Stepping up to the challenge.

Lydia opened her mouth, but quickly closed it again. It was apparent to everyone that she had a hundred complains with that decision. A dozen questions. But she was sure to not receive a single answer from the emperor himself. So, she just nodded and gave in, “If that is your will, God-Emperor,” she said in the tone of cooling steel.

“Apparently, Lydia pissed him off enough,” Rave whispered. “Maybe…but we may have just witnessed one of the more important moments in Abyssal history,” John answered. A raised eyebrow indicated Rave’s confusion. “Look at the people,” John made a low waving gesture. Very few people looked like they were happy with the decision that had just happened, a lot of them actually looked angry, then there were the few that were seething, like the duke, who was still sitting in front of the table he had just destroyed. Of course, no one dared to speak up, the man on his throne could have annihilated all of the attendees by himself.

“Lydia wasn’t all that smart to try and fight Romulus, bit Romulus just kicked the autonomy he has granted the Germans down. He has every right to, their constitution says so, but that doesn’t mean that the people will be happy with this. They feel disresptected. Today might be the starting point of some separatism movement,” John explained. Pointing at the duke of Saxony he added, “which is probably why that unity loving guy over there is angry as hell, separatism likes to come with civil strife.”

Rave, very slowly nodded. “What does that mean for us, tiger?” she wanted to know. “It means we do what we promised Lydia to do…and afterwards we will see if sticking around is in our best interest,” he smiled, “We are Americans, if we get involved with other people’s civil war, then only ‘cause we cause them…or because they have something we want.” “Or to protect them from evil commies,” Rave giggled and at the top of the hall Romulus raised his voice again.

The two patron goddesses that were contracted to the emperor walked down the stairs and towards the candidates. Luna went to Lydia, while Sol went over to Maximillian. The Austrian candidate had reclaimed his cocky smile, although he still was a bit pale. If he was as outraged as the rest of the gathered Germans, he hid it well enough for John to not be able to tell. John didn’t miss the clenched fists however, whether or not he was fine with being able to fight because of this or not, the self-proclaimed king knew that he had just been humiliated.

‘If he gets to the throne he only will thanks to Romulus grace on this day,’ John thought while the two goddesses retreated from the candidates. ‘Whether what Lydia said earlier was true or not, Maximillian is now indebted to Romulus…But if he wants to rule that is nothing that will make him pull back now.’

John knew the feeling of taking whatever straw promised the slightest bit of safety. In a situation like this, it was all or nothing for Maximillian. He couldn’t step back without angering his supporters, he couldn’t accept without angering his people. At least he got to rule on the latter proposition though. There was **** for him but to push through.

“To prevent last minute changes from the candidates, done to counter the enemy unveiled just today, the names will be presented simultaneously,” Romulus announced. The goddesses stretched out their hands and the numerals within the circles above were replaced with names. He saw his own one in silver letters, John Newman, presented to the world. God only knew how many people were watching this. “Well, there goes my last bit of anonymity, I guess,” John sighed. “Don’t worry, ya will get through it,” Rave winked and held his hand for a second.

John looked over to the other bubble. Alexej Zeritr, pretty Slavic first name, although John had no idea where the later part came from. “Fighters, step forth,” Romulus gestured. “Here goes hoping I don’t trip over my own feet,” John said and kissed Rave. “Well, I’ll laugh,” she told him. “Truly the love of my life, what did I do to deserve you,” he drily commented before walking off.

Surprisingly, he was given attention only from the backrows, where the less rich people were, who had showered him with questions earlier on. The front rows already knew who he was, and therefore had no interest in him.

Same could not be said for that guy named Alexej. He wore a simple brown monk robe similar to the one the Czech elector had, so John just made the assumption that he was from the same area. He was a short guy, light blonde, short hair, but not particularly outstanding in the looks department. While everyone else was looking at him, his dark green eyes were already looking at John before the Gamer had turned his head, and Alexej didn’t seem surprised in the slightest to see him there, there was even a slight smile around his lips. When John used Observe, that only earned him a two-second-long, violent headache.

