Gregory found Jenn stretching, reminding him of how he’d seen her during the first tournament. “Limbering up?”
“And centering myself,” Jenn replied as she executed a standing split. “They should be calling for me in a minute or two.”
“You have the ring charged up?”
“Yes, and I have three cores. I’ll keep one in my left hand and replace it instantly from my obi if needed.”
“It’d be good if you win, but don’t be reckless about it. They’ve figured out that we have a way around the fire, so they might have given him a trick like Nick’s armor for you.”
“I’ll do my best, Greg,” Jenn said, lowering her leg. “Are you going to be watching from the tunnel?”
“Yes.”
“I have to win… I have to be able to stand beside you and Yukiko.”
“You already are,” Gregory said. “The three of us are going to be beside each other for years.”
Jenn whipped around to face him. “Really? You’ve agreed?”
Brow furrowing, Gregory frowned. “Agreed to what?”
Jenn’s excited, happy expression fell, and she turned away from him. “Nothing…”
“Jenn, I—” Gregory started.
“Novice Bean, it’s time,” Mindie said from the stairs to the arena floor.
Jenn went right past Greg, not saying anything, her face emotionless. Gregory knew he missed something important and walked behind her, wondering what he could do to bring her smile back.
Almost to the exit, he reached out and touched her shoulder gently. “Jenn, I don’t know what I did, but please give me a chance to make up for it? You need to focus right now, but know I’ll be here for you no matter what.”
Jenn nodded once. “I know. It makes it hurt even more, Greg. I’ll win, don’t worry. I have to show you that I can be here, too.” She patted his hand once, making him remove it.
Mindie paused at the exit, watching the two of them. She gave Jenn an encouraging smile as the smaller woman walked past her. “Good luck.”
Jenn nodded to her before stepping out of the tunnel and walking across the arena floor.
Gregory stood a few feet behind Mindie, watching his friend walk away. I’m sorry I distracted you, Jenn. I hope I’ll not be the reason for your loss.
Mindie glanced at Gregory and shifted back to stand beside him. “I thought you were with the other one?”
“Huh?”
“The other novice, Warlin.”
“We’re betrothed. Our wedding is after the tournament.”
Mindie’s brow furrowed and she looked at Jenn, who was bowing to the boxes. “Oh… I thought you two were having a lover’s quarrel just then.”
Gregory’s eyes went wide. “No. No! Jenn’s our friend and clanmate. That’s all.”
Mindie glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “Oh, I see.”
“Thank you for helping Yuki after her fight, by the way.”
“It’s my job,” Mindie said softly. “I dislike the Eternal Flame, though, this year especially… they seem even more aggressive than normal. Shun is the worst of them.”
“He’s not a good person,” Gregory agreed. “Jason isn’t any better, either. He’s more calculating than Nick.”
“Yes. He’s terrifying in that way.”
Gregory didn’t reply because the fight had started. Both Jenn and Jason rushed toward each other— they had infused their bodies with aether to move faster. The sound of their wooden blades meeting folded into each attack, so the sound neither began nor ended, but just hung in the air. The sounds abruptly stopped when a spike of earth shot out of the ground.
Jenn staggered back, her hip bleeding. She’d been just a little too slow dodging the attack from behind. Hissing in pain, she stared at Jason, who was smirking at her. “No fire? Won’t your boyfriend be mad that you aren’t using fire?”
“Anything it takes to knock you pests from the tournament is what we were told,” Jason smiled. “Ready for the rest of my surprises?”
Jenn took a limping step backward. “Are you ready for mine?”
“I know all of yours already,” Jason laughed as two more spikes of earth shot out of the ground on either side of Jenn.
Jenn conjured a barrier for a second to shatter the one to the left and spun, hacking at the one on the right with her sword, breaking it apart. She couldn’t stop, as Jason leapt at the same moment, his sword coming down in a vicious overhand strike.
Jenn brought her blade back around to catch and deflect his attack, but that knocked her off balance. Jason smirked as he kicked out and caught Jenn in the leg, his foot coated in blue flame. Jenn screamed when the kick hit and she went sprawling onto her back.
Gregory had to resist the urge to rush out and help his friend. Mindie was leaning forward, clearly ready to run out when needed.
Jason shifted his grip on the sword as he darted forward, intending to pin the small woman to the ground. His sword came down, but was knocked aside by an aether-created barrier. Jenn kicked out, catching Jason in the ankle and making him hop back. He wobbled, his injured ankle not liking the sudden shift.
