Convincing Theatrics

Try as he might, these stuck up Guard Knights refused to engage Frein in a four-versus-one combat. He couldn’t blame them.

From their mouths spouted righteous blabber about how a practitioner with ten meiyal marks had no right to stand before those who were far superior. That, despite his profound display of Siffera, engaging someone of his rank—a sarcastically laudable name called, Aspirant—was dishonorable. Of course, Frein simply took the gist of whatever almighty words they were using.

“And if someone were to teach you a lesson, it shall be me!” the elven woman said, finally ending her speech, her head held high and her eyes looked down on him. The Guard Knight had regained her composure a few seconds after Frein regulated his Meiyal Art.

She was the exact opposite of Rindea. Maybe this one just hadn’t matured enough.

“First, you should address your superiors with respect!” she exclaimed, gesturing towards Garm and Kristel. Apparently, she wasn’t done. “Address the Admiral and the Princess by their proper titles—”

Frein didn’t want to hear the rest of it. He raised his right arm and showed his meiyal core, feeling the meiyal within the entire room. Elizzel’s sudden anticipation tugged at their Tether.

“What are you doing?” she asked, voice alarmed.

Frein pressed against all the meiyal available and Gathered with all his might. It lasted for only a second, and suddenly, the entire room was empty of meiyal, swallowed by the Visitor’s greed.

The four Guard Knights took a step back. Even the three observers were visibly shocked.

“Clearly you guys won’t listen to me. So let me give you a deal,” Frein began. “I’m going to Mill all of this meiyal in front of you. It won’t matter how long; I’ll Gather them again the moment they disperse. All four of you are free to attack me whenever you want.

“But as soon as I’m done Milling, I will kill all of you.” Frein laced his threat with an echo Meiyal Art and emphasized his Siffera. At the same time, he began to Mill.

“That’s a bunch of bogus! You just said the winning conditions for this sparring are only incapacitation or surrender!” the male felintine yelled behind the elf.

“Well, I guess if I end up killing you; you win,” Frein retorted almost immediately. He reached towards the floor at the edge of the stage and grabbed it. A piece of the obsidian floor cracked at the pressure as if he was simply tearing off paper. The breaking noise resonated within the entire room.

“Also, I’ll throw one of these at the next person who speaks.” He flipped a few shards of obsidian. They were quite sharp and could actually hurt a person, considering all other things equal. Siffera simply protected him from it. “If you guys don’t start Drawing your Meiyal Arts, soon, this will seriously hurt.”

All four of them emphasized their Sifferas. In reaction, Frein Drew his Mesiffera.

Out of all four, the elven Guard Knight had the sturdiest Art—sturdy being a generous term. The felintine struggled the most. Her meiyal core looked interesting, but underutilized. The other two were subpar at best. Though, Frein wouldn’t be at all surprised if this was good enough for anybody else. At most, they were marginally better compared to the other soldiers and adventurers he had fought during his first week.

All things considered, they were way below Kristel’s level.

But at least, they were willing to engage him now. Frein intensified his Milling to remind the four they were on a time limit.

The human Guard Knight acted first and stretched out a hand. “Ferenfra!” he invoked.

It was painfully slow. The transition between his meiyal and Drawing crawled. It looked like he was performing an exhibition for some academic class to analyze. Frein considered it to be sarcasm, or that the Guard Knight wasn’t taking him seriously, but his face displayed otherwise.

A stream of flames rushed towards Frein. And to help convince the other three to participate, he simply stood there, pushing a coat of protective Siffera, and allowed for Ferenfra to envelop him.

The most Frein felt was warmth. It didn’t even singe his clothes.

“That’s not even a battle gear,” the canintine pointed out.

“You guys better start wearing yours, I’m a quarter done.” As promised, Frein flicked an obsidian shard towards the canintine. It whiffed past the elf who tried to catch it. The target barely raised his hands on time.

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The shard dug through his forearm, piercing skin and muscle. Fortunately his Siffera was strong enough to prevent the obsidian from completely slicing through his bone.

The canintine’s screams filled the room as he reached out and tried to pull the shard out. The felintine attended to him posthaste.

“Well, technically, that should’ve gone for the other one,” Frein admitted, pointing at the human Guard Knight. “But I guess, I’ll give invoking Meiyal Arts a pass.” He painted the statement with as much sarcasm and smugness he could afford.

The elf was visibly infuriated. She Drew her battle gear, a standard half-plate armor over thick, protective leather given to most soldiers. The rest followed suit. Then, she Drew a meiyal blade and charged at him, yelling at the top of her lungs.

Frein frowned and gave Garm a glance. “How long have they been Guard Knights?” he asked as he slipped to the side and sent a precise jab at the elf’s arm, disarming her. The meiyal blade dispersed into residue.

Experienced Guard Knights would have had alterations on their battle gear to display their accolades. Frein couldn’t find even the most common ones on them.

