WIEDERGEBURT Act V: Chapter 11

Fritz was the first human I had seen aside from myself who could use the darkness element. However, my ability to use the darkness element came from my wife, not me. I could use it because Lin could use it and we were connected somehow through the mark on my hand and the one on her chest. I’d never seen or even heard of a human who wielded this element. It was even more rare than people who could wield light.

The preliminary rounds soon concluded. There had been a total of fifty-two rounds, meaning five hundred and twenty people had been competing in this tournament. It wasn’t just warrior sects either. The monster tamer sects that specializes in using Demon Beasts to fight had also taken part. Then there were the poison sects, a few exploration sects, and even a sect that mixed philosophy with combat. Many different sects had joined.

Karen, Janet, and Erica had all survived their preliminaries and would be participating in the next round tomorrow. The other two had also emerged victorious, but one of them was injured and would not be able to participate.

Our group was invited by Alexis to join the Battling Valkyries for dinner. Since we didn’t have anything else to do, we decided to join them. It would be nice to have someone else paying for Siv’s and Lin’s meals.

We were escorted to their branch office and led into a large tavern-like room where several dozen women in armor cheered for the three women who would be moving on to the next round. While Janet and Karen seemed a bit embarrassed by all the attention, Erica proved how well she handled publicity by simply smiling and acknowledging the people’s jubilation.

Our group was a curiosity among the Battling Valkyries, who didn’t seem to understand why we had been invited, but then Alexis revealed to them that our group was responsible for helping train Erica, Janet, and Karen. She didn’t reveal that Erica had reached the Third State of Spiritualism. However, just knowing we had helped them was enough for the Battling Valkyries to accept us.

I soon discovered that the Battling Valkyries could drink.

A lot.

“Hahahahahaha! Darling! Darling! Look! Dish Prinshess is a chandelier!”

Lin was shit-faced wasted and currently hanging from the ceiling by her tail. Her face was beat red while upside down, swinging back and forth while laughing like a lunatic. The women around her were cheering and egging her on. I wanted to stop them and tell her to get down, but… well, I was sure she’d regret this tomorrow, but I just didn’t have the heart to say anything.

“Wassamatter, Eryk! Hic! You… you look derpreshed,” Fay said as she leaned into my side. Her cheeks were red, her eyes were droopy, she smelled of alcohol, and she was holding a gigantic mug of what I was fairly certain was hard liquor. I had no idea how many drinks she’d had, but she was as wasted as Lin.

“I’m not depressed,” I said with a straight face. “This is how I always look. You, however, are drunk.”

“Nu-uh!” Fay denied being drunk, even as she lifted the mug to take a drink… and ended up spilling more than half of it on her shirt. This caused her shirt to become see through, but all that meant was I could now see her chest bindings. Her nipples were poking through the fabric, though, so that was nice.

I had never seen Fay get drunk like this before. It was kind of novel, but at the same time, I really had to wonder just what in the nine realms was in that alcohol. I had tried some myself, but I wasn’t able to get drunk for whatever reason. On the other hand, Fay had become fairly inebriated after one drink, so I was certain it had an abnormally high alcohol content.

“Wah hahahahahaha! Wahahaha—urk! I think I’m gonna be sick!”

I looked up at Lin, who was now holding a green-faced Janet by the hands as she swung the woman back and forth. The poor girl looked seconds away from spewing all the food she’d eaten tonight.

“Your wife certainly knows how to party,” Alexis said from my side. She’d been sitting next to me this whole time, watching her sectmates drink themselves stupid.

I have to be honest here. There was something really awkward about watching an adult woman who looked like she was still a teenager drinking alcohol, especially with such a mature look in her eyes. The girl looked like she could be my kid sister. Nevaria didn’t have a drinking laws, but we did understand that drinking when young was not necessarily good for the body.

Of course, a strong Spiritualist could negate all the negative side effects. I was sure none of the women here would even wake up with a hangover.

“Lin is definitely a party animal,” I said with a sigh.

“She is indeed, but I was talking about that one,” Alexis said, pointing to Fay, who I only now realized was fumbling with my pants.

