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Late Evening - Mid Winter : Eikasía | Eastern Bahamut

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"Oh my goodness! What an incredible set of fights!"

"I know right?! 'The Flower' is definitely still my favorite, but I think some of these young'ins will give her a run for her money."

"For sure! Did you see the kid who fought in his humanoid form? He is definitely hiding some of his cards."

"But so is 'The Flower', so we won't know who's stronger until they fight."

"Mhm, mhm," Excitedly nodding, the dragon sitting behind us turned from his friend back to the arena. "Anyway we have one more fight before the younger division matches begin, right?"

"Yeah, and according to some of the insiders it'll apparently be a crazy fight. I didn't recognize either of their names when I heard them, but supposedly the betting odds are a measely 1-2."

"Dang." Unable to keep myself from blurting it out, I glanced back at the two guys sitting behind me and Hera.

"Haha, I know right?" They were two old friends, that Hera and I had idly struck up conversations with to pass the time between matches. "It makes me wonder if I should even bet."

"Why not?" They were nothing special, just your average dragons. "Haven't you won like three matches in a row?" But while they didn't realize it, during the moments when they discussed things like politics or money, they had become my teachers.

"Haha, I need to be careful how I burn my fun money." Smiling wide as he reluctantly put a pouch of gold into a large duffle bag containing all sorts of assorted belongings, he was quick to rope in my skewed perception of dragons.

Even if only a bit.

"~You know, I knew your standards were skewed, but it looks like you're really learning something every time you talk to them.~" Hera spoke somewhat playfully as she shot me a smug look.

"~Haha, of course.~" Turning back to her, a joyful curl found its way into my tail.

"~It's not like I've ever had much time to mingle with normal people.

~" -Just look at the people I normally spend my time with.

..- Be it the monarch of Bahamut, or the most powerful and influential noble family in the world, I was only ever surrounded by talent, power, and wealth.

"~I guess that's true.~"

If I ever wanted to really help Mother, Hera, or even Lief with things related to dragons, I needed to be more in tune with the standards of average folk, so during the festival, as per Mother's suggestion, I planned to remold their image in my mind.

-It looks like Krystallo could use a little remolding too though.

..- My gaze quickly drifted to the side of the arena where I looked at Krystallo with my aura, idly fiddling with lightning magic while relaxing and being bathed by several maids.

It had been several hours since the festival began at that point, and while I had hoped she would come out to watch the rest of the matches with Hera and I, she had been lounging around the complimentary spa available to those who won their matches the entire time.

-But it looks like they're about to cut her off. -

With only one match remaining before the arena would switch to hosting the younger division of competitors, she only had a few minutes before she would be kicked out.

It all just depended on how long the next competitors fought for, which, by the conversations of those around us, had the chance of being a while.

"Alright! Are you all ready for the final fight of the upper division?

" With just a few words from the announcer, the conversations filling the stands ceased and chants and cheers erupted.

"For the final fight, we have a special one!

A mage versus a brawler! But I'm certain you all have already been made aware, so let us not waste any more time!

" Waving his wing to the south side of the arena, his voice boomed.

"Now, let's give our first comparator the welcome they deserve! Give it up for Mávri Siopí!"

Looking toward the gate, it instantly felt like wolf ears had perked up on my head. -Hoh?-

Coming out of the gate was a 21-meter dragon with dark blue scales resembling the deep ocean, with a large, ovular mana core embedded directly in the underside of his mouth, touting it like it was a precious gem.

But not everyone viewed it like that.

"~To think that nasty tradition is still around...~" Hera was quick to shoot the boy a disgusted look.

-Oh my...- She looked so repulsed that I was honestly taken aback.

But she was quick to elaborate. "~If that's the same as the tradition I remember, that's the mana core of a wyvern they hunt right before their adult-stage dragon sleep.~"

-Ew...- "~Why though?~" While killing a massive wyvern at such a young age was certainly impressive, making a piece of that creature into a part of you was no different from a human sewing a patch of elk skin on themselves to display a trophy.

In the eyes of most people, it was just impractical and gross, but as it turned out, Hera's disgust came from another place.

"~It's the tradition of an old tribe that predated Bahamut.

In the past, they would eat or use everything they killed regardless of what it was.

. even if it was another dragon...~" The air around her quickly turned sinister.

"~I thought I remembered Bahamut killing them all back when he first became the Monarch, but I guess not. ~"

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Slowly turning my gaze back to the boy, I used my aura to scan through his body, flesh, and stomach, sending chills through him before somewhat reluctantly pulling away.

-It's pretty unlikely traditions like that have lasted this long.

..- Over the course of countless millennia, traditions were bound to change after all.

-But...- "~Let's still have someone look into them. ~"

Hera was quick to nod. "~I'll have the thunderbird above us relay a message to the branch about it.~"

-Hm, alright.- Looking up at the cloaked thunderbird some forty kilometers in the air, I nodded before returning my gaze back to the announcer and attempting to get my mind off the rather grim topic.

But it didn't take long for my mind to move its focus.

