Their journey back home was uneventful aside from one of the mules nearly breaking a leg after getting spooked by a snake. Milo spent most of the journey listening to Crystal and her inquisitive daughter asking Haldor questions about hybrids and Lilith’s realm. The general seemed more than happy to keep the pair entertained with tales although Milo had a feeling the man was cherry picking to keep his tales acceptable for children.
Every now and then Ivy would return with a bird she’d shot with arrows she had somehow procured from Willowford. She needed their feathers to make arrows of her own, Crystal was only too happy to pluck and butcher the birds, separating the feathers in meat into separate bags.
When they finally arrived back home the sun had already started to set. They were greeted on the slope of the valley by Lizbeth and her little demon garrison. The old hybrid’s eyes flicked between the mules weighed down with supplies and Crystal’s daughter.
“I see that you were successful in your mission.”
“Indeed, Willowford is nominally mine, but in order to make sure it stays that way we will need to garrison and fortify it.”
“Can we afford that right now?”
Milo spoke the interface command which displayed how much spirit essence he had.
Spirit essence available: 16 401
It was less than he had expected for taking over an entire town, he decided to see where it had come from.
Converted faction members (4) - 400
Unconverted faction members (640) – 16 000
He’d been mostly right about his success in Willowford, a little over half its population now considered him their lord. He did some quick math and then sighed. Apparently, an unconverted follower was only worth 25 spirit essence each day. It wasn’t quite the reward he had hoped for but it was still a lot of spirit essence, and better yet it would keep coming every day as long as he retained control over the town.
He told Haldor how much they had to spend and then asked the general for his recommendation. It took the man a few minutes to come up with a plan.
“First of all, we should summon a palisade to protect this valley. We’re also going to need a second elementalist to carry out the conversation rituals in Willowford. Lastly, I’d spend the remainder on an even mix between demon soldiers, demon workers. We need to get working on a proper road between this place and Willowford immediately.”
Milo followed his plan exactly. Minutes later a wooden palisade running from one side of the valley to the other blocked off the bottom part of the valley. Next he summoned an elementalist.
The hybrid who appeared looked like a mixture between a scholar and a pornstar. Milo heard Ivy and Haldor groan out loud as they laid on eyes on the new arrival. Milo for his part was having a hard time not looking at the new arrivals chest thanks to the overly revealing dress she was wearing that did very little to hide her curves. The woman beamed at him and immediately started towards him, she made it two steps before Ivy yanked her back by the collar of her robe.
“I’d reconsider whatever plan you might have hatched back in mother’s realm if I were you, Rosanna.”
The woman turned on Ivy and her face turned from seductive to ugly in a moment. She brushed Ivy’s arm aside and for a moment Milo thought a fight was about to break out. Then the woman smirked at Ivy.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Your mother sent me because only I was suited to the task at hand.”
Ivy scoffed.
“And what task is that?”
“Seducing the people of Willowford into conversion.”
“Of course I should’ve known… Are you going to bang them one by one you pig of a woman?”
Milo felt like he had just arrived at the second half of a movie. There was clearly a lot of history between this new elementalist and the other hybrids present, hell even Lizbeth was looking at Rosanna with obvious distaste.
He walked over to Haldor and whispered while Ivy and Rosanna continued trading insults and bickering.
“Who is this woman?”
“A troublemaker, she’s been locked away in Lilith’s dungeon for the last hundred or so years.”
“What’d she do?”
“She seduced Seti and Nero at the same time and then pitted them against each other. Apparently, she was hoping that Nero would kill Seti thus shortening her path to becoming order master. Lizbeth uncovered the plot shortly before the duel went down, Lilith was quite angry at the time and tossed her in the dungeon. I have no idea why the goddess would inflict this woman upon us.”
A quiet voice spoke behind them and Milo realised that Lizbeth had snuck up on their conversation.
“Because she is exactly what we need right now. Your hold on Willowford is weak, Rosanna has a way with crowds, especially the male half.”
