She gritted her blood-coated teeth and retaliated. Her guillotine went fast and straight, head-on into Sigler’s shield, which he still held before him. She wanted nothing more than to show him that he was in for a real fight, and she succeeded as he skidded back almost a half-meter from the force of the blow.
She studied the shield more carefully now. It reminded Karza of a giant, staring eye; a great bowled circle with a horizontal line through its middle that drew the circle to sharp points on either side. A smaller, raised circle in the center was ringed with six strangely faceted rivets and Karza began to understand Sigler’s erratic movement, which in fact wasn’t erratic at all.
It was the sudden recollection of a toy from her childhood, a doll covered with a lenticular print that made it appear to move depending on the viewing angle, which enabled her to see through Sigler’s trick. She had hated the doll, mostly for its inescapable eyes, but also because it was never as soft or warm or alive as it appeared to be. The timing of this recollection might be the source of inexhaustible research for F-Gene scholars, but Karza didn’t care about anything so dry and academic. She knew the nature of his trick just as she knew that things under water were not exactly where they appeared to be because of refraction. As he moved and the rivets caught the shifting light, Sigler would appear to endlessly flicker in a kaleidoscopic illusion, never truly where he seemed to be. Karza estimated that this put Sigler as far as two meters away from where he really was, but because she could not anticipate how light would fall on the rivets, it would be almost impossible to detect real changes in his lateral movement before it was too late. She would have to find a way to disable the optical effect.
While considering this, she was surprised by the sound of metal scraping against metal and was nearly shocked to see Sigler sliding the two halves of his shield apart along the horizontal line. On either arm was one half of the shield; the curve of the right half facing down, that of the left facing up, and each half terminating into a vicious point. Now the two shields resembled the petals for which they were named and Karza had an idea she was about to see them dance.
But she knew something about dance herself. Though Sigler was fast and the two sets of three rivets wrought twice the havoc with tracking his movements, Karza sent her guillotine after him. The square blade flew and followed its quarry doggedly while the chain twisted into patterns, creating a web of interference that would make Sigler’s forward movement impossible to hide. Karza was relentless, urging her blade always forward through her deft control of the chain and finally she caught up with Sigler who parried easily with his shields and instantly changed tactics.
Now Sigler rushed towards her, first like a ghost seeming to phase through the network of chain, then striking at the length of the chain at intervals to disrupt her control as he approached ever closer. Once close enough, Sigler pushed mightily off the ring floor and in midair recombined his shield into one unit, gathered his body up behind it, and laid into Karza like a great cannonball. This knocked her sprawling. Immediately after impact, the shield was in halves again and Sigler was about to carve her into pieces when he was struck from behind.
One corner of the thick square top of Karza’s guillotine pierced his lower back, tearing a ragged line through his skin from back to belly, and jarring him forward, off balance. Karza threw loops of chain around him, successfully pinning his shielded arms, but she couldn’t hold him indefinitely. Sigler laughed and started to force his way out of her grip, but she did something unexpected. Loosening her hold on one end of the chain, she drew the other with a sudden, explosive jerk. After repeating the action on the opposite side, she let her chain fall slack, collected it, and leapt back. Sigler was still laughing in spite of the red welts rising on his back, but as the chain fell away, a cloud of gold fragments sparkled in the air and he realized what she had done. Using the links of her chain as teeth, she had filed away the six rivets that had provided his advantage.
That she had both discovered and destroyed the source of his refraction tactic preoccupied Sigler enough to allow Karza the initiative. Sigler brought his shields up just in time to block a persistent series of sonorous strikes. She sent alternating high right and low left strikes that forced Sigler to make great sweeping arcs, blocking along the flat edges of his shields to avoid being split. Also, Karza had stepped up her methods. Her speed was phenomenal and her strength, at least with the guillotine, was as well. She no longer kept the blade on a permanent long leash, but sent and recalled it with such power and efficiency that the rate of her attacks had actually increased. Of course throwing the blade itself each time increased the force of the blows as well and Sigler was hard pressed to maintain his defense. And then he got a break.
Karza reined in her weapon and leapt back a safe distance where she stopped and attempted to catch her breath. Sigler charged at her and as he reached the optimal distance, he launched himself forward, combining his shield before him. Once again, like a cannonball he shot at her.
But Karza wasn’t winded, and Sigler was moving unavoidably into her trap. All the sweeping blocks Sigler had been forced to make had one purpose and that was to weaken the shield’s joint. So when she threw her guillotine with all her strength and long-practiced skill, the edge of her blade, in perfect alignment with the shield’s bisecting seam, cleaved its way through. And further, between Sigler’s sandwiched arms it went, stopped only by Karza’s amazing control one centimeter into the flesh of his prodigious chest.
Sigler listed and careened to the ring floor, crying out more in surprise than agony as blood splashed out from the long shallow cut. With a flick of her wrist, Karza sent a wave through her chain that snapped against Sigler’s forehead, knocking him out cold and bringing silence to the ring.
