“Ey, Karitas,” one of the other males in the class approached me. “Want to give the rest of us a fighting chance by separating from your Queen?”
“With the deepest of respect and the highest esteem I hold you in, dear colleague, I must ask a simple question: would you?” My hand rose from Esther’s butt to her boobs and squished a handful of the other kind of softness. The raven-haired lady of my love reacted with the barest of gasps. Otherwise, she did not care at all.
“Was worth a try,” the guy shrugged and walked off, to form a team with one of the many women around.
‘Kudos to him for being cordial,’ I thought and turned my attention to Esther. All of my attention, to be specific. My hand was still and steadily kneading her bust. I could feel even less than usual, courtesy of the grey vest she wore over her long-sleeved gym clothes. Under the top, she wore a sports bra, reducing the apparent size of her breasts immensely. A loss as far as my eyes were concerned. Obviously, I could accept her taking precautions against jiggling or a strike at her back exposing what she wanted to hide.
The temporary loss of the delectable sight of her large breasts was a sacrifice I almost appreciated, knowing I would get to unpack them later. After tugging them into a sports bra for two hours, she was usually appreciative of a front-side massage. Besides that, her yoga pants still gave a phenomenal view of my Queen’s bubble butt. All of that, exclusively mine to caress.
Until she softly flicked my cheek. “You are diminishing our chances,” she told me and squeezed the bulge in my sports pants. Words could hardly describe how gleeful the touch made me. It proved all over again just how much she was my kin when it came to wearing desires on one’s sleeve. A squeeze was all I got, however, for a great many reasons not least of which was that she meant what she had said.
Like a bee from a jar of honey, I only separated my hand from her bosom to enjoy more of it later. “Do we need to try?” I asked, to be looked at with a raised eyebrow. The two of us were clearly the most powerful among our peers, but if four of the remaining upper echelon ganged up on us we could still be in trouble. “Let me rephrase. Do we even need the money? We could just sit this one out.”
“Lazy Karitas, you are aware of my answer, so why ask the question?” she responded with a sigh. “I shall not be found wanting. You will support me in this endeavour.”
I hummed, as if I had to consider this. Obviously, the final answer was a foregone conclusion. We both knew that. A little negotiation was how the two of us could pass the time until the line in front of the team write-in had diminished. “Alright, since you want the victory, I want the money,” I told her.
“A hundred Dark equals roughly a seventh of our monthly allowance. Such a sum should enter our shared finances.”
“Fifty-fifty split, then, half for the shared finances, half for me.”
Esther considered for a moment. The difference between the two states of affairs was tiny. Our shared funds paid for most of our food, snacks aside, covered our dates and whatever devices both of us wanted in the household. Whatever happened, I got the value out of the shared funds anyway. “What do you wish to acquire with 50 Dark?” she inquired instead.
“I want massaging oil and thought about getting some toys – of the sexual variety,” I added that last part only because my Queen had consumed exactly as much lewd content as I had shown her. Which was barely any. “You know the remote-control vibrators I showed you?”
“I refuse to wear such in public, perverted Karitas.”
That was a strong and disheartening rebuttal, but I had a feeling that I could weaken her on that front. All depended on time and context. “Could still be fun at home.” I stuck to the safe lane for now. “Definitely need that massage oil.”
“Which would be appropriate to be paid by the shared fund. I am the primary benefactor.”
“I must vehemently disagree, my dear lady. By the truth of my hands and the light in my eyes, there can be no doubt that it is I who benefits the most from the privilege of oiling your angelic curves.” She quietly stared at me for several seconds. “Too much?” I asked to hear her velvety voice’s response.
Esther’s red lips parted, pressed together, and then she shook her head. After brushing one of her unruly strands behind her ear, her amber eyes focused on me once more. “I grow tolerant of occasional extrapolations,” she said with a slight smile. “Fine then, take the 50 Dark. I trust you will use them wisely, my Karitas.”
Hearing her say that raised my mood considerably. Not only did she use my second favourite title for me (after Master), but she expressed that she trusted me with the money. My lack of financial awareness was one of the spots where our relationship sometimes came to small blows. I had gotten better in terms of frivolous spending, because I had her to keep track of things and because, between both of our incomes, we had quite the sum available every month. I also did my personal bookkeeping, but that was a sporadic effort. Motivation to write down what I spent on every meal every day was low.
