“And there we have it!” the Dean’s voice echoed across the top floors of the arena as the scene paused and his play-by-play commentator ceded the floor to him, “Dale’s new Ability finally comes out! And what an Ability it is. Upgrading the Razorleaf Transformation, Dale has discarded the ability to turn his sword into leaves to take the plunge and become the leaves himself.”
Alex appreciated the commentary but wished that they could go back to watching the fight. Did the leaves operate the same way as the Razorleaf Transformation?
The other commentator cut in smoothly, “Reflecting the significant upgrade, Dale’s signature move has a new name. The Manifold Razorleaf Metamorphosis!”
Looking closer at the fight, which had paused for the introduction to Dale’s transformation, Alex realized that the leaves had several different shapes and sizes. The old Ability had summoned uniform maple tree leaves, now Alex recognized several different leaves that he wouldn’t be able to name outside of oak.
The fight resumed, and the wind across the stands picked up speed. The fight down below was likely over, was Dale manipulating the winds up top for dramatic effect? It did add a certain wow factor, Alex had to admit. The winds were far from dangerous, but they were moving faster than could be explained without magical interference.
The twenty-one leaves, one for each of Dale’s apertures, which felt relevant, were rapidly picking up speed as they spun. They flitted across the battlefield with all of Dale’s Celerity, but there were so many it was impossible to watch all of them. The time dilation was cranked up to incredible levels so that individual leaves could be pointed out, but it sped back up afterwards. Alex almost pitied Chester for needing to defend himself against whatever was coming.
However strong the winds up here were, they had undoubtedly been worse at the heart of the Ability. The leaves were flickering around, striking the juggernaut at high speeds and gouging into the metal. Instead of getting stuck, they seemed to be puppeteered by the winds as they would tear out chunks of armor and the man underneath it before spinning away. Alex was struck by the realization that this ability must suck to be on the wrong end of, as small wounds opened across Chester’s body faster than he could react.
The magnets were discarded in the transformation, and while Chester had reclaimed the metal, he couldn’t maneuver his spear fast enough to deposit it on the leaves. It seemed that a limitation had been found, where the metal of his armor could transform into his spear, but not into the magnets his spear was capable of depositing. If he fixed the Ability and removed that weakness, it would be an absolute advantage against fast opponents.
Instead, he was stuck weathering the storm as the leaves were blown around him.
The leaves were a reminder that Dale was more swordsman than wind mage. For all that leaves should be flimsy, these seemed to be made of diamondsteel. Every blow struck as though it were delivered by a blade forged by one of New Chicago’s best smiths. The attacks were made worse by the spinning, as a massive amount of momentum was transmitted by every attack.
Saying that Chester was helpless against the onslaught would be going too far. While he couldn’t lash out, he could weather quite the storm and seemed to resolve himself to outlast Dale as his spear vanished once more. Even as the storm of leaves struck him from multiple angles, landing several blows a second even after the time dilation, he never stumbled. The earth itself turned to metal underneath his feet, holding him in place.
Tears in the armor and the wounds underneath them closed as fast as they opened, the juggernaut’s real strength showing itself as he moved on from his new Ability to instead focus on the old. Even as the leaves seemed to tear him apart, not a single drop of blood was spilled. It almost felt like watching an old PG-13 movie where gore was heavily limited on camera, except for the fact that the scene was quite violent if you were looking for anything but blood.
Any Imprinted could take a lot of hits before going down, but Chester took it to an extreme. Wounds seemed to hardly bother him, and Alex knew that the man’s metal was only one of two mana types that permeated his Mana Body. The other was linked to his regeneration, and when he focused on taking the punishment of an opponent, very few could leave a mark that lasted. The fact that his Soul Spear had been modified to be both spear and suit of armor allowed his regeneration to extend to his armor.
The leaves weren’t making much progress, although they would eventually wear down even Chester.
Suddenly, several of the leaves entered an attack formation together. Eschewing their previous unpredictability to make a concerted effort. They formed a circle around the juggernaut’s left arm, all spinning in concert as they closed like a noose around the man’s appendage. The time dilation increased as the commentators pointed the maneuver out to anyone watching.
While Dale attempted to cut Chester’s arm off with half of his leaves. The others flittered about distractingly or went for unimportant attacks of opportunity. Several minor attacks continued to land, but Alex paid them no mind as his attention was solely drawn to the big one. He was on the edge of his seat as he waited to leap up and celebrate the coming blow.
