Triumph of Indomitable Will had no difficulty in finding his companions in the crowded mercantile plaza. Even when Serene did not sing too loudly, there was still this constant, soothing hum surrounding her as she spread her goddess’ purview. As expected, Gold was at her side as well, the mere presence of the large bronze-ranker enough to make sure that the crowds did not stray too close as many stopped for a while to listen.
Will made his way over, nimbly weaving through the crowds to sit down next to the pair atop a low wall surrounding one of the decorative trees which lined the river. It was a fine summer day, with plenty of boats and ships on the river, many streaming colorful strips of cloth.
“I would have expected Kite and Dragonfly to be here first,” Will noted as he enjoyed the view. There weren’t any major rivers flowing through Gilded, after all, so the concept of living so close to so much water remained exotic.
“We did as well,” Serene noted, Gold nodding along. “Maybe they went back to the inn to start the process of improving Kite’s equipment?”
“Ah, to have so many growth items. While the cost is felt, the potential is ever worth it,” Will sighed jealously. “Whatever is keeping them, I sure hope that it is something as pleasant as this view.”
----------------------------------------
As it turned out, having transcendent damage course through your left arm was a decidedly unpleasant experience. The pain was white-hot yet icy cold at the same time, and seemed to strike at something deep inside Kite on a level beyond the physical. Still, he felt a bit of satisfaction as the accepted strike led to his own attack landing.
During their brief, intensive exchanges after the initial clash, Kite had quickly noted several traits of his opponent which felt quite alarming.
First of all was her pure, straight-forward power. Kite did not know for sure, as she hadn’t stayed still enough for him to get a proper glimpse of her magic, but he suspected that she had something akin to Dragonfly’s mighty strength for all of her attributes. The celestine woman just seemed stronger, faster, more perceptive and having a stronger ability to recover than him, and he had glimpsed no active boons during most of their fight.
Second was her actual skill. Soul fought unarmed, and seemed to have a deep understanding of several different styles which she smoothly switched through. Her initial burst of straightforward speed had been followed by flowing, snaking motions which had soon been changed up to a more controlled, reactive set of strikes as Kite had tried to regain the initiative.
And third, her power set seemed to be one that was quite problematic for one such as Kite, and one that was rather rare among essence users. So far during their clash, Soul had mostly shown off a single special attack which seemed to deal both transcendent and disrupting force damage, as well as the ability to temporarily speed up which seemed frequently available. She could also intercept and block Kite’s attacks with her bare hands while blocking the magical effects as well. Finally, there was a supremely annoying ability which let her shift around her special attacks. One moment, her magic would gather in one fist only to flow back and change to another limb as Kite managed to intercept, therefore avoiding Kite’s dispelling counters and always keeping him guessing where she would hit next.
This had led to a new level of split-second strategizing, where the pair had to try and read each other as Kite had tried to begin feinting with his powers as well. And work up to a little surprise which Kite wanted to show his foe.
That was why Kite had accepted this hit, one he knew would plow through his barriers. His spectral arms were already busy, one wielding his shield to block a simultaneous kick while the other projected a slash towards his foe in the hopes that she would be forced to abort the attack. Unfortunately, Soul had pushed through, angling to dodge by the breadth of a hair while plowing through Kite’s dual barriers to strike his left arm. But as she raised her other hand to block his strike again, Kite’s little surprise actually worked.
Since advancing to silver rank, Void-Sunders-Firmament now weakened the magical channels of struck locations. While she had blocked out most of the first strike, her innate deflecting magic was too slow to respond the second time her hand met Kite’s staff in short order. Instead of deflecting harmlessly, the spatial tears dug into her hand, splattering blood. The celestine disengaged in a blink, backing up with a short leap.
“Huh, better than I thought. Nice,” she said as if to herself when she looked at the injury. While Kite had hoped that the ensuing affliction would block further attempts at healing, his magical perception revealed that it was soon washed away by her inner magic, the hand knitting together at a troubling pace.
“In battle, I have found it helpful to surpass expectations,” Kite retorted even as both his own and the spectral arms of his mantle each swung to attack, the strikes projected through the void. He had staggered them slightly so as Soul dodged to the side in one flowing motion, the next struck her in mid-air. Or it would, had she not blurred with speed and stepped off the empty air, much like Kite himself could these days.