“Fucking little bitch! Just stay down and I won’t hurt you more than necessary,” Jason growled.
Jenn got to her feet, favoring her injured leg, which didn’t want to hold her weight. “I’ll win.”
Jason snorted. “I gave you a chance.”
A dozen spikes of earth erupted under Jenn, all of them angled to impale her. Jenn flexed her undamaged leg, blue fire encasing it as she executed a backward flip. The spikes all crashed together in the spot she’d just been standing in.
“Stop!” Yunlo shouted, suddenly next to the earth spikes. “Novice, that would have killed your opponent! You used it deliberately to do so.”
“I disagree,” Jason said. “I was clearly testing her injured leg. She escaped without injury, after all.”
Yunlo grunted. “A weak theory, but I’ll let it stand for now. Fight!” He was gone in the same instant he told them to resume.
Jason frowned, as he didn’t see Jenn anywhere. Eyes darting, he tried to find her, spinning in a slow circle to see if she had slipped behind him.
The crack of breaking bone echoed in the air as Jason fell to the ground, grabbing his left knee. Jenn appeared beside him, her wooden blade broken. With a cry, she drove it down at Jason.
“Stop!” Yunlo shouted suddenly from beside Jenn, but was too late to stop her from slamming the jagged wood into its target. Yunlo grabbed her and the pair of them were next to the exit. Letting her go, Yunlo hadn’t even needed to call for a healer because both Mindie and Klim were rushing to Jason. Raising the disk to his mouth, he announced, “Novice Bean is the winner.”
Jenn bowed to Jason, who was being treated by the healers, before she limped in a circle to face Yunlo, bowing again. Another slow limping turn got her to face the boxes, where she bowed for the last time.
“You meant to make me stop the fight?” Yunlo asked her.
“After your warning, I couldn’t kill him and not be in trouble for doing so,” Jenn said evenly. “As it is, I creased his neck.”
“I noticed,” Yunlo said. “You’re dangerous for one so small.”
“My father said I was tiny, but fierce,” Jenn replied.
“He’s right,” Gregory said from the tunnel. “You’re also a damned good friend.”
Jenn turned to Gregory and started limping his way, her leg getting firmer with each step. “Well, the cloak won’t be usable again for this tournament. Guess I have to hope you make it to the finals so I can have my rematch.”
“Yeah. Walk you back to the waiting area?”
“Thank you.”
“You did well. I was worried about the earth spikes. When that first one caught you…” he trailed off, looking grim.
“I let it graze me to draw him into using it again. He should’ve known better. When we push our aether for faster reaction times, everything seems to slow down,” Jenn explained as they walked down the tunnel. “I had enough warning to get away. My baiting him with the first one worked.”
Gregory looked at her hip and chuckled. “It healed up?”
“It wasn’t bad to start with, but yes. It’s why my leg is taking so long now.”
“Mindie or Klim will come along to check on you,” Gregory said.
“I didn’t even need to use this,” Jenn said, handing him the fire protection ring. “I hope you don’t need it, either.”
“We’ll see in a bit.”
~*~*~
Gregory took a calming breath as he followed Mindie down the hall. Okay, Greg, focus. Have to beat Klein first… He has to have something up his sleeve. He’s too calm.
“Good luck,” Mindie said as she stopped by the exit.
“Thank you,” Gregory said, stepping past her and out into the open.
The roar of the crowd washed over him. He held the naginata against his shoulder as he walked across the sands. Klein was coming from the other side of the arena, carrying a pair of thin blades in his hands. The real difference was in armor— Gregory wasn’t wearing any, but Klein had on even more armor than Nick had.
Gregory’s pace slowed as he took in what Klein had on. He was wearing an open face helmet that had a wide flare at the bottom to help deflect downward blows. Pauldrons with the Shining Light emblem protected his shoulders and upper arms. The chest piece was made of horizontal plates attached to the underlying chain, and had been decorated with the same symbol. Bracers and gauntlets covered his forearms and hands. His legs were protected by the thick leather skirt attached to the chest guard and metal greaves that went over the top of Klein’s boots.
Klein stared at Gregory with a detached expression as they came to a stop before Yunlo. “I wish you luck, Pettit.”
“You, as well,” Gregory replied.
“Novices, you know the rules. Turn and bow to the boxes.”
They bowed to Yunlo and each other next. Gregory set himself into a defensive stance and waited for the command to fight. As Yunlo’s arm started to descend, Gregory reached for foresight.
“Fight!” Yunlo shouted as he reappeared a dozen yards from them.
