Agnes follows her confident words by starting a repetitive chant and weaving her hands together in an abstract set of hand gestures that Emily struggles to find sense in.

“I will not bend, my will won’t shake. My body is steel, I will not break.”

Emily watches in silence as a dense mist of silver and brown leaves Agnes’ body. Some silver clings to her skin, forming into glistening runes that fade away to leave a metallic sheen, and the rest joins the brown in inscribing a large twisting magic circle on the dirt below. Agnes opens her eye as the circle pulses, and Emily instantly feels a shift around her as an invisible weight presses down on her shoulders.

She twitches her fingers, feeling the difference in their movement, and focuses on her spatial awareness, feeling an odd distortion around her. Her cores run into overdrive to analyse the spell while Agnes halts her gestures and reaches for her sword, her mouth still moving, repeating her words.

She’s only using earth and metal, but she’s managing to affect space somehow. It’s not quite spatial disruption... is she attributing the space itself? It’s making me slower and increasing my weight. Does it do more?

Agnes raises her sword and bends her knees, her exposed tattoos lighting up as lightning buzzes across her skin. She flashes forward, the circle on the ground following while keeping her in its centre, quickly closing the distance between them.

Emily preempts her attack, stepping back using her full, natural speed, and raising her hand to bat aside the heavy, falling blade. A flood of mana erupts from her, as she starts an internal timer, weaving together to form two magic circles. She deflects a few more attacks, the magic circle restricting her movement, forcing her onto the back foot as she switches from brass knuckles to a broadsword and meets Agnes blade to blade.

Her two magic circles finish forming after a few exchanges, the first solid green and wrapped around her legs, and the second a mix of blue and silver hovering at her back. Emily pushes forward as they finish forming, driving a stab towards Agnes’ chest as liquid metal shoots from the circle behind her, flying between Emily’s cheek and Agnes’ incoming blade before solidifying and blocking the blow.

Agnes, holding the advantage in speed at the moment, deftly slips past Emily’s attack and swipes her sword towards Emily’s feet, but Emily leaps off the ground, stepping on an invisible foothold and propelling herself out of Agnes’ reach.

Agnes’ eye follows her, a look of intrigue crossing her face as she keeps chanting without end. Trying not to let Emily take control of the battle’s pace again, Agnes pursues her closely, aiming blow after blow towards her retreating form.

Emily switches to dual daggers and falls into a rhythm of deflecting blows and controlling her magical shield, using her manoeuvrability to stay just at the edge of Agnes’ reach despite her inferior speed.

She’s made me slower and herself faster, but she doesn’t seem as used to high-speed combat as me, especially while multicasting. She’s not taking full advantage of the speed that tattoo gives her yet. Her mental processing appears to be lagging slightly, and there is a lot less variation in her speed than there is in her normal unenhanced combat. Is that a fault in my tattoo? Does it not give her enough adjustability, or is it just an issue with her control?

As the time ticks down, fast approaching the end of Emily’s given one-minute grace period, she can’t help but admire Agnes’ restriction spell. The large circle on the floor slowly grows in brightness, exerting more and more force on Emily, attempting to hold her still. It also slows the mass of liquid metal flying around to protect her, gradually challenging her more and more.

If I was forced to fight in these conditions for another few minutes, she might actually beat me. What a useful spell.

Emily’s internal timer hits two seconds left as Emily leaps over a low sweep, but a small warning bell goes off in her mind. Agnes stomps lightly on the ground, suddenly sending a spike of packed dirt towards Emily’s back. At the same time, Agnes changes the direction of her sword and slashes at Emily’s side with a surprising burst of speed.

Reacting calmly, Emily creates another foothold of air and kicks off, arcing backwards and sliding narrowly between the blade and spike. Agnes chases her, a new spike rising from the earth with each step, but Emily makes her metal shield slide beneath her, stretching out and solidifying into a sheet that blocks all the spikes.

Emily calmly pushes herself off the rising metal sheet with her hands, flipping around to land outside Agnes’ range with a gloating grin.

“It was a good attempt. But your time’s up,” she says as she cancels air walk, and casts sky step.

Agnes, sensing danger, leaps forward to try and cancel Emily’s casting, but Emily falls back, forming her metal guardian into a solid wall between them that slows Agnes down. By the time Agnes steps around the thin wall blocking her, Emily’s spell has finished casting, wrapping her legs in crackling lightning.

