Luther agrees.

Suddenly Ryder decides to stop evading and charges forward at Diesel. Ryder generates a belt of grenades before chucking them straight at Diesel. As the grenades approach Diesel’s field of explosive gas they automatically explode sending out an array of sharp fragments colliding with his chest. What could be a lethal weapon is lessened by the presence of aura, however it still seems to have left an impact on Diesel. The sharp metal projectiles leave shallow wounds, in which streams of blood slowly pour out.

“Wow what a bombastic sight, look at them go,” Marcus says.

“Indeed, both of them have quite a bit of gusto,” Luther chimed in.

Diesel responds by sending out his colored gas all across the stadium floor, forcing Ryder to jump into the air to avoid the incoming explosion. Ryder generates a hoard of smoke canisters that is then thrown down in Diesel's direction. The unleashed smoke fills the stadium, making it hard for the audience to see.

“Yes! Thieving time!” I hear Nazuko say as I hear her zip away.

I’ll give that girl one thing, she definitely knows how to take advantage of the moment.

All we can hear for the next minute is a series of explosions that makes me wish I had earplugs. Occasionally we see cracks in the barrier from all the explosions going off, which is absolutely not a good sign. When the smoke clears I see that both of them are covered in soot. The battlefield is littered with craters left by all the explosions. It seems that with limited visibility those two resorted to simply blasting everything on sight. The two men are left panting, as they’ve both thrown everything in their arsenal except the big guns.

“You know Diesel, we’ve always argued about the methodology of explosions, but if there’s one thing we can agree on it’s that the bigger the explosion the better,” Ryder starts.

“True, a blast’s magnitude is the one thing that is sacrosanct,” Diesel reluctantly agrees.

“What do you say we end this thing by going all out. You, me and our strongest explosions,” Ryder suggests.

Diesel simply stares up in the sky like he knew how this was going to end the whole time.

“Fine, if there’s one way to prove my explosions are superior to yours, this would be the way.”

The two combatants simply stare at each other before we hear them both start chanting.

“Ah look at that marvelous surge of magical power. Get ready everyone, we are about to witness art,” Emperor Marcus announced.

Black gas that we’ve become accustomed to starts completely filling the stadium. The barrier is the only thing that separates the audience from the flammable gas.

“Heavenly Mother of Explosions

Hear my Call and answer my prayers,” Ryder began as he started his chant.

“Power is a Formula

From this all things can be derived,” Diesel chanted.

The smoke surrounding those two thickens.

“Oh no.”

“What’s going on and should we be concerned?” I ask Azura.

“Nothing good and yes you should be concerned. The spell Diesel is about to use is essentially a force multiplier. Any explosion that happens is magnified beyond all measure, coupled with Ryder’s strongest blast and...”

I quickly look at Azura before asking the all important question.

“Is it time to go?”

“It’s time to go!” Azura says with haste.

We both get up from our seats as Armstrong grabs the both of us and sits us back down.

“Sit down you two, the fight isn’t over yet. You can take your bathroom break once it's over,” Armstrong says without a care in the world.

“Armstrong you don’t understand, that barrier is not going to hold from the two of them going all out,” Azura sternly tells him.

“Calm down you two. If anything goes wrong I’m sure Marcus will deal with it,” another voice claimed.

We look to our right to see Jack lying back in his seat, his cowboy hat completely covering his face. Despite the fact that the two strongest members of the guild are telling me everything is going to be okay I can’t help but have my doubts.

“Let this star’s final act shine bright

And Give Birth to a SuperNova

MOAB!”

“My will shall serve as a catalyst

Through me energy is unbounded

FUSION FLARE!”

What happened in the next moment was indescribable. The sheer amount of energy was enough to easily cause the barrier to collapse. In the split second before all that raw energy envelopes everyone in the audience, a large circular portal seamlessly replaces the barrier. The explosions haven’t stopped yet, as we hear explosions within the explosion. I feel a slight tap on my shoulder from Remi as she then points to the sky.

About 15 miles in the sky is the other portal the emperor must have created to send the blast away. This bout of magic was so powerful it caused changes in the atmosphere. It only took 30 seconds for the shockwave to travel down causing us all to get pushed against the ground like gravity was multiplied by 10 times its usual force. I briefly turn to see Armstrong and Jack standing unaffected as they take in the explosion.

It took 4 whole minutes for the combined attack of those two combatants to cease. You could see cracks in the stands, just from the shockwave of air alone. Most of the people in the audience have even passed out due to the sudden change in air pressure. I even have that feeling when your ears are ringing and in pain from getting off of an airplane.

Eventually the portal subsides and when we look inside the stadium we see that any semblance of the old battlefield is gone. Everything has been incinerated to ash and has left a mile deep crater in the center of the arena.

“What just happened, where are Diesel and Ryder?” Remi questioned.

We scan the area looking for traces of the two explosive warriors before locking our eyes with the emperor. Marcus stood by his throne holding the two men by the cuffs of their shirts, both of them passed out from using everything they had inside them.

“They’re both passed out. Who wins in this case?” I asked.

“Unfortunately I fear that no one wins in this case,” Armstrong answered.

Marcus lays down the two men on stretchers that his attendants brought out. The man in golden armor looks on at the few people that are still conscious.

“While I can certainly say that was a match that will definitely not be forgotten in the near future. These two willingly engaged in an act that could most certainly kill the other. Plus it seems that many of our poor audience members have been significantly harmed. Therefore I hereby declare that both Ryder and Diesel are disqualified from the Westphalian Grand Skirmish!” Emperor Marcus puts out.

In response to this news I hear the members of our guild as well as the Angel’s guild groan in disappointment.

“Welp I can’t say, I didn’t predict things would turn out this way,” Azura sighs.

“Yeah Ryder really fought with everything he had,” I agree.

“Damn, I really thought we’d have it in the bag for this one,” Armstrong grunted.

“Eh what can you do, ya win some, ya witness an atmosphere changing blast that gets your fighter disqualified,” Jack says as if it were a common saying.

As the two men converse, and the battle comes to a close, all I can think of is my upcoming fight against Sirius. Seeing Ryder go all out like this, I feel like I can’t drop the ball here.