“It’s only the main arena being used today, right?” Daciana asked.
“For the fights, yes. The other arenas have displays and challenges going on,” Yukiko replied, passing her Magi Squares to Gregory. “We’ll be there to cheer for you three, just as we know you’ll be cheering for us.”
The novices smiled and got to work.
~*~*~
They came around a curve in the path to find a scene playing out before them— Hayworth and Nick were barely a foot apart, both glaring at the other. Their clan members were spread out behind each apprentice, as if waiting for the fight to start. The air was tight with tension. The only thing stopping them from coming to blows were the five men in uniform watching from a dozen feet away, their hands on their weapons.
“If you two are done, stand down,” Sergeant Willof said firmly. “The fights will be posted shortly. You might get to settle this today, or you might have to wait until tomorrow.”
“His clan would melt before us,” Nick sneered.
Hayworth snorted and stepped back. “Sergeant, Swift Wind apologizes for causing your men distress. Unlike other clans, we understand that we all serve the empire.”
“Yeah, of course,” Nick laughed.
“Is there a problem here?” The voice was conversational, but a sudden pressure touched all of them.
“No, Grandmaster,” Nick said, backing up. “Just a discussion while we wait.”
“Hmm. Sergeant?” Grandmaster Pan asked Willof.
“Swift Wind and Eternal Flame were having an argument over who would win in a fight, sir,” Willof replied. “They didn’t come to blows, but that was only because we were here, I believe.”
“Then we are fortunate that you were,” Pan nodded. “I have come to post the fights for today.” Pan went over to the bulletin board. “Sixteen clans will fight in single-elimination fights. These are the brackets and will continue on through tomorrow, so you’ll have a good idea who you will face both days, if you make it past today.”
“We’ll make it past today,” Nick said.
“The Eternal Flame is known for being in the final four,” Pan said evenly. “I should also note that the guards will be out in force today and tomorrow. The council will not tolerate any ‘accidents’ this year.”
Nick’s jaw tightened. He started to speak, but Jason clamped a hand on his shoulder, so Nick stayed silent.
Jason cleared his throat. “We appreciate that, Grandmaster. Some of the other clans might try to thin our numbers to have a chance otherwise.”
“Of course. I’m sure they were just lining up to try.” The sarcasm was thick in Pan’s voice. “Now, I’ll post these and you can be on your way to prepare.”
The instant the papers were on the board, the seventh bell began to chime and Grandmaster Pan was gone— a gust of wind was born and died in the same instant. Some of the smaller clans were close to the bulletin board, so they checked first.
One by one, the groups dispersed after seeing if they were in or out. As the crowd thinned, Nick moved to the front before laughing and leading his group away, sneering at Gregory the entire time.
“Well, that means either you face him today or you’ll see him only in the finals,” Hayworth said. “I wonder which it’ll be.”
“Find out after you,” Gregory said, motioning to the board.
“Very well.” Hayworth led his clan to the board to check. “You’ll see him in the finals, if you make it there.”
“That good?” Gregory asked, moving forward.
“You’ll see us tomorrow, as well,” Hayworth said.
Getting up to the board, he looked over the brackets and sighed. “That’s almost as rigged as it could be.”
“Indeed,” Hayworth said. “I wonder how much it cost them?”
“It’s stupid,” Gregory said, “but hard paths make the best magi.”
Hayworth laughed. “Well then, we must be the best clans in the academy this year. Good luck.”
“You, too. See you tomorrow.”
“Aether willing,” Hayworth nodded. As he started to lead his clan away, Hayworth paused next to Willof. “Sergeant, thank you for being here. I was a hair away from putting that imbecile in his place, which would have started a conflict that should be kept to the arenas.”
Willof drew himself up straighter. “Just doing our job, sir.”
“I will inform my clan head,” Hayworth nodded.
Gregory was again surprised at Hayworth’s attitude. He’s so different from how I first thought of him. With him caring so much for the empire, I’m shocked he isn’t in the Iron Hand, though.
“They really did stack this deck,” Jenn snorted once she’d seen match-ups. “Han first, and then the Iron Hand or Winter Steel just to reach tomorrow.”
“While Hayworth gets Eternal Blossoms and either Yamato Shipping or Cherry Blooms,” Yukiko said. “This entire bracket has all the major clans, minus the Eternal Flame.”
“Hard paths,” Gregory said. “It never feels as hard as it should, though.” He gave his wives soft smiles. “Maybe it’s because of those around me?”
“You are sweet, dear one,” Yukiko smiled back. “Let’s go win so we can dismantle Nick tomorrow.”
“‘Dismantle’ is the least we should do,” Jenn snorted.
Gregory gave Willof a nod as they passed him. The sergeant bowed his head in return.
As they left, Willof looked at his men. “Back to patrol, men. You have your orders.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied, saluting him and going off in different directions.
