Eternal Dominion Book 23: Strife, page 12
“Leo, you are well aware that at this point Fire Oath and Salty Dogs will side with FAE against you if given reason and a profit can be made. If you don’t want Dragon Legion to join them, you will not insult what I call a fair compromise. You are the one who sought for Xeal to lose a near monopoly on flying mounts, as he sells them instead of using them for greater gains the way that we all would.”
“You’re lucky that I know just how much you disdain that FAE even exists, else I would think that you were already working against me here. Yet, if the deal is seen as fair, Abysses End will reject it at this point if FAE is involved. When I say that I have to deal with the board, that includes Gabriel, who still isn’t over having his character Saul assassinated and humiliated on your orders. While he is just one voice, he has friends on the board and they are fine with stabbing ourselves in the foot if we kill you in the process.”
“So, Abysses End is doomed. You have really allowed things to degrade to that point,” commented Nuthi. “I would have thought that you would have been able to keep the idiots in line by reminding them about the profit margins, but it seems that I was mistaken.”
“We are not doomed, we just have a problem with FAE that can only be solved after the accounts have evened out a bit.”
“You’re doomed,” replied Nuthi. “Xeal has already ensured that your guild is at a major disadvantage on three continents. Your guild is just taking more losses every day and you can’t even get a step that could give you a chance to stabilize the situation through your board.”
“So don’t ask the board,” commented Xeal. “Dare them to fire you as you assert that you will not lead if they won’t put the good of the guild first and foremost. Heck, them firing you might be the best thing that could happen to you as it would free you from the sinking ship that is Abysses End. While FAE will never hire you, I am sure Salty Dogs or even Dragon Legion would at least take a serious look at doing so.”
“Oh, and what, start over at level one? You know that my character is guild property.”
“What is so bad about restarting at level one?” asked Xeal. “It may even help you as you know so much more now and power leveling is easily possible. In just a few months you will likely be looking at reaching tier-6 again. It is one of the main reasons FAE has been able to develop a good group of support members who aren’t paid, but still contribute significantly to our guild.”
“I am well aware of the unorthodox approach that your guild has taken in many aspects of recruitment and player development. It must be nice to have the benefit of the first guild bonus to aid in allowing for such programs to not create massive issues with maintaining a force large enough to maintain all your interests. Sadly, the rest of us have to rely on our subordinate guilds, which are far less efficient due to the lack of quests and other opportunities that NPCs offer to our main guilds.”
Xeal just held his tongue as he thought about how FAE usually assigned subordinate guilds specific areas of responsibility. While they received fewer requests overall, they were able to develop while specializing in that area and build a successful guild that didn’t lack quests. However, since Abysses End and other super guilds normally only recruited from its subordinate powers’ most promising members, those guilds were constantly falling behind any decent guilds. Yet as the super guilds had always used the promise of excellence being rewarded by moving up to the main guild as part of their recruitment pitch, they had no easy way to move away from it either. After a long moment, Xeal looked at Nuthi as he hoped for anything that could be used to shift topics.
“Leo, we can’t blame the innovator for finding a new solution that will take time for us to adopt. Now back to the question at hand. Will you sign the deal?”
“Fine, but all sales of the hippogriffs must be done in gold.”
“Xeal?”
“Fine, but don’t expect the price of gold to jump with the sale of them.”
With that a deal was struck and while Xeal had a bit of a bitter taste in his mouth, he had succeeded in securing the peace and he was just going to take that win. Still, he felt bad at passing down the order to sell off the hippogriffs on the open market. Though, Xeal would make sure to get their value and do it in a manner that would allow them to become a surprise highlight of the toy drive. If there was any positive to the situation, it was that with the sales having to be made in gold, FAE would be able to increase the returns they were getting from selling gold. Even if it was only a one percent increase, it would allow them to offload some of their excess gold while not tanking the market completely.
Like that Xeal returned to passing the time, as Kate finished securing enough support that around 80% of all players were under orders of the ceasefire. At the same time, the NPC rulers were at complete losses on what to do, as the players were still guarding key locations and attacking now would prove suicidal. Though the leaders who had gained ground were quick to order defensive works to commence and some even seemed happy to use this moment to open peace talks to ensure their gains were able to be secured long term.
However, just how all that would turn out was yet to be seen, as Xeal found himself participating in a celebration which was held in the same tent that they had entered when celebrating the births of Xeal’s children. Still, this was a far different atmosphere as Xeal found himself, Daisy and Violet at the center of prayer circles and many other things that he found slightly awkward to say the least. Daisy and Violet didn’t seem to know quite what to make of it all either, as it seemed that Chief Taro and Chiharu had merged a few different celebrations into one. These included the normal wedding rights, a fertility ceremony and the recognizing of the chosen heir to the chief. Though Xeal and Chief Taro made it clear that Xeal wouldn’t become chief one day from the very beginning. However, until Xeal’s eldest daughters with Daisy and Violet had chosen a mate, it was a title that Xeal would be stuck with as he even got a system notification about it. Although all it did was increase his favorability with the fox-men and he was rather sure that was close to max already.
