Beth came at him, and she’d learned from his tricks. She feinted at him with a cutting strike then switched to crushing, but he’d seen it coming and a Loose Guard awaited her, the blow glancing off with minimal effect. She kept going, and now she was rapidly switching between the forms; Piercing, cutting, crushing, crushing, piercing, cutting, piercing, attempting to confuse him as she juked and harried. He also detected her sudden, irritated awareness of how he was monitoring her leaking emotions, reading her mind, and her strategy underwent another shift.

While thinking, and acting as though she were to strike with a piercing attack, she instead switched to cutting.

Clever, but Nicolai didn’t just go off her Soul Sense leakage. He watched her body, her face, and he imagined himself in her place, tried to think of what he would do if he was her, tried to be Beth. This was the method he had used to predict opponents in combat for centuries and he performed it without thought, easily holding her off no matter what she tried.

He countered her piercing strike with a Long Guard, deflecting it, and then that long guard turned into his own piercing strike as his Soul Sense surged, pushing her back, their Soul Sense tendrils now struggling in the space between them, twisting around one another, cutting off and striking towards their bodies only to be foiled, shifting to use the different attack forms against one another.

Here, he found something interesting. When the two tendrils were fighting directly, the meta shifted. Previously he had found piercing and crushing his most used forms. But now, cutting took precedence, because it was the only form capable of severing her Soul Sense tendril, causing it to retreat and buying him time to press forward.

His Soul was taking damage, which gave him a rise of worry, but checking in his Node he saw it still largely full. It wasn’t able to restore his Soul quickly. He guessed it would take perhaps half an hour to fully restore at the passive rate.

This meant that, in a way, there were two win conditions in this kind of fight. He had already learned that doing enough damage in a short period of time would cause the damaged Soul Sense to fall apart, collapsing into the Soul it had emerged from. Following this, it would remain inside for a short time as it stitched itself together, and would then re-emerge. This would be a short-term victory; which, in a real fight, was likely all one would need.

Alternatively, if what he was feeling was correct, the other win condition was more attrition based. As his Soul Sense sustained damage, so did his Soul. Once his Soul hit a breakpoint in terms of damage sustained, it would be unable to maintain his Soul Sense, at least until it had drawn enough Oma to regenerate itself. This would represent a more serious, lasting defeat, as the Soul Sense would become unavailable for a longer period.

Threat Analysis had triggered, and was warning him of allowing his Soul to sustain too much damage. He ought to maintain his strength above a certain level in case of a surprise attack.

The Module had a point. He wasn’t trying overly hard, and thus the battle had become one of sustain. He was enjoying himself and he didn’t want it to end. With each moment, each encounter of Soul Sense in the air between them, the times where he would drive Beth back, sever her tendril, and she reformed her sphere defence as he pressured her, the times he allowed her to do the same to him, he learned more and his skills further improved. Pushing for a win would end the fight and he would have to stop.

Alas, he knew it was unwise to keep things going for too long. Not only for the reason Threat Analysis had given but also because he only had a rough count of his total Oma crystals. He needed to look over all he’d taken, do a full count, and work out a number to keep separate to ensure he could finish his two new Nodes.

That being the case, it was time to end this.

Nicolai’s Soul Sense rippled out, looping around Beth’s, strangling it, then formed a cutting edge and sliced at the base. Her Soul Sense flowed back to her, forming a sphere which shifted uncertainly as she tried to guess how he would strike. Too uncertain, she’d waited too long and a crushing blow crashed into the Heavy Guard she’d half-formed in reaction, then he flashed into a cutting slice that cut away her forming Long Guard and a quick piercing strike drove through her mess of a defence, jabbed her in the Soul, and her Soul Sense broke, collapsing into her.

‘Fuck!’ she shouted and he knew that this time she was angry for real as she leapt to her feet and snarled and stomped away from him. She paced randomly, stopped by the guardwall and gripped it, scowling into the distance, muttering angrily to herself, raising a fist and slamming it into the stone. He felt a spike of pain from her as fleshy fist met hard stone which gave rise to another surge of anger.