Chester’s armor glowed as the Dean once again gave the crowd a visual cue. Where before the leaves had always torn through the metal, this time the armor showed off why Chester lived up to his title. The leaves bounced off without leaving a mark on the shoulder. Chester must’ve seen the attack coming and reinforced that part of his armor with additional metal and mana.
Jess jumped to her feet, leaving Alex to grumble in discontent while she cheered the important moment.
The ridiculous mana reserves of someone deep into Tier 3 were on full display, as both used more mana in a single move than most of the city’s Attuned possessed in total. The fight seemed to have returned to a slog that tested those reserves. Dale was unable to land a truly crippling strike even with his new Ability. Chester was unable to use his new Ability to regain any form of advantage.
The difference in apertures would grow important here. Only one aperture separated the duo, but it was another source of attuned mana flowing out of Dale’s soul and into his body. Or his leaves, at the moment. The advantage would be important if Dale was to win. Alex wasn’t feeling confident in Dale’s ability to outlast a man whose entire shtick was surviving anything thrown at him.
It was still just a duel, and Alex knew that neither of them was truly going all out. Dale wouldn’t be afraid of dealing lasting damage to his husband with leaves striking armor, but he would definitely avoid targeting any of Chester’s apertures. Destroyed apertures could be repaired, but until they were it weakened the city’s strongest defenders.
Chester didn’t have to worry as much about pulling his punches, since nothing he had could hit Dale. Still, even if the opportunity to destroy a leaf presented itself, would he take it? If the number of leaves matching the number of apertures meant what Alex thought it meant, he’d almost certainly not.
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The Metamorphosis seemed to be a last resort Ability. Accepting the high possibility of losing a leaf, and probably an aperture, in exchange for tearing apart nearly anything that threatened him and his team. Bringing it out in the duel was a bit unfair, as the counter to the Ability wasn’t available to Chester.
Dale might’ve only used it because of just how bad his chances were against Chester’s magnets. Alex had heard plenty of stories about just how competitive the pair could be, and it wasn’t unreasonable to think that Dale had been unwilling to concede defeat. The magnets were nearly as much of a cheat as the leaves, all but perfect to counter Dale’s powerset.
Still, Alex thought there was more to it. First, there was the announcement before the fight, which had been broadcast across the city instead of just recorded. Then, two of the city’s strongest defenders revealed new trump cards, to the whole city again. The city’s leaders were showing off.
The whole event was a show of strength, but why?
Alex’s contemplation was interrupted by an intense exchange. The fight may have become a slog, but it was still a battle between Imprinted. Their repeated exchanges rapidly drew Alex’s interest back to the fight, and he decided that anything else could wait. If the Imprinted wanted to put on a show, he might as well enjoy it. Whatever they were planning was likely beyond his ability to figure out, anyway.
The exchange that brought Alex’s interest was a swat from Chester’s left gauntlet that connected with a leaf. As Alex expected, the simple blow was far from enough to destroy the leaf, instead sending it spinning away. Against Alex’s expectations, the leaf simply fell to the ground, no longer spinning.
“Some of you have likely noticed the problem with Dale’s Ability. It’s rather unfair to use in a duel.” The Dean noted, as the leaf fell to the ground, “Chester isn’t going to make a real attempt to disable one of the leaves, and risk doing real damage to one of Dale’s apertures. It would overstep the boundaries of the duel.”
“I’ve been wondering about that,” his co-commentator helpfully prompted, “I assume you gave a restriction to let him show off the new power?”
“Naturally, Dale’s leaves will be disabled for the rest of the duel should Chester manage to land a hit. It restricts Dale’s Ability a bit, those leaves are harder than they look,” the Dean chuckled as he said this, “But we determined it the best option to keep the duel fair, while still allowing our swordmaster to show off his upgrade.”
With this restriction explained, the duel seemed much less imbalanced. Alex felt a bit stupid for not realizing that anything he noticed while watching the fight would’ve been obvious to the people actually fighting. The solution was incredibly simple as well, keeping the true limits of Dale’s ability under wraps while giving Chester a slim chance of success outside of just standing there and taking the punishment for long enough.
The fight became a fight once again as Chester found his path to success, starting to fight with his fists. He moved to punch the leaves that harassed him out of the air, abandoning some of his focus on defense as he fought back. The fight took an interesting turn. Chester didn’t focus on pugilism, but his incredibly sharp senses and control of his body laid the foundations for skill beyond anything Alex had seen from his instructors.
