...anwhile, in the catacombs beneath Rainbowden...
^You have got to be kidding ...^
^Alright, who’s next?!^
When Addie (Alice) activated the full power of her [Astra] and began to pour aether-based acid into Chamkana’s stomach mouth, the observing captive warriors expected him to lose in that mont.
Any Aether Lords who were able to make their [Astra] exhibit different types of aether weren’t the type to be easily defeated except by those at equal or higher levels.
Which was why Chamakana was looking positively miserable after he was repeatedly slamd into the ground and had his stomach teeth lted out by a fuckton of acid being shoved down his gut gullet. Alice, for her part, looked rather triumphant, if a little annoyed, as her [Astra] was sticking out of Chamkana’s stomach-mouth like it was a flagpole jamd into a person-shaped rock.
When Olstenna knocked the everliving shit out of both the Rotten Hamr Grandmaster and Skullcracker, the captive warriors were in mild disbelief but could kind of understand how such a situation could happen in the first place.
Natural aether treasures made it possible for most people to punch above their cultivation level, so naturally, it made sense that these sa treasures made it easy to counter multiple aether warriors of the sa level.
Which was why that aforentioned duo of warriors were lying on the ground facedown with their [Regalia] dismissed, as the two of them were rendered unconscious due to their jaws being smashed in from a weird angle. As well, they suffered horrible burn marks across their faces due to Olstenna blasting them in the face with jets of fla upon contact.
On a side note, this was one of the things Olstenna had learned while being a prisoner at the [Library of Nowhere]: one solid uppercut to the jaw and the brain no longer gets oxygen, leading to unconsciousness. The aforentioned jets of fla were used to speed up that process.
Nothing took soone’s breath away faster than having it literally burn in their lungs and nostrils, after all.
Now, seeing Alice and Olstenna succeed in beating their opponents was within the expectations of most of the observing warriors.
But seeing Antonio, a warrior that they all could objectively tell was weaker than both Alice and Olstenna by a wide margin, sohow kick in the teeth of a warrior of local renown.
Grandmaster Yuden was known to be one of the fastest blades in the underworld of Rainbowden, to the point that people swore that he had mastered the art of instantaneous teleportation before becoming an Aether Saint.
As such...
^How you...like ...now? Motherfucker!^ Antonio proclaid between heavy gasps of air as he lood over the unconscious form of Yuden, whose [Regalia] was in the process of breaking apart, which revealed to the world that his face had beco battered with bruises and scratch marks thanks to Antonio’s relentless assault.
...everyone was practically fucking flabbergasted as Antonio sohow defeated soone who was definitely his superior.
Many of the observing warriors had thought to imdiately challenge Alice, Olstenna, and Antonio after they had exhausted themselves from fighting the Grandmasters among them. The gap in ability was still present, what with most of them being Aether Masters, but they figured that a mixture of wasting energy on fighting their equals and wounds that would surely occur during the exchange would give them a chance to overwhelm Alice and her compatriots.
However, once they saw that not only had Alice, Olstenna, and Antonio defeated their opponents while being both outnumbered and technically underleveled, whatever courage the captive warriors had managed to muster in the face of this possibility of escaping had disappeared like smoke clouds in a hurricane.
^Well? Anybody?^ Alice asked the gathered warriors once more, making it a point to fiddle with the shaft of [Astra] while it was still jamd firmly into Chamkana’s stomach.
The cheetah Bloodliner let out a groan of pain, essentially signalling the cowardly aether warriors present to firmly keep their mouths shut.
^Alright then.^
Understanding that they weren’t going to have any more fights this evening, Alice, Olstenna, and Antonio all moved away from their respective victories and allowed Harriet to do her duties as a dic.
^Mon dieu!,^ Harriet comnted in her native tongue before switching back to Scorch Talk. ^You guys sure did a number on these sorry louts.^
As Harriet knelt down to better examine the injured parties, her entire deanor went from questionable airhead to the epito of dical seriousness. Aether began to pool in her eyes and hands as she examined the sort of damage that Alice and the others had inflicted on these sorry saps...taking extra notes on the damage Antonio had inflicted on his opponent.
This was the first ti that she had ever had the chance to examine wounds created by the power of [Chaos], and she was quite curious exactly how this strange energy affected the body when used in such a manner.
^I see...^
It should be noted that while she had the pleasure of seeing how her friends used the power of [Chaos] when sparring with one another, she rarely had any opportunities to see what kind of wounds they would inflict when used on others.
As Harriet did her work as a healer and dicine maker, the servant of Lord Tezca decided to finally remind everyone that he was still present in the room.
^Well then, as you all saw, Miss Addison here and her rcenaries are more than capable of teaching you lot what it ans to be true warriors,^ the servant said in a sycophantic tone. ^Now with all that in mind, you louts are dismissed. Now, return to your dorms!^
^Hmm.^
Reluctantly, the captive warriors did as instructed and returned to their rooms. During this movent, the servant made his way over to Alice and her compatriots, ready to discuss the terms of their contract...sort of.
^I am more than happy to see that you are a woman of your word,^ the servant said in praise of Alice. ^Now, I would say now would be a great ti to figure out your contract, but Lord Tezca will not be in until later in the evening. If you would like, you and your company may make use of our facilities and so of our supplies in order to restore your energy and rest.^
Sothing about the way the servant made this offer sounded off to Alice, but she wasn’t the type to point out such things unless it was absolutely necessary. Besides, there were so intentions that could only be gleaned from falling into the traps of others.
^My n and I will take up your offer to rest,^ Alice agreed. ^Should we follow the crowd or...^
^Oh, no,^ the servant shook their head. ^Since you and yours are going to be acting as officers, it would only be right for you to have access to the officer’s room. They’re down that hall and to the left.^
^I see...Harriet? Are you done patching up those morons, yet?^
^Just about,^ Harriet confird as she used a little more aether to repair the broken jaw and fucked-up face of the Rotten Hamr Grandmaster. ^I decided to throw in a little sothing extra for this one.^
^Fair enough.^
Once Harriet had finished her task, the group of "rcenaries" proceeded to accept the generous offer and make their way to the rest area ant for officers.
While they were leaving, the expression on the servant’s face went from jovial to dead serious.
Once Alice and the others were out of earshot, the servant began to mumble to themselves.
"Lord Tezca said to keep an eye out on warriors who exhibit abilities well above their cultivation," the servant repeated in an oddly chanical manner. "And it appears that one such warrior has made themselves known."
As the servant repeated this fact to himself, he suddenly began to scratch his arm in such a way as if it were a notepad and his increasingly bloody fingernail were a dented pen.
"Must keep track and report..."
This action, however, didn’t go unnoticed.
...
[It appears that that servant knows more than he is letting on,] Screamira noted with vicious foresight. [That is going to be a problem down the line.]
[Really? That’s what you’re focusing on? Not the fact that this guy is currently carving into himself like a fucked up turkey from the pits of hell?] Razorstella asked as she couldn’t look away from the fucked-up action being perford before her eyes.
[I an, I did notice it. But I was more focused on our task of, ya know, making sure that Miss Dunkelkrieg and the others don’t get caught and used as hostages?]
[Fair enough,] Razorstella relented. [Springer, any ideas?]
[Well...,] the spring-limbed magician trailed off in thought. [I get the feeling that’s straight up killing him will probably attract more attention than what we need, so... we’re going to have to be clever.]
[Okay, how?]
[Still working on that.]
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