“Best you keep an eye on me. How about we buy these toys on our next shopping date?”
“That would be in three weeks,” she reminded me. Shopping dates were specifically on the first weekend of every month, when we toured various shops we did and did not know for several hours in search of what may be handy. Keeping that to a specific date prevented us from debating larger purchases the rest of the month.
I shrugged. “Not a long time to wait, cosmically speaking.”
With that decided and the line greatly diminished, Esther and I took one of the last few point trackers from the basket and then wrote our names on the list next to the number imprinted on the device.
“Do we make a rush for the one at the back?” I asked.
“It is the objective with the most points associated.” Esther held out her hand and I placed the device in her palm. She tucked it away in the breast pocket of her vest. “Give me a proper starting position,” she requested.
I closed my eyes and manifested the starting block used typically in running competitions. Although I had made it heavy, I added some extra weight with my gravity magic. Esther pushed against it with her feet twice, testing how well it was secured. Approving, she nodded and positioned herself in front of it. Her hands touched the line separating the flat gathering area from the training hall proper. Everyone else lined up as well, the last names entering the list.
I stood next to my waiting Queen. “Ready!” the teacher shouted, causing Esther to raise her delicious derriere in preparation. “Set!” Much as I enjoyed that sight, there were competitors I had to consider. I closed my eyes and prepared my Astrality. “GO!”
The sound of magic attacks rang in my ears, colliding with a solid object. First right next to me, then behind me. I opened my eyes and turned around, as Esther passed me by. At the first blink of the competition, I had created two walls to either side of the lady of my love. Everyone knew we were the favourites and that made us the targets for an opening ambush.
The walls had warded off the first round of attacks and now it was on me to dismantle the rest with my presence. I had teleported five metres ahead and now stood in the path of anyone watching to chase right after my teammate.
A duo of the more able competition came right at me. I created my gauntlets and let them approach. ‘One of them will try to make a run for it,’ I reckoned and looked back and forth between them. One was blonde, the other a redhead.
At the last moment, the blonde swerved away from me. I immediately dashed at her. All that mattered was that I tagged the blonde with my gravity magic. Even if it only lasted about ten seconds, the gap between her and Esther would become too large to catch up on. A tap on the wrist was all I needed to succeed, Immediately she whirled around. If she couldn’t run, she would take care of me first.
My white shirt was consumed by a firestorm shot in retaliation by the redhead. Like the scorched skin underneath, most of the clothing was immediately restored by my Astral Body. The state of disrepair one’s clothes were in was a good tell for how much their Astral Capacity had been diminished. My shirt was barely frayed around the edges
‘I shouldn’t get stuck here.’ Esther could fend for herself for a while after reaching the flag, but I could get surrounded whenever the competition decided that taking me out early was to their advantage. Which, if I remained a sitting duck in the starting area, they inevitably would.
Aware of my surroundings, I dashed off to the side. The blonde and the redhead were right after me. Another student tried to hit me with a poison-drooling axe. As the weeks had progressed, more and more people had found their Artefacts. That had been the largest advantage Esther and I had possessed over everyone else. Everyone who caught up in that regard considerably narrowed the gap.
Alas, there was still a gap.
Reacting swiftly, I knocked the weapon aside with my armoured hand. I jumped back, dodging an opportunistic attack by the redhead. The fireball sailed right by me, as I backed up against a cliff. Two duos closed in on me.
My eyes shut for a little bit longer than a standard blink and then I found myself on top of the three-metre-tall cliff. “I greatly appreciate your attention,” I thanked the ladies and then ran after my Queen. Curses filled the air behind me.
Esther left the rest of the competition in the dust, sprinting, leaping and manoeuvring over the artificial landscape with the grace of a mountain lioness. Most of the other students had opted to head to the two other flags, so the primary threat, numbers, was eliminating itself. All I had to do was stay clear of the routes everyone was taking.
I jogged, retaining my stamina, and kept a constant eye on Esther’s position and my surroundings. No one was gunning for me at the moment, which was nice, but I still needed to accelerate. Someone was using their new Artefact to effectively slide up the mountain side.
