The Runic Artist

Nate stood on the sidelines of the arena, leaning his forehead against the barrier covering it as he watched Kiri’s top-sixteen match. If she won this match she would be sponsored by the Guild to attend the Royal University. Everything else after that was just a little extra topping on your dessert. It made it better, but it wasn’t truly necessary.

Kiri’s opponent was actually giving her a small amount of challenge this time. He hadn’t expected it this early, but then, they were still ten levels below most of the other competitors. That was just Classes too. Some of the other Silver badges still in the competition likely had at least one skill over level forty. That meant in the second evolution.

Kiri’s opponent, a whip thin guy using a rapier and buckler as his armaments, was a classic example. Nate knew he wasn’t the best judge of these things, but he’d seen the guy’s Classes. A Rare Duelist Class and an Uncommon Scout Class. That shouldn’t have been enough to handle Kiri. Not even close. Yet he was managing to match her, at least for now anyway. So why was he a good example? Well, unless he was wrong, the Duelist had at least two Epic tier Skills, which meant two Skills levelled beyond forty. The first he’d noted was a defensive skill that seemed to speed up the movement of his blade and buckler when he was defending. He was doing a lot of that trying to weather the storm of daggers that were Kiri’s six arms. Six. She’d clearly decided she couldn’t hold back and was forced to reveal that she was capable of four tethered arms, not just the two she’d shown against Gabrielle. With that many she should’ve been able to find an opening, even when the Duelist matched her speed.

That was where the second Skill was evident. The Duelist had some sort of awareness skill. It didn’t matter what angles Kiri used. She was capable of attacking from almost three hundred and sixty degrees around the Duelist using her tethered arms from her Skill which could extend to almost two metres. But, no matter what angle the daggers came from, her opponent was always aware of them. Nate watched as the Duelist stepped out of the way of one dagger only to dive to the side and roll to avoid another two. Coming quickly to his feet, the Duelist kicked up a cloud of sand as he prepared for Kiri’s next assault. The footwork looked impressive but Nate knew he was an amateur at judging such.

Still, even with all his skill, and the Duelist was truly skilled, he couldn’t win. Kiri had given up early on using her boosting skill to its full potential when it didn’t let her do more than land a few scratches. But those scratches had sealed victory for her as even without his sight to confirm it, he could see that the wounds hadn’t healed. They were leaking soul energy. Enough to keep Kiri sustained while she outlasted her opponent. It was a battle of endurance now with one party growing stronger as the fight wore on while the other got weaker. He smirked a little as he watched, mostly because he could see the grin on Kiri’s face. She was having fun.

He felt a little bad for the Duelist for getting matched up against Kiri. But, for all he knew, whoever else he got matched up against might have been almost as bad. They were getting into the final few and no one left could be called weak. It did leave him curious if the Duelist could’ve handled Null. Could Null’s skill affect internal mana? If not, it likely wouldn’t affect boosting skills like the Duelist’s defensive skill. That would’ve made the match possibly more even.

His musing was interrupted as a spray of blood hit the sands. Kiri had apparently gotten impatient and decided to showcase yet another of her Skills. Or at least an effect of the skill. The duelist’s blade was lodged firmly in her chest, the tip poking out the back of her armour. In retaliation he’d taken three dagger slices for the trouble. Two weren’t too deep but the third was a gut wound that was leaking blood in a red stream down his leg to pool in the sand below. He likely thought he had won as Kiri stepped back and dislodged the blade from her chest, but all she did was spit a little blood that must’ve pooled in her throat onto the sand beside her. With a bloody smile, her four additional arms raised up behind her like a spider. Not a single drop of blood fell from her chest, even as the Duelist was slowly getting paler. Nate suspected he could likely fight on with the blood loss for at least another minute, but the match had already been decided. He was looking forward to hearing what Deverell thought of the move over dinner.

As he continued to watch their exchange he was proven wrong about his estimation on how long Kiri’s opponent would last. The Duelist had only lasted another thirty seconds before the blood loss caused him to slow too much in an exchange and he found himself with four daggers buried in his body. He crashed to the sand and was enveloped in golden light a moment later. Nate wasn’t sure, but he felt like the light persisted for longer than usual.

Kiri joined him a moment later, the crowd still roaring their approval in the background.

“Got impatient?” he asked with a small smile.

“It was taking sooo long to wear him down. That fight would’ve gone for another half hour if I didn’t do something drastic,” she replied with a huff, before sitting down on the ground next to him and grinning. “I did it. Top eight. I’m in.”

