TS5: Chapter 22 (Patreon)

Standing on the platform facing Garin, Thorn could feel the weight of the crowd's gaze resting on his back, but he paid it little attention. His focus was on the longsword pointed towards his throat and the heavy aura that surrounded it. From what he could tell, this Flowlight secret art that Garin practiced was a mix between the light element and the water element, producing both speed and weight in tremendous quantities. Taking his hesitation for fear, Garin walked forward confidently, his blade slowly swishing from side to side, leaving a trail of blue aura as it moved. Thorn had noticed that the tip of Garin's blade tended to circle in a figure eight, and he seemed to favor fierce stabs and heavy slashes. Even as Thorn was processing this, Garin attacked, his feet carrying him to the side as the tip of his blade stabbed towards Thorn's shoulder.

Thorn shifted to block with his halberd, but even as he did he was paying attention to his other side, and sure enough, a drop of aura that had been left behind by Garin's flowing blade shot towards his leg. Using the butt end of his halberd, Thorn knocked the attack away and stepped forward, launching a chop towards Garin's chest. Once more, the tip of Garin's sword wove through the air, tapping lightly against the side of the halberd and guiding it away from Garin's body. For a tense few moments, the two fought back and forth, each throwing their attacks with increasing speed and ferocity as they tried to get through the other's defenses. Watching from the stands, Mina let out a hiss as she saw Thorn avoid a particularly nasty stab.

"Has he always been this good?" she asked, glancing at Corvo.

"No," Corvo said, watching the fight intensely, his eyes bright purple. "He's been getting better and better, ever since he learned that elemental blade art.”

“That's your art, isn't it?" Mina asked Stello, who nodded gravely.

"Yes, it is. Well, my master's."

"What do you think about it?" Velin asked. "I mean, Thorn's application of it."

"It's hard to say," Stello said, scratching his head. "If what I use could be considered a pure form of the style, then Thorn's is something else. It's like he's taken it for himself and is adapting it to be used with his body. After all, it's not designed for someone quite so large. Or so strong. Plus, he seems to have his own martial styles, and the more I watch, the more it seems that he's mixing those in."

As if to illustrate his point, Thorn took a step to the right, slipping past a flurry of slashes that Garin unleashed, his body seeming to melt through them as the butt end of his halberd hammered into Garin's solar plexus. At the last moment, the swordsman managed to get his blade up, but the sharp ting as the two weapons clashed echoed across the platform, and Garin was forced back a dozen steps.

"Like that," Stello said. "That's not one of our moves."

"That's the bizarre footwork that Thorn practices, isn't it?" Mina asked. "I've seen him do that before, and it's really frustrating when you're fighting with him."

"It seems that Thorn's opponent thinks so, too," Corvo said with a chuckle.

Garin certainly seemed to share the sentiment, and was glaring at Thorn through narrowed eyes, as if trying to puzzle out how he had managed to miss striking such a big target. Flashing a smile at the confused swordsman, Thorn pressed forward, not wanting to give Garin a chance to relax. His halberd chopped down with tremendous force, forcing Garin to dodge to the side, but halfway through the motion, Thorn stepped in the same direction, and his halberd curved wickedly, transforming into a flick that shot towards Garin's throat.

With a shout, Garin unleashed a wave of his golden-blue aura, blocking the attack and retreating the other direction. With a swipe, Thorn cut through the wave of light and pressed forward, but even as his foot landed, he heard a shout from Garin.

"Crashing Light Beams!"

When Thorn had cut through the wave of aura, it had spread it out, causing it to disperse into the surrounding area. Now, at a dozen points, that aura condensed once more, following the trajectory of Garin's sword as he unleashed six lightning-fast stabs. Where the aura condensed, drops of heavy blue formed, shooting down towards Thorn from all directions. Realizing that he had fallen into a trap, Thorn let out a shout of his own, his blade-style shifting, his weapon-style shifting in an instant. Up until this point, he had been fighting against Garin using his version of the flame-style, but now he shifted to earth, his center of gravity lowering slightly as his legs rooted themselves firmly against the ground. His halberd spun, forming the faint image of a mountain around his body, blocking the drops that shot towards him. Each one crashed into him with explosive force, but as the blast cleared, Thorn remained standing as an unshakable mountain in the center of the platform.

