Semi finals second match

The rain came down fiercely by now and splattered against the magic barrier in reckless abandon. It made for quite the beautiful spectacle, although some of the spectators certainly wished they were sheltered from the rain too which mercilessly poured down on them.

We didn’t have that issue. All of us were gathered in front of the large panorama window. Even Beatrice and Fisti, albeit still a bit under the weather, didn’t want to miss this event.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO THE SECOND MATCH OF THE SEMI FINALS!"

Ben’s voice reverberated through the storm. The magic amplifier was working overtime to ensure he was being heard even in the farthest seats

“In the blue corner! The awe-inspiring warrior who waltzed into the semi finals without ever been truly challenged. Rightfully deserving of her title, the strongest Galmon, Valkyyyyyyyrie!!!”

A thunderbolt struck as Valkyrie was teleported into the arena. She looked as magnificent as always.

“But her opponent has shown time and time again that your reputation means nothing to her! Crushing Golden Knights and Dark Lords alike under her heel. Welcome the dream crusher! The three times Champion, Mineeeeeerva!!!!”

“As always, cunt’s the underdog here”, Cassandra glared down at her from our viewing window. “Never stopped the cunt.”

Cassandra seemed oddly hostile towards Minerva, but then again this was Cassandra. She’s hostile towards anyone.

She wasn’t the only one with an **** reaction however, Cia, my new maid looked downright terrified of Minerva. In fact, her pale complexion worried me that much that I had her lie down in one of the guest rooms, while ordering Maria to keep an eye on her.

On the other end of the spectrum, Beatrice was rather tense until Minerva appeared. Then her frown turned into a weird smirk. “Yes, of course you wouldn’t gobble it. Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen”, she mumbled and cackled to herself. “Good, good...kill her.”

I hope Cassandra didn’t do some permanent damage to her brain or something.

Then, just as Ben was about to commence the battle, he stopped. He was presunable talking with someone backstage, before clearing his throat. “My deepest apologies, folks! It appears we are currently experiencing the absolute worst of this storm! For your own safety, the match will be slightly delayed. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

The spectators weren’t of the understanding sort. Loud booing and throwing of objects followed. Valkyrie frowned at that uncouth behavior while Minerva simply laughed.

“Well, since we have a bit of extra time...”, Beatrice spoke with a smile. “100 Gold coins on the Valkyrie!”

“No more betting for you!”, I snapped.

“And why should I not?”, Beatrice showed me a smug smile. “Mark my words, Valkyrie will 100% positively absolutely emerge victorious out of this battle. This is an utterly safe bet.”

Maybe I should have Beatrice flip a coin a hundred times and every time it lands on tail she gets ten spankings. That should cure her gambling addiction.

“My money is on Valk too”, Sylphid confidently stated while gently stroking Aiju. The catgirl was apparently so infatuated with Sylphid’s petting skills that she choose her lap instead of mine for this. “Erva's pretty hot don’t get me wrong, but Valk just has that oh la la going for her.”

This is not a sex contest. At least it shouldn’t be.

“The foolish flat chested girl is for once not as foolish”, Hebi-san sniffed. “We mislike that arrogant Galmon but her battle prowess can not be overstated. No foolish human can even hope to compare.”

“Yeah and the bitch has 99% in Evasion!” Gilbert added. “She’s op as fuck! I still prefer soft bouncy blondes though, give me a Spirit or a Kappa any day, hehehehehe.”

“B-But she defeated Dark Lord Ithere and The Golden Knight!”, I argued back, somewhat perturbed.“Dismissing Minerva like that seems unwise.”

Beatrice cackled. “Oh you poor ignorant fool. Very well, I shall walk you through it then. Why a victory Minerva’s is utterly impossible.”

Do you have to?

“First!”, Beatrice giddily pointed out. “As the snake already told you, the Valkyrie has a 99% Evasion. Do you know what that means? 99 out of a 100 attacks will miss! Minerva achieved all of her wins by striking at the exactly right time. An almost surgical like critical blow that crippled both opponents by targeting their weakness. Tell me how are you going to do that when you have to depend on Luck?”

