"I am Ganesha!"
The sturdy god with the elephant mask stood with crossed arms in front of the stadium and watched his children preparing the festival. Many merchants build their stalls nearby, but the security of everything was as always the job of the Ganesha Familia. Two members of his Familia were beside him, one was on her back, on a pedestal next to the god. A demi-human cat-woman in daring leather clothes, her head hung over the edge of the pedestal and she eyed the working people. From time to time her tail swished to the side and tapped against the leg of her god.
Her hair and tail had a beige color and her eyes had two different colors, one green and one blue. She looked relaxed and very carefree, but this was one of the deadliest fighters in the Ganesha Familia, an upper level four adventurer with the alias "Dusk Walker"...She also was called "Queen of the arena" by the people who watched the fights, or..."Hellcat-chan".
"We´re making good progress."
A tall woman with blue hair stood next to the god and checked informations on her clipboard, she was the captain of the Ganesha Familia, Shakti Varna also kown as Ankusha.
"The merchants have all submitted their applications, the security looks good."
"Good work as always Shakti."
"The outside participants will be your job."
"Of course, I will check them right now...for I am Ganesha!"
A big tent was built at the side, there the god would check the outside participants. The adventurers from the city just showed the information about them from the guild. For the outsiders,
they would went into the tent one by one, facing Ganesha and aswering his questions. It was quite easy, he would ask them whether they met the requirement. A Ganesha Familia member would then write down the name and level of the person and some other minor details. Just in case, two high level member of the Familia guarded their god.
The outsiders stood spread out on the square, with the exception of two heavily armored figures, everyone stood alone, they weren´t that many, not even ten people. The bigger part were official Adventurers.
"Quite a colorful group."
The god nodded and let his gaze wander over them, for a moment he stopped when he looked at a blond male elf in dark clothes.
He had long cloth pants and high lether boots, that reached halfway to his knees. From the waist up, he was covered in a long-sleeved coat, that reached down to his ankles, made from the same material as the pants, the hands were in long leather gloves. The coat was closed, with a wide leather belt at the hip, that had a massiv jewel in the front. The coat had a high collar and a hood, for now the hood was off, revealing hair tied back strictly and a grim looking face. Two short sword hung sheathed crosswise at the back of the hip. What caught Ganesha´s eyes was the white mask that hung at the belt of the elf. The mask would cover the whole face, with two small holes for the eyes, one half of the mask looked like a maniacally laughing face, the other half looked like it was crying. Even without the mask, the hood looked like it was big enough to cover most of his face, the lower half of the face was covered by a dark scarf.
Shakti followed her god´s gaze.
Why is she dressing as a man again?...Well maybe that´s her hobby, I shouldn´t judge her...
The cat-girl looked around, still on her back.
"Some interestin´ fellas, Nya."
Shakti looked to the girl. "You should help with the work too, you know?"
"Nyeh...My part will come when the fights start, I have to save my strength so I look good in front of our beloved master!"
Her tail stroked against Ganesha´s leg again, she really liked her god.
Ryuu stood with crossed arms in the crowd and waited for her turn. She had a grim expression on her face and looked straight ahead, she wasn´t in a bad mood but she tried her best to not get too much attention. That to say was hard, due to her outfit.
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Yesterday morning...
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Ryuu was about to dress herself, as she heard vigorous knocking from her door. She opened the door and saw a panting Syr with an excited smile.
"Syr?"
"It´s done!"
The grey haired girl showed Ryuu a big bag.
"I have your clothes ready."
In just one day?
"Come in."
Syr put the big bag on Ryuu´s bed.
"It is amazing that you managed to do that in one day..."
"Oh Ryuu, are you implying that I have prepared these clothes beforehand for a possibility to dress you up again? That absolutely can´t be it, no no, definetely not possible, absolutely not."
"If you say so..."
"I do!" Syr had a menacing smile on her face.
"And now..." She opened the bag and took out dark clothes. "Let´s dress you up!"
Some of the clothes looked strange to Ryuu, but fell into her eye out of the others.
