Winston Epeth.

***

“One hour left.” I sighed, rising from my seat. “It’s about damn time.”

“I will say again that this is unwise. Your embarrassment- your pride, will be your downfall.”

“Will you shut up, Duccec!” I spat at him. “Leave me be!”

“I cannot.” He stepped to follow me, shaking his feathery head. “We are a team. A single entity.”

Luckily, Rhody and Toni were nowhere to be found. So the only annoyances came from Twig and this feathered bastard as I made my way to the arena. I’d have to pluck him at some point. But for now, his words rang true. We were a team. And I wouldn’t have my points diminished just because he annoyed me.

But once we changed teams...

“I will see you at the end of your bout.”

Ignoring him, I veered away to enter Zook’s Armory and give two firm knocks on the desk.

“Hi, hi! Welcome, welcome!” Shouted the gnome before he rounded the corner and saw me. Then threw his arms forward in a welcoming gesture and smiled. “Winston! Hello, hello! How may I help you today? Bet you need your gear? That you do! Well alright! Step right through the door here and I’ll help get you sorted.”

“Uh, yes. Thank you.” I stepped through the door with a groan.

Inside was a room shaped like a cooking pot when viewed from above. The pot itself was a run-of-the-mill armory. Filled with nothing more than an abundance of weapons and armor racks with sheets draped over them and the tools to keep them maintained. But the handle from where I entered- a corridor, led to two courtyards meant to be our dressing rooms. One vacant and one occupied. Taking the only one available, I stepped through and watched the setting sun until I heard Zook’s shuffling.

“Here you go! All set. Let me know if you need anything else.” He waddled in and out with nothing more than a wave. Then I heard his shouting again once my door closed and another one opened.

Alright then! As I was saying, the Grand-”

Sneering, I turned away from the door to inspect my pride and joy before donning it. It was a set of armor unlike any seen in the House of Epeth. Greener than the richest fields in our land, accented with silver and gold and formed in such ways that even dragons would be made jealous. Accompanied by my sword and collapsable shield, stored inside the forearm, it truly made me the one to stand at the forefront of my great empire and lead it to greatness.

Putting on, however, was a different story. I should’ve listened to Mother. About many things. But especially about this.

Eventually, though, I got it right. And then I waited.

And waited.

And waited for the final hour to tick by.

“Hi, hi! It’s time, it's time!”

“Finally!” I groaned and all but skipped to the door. Only to see the object of my ire- my opponent. Wearing nothing more than a golden sash tied off at the waist and his school uniform. No weapons. No armor. Just his scrawny elven self.

“Alright, here are the formal rules. You may prepare spells or techniques during the countdown. And then you fight! Lady Felicity is a Light Witch. So you can fight without holding back. But you can’t kill! That comes later!” He guffawed. Much to both of our apparent interests. “You can use any weapon. Any magic. Any spell. Just can't go to a separate dimension or plane and you can’t leave the ring. Any questions?”

“What about points?” I asked.

“That’s up to the instructors and the Headmaster. I don’t know the specifics. Don't really care,” he cheerfully said. “But it’s usually no more than one hundred per duel if I remember correctly.”

“Thank you.” I sighed.

“Alright. The one who has been challenged has already decided the terrain. So.” He gestured to the end of the main corridor. “Into the ring you go!”

‘Alright.’ I sighed deeply, closing my eyes. ‘Remember the stories. Watch the shadows. Watch your feet. Quell your fear. Ignore the summons, aim for the summoner.’

Repeating the mantra, I fell into a rhythm of deep breaths to calm myself while the lift ascended ever so slowly.

“I’ll show you half.”

“What?” I turned on my heels.

But Amun didn’t reply. He only looked at me. Stared into my eyes with no traces of fear or aggression, malice or mercy in his. And he kept staring.

“The final duel of the evening! Another challenge for disrespect!”

Even with Mr. Yurich’s announcement- even with the lift completing its ascent, Amun kept staring unblinkingly.

‘He’s just playing mind games.’ I sighed and turned away for a quick scan of my surroundings. Only to see square tiles as far as the eye could see. No stones or trees or anything else that could cast a shadow.

Just him. And me.

“We have the challenger, Winston Epeth!”

