“It looks like you are flailing around with a stick,” Tristan said bluntly.

Eve ground her teeth, “I have to do something, Luke was right I can’t just sit around and do nothing.”

Tristan sighed, “Don’t take personal advice from Luke, he’s very genuine, but that is not always helpful.”

“That does not mean that he is incorrect,” Eve shot back.

“No, he was wrong,” Tristan said.

That pulled Eve up short. Luke had claimed that it was either Tristan or River, which was a false dichotomy. The battle was between Elder Forest and Elder River. Tristan was only tangentially involved. In fact, if Siren had been unwilling to start excavation, Elder Forest would have probably sent in a separate team to mine. He did make the extraction safer, but that was the extent of Tristan’s involvement.

“What do you mean?” Eve said.

“Luke overthinks things,” Tristan explained how the war was currently set up and how it would have gone without the mine’s involvement, “Elder River was always in trouble, he lost his civil protector and most of his elites to Hadrid because he could not let a grudge go. The only thing he got from the tragedy was an entitled brat. Kerri can’t hold a candle to any of the tier fours I have met, several of Siren’s elites could probably take him down.”

Tristan pointed at Shale, who would most certainly stomp Kerri into the dirt. The man was being used as a glorified babysitter, while the strongest person Elder River could field was Shale’s lesser. Tristan was pretty sure he could win against Kerry now, it would be a definite if he found a way to release the bound third of his essence.

“So nothing I do matters?” Eve’s shoulders slumped.

“I don’t know,” Tristan sighed, “I just spent the better part of a day creating new weaponry, only to find that it was pointless from the beginning. It seems that any dispute is settled simply by who has the most power.”

Eve shook her head, “No there is a reason why politics are such a big thing. Some things can’t be solved by violence.”

“I never said the only power was the one with the biggest kern, I watched a god get torn apart, so I am aware that nothing is absolute,” Tristan pointed at the stick Eve was holding, “Siren holds no political power, but I would claim he has a greater say in the actions the caldera takes than even the Elders, simply by the way he is respected by his warriors.”

“What would you do if you were in my position?” Eve asked.

Tristan felt this was a loaded question but he already knew what he would do, “Kill Elder Forest, that or go and convince Ruth to nag Hadrid into wiping Elder Forest’s military.”

Eve had her mouth open, like she wanted to berate Tristan, but was not sure what to say. He was not sure what someone would say to ‘I would go assassinate my uncle’.

“You’re just as bad as Luke,” Eve finally said.

“We get the job done,” Tristan said proudly.

“That was not a compliment,” Eve huffed, though most of her stress had been sapped away.

“You know, I can take it any way I want,” Tristan grinned, “You should try to come up with a better insult…”

BOOM.

The explosion rocked the mine. Tristan looked around for the cause, but there was no sign of flame anywhere. So he turned to the pit. A cloud of smoke was rising from that direction. Some smaller pieces of debris were falling from the blast that had thrown them into the air.

Shale looked from Tristan to the growing cloud, “We have to go.”

“Well, see you later Eve,” Tristan said as he started running after Shale.

“I’m a tier three, you can’t leave me,” Eve said and followed the two of them.

Tristan was worried that it was the elemental lord escaping, though he found that prospect unlikely. Something drastic would have needed to change for him to get out. No, he suspected several elementals coming from the war in the plains had arrived. Tier three elementals would not be anything too hard for the Siren’s warriors to handle, but they would struggle to contain them if they came in great numbers.

The two miles were crossed at a near sprint, taking a little over four minutes, mostly due to the fact that Tristan was terrible at sprinting. What they found was the smith’s tents on fire. It was a backdrop to two men in full plate armor looking down into the hundred-foot pit. There were no markings on the armor to identify them, but Tristan would bet that they were sent by Elder River or Elder Lake.

Stolen story; please report.

“That’s Bruce’s spear!” Eve yelled.

Artifacts were unique for the most part. There would be multiple hammer artifacts, but they would have varying designs and effects. Weapons were much rarer, and a pure white spear was most likely the only one in the Caldera. Tristan had not paid too much attention to where the artifacts his party owned were placed. He did not remember seeing Bruce having it when they returned from Alchehall.

The black double-edged sword the other man wielded was more telling. It was Regis and his little light kern buddy. Somehow they had gotten their hands on some tower steel armor, and Luke was absent. Tristan had trouble believing that they had known about Hestia’s Sickle and scheduled their arrival to avoid it. It was more likely that they had just gotten lucky and avoided Luke and his force which would have turned their armor into a vulnerability.

“That’s the Lake Caldera’s civil protector, Regis,” Tristan informed Shale, “Fire kern, I would suggest treating him like you would treat Luke.”

The man was unhinged, there was no telling what he would do. Tristan also could not be sure the man lacked a force. While Luke had claimed it was more difficult the higher tier a person was, and Siren confirmed that any warrior who broke his kern died, the answer to a successful repair was a method to keep the body alive while it healed from the damage. It was something that spear was very good at, though it came with a massive risk. Namely, the spearhead had to be inserted into the patient’s body.