"Now for his competitor! Today, he will be up against the rising star, Alyssa Epómeno!"

-Oh?- It was a name I actually recognized.

She was the youngest daughter of Vima Epómeno, the Mana Development advisor of the cabinet, a woman Hera had cherry-picked for her knowledge and talent. -If she was good enough to catch Hera's eye, I wonder how her daughter will do...-

In an instant, my expectations had exploded.

But she certainly didn't fail to meet them.

*Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* Nonchalantly walking out of the gate, holding her head high with a breathlessly cold and calculative expression, was a slim and slender, smooth white-scaled dragon that looked like the embodiment of a slippery fighter.

-She honestly looks like she has a bit of basilisk blood in her. ..-

But she was undoubtedly a deep-blooded dragon. *VWOOM* Releasing the control on her aura, an icy fog erupted from her, quickly covering the sandy ground of the arena before she walked up on the stone stage, exhaling a thick cloud with every breath.

"Hoho~." It was a sight that did more than catch my interest. From the first moment they met eyes, she was ready for a fight, regardless of her being at such a disadvantage by being a mage. -This should be a good fight...-

"Alright," Quickly going over the rules, just as he had with all the other contestants, the announcer was quick to exchange greetings between them before rushing along the start of the fight.

"Now, for the final fight of the upper division, the fighters will begin on my mark! Please ready yourselves!"

The entire colosseum instantly fell silent as both fighters lowered their stances, eagerly waiting for the small column of light to cross the arena.

Until finally...

*Zip* Watching the column of light dart across the arena, Alyssa instantly ducked her head into the fog before flapping her wings, throwing fog up over herself before blanketing the area with light magic.

But it was far from enough to fool the senses of a dragon.

*CRRUNCH* Narrowly dodging Mavri's paw after he bolted across the arena and tried to pin her head down through the fog, she darted to the side, kicking up a plume of smoke just past her before using light magic to make it look like she had moved farther than she did.

But again, it wasn't enough. Instantly darting over to her, Mavri managed to latch onto her leg and went to use his jaws to pin her neck down, narrowly missing Alyssa before she finally switched gears.

*CRACKLE* Freezing his paw and the side of his head, she quickly used several spells in a sequence to shatter and peel off the ice, shredding his scales with it and forcing him to jump back and create space.

It rather quickly caused blood to start dripping down the side of his face and his forearm, but instead of thinking of the pain, he just smiled, gently shaking the stinging sensation out of his paw before setting it back down into the frigid fog.

"Looks like the title of Ice Princess isn't just for show.

" *Crunch* Shifting his weight forward, his tail raised off the ground with confidence, and his movements slowed, becoming less instinctual and more methodical.

But while his style was changing, so was Alyssa's as she stood up out of the fog, no longer bothering to try and mess with his senses.

"That boy needed to push through the damage and finish it there." Hera spoke with a hint of disappointment as she looked down at the foggy stage. "He's going to lose now."

-Hm?- She said it confidently, but I wasn't so sure.

At least that was until the next clash.

*WOOSH* Darting across the arena again, Mavri wanted to put pressure on her to restrict her movements while staying just out of the range of her more potent ice magic, but the moment he went to stop, his legs were suddenly swept out from under him, a massive chunk of ice formed in front of his head, and Alyssa spread her wings with a rather merciless look on her face. "This is the end."

Digging her claws into the arena, she flapped her wings as hard as she could, dissipating the fog, revealing the countless disks of ice she used to swipe the boys legs out from under him before hurling the massive ice spike at the boy with her wings.

But he was quick to recover, spreading his wings and turning his head to the side at the last second, just narrowly dodging the massive pillar of ice as it scraped along his chest.

However, being in the air so close to the ground he couldn't flap his wings, he couldn't stop his momentum, and while he tried to dive into the ground to slow down, he could only helplessly land on the ice-disk-covered arena, and promptly zip slide off the stage. *Fwip-THUD*

A humiliating loss that wasn't anyone's fault but himself.

But while he knew his mistakes, as he stood up, instead of calling for a best of three like I expected, he just snarled at her.

"You're lucky we're fighting for fun..." Shaking the frozen blood off his paw, he finally turned away from her, admitting defeat.

But it wasn't before he used magic to tell her, and only her one last thing.

"If we meet again, I won't try to keep that pretty face of yours intact. .."

But unfortunately, such conduct was not something the tournament would let slide.

And Alyssa knew that, recognizing that the ref was about to intervene before stopping him.

"Oh yeah?" The ice on her body instantly started melting and steaming before suddenly, *FLASH* She bolted off the stage with a bright flash, and gripped his neck at the base of his head.

"You better be thankful I'm getting to you before the ref.

" *WOOSH* A towering flame instantly erupted from her back like thruster magic before suddenly, *CRRRACKK* She slammed his face into the ground so aggressively that it shook the stands.

An instant knockout.

And while everyone watched on in silence, unsure of what happened, Hera watched on with a wide, satisfied smile. "~She's just as fiery as her Mother!~"

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