Adept of Chaos Ch. 23 (Patreon)

I think I'm going to finish the rough draft of Adept of Chaos today or tomorrow. Hopefully today! But... long chapter this time!

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Chapter 23

“So how do you feel about having a fan club?” Fya asked, a broad grin on her face, and Evelyn gave her a dirty look as she settled into her chair.

“I’ve had fan clubs for quite some time, thank you. I just thought they’d have been disbanded at some point in the last fifteen years or so, not that they’d have grown.” Evelyn replied tartly. “It’s annoying. Fortunately Adria and the Dolls are much more patient than I am. I’d just have filtered out the incoming calls entirely.”

They were in one of the side arenas where the first match of Evelyn’s crew was going to be held. It wasn’t a large arena, and there were only a thousand seats available, but that was plenty on Skaloth. Fortunately, from Evelyn’s perspective, the seats were all on the large size to fit the more impressive orcs, so it wasn’t like they were going to be too crowded.

Fya looked particularly festive that day, with bright purple hair that was almost fizzy, in Evelyn’s opinion… complete with the occasional bubbles popping out from between the hairs to pop like carbonation. It drew some attention from surrounding attendees, but Evelyn doubted it would cause trouble or be too notable. Some people did strange things with magic to make themselves unique, after all. The djinn was also wearing a metallic purple and silver shipsuit that fit her like a glove, and had a pair of heavy pistols resting on her hips that would likely dissuade anyone who thought that her being short meant she could be pushed around. Mostly Evelyn was happy that Fya would draw attention away from her.

Conversely, Evelyn had deliberately picked through some of the local videos from matches, focusing on the crowds, and tried to make sure she wouldn’t stand out. She’d removed the enchanted forehead jewel she normally wore, and instead of her usual outfits she’d gone with a pair of tight pants and a shirt with the logo of one of her favorite bands on it. Adding a little lipstick, then a large belt pack that could fit her energy blade and emergency kit into it, and she was ready. Well, she’d left behind her pistol and the grenades, the latter couldn’t make it through security, but she’d managed. Evelyn felt a bit naked without the gem helping protect her mind and the blade somewhat inaccessible, but it wasn’t like she couldn’t take on a dozen soldiers unarmed. If all else failed, there were plenty of weapons in the crowd that she could steal.

“You’re far too memorable to be forgotten that quickly, Milady.” Fya replied, grinning broadly. “And yes, that’s the advantage of them being AIs.”

“Could you not call me that here?” Evelyn asked, glancing around warily. Fortunately, plenty of people were still swirling out of the seats after the previous match, and not many of them had come back in yet. “I’m trying to avoid getting mobbed so I can focus on their match.”

“Fine, Evvy. But only under these circumstances.” Fya said, her grin widening. “I’m amused, though… you sure you want to be looking like that here? Arenas tend to have the more belligerent members of Skaloth’s society, you know.”

“Better to have to break an idiot’s wrist or to have to remove a orc’s thick skull from a hole in the wall than to be mobbed by fifty screaming fangirls and fanboys.” Evelyn replied bluntly. “I saw the quartet watching the entrances, you know. I’m surprised they weren’t using facial recognition software.”

“Probably couldn’t get access to the arena cameras.” Fya said, shrugging. “And might not have implants up to the task. You’ve got way better ‘netics than most people can afford.”

“I suppose that’s true.” Evelyn admitted, letting out a sigh as she sat back in the over-large chair. Over-large for an arena seat, anyway, since that meant it was almost comfortable. Now, if it was a big arena, that might have changed, but this one wasn’t. Ilyra, Moon, Star, and Vaneryth weren’t good enough to get into a big arena. Fortunately, the only one who might have had enough of an ego to find that insulting was Vaneryth, and she’d been humbled enough by her exile from the heavens that the angel wasn’t going to let her ego get the best of her.

