Gleam - Chapter 143 (Patreon)

As soon as Joe indicated he was ready, Yeo flicked his kusarigama in a wide arc. The chain whistled through the air and Joe ducked out of the way, letting it pass overhead harmlessly. Yeo spun it back around him, the speed the weapon was moving at making a whump in the air before he sent it whistling back out.

Joe’s held a hand out and a wall of stone rose up at his side. The sickle thunked into it, biting just deep enough to get stuck. Joe reached out to grab the chain, but Yeo ripped the weapon free and drew it back to himself.

“You’re going to have to use Essence if you want me to take this seriously,” Joe said, cracking his neck.

“You’re probably right,” Yeo agreed. “I just thought it might have been cool if I managed to catch you off guard with a normal attack before we start.”

Joe let out a laugh and beckoned for Yeo to attack him again. “You’re certainly an interesting one. Parents not pay you enough attention as a child?”

“You’ve got no idea,” Yeo replied. He flicked his kusarigama at Joe again, but he didn’t wait to see the other man counter the attack. Even as the chain slipped through the air, Yeo clapped his hands together.

Chance’s aura vision picked up on ripples of grey Essence swirling between Yeo’s palms. He pulled them apart and the Essence stretched, glittering in dozens of thin strands. Joe grabbed the Kusarigama, his grip tightening around the chain.

“Let’s try fighting close range, shall we?” Joe asked, yanking the chain and pulling Yeo toward himself. Instead of fighting it, Yeo ran with the pull. His hands tightened around the threads of Essence and balls formed at their ends.

Right before he was within Joe’s grasp, Yeo bounded into the air. He flung the strands of Essence out and they spun like a massive fishing net, scattering across the arena. Not a single one of them actually got close to Joe, who reached up to yank Yeo out of the air before he could land.

Yeo grabbed his other kusarigama and threw it into the wooden shade above them, using it like a grappling hook to swing right over Joe’s head. He released his first weapon and pulled the second one out of the roof once he was safe, landing behind the proctor.

All the strands of Yeo’s gray Essence ran right back to his left hand, each one connected to a different part of his palm or fingers. Grinning as Joe turned toward him, Yeo’s hands tightened around the strands.

“A trap?” Joe asked, glancing around the arena. His armor shimmered as his hands both turned crystalline. “Interesting, but I’m not sure you’re taking this seriously yet.”

Yeo, for once, didn’t respond. He just spun his kusarigama in his free hand, letting it pick up speed. As it spun, Essence traveled down the chain and into the weapon’s head. It split into two.

Slivers of metal poured out of pouches on Yeo’s belt, pouring down the chain and into the sickles. They snapped back together, forming a new blade more than two times larger than the original.

“Metal Dragon Art: Executioner!”

Chance barely suppressed a wince as Yeo sent the huge blade screaming through the air. Evidently, he still liked calling his attacks out. Joe let out a burst of laughter and leaned to the side.

The sickle whipped past him harmlessly. Yeo yanked his hand to the side and the chain shuddered, redirecting the sickle’s motion abruptly. It shot up – striking one of the bands of metal that Yeo had distributed throughout the arena.

All the speed that his sickle had picked up accelerated the blade even further as it wrapped around the thread, moving from what would have been a complete miss to sending it hurtling straight for Joe’s side.

Joe raised a hand and the kusarigama shattered against his reinforced palm. Fragments of metal spun through the air, pattering to the ground all around him as Yeo’s chain slithered back into his hand.

“That was interesting. Can’t say I’ve heard someone tell me the name of their attack before they used it,” Joe said. He cracked his knuckles and touched one of the metal strands with a finger. “And these are pretty sharp – but this isn’t your Center ability. I can tell you’ve got one. What are you holding off on?”

“It’s embarrassing,” Yeo replied. He clenched his fist and all the metal fragments raced across the ground, swirling back into a sickle and reforming at the end of Yeo’s chain. A new kusarigama formed itself in his other hand, and he spun the two weapons at his sides.

“What’s going to be embarrassing is going to be when your teammates both pass and you fail,” Joe said. “I like to give everyone a chance to show their strength off, but you’re out of time. I’m going to start trying.”