With the celebration behind them, Xeal was just happy to watch time pass as the effects of the sudden peace across ED had long-reaching effects. Though Xeal was just about as busy as ever, as he managed to reach level 234 just after celebrating his wedding anniversary with Austru. For this Xeal spent a full 32 hours in the quest world as he enjoyed a trip back into the forest, where Austru showed Xeal what his mother had taught her regarding cooking her favorite mushrooms. While Xeal was sure that Austru wasn’t quite on the same level as his mother, the pasta with a cream sauce that she had made was excellent. Though, it felt more like what he would eat normally than camping food, however the smile she had at enjoying them done right, was enough to keep Xeal from caring. Honestly, with everything else that he had going on, it had been nice to simply have an extended time to just be alone with her. Still, like all good things this too came to an end as Xeal returned to his daily grind.
During this time Xeal was also prepping for the exhibition matches which were quickly approaching. This saw him facing off against Takeshi, Amser and other vice guild leaders who had ended up participating in the event. To make matters worse, they were all using the very gear that they would during the matches and this saw Xeal dressed as a Christmas elf once more. Rather than swords, Xeal was dual wielding clubs that were made to look like candy canes, to include the hook at the end. Add in the fact that he was being forced to select all new skills and assign a set number of ability points to his six abilities and Xeal was having a rather hard time of things. Though the same could be said of all but Amser, who was even beating Takeshi when they sparred together at the beginning. Thankfully a few weeks in and Xeal had gotten the hang of things as he found the right balance for him. However, so did Takeshi and suddenly none of them could even challenge him, as Amser and Xeal were about even and the rest below them.
Most of the vice guild leaders had thrown their names in once they were asked, but only Xeal, Amser and Takeshi had received enough ticket sales to max out their 10 matches. Beyond that, had there been no cap, Xeal would have been dealing with over 30 matches and Takeshi would have 35. Thankfully that wasn’t the case as day 117 arrived and the tickets were drawn and the matches were set. Xeal found himself groaning as while he had avoided Abysses End on nine of his ten matches, he would have to face Djimon Oya for his final match. Meanwhile, six other members of Abysses End had succeeded in being selected, though it seemed that they were the only super guild to participate as the rest of the selections came from major powers, or were complete unknowns.
Out of everyone Takeshi ended up with the most members of Abysses End to fight as he would face down three of them, to include Martelli and Tao Saki’s character, Fubari. The third was an unknown and was likely one of their up-and-coming members that they were evaluating. Though it was the Abysses End fight that Amser had found herself being selected to that Xeal was looking forward to the most, as she would face off against Harris’s character, Kizen. Xeal still remembered how that idiot had acted in reality and was looking forward to seeing Amser thoroughly destroy him in their match. Though he would likely have to watch it on replay as he would be fighting a match of his own at that point.
With five matches on day 118 and another five on day 119, Xeal found his final login before Christmas morning fully booked. Though his first nine matches were little to write about as none of those who had won the right to be his opponent were even near him in skill level. A few of the matches actually turned into him giving his opponent an impromptu lesson as they actually had fun with everything. Two of his opponents had even been looking for a way to meet him and well, to put it simply, convince him that he should date them. Unfortunately for them, Xeal had wasted no time as he showed them the errors of their ways. The second of those two had at least been smart enough to wait until the middle of the match to come on to him and act like she had fallen for him in the fight. Still, Xeal wasn’t even willing to justify their actions with anything but no and walk away.
With only Djimon left to fight, Xeal was enjoying remembering the matches that had already passed as with the exception of his, Takeshi’s and Amser’s final ones, all of the matches had been completed. A few of these had even ended in losses as Catriona and Taya had simply been outmatched in one of each of theirs and Casmir had just drawn a bad opponent in Jorruil Petric who was still an independent player, having failed to pick a guild after his top 16 appearance in the first arena league. While he was still consistently placing in the top 1,024, his stock had fallen and he had seen this as a chance to get it back up. Though FAE wouldn’t be chasing him as he wasn’t the type of player they were interested in any longer.
Then there had been Takeshi’s match, Martelli, which hadn’t even been a contest as while it wasn’t his normal blade, Takeshi still had a katana. It didn’t matter that it had a tsuba (guard) that was crafted to look like holly leaves, as the saya (sheath) and tsuka (hilt) and all their parts were similarly themed. Though Xeal had enjoyed the oddly themed outfit that referenced a particular restaurant chain in Japan that was popular during the holidays as a place to purchase Christmas dinners from. The beard and mustache that had been added almost made Xeal feel like he had gotten off easy having to dress as a Christmas elf. Still, the final matches were set to begin as all that was left was for Xeal to take on Djimon, Amser to teach Kizen just how insignificant he was and Takeshi to vanquish Fubari.
When Xeal stepped into the arena where his match was taking place, he was greeted by the sight of a frowning Djimon. Even as Xeal took a ready stance, Djimon simply stood there looking disappointed at what was before him. Finally, Xeal had about had it and decided to start things off with a bit of verbal sparring.
“What, were you hoping that you would face Takeshi-san so you could confess your love to him, Djimon-kun?”
