Gregory exhaled as he watched the fight in the arena. They’d spent the previous day seeing the city, and going from clothier to clothier to find the right dresses and suits for the wedding. Hao thought a Buldoun-style wedding would be a good way to tie the event together, and it would certainly be memorable.
Meeting with Wolf House after dinner had been a little awkward. The six fighters had felt the tension of the coming fight, but they managed to joke and talk normally. They’d wished each other a good fight for the next day, then parted.
Training before the matches went like normal, and Gregory focused on pushing his resonance; he was sure that it didn’t only extend around them while they were meditating. Something tickled his brain— he knew that, with what Lightshield had shown him, he could parse the futures better if he kept pushing. His wives and friends had been extra excited to hear about what Lightshield had taught him. They all agreed that he shouldn’t mention it to Rafiq, who would report it to Master Damon in the archive.
Jason and Parks had glared at Gregory, as if he was at fault for their clan being taken to task again when they’d arrived in the waiting area. He ignored them as best he could, instead striking up a conversation with Hayworth about Swift Wind’s chances against Eagle House.
When the Eternal Flame fought Boar House, Gregory watched with interest. Stallo had brought Brian, the earth mage, with him. They’d backed away from each other, making them pick who to fight. Jason went for Brian, eager to cut the fight down. In doing so, he let Stallo go after Parks.
Just before Jason got to him, Brian was encased in a shell of earth. Jason started attacking it, determined to break through. What he didn’t understand was that Brian was reinforcing the shell as Jason attacked it. That kept him busy while Stallo got to Parks.
Like their single fight, Stallo shattered the barriers Parks placed in front of him. He was intent on finishing the force magi as quickly as he could, but he didn’t take into account the Eternal Flame’s favorite tactic— just as Stallo got within range to strike, Parks extended his hand and a torrent of flame enveloped Stallo.
Staggering back, Stallo dropped to the ground, rolling to smother the fire as quickly as he could. Parks leapt forward, his maul coming down in a vicious overhand strike. The maul hit a barrier just over Stallo as the Boar House mage pushed himself back to his feet. He looked like underdone beef— badly burnt— but did not give up, shouting as he attacked Parks back.
Parks tried to stop him, but was unprepared for the most advanced mage on Buldoun’s side. Stallo’s swing shattered the double barrier, then clipped Parks’ head. Parks went down like a dropped sack of grain.
Willof called Parks out, then rushed to check on the magi.
Stallo wobbled, then pulled back his arms, hands on his maul. He spun in an arc before throwing his weapon. He dropped to the ground and called himself out, and Sasha rushed to his side to check him. Jason glanced back just in time to drop to the ground. The thrown maul hit the earth barrier and cracked it. Before Jason could capitalize on it, an earth spike shot up from the ground through Jason’s gut.
Crying out in pain, Jason started to pull himself off the spike, but Brian dropped the earth dome and slammed his hammer down on Jason’s head. Willof called Jason out, and Brian stepped back, bowing to Jason as he dissolved the spike, then fell back on his ass, clearly exhausted.
The dramatic fight had the crowd in a frenzy. When they could leave the field, Jason and Parks gave grudging bows before storming off. They again didn’t pause in the waiting area; they just tossed down their training weapons and left.
The crowd was still raucous when Hayworth’s clan was called out to fight Eagle House. Hayworth looked unfazed the entire time. Just before he left, though, he glanced at Yukiko and bowed his head a fraction.
The fight was over almost as soon as it began. Claudia and Pavil called forth a firestorm. For a moment, there was an open spot as Binder tried to fight the wind of the combined attack. He failed and fire washed over everyone. Hayworth ended up behind Pavil, striking him down, but was too late to save Kang and Binder, who were called out.
The ensuing fight between Adriana and Claudia against Hayworth was amazing to watch as portal after portal appeared to redirect attacks. In the end, Claudia was the last one standing. Hayworth fell to a burst of close fire after being wrapped in her whip.
It was the first time that Buldoun’s mages had a chance to sweep a day, and the tension was high. Gregory watched Hayworth and his clan congratulate Claudia’s team while they healed. Strapping his armor on, Gregory turned away from the window— he had to get ready for his fight.
“I do hope you don’t lose and give them a sweep,” Hayworth said as he entered the waiting area.
“We believe we have a valid plan in place,” Yukiko smiled.
“I hope so, considering our loss,” Hayworth said.
“It depends on their plans and how they adjust to what we’ve shown them,” Gregory said. “Lukas has to wonder if his fire will do anything at all to us.”
“Jenn can take Ivan,” Kang said as he stripped his armor off. “Yukiko will be in a shadow war with Jessica. If fire doesn’t bother you, then you’ll handle Lukas and be able to help with the other two. I don’t see this fight as that difficult for you.”
“We don’t know what tricks they’ll have up their sleeves, just as they don’t know ours,” Yukiko said. “I have a feeling that this fight will surprise a lot of people.”
“We’ll be watching from the stands,” Hayworth said when he finished getting out of his armor. “Did you ask for fireproof armor when it was made?”
“No. It was what the crafter thought would be the most useful to me. It’s worked well, so far,” Gregory replied.
“And likely will again in the future,” Hayworth nodded. “Good luck.”
“Thank you,” Gregory said as Yukiko and Jenn came to help him get the last of his armor on.
The crowd cheered them more than booed, which made Gregory smile. He strapped his mask on as they waited for Jessica and her compatriots. When Mikal finished calling them out, with a hope for a Buldoun sweep of the day, Jessica led her team out of their waiting area.
