Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

Chapter 387: Interlude - Iona - The Gladiator Gauntlet III

Chapter 387: Interlude - Iona - The Gladiator Gauntlet III

Elaine fussed around Iona, making sure every buckle and strap of her wyvern-scale aketon was properly strapped down and secured.

Not that there were a lot of them.

Iona had just barely made it under the registration deadline, and had a most interesting session with the [Judge] calibrating her shield. Biomancied subdermal armor was rare. She was close enough to a dullahan that they ended up using similar rules to build her shield.

The opening ceremonies had come and gone, Elaine with the full School team near the front, and Iona in the back with the rest of the teams without the backing or ranking to be showcased.

“Okay, so this is just the first round. It’s not over if you get beaten here, it’s a round robin format. They said that your shield slowly regenerates, but it’s practically a lie. It regenerates so slowly that it doesn’t matter, and damage persists between individual 1v1 fights. Don’t take all your blows on the same part of your body. Losing because of a technical shield-out sucks. They do look at total points though, which is unfortunate on your tiebreakers since winning one against seven in the main team battle is going to be hard, but winning out will make all that moot. So fight! Win! Beat them up!” Elaine babbled advice as quickly as she thought of it.

“I got this.” Iona said with complete confidence as she studied her first round opponents.

Reading their status sheet, to get a better idea of what they could do. Checking for hidden trumps or obvious [Weaknesses].

Each individual had a number of them, but as Iona compared and studied, their respective strengths overlapped their team member’s weaknesses beautifully. Interestingly, they were running not one, but two supports, and their second support looked like they had close to zero combat capabilities.

It was a shame Iona’s [Vow] wasn’t active for these fights. The added boost would’ve been nice, but Iona was strong even without it. At the School, she was able to lift 125 lbs… in the 128x gravity floor of the gym. Right around 16,000 lbs.

That was without her wyvern-scale aketon, or mallium armor.

“In the seventh ring. Team Iona versus Team Fiona Academy. First contestants, please step up.” The [Referee] quietly announced. With the skills at play, anyone focusing on this particular arena would hear him perfectly. There were simply too many teams for preliminary rounds to each get a full arena dedicated to them. There was an [Announcer] for the entire stadium, for all the teams participating, who ran commentary on all the fights, usually spotlighting one team or ring at a time to focus on and discuss to the broader audience.

“Go get them!” Elaine cheered as Iona stepped up onto the stone platform.

Selene. Lunaris. I ask for your aid, and dedicate this victory to you. Iona silently prayed to her patrons.

Normally there was a mental game of rock-paper-scissors as each team tried to figure out who the other team would lead with, and try to pick an early counter to gain an advantage. It wasn’t rare for the early advantage to decide the winner, as each team picked their team member to counter whoever was on the stage, giving the first round winner the final victory. The other aspect to consider was mage’s mana regeneration. Sending mages up early gave them more time to restore mana for the team battle. A mage anchoring a team could step in during the last rounds to knock out an opponent, but then they’d be useless during the teamfight portion. It was a minor way to balance their oversized impact in a single duel.

All that went out the window with Iona. She was the only member of the team present, and she didn’t have to worry about who the other team sent up. The warrior had to fight them all in the end.

They had two supports by the looks of it. The woman had a classic ‘my skills empower people’, but the man had a strange and unusual set of skills. He summoned food, and eating the food worked as a short buff.

She let her armor flow out from behind her back, coating her entire body. She didn’t have a weapon - the Valkyrie had left them behind at the School, not thinking she needed them - but her entire body was a weapon. Just not one boosted by [Weapon Mastery].

[New Moon’s Dance] and [Valkyrie’s Valor]did both assist with brawling though, and Iona could always reshape a portion of her mallium into a weapon. It was a trick she wanted to hide for as long as possible.

[Frost Wyvern’s Fang] was a skill she was more than happy to reveal early on.

With a thought, [Star-Forged] expanded from covering just her body, to coating her layers of armor in the protective skill. Anything hitting her armor wasn’t hitting Iona, and her shield was safe and intact.

