The Whetstone Fist 2

by Brian K Declan

  A split second before Val’n struck; Gwen flashed a sidelong grin then her entire body jerked backwards and into the air. Gwen continued singing as she drifted back to the ground, but all Lock could hear was a wave of amazed gasps and mixed cheers. Loudest among them was of course Claire but her cheering was short lived.

  For the first time in any of his matches Val’n fired a void bolt. The attack may not have had the size or flash of Gwen’s attacks but it flew like a hummingbird and the effect was immediate. Gwen dropped like a rock.

  Val’n wasn’t done there, he pressed his attack for a second time and that was when the fight got messy. Gwen fought through whatever pain Val’n’s void bolt caused and turned her spellrod into a shimmering sword. She was by no means a professional swordsman like Val’n, but she was proficient. Proficient was enough to fend off Val’n for a few seconds, and that was all the time she needed to escape.

  “Axios,” she growled, clearly angrier than before, “Shine bright, take Flight.”

  Ah, that’s what she was singing earlier.

  Again, Gwen shot into the air but this time a pair of shimmering wings sprang from her back causing yet another gasp of awe from the crowd. Followed quickly by a round of heckling toward Val’n. Apparently beating up the fan favorite was not doing him any favors.

  Val’n continued to keep the pressure on by firing off two more of his little purple hummingbirds but Gwen drifted away and countered them with two of her own mana bolts. For a few moments the two of them stared each other down, then in a flurry of purple and gold light they exchanged a flurry of mana bolts. The cascade of lights that followed was awesome, and it became abundantly clear that these two were a league above everyone else.

  They’d both won their matches without using a fraction of their ability. But now that all changed. Sure, Gwen threw around magic like it was nothing in all of her matches, but she was capable of so much more. She had just as much finesse as Liam, and she was able conserve mana like Val’n.

  That said, she lacked one important trait that Val’n possessed. She couldn’t control her temper. She was used to intimidating her opponents and beating them with ease. That didn’t work against Val’n. He looked as calm as ever. Almost like he was playing a game, whereas Gwen looked like she was going to lose it.

  Lock knew how she felt; his dad did it to him every single time they trained. Part of it was that his dad had decades of experience, so it truly was like a game to him. But that was only half of it; the other half was an act. He knew because he saw how sore and tired his dad was afterwards but while he was fighting, he would never show it.

  Too bad Gwen didn’t know that, and every time Val’n countered one of her attacks with his almost bored expression she got even more frustrated. After exchanging several dozen mana bolts that anger and frustration got the better of her.

  “Axios,” she shouted, then she raised her voice and started to sing, “Lend me your Light!”

  Just like earlier her spellrod took on the shape of a sword only this time the light was golden and seemed to burn with an inner flame. She flapped her glowing wings and descended on Val’n with her sword extended in front of her like a javelin.

  Her attack almost impaled him but at the last moment Val’n spun to cut off the angle and threw his spellrod up. Still Gwen’s attack hit with tremendous force and sent him soaring to the edge of the arena.

  Maybe it was just to piss her off even more or maybe Val’n had some insane combat awareness. But instead of slamming into the arena wall, he tucked into a smooth back flip and bounced off the edge of the arena. He never even lost his grip on his spellrod.

  Gwen spun in mid-air and descended on him a second time. Only this time she pulled up short and struck with an overhead slash. Val’n’s spellrod pulsed purple as he raised it to block. The result was a lot more than simply blocking Gwen’s attack. It shattered her spellrod into thousands of pieces and knocked her halfway across the arena.

  For a moment she hovered there in shock. Judging by the sudden silence in the crowd, she was not the only one in shock. The silence didn’t last long before Gwen let out a blood-curdling scream, “Bastard!” then she took a deep breath to steady her voice and began to sing, “Axios, show this insolent fool your Might, and end this fight!”

