“Ready for your fight today?” Hayworth asked when the group entered the waiting area under the arena.
“If they shift us like we think they will, it’ll be a tough fight,” Yukiko replied.
“Just lose…” Jason muttered as he finished getting his armor on.
“We have a chance to win, but I’m not sure you do,” Jenn said. “Any two of their three will make your fight harder than ours. Swift Wind barely tied them.”
“They work well together and are diverse enough to cause many problems. I’m not sure Aether’s Guard will defeat them, either,” Hayworth said. “That might be why they’ll have them on the last day of these clan fights.”
“You have a plan for Boar House?” Gregory asked Hayworth, ignoring Jason.
“If they don’t adapt, we’ll win easily,” Hayworth smiled. “If they do adapt, it’ll be harder, but we can still win. Water magi aren’t really a direct threat, which leaves them down a person, honestly. He can make the arena tricky to move through, but that’s all.”
“That might be the one group that the Eternal Flame can beat without the other side giving up,” Kang snorted.
Parks turned to Kang. “At least we won last time. You tied, which is like a loss.”
Kang just laughed.
“I’d advise you all to settle down,” Egil said pointedly. “Save your spirit for the fights. The only thing that matters, in the end, is who wins, not how.”
“Exactly,” Jason sneered at Hayworth. “Eternal Flame: one. Swift Wind: zero.”
Rafiq kept writing the entire time, his expression neutral, but no one other than Gregory and his wives seemed to notice.
“Ladies, gentlemen, and children,” the announcer boomed out, “welcome back to our second day of empire clans against Buldoun houses. We saw valiant efforts by all the groups last time, but Buldoun failed to win a single match. Today, we hope to see our mages live up to their schooling. Or will the clans of the empire show what their magi can do once again?”
The crowd cheered, jeered, and made a lot of noise. Gregory looked out through the viewing area and saw a lot of people in the crowd with flags depicting one house’s emblem or another.
“What are those?” Gregory murmured.
“They’re ways of showing who they favor,” Yukiko explained. “The houses of Buldoun have tournaments and games like we do. People bring those when they attend to show their support. Curious… they seem much thicker today. They’ve been in the stands before, but not in that number.”
“A merchant was selling them cheaply yesterday,” Binder said. “We saw them in the bazaar.”
“Too bad we didn’t know about it,” Jenn said. “We could’ve had our clans do the same.”
“Oh, that would’ve brought the two together a bit more. The crowd would’ve loved it,” Yukiko said. “Someone should mention it if the two nations ever do this again.”
“Our first fight of the day pits the Eternal Flame against Wolf House. Fresh off a very close win that saw grit and determination on behalf of the Eternal Flame’s leader, can the pair dig deep for another win today? Come forth, Eternal Flame!”
Jason’s teeth ground together as he left the waiting area. Parks’ sneer was firmly in place as he followed him. The crowd mostly jeered at them as they crossed to the announcer, which only seemed to infuriate the pair more.
“Wolf House did their best in the last fight and came only seconds away from a win, but managed a tie in the last fight. Reduced to two members of their house today to make this match even, who will it be that comes to face the Eternal Flame?”
Jessica and Ivan walked out of the Buldoun waiting area. The pair waved to the crowd, acknowledging the cheers that filled the arena.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a fight of physical enhancement magic users in Jason Argon and Ivan Armstrong. To back their respective fighters, Jason has his ally, Jamie Parks, a user of force magic. Ivan has the leader of Wolf House to back him: Jessica Hofen, an accomplished user of shadow magic. Which will give their team the edge needed to win? Let’s find out!”
“He certainly knows how to get the crowd invested,” Hayworth snorted. “That man would make the tournaments at the academy far more interesting.”
“He announces for the mage school’s tournaments,” Rafiq said from where he was making notes. “Mikal Buffurn. He is well-known in Buldoun.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of the family,” Yukiko said. “They’ve held that job for generations, it’s said.”
“Fight!” The single word came from Mikal as he ducked into the Buldoun waiting area.
Jason rushed Ivan, who stayed still, his massive sword poised to strike. Jessica ducked so her shadow could swallow her easier. Ivan tossed something to Jessica just as she disappeared into the shadows.
“Parks will put a barrier just over Ivan’s head,” Kang said. “It’ll stop Ivan from being able to swing.”
“Which will let Jason get the attack off unhindered,” Jenn murmured. “Hmm… it’ll have to be a layer of barriers to make sure the swing gets stopped.”
“Parks will be covered in barriers, too,” Binder said, “to stop the assassin strike.”
“Jessica might feint at him, but she should know better,” Yukiko said.
“Let’s see,” Hayworth said, as Jason was almost in reach of Ivan.
