Reflections on the Warpath - [An Isekai Progression Fantasy]

"Have you watched any of Julian's D grade fights yet?" asked Samira.

While her words probed Jay, he didn't detect any judgement in them.

"Not yet," he replied, "I've tried to give my brain a rest from fighting, at least until I figure out my next few steps."

"A wise plan."

The slate grey screen became rolling grasslands and Jay followed the coliseum's magic camera as it flew across the prairie. He watched the landscape go by until a black speck on the horizon grew into a metal cage shaped like a dome perhaps a hundred metres in diameter.

The camera slipped through a foot-long gap between the bars and Jay saw two figures within, one surrounded by a churning inferno and the second encased in skintight golden armour.

It flew to the former, descending to the ground and circling around the giant gladiator but dodging the flames that surrounded him. He wore a bulky set of metal armour stained black by soot and ash that only left his face and neck unguarded. A bruised red burn scar crept up the man's neck and onto the right side of his jaw. Above it, a crimson rune branded the man's cheek, its edges glowing a bright orange that reflected the roaring blaze around him. The gladiator's olive skin contrasted the still-raw burns. His deep brown eyes scowled forward in intense anger at his opponent through the flickering flames.

Jay got the feeling that this was the fight's introduction, only muted by Samira for some reason. He glanced at her before turning back after the image switched to Jules.

He looked older than the last time Jay had seen him, but Jay's older brother was still young, perhaps in his early twenties. Julian's armour was more sophisticated than before, clinging to his body almost like a superhero's suit. Jay even saw abs carved into the front that he was certain were fake. Julian's smile contrasted his opponent's smoulder, but Jay could sense the nervousness behind it, even through the screen.

Jules ran his hand through his slicked back hair before holding it out and letting a stream of liquid roll down his forearm. It didn't condense around his fist like Samira's gift had, instead forming floating orbs of gold that orbited Julian's forehead. Seven spheres crept out of Julian's arm before morphing into gleaming golden daggers that oriented themselves at his opponent even while spinning.

The fight paused and Jay looked towards Cyrus and Samira.

"I considered showing you one of Julian's four C grade fights," began Samira, "but that might annoy the higher-ups at the coliseum. Besides, this fight's an important one to help understand your current situation."

What does that mean?

"Julian's opponent is a man called Ferrios. In the month before this fight he dominated the fifteen other Luminaries, winning the tournament with ease. Julian, or Flash as he's known to the coliseum audience, was the hottest D grader at the time. He'd consistently but carefully risen up the ranks, backed by the island's most prestigious alliance after his own Luminary victory two years prior."

"What's that alliance called?" asked Jay.

"Mercurial."

Jay knew better than to scour Samira's face for answers by now. Instead he studied Cyrus. The gladiator's eye twitched after his leader mentioned Mercurial, but quickly returned to neutrality.

Jay made a note to look into the alliance later.

The fight unpaused, with sound this time, and Jay watched it begin through Julian's eyes. Spurts of whirling flame shot out from Ferrios' inferno, targeting Jules from all angles.

Julian dodged them all. Not with the dizzying speed of his younger brother, but with an efficiency and precision that would make even the grizzliest of Frontiersmen proud.

Each jet of flame seared the grass it landed on, charring the reeds black before they could ignite their neighbours and dotting the prairie with pockmarks of ash. Julian sent a dagger forward but Ferrios batted it from the air with an iron war hammer wreathed in flame that he pulled from the fire surrounding him.

Ferrios changed tactics after Julian dodged the last of his jets. Instead of launching serpentine fire at his opponent, he unleashed a rolling wave of flames forward. The grassy battlefield only fuelled the tsunami of fire rushing towards Jules.

He couldn't dodge this one.

Julian planted his feet, forming a golden spike beneath his heel before staking it into the ground. His armour rolled up his neck and over his face, covering even his eyes.

The camera cut back to Ferrios as his sweeping attack flooded the battlefield. The blazing inferno raged, filling its owner's vision as he cackled across the arena.

"How does it feel to be cooked alive, Golden Boy?" he screamed. "How does it feel to burn inside your golden tomb? It protects you from the flames but you can't run from heat!"

The flames died out, leaving only charred embers in their wake. But amid the trail of destruction a statue of gold stood unblemished across from Ferrios. The metal covering Julian's head sloughed onto the burnt field beneath him before rolling back towards his foot. Julian's amber eyes glared back at his opponent, a drip of sweat rolling along his eyebrow the only evidence he'd walked through a wildfire and came out on top.

"Cooked alive, huh?" he said once the metal covering his mouth fell back to the rest of his armour. "You must like your steak rare."

Jay sighed and shook his head.

