Chapter 7 Part 2 of 3 (Patreon)

The light in the waiting room turned to green and the door unlocked. Rugrat let out a heavy breath. Not even the tinkling water feature had done anything to reduce his stress. They had spent the time before the match in the library studying for answers for different questions from Alva, if they were expelled, they wanted to get as much from Avegaaren as possible.

Rugrat stepped out into the arena, studying Kujo Ujisuke; his armor was pared down, on the legs, chest, arms and head, leaving his limbs free to move.

Rugrat shifted his carrier around with his shoulders. He tensed his hands around his armored gloves, his rifle in his storage ring. He wanted to use his skills for as long as possible before resorting to the rifle.

I hope I’ve learned enough.

He at least knew the two main elements that Ujisuke used, fire and water to create wind. Special tattoos could be seen on his shaved head, the red and blue elements dancing in his deep brown almost black eyes.

Ujisuke was holding the end of his sword, in a draw stance.

Rugrat focused on him, stretching out his domain to cover the arena, getting a feel for it before he reduced the area it covered to just him and Ujisuke.

“Begin!” The Proctor’s voice rang through as Ujisuke forced flame and water elements into his scabbard, creating an explosion of steam that he poured mana into. It wreathed his blade as he shot forward with flame mana at his back in time with his step, crossing a hundred meters in the blink of an eye as his blade exploded free of his scabbard, the superheated water turned steam imbued with mana and directed by the slash turned into a wind blade.

Rugrat grabbed onto the mana around him and shot to the side and forward, casting a chain spell.

Ujisuke, took a second step, his blade covered in water and fire elements, creating steam that gave form to superheated air blades.

He sliced out three times as he took two steps.

Rugrat jumped into the sky, mana latched onto him as he shot forward and dropped. Instead of casting a complicated chain spell he created mana-formed chains that shot out at Ujisuke.

Ujisuke cut through the chains and leapt into the sky, his blades chased Rugrat.

What the hell do I cast now? The chain spells needed to be on the ground because it was so heavy. He could make larger chains to reach higher, but he needed an immediate solution.

Ujisuke shot across the space between them, his sword slashing out, creating a silvery afterimage.

Rugrat reached out, compressing swirling bowling balls of air. They flew like moths to a flame from every direction around Ujisuke. He tried to dodge the first. It exploded, buffeting him. Several of his blades fell apart as Rugrat used mana bolts, they broke some as he was forced to dodge others.

I need something that will work at range. Gun? No, bullets. Fire.

Rugrat turned in mid air, dodging a blade coming for his side. He bent backwards and dropped several feet. Flame erupted around him without touching him, flickering blue and white tongues at the edge of his aura.

He yelled, drawing that heat closer and tighter, a bare flicker around him as he touched the ground, using mana and flame under his feet he shot into the sky at a different angle.

Several blades hit the ground, causing the stone to crack, the heat turning the scars shiny.

Ujisuke’s attacks redoubled, raining down on Rugrat as he was pushed back.

Rugrat used mana bolts, working to shape the mana and the fire element.

Keep it simple, stupid!

He created a hollow bullet of mana and injected flames into the hole at the bottom. The mana bullet shot off, hitting near Ujisuke, creating an exploding fireball.

Rugrat encapsulated flame in mana, then scooped up flames with a hollowed mana bolt.

The tempo changed as Ujisuke was the one being thrown back.

He dropped to the ground, stone darts shot out from the ground at Rugrat, striking his fire bullets as his sword attacks came slower, but their speed shot upwards.

Rugrat called up mana chains and cast spells into the ground. He had little time to do so and used several smaller spells instead of larger ones that Ujisuke would cut off.

He formed an artillery shell of flame behind his back. He was no longer scared as he had pinned Ujisuke in place, and was able to dodge him and see what he was doing from every position.

Rugrat took a hit from Ujisuke, to get within twenty meters, the shell rotated into place. Ujisuke’s eyes widened as Rugrat released the shell.

Ujisuke yelled, his blade releasing a blade of fire and a blade of water. The two crashed into one another, creating a hair-thin blade of air that hit the mana shell. The mana tore apart the air spell, the fire contained within was diverted but went off in an explosion.

Rugrat wasn’t idle, the ground churned with the sheer number of spells as he created several more shells.

A klaxon sounded.

“Jimmy Rodriguez announced winner of the competition,” the Proctor said.

Rugrat watched Ujisuke, who had been thrown back several meters, getting to his feet.

His blade at the end, that was dangerous as hell.

He breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Ujisuke who seemed confused but nodded back.

Rugrat turned and left the arena, frowning at a Proctor that was waiting before the teleportation pad.

“There are several people who wish to challenge you to enter Avegaaren, would you be interested in fighting them?”

“Oh, really? Yeah, sure, I feel like I’m at the edge of something here, the interaction of elements.”

“When would you like to fight them?”

“Sooner the better, right?”

He missed the Proctor’s look. Thinking about the interactions of elements, like the interactions of materials in the forge.

“Very well, I will notify them right away, please rest in your waiting room.”

“Sure.” Rugrat changed direction and walked towards the waiting room doorway, stuck in his own thoughts.

***

“I thought you said that there was no way Ujisuke could lose against him? What was that?” Their father berated Hikokie under his breath outside of the arena.

“He and the other one don’t attend any of the classes. How can they have learned anything? They haven’t gained the interest of any of the teachers. They’re outsiders. They must have been hiding their abilities.”

His father’s growl died in his throat as Ujisuke appeared.

“Ujisuke, that was a great fight, your split blade is coming along so quickly!” he praised.

Ujisuke had a faraway look on his face as he approached his family.

“You’ll get him next time,” Hikokie said, getting a glare from over Ujisuke’s shoulder.

“I don’t think I will fight him next time, he has improved in the time since I last saw him. His movements were more refined, he could dodge, and didn’t rely on his rifle. It gave him time to counterattack me.”

“He must have been hiding it back when he fought you before,” Hikokie’s mother said.

“I don’t think so. There was something different about him. I think it would be better to fight the third ranker rather than him or his friend. I learned a lot from our fight. I’d like to return home to study it.”

“Of course, of course.” His father patted him on the back, indicating to his wife to start walking back to the teleportation formation.

A sound cancelling formation formed around Hikokie and his father.

“I do not want this to become a stumbling block for your brother, find out everything you can about these two.”

“What are you thinking to do, father?”

“I am not planning to do anything. You said that they were from the lower realms and not from the Associations? Well what power are they from, what are their aims? Are they here to learn or to crush others and take our information?”

Hikokie’s eyes brightened as he frowned with his father. Protecting the Imperium was essential. “I will look into it, Father.”

He nodded and closed the spell, moving to follow Ujisuke and his mother.

Hikokie sighed. He hoped his brother would be able to make it forward from this setback too, a stronger member of the family meant greater security in the Imperium.

***