by Andrew Rowe
What is his attunement, anyway?
Derek was moving fast, but not the kind of faster-than-sight movement I’d seen from Keras. And it was consistent speed, not short bursts like I’d seen from Marissa.
I glanced ahead at the next few walls. Two barghensi would be next, followed by a single huge humanoid carrying a club.
An ogre.
My hands shook as I processed what I was seeing. Ogres were hideously strong, and dangerous enough that entire groups of experienced climbers would often avoid confronting them directly.
The next wall vanished, revealing the two barghensi. I balled my hands into fists as Derek advanced, dispatching the first one with a single slash to the head.
The other rushed past him.
“Ice, answer my command and form a wall!”
A glacial barrier stretched across the stage at Sera’s command, blocking the barghensi’s path. As it spun around, Derek leapt atop it, driving his burning blade into its back.
The creature slumped to the ground, twitching for a moment before it vanished.
As he rose, the last wall flickered behind him — and the ogre loomed behind him, ready to strike.
“Look out!” Sera yelled.
The ogre’s club descended with bone-shattering force.
Twin blades flashed upward to catch the strike. Derek, without even looking behind him, had parried the blow.
The swordsman spun on a heel, slashing with both weapons and lacerating the ogre’s front leg.
The titanic creature roared into the air, slamming its club into the arena floor with a reverberating crack.
Derek hopped back, glancing at Sera. “Think you could slow the big guy down for me a bit?”
Sera cracked her knuckles. “I have just the thing.” She waved a single hand at the creature. “Bind.”
A swirling matrix of symbols manifested around the ogre, wrapping around it and vanishing as the runes touched its skin.
It howled in response, charging forward, with no sign of being slowed.
Sera raised a hand above her head. “Frost, I invoke you to block his path.”
A waist-height barrier of ice appeared between the ogre and its prey.
It crashed into the barrier heedlessly and tripped, falling on its face. The frost showed no sign of damage.
“Not bad.” Derek walked over as the ogre began to pick itself up. “Never seen an ice barrier that could stop an ogre before.”
Derek jabbed one of his two weapons toward the ogre’s fallen form—
—and the ogre raised a hand, catching Derek’s blade between two fingers.
“Stupid humans.” The ogre muttered. “Always try the same tricks.”
Using two fingers, it pulled.
With its other hand, it slammed a fist right into Derek’s chest.
The swordsman flew backward, slamming into the first ice wall that Sera had made. He dropped his second sword on impact, and the ogre was still holding onto the first.
Oh, goddess. That’s bad.
...at least Sera’s safe on the other side of the wall?
Sera snapped her fingers. The wall of ice separating the pair disappeared.
“Oh, come on Sera,” I mumbled.
As Derek put a hand on the floor in a weak attempt to push himself from the floor, the ogre rose, looking barely injured from Derek’s earlier strikes.
The ogre flicked its hand and Derek’s captured sword flew straight toward his chest. Derek rolled to the side, snatching his other fallen blade as he evaded the throw.
Derek looked as if he was going to stand, but he fell back to his knees, coughing as the ogre retrieved its club and advanced.
Sera grimaced, raising both hands.
“Child of the goddess, I call upon your aid.
Rain frost from the skies in a Permafrost Cascade!”
Shards of ice materialized in the air above Sera, flashing through the air and piercing into the ogre’s flesh. It howled as the projectiles continued to bombard it, raising a hand to shield its eyes and charging at Sera, club poised to strike.
Derek slashed the ogre’s ankle as it ran past him.
It didn’t slow down.
Sera remained still, looking oblivious to the danger as the ogre neared striking range. Her summoned shards of ice continued to bombard the monster, but they were insufficient to strike a killing blow.
The ogre raised its club.
Sera’s right hand shot down.
“Slip.”
A patch of frost appeared in the ogre’s path.
The ogre hit the ice and began to slide forward, but it didn’t fall.
Within a moment, it had corrected its balance.
Sera’s eyes widened as the club swept toward her, too thick for her to dodge, too heavy for her to hope to parry.
A blade pierced through the center of the ogre’s back, and the creature began to vanish, the club losing corporeality as its phantasmal remains whisked harmlessly through Sera’s body.
“Thanks for giving that back to me,” Derek remarked to the disappearing creature. A trace of blood was visible at the side of his mouth.
Sera shivered.
“Contestants, you have cleared the first round.”
Clapping from the audience. I felt only horror.
“Please move to the other side of the stage.”
Derek moved to retrieve his sword from where it had fallen after impaling the ogre, then seized Sera by the hand. “Come on. Only one round down. You’re not done yet, are you?”
Sera shook her head. “No...of course not.” She gave a false smile, the kind I’d offered a thousand times.
I felt the urge to intervene, but I didn’t know how.
Could I break through the barrier outside the ring from the outside and get on the stage to help them?
A single glance at the warding runes showed how implausible that would be. I recognized dozens of individual shielding glyphs, each several times stronger than my sigil.
By the time I’d done that, the pair was on the other side of the stage, and four new barriers rose to mark the stage into sections.