“Then we need some backup,” Shale muttered. The elite warrior was someone who knew his limits, and knew anyone compared to Luke was beyond them.

Fortunately, help arrived quickly. Henry arrived and inspected the two parties, his eyes landed on the spear, “I think I will be taking that off your hands.”

Eve yelled at Henry, “That guy stole Bruce’s spear!”

Tristan had forgotten who Henry was, stealing from his son was not something the patriarch was willing to put up with.

“You think the three of us will be enough to deal with Regis,” Shale asked.

Tristan shrugged, “No, though if anyone else shows up, then probably. He has a fire kern and suffers from the standard weaknesses that implies.”

“Low stamina?” Shale asked, when Tristan nodded, “So it’s a battle of endurance, will he burn through his resources or will we crumble to his flame.”

Tristan cracked his neck, “Crumbling is an earth thing, metal is refined in flame.”

“YOU!” Regis yelled, his eyes locked on Eve.

The man jumped in an explosion of flame across the pit. Tristan noticed the flame was white, not the standard red or orange. So he did have a force. Maybe temperature or combustion? Either way, it would substantially increase the civil protector’s damage output.

Still, Tristan had learned some tricks since they had last met. He ran his thumb and forefinger down either side of the axe blade, coating it in a grey viscous liquid. The bolts might not work on the elemental lord, but the same concept would work great on Regis, assuming he could pierce the armor.

Eve ran off to the side, to avoid Regis’s landing. Fire was energy and it could be used in some unpredictable ways. Like changing trajectory mid-air. Regis crashed feet first into Eve, pinning her to the ground, in the same motion, his flaming sword spun in an arc to cut her head off.

Eve activated her ice shield, stopping the blow long enough for Tristan to bash the man across the face with his axe. The fifteen-pound weapon staggered the man, but if his head was ringing he did not show any signs. The helmet was not even dented. Regis swung the sword, splattering both Shale and Tristan with glowing white blobs.

Shale tanked them, while Tristan used his consumption alloy to convert them into metal essence. Regis seemed surprised at the lackluster effects of his white flames. The droplets that hit the ground all went off like firecrackers. Sure it would be an issue if someone had no way to deal with it, but Tristan had his consumption and Shale had his earthen armor.

“The gods demand your death, silver devil,” Regis yelled.

“The gods are dead,” Tristan yelled back.

Something that was a mistake in hindsight. A ring of flames erupted around Regis, the pressure wave of the fire alone was enough to throw Tristan back. Shale was able to hold his ground due to the immense weight of his stone armor, but even that was shattered when the flames hit. Like filling a frozen glass with warm water, the shift in temperature destroyed the brittle material.

They would not win if they did not get help. Henry was currently fighting the light kern ally that Regis had brought and was in a draw. He was clearly stronger but lacked the power to pierce the tower steel armor and the skill to overwhelm him. More warriors were on their way, but it would take a while. They would have to exit through the mine entrance and make their way here over the surface. Still, metal was known for its durability. Tristan could last until then.

“If the gods are dead then why was I blessed with divine flame?” Regis laughed, kicking the injured Shale in the chest.

“Because you’re terrible at surviving without divine assistance,” Tristan scoffed, “I think you have to be the only person in the Caldera to need a god to prop them up.”

Regis strode towards Tristan. The man now only had eyes for Tristan, which was good, as Eve was still struggling back to her feet. She would not be able to take a flame wave as well as Shale could. As much as water was a good way to put out a fire, it was actually a terrible counter to it when it came to kerns. The high melting temperatures of stone and metal were much better answers to flame.

Trusting his essence reserves to last long enough, Tristan ran at Regis. The armor would restrict his mobility and vision. Tristan ducked under a swing a slammed the blade at a small gap in the plate along the right side of the rib cage. There was no way to even fit a rapier through the gap, but Tristan did not need to cut through the armor. His blade bit into the pinky width of leather visible there.

It did not sever it, but it did deposit the decay alloy onto the leather. One strap would not accomplish much, but time was on Tristan's side, so long as he avoided that sword. Another ring of flame blew Tristan backward, he activated reinforcement on impact, rolling back to his feet without suffering any damage. How many of those could Regis pull off? He was still only tier four after all.

Shale covered Tristan while he regained his feet. The man used a truly massive war hammer that forced even Regis to get out of the way. After jumping to the side, Regis shoved a white fireball in Shale’s face, throwing the man backward. Tristan could not be sure the man was alive, but he needed to keep Regis busy.

Tristan frowned, how could he use Regis’s own defenses against him? The armor was the only reason the man was still breathing, Tristan’s head strike would have ended him otherwise. He looked at the pit, if mass and speed determined force, a long fall would be the perfect answer.