My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror - Chapter 282 (Patreon)

Sylph vaulted over the railing and landed gently on the sand below. Aven followed after her, dropping like a rock and thudding into the ground hard enough to knock a small cloud of it into the air around her.

“Planes,” Henry said, sliding out of Damien’s shadow. “How much does she weigh? Fatty.”

“Henry,” Yui admonished. “You say that to her face, not behind her back. It’s rude if you spread rumors.”

“Oh, good idea,” Henry said. “Will do.”

Damien shook his head, his eyes fixed on the small arena below as Sylph and Aven moved to opposite ends of it and turned to face each other. He wasn’t the only one – everyone in the room was watching the brewing fight with rapt interest.

Mark and Elania had paused their game and had moved to the railing to peer down, and even Cheese was paying attention.

“On your mark,” Aven said, stretching her arms above her head. She raised her arms in a strange position over her head, turning her body into a Y shape. “You can make the first move.”

Sylph didn’t need to be told twice. She faded into her camouflage, disappearing from view. A small puff of sand from where she was only standing was the only indication that she had moved.

A loud twang rang out and tiny strand of light stretching across the arena behind Aven suddenly lit up. The sound repeated several times, revealing more of the strands crisscrossing over the sand.

Sylph faded back into view several paces away from Aven, her dagger pressed against one of the strands.

“Realized I could see you?” Aven asked, cocking her head to the side.

“No point wasting Ether when it isn’t going to change anything,” Sylph replied. She blurred, making for Aven once more. An instant before she reached the other woman, Sylph threw herself to the side.

Another strand had revealed itself, running just in front of where Sylph’s neck would have been. As Sylph slid to a stop, Damien realized a tiny cut had appeared on her neck. It sealed so quickly that it was hard to believe it had ever been there.

Sylph approached Aven again, slower this time. Aven stood still, content to just watch the younger woman try to reach her.

“What kind of magic even is that?” Elania asked. “Why isn’t Sylph just attacking her?”

“It looks like whatever those strings or strands are, they’re very sharp,” Damien said, not taking his eyes off the fight. “And it doesn’t look like Sylph can see where they are. If she moves too quickly or carelessly, she could lose a limb.”

“That sounds like it would take a ridiculous amount of Ether to keep up,” Yui said, narrowing her eyes. Sylph dashed at Aven again, slipping under several lines that appeared before her path.

An instant before she reached Aven, a thin blur whipped toward her and she was forced to flicker to the side to avoid getting hit.

Damien extended his senses, brushing them over the arena. To his surprise, he couldn’t feel anything from most of the strands. A few had Ether running through them, but the rest were completely invisible.

“That isn’t magic,” Damien said. “The strands aren’t, at least. They’re real metal. Aven is putting Ether into them.”

“It’s her favorite way to fight,” Cheese supplied. “Vibration magic. It’s cheap and annoying. I hate fighting against it.”

What do you think, Henry? Just destroy them with overwhelming force, right?

“That’s usually going to be the case for you,” Henry answered in his mind. “We could probably cut through them with Tear, or cut them off before they reached you with Devour. It would be easiest to use ranged attacks, though.”

Sylph isn’t the best at those. It doesn’t look like she’s going all out yet either, though. She could just cut Aven off of her magic.

“Only if she understands enough about Vibration Ether to find it. Vibration is a pretty uncommon school, so it might be harder for Sylph to find in the middle of a fight. It looks like she’s trying to determine just how many strings Aven’s got set up around the arena.”

Metal squealed once more as Sylph’s dagger caught on another metal thread. Several other threads whipped toward her, but she vaulted out of the way, narrowly avoiding the attack.

“You aren’t doing bad,” Aven said. She still hadn’t moved from the spot where she’d started the fight. “For a Year Two, you’ve done far more than most. You can be proud of that.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Sylph replied. “I haven’t started yet.”

Aven laughed. “There’s no need to get a bruised ego. I’ve been doing this for far longer than you have.”

Sylph cocked her head to the side. Two scythes erupted from her back, arching over to loom above her. Green acid dripped from them and she lowered her stance, keeping low to the ground.

Then Sylph vanished. Several of the strands slumped, falling harmlessly to the ground. A black shield bloomed around Aven, then shattered into shards as Sylph appeared, her scythes arcing toward the older student.

Aven flew backward as if she had been yanked, escaping a moment before either of Sylph’s weapons could reach her. She adjusted midair, slamming back down to the ground and making a sharp motion with her hands.

All over the arena, threads materialized like the web of a spider. Every single one of them wound back to Aven, connecting to every part of her body.

“She actually managed to cut through Aven’s Ether-enforced strings,” Cheese said, letting out a slow whistle. “Now that’s cool. She wasn’t that strong back in Forsad.”

He turned to Damien and nudged him.

“What?”

“Her name. What is it again?”

“Sylph. Why?”

“Just curious. It wasn’t worth remembering before,” Cheese said, turning back to the fight. “At least, I don’t think it was. I don’t remember.”

“You’re fast,” Aven said, no longer looking nearly as calm as she had been before. Now, her face was determined and her eyes sharp, watching Sylph like a hawk. “What kind of magic are you using?”

“None, yet,” Sylph replied. “That shield was Dark magic, though.”

“One of my many talents,” Aven replied, curling a finger. Threads snapped toward Sylph and she vanished. The moving threads flopped to the ground, cut into shreds. Sylph blurred toward Aven, carving through everything in her path.

Aven raised her hands, then blinked in surprise. Damien suppressed a laugh. He recognized the look on her face – she’d just tried to use her Dark magic and found out that it was completely cut off from her.

To her credit, Aven reacted with incredible speed. Jagged ice erupted from the ground beneath her like a flower, jutting out in every direction and forcing Sylph to vault backward to avoid getting impaled.

