Alyx experienced a stab of uncertainty. Six seemed confident and eager, which either meant he was dangerous or bluffing.
She didn’t know if he was lying or not. The words of the halfling came to mind, did Six like her? Probably not, which meant he could be deceitful.
Still, how dangerous could this mountain lordling be? It seemed his ignorance was the most dangerous aspect of him.
“Rules?” Alyx sighed. “Imperial standard dueling rules. No killing, to surrender or when one party can no longer fight..”
“What about maiming?”
She laughed at his ignorance. “Allowed.”
He whistled low, cocking his head and looking thoughtful before nodding enthusiastically. “Hell yea.” He pointed at a nearby townguard, “Go get Kali Kik, and the rest of the officers. My healer and a counter force to make sure your people stay out of it,” he said to Alyx’s questioning glare.
It was to be expected but she took the social stab. “Are we not surrounded by your forces? Are you not safe, even here?” She aimed to take away his credibility as a protector.
He smiled and ignored the jab. “Nah, eh. I’ve been jumped before, it can happen in an instant. I want my people here.”
“Do you not trust us?” Mage Atellia asked, the robed woman stepped forward to stand next to Alyx. “Who are you to call into question our honor? Show me your imperial mage license.”
“I don't have a license, I'm just traveling, and it's not about honor. It's just hard to stand by and do nothing while your lady is getting styled on. I would expect you to step in based on friendship and loyalty? I want my people to counter that, maybe even save my life if I lose and you wont stop whooping my ass.”
“So you already think you will lose?” Alyx asked with a derisive sniff.
“Might be in for taking some lumps. We shall see.” He shrugged. “There are no stakes so it doesn’t matter who wins. ”
“You have no pride. No honor.”
“Yes yes, I wouldn’t put my ego before my people.”
He went the route of the martyr, a powerful tactic, she needed to deflect and attack. “Your people or Yudinzo’s people?”
That actually made him pause. “State your implications clearly, for all to hear.”
“Can you not understand me? Do you lack that much grace?”
“I lack grace? Your insincerity is utter disgrace.”
“I am sincere.” Alyx smirked.
“Then speak clear.” He crossed his arms and cocked his head expectantly.
She executed her social stab. “You are a puppet under the control of Aclo Yudinzo.” She pointed at the masked man
The people chattered as they learned the true identity of the porcelain wearing aelf. Whispering amongst each other and gesticulating their surprise.
Six smiled. “A big claim to level at someone.”
“Do you not deny it?”
“I do, but let us assume for a moment it was true.” He raised his arms out to the murmuring crowd. “Would anyone want anything to change If I were the puppet of Aclo? Would I somehow be able to work harder than I’ve been? Contribute more? Were I not my own man?”
The people were quiet.
“They would never speak against their tyrant.” Alyx scoffed.
“Indeed,” Six agreed, almost sadly.
Alyx was confused for a second “You agree?”
“I have an immense amount of personal, political, and legal power compared to anyone here. Why would anyone speak out against me?”
That woman shouted from the crowd again, “Because, unlike these traumatized countryfolk I can see that you won't kill us for speaking out against you.”
“I swear to Kynairos, Kathy. Please stop.” Six actually sounded a little defeated.
Alyx saw the lady cross her arms and purse her lips with great effort.
Six continued. “I bring all I can to the table, as much as I can everyday. You think people care about where it fucking comes from?”
“They do,” Alyx said, “their hearts would tell them what is right and what is wrong.”
“For a moment, just a moment of consideration. But convenience? Convenience is more important than consideration. They might care for a few days that their lord is a puppet, but that would fade as the conveniences become more important and real than their source. My culture is littered with history and tales that paint it so. I am too ingrained in maintaining this unique way of life.”
Now he spoke like a noble, there was more than the simple man covered in plate before her.
He was right of course, bread and games to pacify the people was almost required. She knew better than to say that so she spoke to the crowd, “people are better than you think.”
“Few walk away from Omelas.” Meaningless words to her that visibly hardened him, the life and mischief behind his eyes withering into abject rage.
She continued. “Morals and tradition will point them to me. No soothing salves, no crumbs of bread you litter. The world is supposed to work a certain way..”
Six smiled, grim and fatalistic. “The spice must flow.” She didn’t understand the meaning of his words, no one did, but they all felt the gravity.
