– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 219, Season of the Rising Sun, Day 91 –
“Terry!” Brandon’s face brightened when he saw Terry enter the reception hall.
“Greetings, you two.” Terry smiled at the boy and then faced the woman next to Brandon. He was glad that she looked more like herself again. “I guess it’s time for stories?”
Daisy reciprocated his friendly smile faintly and nodded. “Care to join?”
“Not today.” Terry shook his head. Sometimes, they had moved story time to his room so that he could continue his own research and crafting practice while they were progressing in the Path of a Mage. “Today, I have something to do.”
“Oh?” Daisy looked towards the exit. “There’s no one here though. Don’t you…”
“Not today.” Terry could guess what she was thinking. Whenever he had been allowed outside his healing chamber, it was usually for an important meeting or to meet with his friends. There was no important meeting scheduled for today and there were no friends for him waiting at the Flower House’s door either.
Today, they were waiting somewhere else. Terry could feel their mana signatures and wasn’t surprised that everyone was already gathered. He frowned when he recognized two of the gathered signatures. He really didn’t know what Lori was thinking sometimes, but he guessed he would learn more today.
Before Terry left, he paused and narrowed his eyes at Daisy. “Wait, have you started accumulating mana?” It was faint, but unless his senses still betrayed him, the woman in front of him had barely stepped into the realm of mana users.
“I have?” Daisy blushed and blinked. “I thought I was doing it wrong. I can’t tell. Are you sure?”
“Yes, I think I am.” Terry tilted his head. “I didn’t know you were trying to do that. If you have any questions, I can try to answer them when I’m back.” He could see Brandon’s ears perking up. “That goes for both of you, of course.”
Terry excused himself and then left for the practice grounds. He had insisted that he was fine to practice again. That also meant he would have to face the consequences of his past choices.
If he was well enough to practice, then he was well enough for the spar he owed.
***
Terry walked while wondering if it was the right call to leave his helmet in his storage. The last time he had skipped his helmet, he ended up regretting it. Not only because of the bird poop that had landed on his head.
However, even though his senses had recovered sufficiently, they were not quite back to their peak. The magic helmet made it worse, if only slightly. Slight or not. Since this was just a spar, he figured he was better served by his senses than by one more protective item.
“Oh finally! Is that the prick?”
The moment Terry entered the area, he got an icy look thrown his way. Terry furrowed his brow and looked at the dwarven man with weirdly spiky hair. “Do I know you?”
“No, and I don’t want to know you, bastard,” grumbled the dwarf who was glaring at him.
“Shut up, Nick,” barked Tiana. “If you didn’t want to know him, you shouldn’t have come here. You knew what we were planning. You could have stayed with the others.”
Seeing Tiana address the dwarf, Terry paid closer attention to the dwarf’s mana signature and realized that Nick carried more than a single signature. The dwarf was fire-aspected, but there were different signatures of ice mingled in.
Nick was possessed by ice elementals.
“I have a right to see the prick who's responsible for me being dragged into a freaking war-zone, don’t I?!” demanded Nick.
“No one dragged you anywhere,” hissed a familiar-looking woman, who immediately stepped forth to shake Terry’s hand. “I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself when you saved us. I’m Vess. I’m so glad you managed to rescue Tiana. I still can’t believe your cousin could suppress the elementals. I’ve never heard of that being possible. I would have never forgiven myself if Tiana had died that day and…”
Dual-aspected… Water and metal…
Terry’s mouth opened slightly when he realized why the woman was looking so familiar. This was the woman whom they had first found when they had followed the nominated emergency mission to rescue Tiana and the rest of the Guardians’ team leader course.
Vess shook her head and repeated. “Thank you again. I owe my life first to Tiana and then to you and everyone.”
Nick snorted with derision. “Bootlicking little weasel.”
“Nick, no one is forcing you to be here,” barked Tiana and stepped closer to him.
“Bullshit,” hissed Nick. “Do I look like I have a choice being here? Matteo is the only one who can keep these parasites in check!”
“And instead of thanking him, you’re whining and insulting his cousin,” accused Vess.
“Well, if it wasn’t for this prick…” Nick gestured at Terry. “Matteo would have stayed in Arcana instead of dragging me to this mana-forsaken place.” He glared at Terry. “I swear if we’re not getting out of here soon, I’m going to knock your teeth out.”
Tiana rolled her eyes.