Naturally, my posture straightened upon hearing my name. I tossed my inhibitions away and focused on the task at hand- who was still staring at me. Even while Zeff shouted. “And the challenged, Amun!

“Ten seconds! Get ready!”

I moved at once, kicking off the ground to place my shadow in front of me while I withdrew mana into my cores and kept them on the precipice of being extracted. Amun, however, remained in place. He didn’t even turn his body to face me. He simply looked over his shoulder so he could keep staring at me blankly.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Fight!”

He pivoted abruptly and I reacted immediately, pulling my barrier mana into my hand to prepare a counter, then stopped as I realized he’d only raised his hand to point two fingers at me.

And then I felt it. A surge of mana sent my mind reeling back to a month before, forcing my eyes to grow wide just as arcs of crackling danced over his fingers. In a panic, I raised my arm and poured mana into it, spurring the enchantment within to spew out barrier after barrier to protect me from that horrendous spell. But it never came. Not at first.

Huddled behind my shield, I was forced to listen to the sharp crackling intensify into a draconic roar for what felt like hours. And after that endless moment, the world turned white. Bringing with it a hellish heat that probed my barrier to sear my flesh and force me into a smaller position behind my shield before the giant's hammer fell with a deafening roar. All I bore witness to was a scale-shattering crack before my knee slammed into the ground and I found myself pushed back by several meters. And then, as quickly as it came, it stopped.

Looking through my barrier, I saw a cone of pits and craters and loose rubble stretching between the two of us. Endless points of darkness from which he could emerge. Upon reinforcing my barrier, I began to scan the area until I saw Amun, still staring blankly with his hand held out before him, palm down; but now with a distinct purple glow in his eyes that saw an absurdly dense domain spread across the field.

Reflexively, I spawned another barrier between us and scanned the environment for any noticeable changes. Only for the world to tip beneath me. As if the ground had turned into a wall, I stumbled, tripped, and slammed my back against the floor. Then rolled and tumbled and eventually plummeted toward the far end of the ring. Instinctively, I conjured a barrier behind me and cursed as it met my back with great force and clamored to my feet with a thrust of my hand, spawning a staircase of repeating barriers leading right to the bastard. Then I charged, conjuring and slinging sharp scales at him along the way. In return, he just stared. Watched me approach and ignored the projectiles veering off-course on their own.

Sneering inside, I sent out a few Barrier Bullets formed into looping curves and watched the scales grind and curve around to strike him in the rear. Seemingly without effort, and while still staring, Amun sidestepped two of the scales but seemed to notice the last one far too late. Too late even for an elf. So I excitedly dashed forward to introduce him to my sword as well. Only for the scale to just… stop in place. Suspended just a meter before him. Spinning and whirling through the air as if it were actually going somewhere.

Cursing under my breath, I tried to cast out another spell but was outmatched by him pointing his finger overhead, causing the world to once again tilt beneath me.

As if I dove off a cliff, I plummeted. Upwards. Towards the ceiling at a frightening rate until I threw my arm behind me to save myself with a scale-breaking crack. Squinting through the pain, I saw an inverted Amun and scowled, pulled mana from my cores, and stomped to my feet to thrust my arm forward, casting a barrier to contain him while I mended my armor with my other arm and sneered. “Come fight me, you bastard!” I refused to allow him to keep playing these games with me. But he just continued staring and flicked his finger down.

Before I could move, the pull on me shifted and I was hurtling toward the ground with no chance of catching myself. I could only continue reinforcing my armor, cradle my head in my arms, and hope the barrier surrounding Amun held up.

The fall was only a few meters away from the surface but I may as well have jumped from the heavens. The impact cracked the tiles beneath me, flattening my body into a plank of flesh and cracked scales with enough force to make me mimic the sounds of dying waterfowl. Then the world tipped again. Before I could even catch my bearings, I started sliding again. Forward this time. Plummeting- tumbling right towards Amun and that sickening smile.

I clawed and fought against it, using barriers as stepping stones and scales to dig canyons into the tile. I fought and clawed desperately, fighting tooth and nail to no avail, for his sickening whisper rang against my ears like a bell. “The first spell.”

“Fuck!” Spinning onto my back, I raised my sword high; only for it to lower upon realizing I was no longer sliding- and upon seeing Amun's cold stare from behind my barrier.