Not wanting to let go of his advantage, Garin had already launched his next attack, his aura forming the image of a dragon that wrapped around his blade as he stabbed towards Thorn. Shifting to face the incoming attack, Thorn's halberd rose halfway and fell in a short, sharp chop, carrying with it the force of an avalanche. As Serpent met Crushing Stone, the two auras clashed fiercely, transforming the stage into a mess of blue and yellow. For a moment, it was impossible to see what was going on and the crowd broke into a hubbub. When the two clashing auras finally cleared, the crowd went wild. Garin stood at the center of the stage, a haughty look on his face. The tip of his blade pointed down towards the ground, a faint bit of crimson on its tip. Thorn had been forced back and was holding one of his arms where Garin's attack had pierced through, reaching his flesh.

"Whatever that mess you're practicing is," Garin said, flicking his blade to the side, "it is not enough to stand up against the Vakatora's blade arts. You should give up now while I'm still being kind."

Thorn, who was looking at his arm, let out a low chuckle and shook his head.

"Is something funny?" Garin asked, his eyes narrowing.

"No," Thorn said. "I'm just starting to get excited. I keep meeting people who are much stronger than I thought, which means an opportunity for me."

"Opportunity?"

"Yes," Thorn said, flexing his wounded arm as his divinity began to repair it. "An opportunity to do what I'm best at."

Letting out a deep breath, Thorn took his position once more, his halberd lifting to point towards his opponent. He could feel the excitement burning in his chest, igniting his divinity as his mind began to process everything that had just happened. Figuring out how Garin had managed to pierce through his defenses.

"Let's try this again," Thorn said.

Earthen energy surged up around him, coating his blade as he waited for Garin's attack. Clicking his tongue, the swordsman obliged, his waving sword spreading aura once more before he lunged forward. As the aura serpent bit towards him, Thorn's halberd rose and fell, this time attacking from an angle as he tried to chop through the snake's scales. Once more, the snake moved with his blade, managing to curve around his blade, avoiding his attack before piercing straight towards his heart.

Just as before, Thorn's arm rose, intercepting the attack that pierced through his armor. As pain blossomed in his arm, Thorn retreated once more, but this time, Garin didn't let him, pressing forward with another stab. The entire time, Thorn's mind worked furiously, gathering every detail he could as he worked to construct a model of what was going on. It only took him a few moments to realize the trick of it, and as soon as he did, he let out a laugh that caused Garin to jump back.

"Oh, that's clever," Thorn said, his body bleeding in half a dozen places.

Within a moment, the wounds, which weren't that deep, had healed up and Thorn's armor began to repair itself as well. Across from him, Garin's sword slowly moved in the figure-eight pattern as he stared at Thorn.

"All right, I think I got it," Thorn said, nodding. "Let's try this once more."

Over the course of the fight, Garin had been growing angrier and angrier, and now that fury finally boiled over. His sword, which had been drawing lazy patterns in the air, suddenly accelerated, filling the platform with flowing blue light.

"I grow tired of these games," he said as he strode towards Thorn. "Let's end this."

"Fine, if that's what you want," Thorn replied, stretching out his halberd. Up until this point, the tip of his halberd had never once wavered, always pointing toward his opponent, steady as a rock. But now, it suddenly shifted, moving to the left before circling back around to the right. Facing him, Garin nearly tripped, watching in shock as Thorn's blade left a flicker of crimson behind.

"Is it like this?" Thorn muttered quietly to himself. "No, no, it's like this."

The faint flicker of flame streaming behind his blade suddenly grew stronger, thickening until it looked like a red paint filling the air in front of Thorn. Wielding his halberd like a paintbrush, Thorn spun it this way and that, filling the air with red aura. By this point, the eyes of practically everyone in the entire stadium were fixed on the platform where Garin and Thorn fought.

"You! What…" In disbelief, Garin stared as Thorn replicated his blade style, but with flame instead of water.

"It's clever to use light as an intermediary medium," Thorn said. "I'm honestly not sure that I would have thought of it myself, but come, let's see how your water fares against my flame."

"Wait," Garin yelled, but Thorn had already moved, his halberd smashing down towards Garin's head.