“Back off.” I swatted Fay’s hands away. “Bad Fay.”

“I’m not bad… hic…” Fay blinked at me with her bleary eyes. “I’m… good… you… hic… you looked derpreshed… sho I… I thought we shood make… another baby.”

“I’d ask if you could even hear yourself talking, but it’s very obvious that you can’t.” I sighed, set the mug I’d been drinking from down, and lifted Fay into my arms. Fay squealed, but then she began laughing as she hugged me tightly. I sent Alexis a strained smile. “I’m putting this one to bed.”

Alexis shrugged. “Sure thing. Your other wives already left anyway.”

Kari and Siv took off several hours ago. Siv did not like rowdy parties like this due to her innate shyness, and Kari simply wasn’t a fan of getting drunk or partying. She only attended parties as social functions when she absolutely had to.

Fay fell asleep not long after we left the tavern, which I found myself thankful for. A drunk Fay might have been funny, but it was also dangerous. I was very certain on this.

I walked down along corridor and eventually arrived at the room Alexis told us to stay in. Kari, Siv, and Raul were already inside of the room. They were all on the couch, though Kari was the only one still awake. She was sitting with a book in one hand. Siv was resting on her side with her head on Kari’s lap, light snores emitting from her mouth, and wrapped in her arms was the sleeping Raul. It was a very cute and picturesque scene.

“I figured it wouldn’t be long before you left.” Kari smiled at me as she closed the book, her eyes going to Fay. “Looks like someone had a little too much to drink.”

“She’s normally a lot more careful, but whatever was in those drinks was strong,” I said.

“She’s gonna be embarrassed when she wakes up.” Kari giggled as if she could imagine what kind of face Fay would make after she woke up tomorrow. “Where is Lin?”

“Hanging from the ceiling.”

“Huh?”

“I meant that literally. Last I saw her, she was hanging upside down by the rafters and calling herself a chandelier.”

“That girl… I am going to tease her so much tomorrow.”

The room we had been given was a simple guest room with one large bed, a small sitting area, and nothing else. Rich carpet covered the floor, the walls were made of stucco and wood, and the ceiling was paneled and decorated with simple motifs.

I tucked Fay into bed, then went over to the couch and sat next to Kari. She had already set the book on the small table before her. The moment I sat down, she leaned into me, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

“It feels so odd being back here,” she muttered. “Everything is different from how I remember it. There was never any tournament, Alexis had already disappeared by the time we arrived, and Erica was like our mentor. Now it’s the other way around. Also… that man… Fritz… there is something odd about him.”

“You felt it too?” I wasn’t surprised. Kari had strong perceptions. “There is definitely something off about his powers. We might have to do a little investigating.”

“I was thinking the same thing, but let’s save that for later.” Kari opened her eyes again and glanced down at the dragon girl drooling on her lap. “For now, let’s get everyone to bed.”

“Right.”

Kari took Raul from Siv, and I lifted Siv into my arms. Together, we tucked the two into bed. Raul ended up sleeping between Siv and Fay, who turned onto their sides and cuddled with our son. There wasn’t enough room for me and Kari. This bed was technically only made for one person. If Siv and Raul weren’t so small, they wouldn’t have been able to fit either. Since we couldn’t fit on the bed, I laid down on the couch, and Kari climbed on top of me.

We spent several hours talking until sleep eventually claimed us.

Lin never showed up.

***

We found out why Lin did not join us in bed last night after arriving at the tavern the next morning, where she and several other women were sprawled out on the floor, completely comatose. As the “tallest” one there, Lin’s long tail wound across the floor. She must have knocked over several tables during her drunken partying. There was a large space straight down the middle of the room where all the tables had been knocked aside.

We woke Lin up, and it was the first time I’d ever seen her get so embarrassed before. This was even worse than those times where she and I had sex and she punched a hole through the floor with her tail. The girl had gone so red her entire body was blushing. She had bolted out of the tavern and into the bathing room, where she ended up taking a very long shower.

Fay was just as if not more embarrassed when she woke up.

