Skyflare (Rise To Omniscience Book 3)

by Aaron Oster

  Sarah’s face darkened at the mention of her father.

  “Oh, don’t you worry about me. If I come face to face with that bastard, he won’t live to tell the tale.”

  ***

  Simon stared across the table at his sister, who was currently drinking enough to kill a horse.

  “I noticed that you failed to attack Arnold when the two of you ran into each other during the challenge today,” he said casually.

  Sing slammed down her now empty mug, shattering the wood to splinters and leaving a sizable dent in the table beneath it.

  “Just because you have beef with him doesn’t mean I do!” she growled, gesturing with the handle of her destroyed mug. “How about you focus on getting your daughter back, and I focus on winning.”

  Simon’s face darkened as well.

  “In case you’ve forgotten, the one responsible for this mess is still very much alive. If Morgan still has his head left by the end of the tournament tomorrow, then I’ll be taking yours instead!”

  The two glared at each other across the table until a light rapping on the door interrupted them.

  “Come in!” Simon called, voice still tinged in agitation, as Sing rose to get a new mug.

  Weasel entered the room, looking more than a little nervous. His nerves settled when Simon’s scowl vanished as he closed the door behind him.

  “So?” he gave the man a questioning look.

  “It’s done,” the man said with a small bow. “Everything is in place.”

  For the first time that night, Simon smiled.

  “Excellent. It’s about time something worked out in our favor!”

  ***

  Loquin was sitting in her room, shuffling through a stack of papers and smiling to herself. She’d already gone to see Arnold back at the arena and he seemed less than thrilled at being outdone by Morgan. She had assured him that he could still win, so long as he came in first in the battle royal. Next, she’d had a visit from the judges once again, asking how she felt about Morgan’s use of his flight skill.

  She’d agreed right away that it should be banned for the battle royal, as it would be very unfair if he could just avoid being hit while racking up points. She’d also gone to visit Sammy, who was still writhing away inside the beast zone. She really felt for the poor man, but there was nothing she could do about it. No one had the power to fight the Author.

  Now she was waiting for her last guest of the night, the one she’d been expecting for the last hour or so. A knock came at her door and she called for them to enter. Eric came in, closing the door softly behind him and coming to sit across from her.

  “Eric, so lovely to see you again,” Loquin said with a sultry smile.

  As always, the man didn’t react to her teasing, instead getting straight to the point.

  “Things are progressing as you expected. Simon has laid his trap and is preparing to enact it at the best opportunity. Morgan and Sarah have decided to escape through a beast zone portal, and Hu Vah is already gathering her best soldiers in preparation to finish them both off as soon as the tournament is over.”

  “Excellent. Things are moving along exactly as I predicted then,” Loquin said, smiling brightly.

  “Why are you doing this?” Eric asked, his tone still as neutral as he could manage.

  “Doing what?” she asked, giving him an innocent look.

  “Maneuvering so many unknowns around Morgan. I understand that you wanted him in the tournament, but was it really necessary to allow the entire world to find out about him? And whose side are you on exactly? You seem to be playing at least four different people at once, more if I’m not mistaken. What exactly are you hoping to accomplish?”

  “Aww, now what fun would it be if I told you that?” she asked, giggling lightly. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about it. You’ll find out soon enough. For now, I want you to go back to keeping an eye on Morgan. Tomorrow will be an eventful day!”

  Eric nodded, rising from his chair and heading for the door.

  “Oh, and one more thing before you go.”

  Eric turned just in time to catch a small leather bag that Loquin had tossed to him. Peeking inside, he gave her a questioning look.

  “Make sure that finds its way into Morgan’s uniform before the match tomorrow. I’ve got a feeling he’ll need it.”

  He nodded one last time, tucking the bag into his pocket and leaving the room. As soon as the door closed, Loquin allowed her smile to slip and turned to glare at Gold.