Whether this was some kind of stone-shaping, gravity inversion, or some other manifestation of the soulborn weapons’ unique capabilities, fact was that the female student was rapidly approaching my Queen and that there were three more people in hot pursuit, with an additional two, the blonde-redhead duo, hanging further back. A total of eight of the fifty students in the class were gunning for the high-point flag.
Despite all efforts of the rock-slider, Esther arrived first. She slotted her device in place. Feather pulled from her tricorne, she whirled around. I was close enough to hear the ringing of her conjoined weapon manifesting
The duo of blades, short sword and sabre, were of a plain lead grey. Flat sides of both weapons were covered in glowing runes. A second time, they rang out when their handles were pulled apart. Esther drew her left hand, holding the short sword, back. Magical lightning exploded out from the weapon, screaming as it crackled. A well-aimed throw launched the thunder-infused Artefact at the vanguard of our competition.
The brunette jumped to the side, ending her charge just short of the contested area. Continuing to fly, the small arm suddenly disappeared mid-air. It laid, unenchanted, in Esther’s hand again. The greyish blue runes on her sabre were now partly discharged, betraying the time reversal she had just applied to herself.
Although the charge was broken, the engagement remained. From a closing distance, I watched Esther fend off one, then two, then four assailants. As the number of enemies increased, the opportunities for her to counteract became fewer. Soon she was doing nothing but dodging. Any attacks she attempted existed solely to create space between the time tracker and those that would replace it with their own.
The last pair stood ready nearby, waiting for the other fighters to tire themselves out. I made eye contact with them. They were women as well, making me the only male in the upper area of the map. Getting sweaty with a bunch of sexy fighters was generally to my liking. Preferably inside a small ring, maybe with some oil involved. The kind of stabbing this competition demanded, I did not enjoy.
I ran by them. Priorities had to be set and my priority was the tracker and my Queen. Definitely not in that order.
Entering a brawl was a peculiar sensation. At one moment, I was moving with the intention of getting somewhere. The next, I uppercut into the side of a narrow-visioned combatant. The impact drove her back. More importantly, my arrival bought space for Esther. The raven-haired lady immediately switched from pure defense to balanced offense, assaulting the target I had just unbalanced and slowed with gravity magic.
Her sabre sliced through the student’s abdomen. Blood covered the blade, but the body was regenerated near instantly, leaving only a gap in the sportswear of the student. Esther was about to be pelted in retaliation, when she snapped back in time to her previous safe position and launched a second offensive on the closest enemy.
I threw myself in the fray, trying to isolate the three from the one. The runes on Esther’s short sword burned out from the tip down. Without any warning, she accelerated twofold. Her motions looked like she was part of a sped-up video.
To be in a duel with Esther was the worst position anyone around could be in. She was faster through time acceleration. She could recover Astral Capacity through reversing her state and position. She was a master of her dual weapons and lightning magic. To outrun her was nigh impossible. To wait for her stamina to be expended, a fool’s errand.
My own skill set was more versatile. Gravity magic was especially potent if repeatedly applied to one enemy, but it also helped with levelling the playing field against several opponents. Accepting a couple of hits meant that I could slow the one’s throwing them with cheap taps. The swords, fists, and bladed boots coming for me, I could soon swat aside. Graceful swipes became forced swings. The number’s advantage that should have been overwhelming could not be pressed, courtesy of the diminishing effect I had on their agility.
They understood the fundamental drawback with that strategy. I was expending a lot of Astral Capacity. Taking the initial hits and reapplying the gravity magic over and over again, it tapped on my resources. My shirt soon sported several holes. The trio tried their best to drain my resources and force me to tap out. As per the rules of the class, once I surrendered, I had to recover for at least fifteen minutes back in the gathering area.
The problem with their strategy was that they were setting themselves up to be stomped.
The sword of the blonde scratched over my gauntlet. My knuckles connected with her stomach for a brief moment, the retaliating punch delivering little force thanks to the rock slamming into my head. Now identified as a stone manipulator, the brunette tried to conjure another attack. She wouldn’t have gotten away with it, had it not been for the redhead engaging me with her burning hands.
Turned out the brunette didn’t get away with it anyway. As she raised her bladed foot, exercising control over another piece of stone, Esther was suddenly next to her. The blade of her sabre stopped short of the woman’s throat. Who swallowed and raised her hands in surrender.
