[Week One]
— Agnes Court —
“Holy-… Monsters. True monsters…” She muttered, the breath escaping her lungs at the scene before her.
She’d led her court to the so-called ‘Monstrorum Arena’ in time for the cultural event she was looking to exploit. The Monster Fight. When she arrived, she quickly saw she’d underestimated things — everything, the Dungeon and this world within it.
She’d made assumptions, thinking she knew what to expect from the Dungeon’s ‘simulation’. She did not. Nothing here was simulated; nothing was so shallow.
The journey through the city to her destination had shown her how alive and deeply realized the Dungeon was. Other than the fantasy elements, she couldn’t tell it apart from reality on Earth Bet. This didn’t feel like an ‘instance’ of the Dungeon; it felt like the Dungeon was the portal to a whole other world. And effectively, that was the case. Only the Dragon could truly tell the difference, Agnes Court imagined.
Her short journey through the city already left her stunned and thoughtful. The Monstrorum Arena stole those thoughts from her mind with monumental glory.
It was a grand stage at the center of the city, one to rival the ancient Colosseum at Rome’s peak. It was the axle upon which Inceptium revolved, and the city seemed to grow outward from it, as if the arena was the first ground broken in its history, the inception of Inceptium.
The arena rose from stone foundations in a great circle, towering over the nearby neighborhoods and casting them in shadow. Agnes Court had to crane her head back to look up at the top of its outer walls, and looking to either side, she could barely see where the walls began to curve away from her.
From the outside, Agnes Court had seen the arena’s arching architecture, masterwork stone, with pillars to add an image of strength, monstrous bone. Trophy skeletons were displayed with reverence at the top tier of the arena’s outer walls, each depicting a beast large enough to put an Endbringer to shame. It was all fantastically impressive, but she hadn’t been able to fully appreciate the truly monumental scope from the ground.
Inside, she saw the arena’s full scale, enough to accommodate almost a hundred thousand souls and still have half of the space left over for the main show.
The stands were arrayed in tiers that stepped their way down to the arena floor. The floor was as large as the field of any modern stadium she could think of, and more impressively, it wasn’t just a flat plane of sand or stone.
The arena floor was terraformed, and she would put money on magic being the source.
Natural terrain had been formed within the arena as if it had always been there. Half of the arena was a stone-scarred landscape, with vegetation breaking through the cracked and jagged ground. The flora on top was surprisingly lush for the seemingly barren base. The other half of the arena transitioned into a series of wetlands, with stone pillars and boulders standing semi-submerged.
On either side of the terraformed arena, Agnes Court caught her first glimpses of the stars of today’s show. The monsters that would fight. They were what stole the breath from her lungs, terrible beasts akin to Endbringers if they were wild and primal, apex predators that were part of an unfamiliar but very real natural order.
An azure leviathan, sleek and regal, proudly sat in the water on one side of the arena. It was tended to by a team of brave souls who looked completely used to working around a beast larger and more fearsome-looking than… well, Leviathan.
It was much more lively and natural than the Endbringer it bore similarities, too, though, even seeming to preen under its caretakers’ attention; it was almost beautiful, in a truly monstrous way.
A goddamn dinosaur occupied the other side of the arena, forcing an incredulous laugh from Agnes Court’s lungs. Contrary to the azure leviathan, it was much less docile and happy to be there, having to be restrained by the team tending to it until the fight could officially start.
It was a brutish thing that looked like a T-Rex with winged frills on its back and a crest on its nose that flared rhythmically to display its displeasure. It bucked against its chains, eager to rampage.
“Welcome, welcome, Inceptium! As always, the Monstrorum Arena is proud to host the people of our proud city! We’re bound to have a great fight today; Teams Leviathan and Brute Wyvern won’t let us down, I’m sure!” An announcer’s voice rang clearly across the space, shaking Agnes Court from her shock.
Each of the teams tending to the monsters waved at the crowd, and the crowd roared back, sounding just as eager to see them as they were to see the monsters.
