//Long-ass post.\
-"Vandrin, huh? Fine, give him a room in one of the houses below. I'll deal with him later."
-"Yes, Sovereign."
Meanwhile, my good Stalkers and Necrolytes are finishing up the academy... I'll go pay them a visit."
After being informed by the arena floor that he has two more rounds left to fight, Ein prepared himself for his next opponent. However, as he was getting his spear gun ready for another fight, he noticed something odd - the arena was being flooded with water. It rushed in from the sides, swiping Ein off his feet. He barely had time to activate a glyph scratched into his skin to allow water breathing, as the water completely covered him.
The moon was out of the clouds now, and shining down into the pool that is the Arena. The underwater landscape glowed, leaving little possibility for stealth. The gates, silenced and lubricated by water, noiselessly swung open.
What Ein saw come out of the gate surprised him more than anything he's seen and experienced in the other two rounds. Wow, this shouldn't even be close to a challenge... It was a boy of about 13, in swimming shorts. The only thing that set off Ein's alarm bells was the cold, lifeless stare the kid was piercing him with.
The child assumed the lotus position, floating about a meter above the underwater floor. His curly hair was undulating in the currents, and his eyes were locked on Ein in the same chilling come-hither look.
Well, no use wasting time now... One advantage the spear guns had over other weapons is their effectiveness under water almost surpassing that of land. Without much more thoughts, Ein fired the spear.
At first, it all seemed to go perfectly well - the spear zoomed to the youth faster than Ein could blink. However, then, something odd happened - the spear turned to the boy's left, and circled around him, coming back right at Ein. The latter barely jumped out of the way as the spear struck the wall behind him.
Damnit, Ein thought. This kid has a complete field advantage. Ein could not move as fast under water, nor could he fire safely. This is cheap, not fair at all...
Before Ein could formulate another whine, a small distortion from the boy's side tipped him off that something was wrong. Indeed it was - the Stalker was hit by a massive water blast, smashing him against the wall. The water darkened with blood from a wound on the back of his head, and the reopening scar from the previous match. Just then, the thought hit Ein as hard as his head hit the wall. If the kid has a home field advantage, why not take it from him?
Ein scuttled upwards, above the water level. He reached the blissful air just in time - another jet stream crushed the wall below him to pieces. Scanning the underwater surface, he aimed for the kid's head, and fired.
As to be expected, the spear came flying back at Ein, clipping his earlobe. The projectile tumbled back into the water, from which it was again promptly ejected. This time, it struck Ein in the leg. He screamed, and pulled the barbed tip out of his skin, ripping more flesh as he went along.
-"That's it, kid - playtime's over. Die, bastard."
With the remains of the spear, Ein scratched a glyph into the walls, this one slightly C-shaped instead of a full circle. With a ceremonial look, he activated it.
The air was ripe with the odour of burning flesh, as two-million-volt lightnings rippled through the water. Unable to hold on, Ein fell into the shining death pool, just after the glyph ran out of power. The water was murky with blood, and was quickly drained through large gutters on the sides of the arena. Ein found himself looking exactly like Eris - covered head to toe in blood.
Finally, the floor lit up a gigantic 1...
-"Ugh. Figures."
Thus was Ein's reaction when he saw a cloaked and hooded figure pass through the gates. Of course they'll send a rival Stalker against him. Of course.
Deciding not to waste time, Ein fired his full volley of three spears directly at the Stalker. Avoiding the top one, the enemy Stalker sliced the other two up with his kamas. Then, before Ein got a chance to rearm, the silvery lightning of a hatchet split the wall right next to him in half. Just as fast, it retreated, pulled by the minute chain that it was attached to the Stalker by.
Finally, this gave Ein a short break. He loaded a spear into his gun, and ducked aside, as the Stalker whizzed past him. Realizing he'd missed, the assassin leaped off the wall he landed onto, right onto Ein. Another roll to the side, and the kamas hit bare ground. The still-wet turf grasped the kamas, which allowed Ein to load another spear into the weapon.
The Stalker was clearly getting agitated now. This time, he threw both Kamas at Ein, as well as the axe, in one fluid but scarily swift maneuver. Ein managed to avoid the two kamas, but the axe proved to be a problem - it nearly cut his right hand off, putting a deep scar into the shoulder. The assassin leaped to his weapons, as Ein loaded the final spear into the spear gun.
Yet another quiet whizz alerted Ein of an incoming projectile. He ducked, while opening some sort of a winch on his weapon. The gear expanded, and Ein spun it, which caused the triple-crossbow head of the weapon to spin about wildly. Carefully taking his aim, Ein fired all three spears at once.
The Stalker didn't appear to notice the spinning weapon, so he took the normal procedure to try to avoid the spears. Unfortunately for him, they were spinning in a helix instead of flying in a straight formation. What could've been easily avoided otherwise struck the Stalker in his face. Ein grinned as he saw two spear sticking out of the man's eyes, and one from his wide open mouth.
At last, the gates behind him opened - his own gates - first time in these several hours. Exhausted, he walked out.
---
Inside, Aahzmandius was waiting for him with a vial in his hands. For the first time Ein remembered, the teacher was broadly smiling.
-"Well done, Einherjar! Well done! Take this, drink it, and follow me."
Ein complied, and felt his wounds close.
---
The place they arrived at was the meal hall, but visibly transformed - instead of the gloomy, prison-like interior, Ein found it to be richly decorated with candles in huge golden and crystal chandeliers. Those were casting light down unto more food that Ein thought was in all of Kandarin at the peak of its power. Five other Stalkers were led into the room at the same time as him, probably also having finished the trials earlier. The Headmaster was also present.
