Hope

“How would you test me, then,” Irwyn grinned ever so slightly. He was, of course, confident. Maybe it was ego but he was quite sure basically no one could pass any magical criteria he didn’t. At least not at his age.

“I come from a simple people, Irwyn,” the ambassador nodded. “We face the raging storm and the worthy return to speak of it.”

“Very well,” Irwyn nodded again. That almost certainly meant combat or something adjacent. The ambassador was a conception mage which probably made him impossible to straight up defeat but all Irwyn needed to do was impress. “Then perhaps we should change ven…”

Irwyn would have been hit by the sudden flame breath if he didn’t always keep up his barrier to at least some degree. The weak flames - merely two intentions in them - slid right around it without inflicting any damage beyond obstructing sight. Of course, ‘weak’ was relative given the artisanally carved table now had a large chunk missing… and was on fire.

“Isn’t the furniture expensive?” Irwyn asked as he jumped away, making distance. Despite speaking he kept almost all of his attention on the ambassador Woe… Woe-something. How did he already forget the name? Irwyn wanted to curse. Either way, the Ambassador did not follow up the ambush.

“It’s not enchanted,” Elizabeth answered, shrugging with a very slight smile as she withdrew to the corner of the room. At least one of them had their sense of monetary value clearly twisted… Irwyn wondered which, if not both.

“Always maintaining a barrier, a subtle one at that,” the ambassador nodded in approval, the gesture probably shouldn’t have been so smooth in the full plate through. “How do you maintain the flexibility?”

“I keep it not far above my skin most of the time and draw closer or further when needed,” Irwyn explained.

“That sounds taxing.”

“It’s honestly mostly subconscious at this point,” Irwyn shrugged. He had been doing it for months and got progressively better at it. It wasn’t even difficult anymore to split a small corner of his attention on the task.

“I will defer judgment, Wake,” the ambassador said and Irwyn felt power course through the room as the spell was cast. From corner to corner, wall to wall, everything was engulfed in fire. Not just small tongues either but a raging inferno summoned in an instant. Concept magic, otherwise it shouldn’t be literally faster than Irwyn could perceive. The ambassador has changed their battlefield into his home ground.

The Flames themselves were not even imbued at all. But they couldn’t really be easily extinguished either. They simply were there as the extended power of whichever concept the ambassador had called upon. In other words, they were not individually dangerous but to get rid of them would require breaking the whole spell, otherwise they would just keep returning. At least as far as Irwyn understood concepts from the reading he had done recently.

Theoretically at least. He had, naturally taken interest in concepts after the incursion but all he really knew were the basics, such as that each concept was formed by nine intentions and that they tended to be much more difficult to switch around once they were conceptualized. He simply had not had sufficient time to do all the reading he wanted to.

All that being said, the spell was beneficial to Irwyn too, quite ideal in fact. He felt the concept try to rip away the control he held over the Starfire of his barrier but it utterly failed, too far removed to overcome Irwyn’s control. That did not mean the opposite was necessarily true. During the Abonisle incursion, Irwyn had almost unconsciously taken over another conception mage’s flames. Perhaps it was time to put that to the test.

Experimentally, Irwyn summoned a wave of his own Starfire and scattered it around himself, imbuing the intention to Usurp and Subvert. Starfire was still fire, thus it wasn’t exactly burnable with no intentions in the mix - Irwyn’s magic dispersed into the surroundings like droplets of water scattered by the wind. Specks of orange soon away from sight and, as Irwyn quickly realized, away from perception. And without him being able to feel his own magic he could not supply it with more mana, making it simply dissipate. Irwyn frowned lightly. That did not work whatsoever. Not even a slight reaction from his attempt to usurp some of the control.

It had also wasted about a second of time. That was significant in a battle and the ambassador was done waiting. Something slammed into his barrier with the force equivalent to at least three intentions, startling Irwyn - also making him realize that the sea of flames did actually do something quite bad for him: It completely obscured the line of sight and greatly hindered his ability to feel magic by the virtue of forcing him to sense all the Flames. A second problem was that whatever had struck him was, in fact, a metal fist. He only caught a glimpse of it before it vanished again amongst the flames… But he should have been able to feel the ambassador through their sheer magical presence - and had thought he was feeling the man still standing in place - but that was clearly wrong given the sudden fist attack.

Irwyn had to re-evaluate. He had thought he would feel anything actually dangerous coming, but what had just struck him was equivalent to three intentions and he had not felt the slightest trace of it. He had to focus on the fight rather than guessing around magics he barely understood. First of all, he remade a new barrier under his first. Five intentions rather than the four he would usually use for a start, then he could also ditch the one intention that made the barrier transparent since he couldn’t see anyway. It was… a lot easier than yesterday. Before the vision a 5 intention spell like that would cost him well over a third of his mental capacity… instead, it had taken him a fraction of that. That was a massive improvement. Irwyn hoped he would soon get a chance to figure out how large exactly but the middle of a battle was not the Time.

