Volume 2 Chapter 14: Preparation Before The Battle

[Author's Note: For bonus chapters, the goal every week is:

- 25 Power Stones

- 50 Power Stones]

Volume 2 Chapter 14: Preparation Before The Battle

Tria: "Now that Carmilla won't hear us discussing something she's not ready to know, we can speak freely."

Daniel: "So, your majesty, what is the reason for Carmilla and me to fight?"

Tria: "The reason why you need to battle with her is because this is a trial, Daniel. The main me set up several of these trial dungeons with varying rewards to motivate and reward future vampires who aim to complete a trial dungeon. However, there might be something causing our race to decline, as I've noticed that no one seems to be attempting to conquer this dungeon for a few years now."

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Tria paused and looked at Daniel. If something had truly endangered the entire vampire race, her main self and the Elder Council would undoubtedly revive the deceased vampires to bolster their manpower.

Tria: "Daniel, by any chance, were you revived by my main self or by the Elder Council?"

Daniel: "No, your majesty, I haven't been revived by anyone other than you, your majesty, since I chose to retire for rest."

Tria: "Sigh, I thought that you might have been revived so that I could get information from the outside world. But it's still great that you have not been revived yet, as it means that the situation outside is still under the control of my main self and the Elder Council. That they don't need to revive those who are resting in peace. And since I still exist, it means that my main self is still alive."

Daniel: "Your majesty, since you're so worried about something in the outside world, why don't I hold back and not do my best in the fight with Carmilla? That way, Carmilla can easily obtain the trial's reward, significantly shortening her growth period. This will allow her to help your main self shoulder some of her burdens."

Upon hearing Daniel's suggestion to take it easy during his fight with Carmilla, she quickly denied his proposal.

Tria: "Absolutely not, you can't go easy on her. It will only benefit her in the short run, but it might harm her in the long run if she faces a powerful opponent with the mindset of easily defeating you. Remember, we and she don't need to grow in a greenhouse, always taken care of by others. She will need to grow up and learn that she is not invincible even with her being a pure blood vampire and having the [Unique Skill] [Clone]"

Hearing the reason from Tria why he needed to take his battle with Carmilla seriously rather than letting her easily win the fight.

He learned that he would only be harming Carmilla rather than helping her.

Tria: "Do you now understand why you need to take the battle seriously?"

Daniel: "Yes your majesty, I will do my best."

Tria: "Good."

After hearing Daniel's agreement, she ended their conversation. She then canceled the wind spell she had used to block the sound of their conversations getting out.

Tria then began to approach Carmilla, with Daniel following closely one step behind her.

Tria: "Alright, we're done talking. We can now begin. I will be the referee. You two will start on different sides of the wall, and the layout of the arena will be decided by either of you. I'll leave it to the two of you to discuss on what arena to use."

After saying that, Tria took a few steps away from them. Daniel was about to let Carmilla choose the layout herself, but he remembered what Tria had said.

So Daniel faced the direction where Carmilla and her two clones were before speaking.

Daniel: "So how will we decide who gets to choose the arena's layout?"

Even though Daniel decided not to hold back, even in the picking of the arena's layout, he still let them decide how to determine who would choose the arena where they were going to fight.

Pepper: "How about a game of rock, paper, scissors, best out of 3?"

Carmilla: "Denied, too long."

Eve: "How about a coin toss?"

Daniel: "I agree with her. How about the two of you?"

Carmilla: "It's fine by me too."

After saying that, Carmilla took out one of the bronze coins she had and tossed it to Pepper, who was still dejected from being rejected.

But she still managed to catch the tossed bronze coin. Pepper looked at her hand with the bronze coin in it.

Based on the conversation, she have heard they were going to play a game of coin toss, so Pepper asked Carmilla and Daniel about their pick.

Pepper: "So, who's who?"

After hearing what Pepper said, Daniel looked at Carmilla before saying,

Daniel: "You pick first. I will choose the one you didn't pick."

Carmilla: "Alright then, if you insist, I will go with tails."

Daniel: "Then I will go with heads."

Seeing that Carmilla and Daniel had already made their choices, Pepper began to count down.

Pepper: "3, 2, 1."

Pepper tossed the bronze coin she received from Carmilla. The coin flipped several times as it rose, before reaching its maximum height.

While the bronze coin was in mid-air, it flipped several times before gravity worked its magic, causing it to flip several times more while falling.

Upon hitting the ground, the bronze coin bounced a few times, creating some Cling Clang sounds with each bounce. This created some tension, but it was only Carmilla who was feeling anxious about the coin toss result. Daniel remained very relaxed and simply waited for the outcome.

The bronze coin bounced one last time and landed on 'heads,' which meant Daniel had won the coin toss.

Seeing the bronze coin land on 'heads,' Daniel spoke.

Daniel: "I guess it's my win."

At the same time, Tria noticed that they had finished deciding who would choose the arena layout, so she began to approach them.

Tria: "So who will pick the layout of the arena?"

Carmilla: "Him."

Hearing what Carmilla said, Tria looked at Daniel.

Tria: "So, Daniel, what layout do you want to use?"

Daniel: "Your majesty, a forest layout, please."

Tria: "What about the time?"

Daniel: "Night, please."

Tria: "Okay, the layout is fine, but the condition to win can't be the default one. So, we will go with the first one to lower their enemies health to a critical level to win."

Carmilla: "Why can't we use the default one?"

Daniel: "It's because the default win condition is the first one to kill your opponents to win."

After learning that the default win condition was to kill the enemy first, Carmilla sighed in relief, as she didn't want to die just like that.

Tria: "Now that's done, we can start."

After saying that, Tria snapped her fingers. Carmilla, Eve, and Pepper were teleported to the left side of the room, while Daniel was teleported to the right side of the room.

Afterward, trees began to emerge from the ground and fill the entire room.