by Jay Boyce
You have touched Aylin Narumi, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience...
Choose a stat to siphon: Strength(5), Dexterity(4), Constitution(6), Intelligence(1), Magic(3), Charisma(2), or Luck(7).
Choose a skill to siphon: Insight(A), Life Magic(I), Polearms(A), Spatial Magic(I), or Water Magic(A).
You have touched Isa Yoriko, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience...
Choose a stat to siphon: Strength(3), Dexterity(1), Constitution(5), Intelligence(4), Magic(7), Charisma(2), or Luck(6).
Choose a skill to siphon: Archery(I), Hunting(I), Medium Armor(I), Painting(I), or Polearms(I).
You have touched Yasuo Hideyoshi, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience...
Choose a stat to siphon: Strength(1), Dexterity(5), Constitution(4), Intelligence(2), Magic(3), Charisma(6), or Luck(7).
Choose a skill to siphon: Fire Magic(I), Heavy Armor(I), Metal Magic(I), Polearms(A), or Woodcraft(I).
She’d been told the Niloi specialized in water magic, polearms, and hand to hand combat. She could also guess armor was important to them, based on the chitin she’d seen them wearing. No, what surprised her was how accomplished Aylin was. She had three advanced skills, with insight making sense for a queen-turned-ambassador. The fact that she possessed life, spatial, and water magic as three of her five spoke of high skill. The fact that magic was the third highest stat for Aylin and Yasuo was nothing short of a miracle, considering that most magic users had somewhere between an eight and twelve.
Aylin’s three magics reminded her that she’d forgotten to use mana sense on this group, aside from their arrival at the gate, and as she minimized the screens for later decisions, her eyes seemed to glow slightly from within and she scanned the people around her, first making sure there were no anomalies. Satisfied that there weren’t any monsters she could obviously see, she quickly studied Aylin’s aura. Not only did she have the dark blue, violet, and orange that were the three magics she knew already, but light brown, dark brown, light blue, dark green, gray, and dark red which were death, earth, wind, nature, metal, and blood magic. If she’d gotten fire, lightning, light, and dark magic instead of life, death, and spatial, she could’ve become an elementalist. Still, it was an impressive list, and probably why she’d become queen in a meritocracy system.
“In Niloi, life is possible because of the strength of its people. The islands are a harsh mistress, but they are our home. They have made us strong, and we prove it through the trials! It is an honor to represent our people, and we extend that honor to our allies, the Caoi. Who will rise to the challenge!?” Aylin’s voice made her startle slightly as she half yelled her words to the audience. Her wind magic carried her voice to everyone as her people cheered. At the end, one man jumped down from the stands to stalk to the center of the arena.
“I, Oda Nobun, father of two, challenge Jayce Morris to the trials!” He used one meaty fist to point in the direction of the stands to her left, where she recognized many of her classmates and friends mingling with the Niloi delegation. They looked to be on friendly terms, with Angus cheerfully shoving Jayce forward when his name was called. Jayce, for his part, good naturedly accepted the shove as he moved away and jumped down into the arena, striding to meet Oda.
Curiously, Jade whispered in an aside to Victor, “Why did he announce how many children he has?”
Before Victor could open his mouth, she saw Aylin smirk wryly as she overheard Jade’s question and answered for him, “The men of Niloi take pride in the number of children they have, because it proves that not only are they strong, but they have proven themselves worthy to pass on their seed. The more children, the higher their prowess.” She was obviously watching Jade to see her reaction to her statement, and Jade couldn’t help but put a hand over her mouth as she tried to hold in her laughter and turned it into a quiet cough.
“Ahem. Thank you for explaining that, Ancestor Aylin.” She vaguely heard Jayce accepting the challenge in a loud voice, and quickly turned her attention back to him. Oda was readying his polearm, a glaive, if she remembered correctly. The blade curved straight up from the pole instead of out to the side like a typical ‘grim reaper’ scythe that she was reminded of. She’d noticed many of the Niloi held similar weapons carefully tucked around them, and realized this was the polearm of choice for them.
