Dreadwolf, Lord of Runes

A shocked silence descended when Kane revealed the challenge was open to anyone. Luna, especially, had wide eyes and twitching eyebrows. "Master?!" she exclaimed through telepathy. "Tell me you have a plan!"

"No need for one of those," Kane smiled back mysteriously. "I believe you can simply defeat all of them."

"Ugh," Luna groaned and palmed her face. "Enough is enough, Master! You managed to surprise me, alright? Now tell me the plan!"

Yet, Kane's smile didn't diminish. "How about this?" he chuckled playfully. "If you really want to know I'll tell you, but if you go in blind and defeat them all, I'll lock us both in the Commander's Sanctum when we're done here."

Luna blinked when various scenarios began swimming in front of her eyes. "A— And?" she muttered with equal parts anxiety and expectation.

"And we won't come out until all your cores are at the fifth rank," he finished with a knowing grin.

Instantly, Luna disappeared from her spot and jumped into the battle arena. "Who's first?!" she exclaimed with a wide grin, and both of her short swords drawn.

Surprisingly, she held her left weapon in a reverse grip, and her right in a regular one. At the same time, she took on a slightly crouched combat form, while holding the right sword in front of her, and the left behind her back.

This was her usual style. After taking it, she eyed her potential opponents hungrily.

Kane's promise had stoked a fire under the young Valkyrie. Sure, the sex that would surely be involved was nice, but the thing she cared about most was finally being on somewhat equal footing to her master again.

Meanwhile, Aelia looked at Kane strangely. "Do you really trust her that much? Thinking she can beat even me?" she asked, sceptically.

"Who knows?" Kane smiled mysteriously. "Maybe there's a reason I'm confident and I'm deliberately giving you a seemingly easy bet so that you'll accept and loose… or maybe I'm bluffing and hoping you'll accept the 5% rather than take a chance against whatever I might or might not be planning."

Aelia looked at him with a deadpan gaze for a moment, then rolled her eyes. "Ugh, I'm not playing reverse psychology with you. So fine, I'll take your bet." Before Kane could respond, she narrowed her eyes and continued, "But it won't count if you pull any underhanded crap, understood?"

"Of course," Kane smiled confidently.

For a moment, Aelia kept her eyes narrowed while she looked at him sceptically. He was far too calm for her liking. But then she groaned, shook her head, and decided not to think about it.

Yet, there was one more thing that concerned her. "What about safety, though?" she asked with a frown. "I don't want to hurt your Valkyrie, and I don't want my girls to get hurt over this either."

Fortunately, Kane shook his head. "No need to worry. The arena has safeguards in place. It will decide the winner and protect their lives."

With Aelia's concerns alleviated and the bet in place, Kane turned back to the crowd. Currently, they were looking at Luna curiously, but most of them weren't particularly interested otherwise.

None of them doubted Aelia could beat her, and that was what most of them cared about. Some of them did feel a certain interest in defeating her themselves, though. Some wanted the glory, others a little revenge for Luna's part in fighting, and a few simply desired a fun battle.

But Kane was about to create some more interest.

"Now," he addressed them, "As an added incentive, the first person to win against her will earn contribution points."

That earned him some confused gazes, as no one knew what he was talking about. Naturally, he quickly explained.

"As I'm sure you've all heard, I also have third and fourth stage techniques," he first began, which earned him some greedy nods full of desire.

"What you might not know," he continued, while waving his hand at the many small cubicles to the side. "Is that those are meditation cells that give various benefits while you study a technique or enhance your cores."

Instantly, everyone's eyes widened, even Aelia's, as they turned towards those cubicles. But then Kane threw a rain on their parade. "Unfortunately, they cost energy, which is something we're trying to conserve right now. Thus, I've come up with a plan: contribution points."

He waved his hand to dismiss the many questions that immediately arose, and continued, "There will be a message about the specifics on your armbands later, but for now, all you need to know is that you can earn those points by contributing to the group in some way. The exact numbers I will discuss with Aelia later."

"Suffice it say," he shrugged, "you can earn new techniques, and time spent in those meditation cells, by exchanging those contribution points. I can't give an exact number until the entire contribution system has been put in place, but suffice it to say, the reward for defeating my dear Luna will be substantial."

For a moment, silence descended as this new information internalized itself.

Then, they all rushed towards the battle platform under a cacophony of voices, stomping feet, and shoving.

Even if they didn't know the specifics yet, or understand the full significance of those meditation cells, none of them wanted to waste the chance to earn their way towards a third, or even fourth stage technique.

Finally, one ambitious young human was the first to make it to the stage, and a forcefield instantly surrounded the arena. This was designed so that the fighters could safely go all out.

Fortunately, since it only needed to protect against first stage fighters, the forcefield barely used any energy.

This human had all their cores at the third rank, and she grinned widely at Luna while brandishing a regular sword. "My name is Nera, and I honestly don't know what my chances are against you, but I'm very determined, so prepare yourself!"

Luna said nothing, only using her right hand to beckon her opponent tauntingly with an excited grin.

Nera responded by charging Luna with greed flickering in her eyes. At the same time, blue drops of water started to coalesce around her free hand, proving her water element. "Have it your way!" she exclaimed. "Here I come!"

Yet, as soon as Luna saw her approach, she blinked with a hint of surprise. Her eyes inspected Nera's stance and movement and had a sudden realization. "Wait is… is that Master's plan?" she mumbled to herself with a confused eyebrow raised. "It couldn't be that simple, could it?"

She slightly turned her head to glance at Aelia, who was watching the fight next to Kane. "Her, too?" she continued to mutter curiously. "I suppose I haven't really fought any of them straight up before, but still… I really should have noticed during the fighting."

During their earlier breakout, Luna had mostly played as an ambusher, while Kane did most of the face-to-face fighting. She hadn't really faced anyone directly, and the prevalent darkness had made it difficult to notice much.

Having now realized the likely reason for Kane's confidence, Luna became even more excited and grinned widely, before refocusing on her rapidly approaching opponent.

When Nera almost reached her, the woman swiped her free hand to toss all the coalesced water droplets at Luna like a hail of bullets.

Seeing her attack, Luna smirked arrogantly, before elegantly dodging to the side. There, she was almost immediately met with Nera's blade. Nera grinned excitedly, thinking she'd basically already won.

Yet, Luna's expression didn't change.

With a speed and grace that completely caught Nera off guard, the catling brought up the sword in her right hand, and easily swatted her attacker's sword aside, despite their equally powerful blood cores.

Then, she stepped forward, into Nera, and swiped at her opponent's stomach using the reverse gripped blade in her other hand.

Nera's eyes widened. Luna's blade flashed toward her stomach, and in the blink of an eye, she pictured her organs spilling onto the ground.