The ambassador struck him again, this time the metal fist hitting from the side. The force had increased again, climbing to four intentions equivalent. If the man was going to keep up the pattern of raising by one each attack, Irwyn would not be able to withstand more than 6, if even that. But how would he dodge what he could neither feel nor see? Ah… An idea struck him.

The man had given Irwyn a quite distinct impression of pure Flame coursing beneath that suit of metal rather than skin. What that really meant Irwyn could only guess but it did present an opportunity. Rather than feel magic, he could just feel the Flames. And that was easier than it seemed. Yes, the room was completely engulfed in blazing fire but those were relatively speaking not that potent. They burned at mortal heats with not the most magic in them. And Irwyn quickly confirmed his suspicion that he could, in fact, feel the Flames of the ambassador’s body even inside the inferno.

The sheer hotness was the biggest clue: The ambassador's body burned at least hundred times hotter than the room but there was more. Their flames were distinct in other ways. For one, they seemed to contain some semblance of emotion of all things. They were also much more solid - saturated and concentrated rather than overlapping roaring tongues. And lastly, Irwyn realized he could sense a trace of the impression the ambassador’s concepts had given him despite not really perceiving through magic.

The next moment Irwyn also saw how exactly he was being attacked. It turned out that he had not been wrong about the ambassador not moving. The man still stood in the exact same spot. It was just the hand shooting forward, dragging with it a large chunk of the flame the man seemed to be made of, then moving several times further than arm's reach with incredible momentum. Irwyn had originally thought that had been a misinterpretation. He was quickly reconsidering what were the odds of the man being literally made from actual flames underneath that armor. Was it possible? Probably. Relevant? Not at the moment as Irwyn had to deal with the fist.

It was quite fast but not as fast as Irwyn had seen pure magic move. As from all physical objects, reality extracted a toll from it. It would not be hard to hit. The more important questions as how to divert or stop it. His spells could be devastating but they did not actually carry that much force. Irwyn highly doubted he would be able to break the metal either. With little time to think he settled for erecting another de-facto barrier right in front of it.

It was more mana intensive than offensive magic and fundamentally did not really solve the problem but it was a decent stopgap. The fist was indeed completely stopped despite the force behind it being equivalent to five intentions – though not without cracking the barrier - then it swung back to where the ambassador stood. Irwyn tried to envelop it by expanding the blocking barrier but was not fast enough to actually catch it. Well, Irwyn didn’t think it had any real chance of working but it had been worth the attempt.

Another strike would, inevitably, come but Irwyn had a moment to think of a different solution. The force would keep increasing and he would be on the losing end. But how could he stop that? The ambassador was a conception mage, his reserves of power ran beyond what Irwyn could exhaust or face head on. Therefore, rather than block he needed to dodge… a projectile moving with incredible speed and precision. But it had to be somehow targeting him. Even the ambassador couldn’t possibly just visually see through the flames, rather, they most likely provided him at least some kind of perception. It would be good enough if they targeted him just by the empty space that his barrier created in the sea of fire. There he hatched an idea. It was a gamble, but, well, he was about to be beaten anyway.

The next strike came and shattered his outstretched barrier, only barely stopping at the one Irwyn had put around himself - and that might have been the ambassador being careful to not smear Irwyn over the wall. Indeed, the equivalent of 6 intentions. Perhaps actually six intentions, it was just difficult to tell in a physical object under all the obscuration. Even with a defensive advantage, six was still more than the five he had put into it. And seven would be next. Would layering barriers be enough? Irwyn didn’t know, though he highly doubted it. Neither did he intend to find out.

He dropped his barrier completely, being immediately completely engulfed in the inferno. That was fine, Irwyn did not burn. Then he did what he had tried to do earlier: Subvert the flames away from the ambassador… except earlier he had been cautious about it. Barely even gave it a proper attempt in all honesty. When it had worked in Abonisle it had been with direct physical contact after all. Now, Irwyn had plenty of that. Then, he relayed to all the omnipresent Flames a rather simple request:

Hide me.

Irwyn was pretty sure it clicked. Not certain, just had a distinct impression something had happened. He was still prepared to throw layers upon layers of barriers into an attack that might come for him at any moment but as seconds passed it looked like his idea might have genuinely worked. No additional attack came as Irwyn made distance from his original spot at a slow pace winning several seconds.

