WIEDERGEBURT Act VI: Chapter 25

Tyr sat behind his desk and filed papers. As the general of Ásgarðr’s standing army, he had a lot of work to do.

Most of his paperwork dealt with logistics, the distribution of troops, and reading up on the reports from men in the field. While the Guddomelig and the Sekbeist were currently locked in stalemate, that did not mean battles did not break out.

Just the other day, a battle had broken out in a small village several hundred kilometers from Ásgarðr. The Sekbeist had launched a night raid. It was repelled, but six of the twenty soldiers Tyr had sent there died. Of course, that was nothing compared to the thousands of dead Sekbeist, but the only ones that had been killed were the slaves, not the lords.

Tyr rubbed his forehead as he finished reading the report and set it aside. Their forces were not making any headway. He hated this stalemate they were in and wanted to strike a decisive blow against this enemy.

“If only Tor hadn’t become so soft,” he muttered in a bitter voice.

He interrupted from his musing’s by a knock at the door.

“Come in,” he called.

The door opened and a young woman who looked more like a girl stepped into the room. Silver, gold, and brown made up the majority of her outfit. The shoulder pauldrons that clicked together were outlined with gold. Chainmail was visible beneath her armor, which primarily consisted of a leather bodice that had lattice work traveling across the center as if tying the two separate pieces together. Straps ran from the sides around the back, but they did not travel across the front. It looked impractical. However, covering the armor was one of the most complex rune arrays Tyr had seen.

“My Lord,” the woman said as she removed the helmet covering her head, allowing her blonde hair to spill out. “I bring you news.”

“Segrun,” Tyr said with a grunt. “Speak. What news do you have for me?”

Nodding, Segrun knelt on bended knee, but her green eyes did not leave his as she spoke, “Lady Fray traveled to Klaue’s mansion the other day and discovered his… activities. She and Klaue fought, and she won. Klaue’s mansion was completely destroyed during the attack and Klaue himself lost his life. An announcement was just made stating Klaue was a criminal who abducted and raped women and stole from the people of Ásgarðr.”

Tyr listened calmly to Segrun’s report, not saying a single word as the woman finished. Even after she was done, he remained silent for some time, as though thinking deeply.

He glanced at the ironwood desk he used when he worked. It was not ostentatious, but it had been polished to a shine and was large enough to hold all of his work. The drawers and everything else were sealed with runes that only activated to his unique Spiritual Signature.

The rest of his room was similarly unadorned, though that was not to say it contained nothing. An old set of armor sat on a mannequin on one side of the room. It was something that belonged to his father, who had been among the first to fall victim to the Sekbeist. Tyr kept it as a reminder that even the most valient of warriors could fall to overwhelming numbers.

“I knew this would happen eventually,” Tyr said with a sigh. He looked at Segrun, who remained kneeling on the ground. “Thank you for your report. You may go.”

“My Lord.”

Segrun bowed her head, then stood up, bowed once more, and left the room. The door clicked shut behind her. Tyr cocked his head and listened as her footsteps retreated. He even reached out with his perceptions and waited until he could no longer sense her presence.

“You just had to kidnap one of Fray’s Valkyries,” he said with an aggravated grunt. “I told you to keep it in your pants. If you need women, you should have just gone to a brothel.”

A bookshelf on his left slid open to reveal a hidden passageway, and standing within that passageway was none other than Klaue, injured but alive. He walked out of the passage. All of the blood had already been washed off and he was dressed in a new set of clothes. The robes he wore were plain and unadorned, but that was because they were Tyr’s.

“If you had seen Grizelda as I had, you would not be saying that,” Klaue said.

“Yes, I would.” Tyr glared at Klaue, who suddenly stiffened at the intense pressure bearing down on him. “Unlike you, I am perfectly capable of keeping my desires to myself. Now you no longer have control over the Northern Division, and I do not have the authority to replace you with one of my own men. I don’t doubt Tor is going to put someone he trusts there. Do you realize how badly this will set us back?”

While they didn’t need all four divisions of the army to succeed in their coup d'etat, it would make governing Ásgarðr a lot harder if they didn’t have all four divisions underneath them.

“I wouldn’t worry about that.” Klaue grinned. “Even if Tor replaces me with someone in his camp, my men won’t listen to him. All of my men love me because I let them do whatever they want without consequences.”

