14-71. The Whirlwind

Elijah’s jaws clamped down on his latest opponent. A thousand tiny spatial rifts erupted inside his mouth, cutting it to ribbons, but in a contest between offense and defense, Scales of Infinity proved the victor.

He chewed.

Pilona ak Reso screamed.

But soon, even that sound faded into nothing. Elijah kept going until he was certain that his foe was dead before he spat her remains upon the arena floor. The corpse, chewed beyond all recognition, hit the sandy floor with a wet splat.

After a moment, the cheers of the crowd arrived, hitting Elijah like a physical thing. He barely heard them, he was so focused on the fight he’d just won. He should have been happy with the victory, but he could only look upon the match with self-recrimination. He’d made so many mistakes. He’d revealed too many of his cards.

And now, everyone knew about the Shape of the World Serpent.

That sour thought accompanied him as he slithered toward the exit, transforming back to his human form along the way. He cast Nature’s Bloom and Wild Resurgence, healing the damage Pilona had inflicted as she’d succumbed. Once he left the arena, he endured an inspection from the Chronomancer’s attendants. If he was too wounded, they would have activated his anchor. But as it had after every battle he’d fought in the arena, it proved unnecessary. Soon after, they released him.

The walk back to the staging room was lonely and filled with contemplation.

So, he was a little surprised when, upon entering, Birk slapped him on the shoulder and declared, “Good fight.”

“Didn’t feel like it,” Elijah admitted, stumbling slightly under the drake’s blow. Birk had pulled his punches, but his strength was so prodigious that he couldn’t completely contain it.

“Top sixteen. That’s what matters at this point,” Birk pointed out.

It was the closest thing to praise that the trainer was willing to offer, so Elijah took it in the spirit it was given.

Tura, who sat nearby, said, “You adjusted Dimensional Leap. Good.”

Elijah ran his hand through his sweaty hair. “You noticed that?”

“I see everything, boy.”

“Right.”

In truth, he should have been happy with what he’d accomplished. And not just in the latest fight. He’d fought three battles since defeating Voris, but the first two had failed to push him into revealing any of his cards. Erilon es Inaris was a summoner, not unlike Benedict, and Elijah had defeated him after only thirty seconds. His spells were too slow to cast, and Elijah had broken his binding spell with a pulse of his Mantle of Authority. The rest of the fight had played out like a defenseless kitten fighting a full-grown wolf.

His next fight – against Tt’his la Jex – was much more annoying. Elijah had spent what felt like an eternity chasing the archer across the arena. Every step had been fraught with traps, reminding him of his pursuit of Gunnar through the jungles surrounding Delhi. However, unlike the sniper, Tt’his could move in three dimensions, and their traps were capable of actually hurting Elijah.

In the end, he’d used Shape of Embers to dodge the incoming projectiles until he could once again glass the arena. As was the case with many fighters who relied on mobility, the answer was to use an ability with such a wide area-of-effect that they couldn’t outrun it.

Tt’his had used some sort of fire resistance shield to mitigate the effect, but it shattered on the second wave from Flames of Renewal. By the end, they were turned to ash, just like Voris.

Aside from the victories, Elijah had been particularly proud that he’d not been forced to reveal any of his other abilities. That had changed against Pilona, a space mage who’d filled the arena with razor-sharp rifts. Fortunately, she was incapable of affecting Elijah’s person, proving that the complex equation comparing the combination of his attributes, cultivation, and abilities fell in his favor.

But catching her had proved almost impossible, and to the point where Elijah had been forced to shift into the Shape of the World Serpent and barge through the spatial rifts like they weren’t even there. Even then, the space mage managed to stay ahead of him via short range teleportation.

Elijah’s answer to that was Dimensional Leap.

Using the techniques he’d learned through almost a year of Tura’s tutelage, he managed to alter the duration of the ability. Instead of lasting for a little more than four seconds, he took it down to a fraction of a second, which was enough to almost instantly teleport him from one side of the arena to the next.

It caught Pilona by surprise, which had proven fatal when he’d snapped his jaws around her.

“You might just have some potential after all,” the old woman said, pushing herself to her feet. She looked up at him, then poked him with her cane. “I was beginning to wonder if you were developmentally disabled.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from NovelPhoenix. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Ouch.”

But Elijah didn’t really disagree with the assessment. He’d achieved some success when it came to varying the intensity of his spells, but not nearly as much as Tura seemed to expect. Every step forward was met with criticism that it hadn’t covered quite enough ground.

Was it just a teaching method? Tough love, perhaps? Or was her evaluation accurate? Elijah wasn’t sure. What he did know was that he still had a long way to go, and he didn’t intend to let up on his training. Not after having reached the top sixteen.

“Bah. Don’t want the truth, eh? Do better,” she chided. “Still, your performance in the tournament has exceeded my expectations. An acceptable result.” She jabbed him again. “Don’t let that go to your head, eh? You’re still only barely acceptable.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Elijah said. “Where’s Sara?”

“The Academy,” was her answer.

“Wait, why?”

If he expected anyone to be there, it was Sara. She was well established as his biggest fan.

“She is being disciplined,” Birk cut in. “Something about disrespect for her instructors.”

“The girl needs to learn her place.”