Agnes Court tried to keep enough of her wits about her to assess the teams she was looking to take over. It was a difficult task, given the sheer noise of the crowd all around her and the intimidating sight of the monsters below, but important. She forced herself to focus.
Team Leviathan gave off a sleek and flowing impression, airs of streamlined power and wealth. There was no uniform for them, but their individual armors and outfits all incorporated shimmering, fish-like scales and cresting fins in varied styles and fashions.
Each of them stood out uniquely enough to be an individual worthy of note, equipped for and experienced in their adventuring, monster-taming duties, and all of them carried weapons with ease.
Agnes Court had no way to judge the personal power or prowess of the locals, but if they were working so easily around that azure leviathan, and were so locally famous, to boot, they had to be some of the best at what they did.
Team Brute Wyvern gave off a largely brutish impression. Their varied armors and outfits boasted fang and bone, fur and rough scale. For all that primal, brutal look, though, their equipment was just as well-made as Team Leviathan’s. Both teams were showcasing significant wealth; Agnes Court could tell that much even as an outsider.
That wealth said good things about her plan to secure start-up capital, but still, she was beginning to have her doubts about how well that plan would go.
She had an easier time judging Team Brute Wyvern’s personal power and prowess — one of them, at least. A massive brute of a woman was holding back the team’s monster by herself, and she barely looked like she was straining herself to do so.
“In the west corner, we have Lagiacrus, Team Leviathan’s champion for the day!” The announcer continued. “The Lord of the Seas! It is a long way from home, but all the more fierce for it! What can you tell me about Leviathan’s half of our fight today, Albert?”
The announcer’s partnered commentator replied, “Well, Yohn, Lagiacrus is certainly far from home. It rules the seas and likes life that way. In the deepest waters, the Abyssal Lagiacrus variant can reach 40 meters in length and 30 meters at the shoulder! This Lagiacrus isn’t nearly that massive and dangerous; perhaps 25 by 15, if my eyes are correct.”
“They always are, Albert,” Yohn chuckled.
Albert continued, “I would have to guess Team Leviathan wrangled it from the nearby Lake Lagia, named after the rare freshwater Lagiacrus population it boasts, of course.”
“Of course, of course. Would I be wrong to guess Lagiacrus bears a water element, then?”
“Not at all. It wields water, yes, but also thunder. They are capable of using their elements to make the seas surge. Sailors surely fear encountering one on a long journey, or even a short one! Lagiacrus are at their strongest in water — Lord of the Seas, and all — but they’re undeniably potent and formidable on land, too.”
“And what of Lagiacrus’ opponent today? Team Brute Wyvern hasn’t brought a poor offering to face off against the Lord of the Seas, have they?”
“Careful, Yohn, the Brute fans will be all over you for even suggesting their team isn’t up for today’s fight!”
“GASP! I wouldn’t dream of being so bold, Albert! I have nothing but the highest respect for our city’s brave Monster Fighters, no matter the team they claim! Why, if they weren’t here to lead us by entertainment and example, Inceptium would be left to the mages!”
“That would be a shame, wouldn’t it? I don’t think we have to worry about it coming to pass, though. Inceptium isn’t the kind of city to accept some Archmage lording over it. For leadership, we look to the Monster Fighting teams or nothing!”
Agnes Court paused as she took in that offhand bit of information. She hadn’t rightly known what to expect from Inceptium’s leadership — some king or lord, perhaps, to go with the fantastical nature of this Age?
It seemed that wasn’t the case. The Monster Fighting teams, the factions she was looking to take over, seemed to rule the city. Some sort of leading council, perhaps? Or perhaps the sport was just that ingrained in the city’s culture.
Agnes Court couldn’t know for sure, but she was beginning to worry about the feasibility of her hasty plans. She hadn’t done nearly enough research.
It was unlike her usual operations, to be honest, but then, this whole situation was unfamiliar ground.
“As it should be! Well said, Albert, well said!” The announcer, Yohn, laughed. “Now, about Brute Wyvern’s champion for the day?”
