197 - Challengers (Patreon)

Selena inhaled deeply until she felt her chest and abdomen expand.

Then, she held it.

She allowed the heat to build up in her chest, traveling down her nerves until she was hyperaware of all the tiny particles within her, the energy that travelled through her body, reinforcing her organs, circling her lungs.

She waited until her heartbeat pounded in her ears, and she imagined that she could breathe fire.

Then she exhaled.

Her breath shimmered with heat even hotter than the atmosphere around them. The air looked almost liquid in the sauna, fashioned after an ancient volcano, where she sat on the top of a sharp, heated rock.

She had to maintain the same position for hours, as one tiny misplaced breath could send the rock stabbing into her backside. It took several years of training for her to meditate like this, and it was the one way guaranteed to clear her mind and redirect her focus internally, getting rid of all the impurities in her body and restoring her equilibrium.

That was what she needed the most after her battle with the demons.

When the creatures had appeared out of nowhere, the monks had taken her from the group and tried to push her into the room that housed the escape tunnels.

“We’ll hold them off,” they screamed. “Just go.”

Selena had refused. Despite their fervent protests, she’d chosen to stay and fight by their side, to kill as many demons as she could.

It was hard. The demonic horde was endless and vicious, and one of them grabbed Selena and took flight, freezing her from the inside out and forcing her to bite into their flesh to be let go.

The creature's scream was music to her ears, and she glared back as it dropped her, to show she was just as vicious as they were.

Then she burned it to a crisp. 

She burned and burned, but they kept coming back. She was prepared to keep going, to slaughter them in her rage...but then suddenly it all stopped.

The onslaught ended, and they were all free.

Selena got away with fewer wounds than some of the others. A lot of people in her group died. She could still see their faces even now; the vacant look in their eyes that made anger and guilt pierce through her chest. 

She hadn’t done enough to save them.

She'd been caught up in rage and bloodlust, and her fighting style was almost all offense without widespread defense. Graham had warned her about that some time back when she was on campus, and had told her that the way she fought endangered anyone who followed her.

“It’s good to be the tip of the spear,” he said. “When there’s an adequate shield beside you. But when there’s not, everything else becomes collateral damage.”

She hadn't truly paid attention because she'd assumed she would fight alongside soldiers who were very capable of defending themselves. It was how it always was. They would take care of the fallout and guard the citizens while she cut off the heads of the hydra.

But when the battle ended, and there were more bodies on the floor than were alive, including one of the monks, she felt a little struck and sickened by it.

She’d even imagined Dean Octavius staring down at her in judgement. 

She took a deep breath again, and upon an exhale, she let the pieces of the guilt and anger go. There was nothing she could do about it now. They were gone, and so were the demons.

But they would be back. If they could launch an attack like that once, they would likely do it again.

Selena had to be prepared.

Her coronation would also be very soon. The ministers were already preparing her speech, talking about what she would wear. Eager to control her. 

The opening of the sauna door felt like an irritatingly loud clamor against her senses, but it didn’t knock her out of her meditative state. She expanded her core with energy and pushed the qi around her body as evenly as she could.

The voice seemed to come from far away. 

“It’s almost time for the induction,” he said. “Your first event as a member of the assembly.”

Selena didn't respond.

After Monk Ignacio's death, it was agreed by the Elders that Selena would take his place in the assembly. It was only right. She had matured and was in her final semester at the academy. She was a Master. There was nothing else holding her back.

Today was an important day, a day when she would finally attend her first official assembly meeting, her first step into her seat of power.  

She would be happier about the ascent if not for the events that transpired to make it happen, and the death of Monk Ignacio. She had little affection for the man, and he was easily one of her most irritating guardians, but she hadn’t wanted him to die like that.

It wasn’t right.

She inhaled again and continued meditating, releasing all the negative thoughts, the memories flashing in her eyelids, the rage, the feeling of loss, the impurities. She shifted her qi and waited for Monk Ernesto to leave.

No such luck.

"There's another interesting thing happening today," he said.

The man liked to test her concentration by bringing her news when she was in the middle of meditation. He wanted to see if she could maintain that concentration even with him there. If she won, he would simply walk away. If she lost, there would be scripting sessions and prayers in her future.

“I heard that someone broke your record as the youngest master ever.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Selena’s eyes opened, and her head whipped towards him, though she kept her body still so as not to hurt herself. “Another youngest master?”

His lip downturned in disapproval. He didn't like that he'd been able to break her concentration.

She didn’t care.

