Reflections on the Warpath - [An Isekai Progression Fantasy]

14 days until the E grade advancement tournament

"I guess she'll never kno-"

Lyra paused the fight seconds before Amaya's puppet buried its axe into her sister's neck. She turned away, wanting to stare anywhere but the floating screen in front of her.

It's not going anywhere.

It's already happened.

You have to face it.

She turned back to the screen for the final moments of the fight.

She'd watched the fight every morning for the past two weeks. The wound was still fresh, and her grief remained raw, but that was why she forced herself to watch it back.

To remember that pain.

To remember why she was fighting.

Lyra dismissed the system screen, but she could never dismiss the two faces that were last shown on it. Not until they were dead.

Ezekiel the Soulsnatcher wasn't a bad matchup. He was a good fighter, a great one even, but he lacked the mobility to truly challenge her. Her twin foresight would stymy most of the surprises he could bring to a fight.

And there would be surprises.

Unlike Akira, Ezekiel's fighting style heavily depended on his sword. His style shifted dramatically to match the weapon he wielded. Fortunately, Akira now held his strongest weapon. The one that had earned him the name 'Soulsnatcher'.

But Ezekiel had been fighting in the coliseum every day for the past two weeks. And with the financial might of the Flaming Tomb behind him, there was a chance he'd enter advancement with an even stronger blade. He might even have more than one.

Regardless, Lyra reckoned she could beat him in a one v one.

But they wouldn't be fighting alone.

Amaya was a much more complicated opponent, both to fight and to prepare for.

Her puppets gave her even more versatility than Ezekiel's swords, and they muddied the battlefield far more. Lyra's twin foresight had improved over the past two weeks, but it still struggled to predict multiple figures.

Lyra wasn't sure what to expect from advancement. But the gladiators would almost certainly be spaced out over a large area, she reckoned the start would be less hectic than a standard fight.

Which would unfortunately give Amaya ample time to prepare and construct her puppets.

And all that's just in isolation.

Lyra didn't know whether advancement would be fought in threes, fours, or even fives, but she knew it wouldn't be in twos.

Which meant there was another variable she couldn't prepare for.

They weren't the majority, but there were a lot of unaffiliated E grade gladiators still searching for a team. No matter how the teams were chosen, Amaya and Ezekiel would certainly have strong allies by their side.

Luckily, Lyra did too.

Amaya's puppets plunged the battlefield into chaos, but the same chaos that hampered Lyra's own fighting style only empowered her teammates'. Akira was used to a battlefield where nothing made sense, and Jay was simultaneously the most measured yet aggressive fighter she'd ever seen.

Lyra didn't have to think about ever beating Amaya or Ezekiel in a one on one.

If everything worked out, they wouldn't make it that far.

Lyra stepped out of her bedroom to find Jay watching one of Amaya's old fights in their living room. At first, she'd wanted to keep Vega's old room empty. But saving her a space wouldn't bring Lyra's sister back, and sentimentality couldn't help her get revenge. Jay could. Lyra let pragmatism take over that decision and saved Jay the embarrassment of couch surfing for a month.

"Could you do me a favour?" asked Jay. He reached into his pocket and tossed a ceramic figurine at her. It looked like a toy soldier, although she saw intricate copper mechanisms beyond the plating "I bought three of these yesterday, I think you might be able to tweak them to make them work better."

"What does it do?" said Lyra.

Jay threw one on the ground. In a puff of smoke, it transformed into a life-sized copy of him. The clone was a few inches taller than Jay and slightly skinnier. Its face looked like somebody had taken a painting of Jay and plastered it onto an uneven stone.

"The guy I bought them off said they're unfinished but could be improved with a few tweaks by someone who understood the essence of cloning. I was wondering whether you knew how to do that? If they looked more lifelike, or could move, then they'd be way more effective."

Lyra fiddled with the clay figure. She didn't have the technical knowledge to create an item like this, but adapting one was much easier.

She closed her eyes, focusing on the essence of the clay soldier, rather than its physical form.

Her perception narrowed.

The world dimmed.

Stolen novel; please report.

Soon, nothing else existed.

The toy remained in her hands, but now there were two instead of one. Two soldiers, linked to each other by a tiny wisp of smoke. Their facades seemed more lifelike now and covered the inner workings far more extensively. When one moved, the other followed after a slight delay.

At first glance, the soldiers looked identical.

But as she studied them more, Lyra spotted countless subtle differences. Slightly longer legs. A different coloured hat.

They kept coming.

Lyra reckoned the essence of the twin could fix the item in front of her, but not right now. Her perception shifted to Jay. The last time she'd looked at his personal essence was before their visit to Pavan Hall.

Jay had changed significantly in the past three weeks.

Before, the sparks of electricity skittered around a loose outline of a man. Tiny blue messengers bouncing inside an armless figure. Now, Jay's personal essence had a more defined form, one that carried a dynamic complexity. Alongside the blue sparks were unmoving stakes of metal, cold steel piercing every limb. A pure crimson liquid floated around the metal. Occasionally intercepting the electricity and emitting a radiant, pink glow.

It pooled in Jay's fists, and slowly dripped onto the floor.

Lyra opened her eyes. Jay smiled at her gently, waiting for her to speak.

"I'll give it a try." she said. "The essence of the twin should help align its Harmony closer to what you want. Leave them here and I'll take a look tomorrow. Did you buy anything else?"

"I bought a bracer with a couple different uses and got offered like ten different kinds of bombs that Pippin offered to strap to it. I passed on the bombs. Explosives aren't the safest thing to work with and attaching them to my hands probably won't end well.

Jay's eyes widened in horror. Immediately realising what he'd just said.

Lyra pretended not to notice.

