—THE KING—

My eyes followed the hooded figure leave the arena until he disappeared from view, leaning back as I let out a breath that I hadn’t realized I was holding. I wasn’t even sure why, I just did. It wasn’t as if the fight had been exciting or filled me with anticipation but I still held my breath. But, although it was peculiar, I waved the thought aside, there was something else that I desired to know. I raised a hand, waving forth my court mage.

“What were your observations on this fight?”

The court mage thought for a moment, before he said, “Ieros is a novice when it comes to combat, if Panam had pressed the advantage in the beginning of the fight, he would’ve emerged the victor. But once Ieros fully focused on combat, I daresay even I would’ve had trouble to break his barrier.”

I looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

“Do you mean to say that you could lose?”

The court mage bowed his head.

“There’s always a chance of that but I do not believe it to be a high one.”

I chuckled as I returned my gaze to the arena.

“What else did you observe?”

He resumed explaining, “Despite his naivety in combat, his control over mana is impressive, although by being so methodical he sacrificed speed. If Panam had been more observant and less busy with making a show, the fight may not have ended so quickly.

However, once someone is caught within his spell, it is almost impossible to escape as Panam discovered. He has an iron-grip over his mana and enough of it to sustain either a barrier or a restraint on his enemy until they exhaust themselves.

Over all, he has the potential to grow to be quite formidable but right now, he can still be defeated if someone takes advantage of his inexperience.”

I nodded, it was as much as he had expected. 

“Then what about how he defeated Panam, I still do not understand that.”

The court mage answered, “As best as I can describe, Ieros encased Panam within dense air, which both prevented movement and suffocated him.”

I asked, “Couldn’t Panam just burn through the barrier?”

“Ieros has more than enough mana to repair what Panam would’ve burned.” The court mage added, “By that point, it was a battle of attrition. Ieros’s victory was assured.”

I mused for a moment, then asking, “Do you believe he will win the following matches?”

The court mage replied, “If all the following fights are one on one, there is a very high chance he will. But I believe in the finals he will have multiple opponents working against him, although he has yet to show everything he is capable of.”

“Will he win the competition then?” I said as I focused on the next two fighters entering the arena. 

“I believe the likelihood to be high.” he answered.

I nodded as I dismissed him, calling forth a servant. 

“Send word to Thunwil that upon the conclusion of this tournament, I intend to invite Ieros to the palace so that I may personally congratulate him on his victory. He is to make sure that the invitation is accepted no matter what the means.”

The servant bowed and left as I returned my eyes down below.

———

His body ached where Panam had struck him, although that soon faded as he used some mana to heal the bruises that were forming. As the pain slowly subsided, replaced by an itch he could not scratch, he made his way back to the waiting room where he took a seat, letting out a sigh as he relaxed. He wasn’t physically tired but he felt drained nonetheless, staying slumped in his seat for a few moments before he stretched, straightening up as he waited for Azorin.

As he waited, somewhat impatient to return to the Tower, he heard distant footsteps getting closer. He turned to look down the hallway, seeing three figures soon emerge into the waiting room, a girl and two masked mages. Mildly curious, he used augury to study them, noting that the two mages behind the girl had very stable mana concentrations. 

The girl, who was presumably younger, didn’t have as stable a concentration but it was greater, presumably a very skilled and gifted mage for her age. But that wasn’t his concern, what concerned him were the two mages, who were using augury themselves, studying Ieros. Not only that, but they were preparing their mana for combat. Ieros frowned, but then thought about it again, it was probabl because he was using augury.

Her bodyguards halted, standing near the mouth of the arena entrance, facing Ieros in silence. Fortunately, Azorin soon arrived so Ieros didn’t have to spend any more time with them, he couldn’t make sure but he felt that their eyes were following him as he left with Azorin. When they turned the corner, he let out a small relieved sigh.

Noticing his sigh, Azorin asked, “Was it the bodyguards?”

Ieros nodded.

“I studied them with augury, and they took it as a threat.”

“Well it’s their job to watch everyone, to watch for potential dangers to their client.” Azorin explained.

Ieros nodded. “I understand that, but even so, preparing to fight me just for looking seems a bit much.” 

Azorin shrugged. 

“One cannot be too careful, although, despite you not being so careful in the beginning, congratulations on winning.”

Ieros scratched the back of his head, chuckling self-deprecatingly.

“Yeah, I should’ve foreseen that.”

Azorin smiled, “Well, as long as you remember.”

Ieros nodded.

“I will.”

Azorin continued, “Yes, you should remember to do that from now on, do not underestimate your opponent. Just because you have the advantage, does not mean you have secured victory.”