The arena itself was a little more complex than some of the ones that Evelyn had been in before, though not as ridiculous as the one on Reve. Evelyn hadn’t seen the previous match, but it hadn’t left more than a few scorch marks on the walls and a couple of glassed pock marks in the sand. A few of the walls were slowly vanishing as she watched, and Evelyn’s eyes narrowed as they did so, thinking for a moment, and trying to sense the magic she felt from a distance. It was difficult, but she thought she knew what was going on.

A hedge appeared along one side of the arena, what looked like a fountain in the middle, and other items that made the arena look more like the foyer of a temple… or maybe a martial arts dojo, considering the two massive statues of an orc man and woman that were leaning toward each other, their hands locked as if they were trying to knock each other over. The statues formed an archway, and Evelyn tapped her upper lip thoughtfully.

“Tech-based force fields with illusions over them to make them look like terrain?” Evelyn asked, looking at Fya curiously.

“Um…” the djinn paused, leaning forward as her eyes narrowed slightly, then nodded. “I think you’re right. That’s neat! Most places I’ve seen like this just have an open room, or maybe some pillars or things like that to give cover. This is more interesting. I wonder how they do it?”

“There’s a set of one hundred and eight standard arena layouts, with eight variations on each of them, for a total of eight hundred and sixty-four possible layouts.” A man interjected in a cheerful voice, prompting Evelyn to look to the stairs on her right.

Standing there was an orcish man who was tall even for an orc, reaching over two meters in height, and given how his button-down shirt strained at each movement, he certainly had the physique of a bodybuilder. He had a pair of spectacles over brown eyes, which Evelyn recognized as augmented reality spectacles, and a full head of brown hair. The man grinned, showing tusked teeth, and bobbed his head.

“Pardon me, but could I slip past? I have the seat just on the other side of you.” The orc said, smiling at them.

“Certainly.” Evelyn said, twisting in the chair so that her legs were more fully out of the way.

“Thank you.” The orc said, carefully moving past them, then taking his seat with a sigh of relief. “There we are. First time visiting the arena, then?”

“This arena, yes. I’ve visited Skaloth’s arenas before, but that was about… twenty years ago, I think. They didn’t use this method to provide combat terrain.” Evelyn said, nodding to it.

“Ah, of course! They finally got the force field projectors about twelve years ago, and implemented the illusions and destructible terrain system five years back… no, six, now!” the man said enthusiastically, grinning. “Let me tell you, it’s certainly made the matches more interesting! Ah, but I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Drun.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Drun. I’m Evelyn, and this is Fya.” Evelyn replied, a bit amused by his enthusiasm.

“Yeah! So, what’s up with the glasses? I don’t see lots of those around.” Fya said, prompting Evelyn to wince internally. Fortunately, the man didn’t take the question the wrong way.

“Nice to meet the two of you.” Drun said, smiling wryly. “As to that, I’m afraid that I’ve got a genetic quirk that makes me much more likely to reject most forms of implants. I’ve got a tier one set that was adapted for the problem, but that’s mostly enough to let me interface for my work, not enough for direct data processing. So I’ve got my glasses to help with it.”

“That’s unfortunate.” Evelyn said, frowning. “Have you considered gene therapy? I’ve heard that can fix a lot of those sort of problems.”

“I had, but the same genetic quirk afflicts about… oh, half a percent of the population of Skaloth? I think it’s more efficient in the long run to find a way to adjust the implants so people with the quirk can use them.” Drun explained, his grin widening as he pounded his chest with one fist, adding. “I may not look like it, but I’m with Frox Cybertech as a cyber-researcher. You?”

“Captain of an independent starship.” Evelyn said, trying to downplay the Djinn’s Gift as much as she could. Fortunately or unfortunately, Fya distracted him.

“I’m a djinn.” Fya said simply, causing the man’s grin to vanish as he gawked at her, and the small woman grinned wider as she added. “And no, I’m not granting any wishes, so don’t ask.”

“I, but… but… you’re a djinn?” Drun demanded, his eyes practically bulging out of his head. A couple of neighboring attendees were looking at them from other rows, and Evelyn mentally sighed. So much for avoiding attention.

