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Chapter 312: Sisters. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2022-05-07 02:39:43 +0000 UTCEdit: Small addition to the last fight, just so we don't skip it entirely.
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“So, your name is ‘Hestia?’”
Footsteps could be heard walking through a tunnel, echoing the two sets of legs moving forward. Who were the owners of these sounds? First was me, and the second was my half-sister.
“… And? Go on, what’s the rest?” And while we were getting to know each other, I could only tilt my head in confusion after I introduced myself. “Come on, you can tell your big, strong sister, little sis! Nice nickname, but what’s your full name?”
“…” I was speechless. “That’s it. ‘Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor.’ That’s my full name.”
“… You serious?” She stopped moving, her black eyes stared right into me, stabbing my heart, right before she burst out in a howl of laughter. “Shiehiehiehie! Are you kidding me?! Who in Father’s name names their hatchling like that?! Shiehiehiehie! That’s such, hiehie, such a lame, short name, shiehie. My poor sis, hiehie.”
Her wild, mane-like hair fluttered around like in a L’Oreal advertisement as her body twitched from excessive laughter. The yukata covering her [Humanize]d dragonewt body bounced around, nearly failing in its purpose! Fortunately for her, before it actually slipped down, she stopped and wrapped her jacket around her chest.
“Hahaha— Hiehie. In Father’s name, hiehiehie-” Wrong. She just continued giggling at me now.
“Oi, Hestia is an amazing name, alright! Stop laughing!” I ended up shouting in the end. “You know what’s wrong about your name? It’s such a mouthful! ‘Fargryneill.’ What’s with the three syllables, huh? And they don’t flow as well when you speak it! Fargryneill. Fargryneill. Fargyneill. See!”
“Huuuuuuuh?! What did you just say there, you little twerp?!” Her jagged horn tapped the top of my head as she lowered her head to around my height, arching her body forward. “My mother named me that way. It’s a prestigious name meaning ‘Black piercing horn,’ you know! You think you can say those things? Young sis or not, you need to learn your place.”
“Oh yeah? You like your name so much but you ridicule mine?! My name is a homage to the Goddess of Hearth and means the fire within to keep a family safe. My best friend gave it to me, so don’t even think about badmouthing it.” My internal temperature rose as my mood worsened, ready to blow if this actually did lead to a fight.
This was the first time anybody mocked the names Saori gave me. Even Mother was readily accepting of them, but some random exhibitionist comes in and tells me it's uncool? What the fuck?!
We glared at each other. Friction would have been clear to anybody watching us right now, and I felt Fargryneill’s scale levitating, telling me her scale manipulation was probably quite advanced. Unlike me, she was able to create clothes and armor using her scales like Mother could.
“… Shiehiehiehie!” However, in the middle of this staring contest, my half-sister straightened up her pose and smacked her hand on her hand, laughing once again. “Yup, yup! You are my little sister, after all. I can smell some of Father’s scent on you, mixing with some others to make a pretty sugary-sweet hormone smell. You got spunk, little sis!”
I was flabbergasted. I couldn’t read this young woman at all. But she didn’t give me much time to think before clapping my back and wings.
“Come on, little H. Let’s move. Those scaleless numbskulls are probably waiting for a beating. Can’t miss out on a tournament, you hear me?” She then continued walking, while I stood behind with a vein almost ready to pop.
“It’s ‘Hestia.’” I released my [Draconic Aura], causing her to wave her hand with her back still turned.
“Got it~” she replied in a very teasing manner. “Get over here already. I want to know how in Father’s name you’re even on an adulthood pilgrimage. Makes me really wonder if you are my sister, shiehiehie!”
“Huh, wait!” I ran over, catching up to her. “Long story, really. Anyways, what do you mean you didn’t think I was your sister? I noticed your scent immediately.”
Her scent felt very familiar to me, having a similar “feel-good” smell to Mother’s. Mother described it as our bodies knowing and accepting the other as family, to help dragonkins get along instead of fighting or disputing all the time, which was the usual for our kind rather than the exception. Still, it certainly didn’t help prevent that Kargryx civil war when my dragon father had to fight against his siblings for the crown.
