It's been two weeks since Elysium came to Lutah and Lud had become trapped. The fields have turned out well, freshwater has been obtained after Elysium found a river and the installation of desalination devices.
There was a poll made to decide if Elysium should build actual roads to other places. Since the results waved towards not building ones, the project has been postponed to a later date. Everyone in Elysium knows that building the roads is inevitability rather than possibility, so they are preparing for that day to eventually come, where outsiders come to the city.
Today is the first day that outsiders come to Elysium. The people who come are representatives from Rucksta, the demon countries and a priestess from Labes.
At first, it was only supposed to be Weiss who would come to Elysium, but as the word spread, the king of Rucksta decided to send people to investigate Elysium. Demon countries became involved after Eleanor came back home with spies from the other two demon countries as prisoners. And for Labes, since the king of Rucksta sent his own people to Elysium, a place led by a person from an inferior race, the church had to do something.
Of course each person had their own retainers and guards come as well. Weiss had two of her retainers come, but she didn't need guards.
When the group of outsiders came to the fields that the people of Elysium had built, they were astonished that they were able to turn a land that births monsters into a fertile land where food is grown. And when they saw that dragons flew by freely in those skies, they started to feel a little terrified of Elysium.
Then when they entered the city itself, they were astonished by the architecture and the absence of bad smells. People couldn't help but look at the group with wary eyes.
Then the group entered the castle and saw Lud sitting on his throne. Even though all of them disliked humans, they wouldn't dare to say anything against the man who had guards exuding a powerful aura besides him. When one of the representatives asked Weiss "Could you win against any of those guards in battle?" Weiss had to answer "I don't have the confidence to say that I can."
Then Lud said "Greetings honored quests. My name is Faust Ilumnos and I'm the king of Elysium. We welcome your visit to our humble city and we wish that we can coexist peacefully. Now then, I believe that the main reason why we are all here is because the first of the ten sword-saints of Rucksta will be battling the 100th finger of Xu. Why don't we cut to the chase and go to the arena."
Then Lud starts to walk towards the arena and the guests follow his lead. One of the representatives of Rucksta says to the other representative "Do you believe this? He didn't even ask who we were or who we represented. Outrageous." Then the other representative says "What did you expect from a human?" To which the other representatives, their retainers and guards chuckled a bit. All except Weiss who felt that one wrong move could mean death.
While they were walking, they bumped into Sarah who was just strolling around. When Sarah saw Weiss, she said loudly "Oh, if it isn't Miss sword saint! How have you been?" Lud stopped Sarah and said "We are in the middle of something Sarah. Can you not do this now?"
Sarah puffed her cheeks in annoyance and said "You think of me as a nuisance now, don't you? Fine, I'll tag along then." Lud sighed and said "I apologize for one of my people's behavior. She is quite a free spirit."
From the outside, the representatives said "Oh it's quite alright. We have those kinds even where we come from." But from the inside they thought "As expected of a human leader. Can't even keep their people in check."
Once they got to the arena, Xu was already waiting. Xu's appearance made the representatives gasp in awe for a moment and made one of them say "Did one of yours make this?" To which Lud said "Yes. Xu was created by the fourth battalion commander Illi Tipten together with one of the founders. Shame about their personality"
Then Xu said "I quite liked that founder myself." And to this Lud said "Seriously? You liked the guy who named his character Tod The Supreme Thruster of The Rod Supreme of Awesomeness? Or Tod for short. The guy who would constantly thrust his hips with his minimal gear, basket on his head and shout "Fear me!" in a manic lunacy on a constant basis?"
Xu just said "He was a smart man in the real world I hear." To which Lud said "He was a top tier surgeon who won the nobel prize after finding a way to treat a condition thought to be impossible to treat. Yes, he was one of the smartest people I knew, but the way he dealt with stress made things… weird."
