Divulgence (Song of Sophangence Book 2)

by E. I. McAllistair

  Of everyone, Maggie looked the most anxious, which was strange for her. This was the tiny powerhouse that had climbed to number 7 in the school of her own ability, so Anaar was not sure why she would wear such an expression. The tall item situated next to her also did not escape his notice. Unsure of what it was, he lost his opportunity to ask, as Professor Osadi, and Professor Offerdero entered the classroom.

  Gesturing in her normal fashion, full of whimsy, Professor Offerdero’s words as usual invoked feelings quite contradictory to whimsy. With her lustrous dark skin, thin, modelesque physique, and beautiful face with a cleanly shaved head, her cheerful tone gave way to only the most sinister of commentary.

  “I’m so ready to worrrrkkk! We have come up with a way that will surely give me some limbs to reattach! I’m positively trembling with anticipation! Kaswin darling, would you do the honors?”

  Responding with his usual scowl, he begins detailing the parameters of their final. “Everyone should have come prepared for their final. If you did not come prepared, chances are you will fail. Due to the nature of this exam, we know that it is simply impossible for some people to get fair matchups from the start. We do have two top ten students in the school rankings in this class after all. To give you a fairer chance at a passing grade, we will be assessing you not only on how far you go in the final, but also how prepared you seem, and the way you work to exploit your enemies’ weaknesses.”

  The class begins to murmur, many people cutting looks back at Anaar and even Maggie. Though Anaar felt self-conscious, Maggie appeared completely unfazed by the attention, if not emboldened by it. Expecting that it would have caused a bit of concern, Professor Osadi waited for the murmuring to die down before continuing.

  “This class has focused heavily on team tactics. That is because it is important we fostered the ability to work together with others, and adapt strategies that considered other abilities outside of your own. In this final, you will be pitted tournament style against one or two other people, with the last person standing moving on to the next round.”

  Once again, the class exploded, this time in more a violent fashion. There were those who were overtly standing in protest to the conditions of the final. Some students were calling for handicaps, while others were demanding some students, namely Anaar be disqualified, or given his standard perfect score from the start. There were even some mentions that Maggie too should not be allowed to participate. Much to his annoyance, no one seemed to mention JaMarkus even though he too was in the top of the school rankings, albeit dead last.

  “We understand how you may feel. This is not the first time we have dealt with students that held such a dominant place in the class, nevertheless the school. This too is part of your training. Not everyone you meet will be at or near your level. There will be many situations that call for you to fight against a force that seems impossible to win against. That is why there are no restrictions in this final. All weapons and tactics are acceptable. If there are three people in a match, it is completely acceptable for two of you to team up, focusing your efforts on the third, and then turning on one another. This will all be up to your discretion. In just a few moments we will make our way to the staging area. Your initial matches have been sent to your Vizers. You have five minutes to prepare.”

  Professor Osadi turns to leave, but as he is leaving, he notices Professor Offerdero is about to being addressing the class. Turning back and grabbing her arm, pulling her toward the door before she can start speaking, she manages to get out a few words before being completely dragged from the room.

  “Make it bloody children! I want entrails!”

  With the screaming woman finally pulled from the room, everyone immediately dives into their Vizers to see who their initial matchups were against. While Stefani and Dan both had one opponent each, Maggie and Anaar had two. Both Dan and Stefani seemed rather pleased with their first matches, Dan utterly bouncing in excitement.

  “This gonna be my first chance to show I ain’t jest a pile of shit. After da Melee I jest know people ain’t expectin’ much from me. They better thank again.”

  “Seems like you have been putting that free time to good use Dan. I’m sure you will go far.”

  “You’d be right proud of me Anaar. I ain’t gonna act like I’m a match for you, even goin’ easy on me, but these other folk better watch out.”

  “I’m ready too! Sophia has been insistent that we train every day in preparation for this final, as this is the last one she will get to see as my mentor. She told me that she was going to shoot me if I mess up.”

  “Sounds about right. She can’t have you sullying her good name right as she is graduating, now can she? What about you Maggie? You are against two people as well. You ready for that?”

  Turning to look at them, a fire burning in her eyes, “Of course I am. I refuse to let you guys take all the glory and get stronger while leaving me behind.”

  “Sounds like we are all set then. Good luck everyone. If we come up against each other, make sure we give it our all, so when we enjoy our dinner together tonight, we can do it with our heads held high in the spirit of competitive friendship meant to make one another better.”

  “Say da person who gonna clearly take it easy on us.”

  Stefani nods in agreement, giving a light chuckle. “He really is! Such a hypocrite!”

  “Hey! I was being serious!”

  Maggie stands, slipping the tall object across her back. “It’s time. Let’s go.”

  They all traipse out of the classroom, along with the others, headed to the staging area. When they arrive, they are relieved to find that it is the normal staging area, devoid of any crazy contraptions or rooms like their last final. As everyone take up positions along the walls of the staging area so they can see the action, but be well out of the way, they wait with bated breaths to see who will be the first up in the final. Though they had gotten their opponents in advance, their order was not given. To Anaar’s surprise, his name is called first, along with his opponents, Hugo, and Yasmine.