His commentator partner, Albert, was quick with the information Yohn invited, “Anjanath, the Relentless Ruffian! It doesn’t bear a title as regal as the Lord of the Seas, but it’s still a fearsome predator in its own right! Those jaws are as strong as anything else in Anjanath’s weight bracket and even capable of biting up! That flaring nose crest you see isn’t just for show, either! It can track scents like a bloodhound, and when it catches its prey, that powerful body will run them down in short order!
“This is a particularly large Anjanath specimen. They tend to range from 14 to 20 meters; this one looks to be nearly 25 meters!”
“A rival to our Lagiacrus champion, then! Well-chosen, Team Brute Wyvern! What of its elements, Albert?”
“Fire, primarily. Some Anjanath examples adapt to their habitat to wield water or ice, but those are the exceptions; fire is the rule, Yohn. They tend to be weakest to water, just as the Lagiacrus is weakest to fire.”
“Oh my! This should be a grand showdown! Our two monstrous champions wield each other’s weakness, folks! I can hardly wait for today’s fight to get underway!”
The crowd roared its excitement with the last statement from the announcer. The noise was deafening and chaotic. Agnes Court saw Whisperer cover his ears, the sheer commotion overwhelming even his Thinker power.
The rest of her own court, her cell, still looked confident following her lead here, despite the assumptions that were being broken in real time, but Uppercrust’s loaned Ice Queen was looking at her with a warning in her eyes.
She approached Agnes Court quietly, privately voicing her thoughts, “Are you still set upon your initial plan, Agnes Court? I fear you might be biting off more than you expected.”
Agnes Court hid her wince, “I fear the same. But this should still be the most expedient way to secure a foothold here, if we can pull it off. More importantly, changing our minds now will undoubtedly allow Accord and Coil a head start we cannot afford.”
“Will it?” Ice Queen asked. “Look. With the whole city seemingly focused on this event, it seems to me that our rivals have come to share our intended course.”
Agnes Court looked where Ice Queen was pointing. She saw Accord and Coil in the crowd — Accord with his Ambassadors surrounding him and shielding him from the chaos that must’ve been wreaking havoc on his infamous neuroses, and Coil with his mercenaries carving out a section of the stands for their alliance.
Accord met her eyes. He gave an acknowledging nod. Coil looked to be deep in thought. Titania laid bare what he was doing, a magical glimpse through the veil of time and space.
“~One road split into two, walked in parallel. The splitting decision, that which sends him both ways, is obscured from me, but I can look forward to see the twists and turns of each route, if you ask it of me.”
‘Please,’ Agnes Court agreed, leaning on her totem’s aid.
She was a leader; a competent one, she liked to think. But she wasn’t a Thinker, not like Accord or Coil or Ice Queen. The additional information her totem spirit could now provide her was new and very valuable. With Titania at her side, Agnes Court might very well be able to run with the Thinkers.
Fairy lights twinkled in her eyes, and Agnes Court saw what Titania had to show her, what Coil was currently doing. She saw two predicted futures. In one, their two factions raced to the finish line, only to be completely blown off the course of the race before they could truly think of reaching it. In the other, their two factions teamed up, and in that one, they at least saw the finish line.
Simultaneously, Agnes Court blinked back to the present, and Coil seemed to do the same. He leaned over to his ally and spoke something in Accord’s ear. Accord nodded, maintaining eye contact with Agnes Court across the distance. He waved a hand in a signal to one of his Ambassadors — Othello, who stood unintrusive and passive nearby.
A moment later, Ice Queen spoke, “We have a guest.”
Agnes Court didn’t know the full extent of Ice Queen’s power; she was a loaned ally, and even if he was willing to loan her, Uppercrust kept a few cards close to his chest. The most she knew was that Ice Queen was a variety Thinker. Her abilities weren’t as potent as any one Thinker, but almost anything another Thinker could do, she was capable of trying her hand at it. She could process, predict, and plot in equal measure, cold, competent and composed when she did.