-"Well done, my friends! Well done! Now, you are officially Kandarin's most elite troops. I know that watching your comrades die was difficult, but everyone knew of the risks involved. The ends more than justify the means, I'm sure you would all agree. To celebrate the second batch of successful Stalkers, our Sovereign will be joining us shortly as well. Now eat. This will be the first of the nearly limitless rewards to come in the service for Kandarin."
What? Kronos is coming here himself? Goddamnit... Ein was not comforted by the thought at all. It would seem strange for him to leave now, so he decided to just enjoy himself.
Others, however, did not appear to be fully doing that. The Stalkers' minds were visibly harshly strained - some sat looking at the food with a blank stare, and others were engorging themselves to ridiculous lengths. The only ones who appeared to be untouched by this were Eris and Ein, who happened to sit together.
-"So, Ein... Bes you likesied the Sov'reign's playsground?"
-"Playground? What do you mean?"
-"Bes you not knowledgeable of that? Them Kronos had them rotted undeads fightsie each other down at arena. Bes not tell me, pleases, you not have noticed them stench?"
-"Uh... I guess not." He was too busy in his studies to notice, he figured. "Then again, they do smell pretty bad, stinkin' zombies... Or, as Marshall would've said, malodorous necrotic entities. At least, I think he would've said that."
-"Who bes them Marshall?"
-"Just a friend. Anyways, what are you going to be doing after we get out of here?"
-"Serve them Kronos for a shortsie while. Bes good profit, and good ways to get close to hims. Then, when serpent vile bes not expecting it, I'll sticks his eyesies out. With them bolts."
-"That would hurt..."
--- --- ---
"The academy was a pretty neat place, I finally noticed. The time distortion dome, courtesy of my scientists, truly served its purpose. Six stalkers in a matter of hours...! I'm the best.
In any case, after a brief falling-to-the-ground-in-infinite-respect session by the lobby guards, I and my handsome entourage of eight undead warriors entered the academy proper. We were shown to the very back, where the surviving Stalkers were seated for a final banquet.
...
*ink droplets*
Ein?
Well. Well, well, well.
-"I see you've made use of my facilities, Ein."
-"Yes, I have, rat-face. What are you going to do about it?"
-"Probably execute you. Anyways... Guards! SEIZE HIM!"
Come now, tell me that's not fun to say.
Without really watching for the success, or rather, miserable failure of my undead minions to capture Ein, I made my way out of the fortress. I'll let him roam the lands for now. Maybe he'll be useful to me later. In any case, I decided to return back to Vandrin. I've really got to show that stinking, rotten...
*skip ahead a couple of pages full of puerile insults aimed at Vandrin*
---
-"So, my dear count," I said, towering over the figure lying in the bed. "I've been hearing that life was somewhat tough for you."
I took a pause to get seated. The count coughed in reply, which made my eye twitch. Nearly losing it, I regained control of myself after a deep breath, and summoned my calm voice back.
-"Yes, tough indeed. Let's take a little time to summarize your ventures to this point, before I will express my message. First, you arrive to my then-grand palace in Kandarin, a mere fledgeling, but loaded with money. I'm a sucker for things golden, see. So, in a temporary fit of insanity, I allowed you to buy my land."
I took a sip from a wine glass conveniently placed on a table near me.
-"Thus to your land you travel, barely heard from until much later on. I won't lie, your... karma somewhat reassured me that you would be a worthy candidate for that land, so I let the little things such as lack of tax shipments slide. Further demonstrating my infinitely vast patience with you, I decided not to destroy you when you sent me a malfunctioning tribute of your potions, two of which turned my best scientists into ruined corpses. Ruined, Ted. Ruined. I couldn't resurrect them."
I let a sigh out from my chest, which has been accumulating there for some time.
-"But still, still, I had some faith left in you. You were forcing my hand, much like an insolent spoiled child forces his good-hearted father's. Being the patient father that I am, I resisted. But for what, let me ask you? For what?"
-"I'll tell you what. Absolutely nothing. When Horus decided to pay me a visit, a feat he might not have succeeded performing had my scientists not been slain, my nation was in ruin. Once again, like a good father to his children, I fought my way through troubles and deceit that followed the crumbling of an ever-great nation. All for my people, Ted, and that includes you."
-"So how do you pay me back? Why, no way other than by crawling unto my doorstep the second someone starts knocking at your county. This time, I thought about my decision - I thought long and hard before sending you a squadron of my most elite soldiers and the prototypical doomsday weapon, the Stalker. All for the people, I reminded myself. All for the people."
-"And now, what do I see? My elite squadron is eight times smaller than when I sent it to you, and my prototypical Stalker is dead. The damndest thing, though - all I asked in return was five or more lizard men. With losses as vast as yours, I expected you to be drowning in sweat dragging me an unconscious lizard man army. Sigh. So what is the result, Vandrin? What do I see you pay me with?"
The calm expression turned to a scowl, as I felt something snapping inside of myself.
-"FIVE freaking lizard men, FIVE!!! And HALF OF THEM drugged OUT OF THEIR MIND!!! Probably with perma-freaking-nent BRAIN DAMAGE! Was this SO MUCH TO ASK, Vandrin? WAS IT?! ANSWER ME, DAMNIT!!!"
With great effort, I once again claimed control of myself.
-"My nation is in dire need of unlife, Count. That's a part of the reason I wanted you to get me lizard men. They would make great manual workers. Then again, I could always use your lifeless corpse for it, to repair the nation you so kindly showed yourself into without permission."
Gulping down some more wine, I felt my mind clouding. Looks like I don't have much of a tolerance for spirits.
-"I will come back to you tomorrow. By that time, I expect a full plan of action from you on how you will regain control of your land. You see, my friend," I said, getting up. "I still haven't completely lost faith in you. May you find your way safely."
