Hello, everyone, I hope all is good and well with you so far.
Currently, there's nothing really to say so without wasting any time, enjoy the chapter!
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Monsters, Gods with Arcanum etc. talking"
Premise:
Kaida looks to make a productive audience with Kali, but the Goddess of Destruction turns out to drive an impossibly hard bargain that is immensely difficult to resist...
Nervous and Anxious were the emotions that would best describe the current state of Kaida's mind. Kali was... difficult, from what she remembers about this world and its contents. A goddess of destruction through and through, with a childish manner and easily offender temper. She knew well that in order to get what she wants out of the Goddess, she may have to offer becoming a part of her Familia for the time being. She would love to avoid it, but it cannot be helped if there is no way around it.
She took a step forward, her arms stretched out in order to push open two large gates that were the primary barrier between Kaida and the throne room, the epicenter of the Capital City from where Kali rules over her kingdom. Once the massive doors were parted and the Queen of Beasts got to take a look inside, she was... deflated would be the right word. It was just an empty, large hallway with a simple stone throne at its very center, raised high enough that Kali's eyes were higher than those of her two Captains, who were themselves quite tall for the average woman.
"Ah, the woman of the hour!" Kali exclaimed with jovial glee in her tone, clapping her hands together before she set them aside on the armrest of her throne. "Tell, tell, who are you? Where do you come from?"
"Lady Kali" Kaida greeted in return, offering a respectful bow before she stood upright, arms crossed.
Kaida had her first, and probably most difficult challenge before her: How to deceive a Deity. From what she recalls, the Gods can all detect lies and truths from someone's statement. However, this 'lie detection' was not entirely without flaw. For starter, it could be most accurately described as a misnomer, because what they detect is not lie and truth from an objective fact, but subjective belief. They only detect the truth if whoever speaks it wholeheartedly believes in it. You therefore cannot consciously lie to the gods, but if you yourself are deceived and/or fanatical, that's a different matter entirely. As such, 'Lie detector' was inaccurate and it is more correct to call it a 'belief detector' for it only discerns truth and falsehood based on the speaker's belief of what is true and false.
Kaida knew she could use that to her favor, ontop of the other, secondary loophole: The lie detection cannot discern context. Technicalities and vagueness were great ways to circumvent outright lying. The difficulty was finding the right words to properly convey the truth without giving context and detail to its contents.
"I am no one of renown in this world, and my origin is wholly foreign to your people so it does not matter" Kaida spoke, being very, very careful with how she worded her response to simultaneously be correct, vague and not disrespectful to Kali. This audience had to go somewhere useful, so being in her good graces would be highly beneficial.
"Ara, mysterious, huh? Or are you just trying to be edgy and secrety?" Kali voiced with no small amount of taunt in her tone, clearly aiming for a reaction.
"Just being as honest as I can be with you, Lady Kali" She spoke, once again technically correct without adding too much detail, and Kali was picking up on it because her grin brightens and she nods her head. "If however you have questions partaining this audience, I am open to answering those with precision" Kaida added, a small smirk of her own growing on her face.
Kali simply smirked brighter before she placed her chin against her left arm to rest it while said arm was upright against the armrest of the throne. "How deliciously audacious you are. I do so enjoy it when people speak to me as if I am just another person. Lucky you, most other gods would be aghast with shock from the disrespect"
"I figured it may add to the entertainment factor. After all, how many gods can really claim to have seen the peak of human cockyness?"
Kali suddenly laughed out loud, clapping her hands repeatedly while wiggling in her throne from the sheer level of humor and joy she was experiencing. It took her a good moment to finally calm down and wipe a single tear from her right eye. "Oh, that was so good, I like you! You are right, where's the fun in constantly being worshipped and treated like walking on eggshells. Sometimes you need a little smoke and fire for a splash of ruin amongst all the lively green! That is the essence of destruction! To oppose norm, to defy nature, and that includes to be rude and unreasonable with the gods! Your audacity only honors me!"
Kaida felt a small amount of relief in her chest as she heard those words. Maybe Kali would not be as difficult to navigate as she thought.
"Now then, what brought you to me to begin with?" The Goddess of Destruction asked, leaning a little into her arm as a display of mild boredom, now that the little opening talk was over and they got to the meat of the discussion.
"A reform" Kaida answered immediately, which piqued Kali's interest once again. "To be precise, an age requirement for the arena fights in Telskyura. Since my fight with Argana, I have been able to research a bit and turns out there is no minimum age requirement. At all. Some of these girls enter the Arena as soon as they know how to walk!"
"So?" Kali asked with a raised brow. "This has been tradition for thousands of years, way before my descend even. This is the Amazon way, the strong live, the weak die."
"But it is not strength to be killed when it is physically not possible to be strong!" Kaida countered. "It is heavily detrimental to their growth and development! Not to mention completely traumatizing! You gods came down here to be entertained, not to watch mindless drones be at each others throats because that's all they know!"
Kali had to admit, good argument. She hummed for a moment before she opened her closed eyes. "Sound reasoning, but it ignores one crutial detail: Those who start earlier all end up being exceptional amongst my ranks. Take Argana and Bache for example. Both have been fighting to the death since they turned 2 years old. And now they are amongst the rarest type in the world, Adventurers who reached the status of First Class without ever setting foot in the dungeon."