She had never heard of anyone in any of the other elite academies close to achieving Master status, much less anyone younger than her. After the loss of the five or so masters, she thought she knew who would ascend, and they were all far older than she was.  

“Yes," he said. “And even more peculiar is the way she did it. Apparently, she had only been marked as an apprentice before this.”

“Apprentice to master? That’s impossible."

“It should be. Several in the assembly are in an uproar about it, but the decision seems to have been made by the council, so there’s really nothing they can do about it. They say her cores are quite special, and triggered a system reevaluation as a result."

Selena’s mind swam, so much that she barely heard what Monk Ernesto said after that.

Her own advancement, as it were, had caused a stir in the assembly too. Everyone had wanted to meet her and know what she was. She'd also faced a few challenges for her position and she'd accepted them gleefully, teaching her opponents that her age was not an indication of inexperience and she was not to be messed with.

The fact that she was the youngest master ever recorded, and no one had advanced as quickly as she did, was no longer a liability but something that made her admirable and awe-inspiring. The Calor Princess was the perfect storm of talent, courage, and hard work.

No one had achieved what she had.

But this stranger was about to do better. Not only were they young, but they were also skipping the line. Were they going to be a master without any of the sacrifices Selena and many others had made for the role? They didn't have to slay hydras and rescue villages from trolls?

The idea was preposterous.

What on Earth was the council thinking? Who on earth could be so special as to warrant this–?

The answer came to her before she even finished the question.

It was like a strike in the throat, a shock so strong it stopped her breath for several seconds, even though the realization should have been obvious from the beginning.

Of course. Who else would it be?

“Is her name Arielle Blacksoil?” she asked slowly, and didn’t even have to look over. The answer was an impending doom.

“How did you know?”

Selena closed her eyes.

She felt her body slacken, pain digging into her backside as Monk Ernesto called out a warning. She ignored it. So many thoughts clamored in her head for dominance, but if she tried to voice any of them, she just might scream.

Arielle Blacksoil.

Arielle Blacksoil.

She shouldn’t care. She was already past that phase, and she had better things to worry about than her. 

Arielle Blacksoil. 

Damn her. 

In the end, Selena could only throw back her head and laugh. 

She laughed so loudly and for so long, that she could tell Monk Ernesto was concerned she had lost her mind. He kept asking her what the matter was, and what she was laughing at, but she couldn’t even say it. The whole thing was ridiculous. So ridiculous. 

She levitated herself off the clutched her stomach, peals of laughter taking over her body. She let go, let it take her, and a strange sort of acceptance began to descend. 

Amidst the crazed hysteria that made tears flow from her eyes, that made her forget the horrible thoughts that plagued her, a different type of thought descended. The dean’s words echoed in her ears. A mocking voice followed, but it was all drowned in the waves of release.Arielle Blacksoil. 

The laughter eventually tapered off, and she wiped her face. Monk Ernesto was threatening to call a healer if she didn’t tell him what was wrong with her but she merely shook her head. 

She healed her wounded bottom, balanced herself once more on the rock, closed her eyes and inhaled. 

***

Arielle yawned when she and Elric appeared at the base of the marble staircase leading to a giant, official-looking building.

He glanced at her. “Sleep well?”

She shrugged. She'd slept fine for the most part, but she was still tired from the early morning training and, unlike Inara and Sir Spendulon, she hadn’t gotten to take a nap.

She would take one after this induction, though. Vittoria told her that as hectic as her schedule was about to get, she also had to prioritize adequate sleep in order for her muscles to grow.

She was also hoping that, now that Arielle could freely cast complex spells, her qi*** would accumulate much faster and she could use that to build her attributes. The problem was that Ari didn’t generate much qi from the spells that she cast, and she didn’t want to cast spells imperfectly to generate them, which meant that she would have to gain a lot of her strength the old-fashioned way.

After her visit with the demon, Vittoria had helped her craft a cool shielding spell that was mostly Calor and Massa with a little bit of Vacu and Vitae. The idea stemmed from Arielle's antimagnetic spell, which she'd used in her fight against Graham, but it went one step further by focusing on the idea of anti-movement and attack reversal, so that once the spell was activated, any attack sent toward her would be slowed, reversed, and eliminated. It would also sense any life forms before they touched her and not only keep them away from her but it would make them slow down whenever they entered her orbit. 

If she combined it with Primal Sense, it would be the ultimate defense against both magical and physical incursions.

“I’m sorry," Elric said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "You probably need more rest after everything that you’ve been through."