She paused for a moment before staring at him intently, her tone sincere rather than her usual playful self, “I don’t want to attend without you.”

“You won’t be. I promise. No matter who I get,” he replied resolutely, before flashing a cheeky smile. “I’ll even go goblin-mode if I have to.”

“I knew it!” whispered Frick in his mind with glee.

Kiri smiled in response before leaning back against the wall tiredly. Now that she was close he could feel just how much soul energy she had remaining. Even after draining her opponent and her improved regeneration rate, she was still down to below half. He hadn’t thought the Duelist had pushed her that hard, but apparently her opponent had been even better than he appeared. She had to have been using her boosting skill and possibly her healing skill to keep herself from growing tired.

The Prefect’s words finally penetrated their little moment as he heard the tail end of the announcement.

“....so there we have it. Our second competitor making it through to the top eight. Guaranteed a spot at the Royal University. One of your very own from the outer edges of our beautiful Kingdom. Let's give another round of applause for Kiri Beaufoy of Helmfirth!”

The crowd surged again, screaming Kiri’s name. It almost made him blush and it wasn’t even him they were focused on. Kiri however seemed too tired to notice. Or maybe she was just too busy processing the fact that she had made the top eight. Confidence and bluster gave way to the reality that she deserved a place amongst the best Silvers of Etrua. All while only being level thirty.

“For our next match, we have another Silver Badge who also hails from Helmfirth. Some of you know him as the Barrier Mage, Nathaniel Weber will be facing off against another competitor from the outskirts of our beautiful Country. Put your hands together for Helena Bacque of Vallac and Nathaniel Weber of Helmfirth.”

As Prefect Raoult finished, Nate took to the field with Helena. The shortsword wielding woman was staring at him with a deadpan expression, a vast difference to the overly friendly approach she’d taken in the Guildhouse. Perhaps she blamed him for her sister getting eliminated. If so, it was a little petty, but in the end it wasn’t going to matter as she was about to join her sister. He wasn’t going to jeopardise his chances by taking it easy in this fight, and the first thing he needed to know was what he was dealing with.

She was already close enough to be within range of Awareness of the Runic Artist. As the skill pressed inwards towards her Class Core he felt the resistance. Previously he’d avoided pushing against whatever was veiling her core, but not this time. More mana flowed into his Skill and whatever veil was hiding her core parted like paper before his mythic skill.

Helena Bacque

Illusionary Duelist (R) (35) / Novice Spellsword (U) (5)

At first glance, the Classes made sense with what he’d seen of her, but there was a feeling he was getting as his mana roved over her Class Core. Something was off. They hadn’t yet reached the middle of the field and he had time to investigate as Helena hadn’t reacted at all to her veil being pierced.

His awareness continued to roam over her Core, prodding at it as he tried to understand what was bothering him about it. It took three more complete passes before he realised what was bothering him. He could feel a Concept emanating off it. The ‘bother’ was Runic Knowledge triggering in the back of his mind. Flowing mana into his second skill it finally came back with enough information. Obfuscation. She had a second layer of defence over her Core. It was going to take a second to pierce and they’d finally reached the middle of the arena.

Standing across from her, he drew more mana into his Awareness of the Runic Artist skill, letting it build until he felt it would be enough to smash through the second layer of defence hiding her Class Core. If the first veil had torn like paper the second was smashed like a glass window as he brute forced the obfuscation hiding her Class Core. He saw her eyes go wide in shock, quickly replaced by fear, even as her true Classes flashed before his eyes.

Helena Bacque

Unseen Blade (E) (30) / Illusionist (R) (10)

He’d expected anger from her but instead all he could see was fear. Not even a second had passed and she was sprinting towards the Guildhouse like her life depended on it. The referee yelled after her to stop.

Without turning she yelled at the top of her lungs, “I surrender!”

Nate stood there, rooted to the spot in confusion. Why did it matter that he’d seen her Classes? Certainly it gave him an advantage, but her reaction seemed entirely disproportionate to his actions. Staring at the Classes again he thought on them, seconds passing as he tried to figure out why she’d reacted as she did. Finally it came to him. His first ever meeting with Aisling, and what she’d accused him of. Being an Unseen. Children of nobles raised to be spies and assassins.

“She was Unseen! Inform Aisling. Right now!” he sent mentally to Frick.

His Familiar didn’t even bother to respond. Instead Nate felt Frick use his leg as cover, assuming a small shape and slip out of him into the ground. Likely making his way underground to Aisling. Even now his Familiar was keeping his presence a secret. He appreciated that, even if he would have forgiven the Spirit for rushing headlong across the arena towards the Platinum Badge.

