Lewd Ascent: a Futa Litrpg C236-245

6.56 - Training Facility III

"And you're fourth advancement?" Delta asked. "Dunno how good of a match we'll be, then. Both of us," she waved between Zoey and herself, "got skills that need practice before they're usable, for our fourth advancement. And that happened yesterday, so."

"Ah," Cordelia said. "I see. Nevertheless. You need not worry this is a power play. The request is earnest. I would like a sparring partner to warm up with, simple as that. And, admittedly, I wish to get a feel for Rosalie's teammates. But my goal isn't to establish myself, or similar. A friendly bout, on my word."

Delta considered her. "Wanna do a two-on-three, then? Maybe it'll be even that way." Her eyes flicked to Quinn. "What're you, anyway?"

"Fourth as well," Quinn replied calmly. For the most part, the dark-haired boy had been observing Rosalie's fights with Honor and their conversations with an air of impassivity. The initial wariness Zoey had seen seemed to have faded. Either they, or Rosalie, weren't as threatening as he'd worried.

"An arena would buy us privacy," Cordelia added. "Away from prying ears. Rosalie had the right of it, to step into one with Honor so quickly."

Delta turned an inquiring look at Zoey. Zoey shrugged. "We expected fights, coming here. It's why Enzo sent us, I'm sure. For the best if our first one is with someone friendly, right?"

Cordelia raised her eyebrows, and it took Zoey a second to realize it was probably because of how she'd used Enzo's name. Cordelia had called him Lord d'Celestin, and otherwise, he was simply 'the Guildmaster.' Casually addressing him by his first name was probably improper.

Then again, he

was

her girlfriend's dad. Even if Rosalie was hiding that from the general world, Zoey thought she was allowed

some

casualness with her family.

"In fact," Zoey said to Delta. "I bet that's part of why she's offering." She nodded at Cordelia. "The longer you keep us occupied, the longer we stave off the vultures, as Rosalie put it."

Cordelia laughed. "Perhaps," she said. "But even if I were being so altruistic, I'm not lying about wanting to test you three. I'm dying of curiosity. Nobody knows anything about you. Even dear Madeline, for all we know who her mother is."

"My family's kinda private," Maddy agreed.

"As Sovereign tend to be. So? You're interested?"

They shared another look. Zoey shrugged and faced Cordelia. "Sure. Should we leave Rosie alone, though?"

Even as she asked that, Honor was once again thrown across the arena, slamming into a shimmering magical shield that, for all intents and purposes, was a solid brick wall.

"She'll come find us. It seems Honor is being even more stubborn than usual." Cordelia sighed. "She'll have her good sense beaten into her eventually."

The five of them set off for the nearest arena. Unfortunately, none were adjacent to Rosalie's; they had to walk across half the courtyard. They stepped into their respective halves of the platform. Her skin tingled as she passed through the magical boundary. The sounds of the courtyard fell away, all the idle chatter disappearing.

"Much better," Cordelia said, voice clear in the newfound quiet. She unsheathed her sword in a fluid motion, baring six feet of shining metal with an ease that spoke to years of practice. A movement that was instinctive, ingrained, second-nature. "Now, tell me if I'm wrong, but a rogue-type and two mages, correct?"

"That's right," Zoey said.

"I'm afraid we have the upper hand on composition, then," Cordelia said. "You have no proper frontline."

The implication, of course, was that Cordelia handily served as a frontline on whatever team she joined. The armor and enormous sword had given that away. And yes, Zoey could see her point: she doubted a dagger-wielding rogue plus two mages were an ideal group to fight in. They had a numbers advantage, at least. She wasn't sure which way this fight would go, considering that.

"Gotta make do with what you have," Delta said. She unsheathed her daggers and spun them. "And don't get cocky. You think I can't hold your attention?"

Cordelia made a noise of appreciation. "I hope you can, dear. Warm ups shouldn't be

too

easy." She settled into a battle stance. "I'm afraid you have my blood itching. May we start? We can speak after."

Zoey had expected more conversation, perhaps Cordelia and Quinn trading some general descriptions of their classes and styles, but it seemed that wouldn't be happening. Maybe it was for the best it didn't. Adaptability was a skill that needed to be trained as much as any other. Most fights—the ones that mattered—wouldn't be sanitized duels in which she thoroughly knew her opponent. Most would be blind.

