Vale had already cleared the training room of the warriors and picked a ti when Greed was on an excursion.
Not that he intended to actually do anything sexual...
But to spare Greed from having to hear Awilix try in that regard. Sothing that the cat would most definitely do during or after their spar.
"If I win, you owe two hours!"
Or before...
Sivian watched silently from the side. Vale had asked to spar with her after his bout with Awilix.
Before the fight started, Vale slipped into an odd reminiscence about the dungeon’s power hierarchy...
Excluding all but his Champions.
’It’s been volatile as hell, hasn’t it?’
Nor was it straightforward.
At the beginning, Toy was the weakest, with Vale a little ahead of her and Salo leaps and bounds ahead.
Xina, when she appeared, was stronger than Vale, yet her strength only lay in her ability. She could face a multitude of foes and win easier than Salo could, but was by no ans stronger...
Then ca Awilix, who’d slotted inbetween Vale and Toy, closer to Vale. Perhaps even eclipsing Vale for a bit when she’d learned how to use her ability.
Mias was the next addition and took the overall ’strongest’ from Salo. Although Salo could beat him in a one-on-one fight.
A feat only due to her ability, which countered his.
Next, the most recent addition, Sivian, who was now arguably the strongest.
It seed a little odd to claim such a thing when Salo took on her and many other Ergents and won, but now that she had her rationality, she was multiple tis more fearso.
Vale mulled over the current standing of strength in the Dungeon of Lust.
Excluding Xina because of her situation...
’Wait...’
Vale looked up at the cat and laughed.
Awilix sneered as she extended her claws.
"What’s so funny, dumbass?"
’Awilix...’
It was Awilix.
’Oh, how the mighty have fallen.’
Once Toy beca Ergent, her overall power surpassed Vale’s.
Rank seed much more important than class, though Class still played a significant factor.
A pri example of that was Vale, whose instincts were worse than Awilix, and she was more lithe, yet his raw power as a Vice allowed him to make up for that gap.
He possessed not only a little more than two tis Awilix’s reserves, but also could proportionally exert that much Aether to empower himself.
But as much as Vale was laughing...
’I’m the second weakest, right now... aren’t I?’
While Mias was currently the weakest overall at the mont — even weaker than Awilix — his ability was kind of unfair in the sense that nobody other than Awilix or Xina could even touch him.
The only way for Awilix, Vale, Toy, or Sivian to win would be to defend and stall for his Aether to run out. Sothing that would result in his death.
To the scholar, much too smart to kill himself accidentally... such a power gap didn’t entirely matter.
Vale could sowhat humbly admit he’d lose to the Reaper, even if it were just a fourth of him.
That wasn’t to say he’d go down easy, of course...
’As for who’d be ahead of ...’
It would have to be the aforentioned Mias. Well, the twenty-five percent of Mias that was still his.
The only reason he lost to Toy was her Trait combined with her Aspect.
[Sixth Sense] could help her defend against Mias’s [Nevermore]. It wasn’t a perfect counter, but it would help quite a bit to not get ambushed.
Then, Toy was simply too nimble for the Reaper to do aningful damage to without exhausting himself. He could still win, but it would only be by Toy’s mistake.
And, if a mistake is what it takes to win...
’They’re stronger.’
In the top two spots were Sivian and Salo...
In terms of Aether quantity and destructive capability, Sivian, the Ergent Mutant, had the edge.
However, maybe it was Vale’s bias...
’I think Salo is stronger.’
Sivian, with her rationality, could definitely make better use of her ability and strength than she could as a mindless invader, but Salo was simply too seasoned for how slight that gap was.
Vale would say the sa about Mias, if not more, had he been assessing Mias at full power.
Vale sighed.
Awilix, still with a confused look on her face, growled:
"Seriously, what is going on! First, you laugh like a dumbass, and now you sigh like an idiot! What’s going on?!"
Vale shrugged with a flippant smile on his face.
But his smile soon vanished when he spotted Sivian’s expression out of the corner of his eye.
’Oh lord...’
She was staring daggers at the cat.
Her eyes had narrowed and hardened into cold slits, her vertical pupils dilating with barely restrained malice.
A dribble of blood and Venom dripped from her mouth as she bit her lip.
One hand twitched at her side, fingers curling and uncurling like talons testing their grip.
Her jaw clenched.
Vale glanced at the Naga, but he dare not stare.
Why was Sivian reacting like that?
’For what reason?’
Was it for calling Vale a dumbass?
’Are you like Xina?’
Perhaps it wasn’t jealousy, but devotion to Vale that caused her to dislike the cat who treated him callously.
’No, it’s not that.’
More like...
’Both?’
Sivian was both jealous of the others and unequivocally devoted to him.
’But doesn’t take action on her internal whims, bottling them up. Is that it?’
Vale knew how that ended.
’Never well...’
Bottled-up emotions would break forth at one point.
’Looking at that face... perhaps they already have.’
Maybe Sivian was waiting for a mont to gut the cat.
Either way...
’If her devotion was that high, why is her Loyalty still low?’
Sivians’ Loyalty had risen to 30, but was that enough to cause this kind of reaction?
’No...’
Vale’s eyes lit up.
’I’m hers.’
He thinks he’d figured it out.
The snake saw him as hers, not her as his, nor them as each other’s.
She was angry that soone was ssing with and trying to take what was hers.
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