I couldn’t verify whether she actually stepped back, as I had to dodge another stab, but I had not yet noticed anyone violating the honour of the exercise. It was two down, two to go. A statement that was immediately falsified by the two onlookers joining the fray and then rapidly re-instated as truth by Esther unleashing a flurry of attacks.
Slowed down as the remaining two of my previous enemies were, they stood absolutely no chance against my accelerated Queen. Slicing, whirling, almost dancing, Esther’s blades drew the blood of our enemies, depleting them of their Astral Capacity in a storm of metal and grace. They ran out of harm’s way, arms raised. Leaving me and Esther to fight the last two.
Esther continued fluidly. Swinging her weapons in parallel, she forced a fellow raven-haired woman to jump backwards. That left me with another brunette. I raised my fists in guard and kept my distance. My Astral Capacity was down to a quarter. Carelessness was not something I could afford and damage not something I had to sustain anymore.
I concentrated fully on the enemy in front of me. She was a brunette with medium sized breasts, although the sports bra could have fooled my perception to that end, and very nice legs. More importantly to the situation, she wielded an estoc, a light stabbing sword. ‘Gravity magic will do little there, so I guess I’m doing this purely physically.’
My winning condition was waiting for the timer to run out or for Esther to take out the other one. I had only stood to gain from each passing second. The brunette must have known as much. Stepping up to me, she launched her offensive.
I dodged by turning my whole body sideways. Committing to the whole thrust anyway, the brunette left herself wide open. She shot me a confident glance. I disengaged immediately. A stab from a supernatural source cut through where my shoulders had just been. Immediately, the brunette launched another attack. This time, I knocked the blade aside. A streak of blue white scraped over my hand half a second later.
‘An echo attack in the vicinity of whatever she hits?’ I theorized and dodged the third strike. Again, the streak of sharp energy cut through the air. It moved in parallel to and in close proximity to her estoc. That basically confirmed my theory. ‘Not easy to get in there if she gets a second try on every miss.’
I kept dodging in circles, observing her patterns and the exact make-up of the area. Gradually, I goaded her to a boulder. I acted surprised, when my back hit it. Gave her the opening she thought she needed. The lunge came predictably and I teleported one step to the right. “CLING!” the tip of her weapon collided with the rock. She hastily pulled back, unable to use the echo attack to keep me at bay.
Although I wasn’t a big fan of it, her face was the only available target. I stopped the full swing short of her nose and waited for a reaction. “You really are too good,” the brunette sighed with a smirk and stepped backwards.
“Do not compliment my Karitas too much,” Esther requested in her stern tone. Even as she approached, she kept a tight grip on her weapons. “It gets to his head.”
The brunette gave Esther some serious side-eye. It occurred to me that it must have sounded like a demand to someone who wasn’t familiar with the stern tone of my raven-haired lady. “She was trying to make a joke,” I assured her.
“Was she now?” the brunette asked sarcastically. With a friendlier tone, she said to me, “I’ll see you around,” and then walked over where her defeated comrade was waiting.
“You should work on your joke-tone,” I recommended to my Queen.
“She has an interest in you. My words will be taken in bad faith.” Esther joined her weapons again, to free one of her hands and wave at me with her finger. Taking the invitation, I bowed down to her and received a kiss from my soft-lipped love. “If you wish to try and pursue her, I would swallow my complaints until we know her better.”
I directed my gaze at the brunette. She was good looking and I liked her figure. Physically there was nothing wrong with her and what I had seen from her in terms of character was perfectly acceptable. ‘Acceptable just isn’t really enough for me. Oh, how greedy I am. Like the nothingness from whence I spawned, the never and the forever, so I too wish to devour all I please.’ “She’s not quite my type,” I summarized succinctly.
Esther gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “Then you have more time to spend with me,” she said and the two of us returned to the flag.
Several more times over the coming two hours, our position was attacked, but there simply wasn’t enough coordination to take us out. Really, it felt less like people tried to beat us and more so that they had already accepted they wouldn’t score in the top three and just wanted to grind their teeth on something difficult. I honestly admired that level of dedication, so we kept those duels going for longer than was practical. Between those fights, Esther and I just talked and made out.
It was a nice way to earn 100 Dark.