“No, I am just sick of you and your guild insulting me by not using real gear and I won’t be provoked so easily today.”
“How about you win once and then you can say that you desire us to face you with real gear, as you call it, though you should know that these aren’t just for looks as well.”
“I know, it is all gear that FAE makes this time of year with arena-style matches in mind, where you can only use a limited number of points for everything. Now let’s just get this over with.”
As Djimon charged with his pole in hand, Xeal just smiled as he got ready to counter or dodge the first attack. Though as Djimon used his pole like a spear and aimed for Xeal’s legs, Xeal didn’t have an advantageous move to make, so he used double upward slash to redirect the attack up and past his shoulder as he moved in to close the distance. That said, Djimon wasn’t simply going to allow things to occur the way Xeal would like, as he sidestepped around with his pole and redirected his attack once more. Xeal was annoyed as this became a pattern for them as Djimon probed his defenses and Xeal worked to capture his pole.
So far in all of his matches Xeal had been able to win while just using his double upward and downward slashes skills. While that had required a fair bit more effort a few times up to this point, it had been worth it as it had helped conceal the surprise that he had for Djimon. Though he had been surprised by it at first as well, as his elder dragon mark hadn’t been completely negated like he had expected. Rather the 1.25% boost to his stats had been kept, as had half the mandatory points to MP, giving him 171 base points to it. It was not nearly enough to be meaningful to most, when none of the other 1,128 points that they had to assign were headed to that, as spellcasters would need far more than that to cast effectively. However, it was enough to let him utilize his dragon’s breath and elemental filtered dragon’s breath attacks 49 times each and so Xeal had used all of the points he had to unlock those two skills. Thankfully, the rules on advanced class skills were a bit looser in arena league-style matches as if you had them as an option to learn, you could take them for use during your matches.
Xeal had been tempted to take his lightning form and a bunch of other advanced skills that he would like to try out. However, he knew that he would need to be effective with his assault and familiar skills were best for that, and lightning form would run out of MP too fast and would likely not deal enough damage. So, as Djimon once more avoided Xeal’s attempt to capture his weapon, he was hit with a blast of bluish white light. This caused the opening that Xeal needed as he worked to get Djimon into a combo lock of double upward and downward slashes. Though there was more knockback due to the blunt aspects of his current weapons, four attacks was the best Xeal could manage before Djimon escaped. Yet it wasn’t long before Xeal hit him with another breath attack and was able to create another opening.
The only issue with this was that Xeal could feel his throat start to bleed as it used to before he reached a high enough constitution. That was the other danger to Xeal’s build, as he had only placed 100 points into constitution and only had 41,000 HP, which was less than 16% of what he was used to. Still, with his dexterity focused and his strength not neglected, Xeal was able to outmaneuver Djimon and deal decent damage with each attack. As far as match-ups went, Xeal was far better suited for dealing with Djimon than Amser was and the match ended with the only damage done to Xeal being self-inflicted. Still, that had been enough for him to be down a quarter of his health as blood ran down his chin. The pain from his throat told Xeal that had they continued until death and not until one of them dropped under ten percent health, he may have lost. After all, each breath attack was dealing more damage than the last and increasing the severity of the bleeding effect that he was afflicted with.
What Xeal hadn’t seen was what all those watching had, as he was still dressed as a Christmas elf as he fired beams of light or elements from his mouth while bleeding. Needless to say that the image of the jolly elf had been replaced with a demonic one for many, causing Kate and Alcinne to have a headache at how to handle this blunder. Still, that had been nothing compared to what had just happened in Amser’s fight with Kizen, as she had gone full berserker on the poor fool. By the end of it she had declared that he was on the naughty list and had bent him over her knee and used his own sword as a paddle until his health had dropped under ten percent.
Even Takeshi’s fight had gone awry as his opponent, Fubari, had come in Christmas attire of her own, only it had only just been able to pass the system’s level of acceptable dress. As far as strategies for beating Takeshi went, it actually made some sense as he wasn’t the type to be grateful for such displays of sexuality. Takeshi had even closed his eyes and refused to open them the moment he had seen her playing with the whip that she had selected to fight with. However, from how thoroughly and mercilessly Takeshi had defeated her, viewers could have been forgiven if they thought his eyes had been open the whole time. While it hadn’t been a flawless victory, the end result had still been that of an unquestionable victory for him. Still, none of the final matches had held much holiday spirit in them by the end and while it wasn’t a complete disaster, Alcinne would need to focus on spinning things for months. Hopefully with that, the positive toy drive results and a few other events that were sure to distract from the optics displayed in the final matches, everything would work itself out.
Still, the last thing Xeal remembered that night was having to listen to Kate lecture him on what he had done wrong. Though, when he had pointed out that they had put him in that getup against his will, she got a bit quieter. Even so, Xeal just hugged her and admitted that he had overlooked the amount of bleeding that his dragon’s breath attack would create. With that taken care of, Xeal joined the rest of his wives before setting an auto logout timer and passing out.
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Morning December 25 to Evening December 31, 2268 & ED Year 8 Days 121- 140.