“Yep, and if anyone asks me for a wish, I’m going to turn them into a… no, not a frog. A turtle. A big, angry, and annoyed snapping turtle.” Fya said, grinning broadly at him.

“Um, just as a word of warning? She doesn’t make idle threats.” Evelyn interjected, suddenly fearing the results if anyone was foolish enough to wish for something. “We’re just here to watch the match.”

“Oh, I didn’t intend to. I just… I think there’s only one djinn I’ve heard of in the cluster, and he’s um… no offense, but a lot more imposing.” Drun said, still staring at Fya.

“We take the forms we want. I like being in the shape of someone small and spunky.” Fya replied, shrugging. “If I wanted to be a violet dragoness the size of the arena, I could be. I don’t want to, though. Being big can be annoying. Can you imagine the size of a bed I’d need?”

“Fya…” Evelyn said, a headache beginning to form as she rubbed her forehead slowly.

“I’ll take your word for it.” Drun said, obviously still dubious, but he settled down and stopped talking. Evelyn couldn’t be sure if he had stopped because he believed her or if he didn’t want to talk to someone he thought was crazy. That was the one advantage of djinn not being consistent in shapes, Evelyn supposed. It made it harder for other people to identify them easily. Now, if he’d been a mage, that might have been different.

Fortunately, the next little while passed uneventfully. Evelyn saw a few people who looked like journalists, one with a specialized hover-drone and a tablet, which was a touch less advanced than she would have expected, since many journalists preferred fully integrated hardware these days, when they weren’t controlling drones from a distance. Aside from that, no more than half the seats were filling up, and a couple of groups that struck Evelyn as teams took some seats as well. She slid back into her chair a bit when she saw a pair of women with forehead jewels come in, though. One of them had dyed her hair black, and their wardrobe made her cringe slightly. She didn’t look that… punk-like, did she?

It didn’t take too much longer before it was time for the match, though. Evelyn leaned forward in interest, and an announcer took the microphone.

“Welcome to the Vakril Arena, and to the eighth match of the day in Arena six! If you’re supposed to be in another arena, I suggest anyone who wants to see the other matches hurry, because you don’t have much time!” the male announcer said enthusiastically. “Today we’re watching a match between the Vipercorgies and the Phantom Djinns! The Vipercorgies are an established fledgling team with two victories and one loss under their belt, while the Phantom Djinns are a brand-new team to Skaloth! Rumor has it that the Djinns have an angel on their team, but will that be enough to face the skilled Viper and his team? We’re about to find out!”

As the announcer got to the team names, Evelyn saw Drun give Fya a sidelong look. She wasn’t sure what he was thinking, but he didn’t say anything about the name directly.

“You associated with the Phantoms?” the orc asked curiously, scratching the underside of his chin.

“Yup! I taught a couple of them to dodge.” Fya replied cheerfully. “They did pretty good, as long as I wasn’t making my paintballs turn corners!”

The man snorted, then asked. “So… how do you think they’ll stack up against their opponents?”

“I have no clue.” Evelyn said, shaking her head firmly. “I didn’t look into the other team ahead of time, so I’m not sure how good they are.”

“And it doesn’t help that only one of them is used to combat, the angel, and she got herself, um… demoted? She’s a lot weaker than she’s used to.” Fya added, shaking her head as she grinned. “New team, new to combat… I wouldn’t be surprised if they get demolished. Even if they’re technically each good enough to be in the songbird class.”

“Oof, that’s… unfortunate. They have any mods?” Drun said, wincing visibly.

“Only… what, tier four mental implants?” Fya asked, looking at Evelyn, who shrugged.

“I think Moon and Star might have tier three? I’d have to check…” Evelyn said, her voice trailing off as she checked her records, then shook her head. “Nope, they’ve all got tier four mental implants. Nothing else that might affect anything for them.”

