Chapter 14—Dark Magick

The Power to Control the Darkness.

The Power to Grasp the Light.

The Power to Give it a Command.

When Magician learned the meaning of the crest on his hand, his mind had opened to many halls. He was still eluded by all of what the umbra could be, but the more he thought about it, he felt it, and the more he learned, the more he saw halls opening into worlds. Of course, Fang couldn’t figure it out on her own. Even with King’s help, it might always remain a mystery. But for Magician, the more his mind opened to the umbra and the power of dark magick, the more he saw how wrong everyone was.

It started with New Dawn, who only saw it as a means to move light. They set the conversation going forward, making each one about what umbra was in contrast, instead of what it was in comparison.

Darkness is the absence of light. Right? Then why wouldn't they see it as an end goal rather than something in and of itself? For him though, with an unseen dark sea always at his fingertips, darkness was a thing all by itself.

Darkness is the absence of light? No. He preferred to see light as the absence of darkness. Light was a candle trying to push back a moonless night. Light was the last glance of the setting sun. Light only ever chased the darkness away, and if you could make the darkness chase it back? Well, what couldn’t the light be?

He could make it flee and move it like water forced into an oblong shape. He could toy with photons or the spiritual fabric of a luminance, giving it more mass and making it look like a normal form. He could do this while lurking in the form’s shadow, hiding and waiting for someone to strike down what they thought was a living person. He could do that, and he did do that, knowing that he'd be the easiest target to take down in this match. With his dark powers, he made a physical illusion of himself, that ran and fought and tried desperately to survive, even when the real thing wouldn't have had a better chance.

Not even Raptor knew about this plan, and that was a part of it. He needed to fight as if his life depended on it—as if this simulation was as real as combat itself. The harder Raptor fought the easier it would be to pull the plan off because dead men didn't demand a second glance. And, it was hard to focus on ghosts when you had to fight a beast.

In a direct fight, Magician would have never survived his foes. But, wasn’t magic all about misdirection?

Falchion’s eyes burned as he glared back at him. “How the hell did you trap me!?” He was forcing himself back to his feet, regaining his composure faster than Magician liked.

The previous attack both overloaded and short-circuited Falchion's luminance. He wanted to incapacitate him, but it was more of a stun than a sure-kill spell. He'd have to attack a different way.

“Your leadership score is good, right?” Magician replied. “That’s how. You knew who to focus on so I just let you focus on him.” He started backing up.

Falchion hacked out a laugh. “214’s ace up the sleeve trick, huh? Except you’re the ace now?” His chain whip swirled in his hand.

“No.” Magician shook his head. “I’m the joker.” He grinned and didn’t wince as the chain swept around.

It came in fast, the weighted end swinging like a wrecking ball toward his head. It might have caved it in too, if the strike didn't bounce off a shimmering frame, fading away as Falchion whipped again. The chain kept coming at him, its heavy links failing to make it slower. Magician kept it back, however, fingers dancing as umbra pushed the light, forming quick shields as he slipped back.

Despite the range advantage Falchion switched back to his namesake, rushing after the dark disciple, lured away from the other fight.

Magician kept going, because this was a part of his plan, and it wouldn’t succeed if Raptor could save him at all.

Suddenly, Falchion slipped fast past him, the blade taking a bite out of his side. He tripped as the pain shot up his side, cursing the simulation for making it so real, but managing to raise his hand as the blade came down.

It bounced off of a shield and turned into the chain whip, sweeping up like a scorpion tail to break bricks from the wall above them. Stone came raining down as Magician cast a black dome out. Throwing himself out of it, he fell into Falchion’s trap, the chain striking his wounded side.

He went down with a yelp and the chain came for his head. He swept a hand up, and a dark wave splashed through it, erasing its links.

Falchion snapped what remained back with surprise.

Magician smiled as he got to his feet.

Falchion sneered, coming at him with his blade again.

This time Magician’s hands came up, spinning glimmering flares together.

As Falchion crashed into them, their light rushed through his armor like lightning, turning his charge into a jerking rush. His sword came around all too weak, and Magician swept it back, raising a black sphere in his other hand. It became a beam and swallowed a piece of Falchion’s armor as he went flying through a building’s window.

Magician grinned widely. Everything was going well, and theories he had yet to test were proving to be true.

For one, all the umbra was connected. He didn't need to touch a light to weaponize it, instead, he grabbed a distant one, as if grabbing a star several light years away. The umbra was a field around him, and all that was in the field was in his grasp. With this, he brought together two swirling blasts, launching them at the building to bring it down.

For two, what pushed against the umbra could never elude him. Even as the building came down he sensed Falchion moving, rushing past the debris and rubble that would take him out of the fight. Magician knew he’d emerged from the building’s right side.