The crowd was the loudest they’d been all tournament— if there were any boos at all, they couldn’t be heard over the rest of the crowd cheering. Jessica, Lukas, and Ivan waved, but they all wore serious expressions. Wolf House was undefeated in the team matches, having tied Swift Wind and beat the Eternal Flame. Now, they faced Aether’s Guard, who’d won their two matches.
“Good luck,” Jessica said, bowing formally.
“You, as well,” Yukiko smiled as she bowed back.
“Same rules, and I have to say that this is the most energetic crowd I’ve ever seen,” the announcer grinned. “Don’t disappoint them.”
Gregory bowed formally to Jessica’s group as Mikal fled for the waiting area. Jenn bowed with him, while Lukas and Ivan returned them. Everyone backed up a couple of steps while they waited for the call to fight.
When that single word rang out, the unexpected happened— Jessica didn’t slip into the shadows, but Yukiko did. Gregory and Jenn split apart, intent on coming in from different angles to make the other clan react to them. Gregory turned to shout to Yukiko, but the crowd swallowed his words. A couple of seconds after Gregory paused, the shadows around the edges of the arena suddenly burst into flames.
Yukiko screamed in pain as she staggered into the open, dropping to her knees. Jessica’s dagger hit her a second later, clearly marking Yukiko as out. Yukiko collapsed onto her back and held up her arm as she waited for the pain to stop. Willof sprinted toward her to help heal the worst of it.
Lukas dropped to his knees, spent from what he’d done. He tossed Jessica a ring, then raised his arms to declare himself out. Jessica caught the ring, slipping it on before letting her shadow swallow her.
Gregory forced his resonance to touch his foresight, pushing for more assurance on the future as he went to assist Jenn. Jenn’s face was grim when she blitzed at Ivan. He used his longer sword to keep her back, using short, horizontal swipes to ensure she didn’t have an easy path to him.
Before Gregory could reach Jenn, Jessica appeared behind her out of thin air, clearly using a portal and not a shadow. Jenn felt her resonance scream at her, then kicked out to force Jessica back. Her kick slammed into a barrier, leaving her in an awkward place as both Jessica and Ivan attacked her.
The ring Lukas tossed to her, Gregory thought as he closed in on the fight. It was either the barrier or the portal.
Jenn did her best, coating herself in aether to stop Jessica from landing an attack that would declare her out. She didn’t account for Ivan just planting his sword and grabbing her. She tried to duck under the bear hug when an earth spike shot up. It shattered on her chin, stopping her from slipping underneath the grab.
Yanking her into the air, Ivan leaned his head back to avoid the headbutt that Jenn almost managed to land. Jessica leapt onto Jenn’s back, holding on as her dagger stabbed into Jenn’s neck repeatedly. Jenn slammed her head back, catching Jessica and knocking the woman off. She shouted something, and Ivan let her go. Jenn raised her arms as she lowered herself to the ground.
Gregory got there a second later; he didn’t try for Ivan. Instead, he lunged, then went into a sideways tumble before lunging again, then finally leaping to the side. Jessica was blinking away tears, her nose broken from Jenn’s headbutt. When she saw Gregory coming for her, she pushed the last charge of the portal ring to intercept his thrust. She watched him abort it, roll, and then lunge again. A barrier formed in front of her, but Gregory’s thrust slid around the edge, his sudden leap sideways letting him continue on target to catch her chest.
Jessica raised her hands as she blinked away tears. She felt only awe at what a foresight user could do. That awe grew as she continued to watch the fight, but she grabbed Jenn and shadow-stepped them both to the wall.
Gregory, after landing the blow, ducked low under an attack. He spun before flipping into a backward somersault, making the next attack miss him, as well. When he landed on his feet, his naginata caught and slid Ivan’s third attack away. Ivan kept pressing, knowing he had to if he wanted to win.
Gregory’s foresight guided him with assurance, the feeling of rightness leading him down each path as it came. The crowd went silent, shocked as they watched Gregory pushing his magic. He was a wraith that was always in motion— he ducked, slid, sidestepped, parried, guided, and avoided every attack, though he never blocked. It captivated the audience, as it looked like the best choreographed fight scene ever displayed.
Even the five earth spikes were avoided as if they were static scenery to Gregory, as they never came close to impaling him. That burned off the item that Ivan had brought to the fight, and now, he was down to just his aether. Gregory didn’t think about his aether or how much he was using— he trusted his resonance to guide him to victory, especially since his item was Jenn’s aether storage ring, which they’d filled with a magus’ level of aether.
Ivan’s aether guttered before Gregory’s, and the moment it did, he lost the extra speed and strength that’d been letting him push. When it stopped, Gregory finally attacked. In two seconds, Ivan dropped to his knees, his hands raised and his eyes wide. The naginata had stopped a hair’s breadth from his throat— his Adam’s apple tapped the wooden blade when he swallowed.
Gregory pulled back, bowed, then dropped to his knees, acting more exhausted than he felt. He knew he’d done a lot more than he ever had. The ring was almost empty of all the aether it held, and he’d burned a majority of his own to make sure the illusion of being tired was there.
The crowd exploded into cheers and jeers, louder than even the previous cheering for Wolf House. Gregory met Ivan’s eyes as he unstrapped his mask and gave the man a shaky smile. He would’ve said something but talking was impossible against the noise of the crowd. Ivan just blinked for a moment before he started laughing.
With a grunt, Gregory pushed himself to his feet and went to Yukiko, wanting to make sure she was okay. When he got to her, he found that she was well out of danger, but still healing. Jenn joined them, and the trio sat on the arena floor, recovering while they waited for the announcer to come out.