Yeo bared his teeth in response. “Come on, then. I always fight best when I’m putting my all into it, and it’s hard to do that when my opponent isn’t fighting back.”

“Request granted.”

Joe drove a foot into the ground. A ripple shot through the dirt in Yeo’s direction, forcing him to leap into the air to avoid it. As soon as Yeo was airborne, Joe thrust a hand up. A matching hand erupted from the earth beneath Yeo, reaching for his legs.

Yeo twisted his body and flung a kusarigama at one of the metal strands. It spun around it and he swung out of the way, releasing the chain and twirling in the air to avoid cutting himself into pieces on the other threads.

It was an unbelievably impressive piece of acrobatics, but Joe didn’t seem very interested in theatrics. He charged toward Yeo, the earth coming up around him like a tidal wave of dirt. Joe charged straight through Yeo’s metal strands, using the reinforced parts of his armor to snap them like strings.

“He’s screwed,” Mina said sadly. “That sucks. His Essence is cool.”

Chance wasn’t so sure. Even as Yeo spun, he could see more strands of Essence spiraling out of his palm. All the strands of Essence he’d left around the arena, even the ones that littered the floor behind Joe, started to hum with energy. They were still under Yeo’s control – Chance just had no idea what he was doing with them.

Yeo landed with a flourish, tightening his hands around the strands. The wave of stone and dirt rose up over him. Essence flared in his chest and coursed down the strands, illuminating them all with bright gray auras.

“Sorry,” Yeo said. “I haven’t figured out a name for this move yet.”

A loud, buzzing hum filled the air. Joe’s stone wave rippled. Then it crumbled, cut into hundreds of tiny little pieces. Every single one of the wires was vibrating at such a high frequency that Chance couldn’t even see them moving – but he could feel them. It was like miniature ants crawling across his skin.

Yeo twisted his hand and a strand arced through the air, slicing toward Joe. His hand shot out, letting out a loud grinding shriek as it met the metal. Instead of shattering, bits of rubble started to cascade down his palm.

He was actually cutting through Joe’s defenses – and there were dozens of the strands, not just one. Yeo grinned and flexed his fingers. The strands came to life, twisting through the arena like a metal vortex as they all carved inward as one.

Joe’s smile fell away, replaced by a look of concentration. His armor warped, twisting around his body – and then he exploded. Chance’s eyes widened in disbelief and Mina drew in a shocked grasp as a pillar of stone swirled where Joe had stood. Yeo’s vibrating strands were drawn into the strand and ground to bits – the glowing Essence enveloping them vanished, consumed by a growing sea of Joe’s brown magic.

The stone whirlwind screeched to a stop and Joe melted out of it. The ground cracked beneath his feet as a row of stone raced out toward Yeo with blinding speed. Yeo went to dodge, but the earth beneath him wrapped around his ankles before he could move.

Giving them a futile tug, Yeo quickly realized that he wasn’t going to be able to free himself in time. Instead, he settled for trying another attack. He slapped his palms together once more, but before he could pull them apart, the stone shout out and wrapped around him, wrapping around his wrists and pinning his arms to his chest.

“Hey!” Yeo exclaimed, struggling furiously. “This is unfair!”

Tiny dirt hands pushed out of the ground and rolled Yeo out of the ring, much to his displeasure. As soon as he passed over the edge, the hands sank away and the bindings released Yeo.

“Goddamn,” Chance muttered. “You really took those metal strands to the next level, Yeo. They were already pretty impressive when you fought Jake.”

“You think?” Yeo’s disappointment vanished in a flash as he stood up, brushing his shirt off. “I didn’t get to do any of my Blood Demon arts, which was kind of a bummer. Joe didn’t try to cut me up at all.”

“I’m not trying to kill the kids I’m testing,” Joe grumbled, walking over to them. “I can’t say the same for you. Were you trying to cut my head off?”

“You’re a proctor! I wasn’t going to kill you,” Yeo said with a dismissive wave. “You were holding back so much and you said I had to use my Center ability. It was kind of lame, though. I didn’t have a cool name for it.”

