Later that night, Jude and Glenny had their duel in front of a plethora of high-renowned Inquisitors and multiple members of royal families. They took their marks on opposite sides of a particularly “gross” courtyard, as Aunty P. put it. If they destroyed the garden and trimmed bushes, so be it. Aunty P. didn’t mind a total renovation of the yard.

Jude, donned in his full frosty antler armor, stood at the ready, his eternally blood stained battle axe at the ready. He had shown his parents the effects of Floe’s incarnation blessing, but without a proper rage-filled battle, it was a limited display.

Glenny, likewise , wore his full set of dark leather armor. The magic absorbing effect would do him little good when it came to fighting a physical combatant such as Jude, but it was Glenny’s best set of armor. He stood somewhat stiff, his shadowy cloak unveiled to the fullest extent he could.

He had spent the last few hours talking to his dad about the cloak. Glenny still wasn’t happy with his relationship with his father, but it would take more than a single conversation to fix years of grieving and loss. He knew this and didn’t push, instead focusing on things they both knew how to do.

Fight.

At some point, Aunty P. had allowed Carmon a few hours off to be with Glenny. They, of course, trained with focus on an adaptive fighting style based around Glenny’s cloak. He was nowhere near perfect but was getting the hang of it by the time evening rolled around and the duel was due to start.

King Harlen particularly was interested in the duel, stating that he “is quite bored most of the year in the Void,” and that the only interesting time is during the Reflection when he returns to the material realm. Seeing a duel was about the only entertainment he would be privy to since he had kingly duty and matters to attend to as the week went on.

So, Harlen sat on the lawn, his ghostly throne cemented in stone. It propped him up just a bit higher than the rest of the onlookers, as to “get a better view.”

Leland, having long returned from changing with Sybil, didn’t know what to think about Harlen. On the one hand, he seemed to just be around, making his presence known as a King and that he was a ghost from the Reflection Kingdom. But that was about it. Sybil said that some of his citizens were important for the Royal Dream in a few days, so there was that he supposed. Although he didn’t really get it.

From what he remembered about coming to Ruinsforth as a kid, the Reflection was more of a whole city event. The memories were hazy at best, but Leland kept returning to a scene of noise and laughter. He remembered sitting on his father’s shoulders as his parents moved down a crowded street. There were magical streamers floating through the air, music around every corner, and more than enough performers to always be entertained, all the while ghosts moved around the city like tourists.

Leland supposed he’d learn more about the Reflection ghosts later tonight when his parents were off duty. They promised to take him into the city, which meant plenty of time to ask questions.

“Ready?” Roy shouted to the boys. Both gave a head nod. “Go!”

A cold wind rushed through the courtyard as Jude’s body frosted over with hoarfrost and icy plates. The new ice combined with the ice already on his armor, reforming into spikes and thick hinges. He still had plenty of movement, the ice almost conjoining with his joint.

He screamed out a frozen war cry, a trail of frost instantly freezing over in front of him. It crossed a few steps into the courtyard in a cone shape, killing the grass instantly. With a twirl, Jude brandished his axe forward, leaping to Glenny.

Glenny, meanwhile, didn’t sit still. First making himself invisible, he sprinted perpendicular to his opponent. As he ran, two crimson red bars extended from his palms. Normally, he forged bladed weapons but those simply wouldn’t do against a heavily armored target. Instead of a dagger or sword, he created two one hand axes with a blunt hammer side and a pointed spike side.

With the weapons’ creation, a few of the adults watching grunted in satisfaction or gave low whistles. Those who couldn’t see through invisibility only had their imaginations.

Jude landed with a frozen up-earthing wave. Rocks covered in hoarfrost jutted from the ground in a half-ring, but unfortunately for him, Glenny had long moved.

Glenny circled back, striking out with the spike part of his weapons. He wildly swung into the back of Jude’s knees, sending chunks of ice flying but otherwise failing to bypass his armor.

Taking it in stride, Glenny moved with his opponent, slipping to the side of Jude as he raised his weapons high. He slammed down with the hammer portions directly onto Jude’s wrists. Only cracks echoed the force of the blow, although they instantly froze over with more ice.

Jude spun, swinging his axe.

It was wild and unflinching, yet caught Glenny off guard by speed alone. Shadows collapsed around him, pulling him back to one of the few shadows the courtyard held. It was connected to a pottery vase, one that was larger than him and held a golden flower.

Glenny didn’t notice the flower, however, his throat scrunching from the sudden shadow step. He grit his teeth, allowing a Legacy ability to take hold. His sight sharpened along with his other senses. He watched Jude carefully as he regained his breath, slowly shifting his conjured weapons to be just a bit more tailored to defeating Jude. They grew in length and width, while the deadly portions shortened.

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He needed a bit more leverage to get past Jude’s defenses, not a longer spike or a larger hammer head.

Jude, during this, wasn’t waiting idly. He yelled taunts and insults, most of which were something that a seven year old would create, not so much a warrior. Both of his parents had their hands across their faces.

Jude abruptly stopped yelling, noticing a footstep across the frosty grass. He smirked, leaping across the distance in mere seconds. He landed, breaking apart the ground like before, but shooting off to follow the footsteps. He whipped his axe wide, sending a blue frozen crescent blade of raw rage forward.