“I’m okay,” she said. “This won’t take long, will it?”

“It shouldn’t. There really isn’t much else on the agenda for today besides the induction.”

“Alright,” she said, and they began up the stairs. A few more people were arriving behind them via teleportation, and ahead of them there were others, clustered in groups discussing amongst themselves.

“Elric!" one man with a very long, brown beard said as he approached. “Nice to see you again.”

“How are you doing, Cinaq?" Elric said.

"I'm well. I heard you had a bit of a bad time at the Iverson ball."

"You could say that," Elric said, and the man chuckled.

"Well. For once, I'm happy I didn't get the invite."

"Yeah." Elric cleared his throat, but the man didn't move. His eyes were focused on Arielle, who briefly glanced at his face, and then focused on his very shiny shoes instead.

"This is my cousin," Elric finally introduced. "Arielle.'

"Of course, I’ve heard a lot about her," he said. “It’s nice to meet you, young lady.”

Arielle nodded. "It's nice to meet you too."

She continued to suffer his stare until Elric said, "Alright, Cinaq, then I’ll see you inside.”

“Of course. See you."

Even as they walked away, Arielle could feel the man staring at her back.

That wasn't the only incident, nor was it the only time Elric's name was called.

He seemed to be quite popular, and he was greeted a bunch of times on their way in. He stopped to introduce Arielle to a few people, and each time, they would stare at her with an inordinate length of focus, as though expecting her to sprout two heads. She saw and felt one of them attempt to pull up her system screen, which would give them a pending message, as her new system screen would only appear after the induction.

After about five minutes of walking, they finally entered the assembly hall, which featured a broad central aisle with a checkered floor pattern and a podium in the center with a gavel resting on it. Tiered benches rose on every side, bordered by large marble columns, and varied statues that were enchanted to watch the proceedings and react to any attack.

Magical scripts, visible and invisible, had also been traced into the loadbearing base of each wall, outfitting the room with more surveillance and security features. The checkered walls, marble arches, and the vaulted ceilings also hid mounted protocol, with the chandelier glittering like a hundred eyes.  

So many people were already seated, nearly a hundred, and the din of conversation instantly surrounded them. Arielle was uncomfortable, but she buried her discomfort. As they walked by, she heard Elric’s name called a few more times, but he simply waved without responding.

A glance showed that he seemed to be searching for something. He stopped suddenly and started up the side stairs leading them to one of the higher benches.

As they went up, Arielle spotted Lord Wesley, sitting with two other young men who looked so alike they might as well be twins.

They exuded authority, marking them as Archmages. Arielle wondered vaguely if after she became a master, she would exude authority too.

"You're here right on time," Lord Wesley said. “Arielle, these are my nephews, Archmages Ian and Caleb."

Arielle bowed to them and said, "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon to you." One of them responded. “So you’re the famous Arielle Blacksoil. My uncle has been quite enamored with you for the past few months or so."

"Enamored is an understatement," the other said. "He’s plagued every designer in the area, including my lady’s, all in search of something that would tempt you into an alliance."

"Bah, enough, you two," Wesley said as they chuckled. "Anyway, the meeting should start shortly. The Assembly Speaker will call all to stand and recite the anthem. Then, those who are going to ascend will be called forth one by one. Arielle, I believe you're going to be called last. He will then explain the circumstances of your ascension, acknowledging the unusualness of it all, and invite any adept challengers for a friendly duel. The more skilled ones will step forward. Then he will read out the rules, which I'm sure you're probably aware of, right?"

Ari nodded.

"Don't be too worried," Caleb said. "It will all be okay."

"I'm not worried," she said. "Just tired."

"Ah, yes. These meetings tend to crop up at the worst of times." He gave her a kind smile, but there was also that curiosity as he stared at her.

She gave him a quick smile in return, and turned away, waiting for it all to begin.

About ten minutes later, the hall was full, and the large doors folded shut, the sound cutting through the din and enacting a silencing effect.

A tall man with round spectacles stepped out from one of the lower benches, and he stood at the podium, lifting his gavel and banging it once.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said. "Rise for the anthem."

Everyone rose, and with him they recited, "For man and for beast. For war and for peace. For trade and for leisure. For burden and for treasure..." 

Arielle didn't know the words, so she simply stood and put her hand on her chest as everyone else did, listening to the chant.

"For rules and for light. For day and for night..." It kept going on and on like that for several stanzas, until it ended with, "In these esteemed halls, the divine judgement befalls."

“Thank you,” the speaker said. “You may sit.”