  Whatever Gwen was doing when she sang it was giving her more and more power, and this time it seemed like she went all out. Her entire body glowed, her eyes brightest of all. As bright as it was, the light was odd. It was not painful to look at like in the least. As if it was more controlled or more solidified. Lock was not the only one who noticed the difference.

  For the first time in the match Val’n dropped his cool expression. His eyes widened. His face paled. Then he went on the offensive. He didn’t make it more than three steps before Gwen flicked a mana orb at him. Even without her spellrod the attack was stunning. Val’n hopped to the right and continued rushing forward.

  Again, Gwen struck but this time with a new attack. She raised her hand and shot a beam of pure light. Val’n cut to the left then tucked into a roll and slipped under the beam by a hair’s breadth. Thankfully he did, because everywhere the light touched burst into flames. The arena wall, the ground, and the first two rows of seats were on fire.

  Shit.

  If she did that with one attack, there was no doubt that she could punch a hole in the barrier that was supposed to protect the crowd. One of those beams could kill a dozen or more people. She had to be stopped, and fast.

  Gwen raised her other hand and shot another beam. This time Val’n popped off the ground and flipped clean over the beam. His acrobatics bought him a few precious seconds to close the gap but sadly it wasn’t enough. As he got closer the time to react was too short and Gwen clipped him with her third beam. It wasn’t a full on hit but it didn’t need to be. The beam seared through the side of Val’n’s ribs and set the top half of his left arm on fire.

  The pain must have been excruciating because he collapsed to his knees and lost his spellrod. Lock stared in terror because the fight was over. Too bad Gwen didn’t seem to think so. She drifted over to Val’n, landed in front of him then reached down and lifted him up by his hair.

  “Blighted fool,” she said or at least the words came out of her mouth, but they sounded deep and visceral. Almost like a large animal.

  Val’n steadied his breathing and looked up, “Who’s the fool?”

  His defiance only pissed her off even more. She batted her golden wings and lifted him clean off the ground, “You.”

  Somehow despite hanging from his hair, with his arm on fire, and his ribs seared to the bone Val’n looked her in the eye and smiled, “Peirce the Veil.”

  What happen next happen all at once and was hard to take in. The flames went out, not just on Val’n’s arm but everywhere, the protective barrier collapsed, Tempo’s enchantment popped, and Gwen and Val’n dropped to the ground in a heap.

  After the shock of it all wore off, Lock noticed Val’n sitting in the middle of the arena cradling Gwen’s head in his lap.

  Tempo must have realized it at about the same time. He snapped his fingers to silence the crowd, “Victory goes to Val’n Dare.”

  Chapter 11:

  After the devastation from the last match it took close to an hour for them to get the arena ready for Liam and Damien’s match and the crowd was growing restless. Before the match started people were shouting for Damien to just forfeit. Not that they had to wait much longer anyway. It took a little over ten seconds for Liam to disarm, trap and force Damien to tap out.

  Damien came into the match with his usual bravado, and in the end was not able to back up any of it. Still it didn’t seem like he cared. It was almost like he was putting on a show for the crowd, but deep down he knew he wasn’t going to win. Regardless he left the arena with a smile on his perfect face and his head held high.

  “At least it was short,” said Clare, “I can’t wait to see Liam get some revenge.”

  �
��Revenge,” asked Lock.

  Clare frowned at him, “You did see how Val’n destroyed the place and beat up his girl?”

  “What I saw was Val’n stop a crazy woman from killing everyone here,” said Lock, “Or did you miss the part where that light demon thing took her over.”

  “That… that’s not what happen, she was in control,” said Clare, “Besides, it was Val’n that shattered all the enchantments.”

  “And stopped her from burning down the stadium,” said Lock, “With us in it I might add.”

  Clare stood up to look down on him but before the argument escalated Shela put herself between them, “Come on guys, leave the fighting to the fighters. Shall we?”

  “Yeah, calm down, the fights over,” said Lock but Clare was not as fast to cool her temper.

