“I should have known,” Remis Sharan said. “I knew you would have a hand in this. Well, it doesn’t matter. Just means I get to kill you sooner than I was expecting.”

Rieren pulled out her sword and held it ready. Sharan wasn’t one to be taken lightly. Even if she wasn’t as proficient a cultivator as many she had faced and known, her class made her powerful, and she was pretty certain Sharan had advanced well in it. “You would deprive the good folks who are attending the Trials of their deserved entertainment?”

Remis Sharan laughed straight out of her belly. “I’d kill them all before letting them enjoy any more of this stupid tournament.”

Well, at least her demeanour was still the same.

Hefting her javelin closer, Sharan began attacking. Magenta light spiralled around her weapon. A moment later, she lunged forward.

Rieren couldn’t use a skill to get away from it. Otherwise, she was liable to let it get stolen and used against her via one of Sharan’s skills through her Baleful Bandit class. Blocking that strike wasn’t an option either. Even if Rieren didn’t let that javelin or the spinning vortex around it touch her, its twisting aftershocks would tear her to shreds.

As such, the only option Rieren had was dodging while relying on her innate stats and capabilities.

“How long are you going to run?” Sharan asked. “You know I’ll get you. You can’t escape.”

Rieren tuned her opponent out. She focused on staying out of Sharan’s reach. One opening. That was all she would need to end this. Sharan was right. She couldn’t be killed. But Rieren knew how to incapacitate her, and that required her to land one, good blow.

Something that was proving difficult with how ferociously Sharan was attacking. She wasn’t going to give Rieren any space. The way she swung her javelin made it evident that she knew Rieren was looking for that opening to counterattack. To prevent that, Sharan swiped, slashed, and stabbed every which way, covering every approach she herself might be attacked by.

Sharan’s vortex skill faded. Her continuous use of it must have taxed her Essence channels too much. Now was Rieren’s chance.

She wasn’t fooled, of course. It might be a trick to lure her in. Sharan could resume her skill with the last bit of Essence she had saved up, then strike just as Rieren was about to do land a blow. That would be a terrible scenario.

Frightening as that prospect was, Rieren couldn’t allow herself to hesitate. This could be a true opportunity, and curse the Abyss, but she had to take advantage of it.

Rieren summoned up Rippling Blade, extending her sword’s length with a blade of concentrated Essence shimmering white. There. At least that would allow her to maintain distance in case the opening was fake. She slashed in.

What she hadn’t foreseen was Remis Sharan using one of the skills she had stolen just moments ago. A heartbeat before Rieren’s extended blade sheared into Remis Sharan’s leg, a mirror tinted maroon appeared right between the swinging white concentration of Essence and her leg. The blade’s reflection appeared at the same time, striking the Receptor Sword just as it hit the mirror.

Rieren hadn’t held her power back. She had swung with all her might. The reflection of her sword struck with the exact same kind of force.

Needless to say, Rieren was staggered back, her technique faltering so that her sword returned to its normal state and consistency. Grinning, Remis Sharan lunged in again to take advantage of her little trick. Her javelin rocketed in too quick, too decisive, aimed straight for Rieren’s heart.

She was forced to use Fray Passage to extricate herself from the compromised position before it turned disastrous. Great. Now Sharan could use the same skill.

In fact, Remis Sharan proceeded to just that. Before Rieren’s boosted backwards momentum had finished the skill use, Sharan had already thrown herself with a copied Fray Passage at Rieren. Her javelin’s vortex was on full power as well.

Thankfully, Remis Sharan’s skill couldn’t copy Domains.

Rieren unleashed hers with full storming might. Water didn’t simply materialize, it burst out with waves in every direction, pushing Sharan away as she was forced to convert her ripping vortex into a defensive cone from an offensive attack.

Another benefit was the blinding effect it had. The waves rose high, obscuring Rieren from Sharan’s view. This allowed her to recreate Rippling Blade to extend her sword’s length again. She stabbed in once more. Unfortunately, Sharan had already erected Silomene’s mirror. Even worse, she had called down Mercion’s lightning to scarper across the water towards Rieren.

Rippling Blade bounced back as the bolts punched through her Domain. They didn’t harm her directly as she was able to ward them off with Earthfall Blade, but it was still annoying that she hadn’t been able to land a blow on Sharan.

