Eldritch Exorcist

The area between the long feasting tables was now cleared, prepared for duels. In the middle of the cleared space stood a man. He was about my height and had a physique typical of someone who works out a lot but doesn't stick to his diet, with muscle covered with a bit of fat.

In his hands was a two-handed sword. He radiated second circle mana. The sword also radiated some magic, so I assume it had a spell or an enchantment on it. Might serve as an arcane focus as well.

"Do you dare to stand here, or are you a coward? The miserable outsider who dares usurp what is rightfully mine!" He spoke loudly and clearly, so that everyone could hear.

Initially, I thought that the 'usurp' part was referring to the girl, but looking at the hatred in his eyes, I doubted that. What did I usurp? I didn't remember taking anything, especially since we just arrived.

"So what will it be? Did fear grip your heart? Are your legs giving up under you? Is this all you amount—"

"I'm coming, for the love of Abyss, can you please monologue after the duel?" I groaned and started making my way from behind the table.

I checked my staff. Sickening Ray and Panther's Agility were loaded for my second circle spells, Cut, and two Shields for first. I let the curse tattoos show on my hands with symbols for False Visions, and the Curse of Antlers, ready. It should be more than enough.

"Good luck, Samuel!" said Astrid loudly, making sure everyone heard that, including my increasingly pissed-off opponent.

I turned back to see her giving me a grin like she had pulled one over on me, pretty proud of herself, I assume.

One of the elders made his way into the circle. "I want a clear and honorable fight, no killing, maiming, or any other permanent injury inflicted intentionally." Ah yes, I had the strange idea that if he maimed me, it would never be on purpose, while I would always injure with premeditation. "If the opponent surrenders, or is knocked out or unable to continue, the duel is over. May the Gods favor the stronger, and may your battle entertain the God of Ancient Forests."

With that, he left the circle, leaving me and my opponent as the only two people standing. Once both of us had taken up our positions on opposite sides of the arena, a woman in a white ceremonial gown walked towards a large gong standing to the side.

The duels must have been popular because quite a few people looked at us—the whole village, probably.

A loud, reverberating sound announced the beginning of the fight. The dude immediately exploded in my direction, his sword pointed at my chest. I could feel the magic in the sword activate, and black thorns twisted themselves around the blade, radiating death energy.

Given the distance between us, I had abundant time to cast without using the slots in my staff. Shield spell materialized in front of me, but instead of a straight wall of mana, I angled it to the side and made it as transparent as I could.

The man did not notice it, dead set on piercing me with the blade, putting his whole weight behind the attack, going straight for my heart. Once he closed the distance, his sword made contact with my shield, and the blade's tip slid to my left, leaving the man surprised and open.

Before he could correct himself, I finished my next spell.

Force.

He took a blast to the side that would send normal men flying, but to my surprise, accompanied by a groan of pain from my opponent, he stayed in place. Then I noticed it. Small grass roots held him in place, preventing him from flying off. I did not know how that happened as I couldn't sense him casting anything.

He grinned and swung the blade in a wide arc, as if to split my torso in half. The sword was long, and I did not have the time to step back out of his reach.

The blade flew right at me.

I could not back away in time.

But I did not intend to.

Instead, I took a step in his direction, practically touching my chest with his as he turned to face me, finishing the swing. Instead of the edge, what met me were the sides of his arm and a dumbfounded look on his face.

He tried to step back to get me within reach of his blade, but I simply took a step into his guard again, my left hand dancing in runic shapes. It was too late as he finally got the idea to slam the sword's hilt into my face.

I just hoped he had some mental defense because otherwise that was going to be painful.

The tip of my staff touched his forehead. A death-mind-type spell. Banshee's whisper. He screamed out as an unearthly shriek assaulted his mind.

I would not cast it on an untrained human, but I hoped someone in the second circle could take it.

I thought about ending the spell and getting him to admit defeat, but then I could feel something coming from his sword. I quickly used the staff to cast a Shield as an explosion of a rotting mixture of nature and death mana assaulted me, stopping on the shield.

He looked up, still groggy from the last spell, just to find the point of my staff directed at his face. Force. The spell flung him on his back, knocking him out.