While swordplay was discouraged, focusing on pugilism was outright banned. Idiots who thought that punching their problems until they went away would take them far were allowed to duel opponents who had weapons until they abandoned the idea. Hand-to-hand martial arts weren’t completely ignored, the instructors didn’t want graduates to be completely defenseless without their weapons, but it was emphasized that the best backup plan was a secondary weapon. Fists and feet served as a last resort.
Alex didn’t disagree with any of that, but he couldn’t help but see the appeal in learning more pugilism as Chester fought. The man had clearly prepared for situations where his spear wouldn’t suffice and slid into a style well-suited for the situation. Dale had become too abstract, his skillful maneuvering while in leaf form was cool but difficult to relate to. Even when Alex did reach the stage where he could create abilities that intricate, would he go in the direction of turning himself into leaves?
It was a surprising reversal. Where normally he would watch Dale’s swordsmanship reverently, he now focused more on Chester. The man was slower and fought in a more brutish style, but centuries of refinement led to skill regardless. His feet were always carefully planted, allowing him to move quickly and precisely.
His hands moved faster than Alex had ever seen the man move before, at this level of time dilation, and Alex was forced to wonder just how much of the juggernaut’s slowness in previous fights was real. Had he kept this card in reserve for a fight where he could stand on more even footing?
“Chester is showing off another Ability he’s built into his armor!” The co-commentator, Instructor Tillman, noted, “With Celerity as his lowest attribute, he shouldn’t be able to keep up with Dale at all. By burning mana to move his armor, he’s able to compensate with his immense Force. Allowing him to move as fast as he can react, despite the weakness in his build.”
One leaf after another fell to Chester’s counteroffensive. His fists weren’t as fast as the leaves, but his Domain gave him the sense of his surroundings needed to track and predict the trajectories. Their rapid movements seemed completely inscrutable to Alex’s eyes, with the leaves constantly changing directions in ways that their momentum should’ve prevented.
The movements seemed to become increasingly complex while Chester managed to see through them again and again. Was Dale able to give each leaf more of his focus as they were eliminated? Was he just trying different things, learning as he went?
It was impossible for Alex to say, but just enjoying the duel was incredibly exciting. The fight had turned against Dale, and that was slightly disappointing, but he couldn’t be dissatisfied for long while watching such a display.
A half-hour passed like this, Chester steadily taking more of the advantage. The leaves were growing erratic, and Alex had given up on trying to determine where they would strike. Of course, harder-to-predict movements couldn’t make up for there being fewer leaves for Chester to keep track of. The fight had been decided already, with only five leaves remaining.
A final flurry came, with Dale giving it one last try. The leaves refused to relent, as one effectively sacrificed itself to make space for a series of strikes against Chester’s thigh. The juggernaut staggered, not for the first time. For a second Alex wondered if it would be enough, but Chester did not fall. Four quickly became three as Chester pushed the advantage and Dale fought instead of fleeing.
The leaves refused to surrender, attacking relentlessly as they tried to make the final push. Would the next blow be enough to bring the juggernaut down?
The answer was no, and three became two. The remaining leaves finally pulled back in their onslaught. The other nineteen came up from the ground, and the leaves became a swordsman once again. Dale bowed his head in defeat, and the scene rippled.
“With that, the win streak is broken!” Came the call, accompanying the appearance of a similar scene to when the projection started. The Dean stood in between Chester and Dale, both of whom projected a serenity that Alex found hard to believe after such a hard-fought duel.
Alex quickly noticed another presence. Walking into the arena was Councilwoman Deng. She was a part of the civilian council, but she had once been one of the Defense Forces Commanders. For the past thirteen years, she had served as an elected liaison between the city’s two most important organizations, the council and the military.
Overlap between the two wasn’t particularly common. The Defense Forces weren’t subject to democracy, instead being run directly by the city’s Imprinted and their most trusted subordinates. This didn’t endear them to the democratic civilian government. Alex had heard rumors that the relationship used to be quite frosty before Councilwoman Deng took the task of smoothing things over.
Her experience as a Captain gave her a great deal of respect among the Defense Forces, and she was very effective in her role. Plenty of recent graduates spoke highly of her when they visited campus to use tiered facilities.
“Do you know what this is about?” Becca asked Anthony, and Alex quickly looked over to see if their friend had any insight.
“No clue,” Anthony replied.
The council members hadn’t involved themselves in previous duels, but now Stemke had helped to broadcast this event across the city and Deng was arriving, presumably to make an announcement. It appeared they were about to find out the reason today was being treated differently from normal.