He considered saying something to attempt to sooth her, perhaps a ‘good fight,’ or ‘good try,’ but his Mask warned him it would probably just come across as condescending and upset her further. He felt a weird conflict within him. His Mask, astonishingly, felt bad for winning, but the rest of him was seething with a vicious, thrilling joy, and he told himself it wasn’t his responsibility that she wasn’t a good sport about these things. At least she’d opted to remove herself from the situation rather than yell at him.

Considering what he’d learned, he felt this practise session had been well worth it. Now aware of the faint Aura ripples detectable via Soul Sense, he would be better able to notice others who had integrated their Seeds, as well as the big bird. He also knew how to hide his own ripples from those like the bird, and if worst came to worst, how to attack and defend with Soul Sense. Once Beth had calmed down, he would ensure they had more sparring sessions. Being good at Soul Sense combat would give him a significant edge in future encounters, once more people started integrating their Seeds. Not to mention, he simply enjoyed it and felt the same drive to master it as he felt towards all aspects of combat.

‘How’s everyone doing, then?’ He looked expectantly to the others, but saw them all locked into intense focus.

They seemed to be… playing? Their Soul Senses were colliding, forming a wriggling mass in the centre of them, pushing and pulling at one another. A strange, blind, wriggly version of the same struggle Nicolai had engaged in with Beth.

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This struggle focused on a crayon on the ground. Around this crayon were four more, each one set in front of one of them, forming a square around the central crayon. He wasn’t sure as to the purpose of these exterior crayons.

He glanced past them to Sara, but to his surprise the woman wasn’t keeping hawkish watch. Instead, he saw Soul Sense tendrils spreading from her. She was doing her own little practise.

‘I decided a little competition was in order,’ said Kleos, wearing an evil little smile. ‘It is good for young Cultivators to test one another, as I believe you’ve experienced.’

‘What are they doing?’ asked Nicolai, watching with interest.

‘Whoever holds the crayon for five counts is the winner,’ said Kleos, at the same time as Jo began counting, and he saw her Soul Sense tendrils clinging tight to the crayon, while the others dragged and ripped at her.

‘Five, four, three, two, one!’ she yelled out, her words tripping over one another with how fast she spoke, and then all of their Soul Senses collapsed back into their Seeds.

‘That wasn’t a proper count!’ yelled Azure.

‘Yeah!’ squeaked Katie. ‘You counted way too fast! Cheater!’

‘’Cuz last time you counted to five in like half a second,’ Jo returned, eyebrows raised. ‘If you cheat, I’ll cheat.’ She smirked.

Nicolai eyed her thoughtfully, a little surprised by the childishness. She acted more adult out in the field, full of wariness and tension. But he supposed she was young, they all were, and this situation released that.

‘Katie did cheat, last time,’ admitted Perro, shrugging at the evil-eye Katie sent his way.

‘Cheating does rather miss the point of this,’ broke in Kleos. ‘Let’s have no more of that. The purpose of this is to practise with your Seed’s Soul Sense, not to see how fast you can count to five. Perhaps Nicolai counts for this next one?’ The head raised its eyebrows at Nicolai.

They all looked to him, and Nicolai shrugged. ‘Sure.’ He was interested in seeing one of their fights from the beginning. However, before that, he’d noted a few points-tags and Oma crystals lying around, beside Perro, Azure and Katie. It seemed while he’d been focused on sparring with Beth, they’d all received their rewards for completing the Challenge: Use Soul Sense.

That was good, that was another of the purposes of all this, and he was pleased to confirm that the Challenges were the same for him as they were anyone else. In that case, there was something else he intended to have them all do.

‘Ready up, then,’ he said, keen to get things going, ‘and wait for my mark.’

They all focused, taking the time to connect to their Seeds, and once more pale tendrils emerged and clustered. There seemed to be a set distance they’d decided on around the crayon, as none pressed too close. At first. But after a moment Katie slid forwards a little, opening an eye a crack to peek at him, eager to go.

‘Wait at the start,’ he told her, finding his attitude to be relaxed and tolerant, his Mask sliding a smile onto his face.

She let out a little yelp of chagrin and her Soul Sense slid back. As he prepared to speak, he saw Beth had recovered from her sulk and now moved up to stand behind Jo, arms crossed, watching with interest.

‘Mark… go.’

The competitors tendrils exploded into motion, all lunging for the crayon.