“Your scales aren’t black.Weird, for a spawn of Eltharion and a Kargryxmor.” She shrugged, making me remember what Cernust said once. “Anyways, tell me the story later, after we’re done with this. You fighting with magic or your limbs?”
Also, our age, yeah…
I remembered Cernust mentioning how my youngest half-sister, who I now knew to be Fargryneill, only went on her adulthood pilgrimage a bit earlier than Cernust did, and he was 21 when he told me that. You could only start your pilgrimage once you become a young adolescent, which was at the age of five, so it certainly would seem weird for me to be here with her.
I could understand her confusion, but she was right, we had an issue in front of us. It would be best to deal with it first, so I took out my glaive from my storage. My main power came from my scale-dust and magic, but since this was only a “test,” it was best if I didn’t show my competitors everything. Some small spells and my glaive were enough.
“Uuuuhm, okay?” She looked at me strangely after I showed my glaive, before I realized I probably shouldn’t have pulled my glaive out from [Storage magic].
“Long story, right? I’ll tell you later.” I played it off.
I accidentally let my guard down just now, seemingly already accepting Fargryneill as my sister. I guessed it was a combination of accepting Mother as my birth mother, my draconic ancestry, and also our dragonkin hormones messing with my decision-making.
As cold as it sounded, I shouldn’t just believe Fargryneill was my ally and get careless. She was a stranger, even if she was family. Revealing something like me being a void-touched wasn’t good since that was supposed to be an ace up my sleeve.
Still, what was done was done, and it wasn’t like I could do anything about it now. Fargryneill shrugged before calling me “interesting” as we passed through the exit of the tunnel and into the sandy arena of a coliseum. A mana barrier was blocking our path but, even from here, we could see the spectators' seats and our 85 opponents on the other side.
“Welcome, blood enjoyers! What a surprise I have here for youuuuu! It’s only the first day of the festival of our God, Yeooooostarrrrr! But we already have some action going for you! Presenting some ladies willing to join the gore-drenched arena of the divine!” The voice of an announcer resounded throughout the arena as only a few cheers erupted from the seats.
I looked around, noticing the announcer sitting and commenting behind a fortified room with a window, looking pumped despite how few people were inside the arena. My sister noted how the seats were free outside of the prestigious ones for the rich, so the reason why there weren’t as many people in the audience was ‘cause a fight wasn’t scheduled today.
I agreed. Our test only happened if a female combatant wanted to join the tournament. All the people here were either the fighters joining this competition or people associated with them. Either they came here to “watch us get ripped apart” or they were scouting the winners of this match. And I could identify the two groups depending on how rowdy they were.
“Hestia!!! You can do it, my whelpling!” My face instantly warmed up as I heard that familiar voice, running over to the edge of the mana barrier and snapping towards the direction of that voice. It was Mother. “Burn them to ashes! Show them how unworthy they are to even touch the same ground you walk!”
Jeeez!
Mother was cheering me on while Beth and Tasianna were holding up frozen signs with my name written on them. Not only ice cream, cocktails, but also cheering culture?! They were copying everything I told them about Earth, and this cultural cross-pollination was to their taste! Mother was a bit too hardcore, really.
“… Case in point.” Fargryneill looked around with me while I cowered. “That’s not a dragonewt I recognize. Pretty strong, ancient aura, sounds like your mum. Has to be Father’s new consort, Melloxtressa.”
I slowly turned my head around. “You know her?”
“Course. She’s as famous as Father right now, probably even more so since she’s a new age SS rank. The dragonewts in Loatryx love her, those little gremlins.” Fargryneill shrugged. “Now, enough of that. Heads up, young scale. Don’t embarrass your sister by being weak, alright?”
She certainly has a high opinion of herself. I had that impression of her, but I simply shrugged. Mother also had an extremely high opinion of herself, so maybe this was just a normal dragonkin attitude. Or maybe it was because we were all members of the imperial family?