That ability had now been furthered by the Dragon’s awakening. There, Agnes Court had the full story, at least. Ice Queen had partnered with Hanging Odin — an aspect of the Norse god frozen at the exact moment he hung himself from the World Tree and sacrificed his eye for cosmic knowledge.
… She was very glad Ice Queen was on her side, especially since she’d just noticed Othello’s ghostly, powered twin when even Whisperer hadn’t heard a thing.
On guard, Agnes Court waited to see what Othello would do at his master’s direction. A note was passed to her a moment later, drifting into her lap. Ice Queen’s eyes tracked thin air as the hand-off happened.
The note was written and signed by Accord. It was a message of parley, asking for a truce between them. It warned that, alone, they would both fail, as Agnes Court had glimpsed from Coil’s predictive parallel timelines. Together, they might stand a chance.
Accord shouldn’t have had time to write it with only a few second between Coil’s predictive advice and the delivery, but then, he would always have his plans, Agnes Court expected.
The only question now was if Agnes Court was willing to put aside her pride, work with a rival, and gain only half of the Dungeon market share she sought.
She looked around the arena and down at the Monster Fighting teams below. The crowd around her was split between fans wearing fish-scale badges and fans wearing fangs. The monsters that rivaled Endbringers were effortlessly kept subdued until the fight could officially start. And then, there was the idea that the Monster Fighting teams were the true ruling force in Inceptium…
Agnes Court met Accord’s distant eyes again, and she nodded in agreement to his offer.
IIIII
The fight began with a magically projected roar of trumpets. They rang over the arena, and the whole crowd fell almost eerily silent with anticipation. The Monster Fighting teams below backed away from their champions, releasing them for the coming rampage.
Immediately, Anjanath shook off its lingering chains and roared to the sky as if challenging the opening trumpets.
On the other side of the arena, Lagiacrus almost lazily began to move, sinking into the sunken half of the terrain and waiting.
If only the monstrous fight could’ve held her full attention. Agnes Court imagined it would be a show for the ages, as remarkable and awesome as any Endbringer fight. After all, even the locals, so used to these events, were struck by the electric mood.
Unfortunately, if she wanted her opportunistic plans, now joined with Accord’s, to have any chance of success, she needed to coordinate with her new ally.
They passed notes back and forth through Othello’s ghostly twin. She shared her suspicions about the true influence of these Monster Fighting teams and wasn’t at all surprised that Accord had noticed as well. If he had had enough time to work with, he almost certainly could’ve planned a way to subvert them, but with the hastiness at play now, only a direct approach was available to them.
It was a Hail Mary. Neither she nor Accord liked the options open to them. Eventually, though, they decided on a rush through the chaos that would follow the fight; if they could reach the losing Monster Fighting team, there might be room to force the issue.
Agnes Court doubted it. She expected that Accord did, too. But the potential profit was too much to pass up.
By the time they decided upon their course, the monster fight below was well underway. Dinosaur and Leviathan — Anjanath and Lagiacrus — clashed on the latter’s side of the arena. The announcer and commentator were calling out a play-by-play to the crowd and the rest of the city.
Whisperer reported that he could hear their voices echoing over the whole city like some sort of magical radio broadcast; even if most of the city couldn’t personally attend the fight, it was a cultural phenomenon that wholly enraptured the population and brought the whole city to a breathless pause. That level of influence furthered Agnes Court’s worries, but if the Monster Fighting teams truly ruled the city, it made sense to her that everyone and their mothers and uncles and babies would listen to their fights.
“Death Grip! Anjanath has a death grip on Lagiacrus’ neck!” Yohn called out. “Look at that power! Anjanath has thrown Lagiacrus all the way back to the wall! It looks wary to pursue further, though!”
“As it should be,” Albert commented. “In the water, Lagiacrus would rip Anjanath apart, my friend! Just like that! Oh, what a masterful wave! It swept Anjanath off its stony perch and right into the leviathan’s reach!”