Meanwhile, Jayce pulled out his sword, and Jade felt a slight spike of worry for her friend. If he could get past Oda’s guard, he should be fine, but otherwise, the longer reach of the weapon might prove tricky for him.
She shouldn’t have worried. What Jayce lacked in reach with his physical weapon, he made up for in the contest of magic. Jayce and Oda both fought for control of the water in the arena, while Jayce brought the fights to areas where he could limit the maneuverability of the scythe and Oda tried to force him into the open. Both men were streaked with sweat and blood when Jayce managed to surprise him with a blast of wind, sending the man’s elbow into a wall. She could tell Oda’s funny bone was smashed when he loosened his grip on his scythe and Jayce took that moment to claim victory, his sword resting against Oda’s throat.
“I yield.” Oda’s voice was carried throughout the stadium as both men relaxed their stances, shaking forearms again before they were brought off the field and attended by healers, Jayce’s triumphant grin evident. Jade hadn’t been able to stop herself from cheering with the others when Oda yielded, happy for her friend.
With a giant grin on her face, she turned to Aylin, who was smiling too, despite her man having lost. “It was a good fight.” Jade followed her gaze to see several Niloi women surround Jayce when he returned to the stands, most of them taking opportunities to surreptitiously touch or brush against him. She had the feeling he was going to be pretty popular for being the first victor of the day.
Several hours passed in that fashion; different challengers from both Niloi and Caoi taking the initiative. She wasn’t sure if it was on purpose, but the win to loss ratio was about equal. Also, while that first fight was man vs man, just as many women from both sides participated, and it didn’t seem to matter if their opponent was male or female. She did notice that those who were more adept in magic, regardless of gender, were generally the ones who came out on top.
During that time, she surreptitiously took the time to enlarge the holding spaces of Camille, Victor, and Will’s rings, while starting fresh spaces in the rest of the royal family’s rings and returning them to their rightful owners. She’d even managed to get Ashanna and Derrick’s rings briefly when she’d visited with them. It also gave her the chance to absorb pockets of light to recharge when she was surrounded by friends. The seats moved fairly regularly, as people wanted to socialize, though she most often found herself next to Aylin.
As predicted, even Will and Victor took their turns in the arena, and Jade teased them when they got back, “Well, if it isn’t Victor the victor and Will the...willing.”
Okay, even she knew that was a stretch, and the cheerful disgust with which the guys regarded her as they shook their heads made her and Aylin grin. She’d come to like the ambassador over the last two hours as they discussed the merits of the competitors and tried to guess who would win. The analysis from a combat veteran was genuinely insightful, and Jade grinned at the shocked whispers that pervaded the stadium when first Victor, then Will, seemingly pulled weapons out of thin air to use.
“So, are you going to challenge anyone?” Victor asked curiously a bit later, and she could tell the competition was nearing its end, since her stomach was grumbling a bit. She’d resorted to sneaking bites of food when she didn’t think anyone was paying attention. Unfortunately, that meant Victor didn’t realize that he’d asked her a question right after she’d shoved something into her mouth. She stared at him wide eyed for a moment, trying to surreptitiously chew while pretending she wasn’t doing anything.
Holding her hand to her mouth, she coughed, shoving a half masticated piece of jerky back in
to her ring as she coughed again for good measure, then dropped her hand and stuck her tongue out at him. He was grinning mercilessly, aware that he’d caught her sneaking food. “Nope.”
She was going to leave it at that, but Aylin asked curiously beside her, “Why not?”
Jade gestured around her, “Well, are you planning on challenging anyone?” When Aylin shook her head, Jade smirked wryly. “It’s the same principle. I have enough raw power that I could overwhelm anyone of the same generation pretty easily. Where’s the sport in that?”
Aylin looked thoughtfully at her, absently spinning one of her bracelets as she responded, “You have that much confidence in your magic?”