“Wall!”
Needing another second to prepare his next attack, Kite brought forth the walls of force to encircle his foe and have her waste some more mana and time. Soul took a split second to take in her new surroundings before she thrust one foot down to arrest her momentum, the stone cracking beneath her as she pushed off in a new direction. Kite’s barriers broke like utterly mundane glass before her charge.
Another pair of projected attacks were sent her way, but a diving corkscrew had the celestine woman twirl past both ripples in the air and somehow return to her feet without losing momentum.
“Almost-” Kite thought with gritted teeth as Carmine Sunrise appeared in his hands, the comforting bulwark of Heavenglass Protector thrust forward by one of his spectral hands. It did not feel as comfortable any longer as Soul’s fist battered the shield aside with a bone-creaking jolt, her other hand outstretched to connect with Kite’s chest. The impact shook his whole being, and hitherto unseen cascades of stone were launched behind Kite in a spray as the force was channeled into the floor of the sparring yard.
The taste of blood filled Kite’s mouth even as his opponent readied herself to deliver another strike, hand flat and fingers pointed towards her target.
“You’ll have to show some more if you really want to-” Soul said, but her words were suddenly clipped off as a blade, one hard to notice as if it encouraged both eyes and spirit to pass it by, pierced into Soul’s chest in return. Or at least tried to. Kite felt some dismay as the Veiled One’s Decree failed to pass more than an inch into the body of his foe, her skin, bones and muscles stopping even his silver-ranked strength when delivered through a weapon which was still bronze rank.
But it did not stop the burst of dispelling force and the stunning, mana hungry magic which the thrust unleashed within her. The latter’s effect was always a contribution to any battle, but this time, Kite placed his hopes in the first; Disrupting strike. More specifically, the new feature which the power had acquired once advancing to silver rank.
A pulse went through Soul’s body, the surprise instantly registering in her eyes as part of her strength left her, what Kite assumed was Mighty Strength being suppressed by his power. Together with the momentous stun from Chakra implosion, it was enough for him to land a second hit as she tried to disengage. Immutable echo clipped Soul’s side, Void-Sunders-Firmament dealing some additional damage before she snapped back to attention, pushing off the air to dodge a few more attacks Kite projected towards her.
Landing nimbly, she looked back at Kite and met his gaze. And Kite had to admit that he was a bit taken aback by the sheer ferocity of the excitement that shone within. Soul suddenly looked as if Kite had presented her with a marvelous gift, one that she had never thought to wish for but whose appearance had suddenly revealed something missing all her life.
“Y- you can suppress it? My strength?” she asked, as if in wonder.
“I-” Kite began, even holding his next strike as he stared blankly at his opponent. He did not get the chance to continue as she spoke again.
“Could you do that with my speed? Any special ability?”
“I don’t think that telling my foes such details during a duel is the wisest course of action.”
“Gah- but this is important! I know, I’ll tell you something of mine. Anything you ask. You can even have two for one.”
Still taken aback by her sudden intensity, Kite still hesitated.
“Please!”
Seeing the look in the woman’s eyes, it then became clear to Kite that her questions actually had little, if anything, to do with this duel. Curiosity joined the war inside him, allying with his drive to cease any advantage and overwhelming his doubts in short order.
“Then, what do you mean with “blessed by warrior”? And what is it that allows you to redirect your channeling attacks?” Kite had many, many more questions which this first part of the duel had awoken in him, but these seemed the most pertinent to his current predicament.
They could both feel an angry silver-ranked aura probe against Soul’s at the exchange, with the sect elder apparently none too happy that she might just divulge her secrets like this. Soul completely ignored him, even looking elated at Kite’s questions.
“Oh, good choice. The short of it, Warrior appeared to me as he approved of my path. This triggered an evolution where none of my abilities can reach beyond my body, but they are all strengthened.
As for the second, it’s a power from my mystic essence. What was it called… Oh yeah, Inner Force Redirection. A bit boring, but that’s what it said in the magic society index. Some foreigners probably named it. It lets me move charging special attacks around in my body or weapons, even letting me hold onto them for a little while. Ranking up also lets me continue to pump strength into them for extra effect.”
“I… see,” Kite said, trying to process what this would mean for the rest of the duel, and if he could use it to his advantage.
