RD 3 Ch 20

Chapter 20

The fruits appeared one after the other up the stairs. Simone took only a moment to inspect them before realizing their incredible value. Bran had emphasized several times how difficult it could be to raise stats once leveling slowed down.

But realizing the opportunity these presented, Simone suddenly had a very bad feeling about what was going to happen next.

Gloria leaned down and picked up her fruit, pocketing it into her spatial ring with a smile.

Simone gave a heavy sigh next to her.

"Hey, I earned this." Gloria argued. 

Concerned with the value of the fruits, Simone stared at the apple in her hands, a fruit that would increase vitality. It seemed almost too easy.

Sure enough, a roar came from the initiates on lower steps, as one of the other groups launched an explosive attack.

Gloria simply shrugged. "What's to worry about? If they're going to turn this into a big brawl, then we might as well join in." 

A fire lit on Gloria's hands and she thrust it down towards the parties on the steps below them. 

Simone and the other two of Bran’s women were the highest up on the steps, standing calmly in the seventies. Gloria's purple flames engulfed a fighter down below before she clenched her fists and expanded, seeping into the ground before fire exploded over a set of five steps, scorching everyone within. 

Nyx's arrows began raining down into the crowd. The other initiated began to scream and some rushed up the steps.

Simone dipped her head in prayer. She would always have Nyx and Gloria’s backs, even if Gloria’s tact could be a bit abrasive at times. Heartbreaker activated and the pink beam shot down the stairs, tearing into those who had tried to rush up the steps, throwing them back down. 

Gloria laughed. "Not only did we get the better rewards, but we also got the high ground," she said, tossing another purple ball of fire up and down in her hand while she looked down at those below.

The fighting was slowing as injuries stacked up and more than a few were pausing to look up the stairs at the fresh and strongest group, at least according to the stairs. That Gloria, a caster was that high gave her quite a bit of credit.

"You're acting like a thug," Nyx grumbled. But her arrows continued firing, branching into a dozen arrows with each shot and raining down on those below. 

"Mob princess, remember?" Gloria had a wicked grin. "They could have offered it to me, but chose to be greedy. Their fault. Besides, Bran said to gobble up all the rewards we could get and he’d back us.”

Gloria threw another ball of fire down that exploded and knocked more people off the steps. She then raised her hand, sending a pillar of fire straight up into the air. 

"All right, listen up!" Gloria shouted at the top of her lungs. "If you want to move on to the next trial, there's a fee." 

Simone shook her head, watching the giant grin on the Mafia princess' face. 

"A fee?" Someone down below asked with a wheeze. Many of them were injured. 

"Yeah, your fruit," Gloria smirked. "One fruit, and you get to enter the next trial. No fruits, and well, maybe you'll just be buried here." 

Threateningly, Gloria bounced a ball of purple fire in her hands.

Even though clearly some of these people were quite skilled and at least received enough resources to be similar stat-wise to the three of them, Simone knew where Gloria's confidence came from.

The physique Gloria had from the Borrson Clan gave her a significant advantage. While skills were ranked by how they were used, it would also be fair to rank certain skills above others in simple utility and power. And in that logic, Gloria's physique was a significantly stronger skill than most of these people were going to possess. Not to mention, her actual skills blended with both her bloodline and her class. They were incredibly terrifying in their own right.

Simone and Nyx were similar. They both possessed complementary bloodlines and powerful classes. The difference was that Gloria was going to use her advantage to establish herself above the others.

"Why are you all quiet?" Gloria shouted. "Come up, pay the toll, and move on to the next. These rewards are certainly going to pale in comparison to what's down the line." 

The group below was not looking easily cowed. They were powerful in their own right, not used to being bossed around.

Most of them were at least level 100.

"Do you know who I am?" One of them stepped forward. He had some burns on his arms and his clothes were singed. There was an oblivion hole in his thigh from Nyx's arrow. Yet none of that seemed to overly bother him at present. Instead, he stood upright, a glare on his face as he downed a potion.

"Not a clue," Gloria replied, keeping her chin held high. "And it doesn't matter. Do you have any idea who I am?" She was just as arrogant as this man. 

"No, I don't, and that's the point. You're a nobody." The man replied.

Gloria grinned in response. "The only nobody here will be the corpses." She snapped her fingers, and some of the purple flames that had been smoldering at the edge of the stairs leapt up for this man, collapsing around him as a pillar of fire stretched from the step to the ceiling, consuming him completely in the powerful purple flames. 

Simone shook her head. "What are you doing?”

“Following instructions. Bran said to get as much out of this as we could," Gloria muttered. "Not to mention, we should really teach these people a thing or two about manners. They've all been running around Vein City for the last two weeks like they own the place." 

Simone now understood what was happening. Gloria was getting revenge for the two times the Nester family had encountered powerful Initiated in the last week. With so many in town for the vault, there had been more issues. Both times, the family had taken severe losses before the Mul Branova, or one of them, could intervene. 

"Fine, have it your way. You have my full support." Simone knew better than to argue with Gloria at that moment. "Not to mention, I think Bran would like this sight of you."

Gloria huffed a bit, refusing to acknowledge that she would do anything for their man. "So, what's it going to be? Are you going to pay the toll?" Gloria waved her hand, and the purple pillar of flame died down. Once it disappeared, it revealed the previous man kneeling on the ground. His equipment was all charred to the point of being unrecognizable. His skin was a blistering mess. It wasn't something he couldn't recover from, but if he continued to push his luck, Gloria would likely kill him with the next move. 

"You think you can stop us all?" he shouted, and tried to turn back to the others for help.

Simone rolled her eyes. Gloria did not need encouragement at the moment.