“I can assure you that not having a name for your ability does not mean you can’t use it,” Joe said, rubbing his shoulders and shaking his head. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually felt a moment of threat from that. You plan to participate in any tournaments?”

Yeo tiled his head to the side. “I’m not sure. Should I?”

Joe shrugged. “Up to you – but I’m letting the Shikari know about that move of yours. It’s too much for most people your skill bracket. You could kill someone.”

“Thanks,” Yeo said with a sheepish grin. “I practiced it a lot.”

“That wasn’t necessarily a compliment. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Metal Essence used like that. That was Metal, right?”

“Yeah. I take it I passed, then?”

“Obviously,” Joe said dryly. He turned his attention to his daughter, a grin stretching across his lips as he held his hands out. “So, What do you think, Mina? Your old man is pretty cool, isn’t he?”

“You didn’t use your finishing move,” Mina said, scrunching her nose. She pointed at Yeo. “He was cooler.”

Joe’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. “What? Nonsense. You can’t tell me that a bunch of tiny little metal threads are more impressive than wielding the might of the earth itself.”

“The jury has spoken,” Yeo intoned. “I’m the coolest!”

“No, she was cooler than you,” Mina said, moving to point at Bella. “You’re cool in a weird way. She was so elegant. I wish my Essence could do that.”

Chance suppressed a laugh as Yeo’s expression shifted to match Joe’s perfectly.

“You shouldn’t worry about emulating other people’s Essence,” Bella said, her cheeks reddening at the girls’ praise. “I did that for a long time, but I didn’t really start to figure myself out until I sought out what I really wanted instead of what I thought would be the strongest.”

“That,” Joe said, recovering from his shock and giving Bella a nod, “is sage advice. I hope you’ll try to beat some of that sense into our good Metal cultivator here.”

“Hey!” Yeo exclaimed. “That’s not fair. I did better than her, didn’t I?”

“You did,” Joe allowed, much to Bella’s annoyance. “But you also concern me. That blasé attitude you have toward deadly attacks against people you aren’t actually trying to kill could be problematic, and not just in the value of life perspective. It shows me that you don’t have complete control over your Essence, so your only options are nothing or everything at once.”

Yeo tilted his head to the side, his expression turning more serious. “That’s a very fair point. I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks.”

“Anytime,” Joe replied. He put a hand on Mina’s shoulder and gave them all a small nod. “I’ve got to go report the results of this to the Shikari, and I’m sure you’d all prefer I get it done sooner rather than later. Congratulations. The three of you put on one of the most convincing exams I’ve ever seen. You’ve come a long way from fighting Greater Imps.”

“Thanks,” Chance said with a grin. “We’ll see you at the Shikari Base, then?”

“Most likely.” Joe raised a hand in farewell and Mina waved to them as well. The two of them headed off, joined by the guy that Mina had been training against.

“You know what this means, right?” Yeo asked.

“We’re officially Knight Ranked?” Bella asked.

“No shit,” Yeo grumbled, glaring at Bella. “I didn’t mean literally.”

“I know.” Bella smirked. “It was a low hanging fruit.”

“Oh stuff it. This means we’ve got to celebrate,” Yeo said. “And that means we’re gogin to Hound’s! I need to find out if I got banned.”

Chance tilted his head to the side. “Banned? Why would you be banned?”

Yeo blinked, then cleared his throat. “Uh… it’s a bit of a long story.”

“Then you can tell us on the way there,” Bella said, a devious grin stretching across her face. “Because I’m suddenly feeling like eating at Hound’s – especially if they don’t let you in.”

“You are a demon in a woman’s flesh,” Yeo claimed, glaring at Bella as they set off.

“Says the one trying to kill the proctor.”

“He was fine. Come on, there’s no way someone at our level could hurt him. And he was kind of right. I don’t have any scale to that attack. It’s either on or off, and I haven’t really had much chance to practice it.”

“We’ll have time,” Chance said. He paused for a moment, then cleared his throat. “Just… don’t practice it against me. I don’t know if I want to be on the receiving end of that anytime soon.”

“Agreed,” Bella said with a grimace.

“Was that a compliment?” Yeo asked.

“Just shut up and accept it.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”