"There you are! You have defied the Master, and will pay for it with your life!" Menya shrieked, drawing a silver chain from her robe. Nira held two thin swords, more like rapiers, but with twisted blades that wound around in a slow corkscrew, jagged barbs along its thin length. It was the sort of blade that was meant for inflicting internal damage.

They were not here to capture him again. As promised, the penalty for defiance was death.

But this time, Zu was not alone and defenseless. He drew his own blades, the godsword in one hand, the starsteel in the other. He felt the drain on his soul and substance as they fueled themselves with his strength; the godsword drawing in vast power from him in a surge that left Zu dizzy, the starsteel blade pulling just a trickle as it flared, white-hot and humming with power.

Menya threw the chains out, one end tangling around Zu's arm, the suppressive power in it slackening the connection to his sword. The drain slowed suddenly, the godsword cut off in sudden rage.

Zu sliced through the chain with the starsteel blade, disconnecting it with a faint ringing ping that echoed a moment as Menya stared in disbelief at her broken chain.

"You... how?"

"I'm good at breaking things," Zu said, giving his sword a lazy swing. "Hearts. Spirits. Rules of nature and reality. Minds. Chains. None of them can withstand me."

Nira closed in, her blades diving for his chest. Zu brought up the godsword to block, but its power was still restrained by the chain hanging from his arm. It cracked at the impact, the inferior material as useless as its creator had said.

Zu jumped back before it could be broken fully, feeling a faint echo of the sword's panic. "I've got you, don't worry." He unwound the chain and cast it aside, allowing Smoke of Progression to bite into his soul once more, to draw out the power necessary to fuel its healing.

The crack in the blade sealed over, even as Zu parried another crazed attack from Nira with his starsteel. This time, it was her swords that bent. Though they did not shatter or break, the starsteel sword left a dent where they impacted each other, the blades warped askew. Nira retreated, swinging her swords a few times to get a feel for the new balance, scowling at Zu.

Menya returned with a vengeance, holding her chain in the middle and slashing it like a whip. Zu jumped into the air just in time as the chains slammed to the roof where he'd been standing a moment before, shattering tiles with the force of the impact.

"You're really weak for a pair of slavers," Zu taunted, striding through the air toward them, twirling his sword unconcernedly. "I thought you were something to be afraid of, but now I see you're no better than children."

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Menya screamed incoherently and ran at him, chain lashing through the air. Zu sliced through it again, then caught it on Smoke of Progression's edge and yanked, dragging her off balance through the air. She flailed out with her fists, fighting as though her life depended on it.

Zu raised his sword, but she dove in close, under his guard, and grappled him around the stomach. Since they were both in the air, that didn't do much but restrict his movement. Still, it was irksome. He tried to shove her away, but before he could, Nira skewered her through the back, driving the swords into Zu's leg and stomach through Menya's body.

"Apologies, sister," she hissed, then jerked the blades back out. Menya lost her hold on whatever technique held her in the air and fell, landing with an empty thud on the roof below. Zu stared in disbelief.

"You just stabbed your own ally."

"Our lives are forfeit if we fail to kill you. It was the only choice." Nira raised her blades again, facing him with killing intention radiating off her. "Now, it's your turn."

Zu put a hand over the jagged tear through his stomach, blood flowing freely, and he could tell that things internally were damaged in dangerous places. He might not die immediately, but it was not a wound he would survive without help.

"I'll see you soon," he said, and self-immolated.

Zu stepped forward with the flow of the chained prisoners, moving in step as though nothing had changed between one side of the portal and the next. He looked Menya in the eye, finding only disgust without a hint of recognition. Good. His assumptions were correct. These two were beneath notice, and too weak to be a threat to him.

Next, while they were shoved into line and given their instructions, he felt at his soul for the place the godsword Smoke of Progression had been fused into it. The link remained, much as his familiar bonds had with Death Shadow and Little Otter.

"Do you remember me?" he asked, pressing the words down the link and into the god fragment's being.

Discontentment.

Zu smiled. "Glad to have you too."

Nira cuffed him on the head. "Pay attention, if you plan to survive the next hour," she hissed at him.

Zu recited the instructions along with his captors, making sure to watch Nira's expression the whole time, even as he paused flawlessly and switched to mimicking Menya's words when she cut the rambling Nira off.

This time, he did not make a run for it. He needed to learn how to call the physical sword through their soul link, and being on the run from these two would be more trouble than it was worth. If he spent a few loops getting through the trial, then at least he'd be somewhere he wasn't causing ripples.

He stood and waited while Master Elvanis never showed up. Menya and Nira consulted with each other in hushed whispers, then Menya walked away into the tower behind them. After several tense minutes, she returned looking puzzled. Zu had to strain to overhear their conversation as they spoke in low tones to one another.

"He says there will be no culling, they may all proceed to the first trial as acolyte-initiates pending review upon their performance."

Nira's eyebrows went up. "He isn't going to even inspect them?"

"His words were 'Send them through the trials and do not trouble me again.'" Menya said, sounding scared.

"Then we send them through the trials." Nira raised her voice. "You have all been granted a reprieve, and will progress immediately to the first trial. All of you, follow me."

----------------------------------------