She grasped at all she had left. “It is sin to allow you to rule. I am the rightful ruler of this place.”
He shook his head, no. His whisper rolling across the gathered crowd. “The only sin in this world is not protecting what you have.”
He sounded so dead and sported a wry smirk that evoked no humor. It was then a sliver of worry lodged itself at the base of her neck.
Then his officers appeared.
A young orc, who styled himself as an imperial wearing fine leather armor. He rode the strangest horse she had even seen. Pitch black it seemed to consume light, with its eyes just a hint of burnished golden colour.
A well muscled K’gan who reminded her of lord Kreegan of Vlehull.
A half aelf with what must be an imitation of the empire’s dark dragon plate, yet…
An aelf who wore a cape of moss and armor of pleated bones. He plucked and sawed an irreverent tune on his fiddle.
A frilled vrill in pure white flowing robes. A burn marked her face but only peace and serenity was presented.
A young human man, she actually recognized. Indigo Gwenwyn, one of the empire's most eligible bachelors and a classed alchemist. His parents were staunch loyalists, so what was he doing with the betrayer’s brother?
Lastly, a human woman with compact muscles and features that sang to her innate nobility. She wore armor similar to the mountain lord’s, but gleaming crimson. A bandolier held a glaive on her back and potions on her front. A glowing fiery wisp orbited her letting out periodic jets of hissing.
The vrill healer looked irritated when Six explained he wanted her on hand to heal the most grievous injuries but she agreed to the request.
The crowd made way standing at the edges of the square as Alyx and Six took up the center.
Her analyze attempts continued to fail and it was met with a few failures from him.
They were both going into the unknown and she found it… disconcerting.
She had, of course, fought and killed, but always surrounded and ensconced within her family's power. Her duels were within court and sand pits, controlled and relatively safe.
Freedom from her family's guidance had produced a vulnerability she realised.
She may have made a mistake, coming here. She might not be ready.
Tukar’s drilled voice broke those thoughts down though. “Self doubt will kill you,” he’d said.
She found it hard to ignore though.
“Trade analyzes?” Six asked.
“What?” she asked, coming out of her thoughts.
“You let me analyze you and I’ll let you analyze me.”
“I wouldn’t trust a man with no honor.”
“Oh, I have honor of a sort, which is why I rejected your agreement instead of accepting and reneging if I lost. I just don’t think it's a big thing, I would abandon honor if I had to, but I don’t have to.”
Could she trust him? Bah, he had no signs of evolution, no aura. It was unlikely he was of a higher level than her but that only meant so much. She needed to see his threat level.
She nodded and allowed the next analyze attempt to succeed.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
SIx jutted his chin out and nodded approvingly. “Level 17, wow, nice.”
His praise felt like condescension even though she felt his earnestness.
He held up a hand for her to wait as he reached beneath his breastplate and withdrew an amulet, tossing it to the giant K’gan who stood behind him as one of his supports.
Six nodded at her to continue so he began to analyze him
His bearing was relaxed but ready.
His equipment appeared simple but to the trained eye she could see the signs of reagents and moreso worrying, enchantments.
His thoughts and ideas spoke of insanity, it matched his fervor.
Six
Human
Level 15
Threat: Near Magnum
Her gut felt like the Iceblade Master Tukar stabbed her himself.
He was two levels beneath her yet his threat was almost magnum?
Not minor, not moderate, nor peak major. Near magnum for a level 15 was unheard of.
The only people in her life that could produce a higher threat level were her parents and Master Tukar himself, and they had all evolved.
It was impossible to project such a threat at her with only 15 levels and no evolution.
“Don’t like what you see?” He smiled at her, pleased with himself.
She steeled her disbelief and smoothed her features.
She could think of nothing to say. Alyx withdrew her rapier from her spatial ring. Made for her class achievement of Needleblade, the weapon was forged with silksteel and its reagent had been the gossamer wing of a dragon wasp. A journeyman enchanter had imbued it with an air enchantment, decreasing its weight by an additional 5%, and providing a chance for increased penetration. The blade weighed almost nothing.
It was made for penetration, speed, and mobility. All of her sisters had such blades crafted for their own styles, except Alison. She had left the care of her parents, squiring for Carralevine before achieving her class.
Six nodded and steepled his fingers, tapping them cyclically. Leaning towards her and examining her weapon. “Hmmmmmmm. Silksteel Rapier of Air and a Minor Spatial Ring. Very impressive weapon. Your armor lacks enchantments though.”