Lucky gave a vigorous nod at that. “And I’m definitely not playing any favorites here! That would be cheating!”

“Second!”, Beatrice continued. “Valkyrie’s genocide punch evaporates anything it hits in an instant. It’s **** is comparable with a Black Destruction Beam! Unless you are a devil, you are gone. Valkyrie needs only one single hit!”

“Alright, that is certainly impressive but..”

“Third!” She was not done yet. “A Valkyrie’s stamina is near inexhaustible! In the Year GI775 a Valkyrie fought alone against the 10.000 strong **** of Monster General Rubicant! The battle lasted for three days and ended in the Valkyrie¨s victory!”

“There is still trickery”, I argued, now more out of stubbornness, “Minerva could employ the same trick she did against Ithere and get her to kill Ben.”

“Nah, Handsome”, Sylphid cut in. “Sorry but, no way. Valk never allows herself to harm someone innocent. Not even by accident. No matter how heated gets.”

“And that would be point Number four. A Valkyrie’s stalwart will and savant like battle prowess. A Valkyrie has no conceit, no hubris and her concentration does not waver for even one second!” Beatrice gave me a very smug smile. “Do you get it now? The Valkyrie’s victory is assured!”

“Fine”, I finally relented. “Why are you that obsessed with her anyways?”

“Rice shared a bed with her couple days back”, Fisti explained. “Must have left an impression.”

“Uh yeah, back when you wore that cute pajama!”, Sylphid added with a grin.

“N-No!” Beatrice immediately blushed. “T-that’s not it all! And do not bring that up!”

“But you where so cuuuute!”, Sylphid laughed and pulled Beatrice on her lap. “Hey, Handsome can we make her wear it? Can we?”

Well, at least that finally shut the ex-witch up.

“Alright folks! Sorry for the delay. Looks like the worst is behind us, so this battle is a goooooo!”

Both Valkyrie and Minerva moved to the their respective starting positions.

...

Objectively speaking, every advantage belonged to Valkyrie. The victory of the strongest Galmon seemed assured.

But that was exactly what bothered me.

If Valkyrie’s victory was so assured why would Minerva bother to show up? No matter how much Beatrice gushes, the champion has to have some advantage.

The question was thus very simple:

What will Minerva do?

It was the champion who initiated combat.

Letting out a brutal roar, Minerva charged at Valkyrie, brandishing her axe for a lightning fast strike.

Valkyrie decided to accept this challenge and dashed forward as well. She did not attempt to block the attack with her shield, instead she opted for a punch. In a travesty of all the laws of reality fist and axe crashed against each other.

And the fist won.

Following a thunderous roar, the axe started splitting first, before exploding into countless tiny pieces. The shrapnel flew all across the arena but luckily neither Minerva nor Valkyrie appeared to get hit from it.

One of Minerva's axes was obliterated just like that.

“That was a weapon out of Hirara ore!”, Sanakia let out a shocked gasp. “She went toe to toe with it against Sir d’artagans Jaivardhan!”

“Why are you so impressed, foolish Sexy-Knight?”, Hebi-san sniffed. “You expect some puny human material capable of standing up against the **** of the strongest Galmon?”

“That's my Valk”, Sylphid grinned proudly. “Her genocide punch is basically unstoppable.”

Aiju purred in agreement.

Despite having one of her weapons evaporated just like this, Minerva did not hesitate in the slightest. She brought her second axe around with an attempt to strike Valkyrie's chest. Unfortunately, or perhaps as expected, it missed cleanly.

Minerva didn't stop there. In reckless abandon she slashed at Valkyrie with her remaining axe. She was going for speed, not strength. Was she gunning for that one lucky hit?

As for Valkyrie, she almost seemed to humor her opponent for a while, evading every single strike with ease. Only once was she **** to block a hit with her shield. Eventually however, the games were over. A well placed genocide punch destroyed Minerva's second axe just as another lightning strike hit.