“Is he serious?” Terry asked. The dwarf’s weird mana signature wasn’t exactly weak, but no matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t find it in himself to feel even remotely threatened.
“Yes, and don’t worry about the idiot,” groaned Vess.
“Maybe we should let him break his fist,” sighed Tiana. “Perhaps that would teach him some sense, but…”
“If he wants a try, he has to get in line.” Lori stepped forward with a stern expression and a challenging glance at Terry.
Terry could not help but sigh. He had made his choice in the Wastes. He had known his companions wouldn’t be happy, and he had chosen to do it, anyway. He would do it again. Now it was time to face the music.
Terry involuntarily scowled when he saw Patricia stand up, but before he could decide if he should say anything, he recognized another face next to her. A man dressed in silver combat robes and a protective chest piece.
Unaspected.
Terry had seen that man in Tiv, specifically in the Libra Outpost, when they returned to gather the druidic ingredients and inquire about the four-leaved blood tulip. Even though this man wasn’t a channeler, he had been friends with a lot of the Guardian channelers from the Circle of the Bright Lady. That included Harrison – one of the Guardian whom Terry had partnered with in Tiv and one person he had killed in the battle against Bright Willow’s followers and the people complicit with Anand.
“Patricia and Maximilian.” Lori introduced them officially. “We’ve worked together while I was training with Dhruv in the Libra Outpost. They followed me here after Ma and Pa finally discovered your whereabouts.”
Terry seriously wondered how Lori had ended up with these two as companions, but he had to put the question on hold. He wanted to get this over with. “So who’s in?” He knew that the first round would be different from a regular spar. He only had to look into his sister’s eyes to be certain of that.
Lori stepped into the combat area without another word. Siling entered just as quickly.
Terry had expected as much. He had not expected that the next two would be Elena and Patricia though. “Uhh…” He felt like objecting. These two hadn’t even been there. More importantly, this spar felt personal and, at least to him, Patricia felt decidedly out of place.
“You have it coming,” said Elena, and cracked her knuckles.
“Don’t give me that look,” growled Patricia, with her stern gaze on Terry. “I don’t blame you for the death of my brother anymore, but I am going to make you take responsibility for what you did to your sister.”
Her voice dropped lower. “I have seen her practice swimming through earth until her fingers were bloody. I’ve seen her accidentally burying herself alive more times than I care to count.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve always caused my brother to worry and then suddenly, he was gone. As someone who failed to learn her lesson in time, I’ll make sure you do better in the future.”
Terry puffed his cheeks and decided not to argue. Something in Patricia’s tone had gotten to him.
Jorg appeared conflicted, but after exchanging glances with Lori, he stood up as well. “Sorry, Terry.”
“Are you sure?” Miguel raised an eyebrow and looked at Jorg. “You’re relying the most on your items. He’s basically a walking counter.”
“I’ll do what I can do,” said Jorg. “I didn’t spend so much time practicing spellwork just for imprinting.” He shrugged with a pensive expression. “I wasn’t there, but I sure don’t want to be placed in a similar situation, so…” He egged himself on and jogged into the arena. “Got to make it count.”
“Good luck,” said Miguel. He himself remained seated despite feeling a certain glare drilling into his eyes. “Sorry, Lori, but I already told you we’re not seeing eye to eye in this. I’m happy to join the later rounds, but not this one. I think Terry made the right call.”
He raised a hand to preempt the impending protest. “I don’t like it, but that’s that. If we had started arguing – and we all know we would have – then we would most likely be dead. At least some of us. I personally quite like us all alive. I’ll stay out of this one, but I’m with Terry. I love you, Lori, but I think he was right.”
Lori, who had been glaring challengingly at Miguel, blushed at the unexpected words of affection in front of everyone and then cleared her throat before nodding. She didn’t agree with her boyfriend, but that was fine.
“You can count me out as well,” said Tiana with a glance at Vess. “I don’t think I’m in a position to judge Terry for what he did.” After all, she had done something similar when the aspect beings had attacked her team leader course. She had tried to sacrifice herself to lure the elementals away. She hadn’t exactly asked for opinions when she had chosen to do so, either.
“I’ll join!” Nick eagerly stood up.
“If you do, you can expect ‘friendly’ fire,” warned Siling in a decidedly unfriendly tone. “You’d only be joining for the wrong reasons.” The others on her side nodded.