“But, are these ladies of ours battle-hardened warriors like the Hands of Heaven? How could we forget the gracious but deadly performance of Hand Maiden Ezanna, who cleaned up the right side of the tournament bracket, only to meet her match by our Hero, Sir Royce! A proud moment for the Hands of Heaven, only second to our Champion of Yeostarrrrrr!” The announcer continued with his hype making, causing the crowd to cheer again, before finally coming to us.
“Nay! But they are dragonewts! Ferocious spawns of the dragonkins! However, none of them are heroine material, for they are only a C and B rank, respectively! Can they make a dent in this tournament of heroes to reach the top? Well, before that, they must prove themselves to Yeostar!”
“You’re B rank?” I turned my attention to Fargryneill.
She shrugged and grunted annoyed. “Eh. You don’t find B rank Quests that often, you know. Takes a while to get to A rank with only C rank Quests. But, that’s not important. How in Father’s name did you become C rank?! With Melloxtressa being your mother, no freaking way you’re even supposed to be here! Everybody knew she was mateless before joining tails with Father!”
She was starting to become more suspicious. Hiding my real identity might be quite hard.
“Like I said, long story. Tell you in a moment, alright?”
“A moment, you do know we have a fig—” But before she could continue, a gong rang.
“It is time, blood enjoyers! 85 hardened adventurers and soldiers versus two maidens! Can they survive? May Yeostar judge them on the battlefield of blood and glory!”
The armlet on our wrists lit up before the mana barrier dropped down. As we entered the battlefield, the arena suddenly churned and lit up in bright light, before the whole scenery changed to that of an open field.
The both of us looked around in confusion, the stone walls of the coliseum and the brown ground of the arena were replaced by open air and a grassland respectively. I tapped her shoulder and pointed up, where we didn’t see the sky, by something like a glass dome showing the seats of the colosseum and the cheering crowd. I could even see Tasianna standing up, shouting something, looking quite mad, but all the sounds were dampened outside of the announcers.
God Yeostar?
<This is my present to my home after I became a god, Hestia. Similar to your grandfather’s Dungeon of Eternal Feasts in Kargryx, my Training Halls of Warriors is a dungeon I made for a specific reason. In this case, to train people in the most optimal training room possible.>
The two-floor dungeon, Training Halls of Warriors, was this entire coliseum. The first floor was the foyer and the audience seats, while the second floor, the actual interesting part, was the arena floor. In this place, any fighting happening outside of the arena would kick you out magically, by the rules of the dungeon.
There was no real dungeon core in this place, but by divine right given to the royal family through Yeostar, they were able to permit others the right to modify certain aspects of the dungeon. The custom System Yeostar created for his dungeon, acted in his interest alone, and would override control from anybody if it detected a threat. Yeostar himself could intervene.
In other words, worrying about a demonkin entering this place was redundant since Yeostar could detect them and inform me about it.
Essentially, this was a bit of his domain. But, it wasn’t perfect. He couldn’t detect a person’s alignment and would have to manually appraise people he found interesting. If they didn’t reveal their true self inside the place, even Yeostar couldn’t tell me if somebody was a threat or not. Meaning, I still had to worry about the non-demonic powered Church of the Edjurl members and the mercenaries working for them.
I couldn’t just relax and have fun.
<The arena is made to create and simulate different environments, as I believe a perfect warrior must be able to adapt to every sort of battlefield there exists. To achieve that, they must first gain experience in each kind of battlefield. For that, the arena can differ for each stage of the tournament, ranging from the molten reaches of a volcano to the underwater terrain of the ocean depths. If you can imagine it, the dungeon can replicate it.>
He then began describing my armlet, explaining it was created and bound to the dungeon. It ensured people would survive here, even having a function to prevent death inside the arena altogether. During one of Yeos’s many previous iterations, ruled by a different royal household, the principality won a war by leading the siegers into the dungeon while giving their army the inability to die.
However, that made me question why there wasn’t a rule like that on the armlet, and Yeostar answered that the tournament organizers didn’t want it. The audience wanted to see disembowelment and mutilations. To see the war tales in action with contenders fighting in a deathmatch to see who would be most worthy for the peak, where glory, riches, and victory lay.