“Hoh...” Minerva, with an impressed expression on her face immediately jumped back.

“It's over!”, declared Sanakia.

“Ehem!”, Beatrice very smugly pushed her fists into her hips and stuck her chest out.

No, this can't really be it, right? There’s no way it can be that easy. “Magic!”, I shouted out. “What if Minerva knows magic?”

Beatrice snorted at my question. “Even if she does. You think some two bit parlor tricks are going to work on that Valkyrie? I could take her of course, but I have Level 3 magic.”

“Used to have”, Fisti chipped in much to Beatrice's annoyance. “But Rice is right. The Valkyrie went toe to toe against that electro devil. They were evenly matched and it didn’t look like the lightning bothered her much.”

“Then uh..what about that Dark Lord Minerva owns? Could she summon him or something?”

“Oh, please! Dark Lords aren't Devils,”, Beatrice patronizingly shook her head. “Powerful as they are, they still work within the confines of reality. Even taking Ithere’s shadow teleportation into account, the barrier would stop any intrusion. You need to be a devil to come and go as you please. Come on” she smirked at much. “Isn’t that much common knowledge?”

You know, it’s not that I WANT Minerva to win. But Beatrice sure made it hard not to root for her.

“I did notice that your devil is not here for once”, Sanakia narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “What if she is in cahoots with that Minerva?”

“Ah that…” For the first time Beatrice’s smug smile wavered just a tad. “W-well, I believe our illustrious huntress has something to say about that amusing theory, don’t you, Cass?”

But Cassandra was simply glaring down in the arena, completely ignoring the conservation, much to Beatrice’s annoyance.

“H-hey!”, the little brat pouted. “I haven’t forgiven you for what you did, you know! Don’t you dare ignore me.”

“Shut up”, Cassandra almost growled, her eyes burned with an intensity that I rarely saw in her. “Fucking brats...the cunt’s nowhere near done.”

“Hmph! At any rate there is no way that narcissist Minerva is giving up her soul just to win a battle! That would be utterly idiotic.”

But Cassandra’s suspicions were certainly warranted. We weren’t the only ones wondering. The entire arena hold their breath.

This was the indomitable champion. The one who defeated the golden knight and the Dark Lord.

Surely she must have something up her sleeve. Surely she wouldn’t concede victory that easily Even Valkyrie seemed to think so, as she not pursued and contented herself with calmly watching her opponent.

For this moment the storm was the only sound in the arena.

Minerva, seemingly drinking the tension, remained motionless for a few seconds longer before she raised her hands and started to slam them together. Then she repeated the motion.

The champion was clapping.

“Splendid!”, Minerva applauded. “You truly deserve the title of strongest Galmon! I am impressed! Congratulation, you have beaten the Champion Minerva.”

The arena collectively gasped but Valkyrie didn't relax her guard for even a second. “You have my thanks. If you wish to surrender, you have my word that I will free you afterwards.”

Minerva let out a good natured laugh. “Appreciate the offer, but that sort of thing is just not my style.” Then, still smiling, the champion casually clasped her hands behind her back and raised her chin. “Just do it with your best shot? Finish me with a blow that's worthy of Champion Minerva!”

Everyone in the arena had the same question.

What was she planning?

The magic vision even made a point of zooming in on Minerva's back. But it didn't look like she was hiding anything there.

Even so, Valkyrie was cool, determined and focused. It seemed extremely unlikely that she would be caught off guard by any sneaky maneuver.

“Very well”, finally the strongest Galmon gave a short nod. “I will make it quick.”

Minerva nodded back and slightly lifted her chin some more. Still with that same casual smile on her face.

Valkyrie exploded forward, readying her Genocide Punch to impact on Minerva's face.

In the split second in which that happened nobody uttered a single word. The sound of impact was tremendous and shocked the entire arena.

Valkyrie's genocide punch hit Minerva's face without interruption.