"Syr...ahm..." Ryuu picked up a curled sock. "What is the meaning of this?"
"You will see!" Syr had stars in her eyes.
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Now that she wore the clothes, Ryuu knew the purpose of the sock, it was both, uncomfortable to wear and embarassing...but it helped disguising her as a man. She was thankful for the lined west under the coat, it was custom made so she didn´t need to bind down her chest with a bandage. It absolutely didn´t make her slightly happy that this would be a problem for her, in the past at the casino it wasn´t a problem, but now that she had grown a bit...but it didn´t make her happy that this happened.
Definetely not!
Calm down.
Ryuu let her eyes wander slowly over the crowd, she hoped that Shakti up on the stairs didn´t look into her direction. She noticed that one of the figures returned her gaze, one of the heavily armored figures, the one with the tiny hydra heads on the helmet looked at her. When Ryuu turned her head to the figure, the helm nodded lightly to her.
Are they just observing the opponents?
"lf...Mister Elf?"
A man from the Ganesha Familia, with a mask on his face like his god waved to Ryuu, a clipboard in his hand.
"It is your turn, sir."
She nodded and went into the tent.
A magic stone lamp stood inside the tent, it was bright outside but for the questions, the curtains would be closed. Aside from that, no other furniture was inside the tent and-
"I am Ganesha!"
Well the god with the elefant mask and two of his followers that stood at the rear end of the tent.
"G-Good day, god Ganesha..."
"What a polite young man you are!" The god was as energetic as ever.
"Won´t you show me your face young man?"
Ryuu frowned lightly. "I´m sorry...I...can reveal my skin only to my beloved..."
It was a story they had used in the past and since she was an elf, no one would ask further questions about that.
"Aah the romance of the elves...truly a wonderful thing!" The god looked touched.
"Right.."
"Now then, the important question." Ganesha cleared his throat. "Are you level four or not longer than two months level five?"
"Yes."
"You will honor the rules of the tournament to not use skills or magic items?"
"Yes."
"You are aware that even with the magic field it might happen that youu or your opponent get hurt and that this field only protects your body?"
"Yes."
"Wonderful, Mahahaah! Now for a last thing for the tournament, would you tell me your name?"
"Ah...ahm..." Ryuu swallowed...that would be embarassing... "M-Mysterio..."
"Hmm hmm hmm, I understand, then have fun with the tournament, I guarantee you will...for I am Ganesha!"
"Th-thanks..."
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Ryuu turned around and was about to leave the tent when she heard the god again, this time in a calm serious tone.
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"It´s good to see you are alive and well...child of Astrea..."
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Ryuu´s eyes widened in shock.
He saw right through my disguise!
Ryuu looked over her shoulder to the god but...he smiled.
"I´m sure you have your reasons, your secret is save."
She turned to him again and bowed thankfully.
"Allow me one question...how is she doing?"
"Good."
Ganesha grinned. "Now go and have fun in the tournament."
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With that Ryuu was officially registered.
So...in three days it begins...
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Cassandra leaned back and enjoyed the sun, the weather was just great here at the beach. She sat on a towel, right next to Bell who also enjoyed the sun, she couldn´t see his eyes, they were covered by his bangs.
"Bell, Cassandra, we´re going to look around the island, you two look after our stuff okay?"
"Yes lady Hestia."
In a few moments the others were gone and Cassandra was alone with Bell.
What a nice day...
"Cassandra.."
"Hm?" She turned her head to him, his eyes were still covered by his bangs.
"We´re alone now..."
"I´m aware."
"Finally..." He leaned closer.
Huh?...
"Finally I have you for myself..." Bell touched her shoulder gently and leaned closer.
"Ah eh...Mr. Bell.."
"When you forgot your pillow in past..that was a hint right?" He smiled.
Why can´t I see his eyes? Why are they covered by his bangs?
"W-What do you mean?"
"Oh you know what I mean..." Gently...very gently he pushed her down on her towel and leaned over her.