Xu said "As you said, it was his way of relieving stress, so there shouldn't be no judging him. I also heard he became quite the phenomenon on the internet thanks to his antics." Lud just said "It is all fun in games when you see his antics from the outside, but those who had to deal with his antics had no time to rest. Heck, he would go to an enemy base, by himself, and shout while thrusting his hips vigorously "Come and face me you three inch wonders! Come and taste my rod supreme!"
Xu then said "But he was a good player, was he not?" To which Lud said "He would be one of the top ranking players in all kinds of games, if not even THE top player. The way he would win pvp battles with ease and invent things inside the game was astonishing. Heck, he was the guy who suggested that we should get Sarah into our roster."
Xu then said "Then what is there to complain about?" To which Lud said "The catchphrase "Yes! Fear me! Fear me, puny mortals!" rings in my ear every time I see you or one of the fingers. Speaking of, where is Song Bai?"
Xu says "She is… coming… I suppose." To which Lud asks "You suppose? She is supposed to fight the sword saint." Then Xu says "Well… You know little Bai. She really has trouble finding anything that interests her."
Then Lud says to Xu "Tell her that it is an order from me." To which Xu says "I've… already done so." This makes Lud ask "But she still isn't coming?" To which Xu responds "I did say that she is coming."
Lud sighs, turns around to the guests and says "My apologies. It seems that the person Weiss was supposed to fight has some… motivational issues, so why don't we talk about some things she is coming."
Then the priestess, an angel who has sky blue eyes and is in clothes suited for a western religious woman, asks "How did you attain your current position?" Lud simply answered "I attained it from my brother."
The priestess continued "Then how did he attain his position?" To which Lud answered by saying "He built the kingdom from the ground up together with his friends."
Then the priestess asked "I have come to understand that you all are from another world separate from ours. Is that true?" To which Lud answered "As far as we know, we are in another world that is separate from our original one."
Then the priestess asked "How did you achieve this? Was it thanks to one of the gods?" To which Lud considered carefully how to answer this question. As Li said to him, they were in this world thanks to the counter god Maumar, but Lud knew that Maumar was mostly seen as the opponent of gods by the mortals of this world. This made Lud answer with "As far as we know, we came to this world thanks to the whims of a god-like being."
Then the priestess asks "Do you then revere our gods?" To which Lud answered "The people of Elysium grew up worshiping the gods of our world. The common folk are mostly unfamiliar with the gods of this world, so their reverence is quite limited. If you'd like, Elysium would be happy to hear the words of your gods in the future, though I'm unsure whether they'll start to revere the gods of this world or not."
Then the priestess asks "Then can I propose the idea of building a church to this city?" To which, Lud answered with "I'll have to ask people in charge of logistics if that would be plausible. But as far as I think, we should be green on the idea."
Then the priestess asks "Then may I stay in this city for an extended period of time? I'm sure that my superiors would be willing to let me stay here in order to spread the name of our church." Lud answers with "I think we can arrange that."
Then a representative from Vortias said to Lud "Excuse me, but what is your stance in wars?" Lud pondered for a moment and then gave an answer "I believe that while war is profitable to some people, in general, war is a bad thing for most people that get involved in it. As such, we won't go to war with anyone without a good reason."
Then the same representative asks "So if someone would ask you for military assistance, would you or would you not assist them?" Lud thought for a moment and then said "If there is no good reason for the war in the first place, then Elysium will stay neutral and not take sides. However, should one of the countries have a legitimate reason for fighting, such as reasonable retaliation after being attacked or something like that, Elysium will consider bringing aid if there is a need for it and if the vote that'll be held for it shows in favor of aiding them."
Then the Lastias representative says "Then I'm sure you'll aid Lastias in the battle to unify the demon race." The Restias representative quickly retorted "What are you talking about? Restias is the rightful ruler for all demon kind. It is but a matter of time until you all realize it."
The Lastias and Restias representatives start to argue with each other, until one of the Rucksta representatives says "How foolish. To bicker for the attention of a mere human." This makes Weiss say "Mr. Lenz!" Then Lenz continued to say "I mean honestly, they may be from a different world, but there is no doubt that humans in Elysium are from the same kettle as what we have here. It is ridiculous to garner their attention."