Well, it's definitely Jules… nobody else would ever say something that corny.

Although Julian spoke with a smile, his breathing betrayed him. Ferrios might not have noticed, but Jay did.

His brother was more exhausted than he let on.

But perhaps Ferrios did notice, and Jay didn't give him enough credit, because the gladiator returned to the same wide-ranging attack, this time drowning the field in even more fire than before. He raised both arms, unleashing a tornado of flames to feed the magical wildfire surrounding him, the spiralling winds fanning the flames as they covered every inch of the once-green battlefield.

It burned and burned, devouring every shred of combustible matter within the arena before burning some more. The flames lashed at the steel bars entombing it within a cage, starving it of the expansive grassland beyond. The inferno eventually died out, again leaving a swathe of ashes behind. The black veil covered every inch of ground within the steel cage, the pristine grass beyond it untouched by the flames.

Julian's golden silhouette was nowhere to be seen amidst the drifting piles of ash this time. Ferrios didn't gloat like before though, instead scouring the arena for any trace of his opponent.

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Jay tried to search too, but he couldn't see much with his perspective locked on Julian's opponent.

Ferrios looked up.

The camera cut to Jules hanging like a bat off the roof of the dome, hair drooping down while his golden armour held the rest of his body in place. Both feet were attached to one of the bars. As the camera zoomed closer, Jay saw that the two metals were welded together. All seven daggers still orbited around Julian's head. Dodging the flames suited Jules far more than simply tanking them. Jay's brother looked completely unshaken, and stared at his opponent with cold blooded serenity.

Julian's seven daggers shot towards Ferrios.

The welds connecting Jules' soles to the cage liquefied. He dropped off the dome's ceiling and joined his weapons' charge.

Ferrios summoned a wall of flames between him and Julian before raising his war hammer in a defensive stance. As Jules fell closer, liquid gold rolled over his neck until it once again fully encased his face.

Julian punched through the wall of fire just as Ferrios batted his final dagger away. He'd knocked four of the golden knives into the burnt earth and the three that'd bypassed his weapon had barely scratched the gladiator's armour. He attempted a backswing as Julian neared him but Jules was too quick. He fell towards Ferrios like a golden thunderbolt, knocking the iron giant to the ground. His right hand clamped around Ferrios' neck while his left gripped his wrist. Within a second, both gladiators' gauntlets were welded together. Jules wrenched his arm aside, pulling Ferrios' hand away from his hammer.

Julian's golden helmet retreated, letting him look down on Ferrios with a scornful scowl.

"You can't run from heat?" he said, repeating his opponent's earlier line. "Maybe you can't."

Another bead of sweat rolled across Julian's downturned forehead, reaching his furrowed brow and falling to the floor.

Ferrios' iron armour began to glow red. Confusion and fear raced across the gladiator's face. His eyes widened, darting side to side.

They met Julian's daggers, but Ferrios wouldn't be lucky enough to meet them.

Julian kept looking down at his opponent. He moved his right hand onto Ferrios' breastplate and watched his gauntlet begin to liquefy.

"To me, reality is whatever I want."

Red became orange and orange became white as Ferrios' armour liquefied with its owner still inside of it. The once-arrogant gladiator's screams echoed inside Samira's office, filling Jay with dread even as he watched his brother succeed.

The screams lasted far longer than they needed to. Jay sat in uncomfortable silence watching Ferrios writhe in agony as his own armour seared through his skin. Julian's brutality shocked Jay as he struggled to equate the kind older brother from his childhood with the ruthless gladiator on screen before him. All gladiators were familiar with brutality, Jay included, but it still caught him off guard.

Julian didn't seem to relish in his opponent's demise like Ferrios had previously, and Jay was pleased that at least the Second Chance Coliseum hadn't completely corrupted his brother. Julian's mastery over his liquid metal armour surprised Jay too, and he wondered whether it had anything to do with Mercurial, Julian's alliance.

Jay took a second to regain his composure before turning back towards Samira and Cyrus.

"It was a good fight, but how exactly does it help explain my current situation?"

"Ferrios went undefeated in E grade, obviously. He aced Advancement and the subsequent Luminary tournament. The only reason he didn't die against Flash was because Julian refused a lethal fight."

"So he's still alive?" asked Jay.

Cyrus chuckled.

"That's one way to put it."

"He kept winning after this fight," continued Samira. "And went unbeaten for his next twenty fights, most of them lethal. The only reason he stopped taking lethal fights was because his alliance banned him. They were grooming him to take control and lead the alliance, and they didn't want to lose him to a freak accident in a D grade fight."

"Okay…" Jay replied, wondering where she was going.