“So…?” Soul prompted him, having delivered her end of the bargain.
“My power can indeed suppress the special abilities of others. Only one at a time though, and not auras or familiars. But all others.”
“Can you keep it suppressed?”
“As long as I can continue landing strikes, yes.”
“This…” she said, her elation rising even further. “This is great. Beyond great. Warrior be praised for this meeting.”
“I… am pleased that you approve…” Kite ventured, still not knowing what to make of this sudden pause. Soul didn’t even seem to care that his three vortices where happily eating through her mana.
“Your meeting with Warrior and your path… That does sound like quite the story.”
“The best day of my life,” Soul agreed. “But we’ll get plenty of time for me to tell it properly soon.”
“We will?” Kite asked, but Soul had already turned to Desdemona, who in turn seemed very intrigued by this development as well.
“Officiator, I would formally like to change my demanded prize for my victory.”
Her words caused plenty of murmuring to spread through the gathered onlookers, and few who looked would miss the warning glare that the sect elder sent the way of the celestine, only to once more be ignored.
“I… You can, if I remember correctly. But your opponent will have to agree, otherwise the previous declaration stands. And I may deny it if I feel that you are further threatening or coercing your foe.” The leonid woman talked as if reciting something from memory, and Soul nodded.
“Good. Then I wish to change my prize to the same as my opponent; a week of sparring and training, to be claimed at a future date.”
“You do?” Desdemona asked.
“You do?” Kite asked, simultaneously.
“Soul!” The elder roared, only to once more be ignored.
“I do,” the celestine confirmed. “Because you, dear Pathbreaker, have turned out to be something which I have never fought before; someone who can actively force me to fight without parts of my path. This will be just what I need to push my path of the Perfect Self. And besides, you’re resilient enough. The perfect sparring partner. Will you agree to this change?”
Kite knew that his deal was almost too good to be true; a win for him either way. But even as he nodded his agreement, he inwardly noted that his pride did wince a little. For him, who had received the budding reputation of an undefeatable duelist, being reduced to what felt like a practice dummy did sting. Still, a win was a win. Because how things had looked for the last, intense minute before this unexpected development, Kite was pretty sure that he would lose. And he was admittedly also very curious to learn from the path of this… monster.
“Then I agree to this change,” Kite said. “It will be most interesting to temper our paths against one anothers. Do you still wish to continue this clash, if the result is already set?”
“Dear Pathbreaker, one should never pass up on an opportunity for proper tempering. And by now, you should have been able to drain enough of my mana to compensate for that outdated equipment of yours. More fun that way. Ready yourself!”
“Oh dear…” was all Kite had the time to murmur, before the battle began anew.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
----------------------------------------
Dragonfly watched the other half of the duel in rapt attention. While some of the onlookers nearby seemed to feel that a lot of the tension and excitement had left the clash with the celestine woman changing her demanded prize, that very fact had immediately fled Dragonfly’s mind when the combat ensued once more.
“Kite sure is doing an admirable job,” she thought as she watched her friend and lover fight what anyone with eyes would call an uphill battle. While it had been hard for Dragonfly as an onlooker to identify it at first, she soon came to realize that this woman, Soul, was probably one of Kite’s worst possible opponents. Not only was she skilled, almost terrifyingly so as she flowed through several different styles of fighting which Dragonfly couldn’t grasp, but she seemed to have mostly different kinds of self-improving special abilities with a few exceptions of more active ones. This left Kite’s dispelling attacks with painfully little to negate, letting her keep most of her options while his did not contribute as much.
“Had it not been Kite of all people, I would have gladly cheered at them getting a taste of their own medicine,” she thought, watching Kite put up a brave fight while Soul gradually worked to disassemble his defenses. She was surprisingly unaffected by Kite’s recovery-hampering afflictions, so Dragonfly assumed that she had some kind of self-cleanse as well.
Even so, the process was not without its challenge for the amethyst-haired celestine, and even through her efficient self-healing, the transcendent damage and mana drain from Kite was making itself known. But the attrition that was Kite had not worked fast enough, and Dragonfly thought that she could see the end approaching, especially when she started threatening Sage enough to force Kite to absorb the familiar back into his body.