Weiss is surprised both that one of her allies is saying this in front of a very powerful people and that Sarah hasn't taken any action. Then a girl's voice can be heard saying "Oi oi oi! What are the misters here saying in front of the bossman? Two bickers and one disrespects? Honestly, the gall of these organics." Lud says "Oh Bai. Finally decided to show up. I assume that you understand what we want you to do?"
Song Bai
Height: 160cm
Weight: 40 kg
Breast size: B
Appearance:
Bai has platinum blond hair that ends around her neck with the exception of the back which reaches her bottom. She has two lines of hair that change color from moment to moment and they are situated somewhere between her forehead and the sides of her head. Her eye color is somewhere between completely white and golden yellow, varying between the two from moment to moment.
Bai has pointy ears like elves and they have three leaf-like glass ornaments attached to both of her ears. These ornaments are mostly see-through, but they have a random wave of light running inside the ornament in random intervals like a gentle current that has the colors of the rainbow.
Bai is wearing a white hoodie that is a few sizes too big and covers her lower part down to the middle of her thighs. It has three dark gold colored eastern dragon images that are actually moving around the surface of the hoodie. She is also wearing white heel-less shoes that form a 30 degree angle that stops the support at the middle of the shoe, leaving only the heel part without support. Both the hoodie and shoes can change their color between black and white depending on Bai's mood.
Beneath the hoodie Bai has a tank top and shorts.
Titles: The Absolute, The Pinnacle and The Arrogant
Bai says "I know, I know. I've got to play with the girl that played with Yi. But before that…" Then Bai puts her hand to the back of Lenz and says "Say loser, how good is your balance?" To which Lenz says with annoyed tone "What did you call me?" And Bai answers with "Well I guess we know soon enough."
Lenz asks "What are you…" And then Bai and Lenz disappear and a floating sword appears where they were. Lud says "Xu?" To which Xu answers "Bai and Lenz are now… about 700 meters up in the air… balancing themselves on swords… Now Lenz is falling… Bai says "Figures" and drops down to follow him… now they are in a free fall… Bai has catched Lenz and starts to chat casually… Lenz is screaming… and screaming… and screaming… and Bai sighs… touches Lenz and…"
Then Bai and Lenz appear where the sword was previously. Lenz is out of breath and Lud says to Bai "Did you have to do that?" To which Bai says "Hey, I asked him nicely."
Lud says "You called him a loser." To which Bai says "I mean… compared to you he is just a waste of organic matter."
Then Lenz shouts "Do you have any idea what you just did?! You put a representative from another nation in danger!" Bai just says with a smile "There was never any danger. It's not my fault that you thought that you were going to die."
Then Lenz shouts at Lud "You! Human scum! You let one of your people do something unprecedented to me! You shouldn't be the one to lead these people as your kind cannot control these kinds of people!"
Lenz is about to hit Lud, but then Weiss takes a hold of his hand and says "You are going too far Mr. Lenz." To which Lenz shouts "I'm going too far?! They almost killed me!"
Weiss just says "Even if he is a human, you were the one to insult their king first. So who has the right to punish who?" Lenz stares at Weiss for a moment, then stares at Lud, then clicks his tongue and says dishonestly "Fine." And so, Weiss lets go of his hand.
Bai looks at Weiss and says "So this is supposed to be one of the best in the world." Weiss says back "I wouldn't say that I'm one of the best, but many people would seem to think so."
Bai whistles a little and says "Wow. We have a humble one here. Well at least she knows her place now that bossman's legion has come to town." Weiss stares at Bai for a moment.
Then Bai says "Look… let's just get this over with. In my honest opinion, this all is meaningless. The only benefit there is, is that you realize the magnitude of your insignificance." Weiss says "That remains to be seen."
Bai sighs and says "You organics… always so confident in your specs." Then Bai starts to walk to the arena and Weiss follows her. The rest go and take their seats, and the moment Lud sits down, all the fingers appear and take theirs as well.
