Mage Steel: A Western Sci-Fi Cultivation Series

FIFTEEN

Alexandros disappeared, a snap of displaced air the only indication that something had happened. The broken shards of his shield turned white hot and with a flash exploded.

"We are protected," Benny spoke for the first time and his power rolled over them, preventing the explosion from consuming them. The group of mages still clustered together tightly, their robes rustling and the floral scents of their colognes wafting together in a confusing mix that made Kon want to sneeze.

Light faded away and Kon had to keep his jaw from falling down as he saw the state Alice was in. She was charred black, body cracked and broken as blood poured out of her. The newfound shield was hardly anything left, a central core of crystal no bigger than a fist at her forearm as the seven sizzling balls of electricity had formed into a twisting cage around her.

Regrowth was still blazing, the charred remnants of her skin sloughed off as hair grew back, her burned away eyes regrew with sickening pops and the shield quickly grew back to its original size and density as Alice looked around her surroundings. Only the bunched nature of her jaw gave a hint at the amount of pain she was in.

"Neatly played," Beto said and Kon was getting the urge to punch him in the face. The way the other boy's voice had filled with unearned arrogance as if Alexandros's accomplishment was something he could revel in as well.

Alice tried to use Resonance to push through, but the alternating nature of the lightning cage meant all she received for her efforts was mild electrocution. Alexandros was on the far side of the arena, where Alice had originally started, and had a sheen of sweat along his brow and a strained expression on his face. Of the original set of six cores he'd had, three on each bracer, only two were left and both looked dim and thin, ready to fall apart at a moment's notice.

Alice on the other hand while trapped, still looked like she had plenty of juice now that she had healed herself. She didn't have much left in the way of clothing, but she looked ready to keep fighting.

"I think I'm going to have to forfeit this one," Alice finally said as she looked around the cage. She didn't seem upset about losing, rather her mind was already churning through the fight, eyes glazed as she went through everything that had just occurred.

"A pleasure," Alexandros said and with the words the cage of lighting fell apart. Alice walked over to his still pristine, unblemished robes he'd tossed to the side and threw them on loosely over her shoulder to cover herself.

"You burned them, your replace them," she uttered with a grin before Alexandros could say anything.

"Without a doubt in my mind." Alexandros gave her a light head bow as they walked back to the group.

"So, Kon, did you see anything that interested you?" Benny asked.

"Does it matter? Is he not a Knight? He wouldn't be able to properly channel, his runes would suck in the energy or burn him to a crisp," Beto butted in. Alexandra shot him a venomous look for speaking out of turn but Benny just smiled.

"Lord Alexandros has good range and lots of versatility. Almost all of his attacks were non-lethal and meant to incapacitate. There's not a lot either of us could do that wouldn't result in massive physical harm or death if we weren't careful. Still worried about how fragile the mages are. If Alice could get through his defenses, there's nothing he could have done. Or burned through the cores he had and Alice kept going." Kon waited a moment and then nodded his head after he finished his own analysis. There would be time to think it over and go into deeper detail.

"And you kids?" Benny seemed to think only to involve them at the last moment.

"Knight Alice is strong and determined with a high pain tolerance and incredible regenerative properties. Her physical abilities are superlative and I doubt if she closed the distance any mage would be able to survive her. Lacking a way to rapidly close distance is an obstacle she struggled to overcome," Alexandra spoke quickly.

"Accurate. She has some abilities that can be used at range, but they lack much in the way of versatility," Benny admitted. Kon had to remind himself that Benny had originally been a mage, that he knew the ins and outs of their work and had become a Knight not just for the extended lifespan, but also the increased physicality.

"Implanted runes, aside from the greater runes, lack any sort of flexibility. Likely she has a few force or fire runes that can project force, but those are easy to dispel," Beto butted in.

"That'd be correct," Alice said as she broke away from Alexandros and came to stand next to everyone. The smell of burnt flesh and hair mingled disgustingly even as she stood there looking completely unharmed. Kon's greater perception allowed him to see the wounds on her face and other bits of exposed skin. Tight, shining skin, evidence of the burn marks that were slowly healing.

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Regrowth wasn't full healing, not instantly. It was a brute force method to stay on your feet. Over time those limbs and scars would heal, but from the various and numerous scars Alice already carried, it could be awhile.