That prediction came true when Soul suddenly shifted stances, flowing movement turning into rigid as one strike broke through his barrier while she whirled to avoid attacks made by spectral arms. Said whirl took her inside his reach, and she accepted a glancing blow from the end of Kite’s staff before her palm shot up, catching Kite in the jaw. His head snapped back, and while he wasn’t launched backwards he staggered in place, swaying.
As if by some unspoken agreement, both combatants relaxed their stances at that moment, even though Dragonfly winced as she saw Kite’s legs trembling. Still, he gave an unsteady bow to his opponent, hands cupped.
“Thank you for the assistance in tempering my path!”
“I’m a bit surprised that this bout really did help with mine as well,” Soul replied as she returned the bow, eyes glimmering. “And as I am due my prize, I look forward to many more, Pathbreaker. Make sure to get some decent equipment before then. You’ll need it if you are to keep up. Find me at the Perfected Step sect’s compound in a month.”
And with that, the celestine turned and walked away after sending Kite another almost wolfish smile. A disciple from the sect came running over with her cloak, and the rest of the procession joined the departing silver ranker.
As Dragonfly walked up to stand beside Kite, she paid extra attention to the elder and his daughter. From what Kite had told her, it was not difficult to piece together who had been the initiators of this little clash. But from their faces, the first looking as if he had swallowed a thundercloud while his daughter looked more troubled and dissatisfied, things had not turned out as they had imagined. At least not entirely.
While the other observers streamed out of the arena, some calling encouragement to Kite, Dragonfly leaned in and spoke softly.
“You didn’t use Immortality? But it didn’t look as if you were holding back.”
“I don’t think it would have mattered as things stood,” Kite replied, looking at the departing sect members with a mix of weariness but also a little bit of fire in his eyes. “She had not shown any of her more potent cards yet, and with the battle decidedly not in my favor, it didn’t feel worth dragging things out.”
“You did get something out of it either way, true,” Dragonfly said, her heart lightening a bit as she saw Kite looking steadier by the second. “But heavens, Kite, you silver-rankers are durable. I think that a few of those blows you exchanged might deck most bronze-rankers real quick.”
“But not you?” Kite asked, smiling at the tone of her voice.
“I’m the avatar of inner flame, unless you have forgotten. I’m made of sterner stuff. And just wait until I advance.”
“As I said before, my ardent Dragonfly, I’m not sure if the world is ready for it. But I will do my best to keep up.”
----------------------------------------
“Disciple. What. Was. That?”
The whole procession from the Perfected Step sect had ended up at their small compound within Convergence, where sect members could find temporary lodgings during their stay in the city. Soul had barely had the time to enter the more lavish room reserved for the elders before the privacy formations on the door activated.
“So, the old man is trying to go with the silent fury,” she thought idly, unflinching as his silver-ranked aura tried to bore into hers.
Bell was there too, sitting off to one side with a complicated expression, but apart from the three of them, the suite of rooms was empty as far as Soul’s aura perception could gather.
Meeting his dark eyes with a steady gaze, Soul replied;
“I fought a clash and saw other terms I deemed more favorable to me. As I thought that my opponent would agree, I proposed it. And then I won.”
“That was not the plan, disciple, nor the purpose.”
“No, elder, that was not your purpose. But I didn’t see you in that arena fighting.”
“Such insolence. Is this the gratitude you show to the sect and family who has taken you in? Have I not treated you like a daughter, letting you eat at my table and used my influence to shield you? You may be a silver-ranker now, but there are still leagues of difference in experience between us.”
“You have delivered the resources you promised me back in the day, and I have delivered more than my share of the glory to you as my ‘teacher’ in return.” Soul remained outwardly calm as she spoke, but inwardly she was growing a bit annoyed.
“That is not for you to decide. And after today, our karma remains more imbalanced than ever.”
“Oh? Is that so? From where I stand, the only thing I actually owe any of you for is for Bell coming to drag me off to this fight because she was too weak to do it herself even when they were both bronze. Because it looks to have given me a sparring partner of my own advancement who can actually temper me.”
Bell flinched at her words, while elder Glass was growing angrier by the second.
“Disciple Soul, this is no way to speak to your elders or your fellow disciples. Apologize, or there will be consequences. It seems like we may have been too lenient with you, so there will be the need to teach you some humility either way,” he said, raising his voice and adopting his ‘harsh elder tone’ which Soul had seen him use so often.