“Straight normals, then? That’s unusual. Might make for good data, then…” Drun said, perking up slightly. “I don’t suppose they’d be interested in any cyberware? Or bioware?”

“I think it’s a little early for that. They need to learn to fight before figuring out how they want to modify themselves to fit the roles they choose.” Evelyn said, her eyes narrowing as the announcer kept blathering on, something about a local tournament. “Besides, if they’re going to get implants, I know who they’re going to get them from.”

“Oh? Where would that be?” Drun asked, perking up still more. Evelyn looked at him, pursing her lips, but before she could reply the announcer spoke even more loudly than before.

“Now we have a vicious team that has proven themselves in battle! Their only loss was by a hair’s breadth, and they’re lean, mean, fighting machines! Let’s hear it for the Vipercorgies!” the man exclaimed, and smoke burst from the entrance of one side of the arena.

The first figure to emerge from the smoke was an unusual figure, and Evelyn’s eyebrows rose slightly at the sight of him. The man was a canid, with digitigrade legs, but he was tall and muscular. The main difference was that his vaguely wolf-like head had bright blond hair streaked with a few green highlights. He was handsome enough, and wore solid green armor. For weapons he had a mace and pistol at his sides. The fact he was blond was the main surprise, even if canids also weren’t that common in this region of space. Part of Evelyn wondered if that was why they were called the Vipercorgies, because he did seem slightly more corgie-like to her.

The rest of his team was more traditional. There was a gray-haired female canid with an energy shield and energy lance, a human man with body-hugging gray stealth armor with an energy rifle and survival knife, and an orc woman with what looked like a flamethrower to Evelyn. Well, a plasma thrower, really… which wasn’t that traditional, but they didn’t look as unusual as their leader.

“Wonder what settings are attached to that mace… what do you think, Fya?” Evelyn asked, examining the leader’s mace curiously. The problem with competition gear was that you couldn’t tell what it did as easily as you could with normal equipment.

“Probably an impact mace. It might be an accumulator, but those aren’t common out here.” Fya replied, grinning back at her as she added. “You had enough trouble getting your hands on one, I doubt that a fledgling team got one.”

“True enough.” Evelyn conceded. “And it doesn’t have the mass for an infinity generator, so… you’re likely right.”

“Huh. You can tell that from this distance?” Drun asked, his eyebrows rising again. “Weapons expert?”

“I worked at a high-end weapons shop at one point.” Evelyn replied, deliberately leaving out that she’d owned the shop. He nodded, and that was when the announcer moved on to Evelyn’s team, drawing her attention.

“On the other side of the ring we have a new team! They’re untested by the arena, and no one knows who they are. Perhaps they’re just like their namesakes, but they’re led by the light of one of a divine messenger. I present the Phantom Djinns for their very first match!” the announcer boomed, and a somewhat quieter roar came in response, along with a spray of motes of white light on the opposite side of the arena.

From the lights emerged Evelyn’s crew, and she couldn’t help a slight smile at the sight of them. The other team hesitated as Vaneryth emerged from the light, her halo shining brightly, which refracted off her armor, which she’d added gold trim to for the arena, as well as changing the dark blue to red so that she matched the ship. She had a sword and pistol at her sides, and she moved smoothly, her steps precise.

The rest of the team looked much like they normally did, with Ilyra’s eye-searing sky blue and pink, while the twins had gone with teal and copper, which almost hurt Evelyn’s eyes. She had to wonder why almost all of them insisted on such vivid color schemes. Evelyn’s armor at least could be lost in some environments, while they’d all stand out almost anywhere but a coral reef or the like. She supposed it wasn’t too terrible for an arena, but she still didn’t understand.

“They look nervous.” Evelyn commented softly, a finger rapping on the armrest of her chair as she watched. “All but Ryth are jumpy.”

“Yup. I think they’re going to lose.” Fya agreed, clicking her tongue in annoyance. “Maybe I should’ve bet on the other team instead.”