  “Fine, but he started it,” said Clare as she folded her arms and flopped into her seat with a thud.

  Then it dawned on him; watching a woman get beat up was a trigger for Clare. Add that to the fact that Gwen was a strong roll model for her.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you,” said Lock because she might be too stubborn to apologize but he was not. Plus even though they knew each other for a short time, they had already become close friends. Close friendships were best protected, or they would slip away before you knew it. Kind of like Ronnie.

  “But you have to admit,” said Shela as she nudged Clare, “It looked like your girl was pretty close to burning down the stadium.”

  Clare pushed Shela, but it was more playful than anything, “Yeah maybe.”

  “At least it was a better fight than Damien put up,” said Lock, “That was a joke.”

  Shela bobbed her head, “Same way he lost two years ago.”

  Clare chuckled, “I think Liam left him trapped like that to watch the rest of the tournament too.”

  At that they all had a good laugh and fell into much lighter conversation about all the silly fights they’d seen. The laughter made the time between matches pass much faster than normal and he was thankful for it. He had a lot riding on the outcome of this last match and anything to distract him from it was exactly what he needed.

  Before he knew it the match was starting.

  The first one to enter the arena was Liam, he was as fresh as always. If they hadn’t seen him fight his way to the finale you might think it was his first match of the day.

  Val’n on the other hand looked like he just spent the night passed out next to a campfire. He was in a new shirt and a fresh pair of pants but that did nothing to cover up the nasty burns that ran up the side of his neck and face. Nor could it hide the fact that his hair was half charred and caked with soot.

  As sore a sight as Val’n was he still entered the arena with a smooth steady gate. You might think his wounds did not bother him in the slightest, but Lock knew better. He was injured and about to fight a very capable opponent. He put on the act because he didn’t want to look weak.

  “Prince Val’n,” said Liam with a courtly bow, “I apologize on behave of my retainer. I give you my word that will not happen again, ever.”

  That was the second time someone referred to him as a prince. When Gwen said it, it seemed almost like an insult or informal title because of his Blessing. But Liam used it as a straight title. That was unexpected.

  “A kind gesture but an apology give in proxy is not an apology,” said Val’n without returning Liam’s bow.

  “All the same I apologize for my part in it. She only wished to protect me,” said Liam as he rose from his bow.

  “Protect you from an imagined threat,” answered Val’n.

  “History has a way of blinding us to the current state of the world,” said Liam.

  “Fair enough,” said Val’n with a slight dip of his head.

  “Are you fit to fight?” asked Liam.

  Val’n rolled up his sleeve and showed Liam his auraband.

  Lvl. 25 Human Male: Val’n Dare

  Exp. 8,432/21,758

  3,717/3,717 Health.

  3,221/3,221 Mana.

  2,121/2,121 Stamina.

  Liam hardly spared a glance to look at Val’n’s stats, “That’s well and good, but you know what I mean.”

  Val’n took an impatient breath, “Your people came here to see a competition not a conversation; have they not?”

  “A fair competition,” answered Liam, “Yes.”

  At that Val’n settled into a mid-high guard and channeled void mana into his spellrod.

  Instead of matching him Liam turned away from him and walked over to his family’s private box. Once there, Magister Tempo leaned down and the two shared a few words in private. After their brief conversation Liam returned to the center of the arena. Tempo hopped down from his box and followed Liam to the middle of the arena.

  After another brief exchange with Val’n, Tempo brought the stadium to silence with a snap of his fingers, “In light of recent events, there has been a request to determine the victor of this match in a less traditional format. Both parties have agreed.”

  For a few seconds Tempo let his words echo around the stadium then he dropped his serious tone for a more excited and playful one, “How would you all like to see a few rounds of mana ball?”

  The crowd burst into cheers mixed with a bit of laughter and for a good minute Tempo let the sound resonate. But when it was clear the crowd was not going to settle down any time soon, he snapped his fingers again, “The rules are simple. One point for getting a mana ball past your opponent, three points to win, and no spellwork, enchantment, or evocation.”