He must have the Inspect skill, she grimaced as her weapons strengths were probably revealed to him. “Draw your own. So we can begin.”
He snorted, leaning forward and muttering only for her to hear. “Weakness shown is worse than weakness felt, yo.”
The audacity. “Silence,” she lashed out. “Draw your weapon.”
He spoke louder and made a show of explaining himself. “Now, my saw is completely busted and I haven’t made a new one yet, so I won’t be using that but if I have to draw a weapon,” and then a blade materialized in his hand.
The crowd erupted into murmurs. A susurration spread through the people as they whispered Alison’s name.
Six cleared his throat and looked at the sword. “This was something I assisted with, for your sister.”
The blade was glorious. A deep crimson greatsword, the metal gleaming red and its edge glinting with a sharp flicker. Red vine-like cordage wrapped the grip of the hilt and the pommel was inset with a polished garnet that almost appeared liquid in nature.
It was well made, clearly by an experienced smith, with signs of reagents being used. It was most likely loaded with an enchantment of some kind, probably a natural fire enchantment if she had to guess.
She doubted he could even hit her with how clumsy he held it, she could see the violent confidence in his eyes though.
She felt a pang of want, why did Alison deserve such a weapon? What had she done to deserve such a sword? A weapon like that would cost… at least one thousand gold.
She sneered at him. “That blade is mine by right of sisterhood. I expect to receive it when I defeat you.”
The mountain lord flicked down his helm visor, dark brown eyes staring out with a cold intensity. “I’m ready. Your mage can start us off.”
Alyx saw Atelier bristle at being called her mage but the woman obeyed Alyx’s gesture to start the duel. Raising her hands she spoke the traditional words, reiterating the terms.
“A challenge has been called and answered. The stake? Honor. By Kynairos they will fight until they are unable.” She lifted her hand to the sky and brought it down. “Begin!”
Alyx rushed forward and slipped under the horizontal swing that the mountain lord leveled her way.
It wasn’t that he was slow, she was just fast, the fastest amongst the unevolved of her family. She had slowly built her dexterity up to a mindboggling 45 points. This overwhelming advantage made the armored churl seem sluggish and plodding. It increased her speed, her evasiveness, her precision, and reduced not only the performance time of maneuvers but also their cooldown.
She was in complete control of her body thus she tested him with pure skill.
He was found lacking. His swings, full of power and feeling but no elegance or skill. She could tell he was no sword apprentice, at most having two or three levels in the skill. Foolish.
Her rapier whipped in, searching for the gaps in armor that Tukar had drilled into her head.
She found them, each horrendous swing by the armored man allowed her to cut him on the exposed parts of armor. The bracers, the greaves, only covered so much and she cut and nicked him on his arms and thighs.
She would slowly bleed him.
A cut here, a cut there,
And then magical energies began to wash over him, the man changed.
He shouted his spells and cast them with his freehand between two handed swings of the sword.
“Zephyr’s Embrace!”
Wind picked up around the man and his speed increased fractionally. Nowhere near enough to rival Alyx’s. Useless.
She cut and blood flew. Yet the man was quiet as she bled him.
He activated some treasure and the effects of Stone Skin hardened his flesh. No matter, her sword was built to penetrate the most durable of natural defense. She would just have to stab him more.
“Strength of the Oak!”
Vines and branches burst out from underneath the man’s armor giving him even more defense and power.
It did nothing to change her dominance. He was just delaying.
Yet another activation and the effects of Force Shell rippled out across his form.
This was not a problem as her rapier skittered off the long cooldown spell. It effectively increased his HP and when the only health point that mattered was the last one it was ultimately just another delay tactic.
Four empowerments was nearly unheard of, something reserved for a mageguard. They were wasted on this man.
He patted his chest and muttered. “Vital Surge.” Golden energies infused the man and this time Alyx couldn’t ignore the shard of worry in her mind as the initial cuts began to close.
She had to act so she attacked. Lunging in and stabbing as his centermass, seeking to whittle away the shell. Six unleashed a heavy overhead swing that she elegantly sidestepped getting closer.
The greatsword struck the earth and exploded.
Alyx screamed as fire singed her left side. Six crashed the sword down again and it was all she could to flip backwards and out of the second explosion.