Even more annoying when her own skill was once again used against her, Remis Sharan flashed to a position behind Rieren, stabbing in from behind. Enough was enough.

So, Rieren allowed herself to get hit.

Sharan screamed in dight as her vortex tore through the Domain water and stabbed into Rieren’s back. The sudden burst of pain drowned out all other stimuli from Rieren’s mind as she was thrown off her feet, sent flying to the other side of the little lake she had called forth. Eternal Beyond had already started working, but the wound was severe.

Severe enough for Reaver Stance to work wonders.

Rieren was back on her feet just as Remis Sharan leaped at her again with a mad cackle, vortex twisting the very space around her javelin. But it never struck home. Rieren had turned too quickly, her sword arm moving faster than Sharan could have tracked. It took no effort at all to bat aside the javelin long before it could reach close enough to leave another terrific injury.

Sharan’s eyes had widened. Rieren had struck her javelin so hard that her whole upper body was twisting away in the direction her weapon had been hit aside. All the while, the rest of her momentum was still throwing her body at Rieren. Her very defenceless body.

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Although, there was still Silomene’s mirror she had stolen.

But that presented no great a difficulty. Rieren had already seen how to break through that technique. With pinpoint control, Rieren froze her arm’s motion a hairsbreadth away from the mirror. Sharan’s momentum brought it into contact with her sword anyway, and that was when Rieren resumed her swing.

With Reaver Stance greatly boosting her power, she pushed against the mirror with continuous force until it finally shattered. Then she continued swinging.

Right through Remis Sharan’s leg.

It was quite insane to note that the entire exchange since she had activated Reaver Stance had taken barely longer than a heartbeat. Or however long Rieren supposed a heartbeat took.

Remis Sharan thumped to the ground, screaming her lungs out all the while. She had dropped her javelin somewhere, both her hands desperately clutching the stump that was now her leg. Rieren shook her head. At this rate, she was going to call down the entire tournament’s audience upon them.

“You think you’ve won?” Sharan said after a while. “Just wait till the blood loss gets worse. When I die, I’m going to come and make you shriek, you—”

Rieren used Rippling Blade once more, this time applying lightning Aspect to the blade of Essence. She sliced in. The stump sizzled as it came into contact with Rieren’s sword, the smell of burned flesh wafting through the air. Remis Sharan screamed even louder.

“Stop yelling,” Rieren said. “All I did was ensure you would not bleed to death. You really should learn to control that mouth of yours.”

It took a little while before Sharan finally stopped, simply breathing heavy and looking around with growing panic. Perhaps it was starting to become quite clear that she was in deep, deep trouble now.

“Are we going to just hold her like that?” Mercion asked as he walked over.

“You bastards.” Finding no other recourse left to her, Sharan had decided to start flinging insults. “May the puss of the Abyss rot you from the inside. Maye your sons and daughters, wives and husbands, fathers and mothers, all choke on your blood and filth.”

“She has one nasty mouth,” Mercion said.

Rieren tutted. “That she does.”

Sharan went quiet all of a sudden. A box had materialized around Sharan’s head, transparent mirrors that enclosed her head completely and let almost no sound exit.

“Don’t worry,” Silomene said as she joined them. “I’ve left small holes through which she can breathe. She won’t be suffocating. That’s partly why we can still hear her.”

“Impressive!” Mercion leaned down to inspect the box. “Your proficiency with your technique has grown, Silomene!”

Silomene blushed a little at the praise.

Rieren didn’t pay them much mind. She was considering how best they could conduct the next step of their plan. Torture, maybe? Sharan was volatile, but not unbreakable. Or perhaps Rieren just needed to dig up the right stimulus to manipulate her with. Something Remis Sharan really cared about that could be used against her.

Distantly, Rieren realized how evil her thoughts made her appear, but she shrugged at it. Especially considering she and Sharan had been allies in the last timeline. Maybe not friends, but comrades-in-arms all the same. They’d shared the same goal, fought against the same enemies.

Strange how much things had changed in this timeline.

But her thoughts were all cut short when the atmosphere sharpened. A sensation of overwhelming pressure appeared all of a sudden. It made Rieren’s hackles rise with growing alarm. The others felt it too—Mercion and Silomene had gone still, their eyes widening, while Remis Sharan had finally stopped struggling, appearing almost calm.

