167 - The Game (Patreon)

Arielle stared at the black bird, which looked nothing like Vittoria's. While Vittoria’s bird resembled a raptor, this one looked more like a crow.

It wove around her, leaving traces of shadow in its wake that shimmered in the air like corruption. Waves of Vacu combined with Luxa, linking in a complicated pattern that fascinated Arielle…

Until she realized the environment was changing. 

It started with the grass growing darker and the sunlight dimming. Then the sound disappeared entirely, leaving only a slight whine.

Arielle whipped around as the ground beneath them turned completely black and day turned to night. The sun became a moon, letting out only the barest beam, turning everything around her, including the buildings, dark and foreboding. Fog covered everything, and whispers emerged from nowhere. Even the texture of the air felt wrong, like it was just a little thicker than it should be, as though it were alive and hands were reaching out and tracing against her skin.

It was unpleasant, but Arielle focused on the shifting spells, finally recognizing what it was.

It was similar to the spell that the demons had used to trap her in their abyssal pocket dimension. Was that what Gio was doing?

How was he doing it without any of the demonic orbs?

“I’m curious,” Gio spoke casually, as though he had nothing to do with the magic stitching together an obscene amount of orbs continuously shifting in response to his whims. He stepped closer to the statue. “What is it about this thing that has captured your attention?”

“What have you done?” Arielle asked instead. “Where have you taken me?”

"Why? Are you scared?" He turned to her. “You don't seem scared."

"I am." She was scared that he would discover the truth about her powers.

"No, you're not. Most people I've brought to this nightmarish realm start panicking and spilling their guts immediately as they beg for mercy. Either that or they scream for help," he said. "You're a very strange little girl, Arielle Blacksoil."

Ari swallowed. She met his eyes briefly before she looked away.

"This is [Saint’s Domain]," Gio said. "One of my Archmage Tier spells. Essentially, what it does is create my version of reality, where only my rules apply.”

“Like an Overlord.”

"Exactly. Now how would you know that an overlord can create one of these?”

Shoot. Arielle could have smacked herself. That was a stupid mistake. She’d muttered it because she was frazzled, giving more information than she’d intended.

“Elric told me,” she said, and Gio shook his head. 

“No, he did not,” he said. “You’re a terrible liar, you know. You need to work on that to survive in this line of work."

Arielle swallowed. She glanced around her even though she knew there was no help coming. Gio had trapped her, and likely no one would even know she was here with him except Maus. Maus could be getting help as they speak, but only if Gio hadn’t incapacitated him or rendered him unconscious in some way.

Just the thought of it made her mad.

“Let’s make a deal,” he said. “We’re going to have a little exercise, a game of sorts. If you win, I’ll let you go. For every round you lose, you have to answer a question honestly. Don't you think that's a fair trade?"

"I don't want to play any games with you."

"Oh, come now," he said. "You know I could simply make you tell me the truth, but if I utilized my other methods, you might get hurt, and my good friend Elric would never forgive me. At least this way, you have a chance to keep your secrets, and you only have to be truthful if you lose the round. That shouldn't be hard for someone like you, right?”

Ari chewed the inside of her lip. She didn't like this, and she didn't like the fact that Gio suddenly looked more animated than he'd looked in the room with Lord Wesley.

"Please?" Gio put his hands together with a mocking expression. "You have no idea how long it's been since I've had someone to play with."

“What if I don’t play?”

“Do you really want to know the answer to that?”

Arielle met eyes that were suddenly cold and humorless.

She hadn’t noticed before that he had a permanent almost-smile on his face, one she had assumed was his natural expression.

But when he dropped it…

Well, it was like there was nothing there. No humor, no anger, no sign of humanity at all.

He could hurt Maus. If she didn’t play along, he could hurt Maus and maybe even get away with it.

She tore her eyes away. 

Regardless, Arielle had to get herself out of this mess. She was tempted to call Vittoria, but Vittoria was in the demonic realm and wouldn’t be able to access her. She didn't know how to activate the portal bird on her own, and even if she did…would Vittoria want her to? Wouldn’t that reveal their association?

Maybe she should just play along, and get this over with as quickly as possible.

"Fine," Arielle said through gritted teeth. "If I win, you let me go and don't bother me or Elric any more."

"Perfect." His grin returned full force. "Now here are the rules of the game. You have to play it earnestly and to the best of your ability. I will know if you’re holding back.”

