209 – Surprise Opponent

Presumably in the spirit of fairness, the qualifier organizers were keeping the matchups secret until just before their scheduled times. Thus, it was only as Vivi strode out into the arena—trying to ignore the roar of noise from the insane number of people cheering from every direction—that she discovered who her first opponent of the day would be.

“—and on the other side,” the announcer called, voice booming out across the stadium, “we have the ranger for the Iron Vipers and member of Vanguard, Jasper Trevane!”

Huh, Vivi thought. She didn’t know how to feel about the development. The shrinking pool of candidates had meant she would bump into an ally sooner or later—it had happened to Suyin and Ember already, in fact.

After a brief consideration, she decided that she was pleased by the outcome—at least, that it was the sarcastic ranger she was up against out of everyone. Taking a win from Mae, for example, would’ve felt much worse.

“Begin!”

From across the open arena, Jasper didn’t pull an arrow from his quiver and burst into motion. Vivi remained where she was too. It was normal for fighters to share a few words before starting, even if they didn’t know each other.

“Vianora Enren,” he mused, dragging the name out. “What a privilege getting matched against you. Can I speak candidly?”

“Have you ever not done so, a moment in your life?”

“Believe it or not, what comes out of my mouth is usually the filtered version.”

“That’s kind of terrifying, Jasper.”

He laughed. “Thank you. What I meant though is, can we speak candidly?” He gave her a significant look.

Oh, he’s asking if it’s safe.

“Yes,” Vivi said. “I set the sound barrier up at the start.”

Jasper nodded. “Good. Then, remember when you told us to look for recruits, and I suggested filtering by luck? This is why it wasn’t a joke.”

Vivi wished she could roll her eyes. “You’re hardly unlucky for going up against a difficult opponent in a tournament.”

“But the Sorceress? In qualifiers?”

“Does it matter if it’s me or any of the other high-Titled?”

Two hundred levels was extremely difficult to overcome; four marked the boundary of ‘impossible in any scenario.’ Vivi didn’t know Jasper’s precise level, but he wasn’t edging in on a Title, though neither was he new to orichalcum. Probably right around nine hundred. Meaning a number of people in this tournament would be completely out of his reach.

“And exactly how many high-Titled monsters do you think are crawling out of the woodwork?” Jasper asked. “Ones that don’t already have a free pass in? They’re not running around by the dozen, I’m sure of that.”

“Seeing how I’ve bumped into two despite trying to keep to myself, probably more than you think.”

“You’re the Sorceress,” Jasper said with a snort. “Be serious. You attract them like flies to honey.”

It was probably a fair accusation, so she inclined her head in concession.

“Point being, I’ve gotten unlucky,” he said. He suddenly beamed at her. “At least, that’s what I would be saying if it weren’t my lovely, benevolent Guildmaster! Having a guaranteed path into the tournament herself, she’ll surely give me a friendly spar and then concede so I’m not at risk of failing to qualify.”

Vivi met his dazzling smile with her usual deadpan. “Is that what you think’s going to happen?”

He faltered. “S-surely my caring Guildmaster doesn’t intend to take out her frustration on me, for previous banter I assure was in good spirit?”

Vivi drew her sword, voidglass scraping against its sheath.

“Have I mentioned how nice and forgiving my Guildmaster—” he stressed.

Vivi appeared in front of him, for once not moderating her speed to her opponent’s level. To his credit, Jasper responded without the slightest hesitation, launching backward and avoiding her sword’s arc by a hair’s breadth.

An arrow appeared, nocked and pulled back, so fast that he had to have activated a skill. The next instant, the arrow was hurtling toward her.

She raised her sword, tilted so its edge was facing the arrow, and allowed the projectile to split into two halves, the pieces diverting to either side of her body.

A volley of six more arrows followed right after, which she cut down with quicker, flashier movements.

“Yeah, this is totally a fair fight,” Jasper commented. “Completely winnable.”

She dashed toward him again, closing the gap fast enough it probably neared the limits of his perception. The man activated another skill, flitting backward to create space, but she followed as quickly as the first time. Realizing a melee engagement was inevitable, he made a noise of annoyance and two knives replaced the bow in his hand.

She didn’t completely overpower him in the ensuing onslaught, but she didn’t go nearly as easy on him as she did against others. He grunted each time her blade met his, even though he was deflecting rather than trying to match her strength.

After harrying him across the arena for a satisfying minute, mixing in a few void spells to see how his skills and defenses responded, she eased off and stepped backward a few paces. He panted, eyed her cautiously, and pulled his bow off his back again. It was obviously his preferred weapon; Vivi just hadn’t allowed him to stay at range, regardless of how he had several skills to facilitate doing so.

His tone was irreverent as always when he spoke. “It really is odd seeing you swing a sword around. Doesn’t it go against the Supreme Council of Magekind or something? The Sorceress bashing at people with a hunk of steel has gotta be some kind of blasphemy.”

“It’s not steel,” she said, being pedantic. “And I’m not ‘bashing.’” Her eyes narrowed. “Would you like me to swap to spellcasting?”

Jasper paused. “On second consideration, I think pursuing the sword is a wonderful idea.” Under his breath, he muttered, “Better cut than burned and frozen a dozen different ways. Damn mages.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, to which he returned an innocent look. She dashed forward. Once more, he tried to outmaneuver her and keep his distance, but she wasn’t interested in giving him breathing room; he fell back to his daggers.

“You’re making me look bad in front of the woman I like,” he complained. “How heartless can a Guildmaster be? Mae’s right there.”

Vivi stumbled, then pulled away in shock. She got as close to outright gawking at the man as her body would allow. He seemed as surprised as she was, though at her reaction instead of what had been said.