And that’s when three came in, as he tugged at the darkness, capturing Falchion in an abyssal mass.

Control the Dark.

Grasp the Light.

Give it a Command.

The darkness was completely under his control and he could feel Falchion trying to fight against it. He grabbed hold of the Number’s light, the core of it trying to push the darkness back. Now he just needed a command, right?

“Dark:Resonate.” The black mass sunk into Falchion.

He dropped to the street, his eyes coated as if by ink, his body shaking violently. The command—the spell—was causing his luminance to resonate, forcing a fight within his spirit.

“Lu…min…nance…” He croaked as he grabbed his chest. “Max..xi…mize!” He hacked out, and his light was almost blinding as he flared up.

Magician gulped as his darkness seemed to burn away. The umbra before him parted, warning him all too late as Falchion sliced through his arm, burying the blade in his side.

“Good try!” The Number almost roared, almost as loud as he shined. “But your tricks don’t make up for your low combat score!” He carved his blade all the way through.

Magician’s body came apart, shock still painted across his face.

Falchion huffed, made ugly by his rage, but calming now that the fight was over.

Magician smiled as his upper half hit the ground.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Falchion’s eyes widened with horror.

“A high combat score doesn’t save you from my tricks.” He said as his body began to come apart.

A shadow pooled out around Falchion’s feet just then, tendrils worming up his legs. Magician rose from the pool next, binding Falchion’s arms to his side.

“Who ever said that was the real me?” He smiled.

Falchion’s eyes widened more, and then sharply narrowed. “You piece of shit!” He fought helplessly against his restraints.

“Does a maximized luminance mean you’re drawing on its full power. I guess luminance training has levels to it. I didn’t hear a countdown either, so can you permanently maintain it?” These were rhetorical questions, not meant for answers but to express his intrigue. He’d have to ask Micaela and King about it later. For now, he had to win.

He stepped forward, putting a hand on Falchion’s chest. “I don’t think it counts as a victory against you unless I’m touching you.” He felt the umbra through him, thread after thread finding his fingers through the man’s body. “Which is unfortunate for you, because I don’t think I can make this painless.” He tugged at those threads. “Dark: Eviscerate.” It was as bad as it sounded, the light shredding as the threads ripped through it like a blender, his holler undulating with the pain.

Falchion’s body went gray for a moment, but only for a moment as Magician took the shards of his light and shoved it as a sword through him. He went immediately limp, and Magician lowered his body slowly to the ground.

He was shaking, one part scared of this fight, one part burning with pure joy. This was the first time he had defeated a foe by himself, and he didn’t know how to restrain his excitement. He tried to think about Raptor instead, sure that he at least was used to such victories…

⁘⁛⁘

Raptor had been doing it all wrong.

When he learned that he could change his body using the umbra, he thought to use it to make up for what he didn’t have. Needed to survive a blow? Up his endurance. Needed to overpower a foe? Up his strength. Needed to go so fast that only dust could tell you he was there? Up his speed. It made as much sense as picking up a shield or sharpening a sword, so of course it painfully struck him how wrong he was when he was cornered. It was one thing to change yourself to beat your flaws. It was another to become something above them.

What stood in front of Claymore now was some nightmarish mix of reptile and man. He still stood as tall as he normally did, body still broad and strong, but where skin had been before now shined deep black scales. His face was flat as if he was wearing some sort of mask with big white blobs that marked his eyes. Spines stuck out on his arms and down his back, giving his new sleek form an extra layer of edge. Did his tail have them too? It sure did, sweeping over the ground as it were. He could even make the spines grow out between his knuckles, turning a punch into an all too vicious maiming.

That might have been fear on Claymore’s face as she took him in, worsening as her ally let his rage drive him after Magician. But, as soon as he was too far gone to heed her cries for help her fear turned into an almost lustful smile.

“This is going to hurt, isn’t it?” She said with open excitement.

Raptor's "mask" opened into a mouth, black tendrils snapping away to flash his fangs. He spoke, "If I have anything to say about it, it will."

Claymore took in a heavy breath and switched back to her khopesh. He lowered his center of gravity.

They came at each other with primal drive, Claymore grinning from ear to ear while spines jutted out from Raptor’s hands. He ducked the quick sweep of her khopesh, kicked back as it spun and slashed down, and swung his spiked tail into the side of her head.

Rather than blood, he drew back the shards of a helmet, clattering to the ground as she kept coming after him.

The khopesh swept up, down, spun in her hands, and tried to hook and rip open his chest. But he stayed ahead of it, ducking, blocking, catching it, and slamming his head into hers. He shoved his spines into her chest with a powerful jab. Once more, only shards came back, but he kept going breaking into it more and more.