The dinosaur champion fell into the water. It found its feet quickly, but Lagiacrus was already rushing it beneath the surface. 25 meters of primal, aquatic death raised a wake that almost reached the stands. It reminded Agnes Court of Leviathan, then, but even the Endbringer would likely be wary of such a beast bearing down on it.
With a surge, Lagiacrus caught Anjanath’s leg in its own death gripping jaws. It rolled like a crocodile, dragging the T-Rex-looking beast beneath the churning surface for a moment. White foam was thrashed into the air, spraying high enough to catch the sunlight in a brief rainbow.
Anjanath seemed to find leverage with its free leg, half-standing with Lagiacrus still clamped down on the other. The frilled wings on its back flared, and it kicked with all its might.
Lagiacrus, abruptly dislodged, sank back into the turbulent waters. A sweep of its tails sent a wave to push back Anjanath and maintain the distance.
Limping slightly, Anjanath leaped back onto one of the boulders that studded the sunken half of the arena. It prowled there, awaiting Lagiacrus’ next move. Lagiacrus’ dermal spikes breached the water’s surface, glowing white and crackling with energy. With a whip of its body, that energy was released in a lightning bolt.
Anjanath weathered the bioelectrical bolt without issue. It didn’t even look bothered by beast-made lightning. Fire licked at its teeth from within its mouth, and it roared a challenge. Lagiacrus took offense to the roar.
With a surge, it leaped from the water. Anjanath was ready. The leaping beast was plucked out of the air by impossibly strong jaws around its neck. Anjanath thrashed the leviathan against the rock it stood upon, battering it until scales flew from its body.
There was an almost pitiful sound from Lagiacrus as it was thrashed. Not a roar to rival Anjanath; a chirping, whooping screech much like a wounded whale, Agnes Court thought.
“There’s the fireblight! Lagiacrus is in trouble now! It’s burning!” Yohn exclaimed.
“Those wounds are deep, and contrary to what you might expect, they don’t cauterize themselves,” Albert explained. “Not even Lagiacrus’ water will put them out, but if it can submerge itself again, it can soothe the pain well enough to rally, I think.”
“Don’t worry, Leviathan fans! Waterblight is in play, too!” Yohn reassured. “Anjanath is moving much slower now than it was at the start of the fight! Its stamina is being leached away by Lagiacrus’ watery might! If it can turn this into a battle of endurance, Anjanath is surely boiled, but if not, Lagiacrus will be seared in short order!”
Even with Anjanath clamping down upon its neck, Lagiacrus didn’t yield. It thrashed against its thrashing, winding its sinuous, almost serpentine body into whip-like tail strikes against Anjanath’s biting head. One struck the dinosaur’s flaring nose crest head-on, and Anjanath became the first to flinch.
It reared back, reminding Agnes Court of a man who’d never been punched in the nose. Fitting. Lagiacrus capitalized on its sudden freedom, falling to the stone below with flowing grace and striking back like an uncoiling spring.
Its strike, jaws alight with lightning and water called up to fuel its momentum, pushed Anjanath into the water. Anjanath sank like a stone, the fire in its maw going out. A moment later, Lagiacrus joined it by slipping beneath the surface without a splash.
Blood colored the water around the dueling beasts red. Lagiacrus’ bioelectricity made the liquid surge as if it were alive and obeying its master. Anjanath, still reeling from the hit to its nose, faltered.
With all the grace of a beast at home in the seas, Lagiacrus picked Anjanath apart piece by piece. It dashed in and out of the waterlogged dinosaur’s reach. Water dragged Anjanath down. Tail strikes scored its flanks. Snapping jaws closed around its legs, ripping and tearing flesh, and breaking bones.
Anjanath grew slower and slower, exhausted and heavy, by the second. Its wounds mounted. The commentator’s prediction came true: as an endurance battle, Lagiacrus dominated in its domain.
Eventually, Anjanath fell and didn’t get back up. Its frilled wings slowly closed with the inevitable stillness of death. Its powerful jaw snapped at the water one last futile time.