"Before your heads swell, remember that Knight Alice was without her greatest asset," Alexandros broke in as he walked over to the group.

"No armor," Loras guessed. Alexandros nodded and looked over at Alice who still had a distant look to her eyes as she was thinking over the fight. When she didn't jump in to continue to explain, Alexandros confirmed.

"With her armor she'd be able to shrug off almost every attack I threw at her unless I upgraded to major formula and started to use D-Grade cores. Which has its own drawbacks."

"Burnout happens faster. Even with the restrictors," Alexandra cut in. Kon realized these types of debriefs must be common as none of them seemed to be hesitant to vocalize their thoughts. It was similar enough to what Benny did with them that he wondered if the old man had started the tradition with this group of mages centuries ago.

"There's grades to formulas?" Kon asked. He'd caught traces of this as they talked, but the grimoire Benny had given him had limited amount of formula in it, rather it was filled with hundreds of runes that could be used in various ways with notations on how intent worked on each one.

"Lesser, greater, major, and catastrophe," Alexandra informed him.

"Catastrophe?" Kon asked.

"It's only been used a few times in our history, that we know of at least. All of them large scale failures with major loss of life," Alexandros said. He'd waited for Benny to say anything, but when no words came, Alexandros had filled it in.

"What's the separating lines? It can't be power if those were greater workings and you were only using E-Grade cores," Kon continued to push. There were a few looks passed between the younger mages, but none of them had ventured into stopping what was obviously secret information being passed along. Not while Benny was next to him.

"How many runes are in use. Power matters of course, but less than the complexity of it. The more runes are in play, the more reality has a chance of warping in unexpected ways," Alexandros continued.

"Alice, you good?" Kon nudged his senior, startling her out of her own reverie.

"Sorry. I lost that fight the moment I jumped, didn't I?" She directed toward Alexandros. The older man smiled and nodded.

"You noticed it then, just didn't understand it. I set up my teleportation formula then and while you were in the air laid down what I needed to force the explosion of my own defenses. If you'd rushed hard and fast before I could set it up, I would have been forced to use more drastic means," Alexandros said.

"Was there anyway for me to win?"

"Wear armor when fighting a mage lord. Or have a way of shooting me. Your trick with the fragments might have worked on a less experienced mage, but my goal the entire time was for you to batter down my defenses and close distance. The longer you took, the more power I could store into the defenses as the explosive deconstruction. The damage you did was superficial, a lesser working I hid inside of the eclectic whips."

"I thought you abandoned those too quickly."

"I admit, I thought you would take this loss worse," Beto said, looking at Alice as if finding a newfound creature.

"Get young Knights down here often to challenge you?" she asked.

"A fair amount. Few win if they don't have their armor, at least until they have two to three of the great runes. If Alexandros fights them, then they need four to five to win," Beto said.

"I spent the last half a year getting bounced off walls by a B-Grade cultivator. This wasn't half as bad." That was met by shocked silence as they all started at Alice as if she had sprouted a second head.

"What? She's just a person. Bit of a dick, but she's decent enough," Alice said when nobody said anything. Faces blanched at her words and all of the young mages took steps back as if lightning would sear through the roof and smite Alice for saying something so heretical.

"Did you read my proposal, Alexandros?" Benny asked when the silence had stretched a bit too long.

"You know my position on this. Our college has always been yours to claim whenever you wanted. We are yours to lead, Archmage," Alexandros said, bowing his head toward Benny.

"Knock that shit off. I haven't been able to properly cast since before your grandparents were conceived. How many are there?"

"Talented? This is it. There's another half dozen or so who can craft lesser formulas, but none will reach greater."

"Kon, say hello to your fellow apprentices and one of your new teachers. Children, say hello to one of your new teachers," Benny said with a hint of an evil grin as he pointed toward Alice.

Alexandra took it the best, bowing swiftly to her ancestor and nearly bouncing in excitement, but the two boys looked shell-shocked as they glanced back and forth between Benny and Alexandros.

"Look how skinny they are, Kon. We're going to have to fatten them up and get them to working out," Alice whispered to him, nudging him with her elbow. All three of the mages heard and looked horrified at the suggestion even as Alice cackled in delight.

"She's not that bad. And if she cripples you she just heals it," Kon tried to console them, but for some reason it made them all look even more distraught.