"Sure thing, beanpole," Delta said. "Try to keep up."

Without a countdown or any other indicator, the foxgirl burst forward in a streak of orange hair.

Zoey had gained a lot of experience during the past month. Especially in the last magma shard, she and Maddy had been in a number of tough scraps; she was growing more comfortable with analyzing combat scenarios and acting than ever.

That said, was she a woman who had been trained as a warrior since birth? Did she have remotely the same level of experience as the average wayfarer who hit fourth advancement, who would have run through dozens of shards, not a small handful like her?

For that matter, was she even all that

talented

at combat—because as much as practice, there were certain innate requirements to be 'one of the best,' as Cordelia, Rosalie's previous sparring partner, surely was.

The answer to the first two questions was resoundingly no. The third was

probably

a no, but how would she know if she had talent? She hadn't spent long enough trying to cultivate it.

She did, at least, not horribly embarrass herself. When the chaos of the two-on-three fight broke out, she maintained her bearing. For Delta, she activated Burst on Bolster, consuming a hefty chunk of Lust. The foxgirl descended on her Cordelia with a massive surge of strength and speed. Those two were the most effective abilities in Zoey's kit by far, as far as direct combat contributions went.

Zoey would have taken satisfaction in the way Cordelia's eyes widened in shock, but she stayed focused on their other opponent, trusting Delta could handle Cordelia—or at least keep her off her and Maddy.

Thus, it was two mages against one.

As Zoey quickly discovered, Quinn was a direct combat mage, not support and utility, like she and Maddy. With one hand resting on the leather-bound tome hanging on his belt, Quinn called forth enormous gouts of fire, drowning them in offensive magic. The fight began in earnest.

To their credit, they gave Quinn and Cordelia a run for their money. They had some advantages, their extra woman the most obvious of them, but also Zoey's absurdly strong runes. That said, they lacked a coherent composition, they lacked decades of training, and perhaps most importantly, she and Delta lacked practice with their key combat runes they'd earned the day prior. They weren't true fourth-advancement wayfarers until they could make use of those pivotal abilities. Delta didn't even bother calling her shadow. She probably thought the distraction would outweigh the benefits.

They lost. But it was close. When the fight came to a stop, Cordelia was breathing hard—though not a hair out of place. Zoey could read in her eyes that she was impressed. But also a bit ... not

disappointed

, but curious; maybe she had expected more from Rosalie's teammates. Had expected something totally absurd, seeing how Enzo had allowed Rosalie to dismiss all other potential applicants in favor of them. But Zoey's abilities, at least so far, weren't overpowered in that way. She was a support mage, first and primarily. Though her lightning rune might change that.

Zoey discovered the arena did, in fact, have healing effects built in; they activated when combat ended. Fighting a fire mage was no fun at all. Burns were unpleasant. Thankfully, only seconds passed before she'd recovered.

"Well!" Cordelia said. "Good fight." She walked over and offered a hand to Delta, who lay back-first on the ground. The foxgirl forced a dazed gaze up and toward the hand. Frowning, she accepted it, though Zoey could see her ego was bruised.

Rosalie and Honor had finished their fights as well. They stood off to the side, having caught at least the tail-end of their bout. Rosalie didn't have any particular expression on her face. Honor was frowning. Or maybe pouting. She

had

been flounced a number of times in a row. She didn't seem like she'd been paying too much attention to Zoey's fight, instead stewing in her thoughts.

Zoey would have stayed on the platform and continued speaking with Cordelia—the swordswoman had pulled off a number of moves that Zoey was curious about—but with her eyes having flicked over to Rosalie, she spotted two people, a man and a woman, approaching. Maybe it was the sour expressions on their faces, or something else, that alerted Zoey.

Had it finally happened? Their first unfriendly visitors, rather than someone like Cordelia?

Either way, Zoey stood and stepped off the arena, the noise of the courtyard returning as she passed through its defensive membrane. She arrived at Rosalie's side just as the blonde was beginning to speak.

"Evander, Zinnia," she said icily. "How nice to see you two."

"You as well, Lady d'Celestin," the boy all but sneered. "I was wondering when you would grace us with your presence."

6.57 - Training Facility IV

"I was wondering when you would grace us with your presence."

Evander was a fair-skinned boy with black hair. He was average height for a man, which meant he stood half a foot taller than Rosalie. Despite that, it seemed like Rosalie was looking down on

him

as she leveled a cold expression toward the newcomer.