She stood watching Six as he stashed the sword then cracked his knuckles and neck.
“Let's make some magic!” he said in an insane sing-song voice, shaking his hands wildly.
He began casting and she dodged, her peripherals detecting movement at her feet as a spike of stone launched itself at her..
It was then she almost lost, as another spike erupted from the direction she threw herself. It was only her massive dexterity that allowed her to palm the lancing rock and reposition her mid-air body.
Her mind raced. He had only cast one spell. Yet two spikes emerged. How? She had seen double and multi castings but only from arch and high mages. It didn’t matter how. He could double cast, and she had almost lost because of her assumptions.
Her burn ached and pained with her movements so she activated her ring of healing, regaining all 29 hp that had been lost with the burn near instantly.
She had to expend everything.
She activated Weakness Sense, her mind kicking into overdrive and eating away a large portion of her stamina. A throbbing red light appeared on the man's chest, exposing what she thought had been a gem embedded into his armor, her skill said otherwise. But, she would need to get through his force shell first.
Advancing Thrust threw her forward into his guard, slamming the tip of her rapier into his chest. She activated Double Strike after Double Strike, her dexterity and class perks making the cooldown almost nothing.
The armored man vibrated under her furious assault, and she allowed a smirk when he took a steading step backwards.
Paramount Damage was used to maximize the attack her body could produce and her rapier blasted through the scintillating shell, dispersing it into a cloud of rippling distortions.
He was vulnerable now.
Thread the Needle shot her sword towards his face and he barely slapped her rapier away when it neared his visor slit using his Deflect skill.
Which put that defensive skill on cooldown.
Her sword was light and she didn’t even need to activate double strike to redirect the man’s block. She whipped her sword at that protruding crystal with all her might.
It collided with a ringing tang and she finally heard the first grunt of true pain escape the man.
She felt her prompts and knew she was onto something.
You have struck Six with a sword strike for 71 damage
She still had yet to be hit and her confidence was rising despite the constant ill ease, a paradoxical feeling. This must be the feeling of true battle. Something outside of the curated skirmishes her family created.
The uncertainty held a strange feeling of anticipation.
Still she pressed and struck again at the shard, causing Six to retreat backwards and fend her off with more stone spikes. Soon the square was littered with the spears.
Her Advancing Thrust was cut short by a volley of red darts launched from the tip of his pointed finger. She dodged the projectiles, twisting like a gusting swale and even popped one with the tip of her sword. Not pure mana then.
She hunted him across the square and struck at his weakness yet again but the man was guarding it well.
Feinting Strike,
Her rapier lanced towards the shard and at the last minute diverted for his visor once again.
She had him with his hands down and smiled as the tip of her blade entered the slit in the helmet.
Then a golden shield exploded into existence and her blade screeched to a halt. Some kind of protection treasure that the idiot held. Kynairos knew what other trinkets he kept secret, had he filled his attunements?
He chuckled in the face of losing an eye and perhaps his life. “Holy shit, that woulda stung, eh.”
She didn’t stop pushing forward, immediately switching between attacking the shard and his face.
Both of his armored hands stayed close to the two weak spots, fending off her testing sword, forcing her to divert and cut him on his extremities.
She dodged spikes and darts as they manifested despite his hands being unable to complete somatic movements.
Nothing could touch her.
Then the man’s chestplate shined with a crackling yellow energy and she felt her body torn to the side. Her feet left the ground and she rotated from an invisible force. Her massive dexterity allowed her to immediately right herself in the air but her movement was interrupted.
The armored man leapt towards her, his massive arms wrapping around her body and nearly crushing the breath out of her right then.
She was being borne to the ground. A spike of panic sunk into her mind, as her natural defense was too low to mitigate crushing damage to any significant degree.
With a flick of her wrist she tossed her rapier away and activated Sword Link, the moderate version of Sword Bond, a maneuver she had evolved herself. The base maneuver allowed her to teleport her blade to her, the evolved version allowing her to teleport to her blade.
She escaped his grasp, blinking out of existence and appearing upright with her hand on the grip of her blade.
The man crashed to the ground in a clang of metal and meat, a cloud of dust puffing up. “Very nice!” he bellowed into the earth.
She thanked Kynairos for his mercy, she couldn’t afford to be hit by something so brutal.