  “You’re becoming awfully friendly lately, barging in at all hours. What the hell do you want from me, Gold?”

  “To watch your slow descent into madness, of course,” the man replied easily as he reclined back in one of her couches.

  “As you can tell, I’m perfectly sane, so if you don’t mind…get out!” she yelled, sending cracks spreading across the stone floor with the force of her shout.

  “Touchy, touchy,” Gold said, shaking his head. “Taking up the job of resident hothead since Sammy isn’t around?”

  Loquin growled at the man, but allowed her temper to cool. She knew why he was here. The answer was plain to see. He wanted to get under her skin by gloating about what he’d tricked poor Sammy into doing.

  “He would be, if it wasn’t for you,” she replied, glaring at the man.

  “Me?” Gold asked, eyes going wide with feigned indignation. “If I recall, it wasn’t I who sent poor Sammy into that beast zone.”

  “You’re a real bastard, aren’t you, Gold?” Loquin said, her face set in barely suppressed rage.

  “Where’s all this hostility coming from, anyways?” Gold wondered, tapping lightly at his chin. “With Sammy out of the way, you’ll be able to scheme uncontested.”

  When her scowl didn’t vanish, he simply shrugged.

  “Ah, well. He’ll likely be out sometime tomorrow, so I suppose I should enjoy the peace while it lasts. Until next time, Locky.”

  Gold twiddled his fingers at her before vanishing, leaving Loquin to seethe over the infuriating man.

  44

  It was the final day of the tournament, and Morgan stood before the translucent pane of crystal as the champions were announced one by one. Today, there was no stage. David, the announcer, instead stood in the same box as the judges, while the arena remained clear, aside from four white squares painted in the sand.

  The rules for the day’s match had already been announced and were quite simple. It was a battle royal. Whoever was the last one standing, would receive 500 points. If you knocked another contestant out of the fight, you would earn 250 points. Contestants would also gain points based on the amount of time they stayed in the fight.

  A contestant would be considered out if they were knocked unconscious, surrendered, or died. In the case of death, they would still retain their points, and if their Kingdom won, the grand prize would go to the monarch of that Kingdom.

  Morgan was fairly certain that Hu Vah was hoping he would simply die in this match, but not before ensuring he won. This would save her the trouble of coming to steal the prize from him once the match was over. Now, however, he was just waiting for the match to begin.

  Even as he watched, Marsha seemed to appear from thin air inside one of the four squares and waved to the cheering crowd.

  “Are you nervous?” Sarah asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

  “Excited,” Morgan answered.

  “You know they’ll be coming for you, right?”

  She sounded worried, despite her earlier bravado.

  “I know, but I don’t doubt that I can win. I have speed on my side, even if I can’t use my flight skill or any of my powerful attacks.”

  Sarah frowned at that. The fact that he’d been banned from flying once again hadn’t surprised either of them. What had, however, was the fact that all big area of effect skills were banned as well. This wouldn’t necessarily hurt Morgan alone, as the others would be banned from using them as well. He figured it would
be a boring fight, if all a person had to do was unleash a massive attack that none of the others could get away from in the limited space of the arena.

  Arnold appeared next, his enormous broadsword slung across his back and looking as sullen as ever.

  “Do you think the referees will try and cheat like they did last time?” Sarah asked, biting her lip as she remembered their last tournament.

  “There’s no way they would,” Morgan replied. “They have no reason to hate me and none of them would dare interfere in this particular tournament, not when a literal war could break out if any of the Kingdoms were caught cheating.”

  “You seem to be forgetting that one of the Kingdoms is already at war,” Sarah said.

  “Even more of a reason they wouldn’t cheat. I doubt the North wants to contend with another Kingdom. They thought that the war with the Central Kingdom would be over with by now, but they hadn’t counted on them putting up such a solid defense. And now with Katherine fighting for the Central Kingdom, they’re at an even bigger disadvantage.”

  Sarah turned her attention back to the arena as Sing appeared, waving and bowing to the crowd.

