Chapter 7 Part 1 of 3 (Patreon)

Chapter: Crushing

Rekha’s spell crashed into the sole remaining sect fighter, sending him crashing through several adjoining inner house walls.

Sam followed behind Rekha, his eyebrow raised as if to ask if her force was necessary. His elven features served to heighten the imperious nature of the expression.

She flew through the hole in the walls. Cayleigh was waiting for them, her twin short axes ready. Her domain was pressing Sect Leader Anwar Hassan into the pile of rock3s that was all that remained of the wall.

He coughed, his face bloodied and cut as he looked to his family huddled in the corner, his wife standing in front of a half dozen children. “The Alvan Alliance will not let this go, no matter who you are. You and your people can only survive if you leave now,” he growled, regaining the fire in his eyes, even with Cayleigh a moment away from taking his head from his shoulders. His guards were already defeated.

Rekha snorted, her hazel eyes dancing with the colors within.

“An alliance of sects? I’d be surprised if it lasts a year. You sects and clans and nations care for nothing but what you can take from one another, and you took something dear to us, Anwar. There is no one above the Imperium.”

Anwar paled.

“W-wait.”

“Ah, it seems you ‘ve remembered something. Is that right, Anwar?” She stopped in front of him, still behind the Gnomish Cayleigh and her hair of red, yellow, and silver. Cayleigh shifted her blades, keeping Anwar down by implied threat.

“Look, this is all a misunder—”

“Anwar, we’re beyond that. Because of your actions, the attack on the supply convoy going through your allied nation’s lands resulted in twenty members of the Crafter’s Association being killed,” Rekha growled.

“We didn’t mean—”

“For something to happen. Oh, Anwar, why do you attack the very people that are fighting for your future? Why are you playing your stupid little games?” Her yell made the room shake. The children hiding behind their mother cried and ducked their heads down.

Rekha exhaled, bringing her anger into check. “The Alvan Alliance may or may not care about you, but the Imperium looks after its own.” She threw down a scroll next to him.

He flinched from it like it was a viper.

“Open it and sign it. You will be stripped of all your property, all assets will be transferred to the Imperium. Your trading sect will become a vassal of the Imperium and you will give up the people that attacked the convoy.”

“This will make us no more than slaves!”

“You made your choice. Now you must live with it. At least with this, your children have a future.”

“A future within the Associations.”

“Do you wish for them to have a future without a father?”

Anwar gritted his teeth.

“Anwar, just do it.” his wife hissed.

He shot her a look, but his expression faltered. He opened the contract and wiped the blood on his hand on the contract.

“Very good.”

Rekha grabbed the scroll out of the air and turned, leaving through the door.

“You Bhattan bitch!” Anwar hissed.

“Rekha,” Cayleigh warned in a low voice.

Rekha looked back to Anwar. “You are a vindictive little man, I hope you’re apt at cleaning toilets, seems about the only use for someone with a mouth as useless as yours. And what Bhattan clan are you talking about? I can’t seem to remember one.” Her smile carried an edge as her domain leaked out.

Anwar shuddered as a wet patch appeared on his robes.

“Ah, such a fine example to show your children. The Imperium will be a better teacher than you could ever be.”

Rekha left the room, Sam and Cayleigh trailing behind.

They were halfway out of the building when Cayleigh sighed. “Seems like everyone has lost their minds these last couple months. Challenging us at every turn.”

“Most of it has to do with the Alvan alliance, it reaches through all of the realms, tying people together. People are starting to think they can do anything they want under the protection of someone else,” Sam muttered.

“Waste of time,” Rekha agreed. “This alliance will fall apart with time but the Associations will persevere as it always has. Wish they’d send someone else to deal with all this, there are plenty of tears in the Ninth Realm that need sealing.”

“Even the mighty Rekha is arguing against Imperium orders?” Cayleigh said in a mock surprised voice.

“We go where we’re sent, but, let's get out of here before anyone else thinks to give us more tasks in the lower realms. Huh?”

“The sooner we can get out of here the better. I sense that the local Associations guards have reached the sect entrance.”

“Only about forty minutes late,” Cayleigh said.

Rekha smiled. “They’re getting better.”

They reached an open courtyard and launched into the sky, leaving a dust plume behind.

***

“I feel properly shiatsued,” Erik said as they walked out of the teleportation formation close to their homes.

“Supposed to be three days, not three weeks.” Rugrat held his neck and rolled his head.

“Yeah, but I think it was worth it.” He looked at Rugrat’s feet, they were moving an inch above the ground.

“I didn’t notice. You know it doesn’t even draw on your internal mana, just some minor concentration.” Rugrat floated next to Erik without moving his feet.

“That’s—can you just walk normally? You’re like a mall cop on one of them scooter things.”

“Who you calling a mall cop?” Rugrat muttered as they reached Erik’s accommodation. An official wearing a Avegaaren badge standing outside the gate walked up to them. He stopped in front of them and looked them over.

“I was wondering if you would show up. It’s been four months since you joined the academy, and after three months, you are supposed to fight at least two people per month. They can rank higher or lower, if they are higher then you take their position on the rankings. The higher your rank, the more resources you gain access to -- materials, concoctions, teachers, books. You may be challenged or challenge to have those two fights. You can accept up to ten challenges per month and you can challenge up to five people. Once the challenge is made, you must agree upon a day to fight, there are several pre-selected time and day slots. Do you understand?”

Erik and Rugrat nodded.

“Very good. Use your emblems on a challenger pedestal and you can see who challenges you and you can pick who you want to challenge. You can only challenge someone one hundred ranks above you. A Proctor such as myself will come to gather you if you are not at the arena at the allotted time, if you cannot be found then you will automatically lose.” He looked at them both.

“Understood.” Erik and Rugrat nodded.

“Have a good day.”

The man launched himself into the air and shot away.

“Well he was a bag of smiles.”

“At least he was neutral, which is more than I can say about some people in here.”

They headed into their accommodations. The Special Team members were training, using information Erik and Rugrat had provided.

They found the challenger pedestal in the central courtyard of Erik’s home. It was angled with a recess for their medallions on one side. Once slotted in it showed a list of every student they could challenge in the school. Some were blacked out, and couldn’t be challenged anymore, but most glowed a soft blue, clicking on them they could send a challenge. There was a list of also all the people that had challenged them.

“Huh, that… I think that’s the guy I fought to get in here,” Rugrat pointed at a name.

“Kujo Ujisuke?”

“Yeah, he’s one of the people I’ll have to fight.”

“That gonna be cool?”

“I dunno, I barely won against him using my rifle, and he knows about it now, could have a defense for it. He’s probably been training for this.”

“Yeah.” Erik chewed on his lip. He had barely made it into the academy as well. It was only the arrogance of his opponent that had allowed him to get the blow he needed to enter the school.

I don’t want to miss out on Xun Liang’s lessons. They were hard, damn hard, but in just four months he was faster than ever before. He was still using his domain in a pulse-like way but his coordination had never been better, the growth was rapid and there was so much more to learn. But being the lowest rank in the academy was working against him.

Others trying to get in might think the same he had when challenging the entry trial. Take out the weakest person first.

“Well, best to get it over with, our first match is in a few hours.”

***