It only took mere minutes for Noodle to sweep away the entire trial stage, trees, monsters, and all. When the half-dragon had first shown off his new blade breath, Caeden had been equally astonished and envious. His own Embodiment was incomparably weaker than his bonded half-monster companion. It was a little disheartening to watch the formerly small hatchling suddenly gain abilities pulled from Physical Enhancement and Sharp that were more effective than either of Caeden’s higher forms.

Despite his slight jealousy of the dragon’s explosive growth, Caeden had to admit that it was damn impressive. Noodle’s blade breath was sharper than any natural material could get, magically empowered by Noodle’s draconic nature to obscene levels of cutting power. They’d tried to find a limit to what those blades could go through. So far, testing had proven inconclusive. Though they had found that the breath, even if it looked like Caeden’s Sharp manifestation, was slightly different. Rather than the semi-physical substance that a shroud’s manifestation was made of, the blade breath was more akin to a type of energy.

Several tests they had performed, having Noodle breathe on various objects, had shown that the blade breath’s power was relative to its size. Some of the breath was expended for everything it cut through, with harder, more durable materials reducing the breath much faster. But with a big enough breath, Caeden, Lily, and Unc hypothesized that Noodle could cut through anything.

So, obviously, a bunch of trees were little challenge when Noodle let out blasts a dozen feet thick that extended almost a hundred feet out before the energy died. Considering the size of the forest, and the fact that Noodle could send out a breath of that size every few seconds, he had the forest ground down to the roots while the other contestants stared with awe, jaws hanging loose as the entire trial grounds disappeared in streams of red and a flash of gold into Noodle’s endlessly hungry gullet.

Little glutton. Caeden laughed to himself. Unlike Asherta, who seemed to share a slightly different form of the not-so-little hatchling’s draconic hunger, Noodle was not a picky eater. He strongly preferred monsters of all kinds, but he would happily eat literally anything Caeden let him that he could get his not-inconsiderable jaws around.

Raw contentment bleeding through their bond, Caeden watched the massive, lythe dragon wiggle in satisfaction, the entire trail stage now sucked into his mouth. The other contestants were lucky that Caeden had mentally commanded Noodle to avoid their bonded, else they would have joined the trial monsters in the half-dragon’s stomach.

It might have actually been smarter for him to let Noodle kill and eat the bonded. Scratch that; it definitely would have been tactically smarter. A dead enemy was one that couldn’t strike back. But Caeden was trying to think beyond the current Tournament.

It was undeniable that his team needed to present an unassailable, absolute presence in the Tournament. Something that would make other countries think twice about attacking the CA for fear of what the five of them would become. Despite its weakened state, subjugating the CA in its entirety would be the work of decades, and any leader would know that. More than enough time for Caeden and his team to cultivate enough power to become a very real threat, rather than the raw potential they held now.

But if they succeeded, what happened next? If they left a trail of broken bodies behind them, killing indiscriminately, they would be developing an equally large roster of potential enemies from the families of those they killed. So, even if the most expedient way of reaching their initial goal was a wholesale slaughter, Caeden and Lily decided it would be the wrong play long term.

Besides, Caeden just didn’t like killing. Some people had to die. The founder of the Revolution came to mind. But if he could avoid it, Caeden would do his best. In this trial, it might just be bonded monsters on the chopping block, but if any of these other contestants felt about their bonded like Lily did about Snowball and Sky, Caeden could very well be starting the kind of bad blood he wanted to avoid.

Losing a match was one thing. Killing their favorite pet would create a lifelong hatred Caeden was unwilling to deal with. Thus, Caeden made sure Noodle waited until the bonded were clear of the forest before letting the dragon really open up.

When it was done, the others watched on in stunned silence with their own monsters as Noodle happily wiggled through the air, belly bulging with the absurd amount of material he’d shoved in there. The twenty-foot tall half-dragon glowed a brilliant purple before his form collapsed with a distinct ‘pop’ before the now three-foot snake curled around Caeden’s arm once more and promptly fell asleep.

There was a moment where Caeden nearly tilted over, the snake-like dragon significantly heavier than he’d been when he left. But a bit of physical enhancement brought his strength up. Luckily, whatever magic let a few pounds of dragon turn into a few tons of dragon also reduced the weight of the literal forest said dragon had eaten.

Caeden turned to look at the proctor, who looked no less upset now than when Noodle had started his culling. “So, I believe I won.”

The man’s face was a deep, bloody red. Caeden could literally hear his teeth grinding. “You. Destroyed. My. Forest.”

Ahh. Caeden thought. He’s the one that built the stage. No wonder the man was angry. Caeden just wrecked all his work. Still.

“There’s nothing in the rulebook that prohibits the destruction of the trial stage.” He repeated what he’d said earlier. He couldn’t very well be punished for a creative solution to the limits of the stage.

“I’ve proctored this trial for over a thousand years, and never before has some prick destroyed the entire stage!” The proctor spat.

Caeden shrugged. “ It was the fastest and easiest way to ensure a win. I was just being efficient.”

The man shook his head. “Efficient. Efficient!” He muttered. “Fine, fine! Whatever, you cheeky little shit. Get out of my sight!”

With no reason to hang around and test the man’s patience, Caeden started off.

“Wait!”

Only to stop as another contestant yelled at him. Caeden might have kept going, but the man didn’t sound angry. Caeden was curious what someone he had likely just humiliated would want with him that didn’t involve angry accusations of cheating.

“Can I help you?” Turning, Caeden found that it was the Dread Federation man that had first spoken up when he let Noodle loose.

“Yeah, actually.” He licked his lips, shifting around. Obviously nervous. “Name’s Daramoor Blackheart.” He thrust his hand out.