But ever since advancing to silver rank, Soul no longer cared. He was just about to continue when his words were interrupted by something flickering towards him in a lazy arc, as Soul’s sect medallion, the proof of her membership and status, came to a halt in his hands.
“It would seem like this would be a perfect time for me to leave, then,” Soul noted, still calm. The elder was about to retort, but she continued in spite of his efforts. “I was always clear, elder, that my own loyalty is to my path and to Warrior. That you and your sect have always been the means to that end. Do not think that years of subservience during my lower ranks have changed that. I am Soul, and my path will temper my physical form to match that name.”
It did give her some satisfaction to see his anger halted in his tracks, and the elder had to visibly and forcefully calm himself down. Soul gave him that time.
“Disciple, that decision would be most unfortunate. You are already part of our lineup for the upcoming inter-sect tournament, after all, and you know the prizes at stake there. Perhaps we should both take some time and calm down, and continue this discussion at a later time when our minds have cleared?” The older man spoke with forced calm, his aura no longer pressing against Soul’s, but it was clear that he was by no means pleased with the turn of events.
“I am perfectly calm, elder, and see no need. Either you continue to uphold your end of the bargain, or I leave. Continue to throw accusations of our karma being unbalanced, and we shall have to even it out as true warriors do; through a clash as the queen has decreed.”
The elder continued to regard her, but his anger was apparently cooling down. After a few more moments of silence, he held out the sect medallion to Soul.
“Disciple, I believe that you accidentally misplaced your badge.”
“It was no accident, elder. But you are free to come over here and return it.”
Bell visibly cringed back at Soul’s words, and elder Glass looked as if he had swallowed something that did most decidedly not agree with him. But eventually he strode over and held out the medallion.
“I do not believe that it belongs in my hand, elder,” Soul said, not moving.
Elder Glass looked as if he was to say something, but with a visible show of self-restraint, he reached out and hung the medallion back over Soul’s head.
“I believe that we are done,” was the only thing the man said, before walking past Soul and exiting the room.
“Soul, you’ve pushed him too far. He did not deserve that!” Bell protested after the door had closed.
“And I found that he did. Posturing like that is for the weak. Our agreement stands for as long as he holds up his end and I hold up mine. If he aims to subvert that meaning, it is all null and pointless.”
The bronze-ranker looked at her for a while, before asking her next question, voice small.
“But… would you really have left? Just like that?”
“There is no point to empty threats, Bell. Posturing is not part of my path, nor is politics. I have grasped the strength to choose for myself. If he is not willing to match it, he will not dictate my actions.”
Bell wilted a bit at her words. “This is not how I imagined all of this going.”
“Then you should grow strong enough to fight your own battles,” Soul said, before she turned to leave the room. “But you did set me up for an opportunity here, Bell. I’ll repay you for that some day.” Then the door to the suite slid shut once more.
----------------------------------------
“I can still scarcely believe that Kite actually lost a duel,” Will said while he was lounging in a chair in the suite of rooms which the group stayed in between contracts.
“A sentiment you have repeated a lot these past few hours. We all know that I am not invincible,” Kite said from where he sat on the floor with piles of quintessence dissolving around him and flowing into his staff which lay across his lap as the weapon’s magical presence was steadily increasing.
“That was not what it looked like in the recording of you completely crushing all those disciples of the Descending Star sect. No offense meant, Gold. You were the pinnacle of honor among that group,” Will said, hurriedly adding the last while nodding in apology to the big man who sat meditating next to Serene on the floor nearby.
“Truth is truth,” Gold said in simple acknowledgement, not even opening his eyes.
“Still, do you think that there will be trouble if you go there? From the looks of it, the rest of the sect didn’t much approve of the changes she made. Which was a weird one. Was more training time with you really worth it to her?” Dragonfly asked incredulously, before adding; “Not that I mind training with you, Kite. It’s just… as a prize?”
“You wound me, my ardent Dragonfly,” Kite said, voice full of mock hurt. “Am I not the paragon of all sparring partners? In all honesty though, I am a bit unsure. But from exchanging blows with this Soul for a while, I did get the feeling that combat is important to her. Really, really important.”
“You said she was blessed by Warrior? Our world is full of those who fight, so she must really have impressed him for Lord Warrior himself to make an appearance. And to impress him, you would need a lot more than just a will to fight,” Serene noted.