Of course, if her armor was destroyed, it was a case of ‘too bad, so sad, hope you win enough to repair it’. People spent too much time focusing on the fortunes that could be won in the Gladiator Gauntlet, and completely ignored the fortunes obliterated by the fights.

Fiona Academy sent their heavy bruiser - Mubai - up to meet Iona. He had a number of tiger-themed skills, a [King of the Brawlers] class along with [Lord of the White Tigers]. Iona expected him to close in, and to swipe at her with large, heavy blows, reinforced with cutting claws.

He was only in the mid-300’s though. The sheer disparity in levels and stats would doom Mubai, but his face didn’t hold a hint of that. He approached the battle boldly, with confidence, chewing on the sausage his support companion provided.

“Fame. Glory. Honor. Fight!” The [Referee] announced as his skill separating the two combatants dissolved, letting them at each other.

Iona exploded into motion, charging directly at Mubai. [As Steady as the Stars] gave her impeccable footwork, letting her balance on even the most treacherous terrain, along with not destroying anything she moved on. She could make fantastic leaps - or simply charge her enemy.

All of Iona’s staring at the brawler’s status hadn’t prepared her for him pulling out a crossbow and shooting her with it. It simply wasn’t one of his skills, and he’d cleverly hidden it in his clothing.

[Selene’s Grace] neatly nudged the projectile out of the way, letting Iona continue her assault. Mubai roared and charged at her, the shimmering paw of a white tiger appearing around his arms.

He swiped at her as they closed, the skill extending his reach. Iona ducked under, letting it pass clean over her as she stomped her right foot down. Twisting, putting her whole body into the strike, she blasted upwards with a vicious uppercut, catching the Fiona Academy’s brawler directly under the chin in a beautiful strike.

The arena flashed with a multitude of colors as a bright red shield appeared around Mubai, absorbing the otherwise-lethal strike and signifying his loss.

“Winner, Team Iona. Please return back to your respective sides.” The [Referee] declared.

Mubai picked himself up off the ground, giving Iona a quarter-bow of respect before returning to his team. They huddled up and quickly strategized, before sending their next contestant up.

A slender bunnykin, the second-highest level fighter Team Fiona had, hopped onto the stage next, eating a chili pepper.

“Hiya! Please be gentle!” She waved merrily to Iona.

The big eyes, soft fur, and cheerful demeanor didn’t fool Iona. Her skills were uniformly nasty. She wasn’t quite as heavy of a hitter as Mubai had been, but Iona was resolved not to underestimate the bunny.

“Fame. Glory. Honor. Fight!” The [Referee] announced, and the battle was joined.

Iona expected the crossbow this time. She stood still as her opponent whipped one out and shot a bolt at her, electing to snatch it out of the air in a stunning display of grace and dexterity.

Her opponent bounded up to her and took a swing at Iona. The Valkyrie stood there, silently staring down her opponent who pulled her punch at the last second, dropping and trying to sweep her feet.

Iona jumped up, letting the blow pass under her as she tried to work out how she was going to beat this opponent.

[Counterblow] and [Perfect Dodge] promised any half-hearted attack by Iona would miss, then be brutally punished. At the same time, she was specced deep into speed and dexterity, lacking the power to punch through Iona’s protections easily. The odds were good that the bunnykin would break her hand punching Iona’s armor, instead of Iona feeling anything.

Which led to the strange stalemate between the two of them. Iona continued to neatly side-step any attack that might be a problem, not throwing a single punch back.

Showing off to anyone watching that, yes, she was the better [Warrior].

As the stalemate continued, she read each of the bunnykin’s skills in detail, looking for the critical piece of information that would turn the tide of the stalemate.

Iona almost laughed as she saw it. The bunny’s skills worked on attacks.

With a single graceful move, Iona brought her hand down on the agile opponent’s shoulder. Not an attack - a friendly grab.

The flexible fighter froze as Iona’s fingers tightened.

“Do I need to?” Iona asked in the rabbit’s native language.

She pouted and pulled a face.