“What is this?” Aven asked. “What did you do?”

Sylph didn’t respond. White energy enveloped her as her companion joined the fight, encasing Sylph in translucent armor. Then she launched herself at Aven once more.

Ether filled the arena as the two girls threw themselves into a violent fight. Metal rang out and energy scored across the sand, melting and throwing it into the air.

Aven’s mastery of magic was unbelievable. As they danced through the arena exchanging blows, she drew upon fire, earth, and light magic. Each one was chosen at the precise time to give her the best chance of injuring Sylph, as Aven had realized that she only had one shot with every type before Sylph sealed it away.

Everyone watched in rapt attention as the battle raged. It was difficult to tell which of them had the lead. If Sylph had been able to shut out Aven’s Vibration magic, she would have won long ago. But, since it appeared that she couldn’t, Aven was holding her own.

Even though threads littered the ground, dozens of them still stretched through the air. With every twitch of Aven’s fingers, they shifted through the arena, each one threatening to carve Sylph apart.

After twisting out of the way of an attack that nearly took a leg off, Sylph adjusted her stance once more. Her eyes narrowed and she blurred toward Aven. Threads snapped to cut off her path and constricted around her like a ball, leaving only a single opening to Sylph’s right. A grin stretched across Aven’s face, and she thrust a hand into the air.

Jagged spikes of metal erupted from the ground in the opening, where they would impale Sylph if she had dodged into it. It was the only logical move, as every other one would have resulted in getting cut to pieces by the razor wires.

Sylph didn’t do the logical move. She leapt forward, extending her body and retracting her scythes back into her back. Aven’s eyes went wide as Sylph passed through a tiny hole between the threads – but not completely.

One of the threads hit her on the elbow, carving her arm off just below it. Sylph rolled as she hit the ground, rising back to her feet. She extended the stump of her arm toward her severed hand and strands of green acid leapt out, connecting to it and yanking the limb back.

It squelched back into place and Sylph’s forearm morphed into a blade. She brought it up with blinding speed, resting it against Aven’s neck. The arena was silent. Everyone stared at them in awe, Damien included. It had been one of the most impressive fights he’d seen in a while.

Even though he knew about Sylph’s incredible regenerative abilities, a flash of fear had struck him when he saw Sylph’s arm get severed. He hadn’t realized she’d managed to stretch them this far. This was even more than the normal Corrupted monsters could do.

“That was incredible,” Aven breathed, lowering her hands and letting the remaining threads go slack. “I’ve never seen anything like it. How many kinds of lost magic do you have? That wasn’t healing that you used, was it?”

Sylph lowered her arm, letting it return to its normal shape. “It was not. You’re very good yourself. I didn’t think I’d need to try so hard against another student.”

“Another student?” Aven snorted. “I’m not a student anymore, and I don’t want to pat myself on the back, but I’m one of the strongest mages out of Blackmist in a while. How did you get this much stronger since Forsad?”

“I had good motivation,” Sylph replied with a smirk. “But you didn’t fight like this at Forsad either.”

Aven flicked her hands. The slack threads whistled through the air, retracting through the sleeves of her shirt.

“That’s because I wasn’t technically there. I was controlling a doll. That’s typically how I fight, but it means I can’t use my Vibration magic as I’m already using it to move the doll around. I never expected I would have needed to use my full strength there.”

“Did you use it here?” Sylph asked.

Aven grimaced. “No. I’m not allowed to right now, but I think you might have gotten me, even if I had used it. I didn’t expect you to be as strong as you were. We’re going to have a very long talk later, if you don’t mind. There’s a lot I’d like to learn from you.”

“Her attitude sure changed,” Henry said.

I’m not so sure. I’m pretty sure she was trying to get Sylph and I to fight her by being a little rude. I think this is more like her real attitude. It’s closer to how she acted at Forsad anyway.

“She keeps getting stronger,” Mark muttered, staring down at Sylph. His eyes raised to Damien’s and he squinted. “You too?”

Damien nodded. “We’re an even match if our companions don’t get involved.”

“And if they do?” Mark asked.

“Then we win,” Henry said with a smug grin. “No contest, I’m afraid. I’m just too talented. And handsome.”

Mark grunted. “I’m not ready to fight you seriously yet. I have to train harder.”

Elania groaned. “Oh no. He just left isolated training a few days ago. Damien, tell him to train with other people instead of shutting himself up.”

“Train with other people instead of shutting yourself up.”

Aven looked up at them. “Good topic transition. Thank you. Training is the reason I’m here – and the reason you are, too.”

“You said Whisp assigned you,” Mark said. “Could you explain exactly what’s going on?”

Aven nodded. She leapt into the air, grabbing onto a thin thread and swinging herself onto the platform beside them. Sylph appeared beside her.

“I’ve been hired to make sure you’re all as strong as possible. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be helping with all of your training sessions. That’s why you’ve all been brought here.”

“Whisp assigned you for this?” Damien asked suspiciously.

“Well, technically, Whisp assigned me to someone else who assigned me here,” Aven replied, leaning against the railing. “But it’s the same thing.”

“Is there something in particular we’re training for?” Viv asked.

Damien’s eyes narrowed. Aven’s avoidance of saying exactly who had hired her had done the exact opposite and told him exactly who was responsible. Before he could say anything, a mote of gray light bloomed behind them, and Delph emerged from within it. A red portal snapped open beside him and Dredd stepped out as well, a weary expression on his face.

“Well done, Aven. I love a dramatic entrance,” Delph said. “Hello again, you little brats. As Aven said, we’ll be responsible for giving you the most rapid training possible over the next few weeks. See, after Blackmist’s ranking battles, we’re all going on a trip to the frontlines.”