Tyr grunted in disgust, but he couldn’t deny that Klaue had a point. This man not only gave even the weakest of his soldiers the best equipment available, he also allowed them to do what they wanted without punishment. Many of his men had gotten in trouble for assaulting women, stealing from stores, or even beating some of the citizens half to death. Fray did what she could to keep the members of the North Division in line, but her troops couldn’t be everywhere.

“That is Lord Tor to you,” he said instead. “I can refer to Tor because he and I are sworn brothers. You will refer to him by his proper title.”

Klaue grinned. “You might call him your sworn brother, but you’re planning to depose him. Some brother you are.”

“It cannot be helped. Tor has grown soft since the Great War. He has adopted policies that leave us open to attack from our enemies when he should be taking a harder stance to eliminate the threats outside our walls.”

As the general of the four divisions, Tyr knew of the threats outside these walls better than anyone, which was how he knew the Sekbeist threat was in no way eliminated. They might not be attacking in mass like they used to, but that was just because they were biding their building. Tyr didn’t want to let those disgusting creatures build up their army and begin another war. Better to eliminate them now before they could grow anymore powerful.

Still, it was indeed a shame that Tor had become so soft. If he hadn’t, then Tyr would not have been forced to adopt his plans. Perhaps it was fate that he and his sworn brother would stand on opposite sides of the fence like this.

***

I found myself back at the Hall of Heroes after the debacle at Klaue’s mansion. Fray said she had a lot of work to do now that she had firm evidence of Klaue’s wrongdoings. I wasn’t certain what she planned on doing, but I figured she was going to make an attempt at cleaning up the North Division. The members of Klaue’s division were, according to Chloe, every bit as horrendous as their commander, which was why it was the only division that did not have a single woman in it.

No woman wanted to be in an army full of rapists.

It was the day after I had returned from the palace. I was alone. Tora would have normally been with me, plastered to my side and swearing up a storm, but that was before I had turned her down when she told me to marry her. I didn’t know where she was now.

Hendral had returned the same day as me; I learned that he had been helping run his parents alchemy shop, using the knowledge he gleaned from the beginner courses we were taking to improve their recipes and refine pills for them. He was very dedicated to helping his parents. That was why I didn’t tell him about anything that was happening. A man like that should just focus on providing for his family.

I ate my breakfast quietly and listened as the people all around me talked about Fray’s announcement.

“Did you hear about what happened? Lady Fray apparently went to Lord Klaue’s mansion the other day and was attacked!”

“I heard she went there to apprehend him for his crimes and he resisted.”

“That’s I heard too. The rumor going around is that Lady Fray found some discriminating evidence against Lord Klaue, went to confront him, and they ended up fighting. Of course, Lady Fray won in the end.”

“Considering Lady Fray’s power, that is only natural. She’s one of only a handful of people who have mastered three different concepts.”

“Speaking of, who else has mastered three concepts?”

“Well, let’s see. Aside from Lady Fray and Lord Tor, there is Lord Tyr, and the Invincible Valkyrie. I think that’s all.”

“Hmm… I guess mastering three concepts really is hard.”

I stopped paying attention when everyone changed topics. Standing up from the table after I had my fill of food, I made my way out of the banquet hall and toward one of the massive towers. It looked like a giant spiral jutting out from the ground. Numerous smaller towers surrounded the whole thing, giving it the aesthetic of a gigantic mountain set around a smaller mountain range.

The meditation ground, as it was called, was surrounded by a gate. A long table sat near the entrance, where an older gentleman with white hair but surprisingly few wrinkles was stationed. Armor adorned his muscular figure. He looked like an old war veteran.

“I would like to use one of the meditation chambers,” I said as I walked up.

The old man looked at me, studying me with keen blue eyes that seemed to see more than most people would be comfortable with. I bore his scrutiny as best I could.

“Which level would you like to use? There are six levels in this tower,” he said at last. “Each level is dedicated to a single concept. Level one is for the Concept of Life. Level two is for the Concept of Death. Level three is for the Concept of Time. Level four is for the Concept of Dimension. Level five is for the Concept of Space. Level six is for the Concept of Creation.”

“I would like to use a meditation chamber on level two,” I said.

“For how long?”

“Thirty-three days.”

The old man raised an eyebrow in surprise, but it didn’t last long before he grunted. “That will cost you thirty-three thousand credits.”

I handed over my badge, let him take the credits needed, and then took it back from his outstretched hand. After that, the old man called a much younger man to his side. The younger man had longer than average hair, much like myself, but his was not tied behind his head. It hung freely and gave him a very feminine appearance.