Agnes barely has time to blink as she catches a single glimpse of Emily standing, wreathed in lightning, before she dashes away, reaching the edge of the large magic circle that fills half the hall before Agnes can move to follow. The moment she leaves it, her speed increases explosively, the restraints holding her back gone, and she vanishes from Agnes’ sight.

Emily springs around the room, bouncing off every surface around her as she builds up more charge in her legs. Agnes’ head spins, trying to keep up with her to no avail. She stands in a defensive stance, quickly backing up towards the wall to force Emily to approach from the front.

You lost the moment I finished casting.

Emily kicks off a wall, rocketing towards Agnes and dropping into a slide, discharging her legs against the ground below her, ripping Agnes’ magic circle to shreds as a scorching line is drawn across the hall. She appears in front of Agnes before she can even react, rising up and slipping a blade past her guard in a single motion as she comes to a sudden, jarring halt.

Emily lightly presses the blade against Agnes’ throat as both of their spells disperse.

“Good fight,” she says before relaxing and pulling back, stowing her daggers in her belt.

“Damn,” Agnes mutters with a chuckle, sheathing her sword with one hand and raising the other to rub her throat. “You’ve really become a monster.”

“Haha, I had the best to learn from. Speaking of, you’re triple casting now?” Emily questions with intrigue.

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“The triple casting is an old trick,” Agnes says, collapsing down to sit on the floor, leaning against the wall. “It’s not true triple casting. I can’t maintain two or more third circle spells at once, but I can internal cast earth spikes while channelling one third and one second circle spell. How about you?”

“Ha, trying to gauge my abilities through conversation because you can’t in combat?” Emily teases, settling down beside Agnes. “Well, it depends on the spells. I can cast up to eight at once if they’re simple, but when they get more complicated, like guardian and sky step, my defence spell and the last attack spell I used to beat you, it goes down.”

“Eight?” Agnes says with a disbelieving scoff. “Goddess, that’s insane. Even during the height of the war I never met a mage able to use more than four spells at once. Still, it’s comforting to know that those two spells are a big deal even to you. My wrist still hurts from hitting that damn metal, and that lightning ripped through my earth lock with ease.”

“Earth lock, is it? It was very impressive. Does the slowing effect have a limit to its increase?”

“It does. It would have kept increasing for another minute before hitting its peak if you’d stayed within it. Unfortunately, it seems even that wasn’t enough to hold you.”

“Well,” Emily says, pushing off the ground and walking away backwards, gesturing for Agnes to follow. “Why don’t I give you two minutes this time?”

***

Emily and Agnes spar until Emily checks The Clock and sees it’s time to meet her friends for lunch.

“I think we’ll have to call it there,” Emily says, standing over Agnes’ fallen figure.

“Urgh,” Agnes groans, wiping sweat and blood from her brow and sitting up. “Finally letting me go are we?”

“Hey, you’re the one who asked to keep going after draining your mana. You can’t blame me,” Emily responds with a grin, offering her hand.

“You got me there,” Agnes chuckles, taking Emily’s hand and pulling herself up. “I have to make the most of having a good opponent to fight while you’re here.”

Emily pauses, her eyes narrowing with a cautious glint.

“Who told you?”

“Ha, no one,” Agnes responds, throwing an arm around Emily’s shoulders and leading her towards the door. “I’ve sparred with you enough to somewhat understand you. There’s no way you’d stay in The Dome. There’s not enough conflict here for you.”

Emily relaxes slightly, raising a brow at Agnes’ statement.

“You think I seek conflict?”

“Yes,” Agnes responds without a hint of humour in her voice, surprising Emily with her serious tone. “We’re very alike, Emily. I left my home when I was young to join the army, to shed blood as I forged myself into a weapon for my kingdom. You’ve been born into a time of relative peace, but I can see it in your eyes. The drive to fight. The need for excitement. The desire for blood.”

They stop by the closed door to the hall, moving apart as Agnes spins Emily to face her, resting her hands on her shoulders.

“We may not follow the same path, but I can tell yours will still be paved with death, and you won’t find that here. So, obviously, you’re leaving soon. Am I right?”

“Yes.” Emily nods, an odd sense of comfort rising in her chest at the calm manner in which Agnes confronts her bloody nature. “I’m leaving in three days. This will probably be the last time we see each other.”

“Good luck,” Agnes says, pulling Emily into a firm hug. “You’ll always find friendship if you come looking for me, and I pray to Goddess that we never meet in battle. I fear I wouldn’t be able to keep my head.”

“Ha,” Emily chuckles, giving Agnes a squeeze before pulling away and facing her with a smug grin. “You think I’d kill you? Nah, capturing The Iron Valkyrie alive surely has more benefits.”

