Tala was feeling much more comfortable now that she’d displayed one of her abilities.

She walked toward the vast, open three-quarters of the arena with Master Grediv at her side, leaving the portion with the remnants of her breath attack behind.

“What would you like to demonstrate next?”

“Area.”

“Very well, do you require anything set up for the demonstration?”

She hesitated. She didn’t need anything to demonstrate the siege orbs, but… “Do you want a better display?”

He smiled her way before flicking his eyes behind them and sighing dramatically. “We do have an audience.”

Tala chuckled. “Then, a plate of metal, or stone wall, or something else intended to withstand Fused or higher attacks.”

He gave her a long look, then nodded. “As you wish.”

As she considered it, Tala realized that she might need to reapproach her siege orbs. They were about as powerful as she could reasonably make when she had made them, but she was Refined now. To that end, as Master Grediv walked faster to get ahead of her, Tala spoke up, infusing her voice so she didn’t need to shout in order to be heard. “Similar to the dissolution, this was put together when I was Fused. I will be enhancing this ability up to Refined levels as I have time and availability, but this is what I have now that I am confident will work as expected. This is the baseline of what I will be capable of in this area.”

A few understanding responses came back, and she smiled.

Master Grediv went about two hundred feet out and dropped what seemed to be a section of wall before moving back her direction. It was a four foot cube of heavily inscribed stone.

The Paragon had funneled power into the activation scripts as he walked away, causing it to flare with light briefly before becoming simple stone to mundane eyes. To Tala’s magesight? It positively blazed.

She did pay attention to the mutters this time.

Apparently, this was a known item. Master Jevin had made its type known to her ages ago.

It was a magical defense intended to work with others of its kind to create quick battlements on the fly. They were heavily reinforced, but generally, they were designed for Fused level threats or below, given their use in the Leskhin wars and the fact that—in those conflicts—Refined and above threats were few enough to be engaged directly, while these battlements kept the lesser opponents away from the lower ranked Archons.

No one person said all of that, or even a significant portion, but Tala was able to piece it together out of the mutters coming from behind her, aided by Alat and their multiple mirrored perspectives.

When Master Grediv was again by her side, he motioned at the free-standing wall chunk. “When you are ready.”

Tala gave a small bow. “Thank you for providing such a target.”

“It is my pleasure.”

Tala pulled out a paired set of siege orbs, the small spheres firmly pressed together. She nodded to herself, and with an act of power and will, she shifted the orbs’ amplified gravity targets to carefully chosen points on the wall.

There was a loud crack as the orbs leapt from her hand, tearing through the air, followed by a crunch as the spheres embedded deeply into the stone.

In the momentary pause, Tala only heard one sound of confusion, where some Refined had obviously not understood why she called this her ‘area of effect’ ability.

She felt herself smile, imagining the destruction about to be wrought. Those are spheres: Tala and Terry.

Their labels, which tied them to the workings that had created them, were altered and the effects undone.

The workings—holding the spheres tightly coherent—broke.

If the sound of their flight had been the cracking of a whip, the explosion that followed was the unleashing of a thunderstorm.

The blast of rapidly expanding air slapped against the gathered Refined.

Magics flickered in the air, causing the very few bits that would have flown into the spread out crowd to stop in place before dropping harmlessly to the ground.

Given that everyone was so far away, only a few even had to take a step back from the pressure wave, but that was impressive in and of itself.

The entire area cooled extremely quickly, the radical temperature change alone causing the odd substance of the floor to squeal as it contracted and shifted disconcertingly for nearly fifty yards in every direction. Everything was coated in a thin layer of ice as the moisture was ripped from the air by the sudden cold.

At the center of the twin blasts, nothing of the wall segment remained.

The ground had been blown back in a circle, exposing the reinforced stone more than ten feet down, the ground material having been moved back even as it was peppered throughout with debris from the now-decimated, previously-heavily-reinforced stone.

That same flooring grit was bunched up around the depression, showing that it had been moved, not annihilated.

There was a longer silence in the wake of this demonstration.

Terry straightened out his neck, shaking himself before letting out a chuffing series of trills, his beak pointed toward the ceiling.

That sound broke the silence, and someone let out a barking laugh. “Ice, now? Mistress Deigh, anything to say?”

The unit leader took an almost unconscious step forward, eyes still fixed on the crater. “There was no magic in that.” She quickly shook her head. “There was power when the orbs left you, and I sensed a… releasing of magic as the detonation happened, but the blast itself? There was nothing magical to it.”

Tala nodded, clearing her throat. “The orbs are magically compressed air. All that I do is break the working that holds them compressed. The rapid expansion forces extreme cooling.”

She glanced to the side and found both Master Grediv and Mistress Deigh staring at her, causing Tala to do a double take before she stepped away to reorient on them. “What?”

Master Grediv cleared his throat, shaking himself. “How, exactly, do you compress air to that extent?”

“Gravity.”

A Refined behind her spluttered. “Gravity doesn’t work like that!”

Tala shrugged. “It makes sense to me.”

There was no response to that.