“I-I am so sorry!” she apologized to me profusely, her face, neck, and some of her chest bright red. “I don’t know what came over me, o-or why I drank that much!”

“Don’t worry about it.” I shrugged. “Seeing you get so drunk was actually kinda cute. I will consider this a treasured memory and cherish it for all time.”

“Please forget this ever happened!” Fay snapped.

We were back in the tavern after cleaning it up. Our group of myself, Kari, Siv, Fay, and Raul, who was sitting on Kari’s lap this morning, allowing the beautiful blonde to pamper him. She was feeding him food that had been prepared for us. It was a simple breakfast of soft-boiled eggs, bread, and some kind of refreshing tea blend. I didn’t know what it was called, but it had a bold flavor and woke me right up.

“Those booze you drank was the strongest drink we have,” Alexis said, sounding quite proud.

Of course, Alexis and Erica were with us this morning too. Unlike everyone else, Erica had not gotten herself wasted, while Alexis seemed as if she’d been drinking all night. She was still drinking when we arrived in the tavern that morning. I didn’t know if she slept and came back down, or if she’d been there the whole time.

“You got drunk after only a single glass,” I added.

Fay just buried her face in her hands and released a strangled groan. I imagine she would be like this for a while.

Lin came into the tavern nearly half an hour later, dressed in an oddly conservative outfit. Her shirt hid her shoulders and most of her stomach, though I could still see a hint of her bellybutton, and the wraparound skirt was longer than usual. She was still blushing as she slithered over to our table and sat down.

“Aunty Lin! Good food! Eat!” Raul said as he munched on an egg.

Lin smiled at the child and began relaxing, but just when it looked like she was about to calm down completely, Kari decided it was time to tease her.

“I was very shocked when we came in and saw you lying naked amongst the other Battling Valkyries.” A sad sigh escaped Kari’s lips. She looked truly heartbroken. “I cannot believe you would allow so many women other than me to touch you. Lin, I thought we were the only ones you would let do those things to you.”

“W-what are you talking about?!” Lin shouted, her face somehow both red and pale. “T-this princess didn’t let anyone touch her! She doesn’t even know how her clothes came off! This princess swears! She would never let anyone but Big Sister, Fay, and Siv lay their hands on her!”

“You say that, but you were naked and practically cuddling with all those women… uwu… uwu… your Big Sister is so sad…”

“P-p-please don’t cry, Big Sister! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Lin was so flustered she had even stopped speaking in third person. She never noticed the somewhat sadistic gleam in Kari’s eyes as the woman cried crocodile tears and mercilessly teased the poor lamia.

I shook my head and continued to eat breakfast.

While we were eating, someone rushed into the room, gasping for breath. It was… Janet if I was not mistaken. Her face was pale, sweat was pouring down her forehead, and she was gasping for breath.

Alexis frowned. “What is wrong, Janet? Don’t tell me you are hungover.”

Janet shook her head. “It’s… it’s Rinne! She’s… she’s dead!”

Rinne was, if I was not mistaken, the other participate from the Battling Valkyries who would be going on to the first round. I didn’t know much about her. She and I had never interacted, and I couldn’t remember anyone named Rinna in my previous life’s memories.

Alexis stood abruptly from her seat. “Bring me to her!”

Since this was a pretty serious issue, I asked Kari, Lin, and Siv to remain in the tavern and look after Raul. Meanwhile, Fay and I went with Alexis to see Rinne.

Janet led us to an alley across the street. There was already a huge crowd gathered around the alley, but Janet shoved her way through. At the end of the alley were two other members of the Battling Valkyries and a squadron of Midgard Spiritual Knights. They were doing their best to cordon off the area so the curious crowd of onlookers could not get too close.

“I am Alexis Mutig of the Battling Valkyries. These two are with me. Let us through.”

The Midgard Spiritual Knight she spoke to wore a crimson shoulder cape over his armor, signifying his position as a captain. He frowned at Alexis, then looked at us. I sensed an automatic dislike from this man. There was a disdainfulness in his expression like we were beneath him.

“Hmph. Very well. You three can pass.”