“Ha. You could certainly try.”

Emily pushes the door open and steps out into the corridor, turning to see Agnes standing still inside the hall, not intending to follow her out.

“Goodbye, Agnes.”

With a final appreciative nod, Emily turns and walks away.

***

Emily joins her friends to eat, receiving a disappointed pout from Juliana as she wipes the dried blood from an already-healed gash on Emily’s cheek, reminding her to use cleanse. After eating, their friends leave for lessons and private study, while Emily heads to the library with Juliana.

“What are you looking for?” Juliana asks as they step out of the transportation circle into the tall stacks of books.

“Nothing in particular,” Emily says, picking a small table and making her way towards it. “I want to finish the recipe book for Ivor, and there are a few potions I know of but haven’t looked at yet. Other than that, I have a short list of some interesting books from the A grade section that I want to read before I go.”

“What are they about?” Juliana asks, pulling out a notebook and dropping down in a seat as Emily stops beside a table.

“Various things, from elementals to history. Quite a lot of them may be useless to me, but I thought it important to use the information I have access to before I lose it. Wait here, I’ll be back with some books in a moment.”

Emily walks past, running a soft hand along Juliana’s shoulders as she does, before vanishing into a nearby corridor of books. A green magic circle forms around her legs, carrying her up into the top layers of the shelves to browse on a set of invisible stairs. She pulls up a map of the library drawn into her notes, looking over the various titles marked down for later reading.

If I’m fast this should only take a few days of frozen time. I can also prepare for that…

She glances back at Juliana with a warm smile before turning her attention back to the stacks.

Let’s leave Ivor’s gift till the final loop.

***

That evening, after several uses of The Clock, Emily shuts the cover of Ivor’s gift, the pages within filled with valuable information. She lays her palm flat against the blank cover, delicately spreading her mana across it to form a title before igniting it and scorching it into the surface.

‘Alchemy Basics’

She holds up the book with a satisfied smile, hearing a soft giggle in her ear from Juliana, resting her head on Emily’s shoulder half asleep.

“Is that what counts as the basics for you?”

Emily chuckles, relaxing against her girlfriend as she sends the book into her storage.

“Well, it’s not basic because everything in it is simple. It’s basic because I think you could give it to someone with zero experience in the field and they’d be able to start brewing without any other texts,” Emily explains. “I added a fair amount of my own observations and notes on the processes required, and I went a little bit overboard. Most of the extra information will probably be irrelevant to Ivor, but I’m sure he won’t mind.”

Juliana hums in agreement, reaching out to take Emily’s now empty hands in hers, playing with her fingers idly. They quietly relax in the calm atmosphere of the library for a short while, until Emily checks the time and decides to head to the cafeteria.

They arrive to find only Ivor and Enzo sitting together, both silently staring into space as they wait for their food to arrive.

“Hey,” Emily says as they join them at their table. “Just you guys?”

“The twins haven’t arrived yet,” Ivor signs with a nod.

“And I haven’t seen the pyro since lunchtime,” Enzo adds.

“I see.” Emily nods, narrowing her focus on Ivor as Juliana orders them food. “I have a small gift for you.”

Ivor and Enzo both look on with intrigue as Emily reaches into the belt at her waist and pulls out the book. She holds it out to Ivor, who tentatively takes it in both hands, turning it around to read the title.

“You told me you couldn’t find the recipe for the iron-clawed brew, so I decided to write you a little recipe book,” Emily explains casually. “I’ve included some extra notes on the processes that may help you, but feel free to ignore them if my methods don’t suit you.”

Ivor carefully opens the book, slowly flipping through the pages as Enzo watches over his shoulder. Tears slowly build up in his eyes, shocking Emily, and after reaching the back cover, he finally looks up.

“Could you sign the inside cover, please?” he signs, passing the book back to Emily.

“Why would you want my signature?” Emily asks with confusion.

“When you make a name for yourself, I’d like to keep this as a family heirloom to remember an old friend,” he responds with surprising sincerity.

Flashing him a gentle smile, Emily takes the book from him and opens the front page, placing her hand against the inside cover to burn a message into it.

To my dear friend Ivor Juric,

Thank you for your friendship and support in my time at The Covenant. I hope you live a happy, fulfilling life, and I look forward to seeing the potions you create. I expect great things from you.

-Emily Coldstone

She hands the book back and watches as Ivor reads the message before bursting into tears and clutching the gift to his chest.

“Thank you,” he signs through his tears, pulling on Emily’s heartstrings.