Tala clapped her hands together before the silence could build again. “Shall we go to the range? I will say that my method for long range precision is the same which delivered the orbs to impact the wall.”

Master Grediv nodded. “Do we need to see a specific demonstration of that?”

A few people called out that, yes, they very much did, but the unit leaders all shook their heads. Master Akra speaking the sentiment out loud, “That isn’t necessary. I believe we had the gist of it quite well demonstrated.”

Tala nodded, briefly pulling out her scale mail hauberk. “Then, I’ll just say that I can send these scales as attacks in any direction using that method.”

“She has scales?”

“And a breath weapon.”

“Master Grediv! I thought all the dragons were locked up!”

Master Grediv laughed. “No one is fool enough to promise that, Master Tanel.”

A ripple of laughter went through the Refined, and Tala frowned, glanced toward the Paragon. “What’s the joke?”

“Hmmm? Oh, there’s a common saying among the defenders of mankind pertaining to dragons.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

After a moment’s silence, she raised an eyebrow. “Can I hear it?”

He shrugged. “I suppose. ‘When the fool believes dragons are no threats, beware the jaws of fate.’”

Tala nodded. Fate was often likened to a dragon in many myths and legends. “So, it’s just a saying?”

“Oh, no. There have been several famous Paragons who declared that dragons were no longer a threat to humanity, each for a different reason. Every one of them died by the tooth, claw, tail, or breath of a dragon.”

“Ahh… Yeah, I can see how the saying applies.”

“Indeed.”

There was a moment’s silence before Master Cruinneas stepped forward, “Well, on that note, I believe that we’re to the martial test. Is that right? Or are you planning on somehow turning me inside out with a void weapon?”

He was grinning at his own joke, but when Tala opened her mouth, paused, and closed it again, he narrowed his eyes.

“You did say you have void abilities, didn’t you.” It wasn’t really a question.

“I did.”

“Are they with regard to your weapon?”

“Some are.”

He took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh. “Are you capable of fighting without void-magics?”

“Yes.”

“Good. No void magics in our match.”

“As you say, Master Cruinneas.”

“Thank you. You can call me Cru.”

“Very well, Master Cru.”

A seemingly random Refined in the group snapped his fingers and a circle of flooring shifted color.

Tala grinned as she walked over to the standard sized sparring circle.

Terry flickered off of her shoulder and into a comfortable seat on the edge of the space.

Master Cru joined her, taking up an opposing position within the circle.

With a minor flick of will, she pulled Flow to her hand, then gestured to the sheath covering the knife blade, “Morphic sparring sheath.”

The man nodded, smiling. “I will be pulling training weaponry from my storage at need.”

When he made no move to do so, Tala cocked an eyebrow. “When will that be?”

“When I need to.”

She shrugged. “Alright. Who says go?”

Master Grediv walked forward, the other Refined moving to surround the circle. “I will.”

The two combatants nodded their agreement.

“This is a test of martial skill. No external magics are allowed —save those pertaining to your weaponry. No void magics.”

Tala gave a half smile. “I assume that dimensional storage items are allowed? Otherwise, Master Cru will be unarmed.”

Master Grediv smiled in return. “Just so. No external defenses either. This is a test and demonstration of martial prowess, not a competition on who can hit through the other’s defenses.”

There were no objections, and Tala retracted her iron, while disabling her elk-leather’s defenses.

“Ready.”

Master Cru didn’t take up a fighting stance.

Tala slipped into a high guard, Flow lengthening into its sword-form.

“Begin!”

She whipped Flow downward, hurtling the weapon at Master Cru with all of her considerable strength and speed. She let it fall back into the form of a knife as it left her hand, making it seem like she couldn’t keep it in another form without contact.

It wasn’t a common limitation, but it did exist in some weapons.

This was a trick that she could only pull once, so she intended to show her unconventional tactics to their fullest.

The other Refined’s eyes widened slightly as Flow crossed the distance in a blur. Even so, the man was already moving.

At the last moment, she pumped power through her soul-bond, forcing Flow into the form of a glaive in the exact moment that it would be in range of Master Cru, in that form.

Tala only caught what happened in retrospect. Her multiple perspectives pieced it back together even as she pulled Flow back to her hand before it could careen into the watching crowd.

Master Cru had brought up his hands to sweep the knife aside, a sword seeming to materialize out of nothing to parry the smaller blade.

When Flow had taken the form of a glaive, changing the timing, Master Cru had adjusted to the attack but barely, letting Flow brush past his shoulder in a hit that would have been at least somewhat damaging were they using live weaponry.

As Flow came back into her hand, Tala saw that Master Cru’s weapon was gone once more.

Even so, there was a smile on the man’s face. “That was a solid attack. It showed speed, precision, decisiveness, and cunning. Bravo.”

She smiled and nodded her head, careful to keep her eyes on him. “Thank you.”

“What it lacked was follow-through.”

He moved his hand almost casually, but Tala saw the throwing knives appear in it an instant before they were released.

Though she trusted that she could likely take the hits, that wasn’t the point of this exercise.