  “Remember, go for her first,” she said as she eyed her aunt. “She’s probably the most dangerous one out there right now. Plus, you’re tied for first, so your best shot at winning would be to take her out.”

  Morgan nodded, taking a deep breath as he saw the small red light on the top corner of the crystal wall turn green.

  He felt Sarah lean in and brush her lips against his cheek. “Go win this thing.”

  He gave her a smile, before stepping through the crystal wall and into the arena proper. The crowd cheered as his face flashed up on the screens. He didn’t wave however. He just stood in the white square assigned to him and waited as the numbers on the corners of all the screens counted down from 30.

  This was going to be the shortest match in the entire competition. If it lasted even ten minutes, Morgan would be shocked. But, although it was the shortest challenge, it was the most anticipated. This was where the Kingdoms would see who among them was the strongest. The winner of this challenge had also won the entire thing for the last seven tournaments in a row, so it was assumed that the winner of this fight would win the tournament as well.

  Morgan kept his eyes on the timer, making sure that his breath was deep and even. His core was already active, sending light pulses of power through him to keep his nerves down. Eric had also visited earlier that morning to heal any muscle fatigue he may have had from the previous day.

  Right now, he was as fit as he’d ever been. The timer dropped to 10, and suddenly, the numbers expanded to take up the entire screen. He could see that this had been mimicked by all the smaller screens throughout the massive arena. The crowd had started counting as well, and their combined voices echoed in Morgan’s ears.

  Three…Two…One.

  A loud echoing horn sounded, and Morgan used Explosive impact, launching himself at Sing, who was over three hundred yards away, on the other side of the arena. Time slowed around him, and he could see the others beginning to move, but in slow motion. He could see Sing moving as well, her knees slowly flexing.

  Pushing off the ground hard, Morgan raced against the clock to reach her before his skill’s timer ran out. He knew it would be a stretch to cover nine hundred feet in four-and-a-half seconds. In fact, he’d be lucky to cover even half that distance, but he still had to try. Then, as his timer ran out, Sing rocketed towards him, an explosion of sand fanning out behind her as she did.

  Morgan grimaced, skidding to a halt and planting his back leg, his shield flaring around his body in a halo of purple-black light. Sing’s fist impacted with his upraised right arm a second later, and he turned away the punch, wincing at the power behind it. Morgan lashed out with an attack of his own then, using Stormforger to create a solid glove with protruding spikes to give his attack more power.

  Sing nimbly sidestepped the attack, spinning in place and sending a vicious kick at his leg. Morgan took a step back, sand spraying up behind him from his quick movement and punched back, extending his glove into a shortened version of the lance.

  He grimaced as Sing weaved out of the way of this attack as well, and he cursed himself for not being able to shape his weapons more quickly. Then, his instincts screamed a warning at him and Morgan dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding a blade of crimson energy as it flew over his head.

  He quickly rolled to the side, avoiding Sing’s kick, and pushed himself back to his feet, leaping backward to avoid a new flurry of attacks from the woman. Judging by the smirk on her face however, Morgan knew she wasn’t trying to hit him, merely keep him distracted while Arnold attacked from behind.

  It would appear that the two of them had decided to attack him together, after all. His eyes flicked momentarily to Marsha, who was just standing to the side and watching, apparently content with waiting for one of them to be knocked out. And why wouldn’t she wait? The longer she stayed in, the more points she’d rack up and seeing as she was in last place, she’d need all the points she could get.

  Morgan growled, forming a long, curved sword in his right hand, and spinning in place, forcing Sing back to give him some room to breathe. As soon as she moved, Morgan launched himself back, using his Aura sense to guide him to Arnold. He felt another attack coming, and spun in the air, throwing both his blades in the way and knocking it aside.

  Arnold seemed surprised that Morgan had even seen the attack coming, and was therefore off balance when he slammed into him feet first with a double kick. Morgan exhaled as his back hit the sand, immediately forcing himself back to his feet and sprinting towards the still downed man.