“Take him to one of the unused meditation chambers on floor two,” grunted the old man.

“Yes, Instructor Hanzleif.” The younger man snapped off a basic salute, then looked at me with a grin. “Come on, I will escort you to a meditation chamber.”

“Lead the way,” I said.

I followed the man through the gate, along a grand walkway that traveled between several smaller towers, and up to the largest tower there. Now that I was up close, I could see how truly grand this structure was. Sparkling in the light, it looked like the entire thing had been carved from a single gleaming crystal.

We traveled inside. Past the door was a hallway with hundreds of other doors. Each door led into a meditation chamber dedicated to the Concept of Life. As he led me through the tower, the young man explained how these meditation chambers worked to me.

“Each meditation chamber is embedded with Spirit Crystals that have runes engraved into them. These runes are different based on the level. They are arrays that gather the energy of a specific concept, to better allow those meditating to understand the concept in question. According to history, this tower was made long ago by the dweorgs themselves to help our people learn faster so we could combat the Sekbeist.”

“I see. So the dweorgs made this tower. Yes, that makes sense.”

I had been wondering who had created such powerful rune arrays. I didn’t think the Guddomelig had that kind of talent. If they did, then I was certain the Sekbeist remaining after the war would not be much of a threat, but if the dweorgs were the ones who had done it, then it would explain why they only had this one tower. They didn’t have the know how to build another one.

I was soon led to the second floor and directed to one of the doors.

“You may use this meditation chamber,” the young man said. “When your thirty-three days expire, the rune arrays will stop working and the door will unlock. Make sure you come outside once that happens. If not, Instructor Hanzleif will come and drag you out, and believe me when I say you don’t want that to happen.”

“I understand,” I said. “Thank you for your assistance.”

“You’re welcome.”

The young man left, and I didn’t pay him anymore attention as I opened the door and stepped inside. This meditation chamber didn’t have any amenities; no bed, furniture, or even a place to sit. What it did possess were numerous crystals with softly glowing runes engraved into them. They made a circle to form what appeared to be a much larger rune array, each one connected with a line of power. It was such a complex array that I couldn’t even begin to understand it.

I sat myself in the middle of the rune array. The runes began glowing the moment I channeled my Spiritual Power into them, and I suddenly felt like my life was being drained from me. My body became weak. I fell onto my side. I was so shocked that it took me a moment to realize what was happening.

“So… this is… what he meant… when he said these runes… gathered a concept…”

The runes pulled in the Concept of Death and surrounded me with it. It felt like I was being bombarded on all sides with powerful waves of death energy, which drained my own life and weakened my body considerably.

In most cases, to combat death, I would have used the Concept of Life, but that wasn’t what I was here for. I wanted to gain a greater understanding of the Concept of Death. That meant fighting death with death.

I released my Spiritual Power and channeled the Concept of Death, unleashing waves of death energy that fought against the death energy surrounding me. The clashing waves rolled through the air, pushed against each other, and detonated with tiny explosions of black powdery fog.

Once the death energy was no longer invading my body, I sat up, grimacing as I placed a hand on my chest. My fake arm had already withered away and now it was just a stump. I thought about remaking it, but there was no point. Instead of focusing on my missing arm, I focused on infusing my body with death energy.

The first thing I did was reinforce my organs with death energy, a protective layer that would keep my body from degrading when I began absorbing the energy around me. I also coated my bones, muscles, and the variety of systems like my bloodstream and nervous system, with death energy. It was my hope that this would be enough to protect them. With that done, I summoned my bag of Death Conceptualization Pills, popped one into my mouth, and let the death energy I’d been holding back flow into me.

I almost immediately screamed when the death energy invaded my body, but I bit the inside of my cheek to hold it back. The taste of blood filled my mouth. I barely paid attention to it as the death energy flooded through my body like an insipid poison. I’d never felt anything so horrendous before, so incredibly awful.

Yet even though it was painful, even though it felt like my body was being destroyed from the inside out, I continued to meditate, to reach out and absorb the death energy around me so I could understand it better.

I was not sure how much time passed, but I eventually noticed how my body was strengthening. It was like resistance training. By resisting the death energy with my own understanding of the concept, I was growing stronger both physically and mentally. My comprehension of death also increased with my understanding.