The referee was staring at Nate in confusion and he tried his best to look unsure, giving the man a shrug of his shoulders. He didn’t have to distract him for long as a few seconds later he saw Aisling launch herself into the sky, flying towards the Guildhouse. He couldn’t see Luc but he was guessing the Arcane Riftwalker was already in the Guildhouse. He didn’t see how a level forty could evade the two of them, but he’d been wrong before. Searching to make sure Kiri was fine, he found Deverell standing next to her, vigilantly scanning the area.

Finally, he could see that Evindal had made his way to the Prefects and was speaking to them, though not loud enough for him to be heard from where Nate waited. After a moment Raoult stood and made his way to the front of the small stage on the side of the arena that the Prefect’s were occupying.

“Well, what a turn of events. It seems that our Barrier Mage has scared the poor girl to death,” the crowd laughed in response. “She has surrendered and fled the match. Let me assure the crowd that this kind of behaviour is rare among the Adventurer’s Guild. Most of our members will stare death in the face and spit in its eye. I guess in the end that Helena Bacque just wasn’t fit to be a member of the Adventurer’s Guild and we have no place amongst our ranks for cowards. For this embarrassment, she will be stricken from our records. Which of course leads us to the result that Nathaniel Weber of Helmfirth is now our third competitor to make the top eight and be guaranteed a place at the Royal University, fully funded by the Adventurer’s Guild. While I never doubted he would achieve such illustrious results, let him put any doubters to rest with his performance in his next match.”

Nate appreciated the follow-on comments. But, even with them, the victory felt hollow. He’d managed top-eight, just like Kiri. But he hadn’t had to prove himself like she had. He’d never understood how someone could consider a victory hollow. Victory was victory. But the taste this had left in his mouth was one of ash and disappointment. It was just like Prefect Raoult had said. He’d have to prove he deserved a spot in his top-eight match.

With the referee ushering him off to the side, he trudged through the dirt and sand to join Kiri. The smile she gave him as he joined her was conflicted. He could see that she was happy that he was going to be going to the University. They, he should say, were going to the University. But he could also see the disappointment, likely for him, for getting through on a technicality. A surrender without a fight. For someone with Kiri’s fighting spirit getting through on a technicality was a slap in the face. He suspected she felt even worse than he did.

Deverell glanced at him and whispered, “Well done.”

He just nodded in response before slumping down next to Kiri. She joined him, shoulder to shoulder, silently supporting him. He was thankful for that. He’d known people back on Earth that always asked what was wrong if you looked even a little bit sad. They meant well, he was sure, but he preferred to work through his emotions before he spoke about them. Kiri had never forced the issue, always waiting for him to talk in his own time, and right now that was what he needed. Time. Time to process. Because he was considering the outcome of what he’d just done.

The look on Helena’s face before she ran was burned into his mind. It was fear. Bone deep fear. She had been scared for her life. Thinking it through he could see why. She was a spy within the Guild. Worse, one almost certainly sent by one of the Noble houses. If they caught her, she’d likely be interrogated before being executed. Assuming they bothered with the former. The moment he’d sent Frick to tell Aisling he’d sealed her fate, and considering it now, likely her sister Gabrielle’s as well. If they even were sisters, he thought. He wouldn’t have done things differently, but it was his first time contributing to the death of another human that wasn’t directly attacking him. Logically, he could see that what he did was necessary. That it was the right decision to make. But he still needed a moment to process it.

Kiri leaned her head on his shoulder, even as he could hear Prefect Raoult announcing the next match in the background. The action was enough to break the dam of his emotions as he logically followed the path Helena would likely have taken. Even if she wasn’t to blame for how she was raised, or what she was turned into, she was still a threat. A threat to him. A threat to Kiri. A threat to the Guild that Aisling seemed to so desperately support. Glancing at Kiri he gave her a small smile and she grinned back, leaning away enough to punch him in the shoulder.

“You got this,” she whispered.

“We’ve got this,” he whispered back, climbing to his feet to watch the next match. A few of the competitors glanced at him then. Some even with disdain in their eyes. Flash was amongst those numbers. Good, he thought. Let them doubt. It’ll just make my final creation that much more incredible. A smile slowly formed on his face, still tinged with sadness, as his emotions did not fade quite so quickly. But it also had a little eagerness in it. He’d prove the doubters wrong. He deserved to be in the top-eight and he’d show them why very soon.