Ieros nodded again, suddenly reminded about Barrier Stasis. 

He asked, “Did you ever do any research into Barrier Stasis?”

Azorin blinked, glancing at Ieros as he said, “No, not extensively anyway. I hardly know much on the subject other than what Thunwil told me.”

Ieros sighed.

“It’s just, when I was down there, it happened. And, something just lit up in my head, an idea that was just so clear that it had to be right. I just hadn’t connected the dots, the Lost Scripture represents the unique mana of our world. I hadn’t paid much attention then but the air has multiple runes representing it, I can find out what they are and reach Barrier Stasis immediately, without training like Thunwil.”

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Azorin admitted, “That does seem to be a possibility, and it would be amusing to see how Thunwil would react when the average mage can do the same as he can.”

Ieros chuckled, “That would be funny but what I was thinking was that it could be used in spell circles and if these spell circles were put on a more permanent and reusable surface, I could carry an instant barrier with me, maybe include a self-sustaining function!”

Azorin smiled, “Perhaps, but why would you need that when you’re already a capable caster?”

Ieros paused, as he pondered this.

Finally, he just shrugged and said, “Well, I just want to, I guess.”

Azorin laughed at that, saying, “That is reason enough.”

Ieros let out a short laugh of his own as they continued to walk back. A few moments later, Azorin asked if Ieros wished to watch the remainder of the matches but Ieros refused, he wanted to return to the Tower to conduct his experiments. Azorin did not object and the two returned, Ieros immediately situating himself in the Fifth Floor to begin testing.

Stopping by a bit to see Ieros’s progress in the Lost Scripture, Azorin descended to his personal study for his own work. However he wasn’t alone, Zofiar and Atarum had many questions to ask about his fight. He answered them as he set about preparing, only half-listening as he went back to his chambers to retrieve his notebook.

He was quick to return however, excitedly explaining to his thought process. 

“Earlier today when I was fighting, I reached barrier stasis. Thunwil thinks that it’s because air is made of two types of gases which are flammable and non-flammable respectively. I think he’s only partly right, since my research with the Lost Scriptures show that there are multiple types of gases that make up air, although I haven’t made the connection until now. 

So to confirm this connection, I’ll just have to use augury to watch a flame burning in air and see which ones burn. Once I’ve found out what they are, I can isolate the non-flammable gases and use that to achieve barrier stasis immediately!”

Atarum frowned, saying, Well if it’s barrier stasis you want, I could share my experience with you, you don’t need to conduct this experiment.

Ieros nodded.

“That’s true, but I want to understand it, as well as potentially use it in spell circles, I need to know every single thing about barrier stasis in order to do that.”

Atarum frowned, Spell circles, well I can’t say that I’m too fond of them, they’re too cumbersome for real magic.

Ieros shrugged, “I’d still like to know.”

Zofiar agreed, There’s nothing wrong with knowing, is there?

Atarum snorted but relented.

Fine, it’s not as if I can do anything, get on with it lad.

Ieros smiled and finalized his preparations, taking a deep breath as he activated augury, blinking as his eyes adjusted. His world now full of faint glowing color, he focused on his left forefinger, igniting a small flame. He stared at the flame’s pale orange mana as it sputtered briefly, Ieros subconsciously holding his breath to let it stabilize. And when it was still, he resumed watching, shifting his focus from the flame to its outline. 

He mentally followed the flame’s everchanging perimeter, repeating this a few times until he noticed something. He focused at the base of the flame, where it appeared that a few gases were being sucked into the flame. He stared further, struggling to discern one gas from the other. However, it was simply too faint, he could not make out anything of great detail. So he leaned back, extinguishing the flame as he noted down all that just transpired. 

He pondered a moment, and then ignited his mana again, however not to make a flame. Instead, like he had done once before, he drew the air towards him, the once faint colors growing in opacity. Once he felt that it was at the right level, he held it there and then lit a flame. As he brought it to the dense sphere of air, it suddenly pulsed as it met the dense gas, startling Ieros as he momentarily lost control.

But he soon recovered, lessening the density just a tad before he brought another flame to it. It flared up again but this time, Ieros was ready, although he still flinched. But, that was forgotten as he once again studied the flame’s reaction with the dense air, greedily gobbling two particular gases. Taking a moment to memorize their respective colors, he let the flame die as he flipped through his notes, focusing on the two runes with which the gases corresponded to.

They were runes 1 and 8, which corresponded to Gas 1 and Gas 4. On another piece of paper, he took note of them and in another column he listed all the other gases, which for now appeared to be non-flammable. Now, just to be sure, Ieros began to test them one by one, beginning with Gas One, making a small sphere of the pure gas.