The Flowlight secret art that Garin used mixed water and light, using the omnipresent light as a medium with which to support the heavy water mana. Now, as water and fire clashed, the stage was enveloped in thick steam. The crowd could barely see what was going on, and only faint flashes of blue and red clashing through the thick steam revealed where Thorn and Garin were fighting.

In the midst of the cloud, Garin was panicking. He barely had time to process that Thorn had replicated his fighting style when Thorn's halberd smashed into him. Lifting his sword to block, he was shocked to find that the blow carried almost no weight, and he rapidly retreated as the halberd flickered this way and that, cutting towards him from all sorts of angles. Pulling his aura around him, Garin threw it forward, intending to drive Thorn back. But even as the drops of heavy water formed, they were met with a blazing flame that swallowed them up, transforming them into a thick mist that blocked his vision. Through the steam Thorn strode like some primordial giant. The steam didn't bother him one bit, as he wasn't relying on his eyes to keep track of the battle. With every wave of his halberd, more flame sprang to life.

He had figured out that the Vakatora secret art controlled the drops of water, launching them in staggered succession to attack from different angles. And he did the same thing now. It helped that he had once seen Tessra, the Mistress of Flames, domain, which used randomized tongues of flame to attack her opponents. And he could feel the divinity in his body operating at full capacity, allowing him to learn and adapt to the situation on the fly. With every strike, his form became cleaner. With every step, he merged his version of the Flowlight art into his Titan martial arts. Every blow grew stronger and sharper. And soon, Garin was being forced back across the platform, realizing that he was rapidly approaching the end.

Garin let out a loud shout and summoned all of his remaining aura into a fierce stab. Even as he drew back his arm, however, he saw a figure looming in front of him. Appearing through the fog at a speed Garin found impossible to match, he saw Thorn's halberd lashing out towards him. With no choice but to abandon his attack, Garin threw all of his aura into defending against the strike, forming a thick barrier over his chest. The tip of Thorn's halberd stabbed into the aura, causing heavy cracks to run through it.

The force of the attack rolled through Garin’s defenses and he was thrown backward, flying off of the stage and emerging from the cloud of steam like a cannonball. The crowd rang with shocked cries as they watched him tumble backwards. Alone on the stage, Thorn swiped his hand, gathering up all of the steam that surrounded him. It was a long moment before the crowd began to settle down, but it was unquestionable that Thorn had claimed the platform. Garin staggered up from where he had landed a dozen feet away, his gaze burning fiercely as he stared at Thorn. It looked as if he wanted to jump right back on the platform, but even as he took a step forward, a tremor wracked his body and blood trickled down from the edge of his lip as he began to cough violently.

After watching his opponent for a moment more, Thorn's eyes turned and swept the rest of the Ascendants, who were gathered around the central platform. Most were staring at Thorn in complete disbelief, and they weren't the only ones. Of the five Guardians and ten Magisters who were watching, only Guardian Artaith and Magister Imoset remained calm. The announcer, who had been staring at Thorn in shock, finally cleared his throat, glancing at Garin and then at the leader of the Vakatora family before announcing in a strained voice, "Ascendant Thorn has taken the fifth platform. You will have twenty minutes to rest, and then challenges can be declared."

Thorn felt completely fine and could have continued fighting right away. He gave the Administrator a small bow and sat down, resting his halberd across his knees as he began to meditate. Watching him in the stands, Velin laughed.

"He's a tricky one," she said, a proud smile on her face.

"What do you mean?" Stello asked, not understanding what she was talking about.

"I don't know if it's because of growing up with his aunt or what," Corvo replied, "but Thorn's always had a sharp head, a sharp nose for politics. If he were to fight against another enemy right away, he'd be saying that Garin wasn't even worth considering, which would make his enmity with the Vakatora family all the more pronounced."

"Oh, I guess that's true," Stello said. "I hadn't thought about that."

While Thorn was meditating, he took that time to examine the other stages. There were other challenges going on, though as Vesna had said, none of them were particularly serious, and seemed to be serving more as an opportunity for the various ascendants to show off their abilities. Each challenger would get up on the stage, display a few of their moves before being unceremoniously sent off by the four prime ascendants. Judging on the looks he was getting, however, Thorn knew that wouldn't be the case for him. When his twenty minutes were up, he stood up, planting his halberd firmly against the ground next to him, and gestured towards the waiting ascendants.

"Come on up, and let's get this over with."