Shrugging a little helplessly, Jade nodded. “I may not have the most finesse at times, so I’m a little afraid that I’d seriously hurt someone if I tried to spar like this.” She was reluctant to mention that as her highest stat, her magic was already over thirty points and everything else was rapidly approaching that point. She was about to say more when the next competitor’s voice rang out across the stadium.
“I, Jorgen Ganiot, father of eleven, challenge the traveler Jade to the trials!”
Chapter Forty-Three – Challenge
Silence fell over the arena as all eyes swiveled from the man on the floor to Jade. She felt her cheeks turning slightly red from embarrassment. She’d been trying to explain why competing was a bad idea when she was challenged. Not to mention… “I’m sorry, but did he just say he has eleven children?” She hadn’t even realized she’d said it aloud when she heard muffled snickers from her right. The person with the most children so far had been five, and she’d thought even that was a bit ridiculous. These people were only in their early twenties! How in the heavens did they already have that many kids?
Of course, she knew how it was possible, but it was baffling to her. They were just babies, and they were having babies, and they weren’t even together. What kind of socialist support system was there in place for this to be a thing? Also, what kind of guy decided he wanted to be the father to eleven children? He was good looking enough, but really, didn’t they worry at all about STDs?
“Uh, Jade, everyone’s waiting for you to respond.” Victor’s quiet mutter was barely loud enough for her to pick up on it, which meant that no one else would hear it. Thankfully, he knew that she essentially had super hearing, so he could take advantage of that fact.
Glancing to her left at the former queen, she asked Aylin in an undertone, “Any advice on what to do? I literally just told you this wasn’t a good idea…”
Aylin smiled and shrugged almost imperceptibly as she spoke out of the corner of her mouth, “I think it’s a marvelous idea. Go knock him down a notch.” It would have been hard to tell if she hadn’t been studying Aylin, but she realized the woman held some sort of grudge, whether large or small, against the man challenging her. Perhaps it had something to do with the number of kids he boasted.
Shaking her head a little helplessly, she stood up, looking out at the arena. While most people walked down to the edge of the arena and used the stairs, she decided to use her entrance to make a point that this was a bit of a futile effort.
Lowering her gravity to almost zero, she strode right off of the nearest ledge. Instead of her normal wind bubble, she created a wind wall, or rather, wind floor. To the naked eye, it would simply look like she was walking on thin air. Gasps and murmurs spread throughout the stadium as people watched her approach Jorgen from above. She angled her invisible ramp so that she gradually reached the arena floor about five feet in front of him.
She took the time during her approach to study the man in front of her. He reminded her a bit of Robert Downey Jr. Dark brown hair suavely styled, piercing brown eyes, well manicured facial hair, all on a body that could have been carved from granite, as shown by the closely fitted chitin armor. If it was made out of red bugs instead of green, she’d have said it reminded her of the iron suit. Granted, it covered far less than that suit, since it left the arms, head, and legs below the thigh uncovered.
“Are you sure you want to challenge me?” Jade’s voice was quiet, but in the silence that descended on the stadium when her foot touched the ground, it was still clearly heard.
Puffing out his chest, Jorgen gave her a cocky smirk. “Of course! Who better to challenge the traveler than one of the greatest warriors of our people?”
She studied him, seeing the arrogance in his eyes. He literally believed he would be a challenge to her. To her mana sight, he glowed with the blues of wind and water, the yellow of lightning, the red of fire, the pink of contractual, and untapped blood potential. “Very well. I, Jade Winward, accept your challenge. You may try and begin whenever you’re ready.”
His hand clenched on his glaive, but she crossed her arms, staring at him. Her eyes seemed to take on a slight glow as he attempted to move forward, only to realize that he couldn’t. His eyes widened as he smashed face first into the wind box she’d erected around him. She’d given him enough room that he could even swing his polearm around, which he did, trying to break through. When he realized he couldn’t puncture it, he switched to trying to use his own wind magic.
“Having problems?” Her voice was quiet and only slightly mocking as she raised a brow. She was close enough that every time he tried to connect his mana with the wind, she saw the strings coming from him and cut them off.