How would he know? She wondered. Was the domain feeding him information?

Speaking of which, she could always break the domain spell if she wanted to. But then that would expose more of her powers, and the backlash might kill him. She didn't know if she had enough skill to avert that much backlash before it hit him.

She was stuck.

“What’s the game?” she asked finally.

“I’m glad you asked.” Gio held out his hand and duplicated himself ten times, each body forming a piece of the circle around her. A swarm of birds surrounded him too and shot into the sky, circling them, as though observing the game.

“It’s very simple,” he said. "You have to find me, the real me, before the timer runs out.” Just as he said it, numbers hung up in the sky, a three and a zero.

“You have thirty seconds. Three rounds. Play well. If you lose, you have to tell me the truth. Remember, I'll know if you’re being dishonest."

Without any further explanations, Gio Li disappeared, along with all his clones.

The timer began. 

Arielle looked around. She could detect from his magical signature, because she recalled the way the orbs had arranged themselves around his body. Her view was just obscured by the thick shadow that shifted across the field like mist, along with the wailing that could get distracting.

Nevertheless, she enhanced her senses and detected all the orbs through the shadows, identifying all ten clones.

One thing immediately bothered Arielle.

All the clones had the exact same magical signature as Gio himself. That was impossible. Usually, a clone should not bear the exact magical signature of the person who cast the spell because the clone was the subject of magic, not the originator; therefore, the magical signature around the real Gio should be significantly thicker. She had observed this with Vittoria and her soul clones too.

The fact that it wasn't could only mean one thing.

None of them were the real Gio, not even the one who had spoken to her originally.

Darn.

Arielle studied the rest of the magical network within the domain, noting that all the spells seemed linked together, but she was having trouble tracing the origin of the spell.

Which could mean that Gio was not in this domain. At least not on the ground.

She didn't know how that was possible, but perhaps he could govern the domain from outside of it? Was that possible? How? The domain would need an anchor to reality, wouldn't it?

Her mind raced. Was there something she'd noticed before? Something that could help her?

Arielle looked up to the sky, wondering if maybe he was one of the birds that circled. When she’d first met him, he’d materialized from a bunch of birds swirling around like it was now.

Was he one of them, or all of them? She evaluated the orbs, just as everything darkened, obscuring her view even more.

The time ticked down while she shifted her eyes and used [Sensate] to look as far as she could. There were ten seconds left now. 

“[Light beam],” she said, but suddenly it was snuffed out. 

“My rules, remember?” Gio's voice echoed from…well, everywhere.

She frowned. Did he want her to do this without magic?

“I have no problem with you using magic,” he said. “But don't insult both of us by using such weak spells. We both know you're better than that."

Before Arielle could ask what he meant by that, a loud buzzer echoed, and he said, “Alright. You lost the first round. Question number one…did you accompany Archmage Vittoria to the demonic sect to save Elric?”

Arielle closed her eyes. Her heart raced,and she thought of a way to avoid the question. He would know if she lied…but Dean Octavius said one could be deceptive with the truth. 

Then it hit her. 

“No,” she said. “I did not accompany Archmage Vittoria to the demonic sect to save Elric.” Technically, that was the truth. She hadn’t gone to the demonic sect with Vittoria. Vittoria’s bird had come with her, but Arielle had been mostly alone until Vittoria came to save her. 

A bird cawed loudly and arced down at Arielle, flapping its wings in her face.

“I told you not to lie,” it said.

“I didn’t lie.”“You were trying to be deceptive. I can sense it. As your penalty, you get even less time for the next round. Good luck."

The bird exploded into black feathers, some of which got into Ari's mouth, and she had to spit them out.

The timer now read twenty seconds, and Arielle’s heart pounded as it began.  

“You’re not in this domain?” she asked. “Are you?”

“Am I not?”

“How are you able to create it without being within it?” she asked. 

"I wonder how."

He was being unhelpful. Arielle glanced up again. The birds, the sky, the domain. There had to be something about it that could give her a clue.

“Like you, I have tricks that I don’t want the system to know about,” one of the birds said in Gio's voice. “Or am I to believe that you’re truly a level fifty-two with your skills?”

Arielle chewed on the inside of her lips, and he added, “You would be more convincing if Elric had let you start at a higher level, but it's almost like you're avoiding that. Which makes me curious about what you're so desperate to hide?"