  As Tempo was explaining the game, a pair of students entered the arena and began casting a series of spells. One of them he recognized as the proctor Angelica from the second challenge. She dipped her finger into the sand of the arena and in matter of seconds, two posts rose out of the ground behind Val’n and Liam. She was making goal posts. The other student was a young man with wide rimmed glasses. He walked over to the posts and started waving his spellrod in the air between them as if he was writing something. As he worked a sheet of glimmering white mana filled in the air between the posts.

  That was pretty cool, and they were still students.

  Tempo waited for the students to leave the arena and Liam and Val’n to take up their positions in front of the goals, then he generated a ball of mana about the size of his head and flung it to Val’n.

  As the ball of mana drifted over to Val’n; Tempo backed up to the wall of the arena and snapped his fingers, “Val’n Dare vs Liam Santi!”

  Val’n took a step forward to line up his shot then with both hands he smashed the mana ball straight at Liam. The shot was fast, but Liam was ready; in a similar fashion to how Gwen formed mana around her spellrod to make a sword, Liam formed his into a flat paddle about six inches in width. When he deflected the mana ball, he didn’t even try to hit it straight at Val’n. Nor did he hit it particularly hard but what he achieved was far more impressive.

  Instead of flying straight the mana ball curved and forced Val’n to rush to the side in order to defend his goal. Again, Val’n got into position and smashed the mana ball with both hands, this time it flew even faster, but his aim was off. The mana ball would go wide by a good twenty feet. That is until Val’n fired off a tiny ball of mana. His aim was perfect, the two mana balls collided and sent the big one rocketing straight for Liam’s goal.

  It was a cool trick but it wasn’t enough. Liam took half a step to the side and backhanded the mana ball into the air. For a split second Val’n watched the mana ball float up then he sprinted to where it would land and leapt into the air to crush it with an overhead smash.

  Liam never let him get the opportunity. He used Val’n’s own technique and deflected the mana ball with his one of his own. Val’n twisted in midair and tried to fire off a shot to save himself from losing a point. The move must have caused him to irk his injury because as soon as Val’n touched the ground he fell to his knees and dropped his spellrod.
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br />   Val’n tried to push himself to his feet but was struck by a fit of coughing. Still coughing, Val’n felt around for his spellrod only to find Liam standing over him with the spellrod in his hand.

  “You call this fit to fight?” asked Liam as he offered Val’n his spellrod.

  As Val’n took it Liam pulled him up to his feet, “Battles don’t end just because it’s inconvenient.”

  “Incase you had not noticed, this is not a battle. It’s a game. Where is the shame in losing a game?” asked Liam.

  Val’n cracked his neck and took a step back, “I haven’t lost yet, two points to go.”

  “You’re a proud man. It’s admirable,” said Liam as he tucked his spellrod into his belt, “but stupid. I forfeit.”

  Val’n blinked, “You what?”

  Liam took a knee and bowed his head, “Congratulation’s Val’n Dare! Tournament Champion!”

  Before Val’n could say anything, Tempo echoed the words, “Victory goes to Val’n Devos Dare of the Warped Isles. Let’s hear it for our Champion!”

  There was a brief pause as Liam’s sudden forfeit settled in, but the crowd soon burst into applause. Hard to believe these same people booed and heckled him less than an hour ago.

  Now they were as happy as can be. Everyone except Lock.

  He lost. All that money was gone in the blink of an eye. All because Liam fucking Santi was too damn noble to accept an easy victory over an injured man.

  Chapter 12:

  As soon as the reality of his loss settled into his mind, Lock slid to the end of the row then he slid again to the top of the stairs. From there he triggered Flash Step and sped out of the stadium and across the yard. If the guards were more attentive, they might have seen him coming but they were half drunk and had their eyes fixed outside the gate, not inward. Still he was not taking any chances, when he got close, he slid past them.