The pieces fell into place. It was primarily the male half of Willowford’s population he had alienated by executing Crystal’s husband for abuse. Apparently, Lilith’s solution to this new problem was to send him a manipulative seductress.
With a sigh he continued down the summoning list.
He summoned two new houses, one for Crystal and her daughter and one for Haldor. Then he spent a good chunk of the remainder on an even mix of workers and soldiers. What remained was spent on woodcutting axes and band saws. Haldor wasted no time in taking command of the new soldiers and the now forty strong work force. Within minutes they were heading towards the treeline with their tools in hand.
Milo was watching the demon workers bring down tree after tree with brutal efficiency when a large field of translucent red text appeared in his vision.
A new event is now available to all factions:
Arena of trials.
In this event you will a wide selection of opponents in a fight to the death. After each victory the difficulty of your next opponent will increase until you are defeated. Each opponent defeated will earn you a great reward, and whichever champion defeats the most opponents will be given their choice of a powerful reward as well as access to a unique follow up event.
Each champion may select a proxy to fight in this event on their behalf.
If you wish to participate in this event, please use the following phrase “I ‘insert name of participant’, accept this event”.
This event will disappear forever in 59minutes 31 seconds.
The Concordium.
Milo stared up at the text with wide eyes. He’d been told to expect events and yet based on Lilith’s description of them he had expected something like a puzzle game. Instead, this event seemed tailor suited to him and his background. Ivy noticed his look and she frowned at him.
“What's going on?”
He grinned at her and then read the red text aloud. By the time he finished reading she looked incredulous.
“What are the odds…”
“You tell me, your mother helped make these events, how many variations are there?”
Ivy shrugged.
“She wasn’t allowed to tell me the specifics but from the crumbs she gave me I think there are at least a dozen, all with different themes. I think about a third of them are combat based, but I would be very surprised if any of the events play harder to your strengths than the current one.”
Milo walked over to a table and picked up some food and a skin of water Crystal had left for him. He ate quickly and then drank his fill. Once he was done, he drew his sword and grinned at Ivy.
“Wish me luck.”
She scoffed.
“You don’t need it.”
Milo fell into a ready stance and then spoke the acceptance phrase aloud.
“I Milo Harper accept this event.”
As soon as the words left his mouth he was enveloped by a silvery vortex. He looked down and saw the black rock change into sand. When the vortex vanished, he was standing in the middle of a huge coliseum. There were no spectators nor any opponents that he could see. The next thing he noticed was that the sword in his hand was gone, as was his armour and even his underclothes. He was in fact completely naked and Milo suddenly glad about the lack of spectators.
A few seconds later another silvery vortex manifested in front of him. When it vanished a thin humanoid creature with a fishlike head stared back at him. The creature wore a robe which looked like it was made from liquid silver and its grey skin was covered in scales.
The creature’s relaxed posture and lack of weapons made it obvious that it hadn’t come here to fight. He tried a greeting.
“Hello?”
“Greetings champion, I represent the concordium, it is my role to inform you about the rules of this event and answer any questions you might have.”
“Ah ok, let’s hear it.”
“This event consists of a progression of increasingly difficult fights to the death. Only soulbound items or magically created items are allowed. You will however be allowed to claim the armour and weapons of your enemies and keep them for the remainder of the event. After each fight you will be given a fifteen-minute period of rest, you may skip this by simply stating ‘I am ready’. Once you die or forfeit a match by saying:
‘I forfeit’ you will be sent back to Archeus. Do you have any questions?”
“I do, who are you?”
“I am a representative of the concordium.”
“And who are they?”
“We were created to be the arbiters of the divine contest. We have been entrusted to oversee all events and arbitrate any conflicts that might arise between the factions.”
“Ah, you’re the judges of this contest, here to make sure nobody cheats.”
“A crude but accurate statement.”
Milo clenched his empty hands into fists and then nodded.
“I’m ready.”