"Um, anyway," he stammered "Akira said he'd found a deal for me, but I think that'll be my last big spend before advancement. Too much new stuff will only confuse me and I won't have time to train with it properly."

"Good idea."

"Thanks." Said Jay. "I'm going to see him now. Want to join us? I could use some help making sure it's actually useful and not just something he finds cool."

Lyra almost shuddered as she mentally ran through some of Akira's past purchases.

"Sure." She said. "Let's see what he's got this time…"

Jay walked into the Celestial Swords with Lyra in tow. He was glad she'd joined him, even after his slip-up.

He didn't want to leave her in the flat alone.

Akira awaited them in his favourite corner booth. He sat facing the rest of the pub and had a parcel wrapped in brown paper and tied with string beside him.

"I thought you were asking me about a deal?" said Jay. He sat across from his friend with his back to the room. He nodded at the parcel. "Looks like you've already made one. What's that?"

"This…" Akira tried his best to put on a dramatic voice. He waved his hands over the parcel like a witch casting a spell on her cauldron. "…is my half of the deal.

"I want to trade for your spatial quiver."

He pulled the string and unfolded the first leaf of brown paper. He revealed a sheet of silver chain loops that shimmered in the tavern's gentle glow, scattering some of the light into circular rainbows.

Occasionally, a section of chain links would melt into a puddle of quicksilver before snapping back to shape.

Akira gestured at Jay to pick it up.

Grabbing the metal felt like plunging his hands into icy water. It was hard to even grab a hold of it, but Jay managed to pull it upwards and take a closer look. Now unfolded, Jay saw that he was holding a chainmail shirt. Except, it wasn't entirely metal. A grey silk undershirt sat behind the interlocking chains, sometimes even weaving through them. It looked immaculately crafted, other than a loose strip of silk extending from the waistline.

Although the shirt felt like liquid metal in Jay's hands, it weighed almost nothing. He almost forgot he was holding anything at all.

"Remember when we warned you against armour because it'd take you too long to get used to fighting in it?" said Akira, embracing his inner salesman. "Well Orivian silk solves that issue. It barely weighs anything and can take a hit too. I struck one of these straight-on at about thirty percent with Juryoku and it didn't leave a scratch."

Huh…

Jay took off his jacket and tried on the chain shirt. He felt the coldness again, like he'd plunged into an ice bath, but it quickly settled to a comfortable temperature. He twisted his chest and windmilled both arms but still felt no resistance. Whenever he moved, the metal would liquefy, stretching to accommodate his movements.

"See what I mean!" Said Akira. His eyes widened. "Virtually no restriction. It's great, right?"

Are you ok?

Jay didn't think Akira would try and cheat him, but he wondered why he was being so overly enthusiastic.

Jay reached down to the one scrap of silk by his waist.

"What's thi-"

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

Akira all but screamed as his hand shot at Jay's wrist.

Jay reacted faster. He pulled his hand away before his friend had needed to intervene. Jay glared at Akira. If it mattered so much, then he should've warned Jay before he put on the shirt.

Akira let out a sigh.

"I was getting to that part. The shirt's creator went into great detail about the fabrication of this shirt. I found it fascinating, but I don't think you'll feel the same way so I'll spare you the details. Orivian silk is made by infusing the essence of metal into these special silkworms. Then, by altering their incubation conditions by controlling the temperature, we can alter the property of their silk to be more or less like metal. Now, these silkworms only exist on this one island right at the toe of the Titanic Shores. If they didn't make armour nobody would even visit there."

Jay wasn't exactly sure how this geography lesson was sparing any details, but he let Akira carry on. He continued listening, but noticed Lyra's slight frown as she glanced between the two of them.

"Temperature is one way to alter the silk's properties. But it's not the only thing they do. When you apply enough pressure to one of the cocoons, the silkworm goes into panic mode. It immediately stops production and forms an amber-like crystal around itself. The crystal is so hard that nothing can damage the worm inside. The only problem is that it's stuck there for the next hour.

"Don't ask how they made it happen. I'm sure it's extremely messed up and involves powderised babies or something. But they've transferred this ability into the shirt. Tug on that thing and you get sent to spectator mode for an hour. So yeah… don't touch that thing unless you really need to."

Interesting. Sounds like a good last resort.

Jay turned to Lyra, eager to hear her opinion. She looked slightly confused.

"The shirt's good." she said. "I've heard of Orivian silk before, it's good stuff Jay. Unless Akira says something immeasurably stupid in the next minute, accept the deal."

Akira's smile faded, the cautious optimism in his eyes vanishing. He looked almost fearful.

"Why did you buy this just to trade it for Jay's quiver? It had to cost a fortune. The quiver's nice, but you could buy yourself something similar for far less. Why do you really want it?" asked Lyra.

Akira squirmed, he sheepishly looked at Lyra like a scolded child.

"Okay so hear me out guys." he said, holding both his hands out. "Firstly, I wanted to get Jay some good armour before advancement. I didn't mind splashing the cash on that. Secondly, I searched everywhere for something similar to the quiver. But all I could find were backpacks, so I did this instead."

"But what's wrong with a backpack?" replied Lyra. "You're not an archer; you don't even use a quiver."

Akira paused.

"Yeah…"

He took a deep breath.

"…but imagine how frickin cool it'd be if I put my swords in there with just the handles sticking out and whenever I drew them it was like I drew them from thin air and the sword just appeared."

…

"Wouldn't that be so frickin dope?"

This guy…

Jay and Lyra shared an incredulous glance. Jay opened his mouth to question Akira's reasoning, but all he could do was sigh and shake his head while gently laughing.

Lyra began to respond, but a gentle voice from behind interrupted her.

"Excuse me. Could I please have a moment of your time?"