Karza stepped down from the ring and she flushed bright red in response to Jav’s acknowledging smile. Both of them would have to wait for the rest of the second round matches to finish before they would need to attend the closing ceremonies so Jav dragged Karza over to Ring Seven and they watched the remainder of Ren Fauer’s fight.
Block 2, Ring 7
Rook Tanser: Darkness Piercing Spear Hand
VS
Ren Fauer: 10,000 Paths
This fight was already well under way, and both fighters were marked. Jav was enthralled, though, when he saw Ren move. From any point on his body, he appeared to be able to move a hundred and eighty degrees as if there were a hinge at a chosen point. In this manner he was now dominating the fight. Tanser looked tired, but his hands, sheathed in white light, darted incessantly for their target. Each time they threatened to strike, though, they settled only on empty air, sometimes centimeters away from Ren, sometimes as much as a meter.
Ren’s face was fierce with determination, and, while Tanser had not laid a hand on him since Jav started watching, Ren was landing blows after each successful dodge. His sudden and abrupt shift in position resulted in a series of ticking strikes that were beginning to really take their toll on Tanser. Tanser couldn’t regain his balance as easily anymore, and whatever initial advantage he’d had to make the fight last this long was now gone.
Deciding the conditions favorable, Ren prepared to end the fight. He retreated a bit then hurled himself at Tanser. Jav was sure that Ren’s advance was not propelled by his powerful leap alone. Kimbal Furst’s student literally flew as he approached his opponent, his speed increasing along a fixed trajectory. Tanser had time to prepare, however, and it seemed impossible for Ren to avoid at least one shooting spear hand. But just as Tanser’s fingers were about to pierce him, Ren flipped a hundred and eighty degrees along his right vertical axis. His momentum was completely unaltered, but now his back was to Tanser and he was one body width away from the spear hand. A vicious elbow caught Tanser in the face, but Ren was only beginning.
This was the Crush Driver of the Ten Thousand Paths. Jav had heard about it from the girls and now he was seeing it. Flipping a hundred and eighty degrees from various axes, alwa
ys around his target, Ren proceeded to beat Tanser unconscious. It was like watching one man being beaten down by a mob, but the mob, too, was only one man.
Tanser collapsed and the bell sounded.
• • •
The sixteen finalists were assembled and announced with all appropriate fanfare to the roaring affirmation of the spectators. Unfortunately, Mei was not among them. She had lost her second round to none other than Gast Froster.
Minister of Affairs Witchlan, as the master of ceremonies, quieted the crowd for some words from the Emperor.
“Congratulations. You sixteen will proceed to the next level of competition and reach new heights in martial understanding. You sixteen are special, the concrete, tested, and living future of this Empire. You will have any and all resources made available to you to facilitate your growth and training. Teachers! To these sixteen, you are formally ordered to reveal all of your knowledge and secret arts to the extent that they may be learned within the next two years. Any hesitation to do so will be looked on with suspicion if not viewed as outright treason. These are your students; you have brought them this far and they have proved through combat their readiness to receive such teachings. Lead them further into this next and most important phase and bring the future to us. That is all.”
Witchlan spread his robe in a flourish and commanded everyone’s attention. “And now, a glimpse of the future to come. Behold!” He waved a dark, sinewy arm to a vast holographic screen.
“Block One competitors, one of you will earn the Titan Star, refined from the Titanium Blossom.”
Upon the screen, a silver, five-petaled, star-shaped flower plucked from a gnarled brown stalk began to rotate and take on a seamless and more angular form. The rotation stopped, the Titan Star shrunk, and moved over an androgynous outline of a body where it fixed itself to the left breast. From the back of the Star, silvery tendrils emerged and established roots throughout the body model. Now a series of changes flashed on the screen, all possible evolutions of the Titan Star merged with its wielder, and all of them silvery, metallic configurations, conveying unimaginable power.
“The Titan Star is one of the strongest Artifacts produced in recent times. Its offensive and defensive powers are its main features.”
Witchlan let the series of images run out and when the screen went black he started again. “Block Two competitors, one of you will come away with the Kaiser Bones.”
An image of a woody box at the end of a thick and twisted stem now appeared on the screen. As the box opened, Witchlan continued, “The seeds of the Coffin Fruit form the mysterious Kaiser Bones, whose powers are varied and subtler than those of the Titan Star.”
From the box, ivory shapes rose up to attach themselves to a body model. They were bones, and once they clothed the figure, it too went through a series of possibilities, all of them characterized by some skeleton motif.
“You sixteen, upon the close of the final competition, will each and all enter into high-ranking positions within the Empire, but only two of you will manage to become Shades, the undying and elite leaders of Viscain. Train hard and good luck to you all.”
• • •
Over the next few days, a lavish celebration was held in honor of the finalists at the Root Palace. They were treated to the best food and entertainments available. Many retired Shades had come to share their past experiences and to welcome a new generation into a higher echelon.
Jav enjoyed the food and found some of the Shades fascinating, especially the reticent and enigmatic Wil Parish who was reputed to be one of the First, but he found himself growing a bit homesick. Actually, when he really thought about it, he just missed Mai. Since arriving at the villa three years ago, he had been in fairly constant contact with all of the girls, but mostly—and especially—with Mai. He wanted to thank her and show her that all their work together had paid off. What he couldn’t understand was why he felt so increasingly agitated about it. But then again, maybe he could.