“Vigil,” that was when the ambassador spoke again. Another spell. And the flames across the room changed. They did not rage for that implied anger, rather they… became harsher. Merciless. If before they were only as hot as mundane flames before, now they truly burned. Hotter and hotter each second. The rock tiles beneath his feet began to visibly melt from the sheer ambient temperature - and if this empowered flame burned them directly, they would have evaporated in the blink of an eye. The air sizzled and decomposed even if the flame did not directly burn it as fuel, making it quickly much harder to breathe. Still, Irwyn ultimately did not burn. Did not even feel hot.

He just kept whispering to the flames around him to hide him among themselves. They obliged, mistaking Irwyn for their own. The status quo had barely changed beyond Irwyn now gradually running out of breath. Indeed, if the ambassador had transitioned the magical flames into something more physical that burned up the breathable air he would have succumbed to it in a few dozens seconds when his lungs ran empty. However, it became apparent the ambassador had no intention of slowly choking Irwyn out.

“Exile,” the man proclaimed a third spell. One moment the flames had been everywhere… the next they were all gone. No, not gone, Irwyn realized a split second later. They were simply contained in a small ball of flame that the ambassador was holding in their gauntlet. It was… impossibly pure. Concentrated beyond solid. It was, after all, the culmination of every flame that had been in the room, far surpassing anything Irwyn could possibly achieve with mere imbuement. The culmination of a concept, maybe several. There was probably a reason it had been done in that order besides just figuring out Irwyn's limits, though he couldn’t be certain.

What was certain though was that the sphere would be used for a devastating assault. Without the flames, he was completely exposed to an attack. He fully focused on creating as many five intentions barriers as he could between himself and his opponent. The ambassador looked at Irwyn through the expressionless helmet as the condensed mass of magic the man was holding sunk into the gauntlet. The steel - or rather whatever other exotic material it actually was - suddenly turned from the prior dull crimson it had been the whole time into glowing dark orange. Like it was on the verge of melting from the sheer heat. Irwyn braced and…

“It would be quite rude of me to kill you,” the ambassador suddenly relaxed their posture, dismissing the magic. The gauntlet immediately began to cool, though it took a few seconds for the color to fade. “Well done, young man. I am impressed.”

“Yes, I would like to avoid death,” Irwyn released the breath he did not remember holding, dismissing the wall of barriers right afterwards.

“Now, on account of the lady, I suggest you wear something before we continue speaking,” the ambassador said and Irwyn stopped. He looked down and realized that he was, in fact, quite naked after the fires had burned all his clothes to fine ash. He immediately conjured something approximate to a robe from Starfire.

“My mistake,” he said and approached the ambassador so they wouldn’t shout at each other from across the room. Elizabeth approached from the corner where she had presumably been under some kind of protection given she seemed barely disheveled beyond the slightest trace of red on her face.

“I have to admit, I had doubts when I was first approached by her young ladyship,” the ambassador nodded slowly, “Now I have to say: What in the Aspects’ fucking Names are you?”

Elizabeth stumbled at the sudden profanity and Irwyn also had to take a moment to process it. The ambassador had been nothing but formal until that very moment.

“No, honestly, what do you want me to say?” the armored man shrugged. “You are a ridiculous monster and you clearly know it. Well into five intentions at what? 18? Less? If Stars could still be born I would call you out as a newborn one in disguise. I don’t even get how you managed to hide from me so well through my own spell.”

“IF Stars could still be born?” Irwyn immediately snapped before he had a moment to think.

“Not the time nor place,” the ambassador paused for well over two seconds. “I can recommend you a book, though it might not be available to you here.”

“Do we have your endorsement then?” Elizabeth asked with a large grin.

“No need to be so mocking,” the ambassador grumbled. “I hold grudges, young lady. I will remember in a hundred years how coy you were about details before bringing me here to make a fool of myself.”

“You gradually increased force to safely test me,” Irwyn replied honestly. “Nothing embarrassing about that.”

“That initial two-intention attack should take anyone your age out on the spot!” the ambassador raised his voice very slightly. “I am getting angry… Yes, you will have your endorsement. In fact, you may consider yourself having the Archduke’s vague interest. Do with it what you can and stay alive. I would hate to see a talent like that wasted on internal strife.”

“Wait!” Irwyn called out as the ambassador turned to leave. “I have questions!”

“And you can ask them… later,” the man said. “I actually have duties to attend to and this has already taken a lot longer than I would have expected even without the sudden need to make myself presentable. Have a pleasant day.”

Then the man left, leaving Irwyn dumbfounded.

“He was a lot less smug after you proved him wrong,” Elizabeth laughed from his side, quite amused by the armored man’s rapid departure. “If you meet him in maybe ten or twenty years, try to remember to mention something about you being ‘unlikely to be worth either the time or the effort’.”