As soon as it fell still, and half of the crowd exploded in victorious cheers, Agnes Court knew it was her time to move. Her and Accord; for all her newfound doubts (enhanced by seeing the monsters those Monster Fighting teams had been so easily wrangling in action), it was now or never.
IIIII
“Hey, you can’t go back there! What do you think this is, some gladiator match in Tryme?! We have standards here in Inceptium!”
“Bloody fucking tourists… Not even proper adventurers. No respect.”
Pushing their way through the celebrating (and almost rioting) crowd had taken effort, but Agnes Court had managed to get her court moving and even managed to meet up with her newfound allies.
Her official introduction to Accord and Coil had been curt and to the point. They had plans to enact, after all.
Now, though, their party had grown to some 120 members strong, most of them Coil’s 80-odd mercs and Agnes Court’s three-dozen courtiers. On Earth Bet, it would’ve been a force that could take entire city underworlds by storm. Despite her worries and the unfamiliar ground they were operating on, Agnes Court’s confidence grew with their strength in numbers.
She felt they had to outnumber the Brute Wyvern Monster Fighting team together, but she couldn’t be sure. Before the fight, she’d counted only 12 Brute Wyvern members wrangling the Anjanath. While she doubted that was the full extent of their team, she also didn’t think they could reasonably boast many more monster tamers of such quality.
How extensive could these sporting teams, no matter their influence in the city, be?
Furthermore, the Brute Wyvern members she’d seen were almost certainly the ‘starting line-up’, so to speak. If they could coerce those few ‘starters’ into compliance, there was a real chance they’d have the foothold they were after.
Deep within the working bowels of the arena, Agnes Court and her new allies found the Team Brute Wyvern section through the use of Ice Queen’s power. She peered through space like it was clear ice, a clairvoyance ability that Agnes Court hadn’t been aware she possessed in her diverse Thinker toolbox. She thought it must’ve been a minor ability normally, but that Hanging Odin had boosted its effectiveness to aid Ice Queen.
‘Magic,’ Agnes Court shook her head, musing to herself. ‘It changes everything.’
“~Indeed,” Titania whispered in response to her thoughts. “I can do the same and more than that broken god. I can bind your court to you irrevocably. I can show you old ways through the world, any world. I can teach you spells and fae weavings. In time, we shall reap Summer’s bounty together, Agnes Court…”
The inner levels of the arena were split into seven equal sections, but only two seemed active today: Team Brute Wyvern’s and Team Leviathan’s sections. Ice Queen reported an eighth section that lay beneath the whole arena, one fight for a king or Dragon, but also that it seemed almost abandoned, almost hidden.
Whisperer added to the picture of the Monster Fighting teams by naming the ones he overheard, seven in total, with no mention of the eighth: Neopteron & Temnoceran, Flying Wyvern, Carapaceon, Fanged Beast, Fanged Wyvern, and, of course, Leviathan and Brute Wyvern.
The entrance to Brute Wyvern’s section that they chose to use looked like staff entrance; Ice Queen reported a main entrance that looked as busy as the nearly rioting crowd throughout the rest of the arena. That staff entrance was guarded by two men who could only be adventurers, but couldn’t be noteworthy ones if they were stuck outside.
They didn’t seem too worried about the 120-strong company of strangers approaching them, though…
Accord, Coil, Agnes Court, and Ice Queen stepped forward to speak to the guards. Accord tried diplomacy first.
“Apologies if we’ve given offense; we’re not quite familiar with the way things are done here. Still, after such a grand showing, I felt it was my duty to offer aid to the… less victorious side of today’s event. Out of the respect you seem to think I lack.”
The guard on the right scoffed dismissively, “No one gets in through here, especially not after a defeat. Get lost, you and your weird tourist army.”
“What ‘aid’…?” The left guard actually considered Accord’s words. “Oh, I know! You’re looking to join up, aren’t ya? Saw our strength and you were convinced, huh?”
He grinned at Accord as if he’d figured it all out with that. Accord fell very still and looked to be restraining himself. Agnes Court picked up the slack.