The sudden appearance made the representatives jump a little, but then Zenith explained "I apologize. It is not so often that the 100th fights someone, so her sisters are quite excited to see her in action again. Even those fingers that prefer to watch things happen on their screens showed up." The representatives didn't know what "screen" meant, but they stayed silent for the time being.
Then when everything is ready, Bai asks Xu "So how are we going to do this pops?" To which Xu says "Let's do the usual tests with the exception of damage output. Let's start with long distance protection." Bai says "Got it."
Weiss asks "What does that mean?" To which Bai says "Pops?" And Xu answers "Basically we ask that you try your best to attack little Bai with all of your strength. Little Bai will in turn push you back with her swords."
Weiss says "Got it." And then Xu says "Ready? GO!"
And so Weiss attempts to attack Bai, but she is stopped by a bunch of flying swords that create a wall. She first tries to move past it, but the wall of swords follows her to block her path. Then she tries to break it by attacking it, but the wall doesn't even budge. Bai in the meantime had made a lawn chair out of her swords and wasn't even paying attention.
Then Xu says "Second phase." And then the wall of swords start to push Weiss back. Weiss tries to avert the wall and not get trapped, but the more she tries, the more she is pushed back. She cannot stay idly by either, since the wall would push her against her will.
Eventually Weiss is on the other end of the arena and there is no longer any escape. It's like she is in an impenetrable prison made with swords. Xu says "First test complete. Moving on the combat test."
Weiss expects Bai to stop laying down and pick up a sword, but then she sees a sword just flying in front of Weiss. Weiss asks "Why haven't you taken a stance?" To which Bai says "I can manipulate swords however I want. Using this method lets me just chill."
Weiss is about to say something, but Bai says "You think that I actually need to put any effort in fighting you? How adorable. Why don't you go pick up a cookie or something? Oh that's right, you want to act like an adult. An organic adult with pristine skill. But we are here to prove a point, so try to dance with my sword a little like a novice you are."
This makes Weiss a little annoyed for a moment and she tries to charge towards Bai, but she is stopped by the incoming sword. The sword fought Weiss head on and she was even pushed back. The flying sword had way more speed and power in the strikes that Yi had when she fought Weiss. Meanwhile, the one controlling the sword didn't even seem to pay any attention to the battle at hand.
Weiss was starting to lose strength with each strike. There were no openings for Weiss to think of anything else but defense, so she was at the edge.
Then Xu said "That's enough" and the sword stopped attacking. Bai then says to Weiss "So how does it feel to be on the receiving end of domination? Nostalgic? Pathetic? Or maybe you are one of those who get a sense of pleasure from things like this."
Weiss asks Bai "Do you have any honor of being a swordsman?" Bai just says "I don't actually care about all that. I'll just do what I was made to do. Be the best."
Then Weiss said "Your fighting spirit is nowhere near Yi's. When she fought me, I could feel the effort she had put into getting where she is." To which Bai says "Yeah, I don't put that much effort into anything I do really. It helps others less fortunate to catch up, you know."
Weiss shouts "How dare you act like that when you haven't earned your way to the top?! How dare you push down others who are weaker than you?!" Bai just says "It is the way of things. If you are born weak, then sucks to be you I guess."
Weiss is about to shout more, but Xu opens his mouth first by saying "Then the last test is the damage endurance test. Weiss, please attack little Bai with all your might. Bai isn't permitted to put any enhancements on her or protect herself in any way during this test."
Bai is just chilling on her chair as she says "So that was your name. No matter, I'll probably delete it from my memory soon after this. But you heard pops. Come at me with what you have, little girl." Bai takes off her hoodie and Weiss says "Just so you know, you asked for this."
Then Weiss attacks Bai with all of her might in a downward slash. The impact could be felt by the people watching, but Bai herself was unaffected. Bai pretended to yawn and then said afterwards "That all you got, little girl?" This annoyed Weiss, who then proceeded to make multiple attacks at Bai.
