Wish upon the Stars chapter 935

Obviously, I accepted. Fade was a complete monster in combat from what I could tell, someone who stood at the absolute peak of the heirworld in terms of battle skill. Having him and his people on board would not only make my claim to victory stronger, but would make all my people that much safer during the Void invasion.

Fade didn’t stay, wishing me well and telling me the time and date of my match, which would be the next day. I sighed internally at the news. Fade’s challenge was going to hang all my plans. Every possible alliance, in or out of the family, was going to be waiting for the dime to drop, which meant he’d essentially guaranteed I’d get no responses until after it happened. I turned to Crell with a grimace. “So, Mr. Info Broker, any idea who I’m going to be fighting?”

He hissed in displeasure. “There are…a finite number of options. But none of them are good.”

“I know it’s not one of Fade’s direct subordinates, at least,” I said hopefully. “He was pretty clear he only had a hundred and there’s no D-rankers. He IS going to put me against a D-ranker, right?”

“Definitely,” he assured me. “The House of Steel is all about their rep. He won’t ruin his to punch down at you. That wouldn’t accomplish anything. He might as well have just said no or not come here at all. No, you’ll be fighting a D-ranker, though most likely a VERY dangerous one. The House of Steel doesn’t have any upstream connections, but they have plenty downstream. They’re one of the most dangerous factions in the B-rank zone, and they’re absurdly selective, but EVERYONE wants to join.”

I sighed. “So I’m going to have every idealistic kid with a dream and a dagger lining up to kick my ass to show their local celebrities that they have what it takes to run with the big dogs?” His nod was not encouraging.

Callie looked unconcerned though. “Shane, honey, not just anyone will be able to hang with you. With all your forms and your gear and your training, not to mention being less than a hundred thousand points from C-rank, you’re sitting near or even past the peak of D-rank power. And that’s not even taking into account your Path bullshit. Not that there’s no one in D-rank who could threaten you, we know that’s not true, but it’ll need to be someone scary. I’m guessing there aren’t THAT many truly terrifying options close enough to a feasible possibility.” She raised an eyebrow at Crell.

He grimaced. “Four, that I can think of. Two of them aren’t in town, but with all the factions and candidates trekking into the city, they might show up. The crosssection of D-rank fighters who could give Shane a decent fight, have the qualities the House of Steel are looking for, and haven’t broken through yet within a few days travel…it’s not exactly definitive, but that’s enough parameters to narrow it down.”

We stared at him flatly, waiting for him to elaborate, and he jumped in his seat after a second. “Oh, you mean like…now.”

“Yes NOW,” spat Ellie with annoyance. “When the hell else would they mean?”

“I don’t know, it just seemed like a later conversation, it’s not like we don’t have all night,” he said sulkily. “But fine, a quadret of dossiers coming up. I’ll start least likely and work my way up. Firstly, the one I sincerely doubt you’ll face is Oryan. Master archer, clone powers, and he uses some sort of insanely dangerous super bow. His arrows almost never miss, and they can do weird shit like curve. Combined with the cloning you end up under a rain of arrows within seconds. His Might is stupid high, both because he’s extremely mobile and because the bow he uses is GIGANTIC and takes immense power to draw.”

I whistled. “And I’m NOT going to fight him?” I asked hopefully. “Because I don’t really LOVE the idea of fighting a walking artillery barrage.” I could counter him, between my predictive abilities and my various tricks I’d probably be fine. Probably. But it would be a long and obnoxious fight I’d rather just avoid.

Surprisingly Ellie answered this one. “The optics are off,” she said with a shake of her head. “Sends the wrong message. The Hall of Steel are professional soldiers. Close combat elites and warrior geniuses. Fielding a ranged combatant who relies on overwhelming firepower to just blast you down runs counter to the whole purpose of the duel.”

Crell tapped his nose. “Yup. Got it in one. Same reason the second one is out. Light based stealth assassin named Dawn. Fast as hell and with a bunch of weird cauterizing laser stab tricks. Bends light to become invisible. Same problem though, like we said. In fact, it’s even worse, because not only is the sneaky stabby thing “dishonorable” it’s also boring to watch. They want to put on a good show even if they lose, which remember they’re hoping they do.

“Now, the third one is one of the two options that you’re most likely to run into. Big ass armored bastard named Clayton Rivers,” his tone was surprisingly appreciative. “He has some kind of density shifting ability I think. Prefers charges. He MIGHT be an Adamant. I haven’t been able to confirm, but I do know he isn’t someone you want to meet head on. Rivers is probably the best representative of brute force in your face combat I can imagine, and he definitely fits the image to an extent.”

“I don’t see that one,” Ellie said, shaking her head. “Too blunt. Fade struck me as the economy of motion type. He likes force, but only as much as necessary. I’d bet credits to donuts he doesn’t want a brute force brawl. He wants something sophisticated. Style and brutality. He wants his guy to win and look good doing it. Raw skill and effortless violence are that guy’s cup of tea.” She raised an eyebrow at Crell. “I’m right, aren’t I? The last one is a weapons prodigy or something?”