Sure enough, Gloria’s face turned cold. She snapped her fingers, purple flames suddenly erupting from inside his body, bursting out of his mouth. Next his chest exploded with flames that quickly consumed him, and turned him into nothing but ash.

That was her new finishing move and it worked, the others stepped back away from the dying man like they didn’t know him.

Gloria snorted, and looked down the steps. "Anyone else think my toll is unreasonable? Please step forward now." 

One further down the steps raised their hand. "I already ate my fruit.”

“Bring something of equal value," Gloria said, sitting down on the step like she ruled the whole stairs. “I’m not an unreasonable woman."

There were several guffaws from the people below.

"You're actually pretty unreasonable," Nyx commented, making Gloria turn and scowl.

"Me? Unreasonable?" Gloria put a hand against her chest. "Nonsense.” Gloria’s attention turned back to those below.

“You won't get through to her." Simone shook her head. "Unless your name is Bran and can make her scream all night, she won't listen to you." 

Nyx and Simone shared a laugh while Gloria rolled her eyes. "I'm doing this for you two as well. Do you think I'm going to eat all these fruits myself? No. You guys will get some as well." 

"Well in that case, I should do my best to intimidate." Nyx’s serpents raised above her as she stared down the stairs. "Come up one at a time," Nyx demanded. "Give Queen Gloria your fruit or something at least A Rank. And then get lost." 

With the snakes flaring out to the side, Simone had to admit that Nyx looked at least a little intimidating. There was hope for her yet.

"Queen Gloria, I rather like that," the mob princess said, posing ever so slightly more regally on the stairs.

The crowd below hesitated. Yet, when the first person broke free, walking up with a simple plus five strength fruit and handed it off to Gloria, the mobster flicked it into her spatial ring and waved her on past.

After the people down below saw that, their resistance broke, and they began walking up one by one, parting with their precious fruits. 

Nyx and Gloria held the stairs. Meanwhile, Simone was a touch nicer, healing people as they walked up towards the mist.

Simone knew that Gloria was upset about losing a few of her people in Vein City, but at least Simone tried to do some damage control. She hoped her healing would at least make them a few less enemies if they passed her by walking up the stairs, and hopefully, they would have less desire to murder them all in their sleep when given the opportunity.

"I wonder if this is how Bran feels," Gloria said, her legs crossed, leaning on the step above. Two fingers pressed into her cheeks and one hand extended out, accepting the fruits and quickly waving them away into her spatial ring. 

"What do you mean?" Nyx asked. 

"Does Bran feel this powerful when he's around normal people? Even around normal initiated. I know after all the training I've received, I could squash most of these people," Gloria said, "and I simply don't have to care whether or not they're going to hate me for this." 

Simone narrowed her eyes. "Don't get too cocky. There's always someone stronger than you." 

Gloria only rolled her eyes at that. "Of course there are people stronger than me, but when other people come, hopefully we have Bran. Besides, in places like this, you're supposed to make a few enemies." 

"Oh really, you're supposed to make enemies now?" Simone pursed her lips. 

"Yeah, otherwise how do you get people coming at you with all of the goodies that you can take conscience-free when they attack you? Besides, half of these people troubled my family this last week. I have no problem taking a pound of flesh." Gloria narrowed her eyes at a particular person as they walked past. "But I'm not unreasonable. We can consider the debts settled now." She took another fruit. 

Simone knew she would have to be careful, considering the way Nyx looked at Gloria. She was concerned that the Gorgon was going to become fairly infatuated with Gloria's aggressive tactics. After all, Nyx was still fairly young and impressionable. But two Glorias were sure to clash.

People continued up the stairs one by one, handing Gloria their fruits in exchange for safe passage to the next area. More than a few tried to reassure the others in their group that the first trial had to be the least rewarding, and probably the shortest. This wasn't where we should be wasting energy, they reasoned.

Of course, comments like that always ended with a hard glare at Gloria. 

Once everyone had gone through and Gloria had collected her dues, she waved her hand. A stack of fruits appeared beside her, along with a few A-rank pieces of gear she'd managed to loot.

Nyx slithered down the steps and picked up the spatial ring from the burnt corpse. "This guy's got some goodies," she said, her voice filled with the excitement of a fresh new bandit on her first haul. 

Gloria held out her hand.

"What? I looted this," Nyx insisted. 

"It was my kill, though." Gloria kept her hand out until Nyx handed it over. "Good. Now let's split the fruits," Gloria said, then hesitated.

“You are sharing those, right?" 

"Of course, of course." Gloria picked one up, only to put it down like she was making another pile, but having trouble letting it go.

Simone reached down and pulled it out of Gloria's hands. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" 

"It was pretty hard," Gloria admitted. "From everything Bran has said, those high-level Initiated would likely give their firstborn for a plus 50 to a stat fruit.”

“That's if all of them didn't also get them," Simone pointed out. "Not to mention, Bran said that the First Trial's reward would probably hint to the Second. Meaning, the Second Trial probably has something to do with collecting fruits like these." 

Gloria's eyes opened wide. "It would be an absolute treasure trove. One we should hurry on to."

Simone gestured towards the top of the stairs. "Or are you having too much fun pretending to be Queen of the Castle?" 

Meanwhile, Nyx chuckled and scooped up a few fruits from the pile, muttering "Queen of the Castle" on repeat in a strange accent.

Simone squinted, not fully understanding the joke. 

"Either way, what are we waiting for?" Gloria waved her special ring, picking up the rest of the fruits, and twirled so that her cape-like jacket flared out behind her. "Let's go collect all the fruits." 

"And take all the fruits," Nyx echoed. 

Simone rolled her eyes. What had she gotten herself into with these two?