Katie and Jo got there first, followed by Azure and Perro who, to his surprise, joined forces as they jointly struck into the wriggling mass of Katie and Jo’s ongoing struggle. Was that cheating? Nicolai wasn’t sure, but it was clear that Jo and Katie were both a little more comfortable, a little more skilled, with the Soul Sense, so he let them have their joint advantage.

However, Jo and Katie seemed to recognise this and for a time they then worked together against the pair, pushing them back, but then Katie lunged for the crayon and Jo jumped back on her.

‘Five, four, three…’ began Nicolai, counting steadily, his eyes on Katie’s tendrils. They all surged wildly around her, all of them attacking as one, and Katie let out an angry little yell as she was ripped off the crayon. Perro and Azure got in next, taking up joint residence around it, and now Jo and Katie surged at them.

But two on two, and with the defender advantage that also seemed to be present with this lower form of Soul Sense, they held. Nicolai counted steadily down.

‘Three, two, one… Perro and Azure win,’ he announced.

‘Teamers!’ howled Katie. ‘You dirty stupid teamers! That’s not allowed! Is that allowed?’

‘Katie!’ came a voice from behind. ‘Language!’ It was Sara, looking up with a frown, her Soul Sense tendrils slipping back into her Seed.

‘Sorry,’ moaned Katie, then looked to Jo. ‘Is teaming allowed? They cheated, right?’

‘I don’t know,’ Jo said, letting out a rise of helpless laughter before wincing, and pressing a hand to her stomach.

‘Why shouldn’t it be allowed?’ said Azure, smirking broadly, Perro grinning beside her.

‘They cheated, right?’ Katie shot a desperate look at Nicolai.

His Mask made a face and spread his arms helplessly. ‘Judge rules: all’s fair in love and war.’

‘Ughhh!’ she let out a dramatic groan and flopped over, but an instant later she popped back up and was asking Jo to team with her, and they were all gearing up for another go.

‘No, no, wait,’ he told them, unable to keep the smile from his face, a real, honest smile, because there was a weird, shifting feeling growing inside of him, emanating from his Mask. His Mask told him this was called: Happiness.

‘There’s something else to practise, now,’ he continued, and he tugged the Pegasi ring from his finger, and saw Azure’s face transform with eagerness. He retrieved the remaining three from his pocket, and held the four rings out in his hand.

‘Now, we try flying.’

He gave the first ring to Beth, and she was floating in only moments, letting out a laugh of surprise and delight as her feet left the ground. Where his Soul Sense lingered around her, he could feel how the Pegasi ring’s Art was flexing and gripping, an amorphous cloud of energy that extended from the ring and surrounded her, lifted her.

With only three rings remaining, Nicolai had to consider who would be left out. None of them wanted to have to wait, but Sara spoke up again.

‘Katie, no,’ said the woman. ‘It’s too dangerous. You’re just a child.’ She threw a disapproving glance at Nicolai. ‘Are you mad? Look at where we are! On a towertop! You want them all flying around?’

She has a point, said Threat Analysis. This could be dangerous.

I suppose, thought Nicolai, observing as Beth rose higher and higher into the air, seeing how the wind drew her gently toward the edge of the tower. He was about to speak up, his mouth opening, when a sudden thought caused him to pause, and instead… he did nothing.

The Mask was digging into him, filled with confusion and rising terror, but Nicolai held it off and kept watching. However, he did charge his Pegasi ring, and readied himself to move. Pegasi rings could be used to move down as well as up, speeding one’s fall.

Saving Jo’s life had led to a notable change in how the girls regarded him. This might be an opportunity to complete the set.

‘Woah!’ The wind blew and Beth bobbed sideways, drifting over the tower-top’s walls, and Nicolai’s eyes narrowed as with his Soul Sense tendril that followed her he felt her sudden terror, and knew how it would effect her concentration. He felt a pulse of mimicked terror from his Mask, and it ripped through him, demanding action. It needn’t have worried; he was already moving.

‘Shit!’ screamed Beth, and he felt her Pegasi ring’s Art dissolve. For a frozen moment she seemed to hang there, suspended, mouth open with shock and horror. Then she fell, plummeting towards the unyielding stone far below.