There was silence, only broken by some whispers, and then a clap sounded. I looked in that direction to see Astrid giving me an ovation with a smile on her face. I made my way to the table as some people finally went on to the arena to pick up the chief's son.

I looked at the elders, and one finally had the presence of mind to declare me the winner. I briefly looked at the chief, but he was unmoved, like a mountain, with only a bit of disappointment on his face. On the other hand, his wife seemed amused by the entire spectacle, like it was a carnival show rather than me beating up her son.

I shrugged and went back to my seat. The fight was quite fun, but not much of a challenge. I used only basic spells without even dual-casting or using any other trick I had up my sleeve.

"Well, that wasn't horrible. At least he is in one piece, a couple of bruises max," said my broker with relief clear in his voice.

"Yeah, and a massive bruise on his ego," commented Astrid, earning a wince from the cat.

"I beat the opponent, so when do we fight?" I asked, eager for another round.

"First, let the people watch some smaller duels. We don't want the final show to overshadow the fight of others after all." She relaxed in her chair.

Sure. I started to go over the fight in my mind. It went pretty well. I made a plan the moment he tried stabbing and executed it well. When fighting someone with a long two-handed weapon, staying close to them can be safer than staying away. It was a strategy I could not execute with Astrid and her daggers.

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I needed something different.

We sat, talked some more, and watched the duels. Some of them were clearly important, with many looking forward to them. The village clearly got divided into two sides, screaming at each other about who would win and who was better before some of the duels even started.

The atmosphere was nice. After some time, I was even betting on the fights with Q'Shar and Astrid. I also used the break to change into my robe, as I was more used to fighting in it, and I needed every advantage for the next battle.

Finally, there was a lull in the fights. Apparently, all of the grudges and interesting matchups were done. This is when my new companion made her way to the middle of the ring. All the conversations and whispers quieted down, waiting with bated breath to hear what she would say.

"I would like to challenge Samuel," she pointed her daggers at me.

"I accept," I answered and made my way to the middle of the circle. While taking my position, I checked if any of the spectators had an attack or weapon ready, as my strategy included a bit of a risky move this time. But it looked like the coast was clear.

Like before, we stood in a circle facing each other. She was dressed in leather clothing made rather for ease of movement than protection, showing her neck and abdomen. The daggers, previously strapped to her thighs, were now in her hands, and similar to the sword, I could sense some magic from them, but better concealed either by the weapon maker or the owner herself.

Each dagger had a green gem in the middle where the curved blade started, a gem that was also an arcane focus. So she knew how to cast as well.

Then she did something that caught me by surprise. She pointed a dagger at the ground and released four spells. For two of the spells, vine-like tendrils shot from her blade. Another must have been some type of edge enhancement that quickly fizzled out, and finally, the same thorn-like spell my previous opponent used twisted around the blade just to fall off right after. The message was clear, this fight wouldn't be decided by the weapons and their enchantments, but by pure skill.

"Don't fall for the provocation, she relies on spells much less th-"

Without hesitation, I used all my precast spells. I forgot about the bet, the politics, and the optics of the fight. I wanted to test my skills, not the power of my God, not the quality of staff or any other artifact I had on me, no, Pure Skill.

As we both locked eyes, the gong sounded.

"You know, beating a woman's official suitor and then winning against her in a duel is considered a proposal. "

What? I zoned out for a beat, my thoughts coming to a quick halt. Then I saw the shit-eating grin on her face as she exploded with lightning speed in my direction, realizing she was making shit up to throw me offbeat. Missing even a split second was a bit embarrassing, but I gathered myself immediately to block the attack with a Shield. But unlike the previous opponent with slow and heavy attacks, she danced around swiftly and quickly, attacking weak points.

I blocked the first two slashes with the spell, but the third one was a piercing stab in the middle, right in the place where she slashed before. The stab made it through, breaking the spell and flying towards my chest.

I jumped back, releasing a hastily formed Cut spell. I angled it toward her face to force her to dodge and mess with her rhythm. But to my surprise, instead of dodging, she met the spell with the edge of her dagger, cutting it in half.

Her mana sensitivity was impressive.

She was much faster than I, and the spell barely bought me any time. She continued the attack, angling the stab to the side of my chest to finish the duel.