  These two couldn’t have more opposing fighting styles. Yasmine is a marksman who uses a rifle, and Hugo is an assassin who uses his Invisibility, to catch people unaware and take people out. If I had to guess, Hugo will let Yasmine be the bait, while he tries to strike from behind. They aren’t exactly friendly, so I don’t see them coordinating in advance. Works for me.

  Stepping out onto the field, Anaar notices Yasmine, but there is yet to be a Hugo. Taking her place close enough where she can be accurate, but far enough away that it would take a moment to close the distance to her, she looks nervous, but not as bothered as Anaar would expect.

  Shit, I guess I miscalculated. Though they fight differently, Yasmine’s poison makes Hugo that much deadlier. He should be able to graze me and take me down. Even though I know I’m immune to poisons, no one else does. I have to play this like I am being cautious. If I were Hugo, where would I strike from? Even though I can’t see him, I can see his trail in this dirt, so he will probably come from the wall behind me. Guess Yasmine has to go first. She has no doubt laced her bullets with her toxins.

  With the match beginning, Anaar rushes Yasmine, slipping three knives from his bandolier. Though she is not a Titan, she does still boast some resistance due to her Earth attunement. Being a gun user she no doubt would be wearing body armor, so there was only one place for him to aim. As he dashed, zigzagging in an unpredictable pattern which prevented her from scoring a shot, he feigned throwing his knives, causing the girl to duck out of the way. Having anticipated such a move, he puts on an insane burst of speed that allows him to close the gap almost instantly, hitting her with a savage uppercut to the chin as she was rising, knocking her out almost immediately.

  One down…

  Spinning on his heel, he lashes out with a side kick that connects with something soft and fleshy. There is a grunt, but Hugo still does not drop his shroud.

  Even Hugo has gotten better, he is even qui
eter than I remember. Unfortunately for him he still isn’t quiet enough. Plus, does he not realize that I can see his tracks in this sand?!

  Reaching down to grab Yasmine’s rifle, Anaar levels it, taking aim in a direction that everyone watching was bewildered by. Waiting for just the right moment, he squeezes the trigger, and the bullet buries itself into Hugo’s side. Though he had never seen Yasmine’s Toxin in action, he was surprised just how quickly it spread through Hugo’s body, with just the one bullet. He was already turning green, vomiting profusely as he came back into vision. Since she was unconscious, Yasmine was unable to tell everyone that her rifle was coated in the poison as well, and should have taken Anaar out. Remembering that for the future, he drops the gun back down, striding out of the staging area the clear victor.

  Walking back to his friends, he high fives Dan’s awaiting hand, coming to stand next to Maggie, who was talking to Ryn. After they finish their brief exchange, Maggie leans over, whispering to Anaar.

  “You know Yasmine coats everything in poison, right?”

  “Yeah, I just found that out. Yay for being immune?”

  “You’d better be careful, or people will become suspicious. I know it because she lives above me, but who knows what others might have that information and wonder why you weren’t over there barfing your guts up like poor Hugo.”

  Dan, who interrupts their whispers, asks the question that many people were curious about. “How you know where Hugo was at?”

  “Simple math. I could see his tracks in the dirt, which gave me his trajectory and I could guess his rate of speed, which meant if I shot in that spot at just the right time, he would run right into the bullet.”

  “Dat ain’t simple. Better you then. I cain’t stand da little shit.”

  “Why don’t you just cover yourself in flexible paper armor underneath your clothes? He can hit hard but he wouldn’t be able to cut you.”

  “See now there you go makin’ shit seem so obvious. That’s a good idea though, I’ma steal it.”

  “Steal away, you are the Papermaster, not like I can use it.”

  They continued talking through the next rounds, most of them one on one matches, until Stefani’s turn came up. Walking with trembling steps forward, she began doubting herself until she heard Maggie’s voice from behind her cheering her on.

  “Whoo!! You go girl! Show them what you got! You can do it Stef!”

  With Maggie’s words of encouragement pushing her onward, filling her with renewed confidence, she makes her way to the center of the staging area, where she was facing off against Thom, the toughest Titan in their class that was not a Quintessence. For someone to not have any active fortification abilities, he had skin that was as thick and tough as plate armor. With his gauntlets, he was a person who needed to get into the thick of the fight, and had the defenses to do so. He was strong, not as strong as a Fire Affinity, but he could still pack a mighty wallop.

  Anaar had suspected Stefani would simply use her powers to put him to sleep long before he could be a threat to her, but he was surprised to see her with some claw type weapons over her hands, and she had dropped into a strange stance. He watched as her somewhat crouched and hunched stance left her right arm swinging between her legs, as she did a slight bounce. He may have imagined it, but he could almost see the potential energy and power building up in her legs and she continued her slight bounce, left arm poised, right arm swinging.

  At the moment the match started, before Thom could get in two steps good, Stefani shot off like a rocket. A mere human blur, it took a moment before anyone was able to make sense of what had happened. She had hit Thom like a meteor hits the earth, and the moment she connected, she began raking him with the claws. What was most shocking to everyone, Thom included, she was dealing significant damage, the claws biting deep into his flesh, which was quite an accomplishment considering his resilience. Moving her assault to his face, she continued to scratch, the skin peeling away, freely bleeding until the match was called.

