Zed had hoped to get Chris with that one. It wasn’t necessarily a surprise attack, not as far as surprise attacks went, but it was sure to take her by surprise. From what he knew about magic, not many people could focus so heavily on one spell just to turn and cast another. Surely Chris had been banking on that. Was it her purpose for casting that specific spell? Had she somehow known that he would refuse to relinquish his shield to it?
Zed refused to accept that notion even as Chris’ head ducked to the side. He refused to believe he was that predictable or that she was that intelligent.
A blast of purple force struck the ground, shooting past Chris’ face. Chris bent a little further, ducked a little lower. Her form compensated for the slight shift in her head. Zed’s entire body screamed in warning as her clenched fist tightened further. He had since released [Force shield] allowed it dissipate now that there was no will to hold the rune and no rune to hold the runespell. For some reason, however, he just couldn’t release it fast enough.
His eyes remained on Chris’ fist as his mind pulled up a new rune. He formed it in his head as the Christian God had formed the earth. He gave it will, birthed it. Everything happened too fast for a second to compete. The rune came alive in his mind, he dragged the hand that had held the [Force shield] to defend him even as [Force] petered out, shattering against the ground. He only needed to be fast enough. All that mattered was how soon he could cast—
Chris struck him in the side.
Zed doubled over from the blow. His liver flipped, folded in on itself. A rib or two cracked and he was sure one had punctured something. The force of Chris’ punch displaced the air around them and boomed liked two boulders colliding. It lifted Zed off the floor and he arced at an odd angle. Darkness clawed at the edge of his vision as pain threatened to blind him.
He hadn’t expected to win, but he hadn’t expected to lose so quickly. There remained a large gap between Rukh and Beta. Rukh, though, wasn’t so far away from his reach anymore. He would take his loss, learn from it. When he was a Rukh rank mage, he and Chris would dance this dance once more. He promised himself it would be different then.
He felt himself falling back down only to see the last thing he expected. From the edge of darkness, he saw Chris’ lips moving. He felt mana pooling to her hand. It remained clenched in a fist, intentional. Chris wasn’t done with him yet.
Fuck round two, Zed scolded himself. The bitch’s trying to kill me.
There was a little part of him that doubted his own thoughts, but there was little time to give logic enough time to reach a conclusion—a logical one.
Fuck this.
Zed already had a rune primed in his mind. It was live and vivid. All he needed to do was channel his mana, move his fingers and bring it to life. He did it with all the grace of a man dancing with one leg and too tight clothes. Mana shot from his core. He couldn’t channel it properly and it filled his entire body, it was like blood flowing through his entire body. A greater portion went to his liver and ribs, unbidden. He felt it all coming together, tissues stitching. It brought a bit of extra pain as it happened. He ignored it for the larger portion that went to his hands, moved his fingers in sync with the rune in his head. When he cast the rune, it came a little too quickly. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quick enough.
He caught the twitch on Chris’ face as the rune activated, watched the infinitesimal battle streak across her face as she battled between which spell would be faster; his or hers. It was gone as quickly as it came. Chris drove her fist into the empty palm of her other hand. For the first time, she didn’t chant a spellform.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Something green echoed out of her hands, Zed saw a flicker of lines and sigils. Each one was weak, hovered on the edge of nothingness, so weak they almost seemed imagined. It was all he saw before a notification appeared in front of him. As always, it did nothing to hinder his vision somehow.
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* You have cast basic rune [Flame].
* Basic rune [Flame] has applied effect [Fire].
* Rukh mage [Chris Wright] has cast spell [????].
* Basic rune [Flame] has applied effect [Fire] on spell [????].
* Spell [????] has applied effect [????] on [Fire].
* [????] does not take effect.
* [Fire] does not take effect.
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While none of the spells took effect, something did. The minute space between them wobbled then exploded in a blast of green and orange. It had enough force to blow the both of them apart.
The shockwave sent Zed flying. Tossed from an odd angle, cascaded carelessly through the air, thrown far enough to leave an impact when he hit the ground. He did not. His body altered its form, changed his poise somehow.
He landed on his feet with the precision of a cat and the subtlety of a gorilla. Chris fell on her side and slid across the length.
Zed frowned at the thought of Chris casting an unknown spell. Whatever she had used had to have been her specialization. There was no doubt about it. He chucked that little bit of information to one corner of his mind as Chris got back to her feet. She shrugged her shoulders as if shrugging off dust.
“I guess you do have a balance attribute,” she said casually.
“And you’re really not a good person,” Zed returned.
She shrugged, nonchalant. “We can’t all be comedians who forget about our own daughters.”
Emotions Zed knew were not his swelled in his mind. A father and a daughter, an ending he could not remember. He felt love for a child he knew yet didn’t know, and painful, painful loss. It annoyed him. Gravely.
“You know what,” he scowled. “Fuck it.”
“Losing your cool, Bloodbath?” Chris teased. “I hit you in the rib, don’t tell me it got to your head.”
Zed ignored her. He took a deep breath, narrowed eyes never leaving Chris. He let the breath out and took another. It was deep, full. He made sure of it.
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* You have activated [Refinement].
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He ignored the notification, deepened his breathing.
Chris stared at him in mild amusement, head cocked to one side. Zed did not allow it bother him. He kept his eyes on her, split his attention between deeper breaths and Chris. She was all the cocky Rukh he had expected her to be. As far as she was concerened, nothing he could do would make a difference. He found himself hoping she was wrong as he felt the ocean blue of his core turn and move, swirl like the contents of a stirred pot.
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* You have activated [Cycle].
Aptitude
* Strength: 51.
* Agility: 40.
* Speed: 36.
* Mana: 77.
* Will: 31(-4).
* You have 10 Unallocated [Aptitude points].
* Would you like to allocate [Aptitude points]?
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Yes.
Zed split the points almost immediately. It wasn’t something he had to think about. He knew where he wanted them. Call it petty, but he didn’t allocate with the bigger picture in mind. He didn’t choose what was best for him. He allocated based on what would best help him kill another Rukh rank mage.
It took him only a moment to realize The Berserker’s mindset was influencing his, seeking to kill were he should’ve simply sought to win. The moment was too short to make a difference.