Elsa listened to their stories of the previous day at breakfast, marveling over the weapons they’d gotten. All three who used staves ended up with staves banded in mythrum, giving the magi increased aether capacity while holding them. Roshana’s sai were different— they had a band of mythrum in the pommel, and were able to project a brief moment of force. They would be useful if she tried to disarm her opponents.
The rest of the morning followed their newly-established routine: studying the Resonant Mind book, resonance meditation, the Peaceful Fist, and then bathing. Their walk to the arena was just like the first day, with them following the Iron Hand. The only difference was that the crowds had grown larger. There were unkind conversations going on about how they would lose the fights, but no one said it while standing near them.
“They’re certainly riled up,” Gregory chuckled.
“They want a better showing from their mages,” Jenn said.
“Can’t blame them,” Yukiko said. “They lost over two-thirds of the fights last time.”
“They’ll lose all three against you again today,” Clover said.
“We’ll do our best,” Jenn said.
As before, the two groups separated, with Gregory leading his wives into the waiting area. Today, they were the first clan present. Egil was once again in full armor, his face mask dangling from its straps, and gave them a nod. Rafiq was still getting his writing implements in order, but smiled at them.
“Good luck today,” Egil said.
“Thank you, Armsmaster,” Gregory said before being echoed by his wives.
“I expect to see you all give your very best efforts today.”
“We will,” Yukiko smiled.
“We always do,” Jenn added.
The door opened a moment later, admitting Hayworth, Binder, and Kang into the room. “The crowds are getting thicker,” Hayworth said. “Magus Harrison had to physically move someone who didn’t make way.”
“Are they okay?” Yukiko asked.
“Nothing broken, but the man was quite irate,” Hayworth replied. “Going to repeat your performance from the other day?”
“We hope to,” Gregory said. “Aiming for a sweep yourself, I would bet.”
“Of course,” Kang said.
Binder grimaced. “I’ll be doing my best.”
“Before the annoying trio gets here,” Gregory said, “we do some morning sparring on the day off. Are you three interested in joining us and the Iron Hand for it?”
“Sparring? Just weapons?” Hayworth asked.
“Yeah, to keep the edge honed. We hoped you’d agree so we could do a mass spar— the six of us against the Iron Hand and the rest of our clan.”
“I like it,” Kang grinned. “A little training before the last fight.”
“Just weapons? That doesn’t really let us do our very best, but it might help us understand each other a bit more,” Hayworth said. “I can guess why you’re not asking the others. Yes, we’ll accept, as long as our magus doesn’t object.”
“It’s normally around eighth bell,” Gregory said, “at our clan area. The Iron Hand is right next to us.”
“Very well. I’ll send you word once we know,” Hayworth nodded. “I’m looking forward to this. Fighting alongside you three will be very interesting.”
“We also do some magic training right after that,” Jenn said.
“Where Jenn and I attack Greg with our magic, and him using his,” Yukiko said.
“Now that I would like to join in on,” Hayworth chuckled.
“Me, too,” Kang nodded.
“I can add in,” Binder said.
“Consider it training for the last day,” Gregory said. “Mindie and Klim are there to heal any accidents, but we’re mostly focused on pushing our aether, not hurting each other.”
“That’ll be fine,” Hayworth nodded.
“A full spar against Jenn will help test me,” Kang grinned.
The door opening got them to cut off. Nick led Parks and Jason into the room, sneering at them. None of them said anything as they went to the viewing area, turning their backs on the others already there.
“Morning to you, too,” Gregory said.
“Shut it, you damned fringer!” Nick snapped. “Today, we’ll be showing you how the empire should win.”
“They were the only clan to win all three of their matches the other day,” Hayworth said. “Hard to improve on that, though you could tie it.”
Nick glared at Hayworth as the tenth bell chimed.
As the last of the bell faded, the announcer from the first day started walking out of the Buldoun waiting area. He waved to the crowd as he advanced toward the middle of the arena. Joining him from where they’d been waiting against the walls, Willof and Sasha— the two referees— went to stand with him.
“Ladies, gentlemen, and children, welcome to the second day of one-on-one fights between the empire’s apprentices and our second-year students of magic. I will be here with you again all day to announce the fighters and winners. We are again joined by referees appointed by both sides to make sure the matches stay fair.”
There was scattered cheering, so the announcer waited before he continued. “Let’s get our first fight underway. Gregory Pettit of Aether’s Guard, user of foresight magic. His opponent is Claudia Firetongue, a fire mage from Eagle House. Come out, fighters. It is time.”
“Now, he burns,” Nick sneered. “No tricks to get you out of this one, Pettit.”
Gregory didn’t even bother replying as he walked past them to pick up a naginata. Egil nodded to him as Gregory stepped past the armsmaster. A few seconds later, he was crossing the arena floor.
“Can his magic work enough for him?” Hayworth mused.
“He’ll win,” Yukiko said. “Just watch. He was able to avoid the killing fire barrage Jason tried to use on him, after all.”
“Fucking beasts should keep their mouths shut!” Jason hissed.
“Pathetic insults suit you, Jason,” Jenn snorted.
