RD 4 Ch 35

Vidar had started with his fists, and I had been happy to continue that type of fight, feeling like we’d established an unwritten rule that we weren't fighting with weapons. The only skills he'd use were for movement, along with passive enhancements we had in our own bodies.

So, I felt betrayed and cheated by the sudden stabbing sensation, only for it to disappear nearly as quickly as it came. 

Whatever blade he'd stuck through me had held me up for just a second, long enough for him to come around with his left hand and clock me in the side of the head.

With my legs currently unresponsive, I couldn't stop myself from flying through the air and smashing into the wall of the arena, where I promptly coughed up a mouthful of blood and once again my Immortal Body skill kicked in, repairing my spine as well as everything else he'd just destroyed.

Thankfully, I had upgraded that recently, otherwise some of these injuries might not have healed.

Yet Vidar seemed in no hurry, having severed my spine. "Tough thing about regeneration," he chuckled with a smug smile. "It's really slow on the spine. Lots of little nerves have to get realigned back up," he wiggled his fingers together. "But like you said with Venthra, I'm just a Borrson. I’m teaching a weaker one a lesson." 

He stepped forward. He knew enough about regeneration to know what it could and could not do effectively.

I flashed back to my father ripping out my heart in my past life. Somewhere in the Borrson teachings, there was probably extensive knowledge on regeneration, especially if my father learned how to upgrade the ability. 

But Vidar was wrong to believe he knew everything about me. I did not have regeneration, I had Immortal Body. I waited, appearing weak as he stepped up and swung his leg back in a well-telegraphed kick.

Choosing my moment, I shoved myself off the wall underneath his kick and snatched up his other leg, grabbing it and rolling with it as my legs began moving again. I brought both of us into a tumble.

He couldn’t step into space if he couldn’t move his legs. 

On just one leg he fell over sideways, twisting in ways that could not be comfortable, only for me to finish the roll on my stomach and kick my legs underneath me.

I launched myself to my feet well before he could, attempting to grab his ankle and toss him around. But thinking through the ability he’d used before, I simply satisfied myself with a heavy kick to his chest. 

He did his best to block the hit, but I heard his arm snap as I launched him across the arena.

"What was that about lessons? Perhaps a good one for you, Vidar, would be to not play with your opponents. After all, that wasn't a nasty ability you used behind that punch," I spoke loud enough for the crowd to hear and glanced to the side, only to see several people shocked and looking at their neighbor.

He’d used something subtle enough that nobody else had seen the move. 

"Perhaps this has gone on long enough," Ozzy jumped into the arena. "After all,  even if this is some odd Borrson clan tradition, you are still our guests. I do not want to take on the implications if one of you dies while I am hosting you." 

Vidar got back to his feet, and his arm wasn't fixing itself as quickly as mine was able. He might have me beat in his raw stats, but it was clear that in a long, drawn-out fight I could probably take him.

Of course, I couldn't account for every trick he held in his spatial ring. 

"Yes, I think we've all learned valuable information. Venthra, with me." Vidar jerked his head to the side.

For the first time, she hesitated to listen. But that hesitation lasted only for a brief moment before she jumped down into the arena.

He roughly grabbed her by the shoulder, the two of them winking out of existence as he stepped forward. 

Ozzy turned to me, looking decidedly less friendly despite the smile on his face. "Perhaps it's time for the rest of my guests to go as well, unless you'd like to smash someone else's face in my arena."

I chuckled and scratched the back of my head. "Sorry, it just kind of turned out that way. Sometimes when we Borrsons fight, situations can get a little heated." I chuckled again, remembering the excuse that Vidar had given Hercules when he nearly killed him after fighting the Gate Guardian in Copenhagen. 

"Wonderful," Ozzy said unamused.

Merlin and Circe were already coming down to the arena floor. "We'll be on our way shortly," Circe assured Ozzy. "It will just take us a minute. Our ability to travel isn't quite as fast as Vidar's." She sounded apologetic, but her politeness was simply factual. 

Ozzy gave a shooing motion and Merlin was already beginning to cast her teleportation spell.

It didn't last long before the three of us winked away from Egypt and landed somewhere decidedly more humid.

"And what was that?" Circe spun on me the second my feet touched solid ground. 

"I was testing him," I repeated with a shrug, not particularly liking her tone. 

"Vidar is the face of the Borrson clan," she emphasized. "Which means if you upset him, anything and everything that the Heros Clan says is liable to get warped on the way back to them. He controls most of the information that flows to his clan. That means even a small bias twist from him, even without meaning it, could do serious harm. And by the way you two are fighting, I'm sure there will be a very strong intent from him to do you and anyone working with you harm. He's an asshole," she spat. "But he is in a critical position.”

I shook my head. He had poisoned my mother, and seeing how he treated his adopted daughter, turning her into a tool that I'm sure he was going to discard, was another massive count against him. I had seen the type before.

“Playing friendly with Vidar all the way up until he doesn't need you isn't the right approach, Circe. I'd rather let him piss off the Borrson Clan enough. Someone else comes out to swing their weight around, and then perhaps we can give them a decidedly different impression than the one Vidar gave them." I told her. Perhaps even sprinkle some divisiveness into the Borrson Clan while we’re at it.

"I thought you hated this part," she said.