‘The same technique as that spine, but less potent,’ he noted. Whoever this was, was extremely skilled at information manipulation. A blond guy with green eyes, skilled at information blocking, similar to that nazi-spine-thingy, that seemed to know John. There was an inkling at the back of John’s head, but he chose to push it down. ‘There is no reason for SecretBlonde to come out here after hiding for so long,’ John told himself, while also making sure that he remembered to look up this guy by telling Aclysia and Momo to remind him.

He felt Momo’s disagreement of being used as a mental notepad, but she didn’t raise a word. John stepped at Lydia’s and Alexej on Maximillian’s side. “Are those the fighters you have chosen?” Romulus asked in a ritualistic fashion. “Yes, Emperor of Kings,” Maximillian was eager to answer. “Yes,” Lydia kept it short, her hands folded behind her back, spine straight.

“Are you willing to fight for these candidates?” the seated giant continued. “Of course, why would I not?” Alexej answered with a wink towards John and Lydia, “I will probably be a lot of fun.” “Yeah, I will fight for Princess Lydia,” John kept it on point, he didn’t feel particularly home in front of a crowd. The quicker he got this over with, and out of the spotlight, the happier he would be. Right now, he felt like a toad through a desert, hoping it would turn out to just be a beach instead.

He felt Lydia shove his foot against his. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but Lydia didn’t even turn her head. It took him a moment. “Also, I will use a golem to fight at my side,” John quickly spoke out. “Show it to us then,” Romulus demanded.

‘I don’t want to,’ came the words from Momo. ‘Well, it is too late for that, young lady!’ John almost screeched in his mind. ‘If I have to be up here, so do you.’ ‘FINE, DAD!’ Momo shouted back and a moment later stepped up to his side with an empty expression. The world would, and should, never know the mental bickering that continued in their heads. “This is her, Momo,” John said.

The giant nodded. “I see and accept. You two will be the first fighters chosen for the Eighth tournament of succession, my congratulations to this honour,” Romulus clapped his hands, his goddesses followed the motion a moment later. The sounds echoed through the silent room. Reluctantly, the seething masses did the same and underwhelming applause filled the cathedral.

‘I don’t know what is more uncomfortable, the bad mood or just being here right now,’ John thought, repressing the urge to awkwardly scratch his neck. The applause died quickly and Romulus rose from his throne. “The choices of today are made. The following three days will see the announcement of the remaining candidates. Tomorrow, two times after the bull has rung for noon, and at the same time for each other day, we will meet again, here,” with these words the giant walked of the plateau and to the gate. He vanished in the frame. The moment he was gone, so were the cameras.

John let out the air he had been hold and breathed in freely. His relaxation was short-lived, however. “Come with me,” Lydia instructed and she marched off at a speed barely below running. A few people tried to strike a conversation with her but she ignored them, John made some hasty excuses as he followed her.

Only in the privacy of the car that would take them back did Lydia finally speak up again. “That god-powerful fucker,” she cursed. John almost jumped at the sudden exclamation, words like the hammer on anvil kept crashing. “Arrogant prick, hijacking hundreds of years of his own non-intervention policy to put an obstacle in my way. SHIT!” she kicked the table at the middle, glass and plastic rattled as the bottles were violently shaken.

Then there was silence. John waited for a bit before carefully suggesting, “All this means is that you are now at the point where you thought you would, or not? The tournament is happening, as you prepared for.” Lydia shot him an angry glance and was about to start one of her lectures when she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

She crossed her arms and tapped her fingers on them. Her legs jumped under the table, John saw the vibrations in the bottles of water. Whatever the princess was thinking about did a terrible job at calming her down.

Her eyes flung open, she slammed a hand on the table and rose. Her arm stormed forward and grabbed John by the collar. The Gamer was pulled up and straight into a kiss with Lydia. It was crude, rushed and more surprising then sensual, but it did the trick.