Willof walked down the path to the main arena. Gregory, Yukiko, and Jenn were just in view as he followed them.
~*~*~
Gregory looked at the four apprentices from the Han clan as they approached from the far tunnel. He knew two of them were crafters— they’d been in the polearm group. The other two he only knew from seeing them fight, remembering that one was a physical enhancement magi and the other a wind magi. None of them showed signs of any wounds from their fight with the Eternal Flame the day before. The wind magi was standing at the forefront of the group, his face grim.
“Pettit, we’d hoped you were going to join our clan,” the wind magi said when they got into speaking distance. “If you had, we would have won this tournament easily, as we’re sure Warlin would have joined with you, at the very least.”
“The Han clan was in our top three,” Gregory told him, “but the freedom offered by our clan was the tipping point.”
“We’d like our crafters to not get maimed,” the apprentice continued. “They’ll be using just weapons. We ask you to keep that in mind, please.”
“Enough,” Yunlo said sternly. “The rules remain the same. Bow to the boxes.”
Gregory glanced at Yukiko and adjusted his grip on the practice naginata. She nodded in response, so he looked at Jenn. “Nessa,” was all he said, and Jenn nodded.
Yunlo gave them a curious look as he raised his hand, but didn’t rebuke them.
“We’ll treat them kindly,” Gregory whispered to the wind magi.
“Thank you,” the magi replied tightly, his brow furrowed as he stared at Gregory.
Gregory was able to trigger foresight just before Yunlo’s arm came down and commanded them to fight. Inhaling sharply, Gregory pivoted and shifted. To the crowd, it looked like he burst into a spontaneous dance. The only hint that it wasn’t a dance were the trails of sand being kicked up by the wind blades flying at him from all directions.
While the wind magi tried to hit him, Jenn rushed at the wind magi, but was intercepted by the physical enhancement magi. The clash between them was cheered by the crowd, happy that the first match today was exciting.
With the other two occupied, Yukiko stepped back into the shadows next to the wall and vanished. The two crafters were back-to-back against the far wall, trying to stop her from getting to them and watching their clanmates so they could shout a warning if needed. They found Yukiko right
on top of them as she came up between them and the wall, forcing her way into the space. With a startled cry, they spun to stab her with their spears, but she wasn’t there anymore. They both spun around again and lashed out behind them, only hitting air, as Yukiko had merely folded into the shadow for a moment before stepping back out. Her wakizashi lashed out twice in rapid succession, catching one in the back of their neck and the other in the throat when he pivoted back toward her.
Gregory was closing the distance to the wind magi even as he backpedaled, eyes wide as he threw more and more wind blades. Panicking, he looked behind him to see Yukiko standing over his two allies, and looking to the side, he saw Jenn driving his last ally back. Taking a deep breath, he spun away from Gregory and flung wind blades at Jenn.
“Jenn, back!” Gregory shouted a second before the wind magi started throwing them at her.
Jenn didn’t hesitate and immediately threw herself backward. A barrage of wind blades flew through the space where she’d just been, almost catching her opponent who’d turned to chase her.
Yukiko was already stepping into the shadows, having seen the panic on the man’s face. She came up behind the wind magi as he spun back to Gregory and used her blade to make a line across his neck. “Dead,” she said softly.
Gregory pivoted and rushed for the last magi, having seen Yukiko go to kill the wind magi. Jenn also reversed course, rushing back to help.
Seeing Gregory and Jenn both coming for him, the man hissed and raised his arm. “Out!”
“Break!” Yunlo shouted.
Gregory and Jenn slowed, then headed toward the middle of the arena.
Klim was right near the two crafters, allowing her to check them quickly. She found neither of them were injured besides light bruising. Mindie came jogging out of the far tunnel and went to check on the wind magi, but he waved her off. She shrugged and went back inside the tunnel.
“Light bruises only,” Yukiko told the wind magi. “For asking us to be nice to your crafters, you tried to seriously injure my husband.”
“For all the good it did...” the man said tightly. “If I had done less, how much quicker would we have lost?”
“That’s a fair point,” Yukiko said.
“You did the best you could,” Gregory said, extending a hand to him. “That was taxing. A single misstep, and I would be bleeding.”
Exhaling, the wind magi shook hands with him. “Your foresight is ridiculous... Good luck with the rest of your fights.”
“Thank you,” Gregory said.
The three of them formed up and bowed to the fallen, the adjudicator, and finally, the boxes. With that done, they walked off the arena floor.
Chapter Seventy-one
They sat in the stands, watching the other fights. The Eternal Flame tore through the two-man team from the Windswept Water clan, using the same tactic for nearly every fight— Parks would hem them in with barriers, Nick would throw fire at them, and Jason would run right after the fire barrage to finish off anyone who didn’t quit by the time he got there.