Anger in his eyes now that everyone was watching him struggle, he scoffed. “A mere parlor trick. Why don’t you fight me? Or shall I wait for your magic to run out?”
She sighed. “Well, that would honestly take hours, and I could recharge. You do realize I could have killed you at any point, right? Just because I’m not attacking doesn’t mean I can’t. You should surrender and spare yourself further humiliation.”
“I do not surrender! Fight me!” he practically growled his answer, glaring at her from the other side of the wind wall.
Sighing, she dropped the wind wall and tilted her head. “Fine, you’re free. Hit me if you can.” He seemed to realize that she’d dropped the wall at that moment, and he immediately lunged forward with a guttural growl. She raised a brow, seeing that he straight up tried to impale her. She watched it coming for her as she gave herself a personal speed buff. At the very last second, she stepped to the side, her arm snapping down as she grabbed the glaive with a single hand and yanked.
It was obvious Jorgen expected her to dodge, and was moving in anticipation of that. It was also obviously outside his predictions that she would grab his weapon. The pure shock on his face came when he realized that the glaive was ripped from his grip by pure strength. She used the momentum of stepping aside to turn as he was pulled past her, then she followed through her spin to swing the unbladed end of his glaive like a baseball bat, smashing his upper shoulders.
To add insult to injury, she’d seized control of his blood so that he couldn’t catch himself, sending him sprawling face first into the dirt, where he couldn’t move because she was still in charge. She dropped the glaive down next to him with distaste, making a small gesture that caused his armored body to jerk up, forcing him to kneel in the dirt before her. She walked to stand in front of him, and she studied the wide-eyed panic on his face at the realization that he couldn’t move.
Tapping her cheek, she shook her head as she spoke, “In the future, it’s best to know your limits. I don’t enjoy fighting. It’s something I do to protect the people I care about. However, you should have known that just because I don’t enjoy it, it doesn’t mean I’m on the same level as you. The entire city knows that I walked into a mesmer nest alone and survived. You aren’t even minutely comparable to that. Now yield so I can go back to my seat.” She really wanted to eat something.
His jaws clenched in anger and then defeat, and finally he grunted, “I yield.”
Nodding, she released him, causing his body to slump a bit before he caught himself while she turned and walked away without a backward glance. The stadium w
as silent for a moment before it burst into cheers, the most common of which seemed to be the chant of “Lady Jade! Lady Jade!” as if they were rooting for her. She shook her head ruefully, smiling at the people as she climbed up the stairs.
Those on the stairway bowed respectfully to her as she passed, and she reached out, patting the heads of any children along the way. It startled the first few, but then they grinned up at her eagerly as they passed. Some of them pushed forward to set themselves in her path as they realized what she was doing. There weren’t many kids at a gathering like this, but she was sure she’d seen most of the ones who were. One of the last ones held her hands out in front of her, where Lavender was perched and preening.
Stooping down, she crouched at the little girl’s level as she patted her head and asked, “This is Lavender. Isn’t she pretty?” The little girl nodded so solemnly, her eyes shining brightly with eagerness, but her words seemed stuck in her throat. “What’s your name, little one?” Jade prompted gently.
“Piper.” She finally managed to get the word out, seeming so starstruck that Jade giggled, which seemed to increase her awe.
“Well, Piper, you must be pretty special for Lavender to choose to play with you out of everyone here. Thanks for watching over her.” She knew that Lavender had settled with this girl for most of the arena duels because of the images Lavender was sending her of being entertained by the little girl. With a thought, some stone, dirt, and a seed appeared in her hands, much to the awe and a few gasps of the people around her.
Ignoring the gazes, she grew a miniature cherry tree bonsai so that the little girl could carry it comfortably. However, instead of pink blooming flowers, she tweaked the formula again, making them purple edged in silver by sheer willpower in order to match Lavender’s coloring. The flowers sparkled in the sunshine, and Lavender flew up to land in the tiny tree with delight while Jade placed it in Piper’s empty hands.