Hello, everyone, I hope all is good and well with you so far.
Yes, chapter 2 released just hours after the story threw its Pilot chapter in the air. I know, but this is a one time thing because I just feel so fired up to write, it is very unlikely I will release multiple chapters within the same day again, so please don't take this too optimistically.
Now, to answer reviews:
Haziq Saffari: I see you in many danmachi fics and I know your opinions will definetly be objective and informative. I look forward to your feedbacks! Thank you for the encouraging start!
Dima: I apologize in advance for the disappointment, but I don't think I will start any other projects until this one is finished. One story already takes a lot of my attention and energy, if I started a second one anytime soon, both would end up abandoned and I do not want to do that. As such, I want to use this as an opportunity to ask my dear readers to not give me suggestions as they will all unanimously be rejected, regardless how good of an idea it may be. I simply don't have the energy to juggle more than one story at a time.
Now with all that said, lets get into the chapter!
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Monsters, Gods with Arcanum etc. talking"
Premise:
Lost in Telskyura, Kaida has to figure out how to make her way to Orario, all while getting herself into a mountain of trouble due to Amazonian culture...
Hours passed since Kaida arrived in this world and she finally made it to the gates of the large, protective wall surrounding the capital city of the nation Telskyura, the home of the Amazons. Amazons were an all-female race of tan skintone and typically black hair and brown eye colour, though these features may vary. Amazons have a uniquely dominant gene which causes them to only ever give birth to other Amazons. It is literally biologically not possible for one to birth anything else lest it be a miracle granted by the gods.
Kaida had to however be much more wary of their culture... Amazons were a very combat-driven people who respect strength in battle over anything else, so much so that their entire species is psychologically hard-wired to become romantically and especially sexually attracted to whoever defeats them in combat. This stems from a dominant animal-instinct to produce strong heir for ensured survival, which has been so strongly imprinted that it is a key component of their entire culture now.
Additionally, Amazons, due to that animalistic instinct, also have a drive to not wear too much clothing. That is hypothesised to be due to a strong belief that equipment that enhances ones strength makes said strength unnatural and thus repulsive. To be as exposed as possible and win is a testament of both literal and figuretive strength and deserves more respect. Therefore, in an ideal world, all amazons would be naked and fight exclusively with their fists and kicks.
This also meant that Amazons were very cantankerous and will pro-actively look for conflict where there is absolutely nothing to gain just for the sake of a fight with a potential mate. All this results in a violent, near-exhibitionistic race of warrior-driven women who punch first and ask questions later. Combat was the one unilateral law that everyone has to obey. The last and most troublesome part of that was that it meant you could not refuse any challenges, ever.
Kaida was particularily wary of this, so she knew that until she was out of this nation, she could not affort to get into any trouble...
"Halt!" One of the gate guardians stated, and Kaida stopped in her tracks. "Name and purpose for visit?" The guardian asked in a very monotonous tone, holding a block of paper in her hand as well as a pen to write down information.
"Kaida, and I am only stopping by on my way to Orario"
"Ah, another one of 'those'." The guardian noted with light hostility in her tone. Telskyuran Amazons were rather nationalistic and so those who seek to leave their home are typically regarded with less respect.
Kaida held her tongue about any comments she may have had in this moment. Her usual quipp and fast mouth could easily get her into a slew of challenges from insulting people so it was an effort to bite her tongue. Without much more issue, she was allowed to pass and enter the city. Telskyura does not ask for fees, as often people end up wasting way more money within the city as they are entering it, so entry fees were abandoned due to the sheer level of how much they are unneeded for the profits they make.
Kaida simply followed the main road past the gates, figuring that surely those would lead her to the places that are worth looking at, as well as noteworthy facilities where she can buy things like a new set of clothes. The former Yonko's clothing was just too revealing for her taste, so she wanted something different, forgetting where she was and that all she can find is even more revealing clothes.
As she was walking, she kept glancing around and observing her surroundings, mostly to study it all because it was so... familiar. The design of homes and architecture in general was much like the middle east during the pre-modern ages. Square-shaped homes of clay and stone using long blinds as covers for where doors should be. However, they still had a touch of modern civilization with windows and lights and doorbells. It was a harmonious mixture, one that complimented life in desert. The homes were made to be protective of the beaming sun and the harsh climate that changes temperatures with insane leaps between day and night.
Furthermore, they had more cultivated structures too such as sewage systems and aquaducts running across the city, providing water and clean streets everywhere. The roads themselves were well paved and shaped, but they were not modernized and remained with their touch of nature, being sandstone and small debris here and there.
All in all, Telskyura's capital looked like it was in the middle of transitioning to modernity, but one caught it halfway there.
However, whatever notion of peace she had was tossed out of the window when she suddenly bumped into someone's back. In itself, that person who got bumped in seemed to not be bothered by it, but as it would turn out, the reason that Amazon even stopped moving was because there was a commotion on the road and a ring of witnesses and spectators had formed, one of whom Kaida walked into.
"Excuse me, what is going on? I just arrived" Kaida spoke, asking the amazon she bumped into for some information regarding this commotion.
"Oh just a fight between two amazons, no big deal-"
"LET ME GO, I SAID NO!" Suddenly sounded from the center. The voice was very high pitched and shrill, no doubt belonging to a little girl who could not possible be near the decisionmaking-age needed for this culture.
Kaida suddenly burst past the amazon who gave her the unhelpful explanation and brushed her way past other onlookers, hurriedly sounding a few 'sorry's and 'excuse me's as she walked into vision-range to see what was going on.
The sight of the incident brought her blood to a boiling point.
