Chapter 311 – Vs the rebellious daughter [Nariko POV]

“Look at that, they are sending your daughter in again,” Maximillian said. “Earlier than expected.” Nariko didn’t even honour the crown prince with a response. He was a business partner, nothing more. His insistence on keeping his mighty tone only served to prove his ignorance about where this world was heading.

Nobles like him would eventually become obsolete. Truthfully, if Lydia won this whole thing, it would hasten the process where the Abyss Auction was the one pulling the strings of the world through the sheer power of wealth alone. Her fighting on the side of the king of gravity was a personal calculation.

All she needed was the money to protect her clan. That one of the closest members of that family, her own daughter, was part of the enemy was highly unfortunate. ‘Although this might help mend our relationship a bit, ironically,’ Nariko thought back to the talk following her victory in their last fight. ‘I wonder where she got that hot-headedness from. It wasn’t as bad when she was younger… I think.’ 

Not for the first time Nariko felt that sting of regret about having left her daughters behind. Just like every other time, she pushed it aside. She had made her decision years ago, and both Jane and Elizabeth seemed happy for the most part.

They had become fine women, even if they had poor taste in company and mannerism. ‘Maybe I can pick up where I left once this tournament is over?’ Nariko dared to hope that they could be a family again. If she got the Auction a contractual preference for all of Rex Germaniae, that would mean she had all the resources she could ever need to keep her family, all of her clan, safe from the Korean raids. Then, when they could view the sun rise over the ocean, with no worries of the warships that might loom over the horizon, they could know peace.

“…and thus, we will win!” Maximillian ended his empty bravado, which Nariko had successfully filtered out as white noise. How a person with his level of administrative talent could be this arrogant was beyond her. He clearly wasn’t stupid, but he acted the part of the fool, not the emperor.

The platform materializing was her cue to finally stand up. “Don’t disappoint us down there,” Alexej spoke as she passed him. She stopped, not facing the serf as she answered, “A useless comment, I haven’t before, and I won’t start now. Just keep up your end of the bargain.”

Then she went into motion again. Alexej Zeritr, the only thing she knew about him was that he was the child of a family that had been serving the Habsburgs for generations in numerous positions that were cloaked in shadows. ‘A serfdom of honour’, that was their creed.

He was pretty good at what he did, both herself and Ankleshanker had been brought into the team by him, but what he had done in his personal life remained a mystery. While that was slightly unnerving, it also went to show that he understood what he was doing. The fact that they were on the same side was reassuring.

Moments later, she stepped into the brown sands as the biome wheel above was quick at work. She met Jane in the middle of the arena. “Won’t you save both of us the pain and give up?” Nariko asked in a tone she hoped was motherly, the kind of voice that conveyed that she definitely knew what the best course of action here was.

Jane scratched her copper-striped, golden cat, who had accompanied her, behind the ear before straightening up to answer. “Nah, I will getcha this time, mom,” the rebellious daughter presented her clenched fist to her mother.

Nariko sighed. She had already established she was stronger and held Jane in high enough esteem to know that she wouldn’t fall to silent baiting as last time. “I do not want to hurt you,” she spoke truthfully. 

It seemed that it sounded condescending to her daughter, “Oh yeah? Ya think getting punched around by ya will hurt more than betraying the trust of the people that care about me?”

“It would save both of us a great deal of discomfort. I have beaten you once, what makes you think this will be different?” Nariko asked. “Cause I have a boyfriend who gave me a nice kiss before I came down here and told me I could do it,” Rave lowered her fist into an actual stance.

“Young love, so foolish,” the auctioneer exasperated as the ground below their feet trembled and liquified. Sand became stone and grew into the air as a monolithic forest of stalagmites. Nariko kept one eye on her daughter as the countdown went down. She gave one of the nearby dripstone formations a testing jab.

It crumbled at the simplest exercise of force. ‘So they won’t be as much of a physical obstacle than a visual one,’ Nariko noted and formulated her plans accordingly. 

“Hey, I might be a fool, but John is my pervert. Guy is way too smart for his own good,” Jane smirked, and the countdown hit zero. “Give up and we can find another solution for your problem!” Accompanied by her daughter’s words was a quick jump forward. 

Once again, Nariko was starting on the receiving end of a pummelling. This time, however, there was no reason to hide her powers until an opportune time to strike.

The world transformed from something she could see, taste, smell and hear to something she could only feel. Her flesh and bone vaporized into pure energy, crackling through the air and out of melee range. She moved as quickly as this new form allowed her, wanting to change back as soon as possible. It was both unstable and taxing on her mana to use this technique for extended periods of time. Matter didn’t take well to being forced into a state of pure energy.

“I respect your physical strength,” Nariko spoke, now standing on the tip of a stalagmite, looking down at her cat-eared daughter, “but you should know from last time how tiring yourself out will end!” If she was going to win, she at least could beat some lessons into her stubborn daughter in the process. Right now, she was in a safe environment, better she learned to conserve her strength here before she faced someone who could kill her.

She didn’t want to ever hear about one of her daughters' demise ever again. All of her life had been spent on the goal of giving them a safe home, after all.

Jane had other plans: she went right ahead and jumped at her mother again. A kick that destroyed the stalagmite on top of which Nariko had been standing. ‘She isn’t using her aftershock blessing,’ she noted as she sailed through the air, looking at the small cloud of dust her daughter’s attack had caused.

In mid-air, Nariko threw out a couple of lightning strikes. The golden, electricity-esque magic cut through the air, one of them hitting Jane, who was jumping out of the cloud to set after the abyssal auctioneer. The lightbearer did have the wisdom to keep her head covered with her crossed arms, however, so the damage was negligible.