“The first spell was half of my mana,” he said. “But this costs next to nothing.”

So saying, he raised his hand ever-so-slowly and looked into my eyes as his palm became…empty. It was as if some strange force had grown to encompass his arm, creating a blank spot in reality that only resembled a hand. And with a single swipe from overhead, it parted my barrier in two. Disappeared it before my eyes while the rest of the shell remained intact. Until he swept his arm again. Causing another streak of my family's birthright to disappear and be forgotten until there was nothing left but Amun, staring at me blankly.

“How- how dare you!” I lunged forward with a wide swing.

Amun snapped into action at once, folding his elbow and raising his shoulder to cover his neck and head before seemingly leaning into my attack, burying the blade into his tricep and shoulder. And with his ever-present stare, he uncoiled his arm around to dislodge and grab hold of my sword, prying it from my shocked grip to chuck it overhead before his fist, imbued with something arcane, clenched and fell onto my scaled heart like a great hammer. My beloved scales shattered at the moment of impact and rebounded as a cone of jagged shards that formed crimson streaks as they rained over his arm, neck, and face. But either unnoticing or uncaring, Amun reeled back for another punch.

My scales were running thin. Thus I turned to the tried and true method of protecting myself against such a powerful punch. In turn, I gleefully watched his hand get crushed and mangled by the barrier formed between us. But my mirth was stolen at once.

For the first time since we got off the lift, Amun took his eyes off me to look at his hand. Thus I followed his gaze to the gruesome sight. Flesh hung loosely from the shoulder he used to block my blade, revealing yellowed bone encased in a syrupy coating of blood that soaked down his hand. The fingers on his other hand were cracked and bent into horrendous angles, causing the skin to be twisted and warped loose from the muscle and bone. And yet, Amun simply stared at it as if he was... amused.

When his eyes turned back to me, that amused sneer changed into something malevolent, triggering a cacophony of bone-chilling cracks to fill the air. Before my eyes- before everyone’s eyes, Amun’s fingers unnaturally bent back into shape. The skin unraveled and pulled itself taut. His muscles folded back on themselves to conceal the bone once more. Leaving, in the end, a blood-stained arm and a puddle of blood around the scrawny elf; moving for the first time since our duel began.

He stepped in my direction and stared. Smiling- sneering as he walked at a leisurely slow pace. Stepping back, I did a scan of the surroundings in search of my weapon. Only to be distracted by Amun pointing overhead.

“It’s up there.”

I chanced a look and spotted it easily, drifting along the ceiling like a leaf in the wind. It was a sight I lingered on for too long, for when I looked down, Amun was gone. I wheeled around at once and felt something dull slam against my chest. Stumbling back, I saw Amun reeling his bloodied leg back. Then I felt another, stronger shock. Followed by the scattering of another scale. Creating another shower of jagged scales to rain down on him. Yet, Amun attacked again, wheeling his leg around to dig his heel into my kidney with almost inhuman strength. Eventually, I was forced onto my stomach to cower in the mercy of his blows- his dreadful punches and accursed stomps, which impacted against my body with more force than almost anything I felt before. Again and again, each with more power than the last, until my armor was reduced to nothing but its frame.

And though his body was reduced to a mangled mess, he healed, then emitted the softest grunt he could muster to leap off the ground and remain in midair for an eternal moment; staring at me, staring at his legs coiled tightly against his chest before his soles accelerated towards me at an impossible speed.

The pain was but an afterthought. As if my perception of time had been slowed, I watched his feet pulverize my stomach and ribs in vivid detail. Blood, food, snot, and a number of fluids I couldn't name flew from my mouth and nose before I even departed from Amun's foot. Then, as I tumbled head over heels, the pain came. Then… everything felt distant.

Dark.

Cold.

My vision returned sometime later. Hazed and distorted though it was. At least until the jarring, throbbing pain chasing it passed me by. It encompassed my entire being. At least until the warmest and most gentle thing one could imagine enveloped me. But then my vision cleared. Helping me to my feet were Mr. Wolfgang and the other instructors standing around with mixed expressions, but all staring at me.

Just like Amun, standing across the way. Staring at me with the same blank expression.