The Bloodforged Kin

Chapter 219 - 213: Safehold - The Vanguard Rates Their Powers

Three more times they came, and three more times Leon led the people of Safehold onto the field of battle. Each time they grew a little stronger, became a little more tactical, their victories a little less hard-won. The mood around the neighborhood had shifted and Tess was, once again and begrudgingly, thankful for Weeble's advice. Leon's hammer hadn't recharged, but it hadn't mattered. With each new team learning from the ones before them he was able to spend more time directing and commanding.

"It looks like the snowmen are getting stronger."

Tess smiled at her son's stern expression. "Yeah, Cass, I was kinda thinking the same thing. At first I chalked it up to individual performances, but you really can't deny it at this point." The truth was that Fara had pointed out the discrepancies earlier, and now Tess couldn't help but to notice it. Fara reviewed the previous fights and determined that each one had been incrementally stronger than the one before, and the gap in strength was widening. They were also getting bigger.

The Vanguard had discussed how best to deploy while giving Safehold the chance to grow their own power. That had led to a heated argument and informal power ranking that almost no one agreed on.

Ed was ranked the lowest, something he immediately agreed with. His blood magic was growing but he had yet to have any breakthroughs that would give him an advantage over creatures stronger or larger than a human. He was followed closely be Leon, then Ash's third soul, Brady. The ice mage was strong against weaker to mid-strength opponents, but lacked big finishers or extremely strong attacks that could wear them down. He also had almost no defense if anything got past his blizzard-like wall of ice and wind that worked as his shield.

The Mehta sisters were next, the twins chewing the insides of their cheeks as they glared at everyone who agreed with their position - but their protestations didn't convince anyone. Cass came next - he was fast, but he didn't hit hard enough to be considered a powerhouse. He argued the ranking, face red with shame, but couldn't convince them that the skills they'd seen so far weren't the limits of his abilities. They were strong, and his speed was a damned cheat code, but all the speed in the world didn't matter if a strong magical skill froze you in place - or the thing you were fighting was stronger than you were.

The last three groups took most of the time to hammer out, mostly because of the righteous indignation of the Toys.

"We are absolutely not in third place! No fucking way Tess!" The Mehta sisters watched Weeble's protests with a mixture of understanding and schadenfreude. They came from the Climbing circuits - the gladiatorial games that proved the strongest of the strong. The Misfit Toys had climbed to the very peak of that mountain and stood strong - often challenged, never defeated. It had to sting to get told they were in third place behind an old man and a lone woman.

Ash broke into the argument, speaking for Takeshi. "My grandfather says you're definitely behind him, and that he's behind Tess, so the transitive property says that you are in third place."

"Fuck your transitive properties! Your grandad may be strong, but he's not taking the four of us out."

"You're wrong," Tess said firmly. "I've analyzed all of your styles in great detail and I can tell you that he would absolutely destroy your team." Truthfully, Fara had been cataloging every fight, every move. Tess not only knew how skilled they were from watching them, she could feel each style and moves in her very muscles and weigh them against each other. Fara said that she was only 60% finished logging the Toys' skills and tactics, but Tess knew how to judge a fight. The Toys stood no chance against Takeshi Saito.

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"You have good tactics and you synergize your abilities well," she continued, "but it's obvious you've been honing your skills in an arena. Against most humans you guys would be unbeatable. Hell, I'd put my money on you if there were twenty people on the other side." Her compliment seemed to mollify them and she pressed on.

"That being said, you struggled with your snowman. It took you three songs." Songs had become the new measure for how quickly a monster was killed.

"We were the first ones out! We didn't know what we were facing. Everyone else got to ride our coattails and learn from everyone before them. Of course we took the longest!"

"But that one was also the weakest and smallest."

Weeble crossed his arms over his chest with enough force to rock him back in his chair. Slinky watched him do it, then did the same, intentionally toppling herself and her chair backwards. Tess sighed.

"Look," Tess said. She needed to ground them in reality. "You're strong - no doubt about that. Your team are absolute monsters, but you have to play to your strengths. I have no doubt you can take on more than what we've done, and we're all going to get a chance to prove that. But we need to know when to put different teams in, so this ranking is important - and pride is not going to get in the way of it. You want to be ranked higher? Prove it. Until then shut up and listen because this isn't some tower game, it's life and death."

"Tower. Game. Some game?" Weeble's voice was incredulous and breathless. He looked about to stand up but Rock'Em's large hand landed gently on his shoulder, holding the man in place. There was some sort of communication as Weeble struggled under the grip, but eventually it died down. "Fine," Weeble conceded. "Let's say the old man is stronger than us. I can give him that. I doubt he'd 'destroy our team,' as you so eloquently put it, but let's say he can beat us. Why does that put us in third?"

There was a deep chuckle and everyone turned to see that Takeshi was in the room with them. He looked at Weeble, his eyes twinkling. "Because, my young friend, even at my best, and with the help of Brady and my grandson, Tess would absolutely destroy me."

Weeble turned slowly back to Tess, head cocked with interest. Slinky's head slowly rose from behind him to look over his shoulder at Tess, head cocked at the same angle. "Impossible."

Tess waved him away - she didn't feel the need to get into a dick-measuring contest with insecure boys. "I don't care what you believe or don't, it doesn't matter. What matters is that I will go in last. Save me for the things that are too strong for anyone else or a combination of your teams."

"You…" Weeble's voice had reached levels of incredulity that everyone had thought was previously impossible. "You are saying that if something arrives - something so strong that we can't take it down, even together, that we're just supposed to leave it to you? You alone?"

"That's correct," Tess said without a hint of conceit. She wasn't bragging, she was speaking facts. "Fight the battles you think you can win - push yourself, but not to the point of danger that it may cost you your lives. This is a marathon, not a sprint. If there's something out there that is a danger to everyone here, I'll take care of it."

There was a long silence as everyone stared at her, mouths open.

"You're serious," Weeble said. "You really think that. You're really not bragging or hyping yourself up. Do you want to tell us where this supreme overconfidence comes from?"

"No," Tess said, "and I'm done talking about it. That's the lineup and we'll follow it. Be ready for it to change, just in case, and no one let their pride get in the way of asking for help." She moved her eyes over all of them, meeting each one in turn.

"I promised you glory, strength, and battles. I promised you that you'd have your fights - and you will. Do what you need to do - you're helping us and I want to keep up my end of the bargain, but I'm not going to have any of my people die because they're hard-headed, and that includes all of you."

"Awe! She said we're her people!" Slinky's face mask was a series of bursting hearts.

Everyone got to their feet and Weeble shook his head, chuckling. "Tess, when this is over you need to come do the Climb with us. You'd be a fucking legend."

Tess's only answer was a snort as she followed the Vanguard out to the walls.