Both of them landed far apart from each other. Nariko changed into lightning for a mere moment to land on top of another stalagmite. The brittle stone was barely able to hold her weight despite her outstanding balance; if she tried to land with the ongoing momentum of a grown adult body, that would have led to her breaking the whole thing.

Jane wonderfully demonstrated that, trying to stop her fall on the side of a dripstone, which broke off under her. From her position above, Nariko could not only easily survey the whole thing but start throwing yet more low-power bolt attacks.

Using the twin strike that she had used to take out Jane last time was something she would much rather avoid. It was a risky technique in that it sapped away all of her remaining mana in one usage, making it only suitable to ensure the victory. Furthermore, it would create an absurd amount of pain on the receiver’s side.

Unlike last time, there was no point to be made about the difference in their power. She would only use that technique if her hand was forced.

Which it wouldn’t be, judging by how her daughter continued this fight by needlessly using one of Regan’s techniques. Granted, it was several times stronger than what her husband could have hoped to create, being only an above average fighter.

With Jane’s rather impressive talent, that simple, straight punch, that was only meant to be a close-up rupture of enemy organs, became a landscape shattering explosion of power. Her aura expanded forwards, ripping apart all stalagmites in a trench in front of the lightbearer. What was left behind was a mostly clear path between the two of them, with blue particles of superfluous magic dancing through the air.

“What a waste of mana!” Nariko scolded her daughter, throwing a series of paralyzing attacks that cost herself basically nothing; “I thought you had learned, seeing how you didn’t use all of your cards from the start. Evidently, I thought too highly of you!”

All the while, Jane zig-zagged her way towards the auctioneer, finally jumping once she thought herself close enough. Nariko simply became lightning once more. Her single sense was seeking out the highest peak in the area, like a thunderbolt searching for an impact site. She rematerialized just in time to see Jane waste her mana in another useless strike: mana burst forwards out of her pink covered form.

Embers filled the air of wherever they fought as they repeated this game over and over again for several minutes again. Jane chased after Nariko, taking minimal damage in the process while only wasting her own energy. It would be the mother’s victory by a thousand cuts.

“Whu, that teleporting stuff ya do is mean, mom,” Jane finally stopped in her ceaseless pursuit. “I can’t catch ya.” 

“Does this mean you finally admit defeat?” Nariko didn’t lower her crackling hand; becoming careless before the opponent was defeated would have been… exactly that, careless.

“Nah,” the lightbearer jumped around a bit, Nariko watching after her; “It just means I need to get your eyes away from what is happening.” ‘What is that supposed to mean?’ Nariko thought and quickly looked around. The clear air was indicating not a thing that was…

The clear air. Their last exchange had been just moments ago; there should have been at least some mana particles still flying around. Where had they gone? ‘She had a strategy all along!’ Nariko realized, calculation and panic wrestling with parental pride. She had learned, after all, her thick-headed daughter had learned.

All of those feelings became secondary when she realized the sun-furred tiger flying her way with absurd speed. She became nothing but energy, going somewhere, anywhere else.

The moment she materialized again, her daughter’s elemental had already set after her. ‘I have no choice now,’ Nariko realized; there was no way to tell how long this unleashed state would last. Maybe she could have guessed if she had kept track of the amount of mana Jane had falsely wasted.

Still, she could beat this tiger. Impressive as this form was, as fast his reflexes were, she was still everything but weak. Both of her hands were engulfed in golden arches of lightning as all of her remaining mana, only having been used conservatively, was consumed by this single skill.

The copper-striped feline predator crashed into her, claws dragging over her highly resilient suit and digging into her shoulder, at the same time as she unleashed one of the attacks on the elemental. Light and heat radiated from their position as the point-blank hit charred away the elemental’s fur.

The massive bolt of energy threw the feline away, his path creating another trench in the scarred landscape of their battle, albeit at least thrice as large as its counterparts. Nariko inhaled between clenched teeth; the damage she had suffered, while annoying, would not stop her from fighting.

“A good strategy, but I am still stronger than you,” she shouted as she saw Jane between the shattered stalagmites. Her daughter had not moved at all since taunting her and stood there with closed eyes.

“I can’t imagine this has left you with any mana yourself,” Nariko continued and held up her left, still crackling with power, “and the moment you try to fight me in melee again, I will win. Just give up, there is no other choice; you have used all of your tools.”

Jane smiled and opened her eyes, “Last time ya were right with that.” Inside her copper cat-eyes, gold-white power flared. “This time I got one more surprise for ya,” sunlight coloured mist rose from her head, hair changing from pink into blinding gold. “Time for a Super Saiya-Jane.”

Nariko had no idea what her daughter was talking about or what exactly was even happening. She was, however, certain that Jane defiantly raising her fist like she had done at the start of the fight was not a good sign. Years of fighting experience and common sense screamed at her that now was her last chance to unleash the second half of her twin attack.

Just as the golden arcs thundered through the air like a holy god declaring its wrath through an apocalyptic storm, her daughter unleashed whatever she had prepared. A multi-coloured beam of epileptic proportions and flashes met the auctioneer’s attack. Light based magic clashing and fusing, red, white, blue, green fighting a brilliant gold.

It was as if a new sun was being born in the middle of the battlefield, leaving almost everyone in the audience blinded. Nobody knew what was happening until the light finally ebbed away, leaving the commentators above to try and check on the situation with blinded eyes.