Ahh, that was stupid of me. I was still in ‘showing’ mode. I should have charged on the heels of my first attack.

-Well, show your abilities here.-

She shifted out of the way of two of the knives at the same time that she deflected another two with Flow and the fifth with her off hand.

Her focus returned to Master Cru, only to find him right in front of her, having used the thrown weapons as a distraction to close the distance, just as she should have.

Tala used her momentum from her earlier dodging to force her torso down and backward even as she kicked off of the ground for a handless cartwheel.

A sword came into being in his hand just as her knee came down from above, connecting with his wrist.

The hand spasmed open just after he gave what appeared to be a practiced twist.

As his arm was forced downward, it pushed the handle of the sword, which levered the blade upward… on a perfectly intersecting path toward Tala.

Her eyes widened as she was forced to use Flow to protect herself instead of attacking again.

Even so, his fist managed a precise strike to her leg as she finished her movement.

The muscle started to cramp up from the powerful hit, but she seized it through the scripts woven throughout and eliminated the problem.

“Flashy.” His tone was level, but it was obviously not a compliment.

Tala thrust out at him, Flow becoming a glaive that he attempted to slap aside with an open palm.

She resisted the deflection, bringing her strength to bear just long enough to score a hit on his outside shoulder.

He had been in a position of much greater strength, so hitting him in the torso was impossible. Still, with her greater-than-expected might, she’d been able to turn an easy deflection into a glancing hit.

She closed the distance allowing his deflection to throw Flow into a tight arc, the blade coming back at the man as she flowed past his own attacks.

He is an enemy, not a partner. I am here to end him, not help him grow.

Her stance shifted subtly, and she ripped Flow to the side, changing its trajectory, along with her own, in ways that should seem impossible.

Her footwork tightened up, and she leaned heavily on the stability training she’d received from Eskau De-arg, flowing through her attacks like a crashing avalanche.

Master Cru, for his part, steadily retreated, obvious surprise painted across his features as weapons appeared just in time for each attack or block before vanishing right after.

Her increased perception allowed her to see cracks radiating through the weaponry whenever he had to deflect Flow more than just a bit.

Even so, each time he called forth a new weapon, it was whole and undamaged.

Still, he seemed to be requiring more and more of his strength to change where her strikes would land.

If he’s this weak, what would happen if I actually connected?

Tala cut that thought off immediately, not letting any concern for his wellbeing take hold, and she held nothing back, using all of her power, weight, and skill to strike at him from every direction she could strike from.

Despite all of her seeming advantages, she couldn’t manage to land a clean hit.

Well, let’s try something more than direct conflict, then.

She threw Flow at him again, and he deflected the blade to the side where it embedded in the ground behind him.

Tala continued the assault with fist and knee and foot, forcing him to shift as she wanted. Then, she called Flow from behind the man, while continuing her unaltered assault.

Even so, he somehow detected the incoming blade and was able to spin out of the way even as a halberd appeared in his grasp, whistling through the air to strike at her as part of the same motion.

She barely managed to bend out of the way of the attack while striking the haft to lift the blade up the last bit that she required to avoid a hit.

That was a small turning point, however, and he was able to press her backward, gaining control over the flow of the battle.

Tala fought to take control once again, and back and forth they went.

Finally, Master Cru seemed to nod to himself. “Final test.”

A sword appeared in each of his hands, and he advanced behind a storm of flickering edges.

Tala growled as she did all that she could to keep him at bay, but she simply couldn’t.

His first hit was to her hip, then her shoulder, then an ankle.

None were hard enough to break anything, but they interrupted her movements, slowing her reactions enough to make the next hit come sooner.

Finally, Master Cru stopped with one sword blocked, trying to bisect her waist and the other waiting, unimpeded, beside her neck.

Master Grediv clapped his hands at the same instant Master Cru stopped, and Tala couldn’t tell which had prompted the other. “Done!”

The two combatants stepped back, giving nods of acknowledgement.

He was much better than she was.

He hadn’t simply overwhelmed her at the beginning because that wouldn’t be a useful test.

Instead, he’d been slowly increasing his own demonstrated skill, pushing her to see where her limits lay.

Together, they had found them and raised them ever so slightly.

“How long?” She asked, finding herself quite curious.

“Have I been fighting?”

“Yes.”

He shrugged. “A few centuries? I enjoy it, so I’ve packed a lot in that time, too.”

That made her feel quite a bit better. “So? How did I do?”

“Spectacularly for your age, assuming you’ve been an Archon for less than fifty years. High middling for a Refined with a martial bent. You lean on your strength a lot, but you use it well, and your style indicates you’re used to trading hits, which this wasn’t a good test for.”

She grimaced. Well, I suppose I can’t expect to be the best around.

-Hey, nothing’s gonna ever keep you down.-

Alat was right. Tala still had time to learn and improve. “Thank you, Master Cru.”

Master Grediv cleared his throat, the tiniest hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. “My apologies, Master Cru, but Mistress Tala is only twenty-one.”

The Refined, who was already halfway back to the food table, froze before spinning on his heel and blurting, “What now?!”