Gregory froze in place, his foresight a jumbled blur of dozens of visions. Unsure of what was happening, he barely got his naginata up in time to deflect Klein’s first strike.
“What in Aether’s name!?” Gregory winced as he was forced on the defensive, his foresight continuing to plague him with conflicting visions.
“Foresight is useless when your opponent is unsure of what they’re going to do before they do it,” Klein said.
A moment of clarity appeared, and Gregory shifted to the right. He immediately had to parry away another attack, making it seem like Klein knew he was going to move the way he had. The reason for his sudden movement came into existence when the tip of the second training blade appeared in the air, piercing the spot Gregory had just been in.
“Interesting,” Klein said in his detached voice. “The magic is clear enough for you to see? Must be the intent needed for it to manifest.”
Gregory was having trouble he never expected to have. My magic is actively working against me… A sudden backpedal got him clear of another attack from midair. Mostly working against me, he corrected himself. If I drop foresight to be able to fight more easily, I’d have no warning about the spatial attacks.
“The choice you must make is to have no warning about my magic, or be distracted by what might be,” Klein said as he kept pressing the attack.
Dodging to the left, Gregory brought a shield into being to stop a hit to his back. Using that brief opening, he struck, the naginata sliding up and under Klein’s arm. However, just before it could hit Klein, another shield appeared and deflected the attack. The spatial attack that should have hit him appeared to Gregory’s right. Klein had used both blades that time, giving Gregory the opportunity to gain some breathing room.
“You’re right,” Gregory admitted as he backed away and the chaos of the immediate future faded. “That’s a problem I hadn’t known about. How do you not know what you’re going to do?”
“Meditation,” Klein replied. “Most mock the spirit path, but it has a few uses that the others will never know.”
Gregory bowed his head and set himself into a defensive stance. “I see. It’s likely you will outlast me for aether, so it leaves me with little choice.”
“That was my assessment, as well,” Klein said. “It was a good match.”
Gregory thought about what Klein had said and turned on his ability to see aether strings instead. With a deep breath, Gregory advanced toward him.
Klein looked puzzled, but didn’t hesitate to meet him. After a couple of seconds, Klein’s brow furrowed— he was being driven back hard, barely able to stop Gregory from landing blows. Thinking Gregory had stopped with his foresight, Klein was quick to use his left blade to strike at Gregory’s back. Klein never expected Gregory to sidestep and strike the sword’s tip with the butt of his naginata, jarring the whole weapon.
That shock pulled him from his meditation. “How?” Klein asked, the surprise clear in his voice.
“You failed to account for all variables,” Gregory said and went back on the offensive.
The next few strikes glanced off Klein’s armor, but it was clear to everyone that Gregory had finally found his footing. Klein knew that he had to find a way to turn the tables, but no longer centered, he had a hard time coming up with a good plan.
With a shout, Klein pushed into Gregory’s next attack, summoning a large spatial tear. Seeing the threads going out, Gregory pushed off from Klein’s block and went into an airborne backflip, landing inches behind where he had appeared. Not about to look the gift-horse in the mouth, Gregory caught Klein’s right elbow sharply with the naginata as he turned. With a grunt of pain, Klein’s sword fell from that hand.
Down to just one sword and knowing he’d been bested, Klein knew what he had to do. “Adjudicator… I yield.”
Gregory twisted the shaft of the naginata sideways, suddenly stopping his attack. His blade just missed the other novice.
Yunlo raised the disk to his mouth and spoke to the arena, “Novice Armit has forfeited the match.”
Klein took an unsteady step backward, having used the rest of his aether to move his entire body spatially. “I don’t know how you managed it, Pettit, but you won.” Bowing to Gregory, Klein started to pitch forward.
Gregory stopped his bow short and grabbed Klein, helping him stay upright until Mindie and Klim reached them. “Easy, let them help you.”
“I must bow,” Klein said. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“Take this,” Klim said, shoving a vial at him. “Bowing can wait.”
“No, it cannot,” Klein said, but he downed the vial before handing it back.
Gregory moved to stand beside Klein. “Together?”
Klein gave him a questioning glance, but seeing only honesty, he nodded. “Please.”
Klein and Gregory bowed to Yunlo, then to the boxes, with Gregory acting as a support post for Klein. When they finished bowing, Klim escorted Klein from the arena, checking his arm as they went. Gregory went back to the other tunnel with Mindie beside him.
“You’re going to be in the final four again,” Mindie said, “yet you help a defeated opponent from losing even more face?”