The man fortunately didn’t give us any grief and let us pass. We walked into the alley, but we stopped when our gaze landed on the sight before us.

“Eryk…”

“Don’t look if it’s too gruesome.”

Fay looked away from the scene we found, but I merely narrowed my eyes. On the other hand, Alexis was clenching her fists so tightly her arms were shaking.

Rinne was on the ground, lying on her side, completely bereft of clothes. There was cum spilling from her vagina. It was easy to tell that she was dead. Not only were her eyes staring sightlessly at the opposite wall, but her entire body looked like all the moisture had been sucked out. I might not have known much about her, but I do remember seeing her, and she had been a beautiful and vivacious young woman with a full figure. Now she looked like a mummified corpse.

“Who… who did this?” Alexis asked in a harsh whisper as she slowly walked over to Rinne, knelt before the woman, and stared at the sightless eyes.

I walked closer, but I didn’t let myself get too close. Fay also followed me. However, she was not looking at the scene anymore. She might have seen plenty of gruesome things before, but this was likely the first time she’d seen something like this.

“I don’t know who did this, but I recognize this technique,” I said at last.

Alexis turned her sharp gaze on me. “You know what happened?”

“I at least have a guess.” I looked at Rinne again, studying how her body had become like a dried out corpse. “It’s a Spiritual Darkness Technique called Spiritual Drain. It’s not a very threatening name, but it’s easily one of the most evil Spiritual Darkness Techniques you can find.”

“What does it do?” asked Fay, suddenly curious now that I’d mentioned Spiritual Techniques.

“It drains a person of all their Spiritual Power,” I said. “It drains them completely dry, and when their Spiritual Power has been all sucked away, it drains their life, causing their bodies to whither and look like a mummified corpse.”

“Like Rinne here,” Alexis murmured, the frown on her face growing. “And you’re certain this was caused by a Spiritual Darkness Technique?”

I nodded, then shrugged. “Fairly certain, but it’s not like I have anything beyond guess work. This sort of effect could have also been caused by a very strong poison. There are plenty of poisons that can do the same thing. It could also be a Spiritual Water Technique that sucks all the moisture from a human body.”

“But why would someone do this?” asked Fay.

“I know why.” Alexis scowled. “It’s obviously to remove her from the competition. Don’t forget that our Battling Valkyries are currently the ones most people believe will win the tournament. We currently have a lot of enemies because of that. It would not surprise me if one of those enemies decided to get rid of us outside of the arena.”

I didn’t say anything, but I did remember Fritz and his very strong darkness element. What happened to Rinne was something that could easily have been done by him, and what’s more, I’d already heard about how violent and disgusting the men in Thor’s Hammer were. Not only had Rinne been drained off her Spiritual Power, she had also been raped. This sounded exactly like something they would do.

The only thing I was concerned about was the timing and the location. This place was right next to the Battling Valkyries’ branch office, which was located on one of the busiest streets in Midgard. I just couldn’t imagine why someone would commit a crime like this so close to danger… unless this was their way of gloating? Maybe they were making a statement? Something like, “we can kill you wherever you are. Even if you’re in your own home, you aren’t safe from us.”

Well, it wasn’t like I could understand the motivations of a killer.

We traveled back into the branch office and began questioning the other members of the Battling Valkyries, asking them if they had seen Rinne leaving. None of them had. However, there was someone who had noticed.

“This princess saw her leave,” Lin admitted. “She left the tavern in something of a hurry, but this princess was… er… preoccupied, so she didn’t think anything of it at the time.”

“Come to think of it, Rinne had been periodically leaving the Battling Valkyries’ branch office for the last two months or so,” Janet said. As one of the people who discovered Rinne, she was also with us.

“Now that you mention it, I remember hearing a rumor that Rinne began dating someone,” Karen added. “We never saw him, and she never introduced us, so I thought they were just rumors made up by some of the girls who secretly enjoy that kind of thing. Do you think there could be some truth to it?”

“I do not know.” Alexis’ gloves creaked as she clenched her hands into fists. “But I intend to find out. As for the rest of you. None of you are allowed to go anywhere on your own until the culprit is found.”