When she sat down again, her wrath hadn’t vanished, but been pushed into the background. “You are correct,” she said in collected voice, loosing not a single syllable over what had just happened, “everything will proceed as originally anticipated…Where is Rave?” Lydia only now noticed the techno-lover’s missing presence. “About to enter,” John, who was signalling his position to Aclysia, answered.

True enough a moment later the remaining trio opened the door and took their seats. “How ya doing, Lydia,” Rave asked. To see her actually take the effort to not get on the princess’ nerves made John proud of the little social tact she had. “I will manage, don’t waste your niceness on me,” Lydia waved off. “I will continue forward until there is no greater height for me and my people to reach.”

“Nice, that’s how ya go about things, Lyly,” Rave instantly switched back into her usual gears. “If I may intervene,” Aclysia entered the conversation. “Master has several questions, he gathered during the election. I would like to present them to you, your grace.” Lydia gestured her to continue.

“Romulus used different titles to refer to the same positions you mentioned before, princess, why is that?” Aclysia said. “The titles I have been using up until now are the ones we use for matters of inner diplomacy. Because we are a highly autonomous part of the empire, we do not feel like being bound under his titles. However, on papers regarding international diplomacy, the titles he has used are correct,” Lydia swiftly explained.

“Candidatum Secundus is a title given to somebody fighting the claim of the Candidatum Primus?” “Partly correct, in theory, everyone from a noble family could be elected, however the candidates are then broken down on a local level until only a few arrive at the top. I gathered a lot of support by being the non-Austrian candidate, therefore it was part of the introduction Romulus gave me. That and, apparently, he wanted to present me in a bad light.”

“How did you manage to get the duke of Saxony to forfeit his vote?” “I grinded him down with gifts and promises for policies that would help his struggling economy, such as using the port of Lübeck free of charge, to push him into a position that he wanted to have anyhow. Usual politics.”

“Do you know anything about Alexej Zeritr, the enemies first fighter?” Aclysia presented her final question. John listened extra careful to this one. “No,” Lydia answered and massaged her forehead, “which is concerning in and off its own. My investigations on this must start immediately. Therefore, I will return to our current residence. If you want to go elsewhere, you may now.”

John opened his quest screen and looked at the map the Horned Rat gave him. He was pretty close to that spa he was supposed to visit. “I have a quest nearby that I want to take care off,” he said and closed the map again. “I’ll have to visit a spa.”

Lydia raised an eyebrow but left that uncommented. “Mhm,” Rave’s head went to the right, “going to a spa sounds nice,” it swayed to the left, “but I also want to train that cat-form some more,” it swayed back to the right, to the left, to the right. “You have 32 seconds to come to a decision,” Lydia informed Rave.

“What? Ya so stingy with time!” Rave slurred. “It is a valuable resource, and one I happen to unable to increase without the help of a Fateweaver, whom I have none of under my employ as of the current situation. 12 seconds,” Lydia kept her steel eyes glued to the wandering hand of her clock. “Fine, I’ll go an train!” Rave decided on a whim.

“Great, I’ll go read books,” Momo announced as Aclysia opened the door for John to leave the car. Outside he pulled out his winter clothes, they were in the traffic tunnels so there was no reason to fear random onlookers. Aclysia also morphed.

“Well, actually, Lydia won’t have time, so you will have to look after Jane for me,” John told Momo as he closed the door. The support’s mouth opened in shock. “No, you can’t be serious, sister, come back home with me I need the he-“

Aclysia slammed the door shut and closed herself off from her sister’s mental outcries. At the same time, she acted as an insulation between Momo and John. The Gamer couldn’t hear her anymore, although he was aware that she was complaining right now. “You know she will be angry with both of us once we get back home, right?” John asked as the car drove off.

“I am aware and fine with that, master,” Aclysia said with a bow, taking his hand once her back was straight again. “After all I get to spend some more time with you alone. I will make the sacrifice of listen to her nag later.”