“You little…!” hissed Nick.
“Just sit down,” barked Tiana.
“Hmph.” Nick grumbled, but sat down regardless.
Maximilian glared at Terry but shook his head. “I haven’t forgiven you for what you did. I share Patricia’s sentiments, but this isn’t my fight to pick.” He sat next to the other spectators.
Terry took a deep breath and looked at his opponents. Friends and friends of friends that all wanted to teach him a lesson.
Even so.
Terry couldn’t truthfully say that he was sorry. He would do it again. He only regretted that he hadn’t been strong enough to create other options. He looked to the other side of the sparring area to find a group of disgruntled healers looking at him.
Guess everything is set up then…
Terry looked at his sparring partners and paused. They were all wearing the equipment his aunt Brynn had prepared. In contrast to them, he was still wearing his old equipment, except for the shadow rope bangle. Brynn hadn’t gotten around to finishing his new items yet.
Terry knew he was going into the spar with somewhat of a handicap. After all, he was still forbidden from full out bursts or cycling burst techniques for extended periods. He didn’t mind the equipment difference, but the longer he looked at the expensive items, the more he felt that the risk wasn’t worth it.
The risk for them.
“Uhm…” Terry puffed his cheeks and considered his words. “In the spirit of sparring, I should warn you that if we want to do this properly, there is a risk that I’ll damage your equipment.”
Among many raised eyebrows and skeptical looks, Siling blurted out: “Uhh, what?”
“Are you saying you can damage these?” Jorg pointed at his armor pieces. His voice was a mixture of surprise and amazement.
“Wait, you believe that?” exclaimed Patricia.
“Terry isn’t a liar,” said Jorg with a shrug. “Even though I find it hard to believe. Auntie crafted them after all.”
“I won’t intentionally break them…” Terry had no intention of using his shifting grinder combination on the items of his friends. “But if I target them with my spell, there is a risk, yes.”
“Why does it sound as if you’re leaving something out?” demanded Lori with narrowed eyes.
“Wait, do you really believe that?” Patricia was looking from face to face.
“You can target these?” asked Jorg with even more amazement. “But the shielding appears perfect. And the mana concentration is…” He began muttering to himself while analyzing the masterpieces of his aunt for the thousandth time.
“Well, yes,” confirmed Terry. He could feel it. He could feel the slightest gaps in the shielding. He could bypass the shielding by moving his mana through their bodies and using the openings intended for their own mana.
Terry could shape his mana even beyond the mana-osmotic materials and cloaking by touch alone. He could compress his spell to overpower the item’s ambient mana, but just like the grinders, this carried a risk of damaging the item.
Given the quality and his aunt’s crafting prowess, the risk was surely minimal, but still. It didn’t seem worth the risk.
“Prove it,” demanded Lori, and pointed at her bracer. “I have a spare from when I first went to apprentice with Dhruv.”
Terry nodded and transfixed the bracer.
Lori pulled at the bracer to find it immovable. She moved her own mana to disrupt the imprint. It took her longer than she liked and when she had succeeded, a new spell immediately followed. “Hmph.” She began removing her equipment.
“Alrighty then…” Siling exhaled a sharp whistle and returned all her solid items to her storage. She pointed at the protective necklace that Terry had given to her when they had gone to Tiv. A gift that he himself had received from Sigille. “Can you target this too?”
“Yup,” judged Terry.
Siling shrugged and continued sorting out her equipment, unperturbed.
“Why are you all acting as if this was to be expected?” demanded Patricia. “He shouldn’t be able to target these. Like, what the fuck?”
“I warned you, Jorg,” said Miguel with amusement.
“Yeah, yeah, can’t help it.” Jorg sighed and joined his sister in getting out of his solid equipment pieces.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“Was that all?” asked Elena while sorting out her own items. She had not forgotten that Lori had voiced some suspicion earlier. “What are you leaving out?”
Terry frowned. He didn’t like that both Lori and Elena appeared to think of him as someone to speak half-truths. It reminded him too much of what he had chosen to do in Thanatos when they hadn’t even been around. “Once I have an item transfixed, I can use my combination.” Elena and his other friends had been there when he had explained his discoveries. This was just a reminder. “Doesn’t matter how well the shielding and carved lining were done.”
Elena nodded while Patricia was still staring at everyone. Eventually, the shadow-aspected woman resigned herself and similarly dressed down to nothing but cloth pieces.