Except for the permanent blemish of Mei’s personality, all of the girls were very pretty. But Jav had never been interested in them. For a long time when he looked at any of them, Mai included, all he felt was some inexplicable sense of loss. Their teacher had been the only one to produce in him any other kind of response, and that, beyond his overriding respect for her, was purely and inescapably physical. Luckily his feelings corresponded in large part with Hol’s strict moral policy. But working so closely with Mai for so long, that sense of loss had diminished and he couldn’t help but appreciate her—for her patience and friendship, for her skill and grace, for the beautiful line of her body and the way she moved, for the bounce of her hair and the spark in her eyes, the sound of her voice, the set of her lips. . . There was no question, he had begun to care for her.
Care?
Now that he was thinking about it, it was clear to him how much he looked forward to seeing her every day, how much he looked forward to simply being in her presence. He grinned foolishly, beginning to understand why he couldn’t get her out of his head. It took being away from her to realize just how much she meant to him. What a cliché, he thought.
He could remember, too, on two occasions she had been his lover. That was the impression, though of course it must have been that she reminded him of some lover otherwise unremembered. For the first time, he considered the full implications of such half-memories and felt a profound sadness. He felt awful that he could do such a terrible disservice to someone who must have been so important to him, who somehow peeked from the past through the impenetrable curtain of forgetfulness. He might remember some day—he hoped he would—but Mai was real now and he would no longer ignore the connection he felt with her.
He didn’t know what he was going to do or how things would develop, but on acknowledging his feelings, he found himself both anxious and strangely calm and, above all, unreasonably agreeable. He guessed that it had been some time since he had last been in love.
10686.051
VEAD Official Notice
From: Silowan Haspel, Director, Astrophysics Division
RE: 3rd Update on Spatial Anomaly Distribution
As per the well-established trend, the number of known spatial anomalies has continued to decrease. The current count stands at 1,063, which means the closure rate over the last year has nearly doubled. Please refer to our daily record for up-to-date figures as those figures are constantly changing.
Though drift appears to have ceased except in some troublesome cases, and no mergers have been noted in the last 176 days, several expected difficulties were averted with controlled and successful S-Bomb detonations. These made for a smooth commute to and from the Root Palace for the preliminary match of the Artifact Competition.
Requests for S-Bomb deployment are still being accepted, though actual usage may prove unnecessary under certain circumstances. A list of likely candidates for self-closure is available at your local records center.
Updates to follow.
10686.053
When Hol, Mei, and Jav arrived at the villa in their jump ship, the rest of the girls and some of the staff were waiting outside the gates for them. When Jav got down to the ground, he was almost knocked over by Mai who launched forward and wrapped her arms around him.
“We saw the broadcast! You were fantastic! You got all cut up, though. Are you okay?” Mai stepped back to look at him then, deeming him fit, fastened her arms around him again. “I’m so proud of you!”
Mei shouldered past them, looking sullen.
“Oh, Mei. . .” Mai started, but Mei was already halfway to the gate so she gave up.
Hol gave both Jav and Mai an amiable squeeze and followed after Mei.
While the staff saw to the jump ship, the rest of the girls crowded around Jav, showered him with praise, and asked him endless questions. Through it all, Jav looked at Mai and, making eye contact with her, they shared a silent communication. It was nothing that could be expressed in words, yet both understood perfectly
, and they patiently waited for an opportunity to be alone together.
Hours passed and Mei was duly consoled for her loss to Gast Froster. She conceded that at least the match had gone to someone she knew and respected. Though she would never really change her mind about Jav, she did break down finally and congratulate him. It was curt and it was sharp and then it was as if it never happened.
Hol was proud of Jav, but she had criticisms she would share later as their training got underway again. In addition, everyone would be made to watch some of the fights she had picked to illustrate various techniques and situations. There were some fighters that really impressed her and she wanted everyone to understand why.
As the evening wore on and the party atmosphere began to subside, people started excusing themselves for bed. Hol, who always retired early, and Mei, who was mentally exhausted, were first.
Lili and Sessa, however, wanted to tell Jav all about the recent developments with the Cultural Studies Division. The Director, Ty Karr, was finally prepared to send an expedition and since Lili couldn’t participate in training full time, she was going to accompany the CSD while they conducted their research. Jav tried to appear interested and he genuinely was, especially if Lili could be distracted from her inability to train, but he was preoccupied, thinking only of Mai and of if and when he could be alone with her.
Amia and Tani, finding all their questions about the competition answered, were next to turn in. Jav said good night, but nearly panicked afterwards when Mai decided to join them. He thought he caught the hint of her finger pointing up at the ceiling in a furtive manner. Then, when she spoke, he was sure. “Good night, Jav. See you,” she said, glancing at the ceiling and stretching her words musically.
He looked at her, smiling in that way that made her forget everything except the two of them. “Good night, Mai.”
The Artifact Competition (Approaching Infinity Book 1) Page 14