Gregory locked eyes with Claudia as they crossed the arena. The smiling woman from last night was gone— the Claudia here and now was focused on winning for her country. She dipped her head a fraction, seeing the same drive to win in Gregory.
When they came to a stop near the announcer, he spoke softly, not into the glowing metal disk, “Remember the rules?” When they both nodded, he grunted. “Bow to each other and get ready to begin.”
Each bowed as their countries traditionally did, then took up ready postures. Claudia’s eyes burned with flame as she got ready to end the fight quickly. Gregory triggered foresight— he was impressed with what he saw in his near future, and decided to flip the script entirely.
“Fight!”
The moment that word left the announcer’s mouth, a few things happened all at once. Claudia sent out a wide barrage of fireballs that would easily at least partially catch Gregory. Gregory sprinted toward the right side, but, as he went, he threw his naginata.
Claudia cried out as the now-burning naginata slammed point first into her chest. Gregory dove into the sand of the arena floor, snuffing out the little bit of the fire he couldn’t escape.
“Stop!” Willof shouted.
“Yes. The fight is over,” Sasha agreed.
The two referees moved toward the two injured fighters. Claudia hissed at the tender spot over her heart as she looked at Gregory. The fire hadn’t touched her at all, but the weapon had. Gregory winced as he sat up— his left arm a mass of burnt flesh, and the sleeve of his kimono was gone.
Wish I could have kept my gloves on, but we can’t use enchantments, Gregory thought. Glad I thought to remove them before we left the clan area…
“You’ll need to sit here for a few minutes, but you have up to a half-hour, if needed,” Willof told Gregory upon reaching him. “Must feel awful.”
“Like underdone bane boar…” Gregory grunted.
Claudia felt the bruise forming even as Sasha got to her. “It hit me over the heart. A real weapon would have killed me. I acknowledge my loss.”
“Glad to see that some of you can do so,” Sasha said bluntly.
“Excuse me,” Claudia said.
Sasha expected her to stomp off to the waiting area, but instead, her eyebrow went up when Claudia went closer to Gregory. She turned to make sure she didn’t have to stop anything.
Willof stiffened a little as Claudia approached, and his hand lightly rested on the hilt of his sword. “Something wrong, Mage?”
“Hmm? No. I wished to congratulate him,” Claudia said, ignoring Willof. She bowed formally to Gregory. “I never suspected you would do that. Thank you for teaching me to be prepared.”
“Thanks for keeping the fire down to a mere roasting,” Gregory grunted as he pushed himself to his feet. With his left arm still healing, he bowed the way she had. “Please do the same with my wives.”
“I doubt I could catch either of them like I did you,” Claudia laughed. She looked at the quiet arena, then shook her head. “I lost honor for my country and house, but tomorrow, I’ll win.”
“That was faster than any of us expected,” the announcer laughed, his words carrying from the magic disk. “The winner is Gregory Pettit. What a throw, all while fleeing for his life. Foresight clearly is hard to beat in a one-on-one situation. Firetongue did her best, but was unable to do more than take his left arm before she was eliminated. Let’s have a showing of appreciation for these two who did their best, and still finished faster than any other fight so far.”
Gregory felt the healing working on his arm and kept his teeth clenched against the unpleasant sensation. Why did it not start right away? he wondered. Maybe it only starts after the fight is called?
When Gregory was finally healed, he entered the waiting area, and all three of the Eternal Flame glared at him. “Almost, Pettit… almost. Maybe she’ll get you, yet. Be the only useful thing her family could do.”
“I thought giving you a mother would have ranked high on that list,” Gregory replied as he put the naginata away.
“What di—?!” Nick began, but Jason roughly grabbed him.
“Stop it! You want us to get sanctioned again?! He’s baiting you!”
Nick shoved Jason off. “Don’t grab me, Argon! You’re my minion, not my grandfather!”
Parks stayed quiet— he’d seen the rift growing and wasn’t about to step into it.
“For now!” Jason snapped as he glared at Nick. “I’m doing what I can for the clan, Shun, not for you. Your grandfather knows that. My help will be rewarded by him, if not by you.”
Hayworth laughed. “Oh, this is a good day. Even if my clan loses all the fights, to see this rift will keep me happy.” Both turned to face him, and Hayworth just smiled back at them. “Problem?”
“You’ll get yours, too, Hayseed!” Nick snapped. He turned away from everyone, staring out onto the sands of the arena.
Gregory made his way to his wives, who checked his arm. Though his sleeve was gone, they were glad he was fully healed. “I’ll have Mindie check after this is over. Be ready for your fights.”
“She was pleasant after the loss?” Jenn asked.
“Very. She congratulated me and promised not to make the fire worse when she faces you both.”
“Thank Aether,” Jenn muttered. “How bad was it?”
“Bad, but not deadly,” Gregory said.
“Our next fight is about to begin. Let us welcome Nicklaus Shun, fire user from the Eternal Flame. His opponent is Jessica Hofen, shadow mage from Wolf House. Fighters, come out.”
Nick’s eye twitched at the use of his full first name. He growled as he snatched a katana from the weapons rack. Jason almost started to say something, but snapped his mouth shut and just watched Nick leave.