  Arnold was just rising, when Morgan struck out for his neck, the razor edge of his violet sword crackling with lightning. Morgan could already taste victory, when something slammed into him from the side, sending him skidding across the ground and sending a web of cracks across his shield.

  He knew he didn’t have any time to waste, so even as he bounced, Morgan shoved his arms into the ground, using the momentum to regain his balance. He planted his feet in the sand, and threw both arms up un time to catch another slashing attack from Arnold’s glowing sword. He felt heat searing at his skin, even through his shield, but he managed to turn the attack away just in time.

  Then Sing appeared before him, a sadistic grin on her face as she slammed a closed fist into his unprotected stomach. She’d used the opportunity left by Arnold’s opening to attack, and Morgan could see the chi wrapped around her fist even as his shield buckled. A massive force impacted his stomach as her fist landed, radiating outward from her hand and flowing into him. Morgan recognized the force aspect of her attack, right before he was thrown backwards and slammed into the arena wall.

  He gasped as chips of stone flew up around him, and he felt his ribs creak under the strain but thankfully, his shield had stopped the worst of it. His core was taking care of the rest, but the other two weren’t letting up on their attacks. Sing had already covered half the distance between them by the time he landed on the ground and was already preparing to use another attack, so Morgan did the only thing he could.

  Though he’d been reluctant to use it so early in the fight, he now had no choice. His Explosive impact was still on cooldown for the next few seconds, and he wasn’t sure he’d last that long at this rate. Grimacing, Morgan dismissed his Stormforged weapons, then reached down to his belt and used Nature’s wrath.

  He felt power flood his body, and hoped he wasn’t making a huge mistake.

  “You’re mine now, brat!” Sing yelled, fists distorting as she prepared to launch another attack, but Morgan was already moving.

  Grimacing at the strain it was already causing, Morgan pulled both his fists up and slammed them into the ground, the force element increasing his striking power immensely. A massive shockwave exploded out from the point of impact, sending cracks through the stone nearly a foot beneath the sand and throwing Si
ng off balance.

  Morgan then switched to lightning, covering the distance between them in the blink of an eye, and slammed a steel-clad fist into her face. As she stumbled back, he used Stormforger, bringing back one of the weapons he’d banished before using Nature’s wrath. Then with a shout, he swung the oversized hammer into the off-balance woman, sending her flying across the arena with the satisfying sound of crunching bones.

  Morgan’s skill ran out then as his RP bottomed out, leaving him panting hard as he shrank the hammer down to normal size. He slowed his breathing, watching as Sing got back to her feet, blood streaming from a cut just above her eye, and clutching at her side where his hammer had hit her. She looked pissed, and Morgan couldn’t blame her. He knew he was in a bad spot, though, as he had almost no reiki and still had two opponents to deal with. He was honestly shocked he’d managed to keep up with the both of them so far, but knew that he was fighting a losing battle.

  They’d had him on the defensive since the beginning of the fight, each one keeping him just off balance enough that he could never gain any momentum. With his flight skill, he would have a good chance of succeeding, as it would give him the speed he was currently lacking. But with the ban once more in place, he was forced to improvise.

  His Explosive impact had already recharged, but it wouldn’t do him much good unless he was close enough to deal a devastating blow to either Sing or Arnold. There was also the fact that it would take him at least another few seconds to recover the RP he needed to use the skill, and in a fight like this one, seconds might as well be decades. His Aura sense then detected the air around Sing warping and he braced himself for an attack. It didn’t help.

  Sing practically exploded towards him, moving so fast that he couldn’t follow her movements, even with his increased perception, and slammed into him full force. Morgan held back a scream as he felt his left forearm break as the threw it up in defense, then was abruptly slammed into the wall with enough force to make his vision fuzz when she spun and slammed her boot into his midsection.