After many attacks, Bai remained spotless. Weiss drops to her knees, exhausted and frustrated. Xu announces "The test is now over."
Bai sits down properly on her chair, crossing her legs and leaning her head on her hand like royalty. Then she says to Weiss "So? How does it feel? To not be able to beat me? Beat someone who was born to be better. Someone who never had the need to put down the effort. Someone who hasn't put any effort to better themselves, while you have spewed blood, sweat and tears to get where you are now. How does it feel?"
Weiss stays silent for a while. Then Bai continues "Frustration. That's how you most likely feel. The feeling of unfairness from all of this. Doubt even. "Was there ever a need for me to push myself so far when someone else doesn't have to?" and the like."
Weiss still stays silent and so Bai continues "There are two ways to deal with the feeling of seeing someone who is leagues above you. One is to give up, as you don't feel like you'll ever reach those heights. The other is to work even harder, as you want to show those arrogant assholes that it is worth putting yourself through the effort."
Weiss is surprised by the words that come from Bai's mouth, but Bai doesn't stop as she speaks "So while I sit on my throne arrogantly and lazily, go and put some effort to bring me down from that throne and prove it to me that with effort, you can put yourself on that throne."
Weiss understood what Bai said, but still she felt like Bai should act more modestly.
Meanwhile Lud and the representatives were talking. It had become apparent that the might of Elysium's army was not to be trifled with and that they should make a good connection with them. Most of the representatives weren't happy about a human being the one who ruled over this mighty force.
Li's little corner here.
As you just saw, there is a person in Elysium who has quite the character on them. Ms. Song might be a little arrogant, but it is just how she was made.
You see, as smart of a man Tod was, he had his own way of doing things. When people call you out on using cheap tactics and not putting any effort into your playstyle, it can get to a person. And so Mr. Tod went on and created a personification of someone undeserving overpowered person. And how did he make such a busted machine? Well, let's just say that after the creation of Ms. Song was done, the world-class items that Elysium had were reduced by two.
Moving past that. While you might be feeling annoyed by how Ms. Song doesn't try to better herself in any way, as you should, there is a one secret that no one but Mr. Tipten, Mr. Xu and me knows. You see, amidst all the actions that show Ms. Song's lack of effort, Ms. Song actually trains quite hard in secret.
It isn't the case that she has to change her personality in any way, but she does make sure that the facade of her not putting any effort in anything is upheld at any cost. I was once considering on bringing this fact to our lord's attention, but decided against it, as it would disregard the effort that Ms. Song puts herself through.
And I'm sure that you are wondering "How does Ms. Song fare in a fight between Ms. Livendig or Mr. Last?" Well the answer is quite simple. While Ms. Song does show her being able to put out quite a bit of damage, she is without a doubt, focused on defense. As such, while she could hold on quite long when fighting me or Ms. Livendig, she wouldn't be able to put out enough damage to outright defeat me or Ms. Livendig. I say all this, but rest assured, or not, that Ms. Song is one of the top combat units in Elysium.
To get into topic with Ms. Song's abilities a little, the technique that she did on Mr. Lenz was the same technique that Ms. Yi used on Mr. Ern during the sword tournament. The technique is called Qian Jian 2nd form. Switch. The basis of the technique is that it switches the position between the wielder and the sword. In Ms.Yi's case, she cannot use the technique that well since she is only able to use one sword according to her design. She can use two swords, but the connection that allows her to use the 2nd form cannot be made to a second sword. Mostly due to software limitations.
Meanwhile Ms. Song could send one of her swords high up in the sky using Qian Jian 1st form. Remote handling. This technique allows the user to make the sword they are using "dance" according to the wielder without actually touching the sword. The reason why Ms. Yi didn't use this technique during the tournament seems to stems from the uncertainty she had about hiding her true nature.
Also a small tidbit. Ms. Song is one of the few fingers that actually has a last name. The others being the 97th, 69th, 68th, 67th, 45th and 30th. Each has their own reason for getting a last name. And if you know a little about Chinese, you'll know what way each finger's first name is decided.