"I do politicking. But just because I hate something doesn't mean I'm bad at it, it just means I don't like to engage in it. Besides, the clans were never really that friendly to begin with. Some friction might get us more control of the Hell Gate in Copenhagen and all of the instances of popping over Europe. They are clearly in the Heros Clan territory. Let Vidar go run off to the Americas if he wants, or perhaps tell the rest of the Borrsons to be happy with the Nordic states and Antarctica. After all, I'm sure the Borrson clan would love to collect instances that are so far away. Thankfully they have Vidar to shuttle anyone who wants to go places around. I'm sure, given how much his stats have improved, that he's been using his ability far more for his own benefit than the rest of the clan." I was sure that Vidar was taking a disproportionate benefit from what he was discovering while out and about. That ability couldn’t carry many people.

"You won't be able to drive a wedge between him and Borrson leadership so easily," Circe warned me. “They are insulare, living in a colony in Antarctica doesn’t make them very friendly. More like polar bears and not the cute version on commercials.”

"We'll see about that. Now, Merlin, where are we?" I asked in confusion, glancing around and not recognizing anything surrounding us. 

"Greece," she said. "I thought it more important to get us out of there rather than where we're going. Speaking of, where exactly might that be?" She raised an eyebrow.

***

Several weeks passed in a blur after the fight with Vidar.

After getting humanity's generals and their advisors more accustomed to each other, I began sending them off with as many local recruits as we could gather. This allowed them to train in groups and build camaraderie organically. I, along with the leadership across the Mul Branova, took turns as well, ensuring they understood the larger organization and operated as a whole.

I had forced some others amongst the armies, but the Mul Branova was separate and the core of our forces. It was important that I continue to keep them growing, lest the armies catch up.

After all, I was letting them help train the armies so they’d be recognized as a higher authority and an extension of my will.

Training an army was not something done easily or quickly, despite people's literal abilities to level up pertinent skills. We needed instances and time to run people through them. And that time, I feared, was quickly running out.

The demons and other forces were training just as hard, everyone's lives depended on it. A race for power had already begun, the war would just be measuring ourselves against one another.

Despite having many instances, we also had an increasing number of people. The instances that had opened in the early stages of the Rapture, with plenty of runs available, were now running dry. We could only run them as fast as a charge would recover. 

Thankfully, a new problem arose. Instances had popped in pockets of the world that were sparsely populated, leading to the beginning of an ecosystem of monsters flourishing throughout the world.

One such instance was not too distant from our fortress. Although it could be easily overhunted, it provided much-needed stress for the new recruits. After all, learning to swing a sword correctly under stress was a far different skill than learning to swing it in an empty field with a peaceful master waiting patiently. 

I stood with my arms behind my back, watching twenty new recruits march through the forest in front of me. "Heads up," I called out as another group came into view and too many of them had missed it.

Then again, they had been marching for over ten hours and their eyes were beginning to droop, some of their heads nodding, nearly falling asleep while walking. My words caused them all to snap to attention. Several of them called magic to their hands.

The people moving through the forest were our own people and they realized that quickly, lowering their weapons.

The other group looks far fresher and Simone waved her hands excitedly as her eyes met mine. “Bran!” She shouted, rushing past her troops.

I’d expect them to react, but there were a number of Mul Branova with her that were too busy staring.

In no time, she slammed her body into me and molded herself into my chest, letting my arm hold aloft by her rear.

“Having fun?” I asked, kissing her on the forehead.

“Wonderful fun. The Mul Branova need some leadership experience and the troops are reacting well to them. These are some of Winnie’s while she teaches those from her sect that came with her. Speaking of other women, how’s pursuing and pinning down Circe going?”

“Men, take five.” I shouted and my group nearly collapsed onto the forest floor.

“Ladies, refreshments and healing please!” Simone called over her shoulder. “Make it ten, I’ll buy you all an extra five minutes.” She winked at me before returning to our hushed conversation. “So, Circe? Need some time to chase her down?”

I figured the best way to keep her from pushing that line of questioning was to walk with her still held in my arm behind a tree and keep her mouth busy.

Simone moaned as her luscious lips melted under my own. The question was forgotten, as she pawed at me like she wanted me to push harder, though any harder and our teeth would be touching.

I pulled back to breath and look into her beautifully flushed face.

“More.” She groaned only to grab my head and kiss me passionately before pulling back and gasping. “So, Circe. Don’t think you can avoid the question with kissing. I’m hot for you and you’ll have to solve that before we go back, but the question won’t go away.” She trailed a finger down my chest.

I gave Simone an unamused expression. "How about you take over my batch of soldiers to give me that time?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

Only for her to surprise me. "Sure. Give me your batch. They look worn down to the bone." She answered with a shrug.

"They are," I said. "You have to keep them under a lot of pressure and then keep them from making mistakes. It's tough, but you don't fight without being under pressure. They need to learn to operate under it."

Simone gave me a weird look before shrugging. "Sure, that's fine. I'm certain I can make plenty of pressure." She giggled and shooed me away. "Now go make it nicey-nice with Merlin and Circe. Remember, that's why I'm giving you a break from this. You’re mine tonight though, be ready and rested."

I stopped pressing her to the tree and let go off her rear that had been comfortably in my palm.

She hopped off of me after one last lingering kiss, before waving her hand at my group in an overly sweet voice. "Yoo-hoo! I'm in charge of you now." And after she said those words, she shouted “Duck!”. Then she fired off a heartbreaker beam straight into my group. Two that were, unfortunately, slow to react, got knocked off their feet and shot into the forest. 

"Oh no! Two of our men have been disconnected from us! Quick! We have to find them! Healers be ready!" She shouted in mock concern, only for the rest of my group to snap to attention and rush to help their fallen comrades, while also falling out of formation.

Simone began firing off more heartbreaker beams to trim them back into formation. And with that, I knew her soldiers would learn plenty on how to operate under pressure.

It seemed she was decently tough on them after all.