Like this, I continued to meditate. Whenever I felt my understanding slow, I would take a Death Conceptualization Pill, which increased my ability to understand the Concept of Death. I eventually ran out of pills, but the door still hadn’t unlocked. That must mean I had been using these pills more liberally than I thought. Even though I didn’t have anymore pills, I sat on the ground with my legs crossed and my eyes closed and continued to meditate without pause. Half a month passed by in a blur.

I felt the Concept of Death dissipate, waking me from my deep meditation. Opening my eyes, I noticed all crystals had grown dim, and the black death energy that had been pervading the room was no more. A soft click echoed throughout the chamber. That was the door unlocking.

Since I didn’t want that old instructor dragging me out, I left the chamber and stepped into the hallway. I didn’t leave at first, however. Staring at my single arm, I channeled death energy through it, watching as my entire arm turned black. Then I projected the death energy outward, coating my arm in a protective overlay.

“So this is what someone can do once they’ve mastered a concept to a certain extent,” I murmured.

I was certain there was still a lot for me to learn, but this seemed pretty good so far. If I could keep up this pace and master both life and death, I would be more than strong enough to find and protect my wives.

I traveled back outside the tower and stopped in front of the table with the old man. He looked like he hadn’t moved at all. I wondered if he stayed there all the time without leaving.

“I want to enter a meditation chamber on floor one for thirty-one days,” I said, holding out my badge.

“You again, huh? Fine. That will cost you thirty-one thousand credits.”

The man took my credits, handed back the badge, and once more called the young man who had first escorted me to a meditation chamber on floor two. While the young man was shocked to see me again, he didn’t hesitate to do as asked. As I entered the chamber for meditating upon the Concept of Life, I hardened myself, determined to master both life and death to an extent never before seen with anyone else.

***

Two months had passed since Fray told Eryk that she would open the Warp Gate to Vindenket and let him travel with her to find his wives. She had been very busy attempting to clean up Klaue’s mess during that time. Unfortunately, she didn’t feel like she was making any headway.

The problem was his men.

Klaue had allowed his men to do whatever they pleased, so long as they kept their antics to a certain level and covered their tracks. His men were an unruly lot. It was more than just a group of rebellious soldiers. They were belligerent, didn’t listen to orders, and talked back to their new commander as if he was a worthless pile of shit. Fray had finally had enough and given the commander permission to harshly punish any soldier who stepped out of line.

That seemed to settle the problematic men down, at least for now.

With that problem out of the way, Fray had decided it was finally time to travel to Vindenket with Eryk. She normally would have asked Chloe to escort him to the palace. This time, however, Fray decided to pay him a visit at Hero Hall. She wanted to see how he was doing.

Everyone traveling into Hero Hall stopped walking when she arrived at the front gate. She felt their gawking stares, but she ignored them as she traveled into the entrance hall. The tables that had been present during the entrance examinations were no longer present. Instead, a counter near the back, behind which stood the young-looking Instructor Birger. When he saw Fray appear, the man stepped out from behind the counter and knelt before her.

“Lady Fray, it is an honor to see you.”

“Thank you,” Fray said with a gracious smile.

“May I ask what you are doing here?”

“I am here to see how Eryk Vanir is doing.”

“Eryk… ah. I heard he was your nephew.”

“Indeed he is. Do you know where I can find him?”

“Hmm… if I’m not mistaken, he should be in the arena. I hear he has been many breaking records at the arena lately. They say he is the fastest person to climb all the way to the tenth floor in the history of the arena.”

Fray’s smile widened when she heard that. It sounded to her like Eryk had been working very hard to master the concepts he had comprehended.

She left Instructor Birger and traveled into the dimension where the true Hall of Heroes was. There were quite a few students just lounging within the many gardens and courtyards outside. The peaceful atmosphere made her smile. These students should enjoy what time they had to spend here. Once they left, many of these students would be conscripted into the army, where they would fight with their lives on the line to defend their homeland.

Since Fray didn’t want to cause problems, she cloaked herself in spatial energy, moving her body out of phase with the rest of the world and rendering her invisible. Like this, she journeyed to the arena in the very center of the courtyard, walked inside, and traveled up to the tenth floor.

A large crowd had gathered in the tenth floor stands, so many that it looked like a sea of multi-colored heads. Thousands of different smells assaulted her nose. The cheers from those sitting in the stands was so loud that Fray was tempted to cover her ears. She didn’t, but that was only because her attention was on the arena floor, where Eryk was fighting against a woman who had armor crafted from the Concept of Space covering her body.