“Ey, Karitas,” one of the other males in the class approached me. “Want to give the rest of us a fighting chance by separating from your Queen?”
“With the deepest of respect and the highest esteem I hold you in, dear colleague, I must ask a simple question: would you?” My hand rose from Esther’s butt to her boobs and squished a handful of the other kind of softness. The raven-haired lady of my love reacted with the barest of gasps. Otherwise, she did not care at all.
“Was worth a try,” the guy shrugged and walked off, to form a team with one of the many women around.
‘Kudos to him for being cordial,’ I thought and turned my attention to Esther. All of my attention, to be specific. My hand was still and steadily kneading her bust. I could feel even less than usual, courtesy of the grey vest she wore over her long-sleeved gym clothes. Under the top, she wore a sports bra, reducing the apparent size of her breasts immensely. A loss as far as my eyes were concerned. Obviously, I could accept her taking precautions against jiggling or a strike at her back exposing what she wanted to hide.
The temporary loss of the delectable sight of her large breasts was a sacrifice I almost appreciated, knowing I would get to unpack them later. After tugging them into a sports bra for two hours, she was usually appreciative of a front-side massage. Besides that, her yoga pants still gave a phenomenal view of my Queen’s bubble butt. All of that, exclusively mine to caress.
Until she softly flicked my cheek. “You are diminishing our chances,” she told me and squeezed the bulge in my sports pants. Words could hardly describe how gleeful the touch made me. It proved all over again just how much she was my kin when it came to wearing desires on one’s sleeve. A squeeze was all I got, however, for a great many reasons not least of which was that she meant what she had said.
Like a bee from a jar of honey, I only separated my hand from her bosom to enjoy more of it later. “Do we need to try?” I asked, to be looked at with a raised eyebrow. The two of us were clearly the most powerful among our peers, but if four of the remaining upper echelon ganged up on us we could still be in trouble. “Let me rephrase. Do we even need the money? We could just sit this one out.”
“Lazy Karitas, you are aware of my answer, so why ask the question?” she responded with a sigh. “I shall not be found wanting. You will support me in this endeavour.”
I hummed, as if I had to consider this. Obviously, the final answer was a foregone conclusion. We both knew that. A little negotiation was how the two of us could pass the time until the line in front of the team write-in had diminished. “Alright, since you want the victory, I want the money,” I told her.
“A hundred Dark equals roughly a seventh of our monthly allowance. Such a sum should enter our shared finances.”
“Fifty-fifty split, then, half for the shared finances, half for me.”
Esther considered for a moment. The difference between the two states of affairs was tiny. Our shared funds paid for most of our food, snacks aside, covered our dates and whatever devices both of us wanted in the household. Whatever happened, I got the value out of the shared funds anyway. “What do you wish to acquire with 50 Dark?” she inquired instead.
“I want massaging oil and thought about getting some toys – of the sexual variety,” I added that last part only because my Queen had consumed exactly as much lewd content as I had shown her. Which was barely any. “You know the remote-control vibrators I showed you?”
“I refuse to wear such in public, perverted Karitas.”
That was a strong and disheartening rebuttal, but I had a feeling that I could weaken her on that front. All depended on time and context. “Could still be fun at home.” I stuck to the safe lane for now. “Definitely need that massage oil.”
“Which would be appropriate to be paid by the shared fund. I am the primary benefactor.”
“I must vehemently disagree, my dear lady. By the truth of my hands and the light in my eyes, there can be no doubt that it is I who benefits the most from the privilege of oiling your angelic curves.” She quietly stared at me for several seconds. “Too much?” I asked to hear her velvety voice’s response.
Esther’s red lips parted, pressed together, and then she shook her head. After brushing one of her unruly strands behind her ear, her amber eyes focused on me once more. “I grow tolerant of occasional extrapolations,” she said with a slight smile. “Fine then, take the 50 Dark. I trust you will use them wisely, my Karitas.”
Hearing her say that raised my mood considerably. Not only did she use my second favourite title for me (after Master), but she expressed that she trusted me with the money. My lack of financial awareness was one of the spots where our relationship sometimes came to small blows. I had gotten better in terms of frivolous spending, because I had her to keep track of things and because, between both of our incomes, we had quite the sum available every month. I also did my personal bookkeeping, but that was a sporadic effort. Motivation to write down what I spent on every meal every day was low.