“No…” She sullenly kicked the ground. Iona turned to the [Referee].

“Well?” She asked him.

“I need the words.” He apologized to Iona.

“I surrender.” The bunny said, twisting herself out of Iona’s grasp and leaping off the stage.

One member of the team was glaring murder at Iona. She didn’t need [Social Lubricant] or [Winter’s Allure] to tell that they were a couple. He was the highest leveled member of their team, and his restriction skill locked an entire class away, except for specific circumstances and conditions.

Naturally, the boost was insane if the conditions were met, and Iona was being gentle in small part to dance around them.

The bunnykin backflipped her way off the stage, tumbling like a [Gymnast], and the next member approached, cramming down three food-based buffs their support was handing out.

The dude loved food way too much, and a quick peek at his skills revealed a Fire mage. Every single skill related to flames, and Iona briefly thought about Auri as she studied him.

His physical stats were low, and he fit the definition of a glass cannon perfectly. He was boosting those stats with a fat sausage, but it wasn’t going to be nearly enough.

“Fame. Glory. Honor. Fight!”

Iona instantly summoned her [Frost Wyvern’s Fang], a shortbow and arrow shimmering into existence in her hands. She was already twisting, bending the bow into a perfect half-crescent moon, then unleashed the arrow right at his center of mass.

No need for a [Trick Shot] or [Blizzard Shot]. Just straight violence.

A torrent of flames started to erupt from the mage’s mouth as the arrow landed, his shield bursting into a fatal red as the arena sparkled with colors, signifying Iona’s win.

“Winner! Team Iona!” The [Referee] declared as the mage looked on with shock.

“But… but…” He protested, getting a steely look from the [Referee] in turn.

“You have been defeated. Please send up your next team member.”

“Wooo! Perfect victory!” Elaine gleefully cheered Iona’s victory from the sidelines.

The tall warrior didn’t relax or break her composure. This wasn’t the time or the place for screwing around. Three members down, four to go. Two of them were supports.

To her surprise, the food-buff making support stepped up next. Iona lifted an eyebrow under her helmet.

His skills were incredible. She’d never seen anything like them, even at the School, and having them at his level? She was impressed. He could conjure up food that acted like the most powerful potions, granting large stat boosts.

Of which he was currently horking down as many as he could, as fast as he could conjure them. One of his skills let him ignore the usual penalties and restrictions around stacking potions, and his stats were skyrocketing… relative to their starting point.

His stats utterly sucked. It must’ve been the tradeoff for the amazing class, and Iona felt a flicker of curiosity as to why he was being sent up now. If their team managed to win on one of their next two fighters, the Valkyrie wasn’t confident that she could properly take all seven of them at once. They’d win the entire match. Sending the support up now simply fed her free points.

“Fame. Glory. Honor. Fight!” The [Referee] had no patience for Iona’s internal musings as he began the fight.

To Iona’s utter lack of surprise, another crossbow made an appearance as she strode across the stage to her opponent.

[Selene’s Grace] took care of the bolt, but then he threw out a half-dozen tiny metal balls. They exploded into motion on impact, thin metallic tendrils whipping through the air around them as they landed.

Iona didn’t even feel them. The layers of her skill-reinforced armor stopped them dead in their tracks, slapping impotently against her arms and legs, and she carried on through the hail of metal before reaching her prey.

He tried to fight back. He tried to dodge.

The tyranny of stats let Iona jab out once, his shield flaring protectively as she won another round.

The two teams reset, and Team Fiona’s speedster made her entrance onto the stage, eating more of the support’s conjured food.

Honestly, it was something of a blessing that the other support’s skills weren’t useable in the single’s format. Double-buffs might be enough to give Iona trouble, especially with dedicated specialists.

“Fame. Glory. Honor. Fight!”

Iona was prepared for waves of inky black smoke that erupted from the speedster, the slender woman vanishing into the darkness. Iona’s blessing was simply unfair.