Derek was clutching his chest where the ogre had punched him.
“Thirty seconds until the next round begins.”
Sera gave Derek a look up and down. “How badly are you hurt?”
Derek chuckled, and I thought I heard a wheeze in the laugh. “Oh, this is nothing. I’ve had far worse.”
His several seconds of coughing made his words rather unconvincing.
Sera folded her arms. “Right. I’m sure you die in here on a regular basis. Can you heal yourself?’
He sighed, rolling his eyes. “Well, if you want to ruin the surprise...”
His right hand shot forward, extending his blade toward the wall in front of him. “Tavare, awaken.”
Golden light spread across his mirror-bright blade. I thought I heard the sound of a chime emitting from the steel, like a bell ringing out the song.
He released his grip on the blade — and it floated still in the air. Golden light flowed out from the hilt, forming a mist that began to harden into a solid shape.
My eyes widened as I took in the sight of the creature that it formed.
It looked perfectly human, but too perfect to be human itself. Its skin was the same golden color as the aura that it had emerged from. Aside from its face, however, its body was enshrouded in scale-like armor: armor that I realized seemed to grow directly out of its skin. It was only distinct from its flesh in its obvious thickness and having a stronger metallic sheen.
“Radiance has awakened to serve.”
The creature took to a knee, laying the sword across it.
Derek sighed, his now-free hand across his forehead. “Thank you, Tavare. You—”
The first wall fell, revealing a swarm of bee-like insects the size of dogs.
Sera took a step back, raising her hands.
Derek pointed at the bees as they shot forward. “Handle those, the
n come heal me.”
“Radiance obeys.”
Tavare glanced at the flying insects. Without standing, it lashed out with its sword hand, making several cuts too rapidly for me to follow. Scintillating flashes accompanied each motion.
The insects fell to pieces, vanishing as they struck the floor.
I blinked. I’d seen no attacks emitted from the blade. Presumably, its attack was similar to the one Derek had used to create the crescents of flame, but I’d seen nothing analogous appear.
This creature was either using attacks that were invisible to me, or that were simply too fast for me to perceive. Possibly both.
“Useless creatures.”
Tavare stood, shaking its head. It stepped close to Derek, putting a hand upon his chest. “You have sustained structural damage. Expect pain.”
Derek nodded and balled his right hand into a fist. “Go ahead.”
Golden light flowed from the creature’s hand across his torso. He shivered, clenching and unclenching his hand. As the light faded, he lowered his head, taking a deep breath.
The next wall disappeared. A single monstrous spider appeared, advancing on the group.
Tavare turned, hurling her golden blade straight into the center of its head.
The spider died instantly.
Tavare made a compelling gesture with its hand, and the sword floated back into its grip. Seemingly unbothered, it returned to healing Derek.
Sera took a step back, moving closer to the edge of the stage.
I didn’t fault her for the caution. I had basically zero idea what they were dealing with.
I’d been reading up about enchanting for quite a while, including about intelligent weapons, since my own sword seemed to be at least empathic.
I had never heard about a sword that could manifest a person.
Was Tavare some sort of summoned monster? I’d never heard of a monster that could take the form of a weapon, but I supposed it was possible. Considering Sera’s expression, though, I didn’t think she knew what it was either — and she was a Summoner herself.
The next wall disappeared, revealing a half-dozen winged spiders.
Winged spiders.
Seeing those, I briefly had second thoughts about ever visiting the tower again.
Derek seemed less concerned, stretching out his arms and passing his remaining sword into his right hand. “I’ll take care of this set, Tavare. Can you offer some mana to my friend Sera?”
Tavare turned its gaze to Sera. “Radiance has little to spare, but it will serve.”
Sera took another step back, nearly exiting the bounds of the stage.
Tavare was in front of her in an instant. “Extend your hand, friend-called-Sera.”
Sera hesitantly extended her right hand, and Tavare clasped its left hand around it.
Derek jumped forward, hacking apart one of the spiders with a flaming cut, and then surged into the midst of the others. Since he seemed to be having no difficulty, I focused on what was going on with Sera.
Tavare leaned in closer, staring into Sera’s eyes. “A binder of beasts. I am honored.”
It can recognize her attunement? Interesting, it must have some kind of detection magic.
Wait, did he tell Tavare to give Sera mana? Isn’t that supposed to be hideously dangerous?
I frowned. I was certain I’d heard that transferring mana to other people was a problem, because our bodies rejected foreign mana.
Maybe that only applied to humans giving mana to other humans? If monsters could safely transfer mana to humans, there had to be a way to use that knowledge... but I’d think about that later.
For the moment, Sera had pulled away from the strange sword-creature, and she had folded her hands in front of her. “Thank you. I am honored by your aid.”
“You are welcome, friend-called-Sera. I must rest now.”
And with that, Tavare vanished, and the sword unceremoniously clattered to the floor.
Sera frowned, knelt down, and gingerly picked up the weapon.
The final barrier fell.
I had been too busy watching Sera’s exchange with Tavare to see the threat that awaited her.