“Best you keep an eye on me. How about we buy these toys on our next shopping date?”
“That would be in three weeks,” she reminded me. Shopping dates were specifically on the first weekend of every month, when we toured various shops we did and did not know for several hours in search of what may be handy. Keeping that to a specific date prevented us from debating larger purchases the rest of the month.
I shrugged. “Not a long time to wait, cosmically speaking.”
With that decided and the line greatly diminished, Esther and I took one of the last few point trackers from the basket and then wrote our names on the list next to the number imprinted on the device.
“Do we make a rush for the one at the back?” I asked.
“It is the objective with the most points associated.” Esther held out her hand and I placed the device in her palm. She tucked it away in the breast pocket of her vest. “Give me a proper starting position,” she requested.
I closed my eyes and manifested the starting block used typically in running competitions. Although I had made it heavy, I added some extra weight with my gravity magic. Esther pushed against it with her feet twice, testing how well it was secured. Approving, she nodded and positioned herself in front of it. Her hands touched the line separating the flat gathering area from the training hall proper. Everyone else lined up as well, the last names entering the list.
I stood next to my waiting Queen. “Ready!” the teacher shouted, causing Esther to raise her delicious derriere in preparation. “Set!” Much as I enjoyed that sight, there were competitors I had to consider. I closed my eyes and prepared my Astrality. “GO!”
The sound of magic attacks rang in my ears, colliding with a solid object. First right next to me, then behind me. I opened my eyes and turned around, as Esther passed me by. At the first blink of the competition, I had created two walls to either side of the lady of my love. Everyone knew we were the favourites and that made us the targets for an opening ambush.
The walls had warded off the first round of attacks and now it was on me to dismantle the rest with my presence. I had teleported five metres ahead and now stood in the path of anyone watching to chase right after my teammate.
A duo of the more able competition came right at me. I created my gauntlets and let them approach. ‘One of them will try to make a run for it,’ I reckoned and looked back and forth between them. One was blonde, the other a redhead.
At the last moment, the blonde swerved away from me. I immediately dashed at her. All that mattered was that I tagged the blonde with my gravity magic. Even if it only lasted about ten seconds, the gap between her and Esther would become too large to catch up on. A tap on the wrist was all I needed to succeed, Immediately she whirled around. If she couldn’t run, she would take care of me first.
My white shirt was consumed by a firestorm shot in retaliation by the redhead. Like the scorched skin underneath, most of the clothing was immediately restored by my Astral Body. The state of disrepair one’s clothes were in was a good tell for how much their Astral Capacity had been diminished. My shirt was barely frayed around the edges
‘I shouldn’t get stuck here.’ Esther could fend for herself for a while after reaching the flag, but I could get surrounded whenever the competition decided that taking me out early was to their advantage. Which, if I remained a sitting duck in the starting area, they inevitably would.
Aware of my surroundings, I dashed off to the side. The blonde and the redhead were right after me. Another student tried to hit me with a poison-drooling axe. As the weeks had progressed, more and more people had found their Artefacts. That had been the largest advantage Esther and I had possessed over everyone else. Everyone who caught up in that regard considerably narrowed the gap.
Alas, there was still a gap.
Reacting swiftly, I knocked the weapon aside with my armoured hand. I jumped back, dodging an opportunistic attack by the redhead. The fireball sailed right by me, as I backed up against a cliff. Two duos closed in on me.
My eyes shut for a little bit longer than a standard blink and then I found myself on top of the three-metre-tall cliff. “I greatly appreciate your attention,” I thanked the ladies and then ran after my Queen. Curses filled the air behind me.
Esther left the rest of the competition in the dust, sprinting, leaping and manoeuvring over the artificial landscape with the grace of a mountain lioness. Most of the other students had opted to head to the two other flags, so the primary threat, numbers, was eliminating itself. All I had to do was stay clear of the routes everyone was taking.
I jogged, retaining my stamina, and kept a constant eye on Esther’s position and my surroundings. No one was gunning for me at the moment, which was nice, but I still needed to accelerate. Someone was using their new Artefact to effectively slide up the mountain side.