"Ferrios kept winning until eventually he reached the peak of D grade. He wanted to challenge Flash to advance to C grade but his alliance wouldn't let him. After he advanced, he tried to make a fight with him again, offering everything he had the power to give just to get Flash to agree. Julian refused. He made his three defences and completed the coliseum contract before giving Ferrios a chance to avenge the only defeat he'd ever had."

"What happened next?"

"Ferrios kept fighting. He thought that if he gained enough fame and power, he could force your brother to fight him again. A few years later he became the leader of his alliance and hasn't had a C grade fight since then."

"It's an interesting story, but how does it relate to me?"

"I'll give you one guess at the name of Ferrios' alliance."

No way.

"Are you serious?" Jay snapped. "This guy's the reason everyone at the Flaming Tomb's been after me since I got here?"

"I believe so. Indirectly, at least," said Samira. "It's hard to get information on the internal drama within other alliances, but I believe their initial push to recruit you was because of the suspicion that you were Flash's brother. One of their members might've believed they could use you as bait to lure Julian into a fight. I'm surprised they didn't mention him when they pitched themselves to you, however based on your reaction when I tried that strategy they were probably right not to."

Samira gently laughed at her joke for a moment before returning to Jay.

"Or perhaps Julian had a friend in the coliseum, and they strongarmed the Flaming Tomb out of lying to you?"

Jay knew Samira was trying to bait a reaction from him. He kept his face unreadable and shrugged.

Maybe Jules had a friend within the Second Chance Coliseum?

Maybe it was the voice that spoke to him during his first fight?

"If I did know," said Jay, "do you really think I'd tell you?"

Cyrus sighed at the cagey interaction, drawing another laugh out of Samira.

"Thanks for the information about the Flaming Tomb, but I asked you about my brother," said Jay. "What happened after he finished his contract? The Ferrios fight was years ago, right?"

"I told you about Ferrios because I'm familiar with alliance politics and therefore know about his history with Julian. Your brother himself is… harder to learn about," admitted Samira.

"Julian stopped being a gladiator around seven years ago. He's only returned to Arenara Fortunis a handful of times since then and he rarely stays for long or tells people where he's going next. After your first visit to our alliance, I began searching for information about Julian. As far as I know, he's made three trips into the Ancestral Wilds in the last year, each progressively deeper. I don't know what he's trying to achieve there, but it's presumably related to old era technology. I'm still searching for more information but as I said before, there's not much out there."

Jay mulled over Samira's information. He'd have to verify what she'd just told him, but was happy to have learned something about Jules. There was always the chance she was lying to him, however Jay could probably find information on Ferrios and the Flaming Tomb to confirm her story and Samira would definitely have chosen a better lie than 'I think I know which continent your brother's on'.

"Thanks for the information," said Jay, "but you've still not told me about the gift."

Jay formed a fist, drawing the liquid metal down his forearm.

"I already look a lot like my brother, boxing gave us similar fighting styles, at least to start with. And now we both use liquid metal… what's up with that? What do you gain from this, are you trying to align yourselves with Mercurial through me and Jules?"

"Considering how he betrayed and embarrassed them by leaving the coliseum, bringing you in will probably have the opposite effect. But no, although it is somewhat politically motivated. Signing Lightning Leonard will attract a lot of eyes to Limitless Ascent; signing Flash's brother will attract a whole lot more. It builds your fame, which is more important than you think in D grade, and grants you negotiating power if you ever want to sign with another alliance, forcing them to give you a better offer and weakening them overall.

"People will connect you to your brother eventually. Limitless Ascent has nothing to lose by expediting the process."

Samira's answer felt startlingly honest; her callous pragmatism surpassed Jay's expectations.

Negotiating with her felt like signing a deal with the devil. Even though he'd entered this meeting with the intention of pairing with Limitless Ascent, conversing face to face with it's leader left him more uncertain than before. He half-considered refusing the offer out of fear.

But fear had never won Jay any fights and it wasn't going to start now.

So what if Samira's offer came with a few strings attached? As it was, Limitless Ascent were Jay's best bet at finding Julian. If tugging on those strings brought Jay even a step closer to his brother then he'd take it. Consequences be damned.

Jay considered pushing further and trying to gain more from his partnership before deciding against it. Greed would only sour his relationship with Samira, and while Jay didn't know whether he wanted her as an ally he was certain he didn't want her as an enemy.

"I'll join you for the fight," said Jay. "No promises after that though, I can't commit just yet."

Cyrus grinned and Samira gave Jay a far more honest smile than she gave him when he walked in.

"Thank you," she said before shaking Jay's hand.

"The fight starts in four days, I'll tell you everything else you need to know before then."