They all sat down, and Elric leaned in and told her, "Don't worry. I'll teach you the words next time."

She nodded, but also realized that she wasn't a part of the assembly, so there likely wouldn't be a next time for a while.

Regardless, it would be nice to learn it anyway.

As the proceedings began and the speaker announced the agenda for the day, Arielle leaned back in her seat.

This was all so new to her, and she should be soaking it all in, but she was really too tired to appreciate it. She heard the names of the new masters being called forward, along with applause and a process by which they were officially inducted by a member of the council.

She found her eyelids drooping slowly, her head even bumping into Elric's shoulder at one point.

Maybe she should have taken that nap after all, instead of going to visit the demon.

"Arielle Blacksoil."

"Yes?" The sound of her name jolted her awake, and she rose to her feet automatically.

No response/

Everywhere was silent. Suddenly she was aware of all the eyes on her, and her breath caught; her body froze. It was the ball procession all over again.

A gentle hand nudged her forward. 

"Go," Elric whispered, giving her an encouraging wink.

She swallowed and continued downwards, then toward the center of the room.

She tried to ignore the growing murmur around her and the staring. It got so loud that even the speaker had to pound the gavel, and he said, "Quiet, please. These are divine matters we speak of."

The room quieted once more, until Arielle made it to the spot.

Once she did, the speaker gestured to her and spoke to the crowd. "Now, I know there has been some controversy over the selection of Arielle Blacksoil as a new Master," he said, triggering a fresh round of murmurs that had him banging his gavel again. "Especially as she was an apprentice just a week before. But it was recently discovered that her cores were not adequately evaluated on the day of her first evaluation, and upon reevaluation, they were said to be advanced enough to attain a master status. Now, given this unusual set of circumstances, it's understandable that many of you are questioning Arielle Blacksoil's skill and readiness to take on the role, and in accordance with that, she has accepted a friendly duel from any adept who seeks to challenge her."

He clapped twice and one of the spells in the walls activated. The room began to expand, the pews shifting backward, allowing the central aisle to triple in size and provide an adequately spacious battle arena. Black lines of Vacu rose out of the ground, bordering the aisle and mixing with Massa and Luxa to form a transparent shield high enough to protect those on the benches from any attacks.

The podium lowered into the ground in tandem, and the speaker stepped back through the protective field, now standing amidst the spectators, leaving Arielle alone on the arena.

Nevertheless, his voice carried as he spoke.

"Alright," he said. "As we all know, the rules of a friendly duel are as follows. The fight immediately stops at third blood or first knockout. You are allowed to forfeit at any time with no consequences to either fighter. There shall be no aim to kill, and injuries must be kept within a reasonable threshold. Is that understood?"

Arielle nodded. Vittoria had already explained the rules to her and had explained what 'reasonable' threshold meant. Although it could be fairly ambiguous, they should not attempt to maim each other or seriously and permanently injure each other. A quick knockout, Vittoria said, was her best bet.

"The first challenger is Magnus Thierry of the Great Tree sect," the Speaker said. "As you all know, Magnus has been head of the sect for twenty-seven years, and has served valiantly to protect us from Yeti invasions and the ice storms."

Magnus stood from his seat. He was large, with short whitish-blonde hair. He reminded Arielle of a much paler version of father, except in a silken robe and with a wand instead of boar skin and an axe.

As he stepped onto the aisle, he stared at her and said, "You look young enough to be my granddaughter."

He also looked old enough to be her father.

Arielle opened her mouth to respond, but a yawn escaped rather than words. She quickly covered it with her hand, and said, “Sorry.” 

That seemed to make the man frown, and his eyes glinted.

"Okay," the speaker said. "You may begin."

Magnus lifted his wand, but before he could finish casting his spell, Arielle said, "[Spell Breaker].

His spell shattered before his eyes.

Before he could recover, she followed it up with, "[Quick Slumber]."

The spell shot out of her wand, and the man threw up a shield, but she adjusted it in real time so it moved around the shield and hit him regardless.

"[Quick Slumber] was a spell she had prepared for this, an anti-vitality spell that used Calor rather than Vitae to make it less dangerous, and less likely to suck the life out of someone. Essentially, the combination of Vacu, Massa, and Calor made one's heart beat much slower, made the body much heavier, and induced an exhaustion that one could simply not fight.

After the spell hit him, the man swayed a few times, then dropped to the ground. After a second, a snore escaped him.

Okay.

One down. Some more to go.

Silence reigned in the entire hall.

