The storm quelled for a second; the wind gave way to the screaming fans at the first sign of victory. There was blood, there was drowning, and Colt was watching the goat-men die in a watery grave below, he shrugged his shoulders and took in a deep breath. The people loved it; they craved violence and conflict. Never mind the toll.
Well, whatever, there were four more ships to take down. The one Nick hit with an arrow took care of its fire—the guy was firing off his arrows of light again, but the other ships had gotten wise. They had buckets of water ready to go, tossing them on any bits of flame their archer managed to start when an arrow landed.
Troublesome, but each attack was a bit of a delay.
The issue now was that the rest of the ships had seen them sink another, and the two closest were coordinating, keeping themselves tight together. The two past them were coming to a similar tactic, figuring out that Colt’s power could take one down and another could launch a more full-scale assault on their ship.
Colt rolled his shoulders as the storm started to pick up again. The goat men were baying at one another, and the crowd was swelling to a roar once more.
Winds picked up, and the next four ships wouldn’t go as easy as the rest. But now, given the notifications, Colt knew what they were dealing with level-wise. These things had an advantage, but it wasn’t crazy.
But the dark water churning below was an issue—a hazard that was as much of an advantage as it was a danger in these fights.
“Sail in,” Colt called, infusing a bit of cut in his words to slice through the storm of noise as he commanded Julia.
Then, he spent his six new stat points. All six went straight to Soul this time, putting it at 64. It was his biggest asset, and pretending otherwise would get him nowhere. These Edicts had power. Cut alone was powerful, but coupled with Movement, the two were powerhouses for his abilities. That, more than anything, would give him a competitive edge over any enemies.
Which led to the last trick they had up their sleeves.
Colt wobbled over to Nick, his advanced dexterity making it possible for him to traverse across the rolling deck of the ship as they sped to the two closest ships.
“What does refract do?” Colt asked, now close enough to hear Nick if he yelled a response.
Nick took another potshot at the upcoming ships—one of his arrows slammed into a goat-man and sent it tumbling off balance, right over the edge of their ships. It was a rare connecting shot, to be sure. With all the wind and distance, the Light Archer had been mostly shooting at the ships until now.
Nick gave him a funny look.
“My Edict?”
“Yes, your Edict.”
He took another shot, this one missing the closest ship by an arms-width and plummeting into the water with a plume of smoke.
“It’s like a rebound. It lets my arrow bounce up to two times if I concentrate. Tried it on the water already, but it’s way too crazy for my focus to make it work.” Nick replied back, frowning at his latest shot.
They had about two minutes until they were upon the enemy. And there were a lot of goat men between the ships. From what it looked like, they were preparing ropes and spears to throw and board. Colt didn’t fancy getting overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. While he and Nick had the levels, the rest of the crew would find it much tougher to deal with.
Someone could easily get thrown overboard or die in the chaos. Colt wished he had Jimmy, but the city of New Nashville had not approved for their healers to go on dangerous missions like this. At least, not yet.
Colt rolled over the details of refract in his head what he knew about it. What he’d just seen through the use of his Cut—and his intuition said that Nick wasn’t quite right.
It could bounce the arrow of light, sure.
But couldn’t it do more?
His eyes focused on the upcoming ship, and he settled into a state of meditation, watching as Nick pulled back on his arrows and fired from the magnificent conjured bow.
“Try your Edict,” Colt asked on his next shot.
Nick did just that, and Colt watched as it hit the ship—Nick was getting more hits now that they were closer—then bounced off the wooden boards before burying into a nearby Satyr Sailor, sending the monster to the floor. It wasn’t dead, based on its limbs flailing about and its clothes starting on fire, but it was impressive.
But Colt wasn’t concerned over the damage.
His eyes were narrowed, tapping into a state of meditation, feeling the way that Nick wrapped his will around the threads of reality, infusing his arrow with the power of his Edict. It was a loose wrap; at least, Colt’s instincts told him that. The arrows and the Edict had a synergy, and the best way Colt could put it was that it seemed like Nick was splashing around in the kiddie pool where the real Edict was a vast lake.
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They all were, in a way, so that was to be expected. But even in Nick’s kiddie pool, Colt sensed there was more depth. He could take it deeper, even as he was now.
What was refraction?
Then, in the depths of the meditation, a lesson came to mind: early college, before he’d dropped out from knowing he didn’t have enough cash for a degree. Right before getting saddled with a nasty loan for the year that young, optimistic him had tried.
Physics class. He remembered a teacher holding up a prism and a glass triangle, and then they held up a flashlight to it. On the other side, a rainbow came out, splitting the light.