Now, over the course of history, this had changed as killing people meant depriving the world of warriors. Yeostar had to personally argue, even mentioning how revenge matches would hype up the crowd. The matches could still be fatal, but deaths were less likely to happen in the current age. It still sounded a bit too barbaric to me.
Pardon me, but that sounds less like you’re a god and more like a caretaker. Why are you the one who has to make these rules?
<The gods are guides and teachers, Hestia. This is no longer my country nor do I feel much kinship with my current descendants. I am patient because I must be, as a god. I lead and teach them because this is part of the duty of an old soldier. Even if every generation changes and my teachings might go to waste, it is what being one of the divine means.>
Seems sad, honestly.
Yeostar didn’t respond, but it wasn’t like we had any more time to talk. The 85 assholes were right in front for us to see.
“And they made eye contact, blood enjoyers!” The announcer's voice could be heard before the cheering of the crowd erupted. Similar to dampening the sounds of the audience to assure the combatants weren’t distracted, for entertainment value the sound could be increased up and down.
This is like a huge production.
“Oh, look at them surrounding our two challengers! Smart! Even for a ragtag group of ganguppers they aren’t underestimating our ladies! Warriors in the front and archers in the back!”
It was exactly as the announcer described. We were surrounded and Fargryneill could only smile.
“Interesting, right?” She nudged me, showing off her carapace gauntlets. I could tell she was a battle junkie.
“You’re awfully excited for being ganked by a bunch—”
“Hey, scalie scamper!” Somebody’s voice interrupted me, drawing my attention to them, where I noticed two of the perverted dickfaces shoving themselves through the battle formation.
“Hey! That wasn’t the plan! Get back— Shit!” One of the other combatants complained at them, but the long-haired jerk with a sword and a dueling knife slashed at him, forcing him to block it with his shield.
“Don’t ya fuckin’ tell me what to do! That red-haired wench is ours! Don’t fuckin’ do anything!” he bellowed, while his companion, a scared short-haired warrior with a grisly-looking, monster-material broadsword, walked forward with a punchable smirk.
“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure to remember your screams after we’re done with you, hehehe…”
His pose was lackadaisical and his grip on his sword was soft, but he would be quick to act and his movements looked more like he was parading his victory already. There were obvious holes to take advantage of even if my Agility was human level, but this guy did look competent. I had everybody appraised beforehand, and I believed this guy was level 45 or so.
I knew how to regulate my strength, but this guy was ticking me off quite a bit. Fargryneill whistled before asking me if I had done something to aggravate the guy this much, but it wasn’t like this was my fault. The dude and his buddy were two lowlives.
Holding my glaive tightly, I walked towards the guy while the announcer commented on this action. I just wanted to get this over with so I could return back to the festival and the others.
I’ll just knock him out clean. The armlet should be able to protect him. I determined my next course of action.
“Hiehiehie! This sword gotta some good venom, you know. We got it from the Evida desert to capture people. Heard it makes people feel more excited! Hiehiehie, I can—”
Wind Blast.
“Shut it.” With a strong gust, I properled myself forward with a spell and [Dragoon Jump].
“— ‘t. Wha—?!”
And I swung the blunt side of my glaive right at his head before he could react, holding back a bit so he wouldn’t die. But…
Kasploosh!
<Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]’s Secondary Job [Healer] has risen from [Level 0] to [Level 10]>
<Attributes have increased due to level up>
<Max level of Job [Healer] has been reached>
Oh… Oops.
Suffice to say, I was quite angry, and forgot I still had the strength of an A ranker as a dragonewt. Also, Yeostar reminded me in that single second when his head exploded that the armlet couldn’t prevent his death, and could only have life-saving effects if they don’t die from one hit.
I was stunned.
“…”
“Shiehiehiehiehie!” Meanwhile Fargryneill laughed as if she was possessed. “Nice one, little sis! You actually got some moves!”
“U-Unbelievable! The red-haired dragonewt girl just smashed that person’s head into pieces with a single blow! That’s one less competitor for all of you challengers to worry about!”
“DaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVEEEEEEEEEEE!” His friend cried out while my eye was twitching at what I just did.
I wasn’t horrified nor did I feel guilty for killing the dude, since he was threatening to do some unspeakable things to me if I lost, but I was still flabbergasted that I lost my temper like that. Honestly, this dude kinda reminded me of the more shady people I met in Shaturein. Actually, maybe comparing him to those bandits was a more apt description.
“You bitch! You biiiiiiiiiitch!” The other dude pounced at me in a rage, looking as if he wanted to stick my head on a pike or something. Talking this out was probably out of the question.
[“Go.”] But my only response was a single telepathic message, and in the next second, a white tiger jumped out my shadow and bit into the other guy’s throat and crushed it with one quick bite.
“Whaaaaat?! Who let out the monsters! We aren’t supposed to have monsters in this match today!”
I waved at the direction of the announcer. “I’m a tamer! He’s legally registered with me!” I pointed at Rajah.
“Y-You are, Miss? Hold on, uhm, uhm, ahh! Competitor 349, right! Ahh, you really do have a tamer license issued to you! Good, all’s fair, carry on, warrior!”
Well, that proves I can speak to the announcer even inside this place. Just need to raise my voice.
The license was issued to me by Muraina after I told her I would bring Rajah with me. Since Saori was his official master, I had to register myself as a tamer to be allowed to bring monsters with me into cities and towns. Saori transferred custody of Rajah to me, so he was now officially mine, outside of his role as a member of Saori’s shadow pack.
Another thing I learned from this interaction was that the announcer had records of each registered challenger, but seeing he wasn’t surprised, he probably didn’t see my profile. Otherwise, his tone would have changed more drastically than just calling me “warrior.” Yeostar confirmed this, and that the only one who could see my Profile at this point was the higher officials of the tournament.
Guess that receptionist blew his chance. Welp, thank you two assholes for giving me a chance to learn these things.
I might have killed them, but I would just strike this as a necessary defense.
[“Master, how did I do!”] Rajah ran over to me, looking like he wanted pets, so I gave it to him.
“Nice one, Rajah! Good work listening to me!”
As I was playing with my virigress, Fargryneill came over. “Nice cat. But, you do know we’re still in a match, right?”
My sister then assumed a battle stance. Her gauntlets and greaves suddenly lit up, revealing blue tattoos on them. Stomping the ground, the ground began to light up underneath a spot of our testers’ battle formation, before it blew up with a powerful explosion, sending all of them flying away with their armor and weapons battered or destroyed.
I quickly checked on them with [Mana Eyes]. None of them were dead, but they reached the Health threshold to activate their armlets. They were basked in a brilliant white light before they disappeared altogether from the area. They probably got transported out of the arena.
“I counted eight.” She then eyed me with a provocative grin. “You and your cat versus me. Let’s see who can defeat the most. Eight to two, for me.”
[“Rajah is not a cat! I am a virigress!”] he corrected my sister, but the latter simply waved it off before calling him how she wanted to. Similar to how she called me “Little H” at first.
On the other hand, I was more curious about what she just did there.
Dragon Paths, huh?
Mother told me something about kirins being able to access the “Dragon Paths” of the land. It was their racial skill, apparently, and they could manipulate mana around them without actually changing the mana into invocation circles. Mother called this mana “pure,” like a faefolk’s.
“… You’re on!” I replied to my sister’s challenge, causing her to smile even brighter.
“Shiehie, glad to hear that, Hestia! Let’s have some fun, eh, my little sister?”
While she only thought of this challenge as entertainment, I had an ulterior motive to this. You could say, my competitive nature just awoke after seeing her use that move. Fargryneill wasn’t just my half-sister, but she was also a fellow tournament competitor. From the little moments I’d spent with her, I knew she would never allow herself to lose intentionally, even if I asked her for the good of Yeos.
Jethro wanted me to win this tournament, and I was inclined to do so. I knew my sister would be strong, since she was a tournament lover and also that all children of Eltharion had to be rank B to leave on their adulthood pilgrimage. You could only return to Kargryx if you were rank A.