“Caeden,” Caeden replied in kind, shaking the offered hand. Blackheart? How’d his family get such an ominous name?

“I was just wondering‒and you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to‒but I was hoping you’d tell me where you found such a monster. I’ve never seen the like.” He stared at Noodle.

“Ah,” Caeden waffled internally. He didn’t know much about the Dread Federation other than it was a younger country that splintered off the Ten Thousand Empires under a powerful Otherworlder. Apparently, they didn’t have dragons there. Not that surprising, many countries dealt with their sapient magical creatures by wholesale genocide and extinction campaigns.

“I get it; you don’t have to say. I’m sure the source of such a powerful specimen would be endlessly valuable.” Daramoor ducked his head in defeat.

“No, that’s not really the problem.” Caeden shook his head. The young man’s eyes snapped up to stare and him. “It’s more that Noodle is a bit unique and not really something you could gain access to. Even in my country, I think I’m the only one with a bonded like him.”

Daramoor’s expression twisted oddly before settling on a wide smile that devolved into laughter. Oh, that’s rich! You have a rare, powerful monster bonded to you, and you named it Noodle?!”

“Actually, my girlfriend named him.” Caeden clarified.

“Ok, I’m done. I was more curious than anything. Honestly, I expected an answer like that. It’s too bad.” He sighed. Turning away with a backward wave of his hand, Daramoor began shouting toward another contestant, a woman also garbed in the style of the Dread Federation. It was only then that Caeden realized the man had been using communication sense the entire time, as he spoke to the woman in a foreign dialect, not Central Common.

Caeden was impressed. He had a strong grasp of that particular aura sense to use it so seamlessly that Caeden didn’t even notice. Turning away as well, he wondered how his teammates were doing. The only other one of them currently slated for an event today was Cat.

Shrugging and figuring she’d do just fine, Caeden headed back toward the Hearthhome.

{}

Hecate was almost vibrating with excitement. She was on a stage, representing her country, playing an important role in their foreign relations. Namely, beating the snot out of all challengers. It was perfect! Everything she ever really wanted in a single instance. She could make her Gramps proud.

Mass Combat Trial. Exactly the right event for Hecate, in her opinion. She would thank Lily and Caeden for picking it out once she was done. Which probably wouldn’t take all that long. But you never knew; maybe someone would end up being a massively skilled tactician or peerless commander, able to fight her and win.

Hecate snorted. Yeah, that was likely.

In all honesty, she might have been able to win this event before she even got Necromancy. Soul, and her spectral soldiers, were a fine design when it came to mass combat. They only struggled against solitary, powerful foes. Now that she had access to the undead? Forget about it.

The stage was set. Ten combatants in total were taking part in this event. They had all been placed on the wall around the field that would house their forces. Each of them placed equidistant from each other. Like the other events of the first few weeks, this one held little interest for anyone of importance, but there was a set of flying stands where normal folk could watch the event.

The actual event area was a set of rolling grassy hills with little in terms of variable elevation. Hecate had studied the material Lily put together for her on the history of the Mass Combat trial, and it was a crap shoot what the field would look like. Sometimes each participant got a castle; sometimes, they were on small mountains. Sometimes the middle of the field would be occupied by a volcano. Hecate was almost disappointed. A relatively flat, grassy plane was a tad boring. She’d been looking forward to fighting on an exotic locale.

Considering the nature of the event was more an exhibition of a commander’s tactics, simply defeating all enemies was a bit boring, so the actual objective was closer to a capture-the-flag-style game. Each contestant would have a sphere which they would have to place on the field. Whoever had the most spheres in an hour was the winner. Hecate had her sphere, and she was in position. Now, she was just waiting impatiently for the event to start. Creating one’s forces was part of the challenge, and they weren’t allowed to take the field until after the start signal.

A glowing red beam shot into the air. It was go time.

Immediately, Hecate summoned Dave.

“Time to go to work, ehh, boss?” The War Wight smiled, his eyes burning with Necroflame.

“Here’s the sphere.” Hecate handed it over. “I’ll start you off with three hundred Undead Soldiers. Let me know if you need more.”

“Ha!” Dave barked out a laugh, accepting the orb, which was just a smooth green ball of orichalcum. “Considering what I’ve seen from this universe so far, that should be enough to get us rolling. Nobody here seems to put too much weight on mass combat. What’s your current max?”

“Last I checked, over 10,000.” Hecate herself could barely believe it. Maintaining summoned undead was far easier than creating her specters, and the past month had involved intensive tutelage from Dave in the fine art of Necromancy and summoning from the Necroverse. Considering Dave ran a company whose whole job was renting out summonable undead, he was something of an expert on the topic. His refinements of her summoning spells dropped the initial Mana cost to a fifth of what she’d started with. And Hecate’s IP, and thus her reserves of Mana, had only grown.

“Yeah, I think we’ll be juuuust fine.” Dave laughed again before using Spirit Walk to vanish and reappear down on the field. It was time to get started. With a few words and twists of Mana, Hecate opened a massive portal, a pitch-black splotch surrounded by a ring of ominously glowing green symbols. Her largest spell yet. “Mass Summon Undead Army.”

The spell allowed her to essentially multicast Summon Undead Army and reduce her initial Mana cost in the process. 240 Undead Soldiers, 60 Undead Archers, three Death Knights, and one Lesser Lich all appeared on the field. Currently, besides Dave, the highest-rank undead Hecate could summon was a full Lich, a solid high-rank undead. But that would hardly be necessary right off the bat. The Lesser Lich alone, a high mid-rank undead, was a force to be reckoned with. It was a mighty spellcaster in its own right and could repair her undead if they were damaged without her direct intervention.

“Ok, move out.”