It clicked in his head. Though he didn’t have the Edict, he felt it hanging there, loose. But it just didn’t resonate in the same way as his others. An understanding of what it could be, though, that much he began to see as Nick used the Edict again—the arrow slamming into a goat man and then rebounding into the ship’s floor.
———
*Meditate* (Basic) has gained a level!
*Meditate* (Basic) has reached level 10! This skill has advanced to Meditate (Intermediate)! As this is now at the (Intermediate) level, basic sensory memories may now be recalled during concentration.
———
“Split the arrow,” Colt said.
Nick gave him a funny look.
“Your arrow is made of a lot of light. Split the light. Refract it.” Colt insisted, this time using cut with his words to ensure every single bit went through. He felt sure of it. An intuitive understanding that came from his Soul. For the first time, he began to wonder how. Did his class grant him some objective insight and hadn’t listed it as a skill?
Were certain classes drawn to stuff like that?
Nick shrugged and then focused.
This time, it felt like he was truly grasping the thread of his edict; then, he fired. The arrow soared through the air, right at the upcoming ship. Seconds before it hit, a second arrow split off from it—flaring with a green color, the angle just right to slam into two of the goat men—then the white arrow bounced, setting another fire.
One of the goat men went overboard.
Nick’s eyes widened, and he swore.
“As many of those as you can fire. Fire as many arrows as possible.” Colt commanded.
Nick went to work doing just that, arrow after arrow flying out, each one doubled. As they neared, they got closer. The green arrows often hit goat men more than the others, refracting in the middle of the air and changing their angle enough to turn a near-miss into a hit. Nick was getting better, and by the time the two ships were upon them, the goats on board had been reduced to about half split between the two vessels.
Colt concentrated and Cut, sending one of the ships to a watery grave as he split the bottom with a horizontal slice and let in far too much water for them to bail themselves out.
The second ship reached them, throwing spears onboard and attacking.
With only about half of their crew left, Colt, Sarah, and Nate were easily able to repel them and take out anyone who dared to get on their ship. Like back in the dungeon, they worked as a team. Nate tanked the hits. Sarah made the openings, and Colt delivered the final blow.
———
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have 9 Stat points to spend. You have gained 3 points of Dexterity and 3 points of Soul!
———
The last two ships came at them shortly after. Julia ran out of mana to maneuver their vessel—and Nick started to have trouble with his Edict, the drain pulling too much out of him. Colt ordered him to focus fire, halving one of the ships as they approached. With a careful, narrowed slice of air, Colt got off a cut on the stern side of the vessel his archer hadn’t targeted. But that was pulling deeply at his reserves; exhaustion from the big swings of his Edict was starting to affect him too, that and cutting through the air to give out commands had amounted to a big expenditure.
He still needed something left over for the rest of the ‘games.’
It was a smaller, more refined cut. But it caused trouble, making the goat men abandon their allies to prevent themselves from sinking under the waves, splitting their focus from boarding and survival to reach them.
Nick managed to pick off about half the crew of the other ship.
Armed with new levels, Sarah and Nate were there to pick up the slack, working with Colt again as they were boarded by the lesser ship—his slice into the stern of the other ship had bought them a minute to deal with these invaders before they were hit again by the rest of the goat men.
So he and his crew got to work, relying on Nate and Sarah to take on the enemies. They formed a team, coordinating to take on the boarding goats—and then, the second ship got close enough, joining the fray.
Chaos. War is chaos, and Colt was determined to see their victory within it. Blood flowed on the bow of the vessel, and there were screams and cheers. The audience was getting the show they wanted; they could see everyone mashed together to survive and brawl.
Nick pulled back to the stern, firing off his light arrows as Julia hid behind him; on the deck, Colt flew around, jumping over barrels, shoving goat men to a water grave, and slicing necks and limbs to weaken and kill their enemies. If danger came to Nate or Sarah he had enough speed to get there and kill anyone who dared to threaten his team.
Bloody and dirty for the last fight, their strategic tackling had turned an overwhelming wave of goats into a much more manageable enemy.
Colt was the one to kill the last invader—firing a very precise cut. He had to be careful, fighting on his own ship with allies around; it was enough of a measured strike to split the goat man at its waist, making the creature’s torso slide off and thunk to the deck with a wet slopping sound as it died.
In the end, the five of them stood on their ship—exhausted but victors.
———
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have 15 Stat points to spend. You have gained 2 points of Dexterity and 2 points of Soul
*Knives/Daggers Proficiency* (intermediate) has gained a level!
*Soul And Mind Fortitude* (Basic) has gained a level!
———
Colt looked at Athena and that owl, visible above the storm, onto the next game.