[Gaze of the Galaxy] along with [Lunaris’s Gaze] allowed her to pierce the veils of darkness without issue. She crouched into a ready stance, and as the speedster tried to silently flank her, dagger poised to strike Iona in the armpit, Iona lashed out with a vicious backhand, landing a solid blow.

That was enough to take out the fragile speedster, and the match was quickly called in Iona’s favor.

“Go Iona! You’re the best! Five down, two to go!” Elaine cheered from the sidelines. “Keep beating them in one hit!”

The second support stepped up onto the stage, and the Team Fiona Academy strategy crystalized for Iona.

They were reserving their heavy hitter for the last round, hoping to wear her down with the rest of the team. Hoping that she’d show off all her skills.

A beautiful and delicate woman stepped onto the stage, and Iona almost felt a moment of pity for her. Her combat abilities were next to nothing… although she had signed up and agreed to fight with the team.

“Fame. Glory. Honor. Fight!” The faun declared, and Iona implacably strode over to where the woman was standing.

The crossbow strategy made a lot more sense with her on the team, giving the woman a chance at defending herself. A high-tension crossbow with a single prepared shot could take out most warriors with a surprise blow, able to punch through metal and trigger the shield.

Iona was ready as Rong pulled out a crossbow at point-blank range. The paladin mentally grabbed the crossbow and jerked the top of it up with [Telekinesis] as the Fiona Academy support pulled the trigger.

Her shield flared red, stopping the bolt from puncturing her head, and the support started to cry angry tears as she stomped off the stage.

Iona mentally shrugged. There was a reason[Warriors] needed armor-reinforcing skills, and why people rarely wore armor or used weapons without the ability to reinforce them. At higher levels, it was just giving their opponents another weapon to use.

Any metal-coated mage against a high level Metal mage was in for a bad time, practically handing their opponent a perfect cage which they could use to crush them with. It didn’t work at lower levels, but at higher levels it was a risk.

Her last opponent took the stage, and Iona looked at him warily. Stan was in the high 400’s, pushing 500, and every last one of his skills was terrifying, before his restrictive [Promise].

“I am no threat to you, your team, or your loved ones.” Iona clearly stated before the [Referee] could start the match. [Social Lubricant] and [Allure of Winter] both helped her read the cues Stan was giving off, letting her make minor adjustments to her speech. “We are both here to compete and show off, and that is all. Win or lose, we’re all walking away intact at the end of this, with the worst damage possible being to our pride.”

He’d have to be a raving lunatic to think Iona was a threat to his loved ones after that, which was the critical condition for his [Promise] to activate.

No [Promise], no massive stat boost, no unlocked class. He’d be a single class [Warrior] against her triple classes.

He narrowed his eyes, and Iona smirked as she read the subtle tells that let the pieces of the puzzle click for him.

“Fame. Glory. Ho-” The [Referee] was interrupted right as he was starting the countdown for the fight.

A bright light suddenly illuminated the stage they were standing on, and the [Announcer’s] voice boomed.

“Well! [Lords] and [Ladies], do we have a treat for you here in Ring 7! Team Iona only has a single member, and in a fierce struggle against Team Fiona Academy, she has defeated all opponents with a single blow! I’m excited to see the final battle! Will the One Hit Wonder continue her spree? Will Fiona Academy pull a reversal and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? Find out now!”

Iona was always good with people, and the logic immediately fell into place for her, in spite of the Valkyries tending to eschew these types of events.

Performing well, performing flashily would get more people interested in her and her one-woman crusade. More people watching would mean more people would see her defeat Rolland, and salvage the honor of the Valkyries - and her desire for vengeance.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Stan. How could she defeat him in a single blow?

“Fame. Glory. Honor. Fight!” The [Referee] made a bit more of a show of starting the event, conscious of the spotlight on the ring.

Iona burst into a sprint as vines erupted around her. They wrapped around her arms and legs, trying to drag her down, to bind and trap her.

Iona powered through them all, although they slowed her a hair. A cage of black grass enclosed Stan, acting as a physical barrier separating Iona from her opponent. Two thick tendrils shot from his hands, the grass morphing to look like a pair of striking snakes.