I moved my staff, but she ignored it as a distraction, not sensing any mana. Her magic sense was good, but that could also be a liability. The movement was not for a spell. The staff was still a heavy piece of wood, and she realized her mistake as it slammed into her ribs. Her dagger was thrown off course, barely missing me.

I turned towards her, hoping she was off balance, but with the grace of a dancer, she simply spun on her leg and was ready to swing again. I cast another Shield as she went for the attack. She tried the same trick again.

But that was a mistake.

Immediately after the shield, another spell appeared at the tip of my staff, with only a minor delay.

Dual casting. Using the arcane focus to omit hand gestures, I cast Force, overcharging the spell as much as I could to gain some breathing room.

She was mid-swing, her body weight forward for an attack, too late to dodge. But her surprise was short-lived. In the last seconds, she moved the dagger in front of her to take the brunt of the attack, before the spell struck her.

Magic connected, and she flew across the circle. I dual-cast again, speeding the casting process as much as I could. I cast Magic Missile and Cut. The three missile projectiles aimed around her to cut off any way of escape, and a Cut to the upper leg.

I got her locked. As I almost realized the spells, I felt some movement, and on instinct, instead of casting in her direction, I released the spell right underneath me. The Cut ripped apart a root from the ground that almost pierced my leg.

It was the same trick the chief's son used, but much stronger, actually capable of causing damage.

I saw she was already on her feet, her dagger radiating with an energy similar to mana, but much tougher to notice as it naturally blended with the forest around.

Right, blessed ground. This was what held my previous opponent in place, but it was much stronger.

I could not allow her to control the arena. That was suicide. I dual-casted again, using Magic Missiles to slow down the assassin barreling in my direction.

My second spell, Burning Breath, a second circle spell. I powered through the cast before she could attack again.

I completed the spell.

She jumped back, sensing mana at the end of my staff, but instead of directing it toward her, I released it onto the ground. A fire spread in a circle from me. I focused on forcing it deeper into the ground, burning the grass and roots.

I looked back in her direction and saw she was smiling, holding her daggers in reverse grip in front of her chest in a praying position.

Her eyes had the look of the cat that ate the canary. She was casting a spell. She masked the beginning with the previous root spell. She must have been waiting for a big move from me to mitigate the difference in casting speeds. Judging by the mana, the spell was overcharged second-circle and around halfway done.

I might have one full first circle cast before she releases whatever it is, and if it doesn't break her cast or take her out, I will be left dodging a second circle spell.

It was checkmate if the spell was an area of effect attack.

I started running towards her, a desperate attempt in her eyes.

But her using the arcane focus was what I was waiting for.

First step.

I punched my own solar plexus with the side of my hand and jumped a bit to give myself time to take back control over my body.

The mana in her grasp took a nature-like essence.

Second step.

With a flex of my will, I pushed my soul out of my body. A Full Astral Projection. For a split second, I saw the world as an amorphous land of moving mist, a rapidly traveling white fog catching the edges of all that's tangible and showing its outlines as if a pencil of some almighty creator was outlining his work.

I could feel the vibrations of everyone around me. Every living being had a rhythm to their life, an unceasing dance of their existence, a music of their soul. I looked at my opponent. Her soul was dancing to a wild rhythm, erratic and untamed, hard to catch in that split second, but I had no other choice. I memorized the music. As my body was about to fall to the ground and collapse, I took control over it once again, barely managing not to lose my balance.

Third step.

She was completing the spell, the last part, the release sequence, aligning. I stretched my will as if trying to invade her mind, but instead, I focused on the spell forming in front of her. I quickly aligned my rhythm with the vibrations I had previously felt from her, matching the music of her mana, achieving resonance.

Counterspell

She was not ready for it, and she probably had never experienced someone using Authority Over Mana to counterspell her. The battle of wills was quick, and with my victory, her spell went haywire, backfiring and leaving a dull ache coming from the mana pathways in her body. She got herself together surprisingly quickly after the unforeseen distraction. But not quick enough.

Fourth step.

I was in front of her, my staff held steady, a cutting spell ready at its tip, right beside her throat.

It was my win.