“What is it?”

“You? And Mae?”

He stared at her.

She stared at him.

The first chuckle that escaped the ranger seemed involuntary, a disbelieving ‘ha?’ that built into full, body-racking laughter within moments. He didn’t go so far as to double over clutching his stomach, but it came close.

If not for her natural resistances, she would’ve flushed bright red. She was tempted to lunge forward and resume their fight, but she wanted a response.

“For having eyes that can see into the soul of the universe or whatever,” he said, the mirth tapering off, “you’re not a very observant person, Vivisari.”

Her embarrassment grew. “What do you mean? How was I supposed to know?”

He started laughing again, and she thought back to the relentless teasing that the ranger delivered to Mae in basically all of their interactions. Or perhaps more tellingly, the way Mae received it.

In Vivi’s own defense, Jasper antagonized people as a matter of habit, and Mae seemed like the kind of person who blushed easily. It’s not like it was that obvious, she thought, wondering if she was fooling herself.

At the very least, Jasper and Mae weren’t an opencouple. So… were they in the courting stages still? Or if not, what was going on between them?

Not wanting to hear whatever came out of Jasper’s mouth next, she returned to their duel much more enthusiastically than before.

Once the embarrassment faded, and now that she wasn’t allowing any interruptions for banter, the usual rhythm settled over her as she tested her sword and void spells against the ranger’s arsenal. It felt weird to be attacking Jasper—to draw blood—but she was adapting to the harsher standards of this world. It wasn’t like they could have a real fight without bruises and cuts. She probably handled him more gently than was appropriate for a duel.

In the end, Jasper was the one who pulled away and conceded the fight to the judge, an action that caught her off guard. She’d been mulling over the conundrum, wondering if she should give him a free win as he’d joked about. Him starting off with a loss might be a real problem, yet a trivial setback for her.

“Good fight,” he said.

“You too,” she replied, still surprised by his sudden forfeit.

Up in the stands, she found Suyin where they’d left each other. Xun stood beside her, and at the sight of the old man, Vivi’s distracted thoughts jumped back to the Mina situation.

Following polite hellos, Xun said, “My disciple caught me up. Sounds like you had an interesting run-in.”

“If you want to call it that. Can we talk?”

He sighed. “Yes, we probably should.”

They separated from Suyin, and though the woman kept her face smooth, Vivi suspected she was frustrated with being left out, even if she’d been the one to reject Vivi’s explanations earlier.

“I’ll be upfront, Vianora: I’m not getting involved in this,” Xun opened, his tone uncharacteristically flat. “Think less of me for it if you wish, and you probably should. But I’m not here to dig into thousand-year-old conspiracies or to put down ancient monsters. I’m here to win a sword then be on my way. That’s it.”

“Thousand-year-old conspiracies and ancient monsters?” Vivi repeated. “Is there a reason you chose those words?”

“No,” he said, “and I intend to remain ignorant for as long as possible.”

She considered him. He’d stated his motivations in clear terms before, so his reluctance to mix his affairs with an obviously dangerous individual didn’t come as a surprise. She couldn’t praise him for his stance, but she didn’t condemn him either.

Xun must have taken her brief silence as disapproval, because he grimaced and looked away, scratching the back of his head. “But as one ally to another, I should at least warn you: I know what it’s like to spend so many years without equals that disregard becomes your default state. Suyin said you didn’t seem concerned. I won’t pretend to know what goes on inside your head, but if that lack of worry was real, then consider whether it’s pride speaking. There are all manner of horrors even the strongest of mortals can’t face. This ‘Age of Peace’ is relative.”

Vivi was well aware of that. She’d been on the fence about whether Xun had suspicions of her real identity, but it seemed like he didn’t if he was giving her that lecture.

“Thank you, and don’t worry: I do consider her a problem,” Vivi said.

Her attempt at subtle wording was apparently transparent. “‘A problem,’ he quoted. “Not a threat.” He gave her a pointed look, then shook his head. “It sounds like you know more than I do, and you’re a grown woman. I’ve given you my warning. I just hope you’re not underestimating whatever that thing is, if you plan to look into her.”

Hm. Vivi understood the desire to call Cataclysms ‘its’ and ‘things’ despite some having once been people. But Mina was clearly human, even if she was unhinged.

“I’ll be careful,” she said. “And I understand you wanting to keep to yourself.”

He nodded, still serious-faced, then turned and walked away.

“Oh, and I’ll keep an eye on Suyin when we’re together,” she told him. “So don’t worry about that.”

He paused briefly, seemed to hesitate about something, but in the end continued walking without another word.

Vivi returned to Suyin, her thoughts elsewhere.

I think I believe him when he says he doesn’t know much. So that’s a dead end. Rafael might be able to pull info from thin air—even him just looking into her could be useful. Though Vivi worried that would be dangerous for the steward and his spy network.

She’d considered the obvious possibility, of course. An extremely deadly, psychotic individual with an unstable soul had shown up in Meridian, and the Selrath-Kyn fit that mold to a T.

However, there was a major flaw with that theory: she and Rafael had figured none of those monsters would dare dance around in plain view of the Sorceress. Their modus operandi was to lurk in the shadows. The Fell Apostate’s insane, impossible-to-ignore actions stemmed from him having been put on her radar and perhaps sensing potential in the void.Other members wouldn’t act like he had; they shouldn’t show their faces at all.

Or would they? Maybe categorizing a diverse group of people with such confidence was foolish.

Cinereus did give me a journal on what he knows about each of their members, Vivi thought. Nothing had popped out in her recollection of that catalogue, but she wasn’t someone who could memorize information and sort through it easily.

Definitely time to give it a second read-through.