“This feels wrong,” grumbled Patricia. She couldn’t remember the last time she had to fight like this.
“Certainly uncomfortable,” admitted Jorg. He and his siblings had often practiced in plain clothing when they had been younger, but now he felt weirdly exposed.
Imagine this but also being trapped in some Thanatos death sport. Terry grimaced slightly at their grumblings.
“Less whining, more pummeling,” said Siling.
Lori nodded with a determined expression.
“Seriously though, your skill-set is a nightmare,” grumbled Elena with an accusatory glance at Terry. “You can use your items, but we can’t use ours. How did you even manage to get yourself injured to the brink of death if you can cast like this?”
A sheer endless amount of opportunities to make a mistake? Stupid high regeneration vampires? Suffering a debilitating spell at the worst possible moment and being forced to tear through my own mana channels? Stupid high-regeneration vampires. A bunch of weak people to protect? Idiotic ideas? Stupid high-regeneration vampires!
Terry wasn’t sure how to reply.
“Less yapping, more pummeling.” Siling cracked her knuckles. “Lori is not the only one here that waited years for a chance to pummel some sense into the accused.”
“Accused?” Terry raised an eyebrow.
“Guilty!” stressed Siling.
Terry didn’t know how to interpret Siling’s nonsense, so he didn’t try. He was honestly impressed that none of them hesitated to fight without most of their powerful equipment. He didn’t know who surprised him more: Lori or Jorg.
He knew that Lori had practiced underground combat, but she didn’t flinch when she had to face him with no magic goggles.
He knew Jorg had become more amiable to the idea of practicing mana foundation and spellwork, but external mana control had always been a challenge for his brother. But now, Jorg was standing firm in his challenge with neither weapon nor magic items to rely on.
They all silently moved into positions, with Terry facing the other five.
“Go!” shouted Tiana.
Terry immediately distanced himself from the others. He hesitated briefly and failed to immediately unleash his disruption domain. This was a spar. The kind he had sorely missed. He understood that this round was different, but it was hard to suppress the urge to test himself.
A brief moment of hesitation was enough for his situation to change, because from one moment to the other, he could already tell that the potential utility of his disruption domain had diminished significantly.
Lori plunged down into the earth as if it was water.
Siling vanished from everything but mana touch and her trajectory was upwards.
Patricia stepped into the shadows. When Jorg followed her with his very own Shadow Step spell, Terry nearly exclaimed in shock.
Elena finished a self-targeted spell that allowed her to shape her blood into a sharp dagger. Next to her, the large shape of a white windvenom grizzly with purple markings appeared. High above, the high-pitched shriek of a thunderblood hawk could be heard.
Terry exhaled sharply. He held Elena’s gaze. He could feel Lori below. The windvenom grizzly was stepping onto clouds and circling him. The thunderblood hawk was peering down. Patricia and Jorg were biding their time in the shadows.
They’re really not kidding around, are they?
Terry focused on his breathing and realized this might turn into more of a headache than he had thought.
Okay, so what do I know?
The perfect cloaking and camouflage both match the jumpscare cuttle, so Siling is probably still using Peekaboo. The floating of the jumpscare cuttle. The air-walking of the windvenom grizzly. The thunderblood hawk… Probably air-coating and a tailwind or instant acceleration ability. Looks like Siling has specialized further in aerial combat.
Terry couldn’t help but grin. He agreed with the choice. His elven friend had always preferred to keep her distance. He himself could attest to the benefit that being airborne could bring in avoiding monsters and martialists alike. He suppressed the question if she still had access to the purplemist lynx soul to focus on other matters.
Terry stepped up into the sky on divine layers of mana, leaving a frowning Elena behind.
Since when can Jorg use Shadow Step? I thought he wanted to focus on barriers? Wait, that wasn’t quite it, was it?
He recalled that the deciding moment that had caused Jorg to choose his path was the dungeon taking Gellath hostage.
Not just barriers. Keeping people safe. Mobile barriers. Mobile.
Terry found himself smiling again. He wondered if the Blink-imprinted boots he had gifted his brother had served as inspiration to further incorporate mobility spells.
His smile gave way to a furrowed brow, because countless rock projectiles were being shot up from below.
Wind blades were thrown at him from the windvenom grizzly, circling him at an elevated level.