Arielle took a breath. She had to think, but his words were distracting too. She continued to survey the environment, the seconds passing too fast, the pressure getting to her. 

“Time’s up. Question number two: how did you manage to stab the overlord?”

Ari didn’t answer. She couldn’t lie but she couldn’t tell him the truth either. 

Another bird was shot out of the sky and flapped in her face. “If you keep breaking the rules, you’re going to irritate me.”

Frustration rioted in Arielle. She didn't know what he wanted from her. Why was he doing this?

"Why are you doing this? Why do you want to know?"

"Because." That was all he said.

"Are you trying to get Elric in trouble?"

He didn't answer that.

The next time on the timer was ten seconds. 

Arielle seriously considered just breaking the domain spell and being done with it, but then she realized something. 

The statue.

It was the only thing that hadn’t really changed. Apart from being shrouded in shadow, it had maintained the same locking spells that it had had in the real world. Arielle doubted that Gio would go through the trouble of recreating all those intricate spells even if he could do it.

Which meant that the statue was real.

That was the anchor. And if Gio was indeed not in this domain, that would be the way he accessed it. 

Just as she stared at it, the smoke got thicker in that general location, and Arielle finally noticed that it was the smoke that was the link that held all the spells together. It was hard to tell at first, because the orbs controlling it continuously shifted, but just behind the statue, both smoke and orbs were thicker and shielded the attachment to the rest of the domain.

Without wasting time, she whipped out her wand and said, "[Air Chain]."

Strips of air shot out of the end of her wand and wrapped around the smoke and the statue.

She circled it to find Gio, materializing, leaning against it. 

He grinned. "You got me.

"I did. Now let me go."

He didn't. Instead, he made her [Air Chain] vanish and walked out from behind the statue, clapping as he shook his head.

"I'm thoroughly impressed," he said. "You didn't even bother looking for the decoys. You just instantly knew they were fake, and then you thought maybe it was the birds, but somehow you knew it wasn't the birds either." His eyes gleamed in delight as he balanced his hands on his knees and leaned in. "What did you see, Arielle Blacksoil, that had you so convinced? What did you see that made Elric ask you to perform your test with your eyes closed?"

A metaphorical alarm blared in Arielle's mind.

She didn't say anything, but she didn't know if she managed to keep her expression contained.

“Do you think I won’t keep your secret?” he asked, voice almost gentle. “Do you think I already don’t know what you’re capable of? Do you think I would want your cores suppressed?”

She didn’t know what he wanted. That was exactly the problem. “I’ve won your game. Please, let me out.”

“You didn’t win. I won two rounds, and you only won one. So now you have to play another game.”

"That wasn't the deal."

"It is now."

Arielle couldn’t help it. She glared at him. 

He chuckled. "You seem angry. Luckily for you, this next game involves a fight."

"You want me to fight you?"

"Of course not. That would be ridiculous, I don't fight children." He raised an eyebrow. "Unless you think you would win?"

Arielle shook her head. She wasn't trained in combat, and Gio was. Not to mention he wasn't as restricted as she was, knew more spells than she did, and had more essences than she did. "Who am I fighting then?"

"Him." He snapped, and the birds swarmed towards Arielle, but they stopped right next to her. They immediately formed a young man who was just about Gio’s height. 

He had shorter blonde hair and a mischievous smile. A scar across his eye and a chipped tooth.

Nevertheless, the familiarity was unmistakable.

It was Gio, with a different look. 

"I don't understand," Arielle said. “You want me to fight you?"

"Not me, right now. Me when I was much younger. Me back when I was a prodigy." He turned to her. "Me at the age I defeated Archmage Klaus and took his place." He shrugged. "I'm curious how you would measure up against that man."

"I'm not a fighter."

"Really? I'm sure Anne Earthbinder and Leviathan would say differently."

“I don’t want to–”

“I want you to take this fight seriously,” he said. “If you value your secret and Elric’s safety, you will."

The threat towards Elric once more triggered Arielle's temper.

Arielle gritted her teeth as Gio's smile once more completely left his place.

"I am not your enemy, Arielle," he said. "But Elric was right to warn you about me. Because he knows who I am. He knows that I would be willing to blow up your life and his, just to prove a point. Do we understand each other?"

Arielle swallowed the threat lingering in her mind as he leaned back.

She nodded slowly, and the smile returned.

"Good. Now fight."

AN: Have a great weekend! Thanks for reading.