The attack missed, but Jude knew he had him. The footsteps had suddenly ended, with no invisible person standing in them. Glenny had used the cloak again.

“Stop running!” Jude yelled. “We both know you can’t use your cloak that many times!”

And he was right. During the few hours Glenny and his dad worked on using the cloak, they had learned a rough estimate of just how many times he could shadow step. It was a matter of distance really, meaning longer steps took more stamina than shorter ones.

Luckily, the cloak itself had a means of circumventing that problem. In its previous form, the cloak would use the power of the night sky to keep Glenny in the fight. Now, after its evolution, the cloak required shadows.

Jude watched the shadow connected to a tall potted vase with a golden flower disappear. That was not something he’d seen before, but he didn’t need to. If anything, it was just one less place for Glenny to step to.

He leaped, throwing his axe mid-air the moment Glenny’s footsteps started running in a direction.

The axe landed just in front of the invisible man just before Jude landed behind him. The berserker dove, taking the rogue to the ground. They both struggled and squeezed before the mass in Jude’s hands suddenly disappeared.

Glenny reappeared across the way, in the shadow of Spencer standing at the edge of the courtyard.

“Take it slow,” the portal mage suggested.

“Shh!” Diana quickly chastised. “That’s cheating!”

Glenny honestly wasn’t sure about the advice anyway. Playing slow a slow hit-and-run type of strategy was well and good, but he just didn’t have the stamina for that. Especially if Jude could track him in the frosted grass. He was running out of shadows to step into as well unless he wanted to wait around for the shadows to naturally regenerate.

It was one of the Tendrils that whispered the solution to him. It wasn’t so much words, but the vague feeling of something important, something key.

Jude had a shadow… and an unguarded chin.

The helmet Jude wore was antler and frost, with pleated plates of ice down the back of his neck and along his cheeks. Yet, there was a small gap where the armor attached to his chest piece was supposed to cover.

All Glenny needed to do was get Jude to look up.

Jude hesitated when Glenny appeared fully visible by the crowd of adults, Leland, and Sybil. “I’m not going to attack you there, man,” he yelled. “Someone might get hurt.”

Although he doubted that, Jude still didn’t want to attack into the crowd. He’d rather call the duel right then and there than risk hurting someone. Luckily, Glenny agreed with the sentiment and stalked around him in a wide circle.

Jude slowly spun within him, finding himself at the center of the courtyard with the setting sun behind him.

“Ready?” Jude asked, wondering why Glenny was still visible.

Glenny nodded, one of his crimson weapons reforging itself to be much longer and thicker. He took a ready stance, before taking a deep breath and focusing on the wave his cloak needed to move him.

Jude crouched a bit, readying himself to leap but stopped when Glenny threw the shorter of his conjured weapons high into the air.

All eyes went to the weapon, except Glenny himself and his dad. Before the weapon reached the apex of its arc, Glenny pulled his longer weapon back, resting the hammer head gently on the grass. He swung.

Then he shadow stepped.

The hammer rose upward in an arc, appearing in Glenny’s hands within Jude’s shadow. The berserker hardly had the time to flinch let alone react. The crimson weapon smashed Jude in the chin, splintering what little ice armor was attached to his head, sending him a foot into the air.

Jude landed hard, unmoving and unconscious.

In the reigning silence, a fear crept through the shadows deep within Glenny’s heart and mind. He assumed the worst and forgot about everything other than guilt of potentially killing his friend. A flicker of a memory surfaced among the whispering cloak shadow Tentacles and Sightless King’s mania.

Glenny saw Jude impaled by antlers and dying.

The world slowed down as a gray tinge radiated from him, from his cloak, yet his thoughts didn’t hesitate. The question of how to save Jude rushed to his mind, along with potential solutions. He suddenly was within the sandy arena of King Everald, fighting the semi-sentient stag monster to the bitter end inside a dungeon away from all semblances of help.

Jude was hurt back then, right? He was practically dead, right? How did they save him back then?

Leland.

Leland used his magic, he did something to amplify emotions. He did something to heal Jude.

The world still gray, Glenny appeared inside Leland’s shadow. “Heal him! Quick!”

The world’s gray tone ended at that moment, bringing forth a rush of fatigue and exhaustion.

Leland blinked in surprise, taking a step back. “They’ve got it,” he said, pointing to Jude.

With the adrenaline of a prowling lion, Glenny turned back to find Diana, Roy, and Spencer all standing over Jude. Multiple portals were open and various items were floating through them, all of which Roy was catching. He handed a few vials to his wife that she then poured down her son’s throat.

“He’s good, Glenny,” Leland said. “Good duel.”

“I— I thought I killed him.” The words caused a cascade, and suddenly Glenny wasn’t a lion but a suffocating fish dragged onto land by a predator long gone.

Leland caught him as he fell.

A voice appeared beside Leland. “Glenny said ’heal him.’” Aunty P. repeated with a finger touching the tip of her chin. “I thought you were a mage? Mages don’t have healing spells, clerics do. Just what are you, Leland Silver?”