As she arrived, she saw a clearly adult amazon swing her hand to smack a small girl, who could not have possibly been older than 8, square across the face.
"You will NOT disobey me! I said you are going to the Arena today to fight for Kali!"
Kaida was never a fan of abuse to children. Where she was from, during the worst of times, children were subjected to every horror known to war. She only barely escaped such fate herself when she was in that age-range, so the trauma she carried from it was deeply scarring and defining for her. To see something like this occur before her now made her practically see red and she stomped forward and punched the adult amazon in her face, square into the jaw. However, Kaida completely forgot who's body she possessed, so that one punch send the woman flying so far that she crashed through several buildings, the impact on the last one causing a kinetic explosion that produced a shockwave reaching all the way back to the commotion area.
"Piece of shit, sending an 8 year old into an arena..." Kaida whispered with barely contained rage before suddenly calming down, taking a few deep breaths before kneeling before the small girl. "You alright? Did she hurt you anywhere else?"
The child, terrified by such display of power, silently shook her head, showing pure obedience through fear, something that unnerved Kaida greatly.
"Hoo, would you look at that..." Suddenly sounded a deeper, older yet still female voice. The ring of spectators suddenly made way to a wide entrance in said ring and forth stepped two women, clad in the thinnest, most revealing bra and hotpants that one may possibly imagine, with a simple cloth over their shoulders. They sported white hair and had very curvy, yet visibly muscular forms.
Most of the onlookers visibly trembled in their presence, either out of respect or fear, for those were Kali's executives, Bache and Argana Kalif, the two level 6s of Telskyura.
"You show promise, stranger. That punch just now, you barely tried but sent old Ira flying a good 60 meters and through 9 homes. I am impressed" Argana began, her cocky and brash tone of voice not even slightly concealed. She was, if anything, sounding like a child about to receive their christmas gift, so audible was the excitement and giddyness in her voice despite seemingly sounding calm. Those who knew her well however understood right away what was about to happen... "So how about it? I challenge you!"
Kaida in response could only think of one thing... "...fuck..."
It was 2 hours after the incident and the Arena was absolutely howling and hollering, rootin and tootin with roars of excitement. It was very rare for Argana Kalif to challenge someone to single combat, and rarer still was it for that someone to actually show up. Makes sense if one considers that the next strongest amazon in all of Telskyura was a high-end level 3, so the gap between them and the Kalif sisters was mountains in size.
Worse still, Kali herself was in attendance, present at a VIP section of the Arena
The Arena itself was much like a typical colliseum, ring shaped with audiences at elevated positions while the center of the Arena was where the spectacles took place. The one key difference would be what was not visible, which was the shape of the underground system. Rather than run circular along the Colliseum, the tunneling system was centered around going downwards in linear structure, so certain parts of the Arena could not access them at all. Subsequently, this also means that there were only two entrances/exits into said arena, and Argana and Kaida were walking in towards the center from one such entrance each.
"Hoo, you didn't run. Brave, or perhabs stupid. Either way, I hope that what strength you demonstrated was not simply a fluke!" Argana voiced with a roar of excitement in her voice before she suddenly dashed ahead.
Kaida wanted this to be over with quickly, so she knew she would no doubt make quite the impression as a result. However, it was either make an impression through winning fast or make an impression through winning while making it look close. There was simply no escaping the fact that this would put her name and image all over the world. And as for losing... well, she was not a fan of it. Why? Because if she lost, she loses the right to have a voice, and she would like to garner some influence in order to possibly convince Telskyura to set a minimum age limit to this Arena life.
So winning, aside from being tragically inevitable, also has the potential to let Kaida gain something from it. So she might as well...
Argana threw a flurry of punches, striking dead on all over, as Kaida was not blocking or anyhow defending against a single one of those. She took each hit onto her being without any defense whatsoever, being sent flying all the way to the large gate from which she entered the ring. She impacted onto it and then dropped to the floor.
Kali audibly scoffed at the sight, believing it to be over, but one look to Argana told her otherwise. The Captain of the Kali Familia looked, if anything, angry. And for good reason.
"What the hell... I put everything into those punches, but... my hits felt so shallow! I did close to zero damage!" Argana thought to herself before growling and taking an aggressive stance, leaping forward to deliver her most powerful kick.
Kaida meanwhile got up and rubbed the back of her head slightly, voicing a sigh before drawing her spiked mace, Kaido's signature Bagua, from her back. "Eight Trigrams Thunderclap" She voiced, executing Kaido's signature move, which most people knew as the 'Thunder Bagua' attack. Faster than even Bache and Argana could see, Kaida arrived in front of Argana and swung her Bagua, connecting to Argana's face. The impact was so powerful it sent a shockwave across the entire arena.
"GET OUT OF MY FACE!" Kaida roared as she executed the swing with full might, sending Argana flying all the way into the Arena, through all the walls and out of it, colliding into several buildings before eventually coming to a halt, causing an explosive kinetic impact that sent a shockwave which reverberated across the entire capital city.
Not only was it Argana's defeat due to being knocked out of the Arena, but onlookers who went to check on her would find out that this one strike, this singular attack, successfully knocked her out cold, eyes rolled back and everything.
Kali couldn't be more overjoyed however. She loves destruction more than anything, and not only did she have someone before her who could cause such destruction, but that someone, this nobody woman, knocked out her captain in a singular attack and made it look like it was nothing! The utter mystery, the dumb fun of such a turn of events! The goddess was shaking so badly it looked like she was seizing in her seat.
Kaida meanwhile pointed her bagua at Kali with a serious expression. "By right of victory, I demand an audience!"