Zinnia, presumably the woman to his right, also had a head of black hair. There was a similarity in their faces that told Zoey with total certainty they were siblings. The resemblance was striking.

"Mm. I found myself in no hurry to return," Rosalie said calmly, icy blue eyes surveying her two visitors. "I was busy progressing. You two understand, I'm sure. To some extent," she added with a doubtful look.

Zoey's eyebrows went up even as Evander and Zinnia's expressions soured further. What was going on here? They obviously weren't friends, not even the conditional ones Rosalie had mentioned.

"And these are the mysterious teammates?" Evander asked. His attention settled on each of them in turn, but only briefly. There was nothing but disdain on his face. "Interesting ... choices."

"The fuck does that mean?" Delta asked.

Where Honor had been hostile, she hadn't come off as—well, an

enemy

of Rosalie's. Zoey was pretty sure Honor had just been venting frustration. Not all that dissimilar from how Delta might have acted in her situation, honestly.

These two? It didn't take a genius to recognize the dynamic between Evander and Rosalie.

"Merely that I'm surprised by Lady d'Celestin's selection of teammates," Evander said calmly. "I mean, pray tell, what are your credentials? No one has heard of you."

"Credentials?" Delta threw a thumb over her shoulder. "Wanna step in with me? I can shove my foot up your ass. How would that be, for credentials?"

Evander blinked. He clearly wasn't used to retorts like

that

. His and Rosalie's exchanges had been blatantly unfriendly, but there was a veneer of politeness and plausible deniability in how their words could be interpreted. She got the impression that such words were as overtly rude as high nobility would get with each other. Barring extreme circumstances, a conversation would never devolve slinging outright insults. That would be beneath them. Or too risky, especially in a conversation with someone who had the surname d'Celestin.

Rosalie sighed. She gave a briefly pleading look to Zoey.

Control that woman, please,

it said.

Zoey settled a hand on Delta's shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"Could you, now?" Evander asked, finding his bearings. "I find myself doubtful."

"Stop antagonizing my teammates, Evander," Rosalie said.

"Antagonizing? I was merely inquiring about her. After all, to suddenly insert herself into the

prodigious Rosalie d'Celestin's

team? She must be very impressive."

Rosalie spoke before Delta had a chance to. Thankfully, Delta was also holding her tongue, prompted by Zoey's hand on her shoulder, though she didn't seem happy about it.

"I'm more than capable of selecting competent teammates. "Or are you casting aspersions on my judgment? Perhaps questioning what caliber wayfarer I find

acceptable

?" Before he could snarkily reply to that, either, Rosalie continued. "You know, Evander, I would adore a match with you. Like old times. Hm. But perhaps Zinnia should join you as well? I'm afraid you might not offer as much a challenge as you once did."

By the expressions on both Evander and Zinnia's faces, like they'd swallowed lemons, Rosalie had done the equivalent of slapping them in their faces.

"Both of us?" Zinnia asked. "Against just you?"

"We have

three months

advantage on you,

Rosalie,

" Evander said. "And you think you can beat both of us? Isn't that arrogant?"

It seemed even the veneer of politeness was slipping.

"It would be, if I lost," Rosalie said mildly. "But it's a simple offer for a duel, no need to become so upset." She inclined her head. "I understand if you decline. You have a reputation to maintain."

His face went red. "I accept," he all but spat. "As does Zinnia."

The girl seemed more apprehensive, but just as angry. That meant she at least had some sense in her. Surely they recognized if Rosalie was so confident, that something was up? That she thought she would win. Maybe they thought that an impossibility, considering it would be a two-on-one and that they were at least third or fourth advancement.

With no further barbed words, the three departed for the arena—the one Zoey and company had just been using.

Zoey found it amusing yet another fight had started. She supposed in this kind of strength-focused society, most disputes

would

be solved with duels.

"What was

that

about?" Delta asked, frowning as the combatants set up on their respective sides. "More people bitchy they didn't get to be on blondie's team?"

Honor eyed Delta, but saw that Delta's question hadn't been snidely directed at her. Delta didn't even notice the look.

"Oh," Cordelia said. "In this instance, no, actually. The Talbot siblings were never interested in joining Rosalie's party." She paused. "Or, knew from the outset they would never be offered one. Their family's rivalry goes back more than a single generation. From before Rosalie's time."