It was brought to flame, and then there was a fierce expansion of fire which send Ieros stumbling backwards, his eyes smarting and his ears ringing from the explosion. Using mana to speed up his recovery, he got back up, chuckling as he did so. 

As he noted that down, he asked, “So what do you guys think? What can we do with what we know now?”

Zofiar said, Well we can begin with the obvious, this can be used to augment fire magic.

Atarum agreed, adding, Invisible traps can be used to accomplish this as well, or perhaps to augment your barrier. If you were to make two layers, the nonflammable within and the flammable without, should the enemy attempt close combat you can ignite the explosion to counter.

Zofiar nodded in agreement, saying, As Atarum mentioned, traps are also a possibility with such a gas. It being a gas means that unless the enemy is looking for it, they will be unlikely to actually notice it until it is too late. It would take a great amount of concentration for multiple such traps but even just one can turn the tide of battle in your favor.

Ieros flipped to another page, titling it “Applications of Flammable Gas,” and noted down the suggestions.

He then proceeded to do the same with Gas 4, making a barrier as precaution but the flame suddenly died. It had flared somewhat similarly when the flame met the border of the pure gas, but when it was enveloped by it, it disappeared. Ieros frowned, marking this down and went back to Gas 1, this time with a smaller sample as well as a barrier to protect himself.

Once again, he brought a flame to it, moving it to the center of the gaseous sphere which rapidly was consumed by the flames. It wasn’t as explosive as last time, but it still made him flinch. But that was not what ate at his mind, why did these two gases act this way? Once again, he set up a sphere of Gas 4 and repeated the experiment, watching carefully as he slowly brought the flame closer and closer. 

When it met the border, there was once again a flare, but when it was surrounded by pure Gas 4, it once again sputtered out. Ieros frowned as he leaned back, looking to Zofiar and Atarum for input.

What followed was conversation between the three disturbed intermittently with experiments with the appropriate variable added, modified, or removed to either confirm or contradict their current hypothesis, moving on from exposing pure gas to flame to certain mixtures of varying ratios.

And with three pairs of eyes watching, two from a different perspective, very little escaped their notice and all that was seen was noted down. But the night was not nearly long enough for such a painstaking process and when morning neared, Ieros was forced to halt his experiments.

He massaged his stiff muscles as he regretfully closed his notebook. But, not all was bad, he could put some of their ideas to the test, see if such applications of what he knew now were viable.

And that is what he proceeded to do in the following fight, using the layered barrier that Atarum suggested in order to counter melee combatants. And thanks to that, the fight was over in moments, as his opponent chose to start the fight with a melee charge much like Panam.

He was far more suited for this, being skilled in earth magic, intending to use his momentum of both his large frame and his stone armor to break Ieros’s defense, but the sudden explosion was enough to break his momentum, stunning him in the process. From there, it was a simple matter to restrain him until his victory was announced. 

After it was announced, Ieros did not linger long, returning to the Tower almost immediately to get back to his work. Azorin however was not so lucky, for he was summoned by the King. He soon arrived at the King’s stand, nodding his head in greeting as he waited for the King to speak.

“You’ve trained him well, it seems his opponents are simply no match.” the King said, his eyes focused on the new combatants as they entered.

Azorin said, “I merely helped built his foundation, your Majesty, Ieros is an excellent self-learner.”

The King nodded, “An excellent trait to have, especially for one so talented. I fear that the way things currently are, there simply won’t be a challenge for him at all. The people will... lose their entertainment.”

“What do you suggest, your Majesty.” Azorin asked.

The King smiled as he turned to look at him.

“A slight change of the combat schedule. Tomorrow, Ieros shall face two opponents and should he gain victory, the number he will face the following day shall increase by one. Should he gain victory yet again, another opponent.”

Azorin frowned.

“While I understand your reasoning, your Majesty, I fear that it won’t be that easy. Ieros has already been scheduled for multiple opponents in the finals, but to change the schedule now would match up students who haven’t practiced with one another, it would hardly prove to be a challenge for Ieros either way.”

The King nodded.

“That is true, but even so, two mages will still fare much better than one. Change the schedules immediately so that the new teams may have a chance to practice.”

Azorin’s frown deepened but once again, he nodded his head.

“Very well, your Majesty. It shall be done. I only ask for a day of reprieve for both Ieros and his future opponents so that they may practice, there are still many other combatants who have yet to participate.”

The King waved his hand in permission and Azorin left, already thinking of the best opponents with which to challenge Ieros.