[Bonus chapter for getting to top 20 golden tickets/powerstones!]
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"Volantis, do you rember ?" said Aldrich.
Volantis turned to Aldrich. "I do. I chose you as my Armored."
"And have your feelings changed?" said Aldrich.
"…" Volantis did not respond for a good minute. In that ti, both Valera and Okeanos were tensed up, ready to fight if needed. "No. The feelings I had in the past do not matter now.
My past life is just that: the past.
I cannot change who or what I am now, but I know that I did choose you. I will not go back on my word so easily." He turned to Wai'ki. She shrunk back in fear at his gaze. "Wai'ki…I rember you too. I apologize for my behavior. It was not right. I was confused, and I do not like when others touch without my awareness."
"It-it's okay," said Wai'ki. She put on a happy smile. "As long as you're happy now, I'm happy too!"
"…Happy? Am I happy?" Volantis pondered over those words. "These mories that I have now are…painful. I rember my death.
On a molten mountain, surrounded by a field of swords and demon corpses. I felt the pain of dying then.
Then I felt the pain of being forged into sothing I was not. Having my soul hamred over and over again. It felt like I was in a dream, watching my mories float in front of , seeing pieces of them get shattered and scattered.
I felt the desperation of trying to reach out for those mories regardless of whether they were sorrowful or joyful, because I knew that those mories were still .
The pain of losing who you are and being helpless to stop it – it is the greatest pain I have ever felt.
It is worse than any battle wound that scarred or scorched .
Rembering that pain – I almost feel as if I want to forget it all again."
Volantis closed his fists and stared at them. When he spoke again, he spoke with hearty strength in his voice. His eye dot was still white, but it was far more expressive than when it was red, undulating and changing shape and size like a normal eye to showcase his emotions.
He sounded much more like an orc, the people famous for never tiring, for never letting anything hold them down for very long. "But pain is temporary! It has never slowed down, and it will not now! You-,"
Volantis turned and pointed to Aldrich. "I called you my Armored, no?"
"You did," said Aldrich. He noticed that Volantis still spoke with a asure of articulation. Usually, orcs had simpler speech patterns.
Most likely, the habits from Volantis's new and old lives were rged together.
"I did that because so part of believed it was right to do," said Volantis. "I will stand by those words. But to be happy, truly happy-," Volantis clenched his fists again, but this ti, in an expression of force.
His magical energy surged around him in a white aura distinct from the red of his past self. This was the type of aura that orcs gave off. Their 'warrior's spirit' as they called it. "I need to make sure you are truly worthy now that I am in full control of myself."
Aldrich had an idea of where this was going. His own magical energy started to surge, green waves emanating from his already half energy body.
Volantis was, after all, an orc, and there was nothing that orcs loved more than a good fight. "And how do you propose we do that?"
Volantis laughed. Sothing he had never done before. He could not physically smile as a living armor, but in the rising tone of his voice, it was easy to tell that had he a mouth, he would have grinned. "In the way of my people, of course. Battle!"
"I don't know whether I prefer you now or as you were before," said Valera. She grinned eagerly too. "But if it is battle you desire, it is battle you will have."
"I will fight too," said Okeanos.
Valera and Okeanos stood on either side of Aldrich, two mighty warriors ready to fight with all they had.
"I would like to fight you two as well, but this is between and the Armored," said Volantis.
"That is simply not fair," said Valera. "My master is powerful, but his might is in commanding others. You, on the other hand, are built for close combat."
"I can help with that," said the Death Lord. She gestured towards Aldrich with her hand and chanted, "[Death Surge]. That should even the odds in terms of physical strength, and within the Necropolis, I can maintain that spell for practically an eternity."
An octagonal sh of green energy lined Aldrich's bone body, greatly strengthening his physical stats. With the Death Lord's imnse magic stat, the boost was enough that Aldrich could compete with a pure lee fighter of similar level like Volantis.
Though, Aldrich did note, [Death Surge] had a cap to the stats it could grant. As he was now, he would still fall short of Volantis's raw brute force, especially considering Shaping boosted Volantis's stats as well.
"There. Now the duel is honorable," said Volantis. "I am sorry, but this is the only way I know to choose who is worthy. A fight where we clash blow for blow. There is a saying among my people – the harder soone is willing to hit you, the better a friend they make."
"Then I'll take this fight," said Aldrich. "And prove to you how good a 'friend' I can be."
"Good!" said Volantis. "Any last preparations you would like to make, Armored?"
"Just one," said Aldrich. He manifested his Materius as if he was going to get into a close ranged fight, which he absolutely would be against the likes of Volantis, then he wanted to be in pri condition for it.
For now, Aldrich was not as used to fighting hand to hand as he was with his flesh and blood body.
Sinews spontaneously grew from Aldrich's bones, snuffing out the green energy that his body constantly let out. A set of organs, mostly for decoration at this point, filled in his ribcage before a covering of flesh wrapped over them. Skin grew around the raw muscle and the rest of Aldrich's features filled in right after.
"That feels much better," said Aldrich as he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, his trained, sculpted muscles rippling with the movent.
"M-master, are you going to fight like that!?" Valera squealed as she covered her eyes with hands that had more than enough space between the fingers to peer through.
"W-wah! He's naked!" Wai'ki blushed as she closed her eyes.
"Co now, this is too much for your innocence." dula put her bandaged hand over Wai'ki's eyes and led her away.
"Oh, right," said Aldrich. "My clothes disintegrate every ti I switch in and out of my Materius."
"I will have a solution for that later," said the Death Lord, to which Valera let out an annoyed 'tch!'.
"This will do for now." dula snapped her fingers, causing a small black void to open up in front of her. She withdrew a pair of black pants and tossed them to Aldrich.
Aldrich grabbed them, and when he willed himself to wear them, they dematerialized and materialized back around Aldrich's lower body.
[1x Training Wear (Legs) equipped].
"Training Wear is indestructible and does not affect stats, so it should not yield you any advantage other than preventing you from assaulting our eyes," said dula.
"Hah! I quite preferred when he was bare!" said Volantis. "Fighting without any covering is the truest form of battle! Man to man at its best! Except-," Volantis looked down at his tal body. "I cannot do that any longer."
"Thanks." Aldrich nodded to dula.
"Everyone else, co with ," said dula. "I will transport us to the stands as audience mbers."
"Finally, a proper fight to enjoy! I will finally get my coin's worth out of this colosseum!" The Death Lord laughed in glee as she followed dula.
"Master, show that stubborn armor the might I respect so dearly," said Valera as she passed by Aldrich.
"Master will win. I know it. He always knows what to do at the right ti," said Okeanos.
"I'll make sure I live up to your expectations," said Aldrich. "Thanks."
Everyone then warped away to the stands via another black void from dula, leaving Aldrich and Volantis the only ones in the sandy fighting pit.
"Now then," said Aldrich as he cracked his knuckles. "About rules. Am I allowed to use weapons? Magic? Items in general?"
"Do whatever you want," said Volantis. "I will be fighting in the Orc way: with nothing but my fists and Shaping. Until one of us can no longer fight or I recognize you as worthy."
"Alright, then," said Aldrich. "This is a matter of getting you to consider worthy, right? Then I'll play along by your rules. I won't use any equipnt or items. Just my fists. I don't have Shaping, so I'll substitute that with my spells. But I won't use summons.
I'll keep this as close to 'man to man' as I can."
"Heh, I like you already," said Volantis. "Then let us fight now! To the death! To lay bare the warrior's spirits within us!"
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