Arielle hadn't expected applause, but the silence was a little eerie. Had she done something wrong?

Arielle glanced at Elric and saw that both Lord Wesley's nephews were gaping at her.

She glanced back at the speaker, and his jaw was slackened as well. He was staring at her in abject surprise, and she wondered if she had done something unusual. Had it been too much? Was her casting speed too fast? She was used to fighting against Archmages and demons and adepts were typically much slower. 

Maybe she should have let the fight last longer. At least six seconds.

"Is there anyone else?" she asked.

"Erm..." The speaker coughed, regaining his composure. "Yes. There's Fallon Winthrome, second son of Dion Winthrome and a member of the prestigious Order of Blue Coats. He once infiltrated a black market criminal organization known as The All Fates and took them down all by himself."

A studious-looking man with salt-and-pepper curls stood up and walked down the side of the pew to meet Arielle.  

He looked familiar, and Arielle narrowed her eyes, trying to place if they'd ever met before.  

"My brother tells me that you associate yourself with charm thieves," the man said, and Arielle realized. He must be related to Bishop Winthrome, the charm maker.  

"Or perhaps you're the charm thief yourself," he said and narrowed his eyes.

"The charm wasn't stolen," she responded. "It had a different makeup than your brother's." A better one, she added mentally. 

The man's gaze sharpened, and he cast, "[Doppelganger].

He was a much faster caster than the last challenger, creating a rush of dust and fog, within which he duplicated himself.

Two of his clones attacked her, but she knew neither of them was him. He was really behind her, invisible, aiming at her with another spell.

She blocked with her new anti-movement shield, boosted her speed and had already activated the spell before she pointed behind her and said, "[Quick Slumber]."

The spell shot out and hit him right at the target. The clones disappeared, and the real man was on the floor, also fast asleep.

Someone released a choked gasp from the crowd. A few stood.

 Arielle checked the time and saw that the fight had taken six seconds. She had to aim for ten next time.

She stared back at the speaker. "Anyone else?"

"Erm..." he coughed. "Yes. Lia Li. A member of the prestigious Li family, and next in line to–"

"Actually," a woman called from the crowd. "I think I'll sit this one out."

A few chuckles followed her declaration, and the speaker nodded.

"Okay. Now we have....Darius Dove. Son of the leader of the Blackhand Clan.”

Darius looked the youngest out of all of them, but even he was several years older than Arielle. He came down the steps, staring at her, analyzing her as he did. 

Arielle cocked her head, analyzing his stance and the curious blend of essences around him.

She'd never seen Vacu and Massa in equal proportions quite like that, and it made her curious about his power. What mixed Vacu and Massa with Calor? Darkness and Earth. Shadow?

"You'll find that I'm not so easy to pin down, Ms Blacksoil," he said.

"Okay," she responded, and got ready for what he would throw at her.

The minute her fight began, she instantly felt it.

It was shadow.

“[Hands of Doom].” The ground burst, several golem hands shooting towards her, but that wasn't the real spell.

It was a distraction, and the real spell was being cast in the ground, by his shadow against hers.  

Clever.

"[Spell Breaker]."

The hands shattered, but before she could follow up with [Quick Slumber], he cried out, "[All Around Fortress]."

The slumber spell bounced off his shield, and the fortress he'd built would make it hard to hit him.

So, she aimed it for his shadow instead.

"[Quick Slumber]."

His eyes widened, and he put up a spell to block it, but it was too late.

The spell cast on the shadow affected his body too, and he fell to the ground, not asleep, but trapped nevertheless.

She turned back to the speaker and checked the clock. Ten seconds. That was a good time.

She stifled another yawn and hoped there weren’t many more.

"Oh, erm..." The Speaker cleared his throat and looked around. "Let's see. Are there any more challengers?"

"I challenge.” 

The voice sounded familiar.

Arielle looked up, and she saw her rise and square her shoulders, her eyes flickering with heat.

It was Selena Gregor.

AN: Hi guys! Just about done finalizing the edit of the system. Huge shout out to Arkennys for helping with this. Will release a master doc sometime tomorrow with explanations, showing what changed and giving clearer descriptions for how everything works (or at least how everything is thought to work at least up until this point in the story), while going back to earlier chapters and editing that in for a smoother reading experience. There won’t be too many changes, just fixing the stuff that made the story wonky, based on the earlier critiques I got at the beginning.

I highlighted the part about qi in this chapter, because how it works is going to change slightly in accordance with that. 

Thanks for reading!