Wha-Wha-Wha-Wha-Wha-Wha-Wha-Wha
"We´re alone...we can be as loud as we want now..." His fingers wandered to the string that held her bikini top.
Hiiiiiiiiiii!
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Cassandra blinked and everything was gone.
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Huh?
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The scenery changed into a forest shrouded in fog.
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Nooooo! Not a vision please! I want to return to the other dream! I want to see what he will do to me...
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It was a forest, a large green forest as far as Cassandra could see with only deciduous trees and a lake in the middle. The forest was silent, no birds could be heard, no other animals, but something moved in the forest, something small. The bushes rustled and out came...a fairy...a small green fairy.
She giggled and ran along the glade, the bushes rustled again and a white bunny with a carrot in his teeth appeared, to chase after the fairy. Both disappeared into the bushes, only to return after a few seconds. The fairy wasn´t running away from the bunny, it was more like they had fun running around in the forest.
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The scenery changed again...
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A big tree appeared in front of Cassandra, a tree so big she couldn´t see the treetop. Somehow she could see the roots, all of them were healthy and well...except one. One had a dark color and was rotten. The darkness spread over the other roots and onto the tree until it was completely black and started to break.
After a few seconds the tree was there again and it started again from the root.
This continued a dozen times.
At the last time, when the root was about to spread it´s color, a bright flame appeared and burned the root to ash, the tree was saved...
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The scenerey changed...
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Fog...fog as far as Cassandra could see. She heard muffled noises...the clang of metal on metal, voices...and other things. The ground started to shake...more and more until something big burst out of the ground...a titanic black snake with fiery red eyes...she eyed Cassandra and just as she was about to attack her...
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The scenerey changed...
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Cassandra saw the green fairy again, she looked concentrated as she jumped over...a sheep. Then she jumped over a second sheep...and another sheep...
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The scenery changed...
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"Grrrrr!"
Fog again. Cassandra heard a deep growl. A huge growling shadow towered over a badly hurt crying kitten.
"M-meow...meow!"
The kitten was shaking from fear, but unable or unwilling to run away...
"GROWL!"
The shadow growled louder and like it was an answer...
"HISSA!"
Something else came running...
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The scenery changed...
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Darkness...endless darkness. Cassandra could see nothing, then a dim light appeared. It was an adventurer...no, a knight? No! It was just a hollow armor.
The armor whirled around, stepped forward and back and swung it´s arms.
It looked like it was fighting against something that she couldn´t see, but without weapons. There was no person in the armor...it was completely hollow.
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The scenery changed...
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A house...the upper floor of a house. Cassandra looked left and right, nothing special to see, just a house like there were hundreds in Orario. She heard low voices from downstairs and saw a light falling out of a room to her left. She followed the light and found... A skeleton sitting in an armchair and reading a newspaper... When she entered the skeleton looked up.
What the-
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The scenery changed...
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"Caw Caw!"
A big clack crow flew across the sky and croaked deafeningly.
The kitten appeared again, this time without wounds.
"Meow!"
As the kitten meowed, the crow croaked loud and fell out of the sky...
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The scenery changed...
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"Piii...pi pi pi..."
The fairy again, she walked a long distance, an empty bucket in her hands. In front of her lay a shaking green snake. The fairy looked sorry, as she stepped to the snake and put the bucket on the snake...
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The scenery changed...
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The bunny again, it was lying on its side, its left hind leg sticking out at an awkward angle. Deep wounds covered the bunny, it was hardly breathing. Many bones seem to be broken.
"Piii"
The fairy appeared and jumped to the bunny to touch it´s snout. The bunny didn´t respond...it wasn´t moving anymore...
"Piii!"
The fairy screamed and tapped the bunnies nose again and again...but it didn´t move...
"Piiiiiii!"
The fairy broke down and started to cry over the dead bunny...
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The scenery...stopped.
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What is the meaning of all this?
Cassandra had many prophetic dreams in the past, but most of them had one topic...this now seemed to be many short prophecies.
Why can´t I have nice dreams for once...I want to go back to the beach!