In the span of a few seconds, things changed rapidly. Ivan adjusted the grip on his sword, not attacking with it. A barrier had formed over his head, which would have stopped the heavy chop it had looked like he was planning to do. Ivan brought the zweihander point down, gripping the sword above and below the crossguard as he shoved the sword out and sideways, catching Jason’s attack.
Shadows grabbed Jason’s legs. They were thick, black shadows that resisted being broken by his aether-infused legs. That left him in position for Ivan to step in, his sword left behind as he grabbed Jason’s weapon arm and immobilized it.
Parks started to run forward, as he couldn’t really help Jason as far back as he’d been. Their plan had come crashing apart quicker than they thought it would. Between one step and the next, he went pitching forward as a shadow grabbed his foot.
Ivan managed to disarm Jason, leaving the two physical enhancement users in a barehanded brawl. Jason staggered briefly when the shadows around his legs vanished, but he didn’t have time to give it thought, as Ivan was battering him.
Parks slammed into the ground, his barrier stopping him from hurting himself. As he went to push himself up, the shadows underneath him formed dozens of hands, grabbing and pulling him down into an inky pool of darkness.
“Oh… that’s different,” Yukiko said. “That’s more than she’s shown before. Jessica must really want to win.”
“Did they not bring any enchantments with them?” Binder asked.
“Probably the same fire items they had against Claudia,” Jenn said. “If Lukas had been against them, it would’ve been the right call.”
“Agreed,” Kang nodded. “Which puts them behind here. What items did the mages bring, though?”
“Extra aether,” Gregory said. “They’re going to outlast them. It would explain the shadows, and the item Ivan tossed to Jessica at the start.”
“They both brought one in… is there no rule to stop them from giving it to an ally?”
“None,” Egil chuckled. “Interesting.”
The shadows holding Parks looked like they were being cut by invisible knives.
“He’s using his barriers to slice them, like he did my arm,” Gregory murmured. “I hope he has better control of them now, or he might kill himself.”
“No loss there,” Hayworth snorted.
Jessica came up out of the shadows by Parks’ feet. The next instant, she slammed herself onto his back briefly, sending them both into the shadow pool. A second later, the pair came bursting out of the shadows by the Buldoun waiting area. Jessica’s dagger was against Parks’ neck, the wood dimpling his flesh.
Sasha shouted to them over the crowd, and Jessica let him go. Parks yelled at Sasha, pointing at Jessica as he did.
“He doesn’t think she had him,” Yukiko snorted. “Idiot. If that’d been a real dagger, his neck would be open.”
“Never stopped them from complaining before,” Kang added.
With the side fight done, everyone turned their attention back to the two men beating each other bloody. Aether blazed around both as they poured everything they had into winning quickly.
Jessica dropped to her knees and motioned to their swords— both of the forgotten weapons sank into shadows. Jason’s came to rest in front of her while the other one came up, point down, behind Ivan. Ivan grinned when he saw Jessica with Jason’s sword by her. He took a hit from Jason, letting it stagger him backward. His hand went around behind him and he spun the zweihander around, catching Jason by surprise. The sword slammed into Jason’s raised left arm, shattering as it did.
Jason leapt backward, clutching his arm to his chest. It hadn’t broken, but it’d hurt even with him reinforcing it. Now, he had to act like it was lost to him, because a steel blade would have crippled or removed it.
Ivan tossed the shattered sword aside, then knelt as the shadows at his feet handed him Jason’s katana. Standing, he gave Jason a smile, speaking to him.
Jason hissed, looking back to find Jessica coming his way slowly, holding daggers. He looked past her to where Parks was still shouting at Sasha, then to the stands above the empire waiting area. With a grimace, Jason raised his good arm in surrender.
Ivan grinned, flipping the katana around to offer it to Jason. Jason snatched it away, stalking off, not bothering to reply to Ivan. Parks, seeing Jason walk away, spat at Sasha’s feet, then stomped off.
“Well, that’s that,” Hayworth chuckled. “Good luck when you fight them in two days.”
“We’ll need it,” Gregory said. “That was without their fire mage.”
“Time to get armored,” Kang said. “At least our fight will be easier.”
Jason and Parks never bowed to their opponents, nor did they stop to talk to the others in the waiting area. They threw their weapons at the racks and went straight out of the room.
Egil muttered something about spoiled children as he fixed the weapons rack.
“I hope they don’t cause another incident,” Jenn said. “The empire already took a black mark because of Nick.”
“No. He’s upset right now, but Jason will calm down. He won’t let that happen. Right now, his rise in the clan depends on him getting through this without further blemishes to his clan,” Yukiko said.
Rafiq nodded minutely. Though no one was looking at him, his pen scratched across the parchment as he made his notes.