“That’s right. Even if your team lost today, it was clear to see the-… ahem, ‘brute’ strength you represent. How could we accept joining anything less than that?”
The left guard chuckled, “I get ya, I get ya. Still, ya picked a poor time, right after a loss and all. How about ya come back tomorrow? We’ll certainly have work for y’all then.”
Coil spoke up before she could change tactics and try again, “I can’t see a timeline where diplomacy succeeds here. We’ll have to force our way through.”
Agnes Court nearly groaned aloud at that. She had her doubts that Coil was even capable of making the best diplomatic choices, but even if he had, it was too late to try them now.
“You’ll fucking what-?!” The right guard exclaimed, bringing his halberd to bear with speed to rival Armsmaster.
Ice Queen was stepped forward almost as soon as Coil spoke and ruined their diplomatic chances, though. She moved into the guard’s guard, ignoring his adventurer-leveled speed with the sheer surety of her movement. Cold fingers found their way between gaps in the guard’s armor to pinch debilitating pressure points, and at the same time, she struck the other guard with the same.
“… At least we know every mediocre adventurer isn’t overwhelmingly stronger than us,” Agnes Court grumbled.
Coil, infuriatingly, just shrugged, “It was the only way forward.”
“It is done, and we will now plan around the consequences,” Accord said.
He led the way through the now-cleared entrance; commitment was their only option at this point.
Surely, it wouldn’t backfire terribly… Perhaps Team Brute Wyvern would even appreciate the unfortunately ‘brutish’ approach they were taking…
IIIII
“-And WHO THA’ HELLFIRE do ya fuckers think ya are?!”
“By Fatalis’ terrible wings, yer fockin’ bold, aren’t ya?!”
“The Brute Wyverns bow to no outsiders! Not even a wet Leviathan cunt would stoop so low!”
“Name yer deeds, name yer legends! Surely, ya have something of note to boast if ya’re thinking to lay claim on Monster Fighters in Inceptium! We rule this city! No kings, no lords, no mages; just the monsters willing to hunt, tame, and fight monsters!”
… Needless to say, Team Brute Wyvern did not appreciate their approach, no matter how brutish.
They were dropping like flies, now. Agnes Court’s only silver lining was that Coil was one of the first to fall, cleaved in twain by a sword of bone as large as his lanky height. He disappeared in a shower of gold, that gilded signifier of death in the Dungeon.
The rest of them were bound to follow into showers of gold soon enough. They’d grossly underestimated the power and prowess, the sheer strength, of Team Brute Wyvern’s starting line-up. And not just the starters; they’d underestimated how extensive and entrenched the Monster Fighting team as a whole was.
Entering the team’s section of the arena had revealed a whole organization at work, numbers that put their forces to shame. And every soul there seemed to be an adventurer.
What Agnes Court (and likely Accord, too) had been thinking of as the local equivalent of a cape was much more widespread than anticipated. Even the team’s supporting staff could hold their own against the capes and mercs on their side, and they outnumbered them more than 10:1 when Agnes Court had expected the disposition of forces to swing the exact opposite way. They all carried weapons, had clear experience in combat, and were not at all afraid to fight with lethal intent.
The result was a slaughter.
Team Brute Wyvern’s starting 12 led the immediate counter-charge, not taking kindly to ‘tourists’ intruding upon their territory, and they alone likely could’ve handled all but Agnes Court’s most potent, combat-oriented courtiers.
They were forces of nature in human (occasionally what had to be elves, dwarves, and orcs, too) form, veteran-elite adventurers who led a populous and proud city that thrived in a truly monstrous land.
A slender, stern-faced, dark-skinned man clad in fur and bone wove through Coil’s mercenaries, taking them apart limb from limb and ignoring the tinkertech laser fire that failed to mark his skin. One by one, the mercs burst into showers of gold.