Advancing Thrust brought her back in to harry the man who slammed the ground with both fists and launched himself up to near standing, the rippling of air about him and the throbbing vines that wrapped his body aiding his movement.
He protected his shard and face as another golden shield stopped her stab that she tried to Thread The Needle into his armpit.
She whittled and whittled but still, this blood covered usurper moved as steadily as he did at the start of the match. A bluff.
Her 23 points in endurance and a stat ring translated into nearly 300 stamina. Her 19 points in constitution wasn’t enough to counteract her stamina expenditure and it was depleting faster than it replenished but there was no way he could outlast her on simple life alone.
He had only landed one blow and even that was something completely unexpected.
A spinning roundkick forced her to make distance and she stopped to catch her breath.
“Yield.” she offered, “or I will bleed you dry.”
He shook his head, laughing. He did something and all the blood that covered him rolled inwards, draining from his armor and clothing leaving his innumerable wounds bare to see. Her dexterity allowed an increased sense of precision and now that his wounds were clear she could see them close up incrementally before her eyes.
What monstrous regeneration. How is that even possible?
At the head of the square the crimson petals of the dark red tree began to fall then flutter towards them. Hitting the man and splashing into droplets of blood. The red petals sunk into the slices and cuts transforming into smooth flesh. Even more healing.
She needed to end this now.
“I already put myself in the dirt of this land,” he repeated. His words revealing their portend. “Now, I read this in a book once. It's a technique called ‘sheathing the sword’.”
He stood there lifting his gauntleted hands and formed them into claws. A somewhat terrifying posture. It was open and vulnerable yet there was a weight of unstoppable violence to it.
She swore she felt the twinge of aura from him and her gut turned cold. Impossible.
Every moment he undid her work, healing more and more. She couldn’t wait. It was time to end this.
She blasted forward with Advancing Thrust combining it with Paramount Damage.
She aimed for the shard but at the last moment the armored man adjusted to the side, the golden shield appeared but she broke through it, and his armor.
Her blade slid inside the man’s chest, missing his heart but perforating his lungs.
Near simultaneously he performed a Precise Strike, and his hand shot out to encompass hers, clamping down and forcing her to hold her blade.
He grunted and let out a wet cough. “I’ve got you for threeeeee minutes!” he chuckled and cleared his throat, a deluge of mucousy blood running down the inside of his helm and down off his chest. Droplets spattering on Alyx’s face. She smelled the metallic tang. The blood evaporated and was pulled back into the mountain lord's armor.
Her guard captain Venisolo bellowed for her release, then for her to yield.
Six let out a rasp. “You gonna yield?”
He asked her? Even after all she did, untouched as she was. Who did this commoner think he was? She could do this, she could do this! She had been raised to be a leader! She rejected him. “No.”
“No? Ok, ready?” he asked and a stone wall erupted up alongside them
“I- UUGH,” Alyx could barely grunt out before her body was cracked like a whip against the wall, smashing through and shattering it.
You have been slammed with a wall for 57 damage (178/235)
She screamed as her shoulders tore and ribs snapped. Her head impacted and she saw white for an instant. She tried to surrender as another wall rose from the ground. “I-,”
He swung her back the other way, the wall exploding into shrapnel against the hammer that was her body.
“HUUUUUUUUR.” she groaned involuntarily. “I- YIP, eryyeeEEE!”
She heard the man hum curiously. “Hhmmmm.”
Two more walls shot up in sequence.
He broke her against one, and she heard him roar. “Doublestrike.”
He pulled her back in the opposite direction and more ligaments popped, tendons tearing, she couldn’t breath and her head ignited white before-
She blacked out for a moment and when she came to, she hung limply by her hands, blinking into the sun that beat down into the glade.
She heard mage Atelier and guard captain Venisolo screaming, movement on her peripheral informed her that her people were being held back by his.
The looming silhouette that held her dragged her towards one of the many stone spikes he conjured during the battle.
She tried to speak but her lungs could barely draw breath. Her health, dangerously low.
She was lifted into the air above his head and fear killed her mind. He was going to impale her like a head on a pike.
“Just kidding.” He let her fall on the dirt of the square before reaching down and touching her gently. “Imbue life.”
“I’m alive?” She asked, crying, half confused.
“Yes, killing isn’t allowed in our duel.” He pointed to the ground, “I am here,” he pointed to the west. “You are there. Now get the fuck out.”