It didn’t look like there were any seats for her, so she silently floated above the stands, created a black chair made of spatial energy, and enjoyed the show.

***

Her name was Mira Gudvan, and she was ranked number one within the arena, the strongest fighter in the entire Hall of Heroes. She was also my opponent.

It had been close to half a month since I emerged from my closed-door meditation. The moment I emerged, I traveled back to the arena and began fighting. With my newfound understanding of the Concepts of Life and Death, I quickly ascended to the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors. It became a little harder after that, but I continued to fight every day, going undefeated as I traveled up even further to the seventh, eighth, ninth, and finally the tenth floor.

The tenth floor was different than the previous nine floors. There were only ten people on this floor. They were the ten strongest students at this school. To earn a place on the tenth floor, challengers had to defeat the tenth ranked person, and then that person was kicked out and the challenger would take their place.

I had fought the first nine Spiritualists and defeated them, and now I was up against the one who held first place.

Mira Gudvan was a pretty woman with numerous scars on her battle hardened body. She wore a sleeveless shirt and a simple steel breastplate. The gauntlets and greaves were also made from simple metals and didn’t have any runes. She didn’t need them. From the moment our battle started, Mira had created a powerful armor made from the Concept of Space.

It looked like armor composed from the starry sky. Spikes emerged from her shoulder pauldrons, big and ominous looking. Her gauntlets, greaves, and chest plate were likewise pitch black with twinkling lights like stars spread across them. In her hand was a halberd. Unlike her armor, it was made from a Greater Prismatic Wyrm’s femur bone. The incredible weapon was almost invisible within the thick overlay of spatial energy covering it.

I stomped on the ground, unleashing a wave of death that spread across the arena like a ripple, but it did not touch the woman I was fighting. All of the death energy was sucked into a black hole that formed out of the armor Mira was wearing.

In response to my attack, Mira tapped her spear on the ground, and the floor beneath my feet suddenly vanished. What appeared was a vast and starry spacescape. I wasn’t sure where this portal led, but I had no intention of letting myself fall.

The moment I began flying through the air, Mira swung her halberd. A starry black crescent blade with numerous stars nearly cut me in half. I swung the Dragon Tail Ruler in my hand, death energy rupturing from my weapon as I sliced the crescent in half. Because I had put far more Spiritual Power into my attack, the death energy overwhelmed the spatial attack and continued on toward Mira, who allowed the attack to touch her armor. I narrowed my eyes when my death energy was once more sucked into a black hole.

Like Mira, my body was covered in armor, but mine was white and black instead of looking like a velvet sky. Life and death intermingled on my body, creating a streamlined armor that wouldn’t hinder my movements.

Armor created from a concept had different functions based on the concept itself and one’s understanding of the coincept. Mira’s spatial armor protected her by creating black holes to absorb attacks. My life and death armor did not block attacks. The life aspect kept me alive no matter how wounded I got, and the death aspect held death at bay, essentially making me invisible so long as I didn’t run out of Spiritual Power.

I blasted off the ground and used the Flash Step Version 3: Light Step to close the distance between Mira and myself, swinging my sword in a powerful overhand strike before I was even in range. Clang! The sound of our weapons clashing as Mira raised her halberd to intercept my oversized butcher knife echoed around the arena. Powerful shockwaves erupted from our clash.

Mira and I were both pushed back several meters. The arena remained pristine, which was impressive. This arena floor was made from a combination of cement and spirit crystals, and runes had been engraved into it. Any attack unleashed would be absorbed by the spirit crystals, which charged the runes that made the floor impervius. I was very impressed when I discovered this.

Kari would love to study this floor. And everything else this realm had to offer.

With narrowed eyes, I gathered death energy and compressed it along my sword, creating a very thin layer that made it look like my weapon was made of obsidian. When Mira saw this, she did the same with her halberd. The starry sky of spatial energy became calm and thin as it covered the weapon without a single ripple.

We charged forward at the same time. Space met death. The two different types of conceptual energy created a cataclysmic explosion that threatened to send us flying, though we both refused to move from where we stood.

I dug my heels in. Invisible energy gathered at my feet as I channeled what little I knew of the Concept of Time to keep myself locked in place. It was similar to a time lock, but I was using it on myself. Mira did not have any understanding of the Concept of Time, but she created a spatial lock around her body to create a similar effect.