Terry considered blocking with divine barriers but decided against it. He hadn’t had a good spar in forever and decided to go with the flow and test his detection and dodging skills.
Cloud-like air pockets appeared at various places and Patricia stepped out of the shadows directly onto them to add shadow spears to the mix.
Terry felt the thunderblood hawk descend on another location and failed to figure out what its aim was… until he felt Siling’s hidden shape appear to fire her spells from the soul spirit’s location.
Another soul spirit with high burst speed that synergizes with her Resummon Spirit spell. But that wasn’t a resummon. That was her moving herself to her spirit. Touching on space. That must be at least a high expert level spell.
Such an ability…? That means she can freely move around across her soul spirit locations.
Terry had been transfixing all the rocks his sister was firing at him and positioning his divine barriers. When he noticed the beginnings of Haste shaping from Siling’s position, he lost his hesitation and unleashed his disruption domain.
Terry decided to go on the offensive and focus on Siling. Not just because she was their best healer. Of all his opponents, she was the one least bothered by the lack of equipment.
While Lori’s underground fighting style was the most annoying for him to deal with, Siling’s airborne nature was a definite second. Her cloud-pockets allowed others to follow up. Her soul-channeled abilities were insanely difficult to disrupt, even for him. All in all, taking his elven friend down was essential.
Resolving himself, Terry channeled his mana into the divine hammer inscriptions and spun around in the air to unleash three divine hammers in quick succession. Attacking Siling wasn’t enough. If he wanted to make sure she couldn’t get away, then he had to cover three locations at once: Siling and her two soul spirits.
Terry hadn’t expected for it to be easy, but the actual result still took him by surprise. The thunderblood hawk dodged with a rapid rush downwards, while the other two of his divine hammers had been blocked unexpectedly.
Jorg had stepped out of the shadows onto clouds in the air, with two empowered barrier spells primed and ready to be placed. He only appeared for an instant and then stepped back into the shadows.
The other divine hammer collided with a net of shadow that deflected the structure of mana intersecting the light and metal aspects.
The third surprise was that Terry could feel Elena reacting as well. Her gaze had clearly traced the divine hammer aiming for the hidden elf. Clear evidence she knew where Siling was located.
Of course. Life Sense.
Terry calmly reassessed the situation and could only sigh. Even without most of their equipment, these five still had many options spread across each other, and they were working well together.
This is going to be a pain…
***
They had fought at a stalemate for a long time, with neither side getting the better of the other.
Terry had been forced to abandon his goal of going after Siling, which left Elena as the next obvious target, because she was the only one who was easy to get to.
Unfortunately, Elena was no pushover. Her situational awareness was as good as he remembered it to be. While she didn’t shrink back from engaging him in close combat, she never stuck around for long and quickly distanced herself to then counterattack while being backed by ranged support and sneak attacks from the shadows courtesy of Patricia.
Then it started.
Elena finished another self-target spell and her blood dagger was replaced with a shield and a one-handed sword.
Using that amount of blood can’t be healthy, even for someone that’s blood aspected. Did she reabsorb the blood from the dagger? Eww— Wait, that style of weapon switching! She has definitely been practicing with Tiana? Since when did Elena adopt that style? Or summon blood weapons, for that matter?
Terry vaguely recalled that Elena was practicing to learn the Life Sense spell when he had last seen her in Arcana, but back then she still had significant trouble with her mana control.
Terry was taken by surprise when Elena burst her mana and charged at him. He had been so used to the blood-aspected woman avoiding a full burst that when she did, he subconsciously transfixed some of his armor to maintain his balance.
Terry knew he had messed up when he sensed first the magic activating in Elena’s bandana and then more spells from below and all around.
Of course, Elena would have an item to calm her mind when performing a burst. She wasn’t an idiot that would allow herself to go berserk in combat.
Terry’s spell slicers tore through the attempted Shadow Bind spell. Unfortunately for him, his sister had shaped earth around him and even though he could disrupt the spell, the earth’s momentum was already there and carried. Since the earth hadn’t been hardened to stone, he couldn’t transfix it, either.
Terry hurriedly deactivated the spells on his armor and tried to dart upwards before they could trap him in earth, but quickly found himself blocked by barriers of various aspects for which his brother Jorg was obviously to blame.
I can’t believe they’re getting me like this! This is too similar to our cloud badger hunt!