A winged humanoid with perfectly-sculpted muscles of stone. A karvensi.
I shivered. I hadn’t seen one since they’d appeared amongst the gargoyles, driving the students into shelters. But I knew very well how powerful they were. This was no mere insect from the lower floors of the tower.
Sera stood tall, pointing the gauntlet at the creature, and fired a burst of mana.
It glanced harmlessly across the creature’s skin.
The karvensi grinned.
Magic resistant and as intelligent as a human, I remembered.
Derek lashed out in the air with his crimson blade, sending a flaming shockwave in the monster’s direction.
It raised a hand, and a wall of ice — near identical to the one Sera had used — rose and stopped the blast.
Oh, and the strongest ones can cast spells.
I grimaced and wished that incredibly dangerous sword-creature was still around.
The karvensi flapped its wings, taking off into the air and settling atop the wall of ice. “Oh, hello, little ones. This is one of your little sports, yes? How am I doing?”
It raised a clawed finger and scratched at its chin. “The objective is to kill you, correct?”
Derek took a few steps back, closer to Sera. “I suppose from your perspective—”
“Excellent! I haven’t had permission to do that in years. So, if you’d be kind enough to burn...” It stretched its hands out in a t-shape. “I’d be much obliged.”
A red glow manifested across the entire stage.
Derek jumped, impossibly high, swinging his sword in a horizontal sweep — but the karvensi simply took off, floating out of reach.
Sera pointed downward as she jumped. “Freeze!”
An icy platform manifested below her just as jets of flame flashed upward from the stage.
A barrier flashed around Derek, but it was a weak one. It cracked almost instantly on impact. And when the flames died down, they left pools of molten lava across the stage floor.
Sera reached out before Derek could complete his fall. A whip of ice lashed out from her hand, wrapping around his torso, and she pulled — jerking him onto the platform where she stood. He smashed into her hard, knocking her down and nearly off the ice, but she stopped her slide inches from the magma edge.
“Thanks.” Derek knelt and pulled Sera away from the burning floor.
A blast of mana slammed into his back an instant later, knocking him flat. His face smashed into the ice.
“Don’t forget about me, children!” The karvensi flapped above, clapping his hands together. “Ice, fire...what’s next? Remind me? Ah, correct! Lightning!”
A dark cloud spread across the top of the stage. I stared incredulously.
Sera grimaced, waving a hand upward. “Shell!”
A glacial dome formed above Derek and Sera mere instants before the first flash of electricity arced downward from the cloud. Chunks of frost burst free at the impact, but the dome held.
The dome was opaque. For a moment, I could see nothing of my sister’s fate. Bolt after bolt rained from the cloud, tearing away layers of their protection.
When a single bolt finally broke through, a hurled sword emerged to answer it.
The karvensi floated to the side, dodging the hurled weapon without difficulty. “Really? Throwing swords? You do know that’s not what they’re for, right?”
The stone creature chuckled, forming a sphere of electricity in its hands.
It was still looking down at the threats it had seen before.
It had no way of seeing the crimson skinned humanoid descending through the air, clutching the weapon that had just been thrown.
Lightning sparked in the karvensi’s hands — and died as the burning blade slammed into its back.
The weapon, however, left only the
slightest mark.
The karvensi spun in mid-air, grabbing its new attacker and hurling the crimson figure into the inferno below.
Meanwhile, the remains of the protective dome vanished. Sera pointed a finger at the creature above. “Bind.”
The swirling pattern of runes engulfed the karvensi, but it just laughed, turning its head toward her. “Really? You’re doing that now?”
Sera grinned. “All part of the long-term plan. You’re cute, but you keep getting distracted.”
Its eyes narrowed, apparently noticing at the same time as I did that Derek was no longer anywhere in sight.
It, most likely, also noticed the hole in the bottom of the stage around the same time as I did.
It spun around just as Derek burst upward from another newly-formed hole in the stage, shooting upward high enough to grab the karvensi in a bear hug.
From my perspective, that seemed terribly unwise.
I, however, also missed the crimson figure that was standing — completely unharmed — in the flames.
“Master has commanded for you to burn.”
The flames that had spread across the stage began to flicker, as if blowing in the wind, and then surged inward, gathering around the crimson figure.
“Delsys will obey.”
The crimson figure began to rise from the stage, the residual flames surrounding him like a whirlwind.
The karvensi turned toward the sound, grabbing Derek and hurling him straight at Delsys.
Delsys waved a hand, and a gust of wind blew Derek off that trajectory. Another rising jet carried the swordsman safely to the ground.
The karvensi turned toward Delsys and growled. “A weapon-bound? How fascinating. Insufficient, but really quite fascinating. Let’s see... what was the girl doing earlier? Ah, yes. Permafrost Cascade.”
Hundreds of blades of ice appeared around the karvensi, vastly outstripping the results of when Sera had cast the same spell. They shot forward, meeting the incendiary sirocco around the Delsys.
Some of blades made it through the fire storm.
A few of them were sufficient to pierce its chest.