He shrugged. “Duellist,” he admitted easily. “Some kind of blood based power, at least that’s what people think, he’s subtle about it. Cyrus the Red. He was actually my pick for most likely too. He’s FAST, and very scary. Uses a rapier, and you don’t want to let him cut you.”

“I assume I should probably worry about the same sort of issues as the Hall?” I asked as I leaned back in my chair. “Light cuts with blood powers would be easy enough to counter with something like Belial. Can’t cut me if I’m made of rock. How should I approach this? Do I crush him with overwhelming force, or would that make me come across as cocky or insulting?”

Ellie beamed at me. “And you say you aren’t any good at politics. An excellent question, little lord. I would suggest you lean on more martial avenues of fighting. A knock down drag out fight is going to leave more of an impression on a group like the Hall of Steel. You could WIN by just blasting him or smashing him with a giant rock hand, but that would only be a win, and not a victory.”

“Style and brutality,” I repeated her earlier words. “I can do that. Glory is pretty suited for up front battles. And obviously Mornax will protect me from some of the damage. I don’t have to avoid THAT do I?”

She snorted. “I said you should engage him head on, not be an idiot. A certain level of sportsmanship just turns into stupidity. You need to make it look good, that doesn’t mean you should go into the arena in your underwear. Although speaking of clothes, have you considered replacing that armor? You’re coming up on C-rank, and wearing plate mail the same rank as you is kind of pointless given your durability.”

“I know,” I groaned. “Between my slightly higher Impact and Mornax, nothing C-ranked can hurt me. Wearing all this armor once I rank up will be literally pointless. But B-rank plate isn’t cheap, and my grandmother had this custom made for me. I GUESS I could ask mom or grandma to get me something new commissioned, but that feels…pathetic.”

Getting help from my family to win the WCP was both inevitable and fine. They were going to benefit from that, and we’d always known it was coming. Asking them to field troops was transactional to an extent, even if I was warmed to know they’d do it even if it wasn’t. But running to my mommy to ask her to buy me new clothes because I outgrew my current set was so infantile it made me cringe.

It wasn’t even a matter of resentment or any of my old issues, it just would have violated every bit of self respect I had to fail to do something as basic as DRESS myself given everything I’d accomplished.

To my surprise, rather than tell me I was being stupid and prideful, Ellie nodded approvingly. “I get that.” I cocked my head in surprised confusion and she just laughed, rolling her eyes. “Wanting to earn your armor with your own two hands is hardly something I’m going to insult you over. I respect the drive. But it won’t be easy, even here. Sure, you have your scrolls to rely on, but with the conclave in town you’re hardly the only one, and there are bound to be higher ranked candidates with things to offer.”

I sighed, slumping back into my seat. “I know. I considered looking into some kind of auction while I was here. I’d dismissed it because I didn’t have time with the meetings and all, but since my recruitment efforts will be stalled until the fight…” I glanced at Crell. “Do you know if there’s an auction going on around here where I could get a suit of armor? Or at least materials for one. I’d want to do it before the fight, so it would need to be today or tomorrow.”

Callie sat up from where she’d been reclining leisurely, her eyes alight like a shark smelling blood in the water. “An Auction?” She asked with interest. “Full of magic items and treasure and-”

“Yes, you loot goblin,” I told her with a laugh. “And you’ll obviously be coming with me. I’ll pass you some scrolls to use as currency so you can get some gear for yourself. Though I hope you don’t replace the costume, I really like this one.”

She popped to her feet, twirling gracefully, skirt spinning as she swept into a delicate curtsy. “As my lord husband wishes.” Her solemn graceful performance is ruined moments later as she bursts into giggles though. My wife is anything but deferential, even if she DOES take my opinions into consideration. I stood, pulling her against me, and she laughed even more deeply as she leaned up for a kiss.

The two of us stood like that, swaying a bit to the low music on in the background of the tavern. They had an acoustic guitarist up on stage, and for a moment it was nice to just ignore the world and dance together.

“Boo!” Ellie called in annoyance. “Come on! Have some respect for the rest of us! The world isn’t your fairytale. Act like normal human beings who aren’t disgustingly in love.”

Callie’s giggle came back in force as she pulled away. And she flopped back into her chair with a laugh. “Sorry, sorry. Anyway, the cloak stays, though I might get a new dress if there’s something sturdier. I’m sticking with this theme though. Not least of which because a suit of armor would be a nightmare to get on over my wings. So what do you say Crell? You know an auction we could visit?”

His sigh was more than answer enough, but he went on to list a series of possible auctions nearby as I retook my seat. I had to admit, I was excited as hell. It was finally time to get myself some new armor, and I had several ideas of how to pay for it.