Gritting my teeth, I swung my massive ruler from the ground up in a diagonal slash. This attack would have bisected anyone unlucky enough to be hit. It didn’t hit Mira, whose body seemed to phase out of existence when my ruler struck her. She phased back into this space after my attack passed through her body, and then thrust out her halberd. I grunted as her weapon punched a hole clean through my torso, but the powers of life and death kept my body alive. With a grin, I channeled water to instantly regenerate the destroyed tissue around my injury, essentially trapping her weapon within my body.

“What?!”

Mira was so surprised by my attack that I was able to smack her over the head with the flat of my ruler. I unleashed a precisely timed burst of death energy timed to my attack. The black hole appeared and tried to suck it all in. But then I stomped on the ground and several stakes made of the arena floor and coated with death energy speared through her armor. I’d already noticed that this armor of hers could only create one black hole at a time, and so the multiple attacks shattered her armor into a million fragments.

Grabbing her spear, I pulled her toward me, ignoring the blood gushing down my body, let go of my ruler, and reared my fist back. My attack this time was just a simple punch. However, it was also coated in death energy, and without her armor, my attack slammed into her face and sent her flying. Her clasped hand was forced to let go of her weapon as she traveled in a parabolic arc through the sky before striking the ground hard.

With a grunt of pain, I pulled her halberd out of my torso. The spatial energy had already evaporated. I dropped the weapon, scooped up the Dragon Tail Ruler as I walked over to Mira as she struggled to get up, and placed the tip of my weapon against her throat. I didn’t say anything as she looked from me to the weapon and back again.

“I surrender,” she said at last.

Her voice was loud enough to carry across the arena. The stadium seats exploded in an uproar of cheers and shouting. I ignored it as I let my weapon dissolve. I had made that weapon from the arena floor itself. Leaning over slightly, I extended my fake hand toward Mira, who looked at it silently before taking it.

“You’re good,” Mira said as I hauled the woman to her feet. “I never imagined anyone could defeat an advanced concept user with simple concepts like life and death.”

“Having a more advanced concept doesn’t necessarily mean someone is more powerful.” I shrugged. “Once you understand how a concept works, even if you can’t use that concept, you can create countermeasures against it.”

Mira sighed. “It looks like I have a lot of training ahead of me.”

“That was quite marvelous,” a voice said before I could respond to Mira’s comment.

Mira and I turned at the same time to see a gorgeous woman in a resplendent silver robe standing before us. Fray looked as beautiful as I remembered. Her blonde hair was tied into a simple braid that allowed her slender neck and soft facial features to be fully displayed. The robes were quite tight across her chest and hips, not quite skintight, but tight enough that it followed the slope of her thin waist and beautiful butt.

“Lady Fray!” Mira shouted as she knelt down and looked at the floor. The rest of the arena had gone quiet as well.

“Fray, what are you doing here?” I asked, not bowing at all. “Did you need something?”

The smile on Fray’s face made me feel like I was missing something. “Did you forget? Two months have passed and the Warp Gate to Vindenkent will be opening soon. I promised you that I would allow you to come with me when I go to meet Lady Tiamat.”

“Ah!” My eyes widened. “That’s right! So we’re finally going to Vindenket!”

After exiting from my closed-door meditation, I had honestly lost track of time while training. I rarely slept and spent almost all day at the arena. When I wasn’t battling myself, I was watching others battle so I could glean insight into how other people used the concepts they had comprehended. I hadn’t actually slept at all in the past one and a half months.

“That is correct.” Fray observed me with a critical eye, her smile widening. I thought I sensed pride in her smile. “You’ve gained complete mastery of the Concepts of Life and Death… and it’s only been two months since you arrived in Ásgarðr. That is incredible. I’ve never met anyone who could master a concept so quickly, nevermind two.”

I rubbed the back of my head and grinned bashfully. I’d been complemented plenty of times and grown used to it, but it felt different when this woman gave me one. Was it because she was my aunt?

“In either event, I believe it is time you and I left. We will open the Warp Gate and travel together to Vindenket,” Fray said.

And yet, just before she and I could leave, a loud voice shouted across the arena.

“Now just hold the fuck on! That man isn’t going anywhere without me!”

The voice was one I hadn’t heard in around a month and a half. Turning toward the arena entrance, I found none other than Tora standing there, a fierce look of determination etched on her face.