The Valkyrie sacrificed a portion of her armor to make an axe, sweeping through the attack and neatly ‘decapitating’ the ‘snakes’. As she charged at Stan, another vine pulled him away as a dozen metal balls were flung at her.

She pivoted, ignoring the storm of metal pinging against her helmet, chasing after her prey.

He was fast with his vine-like grass pulling him around, but not as fast as Iona. She quickly caught up, and started to morph her metal into a long spear. She thrust out at Stan, the spear elongating, her long arms giving the weapon even more reach, and Iona neatly ‘stabbed’ him through the heart.

It was a solid blow. [Stable As The Stars] gave her perfect footing to launch off of, [Lunar Mass] increased her weight and thus her momentum, and she’d timed her strike well. The arena exploded in light as a red shield popped into existence around Stan.

“Winner! Team Iona!” The [Referee] declared.

“Well I’ll be! Iona has done it again, defeating her opponent with a single blow! Let’s give it up for the One Hit Wonder!” The [Announcer] roared. The crowd was thin this early into the preliminaries, but she did get some cheers.

Iona bowed her head, praying to her goddesses.

Selene. Lunaris. I did it! Thank you for your support. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without your blessings and your grace.

You go, One Hit Wonder! Selene cheered. Lunaris was laughing herself sick.

Iona grinned and jumped down off the stage to an eagerly waiting Elaine.

“You did it! Great job! I’m proud of you! Alright, the team battle’s next, but that doesn’t matter, you still win the round even if you lose the battle. Then there’s a quick turnaround to the next round. It’s punishing on mages, they’ll be low on mana. You got this!”

Elaine gave Iona a hug, and she spent a moment refocusing. Paying attention to what was truly important in life. Elaine’s presence was reassuring, and she relished her embrace. She was more important than her desire for petty revenge.

In the end, her quest for vengeance was meaningless. It was simply to balm her heart. Iona would like to have her cake and eat it too though, getting both.

But she wasn’t going to lose sight of the people important to her in the attempt, nor what the Valkyries stood for.

[Name: Iona]

[Race: Mostly Human]

[Age: 26]

[Mana: 210,700/210,700]

[Mana Regen: 141,570]

Stats

[Free Stats: 300]

[Strength: 41,060 +(523,515)]

[Dexterity: 41,060 +(523,515)]

[Vitality: 74,968 +(194,917)]

[Speed: 45,615 +(581,591)]

[Mana: 21,070]

[Mana Regeneration: 47,402]

[Magic Power: 24,381]

[Magic Control: 24,381]

[Class 1: [The Dusk Valkyrie - Celestial: Lv 520]]

[Celestial Affinity: 520]

[New Moon's Dance: 520]

[Weapon Mastery: 520]

[Strength from the Stars: 520]

[Star-Forged: 520]

[Strike of the Twin Moons: 165]

[As Steady as the Stars: 130]

[Gaze of the Galaxy: 520]

[Class 2: [Traveling Archer - Ice: Lv 420]]

[Ice Authority: 420]

[Shortbow Skills: 420]

[Blizzard Shot: 420]

[Allure of Winter: 420]

[Trick Shot: 420]

[Weaknesses: 420]

[Glacial Slow: 420]

[Frost Wyvern's Fang: 420]

[Class 3: Skybound Paladin of the Moons - Gravity: Lv 130]]

[Gravity Affinity: 130]

[Telekinesis: 130]

[Lunaris's Gaze: 130]

[Lunar Mass: 130]

[Flight of the Valkyries: 130]

[Grasp of the Moon: 130]

[Selene's Grace: 130]

[Harmony of the Spheres: 130]

General Skills

[Spicy Drawing: 264]

[Valkyrie’s Valor: 520]

[Adaptable and Flexible: 385]

[Relentless Pursuit: 288]

[Vow of Iona to Lux: 425]

[Social Lubricant: 262]

[Determined Education: 380]

[Companion Bond Between Iona and Fenrir: 256]

Other

Blessing of Selene and Lunaris