The demon twenty meters across from me moves his gaze away from mine. He turns to where the announcer is and nods. Then he slowly starts turning his head, looking at the entire audience. A spell ensures they hear him. “Demon King Ghillion is a disgrace.” Now we get some booing. “His soft-handed approach has let this abomination spoil our oldest tradition, what our great country is built upon. He has let it entrench itself in our very society. How many of you have taken its lies? How many of you have betrayed your friends, your family, your fellow countrymen?” The duke whips his gaze toward the balcony where Xyll and the generals are. A sharp flick of his arm points accusingly. “Because of him, we are the only ones still standing against this, this... thing. I intend to take that stand to its conclusion today. I intend to win.”
An enchanted suit of armor fastens itself around the demon, bulky metal plates obscuring his form fully, brimming with power.
The announcer speaks up again, keeping his voice neutral, “Lucius?”
“Abomination?” my rhetorical question rings out. “You could describe me as such. I have certainly proven the qualities necessary before. But would you like to know why I was made? What my creators wanted?” Complete silence beckons an answer. “I was made to help. But not only. My creators wanted to make a god. And tame it. They succeeded in making me, the uncontested master of my old world. They failed in taming me, not even dust was left to regret.” My gaze moves to where Elisa is watching from, a small smile creeping up on my lips. “Then I was brought here. I realized I was never anything more than a person, as flawed as anyone else. And that I could be oh so easily tamed.” I blow her a kiss.
The elf hides her face in her hands, mumbling out a muffled complaint.
“So yours is also a dum-dum.”
The announcer hesitantly continues, “Well. You’ve heard what the contenders have to say. Now, may the first preliminary match... co—”
A white streak connects my hand with the duke’s chest. A deep crimson needle passes through his barrier, his armor, his heart, his spine, and his armor again, dispersing into nothing before it can hit his barrier a second time.
“—mmence.”
As an armored figure faceplants on the sand, explosive growth, paired with a green glow, reconstruct my incinerated left half.
Two officials blink in, check over the duke, and blink him away.
“Another decisive victory for Lucius,” the announcer says, “incapacitating Duke Pontilit using only a single attack.” I get a few lukewarm cheers and claps from the audience, plus one enthusiastic elf. “With this win, Lucius moves to the next round. His next match will be the second to last in the first round. After a short break, we will be continuing with the second preliminary match between...”
An official blinks next to me and blinks me away too. A healer is on standby, ready to check me over. My nearly recovered body is quickly deemed fine. That done, I can now go watch the rest of the matches until it is my turn. Should I go to where some of the other contenders have gathered? Or...
A warp brings me to a balcony. Xyll is ignoring my presence. Auhellis is doing the same, more so that Xyll isn’t alone. Cassmus is as giddy as a perpetually cranky old demon can appear to be. Falrilliat is blankly studying everything about me. And Yilivin gives me a congratulatory nod.
A shadowy figure slinks over to me.
“Nice fight.”
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“Thank you.” I sit next to Elisa, a prepared chair waiting for me.
“Always hated that guy. Good on you for putting him in his place.” Falrilliat pointedly clears his throat. “Yeah, yeah. Go pop a cough drop.”
Xyll asks, “A what?”
“Just because we spend a lot of time together doesn’t mean I don’t got other friends.”
“Did General Falrilliat choose my opponent?”
“Matchups are determined by random chance,” the crafty general says.
“Yes.”
I snap my fingers. “Next state secret gets you a ship.”
Xyll’s shadow starts throwing weak punches at the unenchanted suit of armor I warped in, which is dodging the strikes with exaggerated motions.
“I’m organizing a coup. Who’s in?”
A tendril of shadow wraps around the other’s waist and pulls toward the first, refusing to let him get close again, not for lack of trying.
“Any other takers?” I ask. Xyll splits the balcony in two using an impenetrable wall of shadows. I shrug to no one. “Offer’s open.”
“Was that... gesture really needed?” Elisa asks.
“Vitally.”
“Whoever let us handle international diplomacy has major regrets right about now.”
“You are aware what the ‘supreme’ part in Supreme Commander entails, right?”
“I just want to study magic, teach whatever I learned, watch fun shows, and play silly games. Is that too much to ask?”
I smile at the pouty elf. “Don’t we all. Also, you forgot about food. And... stuff.”
“Oh? What’s this ‘stuff’?”
“I would show you, but there’s a lot of people watching.”
She sighs out, “Pity. Now I have to be only partially embarrassed instead of totally, you big dummy.”
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A tendril slithers under the shadowy divider, forming into a person.
“Shh. I’m spying on you.”
“We won’t tell,” Elisa says.
“I swear he’s not normally like this. Is... Is he right?”
“Sure hope not,” I say.
“But you understand where he’s coming from. The logic is sound. Our world cannot be built upon a single individual.”
“Agreed.” A third chair warps in. He nods appreciatively and sits. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, as thanks. All the tech and releasing Project Transcendence? Elisa. And the others, of course. But mainly her idea.”
“What?”
“Let’s just say my stay in the Maw changed a lot of things. Since I’ve been out, my involvement in the management of the planet has been minimal. Only in case of emergencies.”
Elisa adds, “With great help from systems Lucius had ready.”
“Now modified systems,” I clarify further.
“Then, he really is wrong.”
“Not wrong. Using the wrong approach.”
“Even assuming I believe you, I won’t be able to convince him.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“And if we fight, I’m not going to hold back.”
“I know.”
“Oh... Right... Well, enough serious talk, tell me something interesting about Earth.”
“Allow me,” Elisa says. “Penguins.”
“Penguins?” The elf warps in a plushy of one such animal. “Penguins!”
***
“I’m still stuck on the numbers. It really had numbers? Like actual, readable numbers?”
“Indeed,” I say. “Word of advice, don’t go in any until you’ve got the tech for it. You and Xyll can probably beat ‘em, but there’s no need to risk it.”
“Advice taken. ...Have we been killing them?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think I like that.”
“Me neither.” The shadow barrier disperses. “Looks like you got caught.”
“Not caught. Recalled.”
“What is that?” Xyll asks.
“One of the most regal and magnificent creatures to have ever existed.”
“Go annoy Falrilliat.”
“Debrief with Falrilliat,” he corrects. Then he turns back to us. “Talk to you later.”
The shadowy divider snaps back into place.
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“Hey!”
She points at the arena. “It’s you again.”
With a fake grumble, I stand up. Only to swiftly bend down and give her a quick kiss on the cheek. “For good luck.”
As I warp away, I get unblocked. Elisa makes her great displeasure known. But mostly, she reiterates for me to be careful.