“Betting on them was a bad idea to begin with. You’re a djinn.” Evelyn retorted. “And if you manipulate any fights while we’re here, I’ll eject you the next time we jump into the astral.”

Drun audibly choked, while Evelyn watched the two teams approach each other. This was the typical pre-match greeting, if she remembered right, and she hoped that they wouldn’t piss off the Vipercorgies. Or make them think they were easy prey, because that would just be embarrassing.

“Spoilsport.” Fya replied, sticking her tongue out at Evelyn.

“Shush, you.” Evelyn said, letting out a faint sigh. She really hoped that Zelirana wasn’t causing any trouble while they were busy. She doubted the succubus would be problematic, but one never knew when a demon would get the urge to cause chaos.

“Alright, the pre-match greetings are done, so the teams are going back to their places and preparing for battle!” the announcer said, and the response of the team caused Evelyn to suppress another sigh. They took a roughly diamond-shaped formation, with Moon and Star flanking Vaneryth and Ilyra in the back. It wasn’t a terrible formation for an open area, but there were places to take cover in the arena. Unlike the twins, a couple of the opposing team were in positions where they could easily take cover.

“They need so much more experience.” Evelyn murmured.

“That’s why we came to Rakal.” Fya said, shaking her head and grinning. “Maybe I didn’t shoot at them enough… I can make a fully automatic paintball gun, you know.”

“Too late now.” Evelyn murmured.

A loud gong sounded, and with it the contestants sprang into motion. Evelyn took in the entire match easily, while her implants recorded it for later perusal. Not that there was much to record.

Vaneryth lunged to intercept the other team’s leader along with the lance-wielder, and the other two dove into cover, one of them beginning to circle the battlefield, just as Moon and Star opened fire, one of them firing at the shield wielder, which didn’t do much good, while the other almost caught the man with the rifle. They didn’t take cover though, and Vaneryth engaged the canid leader, exchanging a flurry of blows. Evelyn instantly realized that Vaneryth was better than he was, but she wasn’t used to her lack of strength, and saw how the angel tried to use her wings without even realizing it.

Then Ilyra blasted the shield of the lance-wielder with a potent beam of light that caused the shield to flicker and die, allowing Moon an opening to shoot the startled woman. A chorus of cheers came from the crowd as the woman’s armor stiffened and caused her to fall, the armor incapacitating her… but that’s when things turned around.

The woman with the plasma thrower had mostly flanked them by that point, and when she popped up, Ilyra quickly started casting, but she didn’t finish her shield spell in time. A massive blast of plasma hit them in a cone, dropping Moon instantly, and Ilyra only a moment later. Star managed to stagger out of the blast, one leg and arm stiff, but she dropped the plasma thrower with a headshot, only to be felled as the rifle-wielder returned the favor.

That left only three people on the battlefield, and Vaneryth was good, but she wasn’t good enough to take down a skilled swordsman with fire support. The canid fought well, and coupled with the mistakes Vaneryth made, the two were able to take her down in only a few more exchanges, even if one of his arms was disabled first.

A buzz erupted throughout the arena, and Evelyn sat back, shaking her head as she sighed.

“And that’s the match! The Vipercorgies have achieved their third win, while the Phantom Djinns have proven that they have a vicious bite of their own! Let’s hear it for both teams!” the announcer said, sounding just a hair surprised.

“Well, that was sad.” Evelyn murmured. “If they’d used their armor properly, they could’ve won.”

“Oh, I’m going to give them so much grief.” Fya said, giggling softly.

“Honestly, I think they did well for their first match.” Drun said, looking at them in a bit of confusion. “Considering the lack of mods or experience.”

“Sure, but it’s nowhere near good enough.” Evelyn said, standing up. “Now, let’s go, Fya. We need to tell them what they did well, and how they screwed up. Plus, I’ve got a lunch for this afternoon. Have a good day, Drun.”

“Of course, Milady.” Fya replied, causing Evelyn to wince.

“My lady?” Drun asked, his eyebrows rising.

Evelyn left. Quickly.