"They're enemies?"

"Lord d'Celestin doesn't have

enemies

within his own ranks," Cordelia said, eyebrows raising. "But," she said. "He has allies who are more or less friendly than others."

"You're turning words around," Delta said with a snort. "They're enemies. Say it plain."

Cordelia's lips pursed. "Unfriendly," she insisted. "They align under the same banner and pledge loyalty to the same guild—to Lord d'Celestin. They are not

enemies,

except in the most trivial of senses."

They weren't actively trying to kill each other, Zoey translated. Disliked each other, maybe even hated each other's guts—going back generations—but there was no coup in sight, nor assassination attempts. She supposed that

was

a fair enough distinction. Their real enemies were the Striders, the opposing highguild. And possibly the Sovereign? Or at least, those were a potential enemy. Rosalie hadn't been too concerned when she found out Maddy was a daughter of one. Zoey still didn't understand the dynamics between those three major polities, not to any in-depth degree.

Seeing how her girlfriend would eventually be the leader of one such guild, Zoey really ought to sit down and have a more thorough talk about it.

Delta grunted. "Still, kinda surprised he doesn't just squash them, if they're 'unfriendly'," she quoted the word with her fingers. "Isn't that something Enzo d'Celestin would do?"

"A Guildmaster can hardly go killing every officer who offers him the smallest slight. Even ones who are outright rude. Lord d'Celestin represents a significant portion of the Deepshunters' power, but holding and controlling territory requires the efforts of more than a single man. Never mind that even he can be overwhelmed by a strong enough coalition. He's not wholly immune to the Guild's machinations."

She seemed amused at Delta's question. Zoey intuited it had been an uninformed thing to ask. Oddly, Zoey took some solace in the fact she wasn't the only one out of her depth. Delta didn't know the first thing about noble politicking either. Maddy was in a better position, but she'd also made it clear the Sovereign worked in a completely different manner than the other two highguilds.

Ahead, Rosalie's fight began.

A part of her had been expecting Rosalie to wipe the floor with her two opponents. That didn't happen. Without a doubt, both Zinnia and Evander were fourth advancement, the same rank as Rosalie. Unlike when she'd gone against Honor, she had no enormous power advantage.

Well. She still had the power advantage. Zoey's skills had empowered Rosalie by a significant amount, and she shared a portion of stats with each of her teammates. But it wasn't a ridiculous gap like against Honor. She was on a more even playing field.

And Evander and Zinnia weren't unskilled opponents. Zoey reminded herself that there

were

no unskilled fighters in this facility. Only elites. Frankly, Zoey might be one of the worst in the building. If not

the

worst. She'd gotten better in the past month, but a month of vigorous training didn't compare to a lifetime.

That said, even among elites, there were enormous gaps in skill—and Rosalie demonstrated that handily.

Zoey took no small amount of pride and second-hand vindication as her girlfriend battered, two-on-one, the rude pair of nobles around the arena. Half the training facility had come to watch. Dozens of armored or well-dressed wayfarers stood around the platform, watching the d'Celestin heiress dominate two opponents she had no business dominating, not a single month after entering the Fractures. Looks of pure disbelief covered the faces of the crowd.

This, Zoey knew, had been Enzo's intent sending Rosalie to the public arenas. Not to catch up with old friends. To prove a point. Establish herself. Establish the d'Celestin name.

The intensity on Rosalie's face made Zoey certain of that. As she weaved between attacks, thrusting with her spear and dashing around the arena, she wore a look of pure concentration and resolve. She wouldn't let herself lose this fight, no matter what.

And she didn't.

Rosalie came out of the encounter limping and with her armor dented, but when the smoke settled, she was the last one standing.

"As I said," Rosalie announced, looking down at Evander. "Always a pleasure to get some practice in. Thank you for the spar."

She hopped out of the arena.

"We can leave now," Rosalie murmured to Zoey. "I've done what my father wanted. You and Delta need to practice your new skills in privacy."

Nobody stopped them as they left. Rosalie raised an apologetic hand at Cordelia, Honor, and Quinn for their abrupt departure. Zoey knew they'd be seeing more of those three.

Out in the hallway, Rosalie released a sigh of relief, and her shoulders lost a little of their rigidity.

"Glad that's over with," she muttered.