Terry inwardly complained but now had to grapple with entangling roots being added to his obstacles. He resolved himself and abandoned his attempts to escape when he felt new developments in his mana touch.
He quickly summoned barriers of divine mana to block whatever the shadows were trying to do. Hidden from view, a sudden explosion of blood-aspected mana assaulted his mana sense.
What the…?!
Terry didn’t know what Elena was doing, but it didn’t bode well for him. Being distracted by Elena, Patricia, and Siling, he barely caught Lori’s rapid approach. He could feel her rock projectiles push against his cocoon of divine barriers and he put a stop to it with his own spell, transfixing the rocks as quickly as they were fired.
The next thing Terry felt was an intensely empowered dual casting of Harden Earth and Rockspall Touch – both spells shaped closely to Lori’s body and therefore challenging targets to disrupt quickly. Her spell combination activated and unleashed countless shrapnel to bite into his barriers – too many for him to keep the pace with his spell or inscription usage.
Terry could see the resolve in his sister’s eyes when she finally burst from the earth. He barely managed to summon another divine barrier. He was slightly surprised when she opened her hands full of pebbles that quickly shot forward through Propel Rock. What truly took him off-guard though, was the intense disruption discharge she paired with her unleashed projectiles.
The combination tore through his last barrier. The earth-aspected discharge attracted further earth towards him. While his own movements were impaired by the earth, his sister’s movements didn’t appear impaired in the slightest. Lori moved through the earth like a fish through water.
Lori’s fist made painful contact with Terry’s jaw. The same fist that had unleashed first the rock projectiles and then the disruption discharge. His sister had combined everything into one fluid motion and plan of attack.
The surrounding earth was reshaped and appeared to melt away, only to harden on the ground.
Terry rubbed his jaw while looking at his sister with mixed feelings. He had barely suppressed the instinct to go into a full burst to break through his earthen prison. He was glad that his sister hadn’t pushed him further.
“Fuck,” cursed Lori and rubbed her fingers. “Why the Wastes did that feel like punching a brick wall? That crazy plant cultivation?”
Terry felt the urge to retort why she knew what punching a wall felt like but refrained from blurting his thoughts because he could see that his sister wasn’t done.
“You know what, I don’t fucking care!” shouted Lori while the other four were all appearing around them again.
“I. Don’t. Care.” Lori pointed at Terry with each of her words. “I don’t care how strong you get or what you are planning to do. I’ll always be able to land a good punch on you! We all will!” Her eyes were bloodshot. “On you or on whatever you choose to face!” She shouted with heavy breaths. “So don’t you ever do that again!”
Lori stepped closer to Terry and pointed at him again. “Not like that. Never again! I know I can’t do everything, but fuck you! Neither can you!” She shook her head and her eyes were pleading with him. “I’ll listen if we’re in a position like that again. I might still argue, but I’ll listen. So don’t ever do something like that again!”
“That!” Siling pointed at Lori. “I second that.” She rolled her eyes. “Not the listening part. The fuck you part.” She deadpanned, but was plainly joking.
“You’re a pain in the arse, you know that?” said Elena. “Don’t make Lori worry like that again.” Patricia nodded along to her statement.
“If you do, I’ll be the one throwing the punch next time,” added Jorg. “No matter how long it takes.”
Terry heaved a sigh of relief and smiled. It was good to have this cleared up. He had been so focused on the fight and then on their words that he hadn’t realized the audience that had gathered to watch. Nor did he consciously notice the new arrivals.
“I want to see who dares to threaten my brother!” A leopard-spotted felan interjected haughtily.
“Yeah, I don’t care who you are. If you don’t back off, I’m the one that’s going to throw a punch,” growled an elf in green-golden robes.
“Your ‘Brother’?” Both Lori and Jorg looked at each other, to Terry, and then to Rafael.
“I don’t remember a furry brother like you,” said Jorg.
“Listen, midget, Terry is my brother first and foremost,” hissed Rafael before waving his hand. “I don’t care what little history you have, you can’t compare that to a bond forged in battle.”
“How about I forge you into a bond of pain?” growled Lori.
Terry pinched the bridge of his nose.
“If you’re suicidal, we can go a few rounds.” Rafael squared his shoulders. “I won’t have you bully my brother under my watch. Whatever grievances you have, I’ll punch them out of you.”
“That’s Rafael, right?” Siling pointed and asked Terry.