She wrapped her arms around his and returned the headbutt, twisting them around as he reeled back, slamming her knee into his stomach. A growl rumbled out of him and she grabbed his head, yanking it down to have its turn with her knee.

He opened his mouth wide and dug his teeth into it. The copper taste of blood met his tongue before she screamed and let go, not quite freeing herself as his teeth sunk further. He only let her go long enough to swing for her neck. Claymore's hand erupted with light as it came up to block, but she only broke the spines enough to stop a too-deep gash.

Raptor let out a laugh and he started pummeling her again. Her arms came up and went bloody as he hammer, watching the excitement grow as she spilled down his spines and claws. He wailed harder and she swung back, tossing defense aside, fist glowing brightly as she went for his face again and again.

Admittedly, it hurt like hell. But not enough that he ever stopped. Not enough that he didn’t whip his tail around and open a wound down her body.

He yanked her legs out from under her, hoisted her over his head, and slammed her against the ground.

Those same legs wrapped around his neck and kept him in range of her rapid fists.

He punched into her side, spilling her blood onto the ground.

She raised her hands as if to push him back, but summoned her claymore to run him through.

The sheer force of the summoning sent him flying.

Claymore wobbled back to her feet, wiping blood from her mouth, and laughed harder as Raptor broke the blade and ripped the pieces out of him.

“Is the simulation broken! How are you still alive!?” It was more jest than anger or surprise.

“I could say the same to you! Do you got the endurance score of an elephant!?” He threw the same feeling back.

“I can go all night, babe.” She licked her lips.

“Well, this won’t last that long, but I’ll hold you to it afterwards.” New spines erupted from his hands.

They circled each other as she brought her khopesh back together. Each step left a trail of blood behind her, while he felt the umbra trying to fix what she had broken. Between them, Raptor knew he had a better chance of surviving. She didn't know enough to leave a lasting wound, but her time was running out. How would she attack next then? If winning was really her goal, she'd go for a definitive fatal blow. Did he know enough about her to know what type of blow it'd be?

No…and frankly, he couldn’t see why that mattered.

He charged his prey and she met him again. Her khopesh spun and he caught it, feeling its power fade as she let it go. The claymore? A pummeling? No, it was another grapple that came next as her hands landed on his arms. Spines erupted, running them through. She hung on still and his tail swept up, wrapping around her neck.

“Luminance…Maximize,” She called through gritted teeth. Her grip tightened so hard he could feel his bones crack, and feel the stress on the tendons as she tried to tear them apart.

His tail tightened around her neck, spines sinking in deeper.

She pulled back, splitting his muscles.

It all ended with a visceral and horrific conclusion, his new form compromised as she tore his arms off at the elbow; her assault countered as his tail removed her head like a bottle cap.

Raptor roared to the sky, and as if to answer back, there came a chime.

“Simulation concluded. Victory awarded to team 234.”

He laughed. That meant Magician won. The burning pain from his ruined arms slowly began to fade, and the secure feeling of the ground fell away next. In a moment, he was in an empty void again, and then he felt the cushion of the pod he rested in, as the true world came back together.

He removed his headset and pushed open the doors. The other Numbers were emerging around him, Scott and Logan looking at each other with newfound respect, Magician looking at him with pride so loud it might as well be singing. The room pinged again and the ranking system appeared on the wall. Raptor didn’t check for himself—he didn’t need to know if those fights had nearly pushed him past 220, but even their allies were curious about Magician.

“403…” Scott said as he found the number. As if the board was waiting for their eyes, it started counting down fast, the arcane algorithm doing its work.

Scott and Logan’s eyes went wide and Magician looked on, speechless. Raptor put a hand on his shoulder, missing the strength of his bestial form, but still forever firm.

“Congrats, 350.” He grinned.

"I did it…" Magician's eyes watered over.

"Holy crap," Scott said. "That means what? That you took one of them out alone?" He turned to Magician, who grinned from ear to ear.

“Fine,” said Logan. “You definitely earned that. Fighting one by ourselves was a god damn pain.”

Raptor met the newly promoted Number’s eyes. “What next then?”

“We have a meeting,” Magician replied, “I have some important stuff to share with the others.”

Raptor looked at Scott and Logan next. “And you two?”

“We aren’t doing the grading grounds if that’s what you’re asking. We ain’t ready for that.” Logan answered.

“Well, good luck with whatever you two do next. Figure out how to beat an asshole in a 1-v-1 and you’ll see how much you’ve grown.” He decided he’d at least say that, considering he dragged them into this fight in the first place.

He also let Magician take the lead as they left the room, confident more so than he ever was that this Number had a head for strategy…

[Chapter 14 ends…]