Whether this was some kind of stone-shaping, gravity inversion, or some other manifestation of the soulborn weapons’ unique capabilities, fact was that the female student was rapidly approaching my Queen and that there were three more people in hot pursuit, with an additional two, the blonde-redhead duo, hanging further back. A total of eight of the fifty students in the class were gunning for the high-point flag.
Despite all efforts of the rock-slider, Esther arrived first. She slotted her device in place. Feather pulled from her tricorne, she whirled around. I was close enough to hear the ringing of her conjoined weapon manifesting
The duo of blades, short sword and sabre, were of a plain lead grey. Flat sides of both weapons were covered in glowing runes. A second time, they rang out when their handles were pulled apart. Esther drew her left hand, holding the short sword, back. Magical lightning exploded out from the weapon, screaming as it crackled. A well-aimed throw launched the thunder-infused Artefact at the vanguard of our competition.
The brunette jumped to the side, ending her charge just short of the contested area. Continuing to fly, the small arm suddenly disappeared mid-air. It laid, unenchanted, in Esther’s hand again. The greyish blue runes on her sabre were now partly discharged, betraying the time reversal she had just applied to herself.
Although the charge was broken, the engagement remained. From a closing distance, I watched Esther fend off one, then two, then four assailants. As the number of enemies increased, the opportunities for her to counteract became fewer. Soon she was doing nothing but dodging. Any attacks she attempted existed solely to create space between the time tracker and those that would replace it with their own.
The last pair stood ready nearby, waiting for the other fighters to tire themselves out. I made eye contact with them. They were women as well, making me the only male in the upper area of the map. Getting sweaty with a bunch of sexy fighters was generally to my liking. Preferably inside a small ring, maybe with some oil involved. The kind of stabbing this competition demanded, I did not enjoy.
I ran by them. Priorities had to be set and my priority was the tracker and my Queen. Definitely not in that order.
Entering a brawl was a peculiar sensation. At one moment, I was moving with the intention of getting somewhere. The next, I uppercut into the side of a narrow-visioned combatant. The impact drove her back. More importantly, my arrival bought space for Esther. The raven-haired lady immediately switched from pure defense to balanced offense, assaulting the target I had just unbalanced and slowed with gravity magic.
Her sabre sliced through the student’s abdomen. Blood covered the blade, but the body was regenerated near instantly, leaving only a gap in the sportswear of the student. Esther was about to be pelted in retaliation, when she snapped back in time to her previous safe position and launched a second offensive on the closest enemy.
I threw myself in the fray, trying to isolate the three from the one. The runes on Esther’s short sword burned out from the tip down. Without any warning, she accelerated twofold. Her motions looked like she was part of a sped-up video.
To be in a duel with Esther was the worst position anyone around could be in. She was faster through time acceleration. She could recover Astral Capacity through reversing her state and position. She was a master of her dual weapons and lightning magic. To outrun her was nigh impossible. To wait for her stamina to be expended, a fool’s errand.
My own skill set was more versatile. Gravity magic was especially potent if repeatedly applied to one enemy, but it also helped with levelling the playing field against several opponents. Accepting a couple of hits meant that I could slow the one’s throwing them with cheap taps. The swords, fists, and bladed boots coming for me, I could soon swat aside. Graceful swipes became forced swings. The number’s advantage that should have been overwhelming could not be pressed, courtesy of the diminishing effect I had on their agility.
They understood the fundamental drawback with that strategy. I was expending a lot of Astral Capacity. Taking the initial hits and reapplying the gravity magic over and over again, it tapped on my resources. My shirt soon sported several holes. The trio tried their best to drain my resources and force me to tap out. As per the rules of the class, once I surrendered, I had to recover for at least fifteen minutes back in the gathering area.
The problem with their strategy was that they were setting themselves up to be stomped.
The sword of the blonde scratched over my gauntlet. My knuckles connected with her stomach for a brief moment, the retaliating punch delivering little force thanks to the rock slamming into my head. Now identified as a stone manipulator, the brunette tried to conjure another attack. She wouldn’t have gotten away with it, had it not been for the redhead engaging me with her burning hands.
Turned out the brunette didn’t get away with it anyway. As she raised her bladed foot, exercising control over another piece of stone, Esther was suddenly next to her. The blade of her sabre stopped short of the woman’s throat. Who swallowed and raised her hands in surrender.