She stared at Erica, Janet, and Karen as she said this. The three women looked reluctant to agree. They all had confidence in their own strength, but it was also easy to tell they were shaken by what happened. One of their own had been killed practically right outside their door.

Because the tournament was beginning soon, we could not afford to remain there. Myself, along with Alexis, Erica, Janet, Karen, Kari, Lin, Fay, Siv, and Raul traveled to the arena. Erica, Janet, and Karen parted ways with us and made their way to the competitors’ booth. The rest of us headed up to our private viewing booth. The other sects who had come to visit us last time were not present. I imagine they would not come until after the first half of round one was over.

“Eryk, you seem to have experience with the darkness element,” Alex said.

Our group was now sitting on the same chairs as yesterday. Siv was not sitting on my lap this time, but pressing her hand against the glass window as she stood with Raul. Alexis had taken my right, while Kari was sitting on my left. My right would have normally been occupied by one of my wives, but at present, Alexis and I were having a serious discussion.

“Lin and I can both use the darkness element.” To prove my point, I raised my hand and gathered my Spiritual Power, causing a ball of darkness to appear on my palm. “I’m not very good at using it, but Lin has reached the Third State of Spiritualism with it.”

Alexis stared at the ball of darkness hovering over my palm. Her eyes flickered to my face, then back to my palm.

“Is this how you know about the Spiritual Darkness Technique you were talking about?”

“Partly.”

I couldn’t tell Alexis the reason I knew about this technique was because it had been used by the Sekbeist in my past life. This was the Spiritual Darkness Technique they had used to drain the lives of many Northern Plains citizens to enact their ritual of forcing the Warp Gates open. Spiritual Drain was the name I came up with because of how the technique worked and what it did.

Of course, this technique did not require physical contact to use, meaning whoever had used it on Rinne, they had violated her for fun.

“Could you use Spiritual Drain?” asked Alexis suddenly.

“I can’t… at least, not without a lot of preparation,” I confessed. “However, my wife can.”

I looked over at Lin, currently lounging on a chair between Kari and Fay. She looked like she was deep in thought. I wondered if she was thinking about what happened to Rinne.

“Hmmm…”

Alexis didn’t say anything, which made me wonder if she perhaps suspected us, though I didn’t think that was the case. After all, why would I tell her all this if I was guilty? It would have been easier to keep my crime a secret if she didn’t know I could use the darkness element.

At that moment, the announcer in the gaudy outfit named Silas emerged from a side entrance and stepped onto the grand stage of the arena amidst the cheers of many people. This room was supposed to be soundproof. The fact that I could hear them screaming was impressive.

The speakers in the room activated as the man began speaking into the microphone. “Ladies and gentleman! I hope you are all ready for the Council of Six Selection Tournament to officially begin! Are you ready?!”

When the announcer asked this question, the crowd went into an uproar, cheering so loud Siv stumbled away from the glass in shock and held her hands to her ears. Raul saw this and tugged on her sundress.

“Sissy hurt?”

“I’m fine.” Siv smiled at the child as she reached down and began stroking Raul’s hair.

“Yesterday we saw some intense free for alls, but today, all of the fights will be one on one,” Silas explained. “Here is how it’s going to work. There will be a total of ten matches today, five matches tomorrow, and then the semi-finals and finals will be on the last day. This means the tournament will last a total of three days. The same rules that were in the preliminaries apply here as well. Winners will be decided by forfeit, knockout, ring out, or if I decide a battle is over. Don’t forget that killing is not allowed.” Once he finished explaining how the matches would work, he began speaking in a much louder and more rambunctious voice. “And now that all the rules are out of the way, it is time to bring out the first two competitors! The competitors were decided via a random drawing. For the first match, the two people fighting are…”

The man trailed off to draw out the suspense, causing many of the people in the stands to scream at him to hurry up, but he just grinned and waited for several seconds before finally making the announcement.

“Erica Kjærlighet of the Battling Valkyries and Jonatan Gardner of the Divine Sword Sect!”