A faceless figure of full bone plate shattered the ranks of her court. Whisperer fell cringing and whimpering, not at all suited for such intense combat; he burst into a shower of gold. Ice Queen put up more of a fight, matching the bone-plated figure with combat-Thinker prowess, but she couldn’t pierce the monstrous armor. His club cracked the very air with a shockwave that no Thinker ability could help Ice Queen dodge. She burst into a shower of gold.
A sultry, dusky-skinned priestess in a feathered headdress invoked primal gods and let loose ghostly beasts upon Accord and his Ambassadors. No planning could help him against such a flood of divine magic. He burst into a shower of gold. His Ambassadors quickly followed.
Agnes Court might’ve taken pride in being the last to fall if she wasn’t on the backfoot for every extra moment she survived. That massively muscled woman she’d seen holding back the Anjanath by herself was her foe. Agnes Court was throwing her power into overdrive, casting out seeds that grew into barriers to keep the brutish woman as far away as possible.
Each barrier fell to the woman’s sword, a fleshy, demonic, and draconic thing with eyes. Why did it have eyes…?!
Titania helped where she could, spelling Summer vines to grow from her hasty power-constructed barriers and attack the brutish adventurer woman. All of them snapped almost instantly, unable to slow the woman’s sheer strength.
Soon enough, after frantic minutes, Agnes Court found herself cornered with the brutish woman slowly walking toward her; both she and her sword were looking at Agnes Court as if trying to figure her out.
“I am Thalia. Ya’re the last. I would have yer name, outsider,” The woman said.
With a defeated sigh, she obliged, “Agnes Court. For what it’s worth, I can see that I have erred, and I regret it. I don’t think you’ll accept my apology, though.”
“Unlikely,” Thalia snorted. “This was bold and stupid of ya, outsider. Agnes Court. I don’t even know what ya were attempting.”
“I’m not sure I do either at this point.”
“Why, then?”
“Arrogance, I think, quite frankly. We were much too used to operating as we always have back home. We carried that here without changing a thing to suit the new environment and suffered for it.”
“I’d say work on that, but ya won’t get the chance.”
“I might. The Dragon will resurrect me. You may very well see me again, though likely not this week.”
Thalia blinked, “… Dragon? One of the Elders? I thought… I thought they were just myths, and great as those myths are, I’ve heard of no Elder Dragon with the power to turn back death.”
“Then we likely aren’t talking about the same Dragon,” Agnes Court shrugged. “Ancalagon the White brought us here. He’s holding an… event for new adventurers outside the city.”
“Ah…” Thalia sagged in both relief and disappointment. “Another Dragon, indeed. A True one, not an Elder one. He’s not a monster I can slay, and he’s much too civilized for me to even try. Still, ya’ve done me a service by informing me of his presence. Any last requests?”
“… Anything but that sword.”
“Pardon?”
“Kill me with anything but that sword. I really don’t like how those eyes are looking at me.”
Thalia laughed, but stowed her monstrous sword. Agnes Court was almost inclined to thank her for that… until Thalia stepped forward and put her hand straight through her chest instead.
Agnes Court felt herself burst into a shower of gold. Briefly, she wondered how the Thalia would perceive that, but with Ancalagon’s likely legendary name now in play for her, Agnes Court supposed a shower of gold wasn’t too out of the question for the locals.
Through her ‘death’, she experienced a blink of darkness, of nothingness, and then she found herself back in the Dragon’s tower, surrounded by everyone who ‘died’ before her.
“That…” Accord summed it up best. “Was poorly planned, and even more poorly executed.”
IIIII
[AN: Simmy’s time in the spotlight got pushed back to next chapter. I got a bit carried away with the monster fight, Inceptium world-building, and all. It’s fine this way; giving Simmy more time next chapter will be good ‘cause I think I have something fun planned for her. She’s been something of an issue to plan around, but I have her motivation, goal, the complications in her way, and a fun way for her to overcome them set now. Consequences/reactions will come after all of that, once Simmy pulls off her Simmy-Scheme. They definitely won’t be nothing. Anyway, I’ll get to work on the Simmy show tomorrow morning :]