“Inaugurated three days ago, after formal training,” Garm answered.

“Oh.” Frein suddenly felt irritated. The elf had Drawn another meiyal blade, brandishing it recklessly. The human had more sensibility with him, sending Diferenfra at regular, albeit long, intervals.

Frein parried each strike with minimal effort and withstood the flames without even paying it any attention. His irritation only grew.

With a step, he pressed forward and invaded the elf’s personal space. The Guard Knight instinctively backed off, but that gave Frein the initiative. He raised his elbow, clenched a fist, and jerked forwards.

She raised both arms to defend herself. But Frein sent out a kick instead, slamming a leg clean on the Guard Knight’s midsection. He didn’t follow through, allowing the strike to press deep into her stomach.

The elf doubled over and fell on the ground. Then she vanished.

A piece of meiyal blade snapped as it collided with Frein’s back. He turned to find the same elf with a shocked expression on her face.

“Now that’s better.” Frein smiled. “Nature’s Favor? No, not just that.”

He grabbed the elf by the arm and used her momentum to send her flying back to the other three. Then, he flicked three obsidian shards in rapid succession.

The canintine stood in the way and raised both arms. “Rakkera!”

Through his Mesiffera, Frein observed as a standard barrier Meiyal Art manifested in front of the canintine, who had just recovered from his injury. Something was different from it.

The three shards bounced off the barrier, deflecting them straight back to him. Frein stretched out an arm but the slight shimmer of meiyal surrounding them was enough warning for him to step away instead. They flew straight across the room and dug through the obsidian wall.

“Well, I’d certainly say you four work well together,” Frein commented, slowly turning back to them. He had deliberately left himself open, but nobody took advantage.

“This is hopeless, they won’t do anything unless I do something drastic first.”

“You did say you intend to kill them, right? Is that not enough?” Elizzel said.

“No, these people are too righteous, it’s almost stupid. They’ll wait until the last minute. By then, we’ll all just look stupid.” He was halfway through his Milling and had Gathered everything that dispersed.

“Oh, good, we’re not late,” Katherine entered the room. “You guys haven’t started yet?”

Frill followed closely behind her.

“Done cooking already?” Garm asked, gesturing for the two to take a seat.

“No, it’ll take a few hours, but all it needs to do is cook under low fire anyway. What’s happening?”

Her father, then, began to reiterate the events that occurred. Katherine subtly tapped her right knee twice with two fingers.

A thought came to mind.

“Well then, if you guys are just going to stand there, I’ll just finish off this Milling,” Frein said while stretching his left shoulder across his front, using his right hand to reach over his left elbow and pulling twice.

Katherine, still attentive to her father, responded by dragging the fingers of her right hand overhead, as though to fix her hair.

“Really? Still nothing?” Frein taunted the four Guard Knights again. They looked indecisive now rather than arrogantly righteous.

As expected, the elf moved first. Her image disappeared again just as she appeared behind him. Frein had observed Kristel before Drawing this exact Meiyal Art. He didn’t know if there was a name for it, but it made afterimages. Realistically feeling ones. Add Nature’s Favor to it, and this elf could easily become a successful assassin.

He had the time to wonder why she chose to be a Guard Knight instead. For that matter, he also wondered why her Nature’s Favor disappeared whenever she was about to attack. Enza could do such things without consequences. Maybe there was some sort of skill involved and the yuma was simply that gifted?

A matter for later.

The elf enveloped her meiyal blade with Kaimera, but her Siffera was lacking. It didn’t matter how strong the weapon was if the wielder herself made too many mistakes. Fortunately enough, it served Frein this time.

He allowed for the blade to stab him, subtly removing his protective Siffera while adjusting at the right time to make sure the blade avoided his vital parts. He wore the face of desperation and grabbed the elf, throwing her across the other side of the room.

Frein grunted and pulled the blade free. “That’s the way,” he said. “Now only if the rest of you—”

The Visitor doubled over and clutched his right arm where his meiyal core was. At the same time, he emphasized his Siffera to the extremes. His scream alone was enough to make everyone flinch.

“Damn it!” he yelled. “I can’t control it!” He raised his right hand and slammed it on the ground, causing a crater that broke through the arena. The room violently shook at the impact.

Katherine stood up before anyone else. “Not good,” she yelled.

“What’s happening?” Kristel asked, her face worried. “This never happened before!”

Frill immediately took the Princess’s side. Xiv was confused more than anything.

“It’s the Nightmare,” said the Lady. “I think the influence remained.”

The Admiral stood to refute. “But we—”

Frein screamed louder, causing everyone to cover their ears. His labored breathing was akin to a rabid dog and he searched for his prey. He allowed his own meiyal, a distinct color of dark red, to seep through him like smoke.

“What are you doing?” Elizzel asked. She was so taken completely off-guard that she forgot to tug at their Tether.

“I’m acting.”

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