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Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Bell looked interested as he watched Welf working at the forge, sometimes he came here to talk with Welf or just watching him working on their equipment.
"I´m amazed everytime I watch you."
"Hehe, thanks."
"What did you wanted to talk about?"
Welf put the metal he worked on right now back into the forge to reheat it and put down his hammer on the anvil.
"I wanted to ask you something Bell...a suggestion if want to call it that."
"Just say it."
"You still have the parts of the antlers that Hephaistos cut off for you?"
"Of course."
"You remember that I told you I probably wouldn´t be able to forge something good out of the antlers right?"
"Yes sir." Bell nodded.
Welf crossed his arms and leaned against the anvil. "I talked a while with Tsubaki and Hephaistos and an idea came to me."
"I´m listening."
Welf went to a box on the side and took out two metal bars. "This is pure adamantium."
"Okay?..."
"If you would trust me...allow me...I would like to forge you a weapon with that. I might not be able to forge a weapon pure made from the antlers but with this adamantium, I can make something else."
"Sounds interesting, what do you have on your mind?"
"A sword."
"Hmmm...a sword...I´m not really the sword type."
"But you have used one before right?"
"Yeah some times."
"I want to try my new technique on that sword and some things that Tsubaki and Hephaistos will show me."
"Hmm."
"It will also help us in the dungeon in the future, I won´t promise a real magic weapon, but it will be a fine sword and you would have a third weapon. Your knifes won´t be effective against everything we face in the deep levels. Sometimes you need more range to reach a magic stone."
"That sounds good."
"You could changed between your weapons in the fight depending on the situation and maybe...just maybe the new technique will work."
"What would that mean?"
"Magical charges."
"Okay...?"
"It wouldn´t be a true magic weapon, one the charges are used, they will need long time to re-charge...that´s the idea."
"Do it."
"Are you sure?"
"I trust no smith more than you, try it."
"Thank you Bell, that means alot to me."
"Not for that Welf."
"Oh and something else."
"Hm?"
"If you win the tournament and you will get the sword for your lady...and I can finish your sword...they might react to each other, because they are made from the same material, but that´s just a theory."
"That sounds really good!"
"Do you prefer a form?"
"Well ahm..." Bell looked a bit embarassed.
"Just say it, I won´t laugh."
"A straight longsword, usable with one or both hands and a cool looking quillon."
Welf grinned. "Cool looking yeah?"
"You said you won´t laugh!"
"Sorry, Sorry." Welf´s face became serious. "I promise to you I will do my absolute best and forge you a sword worthy of a hero."
A hero...
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Ryuu closed the last buckles of her coat and looked at herself in the mirror. Still a bit embarassing to look like that, but way better than getting discovered. She haven´t seen Bell in a week,
one day he came to the pub and said he would go into the dungeon for a while, but he didn´t want to go without seeing Ryuu. He came while they were on break, so only Syr and Anya saw what he did.
He bowed before her, took her hand and placed a kiss on the back of her hand, he wouldn´t do more with the others around.
"I promise I will come back to you, I always will." He smiled.
"Have a save trip...Bell."
It was embarassing yes...but it made Ryuu insanely happy.
She slapped her cheeks lightly to get her concentration back.
Now is not the time to think about that.
Ryuu put her hood on and the scarf, took her swords and left her room.
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Bell closed the last buckles of his armor and looked at himself in the mirror. He had spent the last week in the dungeon to get as fit as possible for the tournament, rarely for him, he went alone.
He still had to smile when he remembered how he wished Ryuu goodbye, it just came over him.
Bell slapped his cheeks lightly and checked his weapons a last time.
Wish me luck, Ryuu.
He took his cape, since it was a bit cold in the morning and left his room.
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The first day of the tournament had come.
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Authors Note: Hello everyone again. At first I thought about making one chapter out of this and the one before, then I changed my mind. I want to thank you again for your Reviews, especially DuskWalker. I read every Review mutliple times and sometimes I get ideas from that for the story. I wonder what you all are guessing about Cassandra´s dream. The next chapter promis you fights, fights and did I mention fights?