“She is a dragon. A little unruliness is expected,” Tura stated. “If she was not pushing boundaries, she would not be fit for her status.”

Birk grunted in disagreement.

Not an unexpected turn of events, all things considered. Birk was a proponent of discipline above all else, while Tura took a more permissive approach. That wasn’t to say that she couldn’t be a harsh teacher, just that she seemed to expect a certain amount of disobedience.

And if Elijah was honest with himself, he was surprised that Sara hadn’t gotten into more trouble.

A knock at the door cut any other discussion short, and when Birk opened it, Elijah saw the person he both most and least wanted to see.

Kaela looked as good as ever, wearing a white robe with artful cutouts that showed her pearlescent red scales to great effect. She stepped forward, but hesitated after crossing the threshold.

Her eyes flicked from Birk to Tura, then back at Elijah.

“You did very well,” she said, her tone subdued.

“Bah. Come, Birk.”

“Why? My orders are to –”

Tura’s cane lashed out, smacking him on the hip. “I said to come.”

He grunted, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he followed Tura out of the staging room and into the hall, closing the door behind him.

Kaela didn’t hesitate. The second the door closed, she threw her arms around Elijah. “I was so worried!” she exclaimed.

“No faith?” Elijah asked.

She hugged him tighter. “I knew you would win.”

“But you just said –”

Pulling away, she asked, “Do you know how difficult it is watching someone you…watching a friend get wounded?” She gave a small shiver. “I have seen people die. People I care for. Even though I know it’s not permanent, watching that happen…again…it is…”

She trailed off.

Elijah understood what she was saying. She had faith that he would win, but there was always the possibility that he’d make a fatal mistake. After all, none of the remaining participants were weak. And then there was the anchor that was supposed to ensure that he would incur no lasting damage. Even death wouldn’t be permanent.

And yet, there was the chance that something would go wrong.

On a real battlefield, chronomantic anchors were almost impossible to set up. It was only in extremely controlled settings that they were useful, and even then, they weren’t foolproof. Too much could go sideways for anyone to trust them completely, even in perfect conditions.

If the chronomancer in charge of the project hadn’t been a transcendent, no one would have dared to rely on it, even with all the preparations built into the Praesidium.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve seen friends die too.”

She looked away. “The horrors of our past continue to haunt us.”

Elijah knew that she referred to the same Primal Realm where her brother had lost so many companions. She’d befriended many of the fallen, so it had hit her almost as hard, even though she’d been elsewhere in the Primal Realm at the time. What’s more, she’d done everything she could to comfort Alrhok, and ultimately, she was the one who’d suggested he seek out a non-combat path.

For his part, Elijah had felt something similar while watching her fights. She had steamrolled her competition far more completely than even Elijah had, meaning that she’d never been in true danger. And yet, he’d still remained on the edge of his seat while watching.

Not because he thought she was going to lose. And really, not even because he feared for her safety. Rather, he hated the feeling of being a spectator, of not being able to affect a battle.

It was one of the things he’d been forced to learn after coming to the Empire of Scale. He was no longer on Earth, where he stood at the pinnacle of humanity. Now, he was just one demi-god among too many to count. It sometimes made him feel helpless.

He wasn’t.

He knew that.

By all rights, he’d already proven himself to be an elite among other elites. One of the most powerful demi-gods in the entire empire. And yet, a single swipe from an average deity would destroy him utterly.

Watching Kaela fight and not being able to help just made that feeling worse.

Because of that, he had no trouble sympathizing with what she felt, even if his emotions went in a slightly different direction.

With that in mind, he wrapped his arms around Kaela’s comparatively slim shoulders and hugged her tight. The silent embrace went on for a few minutes until, at last, she pulled away. Wiping her eyes, she forced a smile and said, “But top sixteen, right? That’s a notable accomplishment.”

“I guess,” Elijah said before admitting that he lacked the context to really appreciate it. After all, he’d only visited a small part of Esik. He’d seen a grand total of one city, not counting the settlement around the Praesidium or the moon. And the Empire of Scale stretched across multiple universes, including thousands of planets.

Kaela pointed that out, adding, “Demi-gods are the most populace demographic. Very few, aside from small children, remain mortal. And passage through ascendency is all but guaranteed for dragons and drakes. Most of the empire has reached the demi-god stage, though power varies greatly among us.”

“What about deities?” Elijah asked.

“No guarantees,” she answered, shaking her head. “Even if many in the great clans look at it that way. But that is as far as most will ever progress. Transcendence is almost a myth to most in the empire. We all know that they exist. That is indisputable. But they are so rare that –”

Before she could finish, someone burst through the door. Elijah didn’t even need to look to know that the whirlwind that was Sara had arrived. She threw herself at him in a tackle-slash-hug.

“I knew you would win!” she exclaimed.

“That makes one of us,” Elijah chuckled.

“I watched the whole thing as a projection,” she said, releasing him. “Stupid rules.” She crossed her arms. “One little argument, and they tell me I can’t leave. If I’d have known they were going to punish me so harshly, I would’ve pounded his face in.”

“What happened?”

She blushed. “Nothing. Not important,” she said. “But do you know what is important?”

“What?”

“Celebration! It’s not everyday someone makes it to the top sixteen of the Tournament of the First Fang!”