“Yup,” said Terry. He had a bad premonition about the next round of sparring when he sensed Tiana stand up.
“Oh, who might you be?” Guillermo smiled at Siling. “Hey there, pretty elf. We haven’t been introduced properly. My name is Guillermo. Do you train here often?”
“Don’t…” Terry turned to his martialist friend. “Don’t start like that.”
“What?” asked Guillermo confusedly. He turned to Siling. “I’m just speaking the truth. So, why don’t you—”
Out of nowhere, the elf in green-golden robes had become covered in ink.
Terry had felt Siling exchange her soul spirits, but since Guillermo had already shrugged off his warning, he just let it happen.
“What the…?!” Guillermo whirled around but found nothing. He heard a snort of amusement and glared at the offending parties: Elena and Lori. “What are you laughing at?”
“I warned you,” sighed Terry.
“What?” Guillermo looked from Terry to Siling. The elven woman showed nothing on her face and blinked innocently. “Did you do this?”
“Me?” Siling blinked. “Little innocent me?” She placed a finger on her chin. “Perhaps?”
“You…!” Guillermo was about to step forward when he was interrupted by Tiana’s loud clap.
“Alright!” Tiana grinned from side to side. A grin Terry very much remembered as a warning of impending pain on the training grounds.
“If Rafael is going to join on Terry’s side, then I’m going to join on the other,” declared Tiana.
“Come if you want!” declared Rafael. “I don’t care how many of you I have to stomp into the ground.”
Terry held his forehead and groaned. “You have no idea how much worse you’re making everything.” He looked up and asked: “Can I take a break? How about you settle that without me?”
“Oy, brother, what are you doing?” Rafael blurted out. “The hell buddy? I’m here to help you.”
“Are you?” exclaimed Terry. “Then how come you’re making my life more difficult here. Tiana was staying out of it until you arrived and now she’s suddenly against me.”
“I don’t even know that smoothskin!” protested Rafael.
“Oh, but I know about you,” said Tiana with the eyes of a predator. “You’re the one who tricked Terry into a year-long trial. Instructor Isille has said she would refrain from going after you herself on account of what happened afterwards, but she strongly suggested that I don’t have to show the same restraint.”
Rafael stared at her for a moment before leaning closer to Terry and whispering: “How much trouble are we in?”
“More than you can imagine.” Terry whispered back before wondering why he was whispering. He demanded loudly: “And what do you mean ‘we’?! This is your mess. I have my own problems.”
“I asked if you have anything to do with this?” Guillermo pointed at his ruined robes.
“Hmm…” Siling puffed her cheeks. “What if I did? You can just take it as payment for gazing upon my ‘pretty’ face, no?” She batted her eyelashes.
“You…” Guillermo harrumphed. “Okay, you’re fighting? I’m going to make you regret this.”
“Sure…” Siling didn’t seem impressed.
“I’m out for now,” announced Elena. “I need to recover some mana.”
“I’m out, too.” Jorg sat down. “I’ll rejoin when I can use my items again.”
Siling looked over the remaining participants and rested her gaze on Rafael and Guillermo before breaking out in a cheeky grin. “Okay, Mister Guillermo. You want to challenge me? Accepted.”
Siling walked into the field again, but contrary to expectations, she positioned herself next to Terry and Rafael. “I’ll join the furry side.” She raised a fist. “Down with the smoothskins!”
“Uhh…” Rafael was stumped.
“Did you just call me furry, too?” Terry asked in an insincere accusatory tone.
“You’ve grown some fuzz on your chin…” Siling narrowed her eyes. “My bad. Just some earth. Anyway, what’s done is done. We’re team fur now. Deal with it.”
Similar to Rafael, Guillermo was at a loss for words. He had come here to help Terry out, but he hadn’t expected that he would end up fighting against both Terry and Rafael. He looked at Tiana, Lori, and Patricia with skeptical eyes. He knew the power of Terry and Rafael, but these people were unknown to him.
Terry couldn’t help but grin. Leave it to Siling to figure out a way to defuse the tension and get everyone used to each other. I get that she doesn’t really remember her childhood, but it’s still amazing that she can act like that given the situation with her sister.
“I’ll join the next round!” declared Miguel. He didn’t feel like waltzing into this hornet’s nest of a sparring session. “On Lori’s side, of course!” He winked at his girlfriend, only to earn himself a roll of her beautiful eyes.
***