Rieren recalled the woman’s panicked looks. So this was what she had been waiting for. The appearance of Starloper.

He had taken on a little bit of his true appearance again. His wings were back. Gemlike strands woven together to form large canvasses over his back. His horns were back too. On his shoulder and crowning his head. His face was the same one she had always known, the one she had trusted with her very life. Soft, yet hard at the same time. Deep, soulful eyes.

“Enough, Rieren,” Starloper said.

He strode towards them with hardly a care. None of them dared to stop him as he knelt next to Remis Sharan. Rieren blinked when she saw what was in his hand.

It was Remis Sharan’s cut-off leg.

Starloper placed it against Sharan’s stump. A few of his gemlike strands dropped down and started wrapping themselves around the wound, reattaching the limb back to its owner. Rieren knew from experience that Sharan’s leg would be good as knew within a few hours.

“I did not know you were in the employ of the Aryoventos Clanmaster as well,” Rieren said. “Star.”

“Rieren…” Mercion had finally found the strength to back away from their current location, pulling Silomene with him. Her eyes were fixed on Starloper with an expression that was as awed as it was worried. “Is this the Banishedborn you were talking about before?”

Rieren nodded.

“I am under no one’s employment.” Starloper stood back up, His appearance was reverting back to the one he had assumed for the tournament. That of Skarlen Forster. “This is merely an arrangement between myself and Remis Sharan.”

Sharan was clearly trying to say something, possibly gloating at the fact that there was one of the Banishedborn at her side, but her words were far too muffled inside the box. Nice of Silomene to keep it intact. Rieren had heard enough of Sharan for one night.

“What arrangement?” Rieren asked.

“That of ensuring the Aryoventos Archnoble is desperate enough to continue his attempt to become the Banishedborn of the old Emperor.”

They all stood aghast at that. Even Remis Sharan had paused, though her expression was more akin to something like betrayal. She probably couldn’t believe that Starloper had revealed the truth to Rieren.

For her part, Rieren stared between Starloper and the woman on the ground. “So everything Sharan has been doing was to push the Aryoventos Clanmaster further towards this ritual that uses residual Essence to advance enough to become a Banishedborn?”

Starloper nodded. “Correct. We are almost there, truth be told.”

“You want their plan to succeed? You want the imperial court and their Banishedborn to tie a new Banishedborn to the Emperor and bring him down?” Rieren shook her head. “Why?” The answer popped into her head at the same time that she asked it. “Because you believe it will draw the other Banishedborn here?”

“I do not imply believe, Rieren,” he said. “I know they will come here. I know they will want to attack the old Emperor together. That is their true plan. Forcing a confrontation against the newly ascended god to bring him low before he can become any more of a threat than he already is.”

Rieren was tempted to shake her head, to grimace and start denying it. But impossible as it sounded, it all made sense. The anchor that Elder Olg had mentioned. The plan of the Banishedborn. The reason for conducting an Ascension using residual Essence as quickly as possible.

Remis Sharan started to get up. Silomene had finally released the box around her head and her leg was starting to heal up already, though she winced as she moved. “I know my Banishedborn here is on friendly terms with you, Vallorne, but don’t think that makes you a comrade all of a sudden.”

“I would never assume,” Rieren said drily.

“I’m going to kill you, just as I’m going to kill every monster who dares stain these lands of ours.”

“Please,” Starloper said. He almost did sound like he was pleading. “I arrived here at the nick of time to prevent anything untoward from occurring.”

“If I were not a monster, would you have been so willing to kill me then?” Rieren asked.

Remis Sharan made a face. “When have you ever not been a monster, Vallorne?”

And with that delightful rhetorical question, Sharan turned around and started trudging back towards the tournament.

“Hold on a moment,” Mercion called after her. “Are you still going to kill me?”

Sharan didn’t even bother turning around as she answered while still walking away. Apparently, they weren’t worth the effort. “Are you still going to try ruining our plans, lordling?”

As good an answer as they were ever going to get.

Starloper nodded once at Rieren before turning to leave as well. But there was one thing that was still up in the air in all this.

“When?” Rieren asked.

“Once all the Essence has been accumulated,” Starloper said. “Only then.”

All the Essence… Well, it looked like Rieren’s battles here at the Trials wouldn’t end after just becoming the champion of the tournament.