I couldn’t verify whether she actually stepped back, as I had to dodge another stab, but I had not yet noticed anyone violating the honour of the exercise. It was two down, two to go. A statement that was immediately falsified by the two onlookers joining the fray and then rapidly re-instated as truth by Esther unleashing a flurry of attacks.
Slowed down as the remaining two of my previous enemies were, they stood absolutely no chance against my accelerated Queen. Slicing, whirling, almost dancing, Esther’s blades drew the blood of our enemies, depleting them of their Astral Capacity in a storm of metal and grace. They ran out of harm’s way, arms raised. Leaving me and Esther to fight the last two.
Esther continued fluidly. Swinging her weapons in parallel, she forced a fellow raven-haired woman to jump backwards. That left me with another brunette. I raised my fists in guard and kept my distance. My Astral Capacity was down to a quarter. Carelessness was not something I could afford and damage not something I had to sustain anymore.
I concentrated fully on the enemy in front of me. She was a brunette with medium sized breasts, although the sports bra could have fooled my perception to that end, and very nice legs. More importantly to the situation, she wielded an estoc, a light stabbing sword. ‘Gravity magic will do little there, so I guess I’m doing this purely physically.’
My winning condition was waiting for the timer to run out or for Esther to take out the other one. I had only stood to gain from each passing second. The brunette must have known as much. Stepping up to me, she launched her offensive.
I dodged by turning my whole body sideways. Committing to the whole thrust anyway, the brunette left herself wide open. She shot me a confident glance. I disengaged immediately. A stab from a supernatural source cut through where my shoulders had just been. Immediately, the brunette launched another attack. This time, I knocked the blade aside. A streak of blue white scraped over my hand half a second later.
‘An echo attack in the vicinity of whatever she hits?’ I theorized and dodged the third strike. Again, the streak of sharp energy cut through the air. It moved in parallel to and in close proximity to her estoc. That basically confirmed my theory. ‘Not easy to get in there if she gets a second try on every miss.’
I kept dodging in circles, observing her patterns and the exact make-up of the area. Gradually, I goaded her to a boulder. I acted surprised, when my back hit it. Gave her the opening she thought she needed. The lunge came predictably and I teleported one step to the right. “CLING!” the tip of her weapon collided with the rock. She hastily pulled back, unable to use the echo attack to keep me at bay.
Although I wasn’t a big fan of it, her face was the only available target. I stopped the full swing short of her nose and waited for a reaction. “You really are too good,” the brunette sighed with a smirk and stepped backwards.
“Do not compliment my Karitas too much,” Esther requested in her stern tone. Even as she approached, she kept a tight grip on her weapons. “It gets to his head.”
The brunette gave Esther some serious side-eye. It occurred to me that it must have sounded like a demand to someone who wasn’t familiar with the stern tone of my raven-haired lady. “She was trying to make a joke,” I assured her.
“Was she now?” the brunette asked sarcastically. With a friendlier tone, she said to me, “I’ll see you around,” and then walked over where her defeated comrade was waiting.
“You should work on your joke-tone,” I recommended to my Queen.
“She has an interest in you. My words will be taken in bad faith.” Esther joined her weapons again, to free one of her hands and wave at me with her finger. Taking the invitation, I bowed down to her and received a kiss from my soft-lipped love. “If you wish to try and pursue her, I would swallow my complaints until we know her better.”
I directed my gaze at the brunette. She was good looking and I liked her figure. Physically there was nothing wrong with her and what I had seen from her in terms of character was perfectly acceptable. ‘Acceptable just isn’t really enough for me. Oh, how greedy I am. Like the nothingness from whence I spawned, the never and the forever, so I too wish to devour all I please.’ “She’s not quite my type,” I summarized succinctly.
Esther gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “Then you have more time to spend with me,” she said and the two of us returned to the flag.
Several more times over the coming two hours, our position was attacked, but there simply wasn’t enough coordination to take us out. Really, it felt less like people tried to beat us and more so that they had already accepted they wouldn’t score in the top three and just wanted to grind their teeth on something difficult. I honestly admired that level of dedication, so we kept those duels going for longer than was practical. Between those fights, Esther and I just talked and made out.
It was a nice way to earn 100 Dark.