“There’s no reason not to,” Gregory told her. “Our clans aren’t fighting, and he’s a decent person.”
Mindie nodded slowly. “You don’t feel it necessary to crush your foes.”
“It would be different if we were at odds, but this was just a match during the tournament,” Gregory replied. “Even though it seems like some people want to do that all the time, I don’t want to.”
“I wish you luck tomorrow,” Mindie said as she stopped at the tunnel.
“Thank you. I hope the last fight’s not taxing on you.”
Making it down to the waiting area, Gregory found Hayworth. “Good luck.”
“I just came back down. I was watching the fight,” Hayworth said. “I had no idea that he was able to do that. It’s very costly in aether to move your entire body.”
“Well, if I see you in the next round, I know you won’t attempt it.”
“Did you play with him early to make him think his meditation angle was enough to mess with your foresight?”
Gregory shrugged. “See you tomorrow, Hayworth.”
“Aether willing,” Hayworth chuckled.
Gregory kept walking, making his way for the exit to rejoin his soon-to-be family.
~*~*~
When he got back up to the box, he was greeted with broad smiles and even a kiss on the cheek from Yukiko. “Thank you.”
“What was the problem? You were struggling at the start,” Yukiko asked.
“If you’re in a meditative state and letting the battle flow, it makes it hard for foresight to predict your actions,” Gregory told her. “That’s what he was doing to me. He’s a spirit path follower, and hinted that the spirit path could do even more. We should look in the clan archive to see what we can find.”
“Agreed,” Yukiko said, catching his failure to elaborate on how he won and glancing at her parents.
Gregory caught her look and gave her a small nod. “Do you think you’ll be able to beat Jenn this time?”
“It was a tie last time, but I doubt they’ll let a tie stand in the finals.”
“It would be a very messy thing,” Hao said. “I wouldn’t put it past them to just eliminate both, and have the other fight be the final.”
“That’s highly likely. They would suspect us of trying to make that the outcome even if we didn’t.”
“They’re walking out,” Yoo-jin said, bringing their attention to the arena floor.
Hayworth walked with confidence as he approached Parks. Neither novice spoke to the other while they bowed. Gregory was puzzled at Parks’ weapon, as mauls were not widely chosen.
He was surprised at how aggressively Parks attacked. He rushed forward with no regard to his own safety the moment the fight started. Hayworth looked serious as he moved to the side, his shield up the entire time. The clash of the two novices was loud, the sound of wood on wood echoing as the maul slammed into Hayworth’s shield with a lot of momentum.
Hayworth was pushed back by the attack, but even as he gave ground, he thrust his sword out, the tip vanishing and coming in from Parks’ side. A barrier of aether sprang up, stopping the attack from landing. Parks hadn’t slowed his next attack. The maul, still moving from the first deflection, came back around horizontally.
Hayworth’s grimace was pronounced as he blocked the attack, but his shield wasn’t staying up as it should. His counter-attack was again deflected away by a brief burst of aether that shielded Parks.
Five seconds passed with the two exchanging blows. With each attack, it was obvious that Hayworth was losing control of his shield arm, but Parks’ barriers didn’t appear to be diminishing in the least.
The end came suddenly. When Hayworth tried to block another vicious blow, he couldn’t get his shield up all the way, the attack yanking his arm down sharply. What happened next was shocking to those watching— as Hayworth was pulled out of position, a flat shield of aether slammed into his back, forcing him to drop to his knees. That barrier didn’t vanish, though, and Hayworth tried to get his nearly broken arm back up to stop the maul as it came up and around to brain him.
“I yield!” Hayworth shouted.
Parks had a vicious smile on his lips and didn’t even try to stop his maul. Just before it could make contact with Hayworth, he was suddenly gone and on his knees, a dozen feet away, next to Yunlo.
“Parks is the victor,” Yunlo announced through the metal disk to the arena. Lowering the disk, Yunlo said something to Parks, who didn’t reply as he bowed before walking off.
“Greg,” Yukiko said softly, “he’ll try to kill you, like he tried to do to Hayworth.”
“Yes… I’ll have to be ready for his shielding magic, too,” Gregory said, understanding that Parks was going to be a problem.
“We should go. Dinner will be late, as it is,” Yoo-jin said. “Did you want to stop at the auction house?”
“I think the only item of worth was already purchased,” Gregory said.
“Possibly,” Yoo-jin conceded. “I’ll have to ask your elder if he knows what they might have left for sale.”
Gregory rose to his feet, not replying. He was already thinking about the best ways to beat Parks.