“In that, priestess, I will take your word for it,” Kite agreed. “I suppose I will find out in a month. I’m glad that she chose that time though, as I would be loath to leave you without at least another silver ready to step in should things go awry when there are less of you present. But by then, I suspect that we will not have that problem.”
As if to make sure, Kite let his spiritual perception brush against his companions. He was still too close to them to properly assess their progression in great detail, but Dragonfly, Serene and Will were all close even though he could still not determine who would be able to push through first. Gold was getting there as well, but still had a bit longer to go.
Ascending a growth item took some time, and most of Kite’s companions eventually drifted off to do their own things, be it rest, meditation, practice, shopping or just taking in the sights. A few hours later, well after dusk had fallen, Dragonfly returned to where Kite sat, fresh from a sparring session against Will. She sprawled onto a nearby couch and after wrestling her hair, a great mass of pink curls, out of the way, she looked at Kite.
“Oh, you’re doing the tattoos now?”
“What gave it away?” Kite asked with a smirk surrounded by the steadily glowing metallic lines on his face.
“Does it feel weird to improve something which is essentially a part of you?”
“Rather the opposite, actually. After ascending to silver, the tattoos have felt almost… How to describe it? Drab? Stagnant? As if the mana I’m sending through them doesn’t move as fast as it should. But that is probably because my silver-ranked mana is more potent. And with every breath now, it's aligning itself again.”
“And literally eating your money,” Dragonfly pointed out, nodding toward the vanishing piles of silver spirit coins.”
“It’s a good thing that essences sell well, and that I had all that quintessence lying around,” Kite agreed with a slight wince. “If need be, I can probably get a lot for the treasures which the rulers left behind, as they should be unique and potent materials for powerful silver-ranked items. But as I’d rather hold on to those until Peony gets to silver as well, I shall make do with only parting with the others. Then- oh, I think the advance is nearing completion.”
The last dregs of spirit coins and quintessence had dissolved, and Kite took over command of the ritual to help guide it to a close. With the items gained from the queen’s trials, that process had always been a lot easier than Kite had expected; as if the items themselves were already so closely bound to him and had such potential that it felt more like filling a magical vessel rather than shaping and guiding it much. Upgrading the Veiled One’s Decree had been a lot more strenuous, as Kite had been forced to wrestle with the discordant concepts within.
As the glow from his tattoos faded, Dragonfly gave off a soft ‘OOooohh’ and pointed to his face. Looking in a nearby mirror, Kite saw that the metallic lines had sprouted smaller, intricate offshoots, like swirling veins growing out from the wider stem of the tattoo’s main lines. And he agreed with Dragonfly; it did not look half bad. More artistic.
“So, what does it do now?” she asked him curiously.
Kite focused inward for a bit, gently guiding his mana through the new circuits. Then he let it flow freely, the lines lighting up. A pair of spectral arms appeared behind him as before. And then came another pair.
WWJS:
[Item] Prescient Mantle of the Sage Asura
Magical tattoo
Silver rank - [Growth] Legendary
Soulbound
The Sage Asura sees all, each of its myriad arms reaching out to change fate. Through the forging, let its mantle be bestowed to the one whose path might one day do the same.
[Effect] For an ongoing mana cost, manifest a set of spiritual arms. These arms may draw weapons from the wearer's dimensional spaces, and are freely controlled by the wearer.
The manifested arms may also use the wearer's special attacks. Attacks delivered through the arms deal reduced damage, but each set of arms has their own cooldown for said special attack.
Destroyed arms may be manifested anew for a cost of moderate mana.
[Effect] Gain increased cognitive processing speed and capacity for simultaneous action.
[Effect] Silver - Conjure an additional set of arms.
Once infused into the wearer and bound to their soul, this item cannot be removed or unfused. No other magical tattoos may be added to the wearer, but this item will persist across ranks and can be upgraded like any growth item through absorbing the right materials.
Both Kite and Dragonfly looked at them in astonishment, as the now four additional arms turned around for them to inspect. The two new ones looked much like the initial pair, composed of semi-transparent energies the same color as his tattoos.
“Ooooooooooohhhhh….” was the only sound that escaped Dragonfly, and Kite could only laugh as he remembered the words of officiator Thirty-three.
“An increase in profusion, indeed…”