  She stood up from the shredded body of Thom, claws dripping blood, bits of flesh still hanging from them. As she walked away, a positively thrilled Professor Offerdero bounds up to the hulking man to administer healing to him after the vicious one-sided battle. Anaar thought that his fight went quick, but Stefani had easily set a new record, against a Titan of Thom’s repute at that. Everyone watched as the once frightened girl, stalked back to her friends, reborn a predator.

  “Goddamn Stef! Are you juicin’?! Where the fuck did dat shit come from?!”

  Smiling blankly, “Anaar taught me how to use my powers to take care of myself, and I wanted to show him that I wasn’t just sitting around wasting his effort. I have been playing with a number of things, and getting used to the effects they have on my body.”

  And no one understands why this girl alone terrifies even me. No one, not even I suspected such a beastly growth in a short amount of time. It was like she channeled the essence of a wildcat itself and unleashed it. Whelp, I don’t think I can go easy on Stefani anymore. I have to take her out quick and fast because she is steadily becoming more and more dangerous.

  After another two matches, it came to be Maggie’s turn, in which she dispatched an Artillerite and a Regenerist in two quick shots, breaking even Stefani’s record for speed. For what it seemed, she was uninterested in holding back, or even giving her opponents a chance to gain their bearings. She too had increased her draw speed, and her accuracy was superb as always, piercing lungs, which immediately incapacitated her enemies. As she came back, she gave Stefani a thumbs up to the surprise of the two boys.

  The next matches flew by quickly, with Ryn dispatching Griselda with ease, and three other matches having similarly one-sided results. What happened next was something that no one anticipated. As it turned out, the last two matches of the first round were supposed to be Dan and JaMarkus, however it appeared the reason they were left to the end was because neither of their opponents bothered to show up for class. Rather than immediately moving on to the next round, they were instead paired against one another, which sent waves of anguish through Dan.

  Stepping out onto the field, JaMarkus simply smirked in snide glee that he should be put up against someone with such a glaring weakness to him. He could not help but thank the people who decided to skip such an important day for whatever reason, basically gifting him the first round. He had worried he would be put up against Anaar in the first round, which was the only person he was truly worried about. Instead he had nothing to fear against the country Trinkh that became utterly useless against him.

  As soon as the match started, Dan attempted to rush JaMarkus, sword in hand, trying to close the distance. Unfortunately it was no use, as the high powered blasts of water not only knocked him off his feet, but kept him well at bay. In all the scenarios that he had thought of before, he was always on a team against JaMarkus. He never planned to be pitted against him solo, meaning that his focus was completely on him the entire time.

  Trying to close the gap again, this time he did his best to block the blasts of water with barriers, though he knew it was futile as they simply wilted every time. Though he was not worried, JaMarkus had also learned to not be quite so arrogant, after he was all but disowned from his family. As Dan closed in, he backed away. Had this been him in a previous time, he would have simply stayed in the same position taunting the boy as he tried to get closer. Turning up the power, this time the shield could not even hold long enough to block the blast, and then wilt, instead the water punched an immediate hole in it, knocking Dan to the ground with such force that it dazed him.

  With his sword to the side of him, far away, Dan laid on the ground defenseless as JaMarkus walked up to finish the job. Standing directly over him, palm outstretched, the old JaMarkus returned. Using the moment to taunt Dan, he made it clear the difference between them.

  “You dirty hillbilly Trinkh. I don’t know why you even thought you stood a chance against me. You know you will neve
r be good enough to even stand in my shadow. You must have thought because you are friends with that fucking piece of shit Anaar, you actually had some small shot you could win. You will all learn your place, I suppose I will just have to start with you.”

  Bringing his hands together a torrent of water blasted Dan in the face, nearly drowning him as the initial impact was so jarring. As he laid there being humiliated once again, he thought of his friends, and how they had all so easily won their matches. Even Stefani had shown that she was not the same as she was before. He had gone into this match defeated, because he had already resigned himself to his weakness. None of his friends resigned themselves though. They overcame. They refused to let someone else determine their worth, they set their own.

  Every scrap of paper on him flowed from his holsters, and together they created two creatures that resembled lions of some sort. Turning his attention to the paper constructs, JaMarkus blasted them, expecting them to wither like normal, but instead they stood firm, and simply reformed themselves from the hole the pressurized water had made in them.

  Shakily sitting up, Dan roared with fury at the same time the lions opened their jaws, miming a roar of their own. They then both pounced atop the boy, clawing and mauling him as he fell to the ground. Though they did not have the same weight as a real lion, they were not lacking the ferocity, as they ripped and tore at his flesh as if he were a gazelle that was foolish enough to be separated from its herd. As the two lions continued their onslaught, JaMarkus screamed in agony, his constant regeneration only giving the paper beasts more and more to feast upon. In his terror and confusion, he managed to forget his most potent defense mechanism, his aqueous form, and instead screamed in pain and terror as his face was clawed off, and his intestines sprung forth from his body.