YOU Jerrick roared and rushed with his axes raised For the first time all fight AldoÆs foot lifted off the ground He unleashed a high kick that moved so abruptly that Vye saw nothing but a gleaming flash like sunlight off the barrel of a gun
With a groan Jerrick collapsed and Aldo walked calmly back toward the buffet table Shaking his head the bearded man returned to the arena with his two helpers to mop away a few gallons of JerrickÆs blood While they worked the bearded man raised his head and smiled upward toward the area where the Order Ducis was standing And now Vye Our final challenger
Vye frowned After a few seconds she began to walk up onto the arena They didnÆt call a second name
The bearded man continued to speak As Vye moved nearer to him the man looked much older There were dark bags underneath his eyes and his face was covered with wrinkles Unfortunately one of the contestants was forced to withdraw from the Lottery so there is an odd number of individuals who participated Therefore
The bearded manÆs face split into an even wider grin I suppose that I Roland will be your opponent Miss Vye Please rest assured victory or defeat doesnÆt matter Just use this opportunity to display your capabilities for everyone thatÆs watching To show that ideal version of yourself to the Order Ducis
Vye felt a sinking feeling in her chest I only have one question Why me
You are a Meticulous Technician correct Roland asked with a polite smile We read the information card you submitted As such you are one of the few non combat Classes in this Lottery In order to allow everyone else to have the chance to display their own talents it’s best for the combat Classes to fight each other
Which means that you had to step forward VyeÆs eyes grew increasingly cold as she glanced to the watchers above Or did you think bullying me in front of the Order Ducis would give you a springboard to apply to join their Order Is that how our match will allow everyone to display their own talents Either way
Rather than angry Vye just felt her muscles and bones shiver and crack as her vicious focus crawled through her veins and chilled her blood into a sluggish and poisonous ooze Hyper aware of every movement Vye produced a pen and a stack of high quality paper She watched Roland smiling up toward Naffur Suite as though waiting for him to intervene
Naffur looked at Vye Their eyes met and such was VyeÆs cold fury that she didnÆt feel any need to look away And whatever Naffur found there when he looked away he didnÆt raise a hand to stop the fight
The image of the wide sky she had been struggling to grasp receded like the tide In its place the twisted and beaming face of Roland remained I might not know how to seize for myself the ability to be truly free but I sure as hell know how to deal with self important cocks like you LetÆs all display our Very Best
Without waiting for a signal for the fight to begin Vye began to drag her pen elegantly across the paper
For several seconds Roland watched in amusement Are you prepared to begin
Vye ignored him She could transcribe her talismans quickly enough that she didnÆt need any extra time at the beginning but that didnÆt mean she wasnÆt going to enjoy seeing Roland face after she made use of that time to smash his smug grin into the dirt For her talismans the difficult portion was creating the paper Once the paper was refined it took only a split second for Vye to use calligraphy to put one of the four rituals she had learned thus far onto the paper
It wasnÆt a series of Skills she learned from her Class but was instead related to the Ritualist Path she had taken on a whim Therefore many people tended to underestimate her when she revealed what her Class was RolandÆs reaction brought back too many familiar memories to Vye
It took about ten seconds for RolandÆs patience to wear thin His smile became somewhat strained as Vye continued to scribble on her rectangles of paper without acknowledging him Unfortunately you wonÆt have an infinite amount of time to prepare in battle Therefore IÆm
With a flick of the wrist Vye threw two dozen recently complete charms into the air The carefully processed pieces of paper had enough weight that they cut through the air easily and surrounded Roland As he opened his mouth in shock Vye spoke dismissively
Ignite
The two dozen attack rituals activated at the same time Rather than any sort of flame what they produced was much closer to small bombs of energy that zipped forward toward VyeÆs chosen target and detonated on the first object they hit In this case that unfortunate target was the rather surprised Roland
Although the destructive force of each individual Ignite ritual was small two dozen added together to be the most destructive attack that had occurred in the Lottery thus far No smoke was released by the ritual but the burned clothes and singed hair of Roland filled the hall with a distasteful muskiness
You Roland bellowed his acidic indignation as he ripped the charred remnants of his robe off to reveal a rather muscular chest
Vye winked at him Hard to show off before the Order Ducis when your beard is on fire huh
Chapter 984
In the face of VyeÆs taunting Roland didnÆt back down He spat out a thick glob of blood and phlegm that was thick enough that it didnÆt spatter very far when it hit the ground For several seconds Vye studied it before looking back to his red face Then Roland released an angry breath through his nose producing a hissing noise reminiscent of a kettle about to boil
A strange golden energy began to gather around RolandÆs eyes Sparks zipped across his brow quickly growing in frequency Within a few seconds a crust of crystal began to form over his eyes swiftly becoming a shallow covering over his eye sockets VyeÆs confident smile completely disappeared
He has a Fate That means heÆs over Level 50 Why the fuck is he picking on ME VyeÆs hands flexed Some part of Vye regretted attacking him so aggressively but another part of her stubbornly dug in her heels with this new bit of information Roland was asking for it so she gave it to him No matter what Level he is he doesnÆt have free reign to ignore the rules of basic human decency
But based on the Fate itÆs one of the high quality ones Although there was a palpable energy surrounding him RolandÆs fate just became a golden crystal covering his eyes And from the way that his head was still pointed toward her it didnÆt seem like the crystal would block his vision at all
VyeÆs eyes flickered from Roland to Naffur And to get those sorts of Fates you need to visit with the Order Ducis or Donnyton
As more and more people had reached Level 50 there was an explosion of knowledge that was spread around regarding the Fate that you condensed as you passed through that threshold At first most of the information was nothing but rumors but recently the Order Ducis had led a large crusade to spread out accurate information about the process
Because as the original rumors ominously warned of if you messed up condensing a Fate you could die This the Order Ducis confirmed There was a real danger to reaching Level 50
However Donnyton possessed a concentration aide that allowed individuals to condense a Fate with a fraction of the trouble For a small fee it was open to anyone to use Plus the usually erratic Fate would focus its crystal manifestation in a much more restricted area if you utilized DonnytonÆs service Whereas there were urban legends about a Fate immobilizing a whole leg DonnytonÆs aide allowed these crystals to be smaller and easier to handle
A high quality Fate had the added bonus that it would be so small it was practically invisible when it was not in use It was only when you summoned its energies that it would grow to form its disruptive form
The Order Ducis also possessed this capability although Vye was less clear on the means they used to achieve it But then most of the activities the Order Ducis involved itself in were rather mysterious