“Parks and Nick by themselves would be trouble, but add in Jason and it’ll be rough. That’s not even including the others,” Jenn said.
“I have an idea for how to deal with them, but we’ll discuss it when there aren’t other people nearby,” Gregory said.
“A good idea,” Yukiko nodded.
Hayworth and his clan were next, fighting against the Eternal Blossoms clan. It was another lopsided fight with Swift Wind having seven apprentices and the Eternal Blossoms only having four. The Eternal Blossoms had their four magi split evenly between earth and water.
When the fight began, the physical enhancement magi on Hayworth’s team went rushing forward only to drop into a pit. He tried to spring out of it, but a roof formed over the top.
Yunlo made them stop and went forward to investigate the trap. After a moment, he made a motion and the apprentice who had fallen in was beside him. They had a brief discussion before the apprentice stood rigid, bowed curtly, and walked off the field.
Hayworth looked upset but bowed to Yunlo. He eyed the four magi across from him with respect, though it was clear he was going to make them pay. The moment Yunlo let the fight resume, Hayworth stepped sideways and tore a hole in space. Three of his clan members fired crossbows into the hole at almost the same instant it formed. The padded bolts appeared above the other clan and struck before they could react.
Panting, Hayworth dropped to a knee. The three magi who had been hit raised their hands and walked off the field. The remaining fighter shrugged and raised their hand.
Yunlo called the bout and declared Swift Wind the winner.
“Well, that will be something to worry about,” Jenn said. “It looked like it taxed him heavily.”
“No,” Yukiko said. “Look at him walk.”
Gregory and Jenn watched Hayworth as he left the field.
“His stride is even and smooth,” Yukiko said. “He was faking it. It should have taxed him, but he likely had an item to store aether and used it instead.”
The Eternal Flame destroyed their opponents in their second fight, securing their place in tomorrow’s semi-finals. When Swift Wind fought again, they were surprised that the physical enhancement magi wasn’t with them.
“Hmm... Yunlo must have declared him unrecoverable,” Bishop said. “Rare, but it’s still a valid rule.”
“He’s out for the rest of the tournament?” Jenn asked.
“Yes. Undoubtedly, they would rather have gotten Hayworth, but they had to neutralize the advancing threat.”
“Well, tomorrow will be a little easier, then,” Jenn said.
“And easier for the Eternal Flame if Swift Wind bests you,” Dia said.
“True, but we won’t lose,” Gregory said. “We need to get down to the waiting area.”
“Fight well,” Dia said.
“They’re friendly to the clan, but don’t hold back,” Bishop added.
“We won’t,” Gregory replied.
The fight between Swift Wind and Yamato Shipping was starting, but they would be fighting after them and had to prepare. As it was, they knew they would be facing the Iron Hand, or what was left of them. The Iron Hand’s fight against Winter Steel had been brutal, but in the end, they won. They were unsure how many of the apprentices had been healed enough to fight them.
They placed their bags into cubbies and grabbed their weapons before heading up to the tunnel to see how the fight was going.
The match started as six-on-four, but now it was down to Hayworth against a single physical enhancement magi. The woman fighting for Yamato wore padded gauntlets, clearly designed to soften the impact of her blows. It was clear that her weapons would have been metal gauntlets if not for the tournament.
Hayworth backed away. The fatigue was clear in his stance, but he wasn’t going to give up. He thrust forward and the spatial tear he’d created took half of his blade. His opponent dove forward, letting his attack go over her as she closed the distance.
“Hayworth might lose,” Jenn said, clearly surprised.
Gregory pulled up aether sight. “No.” He dropped the ability and shook his head. “I’m sure this is an advanced technique.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Hayworth again tore a spatial rip for his blade. The woman went to take another step to roll, but jerked sideways as Hayworth’s blade passed briefly into the air above her. The tip burst out of the ground where her neck would have been if she had continued her roll. As she tried to push herself up, she was suddenly slammed into the ground when Hayworth appeared on her back, his blade jammed against her neck.
“Break!” Yunlo yelled.
Hayworth got off her and his legs wobbled. Yanking his helmet off, he inclined his head to his opponent as she rose to her feet. She took her own helmet off and bowed slightly to him.
“Let’s go back down and wait,” Gregory said. “We already know who we’ll face tomorrow if we win.”
Five minutes
later, the Yamato clan came into the room. Two of them were limping, helping the other walk. Their leader, the woman Hayworth had fought until the end, looked thoughtful as she trailed them.
“Good fight. You almost had him,” Gregory said.
Looking up, she shook her head. “We only had a chance because they were down one, not that we’d have done much better against you three.”
“You’re being too hard on yourself, Endo,” Jenn said. “You’re a good fighter and have excellent control of your aether.”
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