I haven’t appraised her yet, but I knew, at the minimum, she was B. Maybe even A and she didn’t want to return home just yet, which could make sense since Kramps called her unruly. In other words, to make sure I would win against her, I needed to know how her “Dragon Paths” worked without using [Mana Eyes].
You, too, huh? I realized after a bit. I wasn’t the only one who thought of this fun challenge as a way to test a rival. I saw a little bit of a cunning glint in her eyes as she turned around. She was here to win it all, and it seemed she had her eyes on me as one of her main rivals.
Better live up to it!
“Rajah, no killing, alright? These guys weren’t too dickish to me.”
[“Master, I heard them insult you. They aren’t better than the two we just killed.”] Rajah somehow knew how to counter back, but I still ordered him to follow my commands. There was no need to lose more lives today.
“Oooh, a no kill rule, huh? Now, that makes it more fun. We can really see what the others do better, huh?” She smirked mischievously, now being completely open with her intentions.
“Yeah, then, let’s do this!”
“Oooooh, and the two dragonewts move in tandem! Blood enjoyers, maybe we have two of our tournament's favorites right here!”
“S-Shit! Get back in formation! We need— Wauuurruuugh!” Fargryneill’s fist blasted three of our opponents away with a powerful, blue shockwave. With trained movements, she continued her assault, transitioning from one stance to the other as she delivered a barrage of punches and kicks.
She wasn’t even making physical contact. Each action sent out a wave of pure, natural mana at our enemy, or she manipulated her scales in giant fists, using them to fight from afar. After her two prior usages of the “Dragon Paths,” she hadn’t used it ever since, relying purely on her skills and scales. I didn’t even know what draconic power this kirin-dragon hybrid had.
She’s hiding her stuff, but at least I know she’s a martial artist like Cernust. Arcane Scrapper, or something. However, unlike Cernust, Fargryneill has a more esoteric fighting style. I wouldn’t be surprised if she could shoot out mana blasts, like a certain anime’s ki blasts or so.
However, I wasn’t intending to lose to her. While my parallel minds were analyzing her, Rajah and I were duoing as we took down numerous of the fighters. Learning from my mistake, I decided to only hit them with my staff, seeing as the glaive head was a bit too hard to use on “squisher” targets.
Imitating my fighting style with Saori, Rajah immobilized everybody with [Dark Tendrils] and even threw some [Smite] spells to ward off some of their attacks. Meanwhile, I flew around the place with a high-speed tactic, using [Dragoon Jump], [Wind Blast], and my high Agility to their fullest effect. I didn’t want to show any more of my hand.
“Buffraaaaaah!”
Maybe I caused a few broken bones there or there, but that was better than losing your whole head, right? I was holding back significantly! At the end of the day, although they weren’t as bad as those two dickfaces before, they still tried to harass me and kick me out of the competition. Reap what you sowed, assholes.
“Shit! Fuck! Where the hell did these two monsters come from?!”
Suffice to say, it was an overwhelming victory. The test was easily passed, but, the proper question is, who of us won our challenge?
“And the winner of this self-imposed challenge! 46 to 39 defeated contestants! Give her your applause, everybody! Heeeeeeeeeeessssssssstiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
One point for me.
Comments
Diego Rossi
Maybe I caused a few broken bones there or there, -> here or there or here and there
Oops, should be "she" as in Fargryneill.
Joshua Wicklund
“O-Oh, okay?” I looked at me strangely after I showed my glaive, before I realized what I did. (I have no idea what this is meant to say.)
Don't forget that Hestia never had a sister before. She was an only child until now.
Amongsus
Arrrrrrrrrrrr!
Imp
Hestia is sus! Fargryneill just saw her vent!
Diego Rossi
even Yeostar could tell me if somebody was a threat or not. -> couldn't a scared short-haired -> scaRRed
Spark
Not surprised by the end result, but happy to see Hestia in the lead here. c: Also very much looking forward to her getting to know her sister. (Or, rather, her sister getting to know about her. c: I don't know how much Hestia will be willing to reveal, but I suspect it'll be a fun conversation~)