Then Minerva started laughing.

“He...He...He...Very GOOD!”

And then...a dark axe manifested itself in Minerva's hand.

Valkyrie jumped back before the downward thrust could hit her.

The entire arena was to stunned to respond to what just occurred.

“No way!”, Beatrice almost toppled out of her chair. “That’s not possible!”

The rest of us had no idea what was happening. Except perhaps for Cassandra, who with a rage filled scream punched the wall.

“That punch was splendid”, Minerva(?) spoke, still in that same genial tone. “I concede it to you, you have well and truly defeated Minerva...the human that is.”

“But, it can’t be…”, Beatrice continued to mumble in complete shock. “There’s no transformation..this….this is not...”

“Uhh, I'm a bit lost here?”, I admitted.

“Cunt swallowed the fucking Blood Soul”, Cassandra growled.

“The what?”

“Can’t you pay attention for once in your life?”, Beatrice barked at me “We just talked about this a few days ago. Honestly!”

“Well, excuse me for not remembering some random trivia! I was in a black void for over a month, you know”, I grumbled.

Sanakia was nice enough to give me a refresher. “My Lord. A Blood Soul is the core of a Dark Lord. Once they are vanquished in battle they turn into a small round sphere.”

I nodded. Right, I faintly remember Beatrice going crazy about it.

The Sexy-Knight continued her lecture. “Should someone ingest a Blood Soul two things may happen. The original Dark Lord may take over the new host or the host prevails, creating a new Dark Lord in the process.”

“That is bogging!”, Fisti blurted out. “What radge glaikit would take that risk willingly?”

“This radge glaikit”, Sylphid calmly nodded towards Minerva. “She took a gamble and got rewarded handsomely for it.”

“A gamble?”, Hebi-san shook her head. “A mere human ingesting and overpowering the will of a Dark Lord? We refuse to believe that such a foolish thing is possible! Explain this at once Mari Beta!”

How the hell should I know!

“Who caaaares about that!”, Beatrice had opted to snatch up Gilbert and angrily used the snake as a chewtoy.(Gilbert didn’t seem to mind.) “Of course her gobbling down the Blood Soul was within my calculations! I did even account for the ridiculous small possibility that Minerva’s spirit might prevail! But Dark Lord’s are inherently monstrous! The antithesis of humans! Minerva should have been transformed into some twisted amalgamation of Ithere and herself but there is not a hint of deformity on her body!” The ex-witch angrily wiggled her legs back and forth as her tantrum continued. ”This makes no sense! Someone explain this utter, inane, ridiculous nonsense to meeeeeee!”

“C-Could it be…”, Sanakia wondering. “That this Minerva was no human in the first place?”

“Cunt’s human”, Cassandra growled, barely able to contain her frustration as she stared at the battlefield. “Can personally attest to that.”

“This is stupid! And dumb! And stupid!” Beatrice abruptly stood up. “I’m bored! I don’t care who wins this match anymore!” And off she stormed.

Meanwhile, on the battleground, Minerva was still not moving. There was an expression of unrestrained euphoria on her face. “Should have seen the look on his face when I finally buried my axe in his chest. Oh, he didn’t go easy. I took my time with him. Even shit himself in the end.” Minerva laughed. “Funny, don’t you think? All these monsters with their special powers and magic abilities. Peel it away, layer by layer and in the end all that’s left is shit.”

“I see.”

Minerva chuckled at Valkyrie’s curt response. “Not that I expect you to understand this. So, whats it going to be? Guess you won't simply surrender?”

“I will not.” Valkyrie shifted her battle stance slightly.

“That's very rare”, said Sylphid, now watching the battle much more intently. “Defensive style. Valk is prepared to fight defensively.”

“Defeating you is impossible”, the strongest Galmon stated. And yet, despite that hopeless statement, an eager smile appeared on her lips. “I will attempt a draw.”

The freshly minted Dark Lord chuckled.

“I’d like to see you try.”