"Yeah and thats not gotten you into a slew of trouble, has it?" Kaida quipped with rapidfire speed. "Take a look at them. They eat, they sleep, they fuck and they fight and thats it. Argana is so uncontrollable she would declare war on the world if you so much as turn around for a second and Bache... I can't say much about her since I haven't crossed fists with her yet, but she seems like a follower with no sense of her own. She does what is told without questioning or pushing back. Tell me, in what way has that been fun to you?"
The Queen of Beasts and the Goddess of Destruction lock eyes for an extended period of silence, a tension building up that was so thick and overwhelming that even the captains began to worry a little. After a moment, Kali smirks. "Very well, let me hear it. What do you propose?"
"Start at the age of 8. Begin with a linear training start focused around improvement of the body. A boot camp, if you will, which lasts for 4 years, then begin with same-age spars and once they reach adulthood at 15, let them at each others throats as per usual. Build a hierarchy, a system and a structure. This will give you more disciplined, more united fighters that are better prepared and not nearly as emotionally dulled and scarred."
"And pray tell, how do you suggest we begin such a reform?" Kali fired away more. She wanted to test Kaida, to see how far she thought it through. Such a reform was no light work at all, and if she is to even consider it, then the arguments and suggestions need to be sound, doable and above all else, it had to convince her that it was beneficial for her ambitions and amusements.
"Implementation of the bootcamp first. Make an announcement that you take in new recruits every seminar, every half-year at summer and winter respectively." Kaida began to talk, recalling her office days and using that knowledge as well as her childhood memories of her war ridden homeland to formulate a coherent structural bootcamp for Kali. "Have weekly cyclical exercises aimed at different aspects of the body. A day dedicated to calisthenics and endurance, a day dedicated to muscle strength, a day for weapons training and the like. Add quartal-spaced vacations to give them rest days, one week every 3 months with 2 weeks for summer and winter to give the paperwork time to be processed in that time-"
Kali suddenly raised her hand. "Enough, you have convinced me. You have it thought out well enough. And since you defeated my strongest, you have proven that you possess the merit of being heard out. So as reward for your victory, I will grant you this wish, under one condition"
And here it was... the thing that Kaida was worried about more than the lie detection.
"Join my familia!"
Those words. Those damned words. Kaida had to think thousands of thoughts a second to properly process the order and try to find a way out of it. She could not remain bound to Kali for long, so she decided that she would not join if she has less than a year, the period needed for switching Familias, to reach Orario and join the protagonist to piggyback off of his attention and get heat off of her own public reception. She needed him to be in the limelight to have her own little peace.
"I will consider it based on your response to my following question. I know you have been in touch with Ishtar." These words caused Kali to abruptly lose her confident smile so far, replacing it with a bland expression of pure curiosity. "She no doubt wants to involve you in her little petty vendetta against Freya. Has she requested your presence yet?"
"Hoo, looks like we have a leak in our mids, or how did you find out about all this?"
"It is no secret that Ishtar is friends with you and that she envies Freya to heaven and back. Considering her reputation as a petty brat with frequent tantrums, it does not take a genius to guess she would be trying to get those she thinks her friends, like you, to join her in her ambition. So, did she?"
"Clever girl..." Kali complimented with a feral grin. "No, she has not yet, though she did mention she was working on something near Melen and might need us there sometime soon. In about a year or two"
Bingo! With this, Kaida had confirmation that the events of Melen and Loki Familia's clash with Kali were not yet close to occuring, which meant... "Then I will join your Familia, under the condition that once we depart for Melen, whenever that may be, I will be leaving it as I intend to go to Orario and settle down there. Until that day arrives, I will serve and be of service"
"Attagirl!" Kali jovially exclaimed and leapt off of her throne, walking closer towards the massive, bestial woman before her. "Then let us get you that falna right away!"
After that, Kaida was laid down on Kali's personal bed, back faced upwards and the small goddess was on the massive one's back, moving her thumb to her canine tooth to prick it for a few droplets of blood before she began to draw with the drop of blood on Kaida's back. Soon enough, a faint glow bathed the room in its dim, gentle light as the Ichor, the divine essence contained within a God's blood, did its work and imprinted the Falna on Kaida's back.
"And that's do-"
As she was about to finish up, the contents of Kaida's falna became visible and Kali was positively gobsmacked. All personnel across the palace heard her yell "WHAT THE FUCK!?" at the top of her lungs upon the sight...
Kaida (Ashrah)
Race: Oni
Age: 48
Level: 8
STR: S999
AGI: S999
END: S999
DEX: S999
MAG: S999
SKILLS:
Haki: The manifestation of Willpower into physical form. Enables:
-A Sixth Sense to sense danger, intention and even immediate clairvoyance
-Armament to enhance defense and offense and allows User to interact with Magic in physical manner
-The Ability to pulsate a wave of pure intimidation to test the willpower of selected targets. Those with much lesser willpower pass out or submit fully to the user.
This Skill consumes a Slot for Magic and use of it consumes Mind Power and improves the Magic Stat.
Queen of Beasts: Proof that the mortal host body has ascended into a realm of its own through sheer willpower and success against tribulations beyond reason, acclaiming rulership over all creatures of the mortal realm.
- Excelia gain is boosted to those fully loyal to the user.
- Fighting against User produces Excelia. Excelia gain is increased significantly if the intent to kill is present.
- Stats are boosted up to 25% if fighting one on one to the death.
MAGIC:
DEVELOPMENTAL ABILITIES:
Strong Body: A (Tougher skin, higher muscle power, highly improved natural healing factor and endurance)