“Prince Aldus will see you now.”

Viv stood and entered the lodge, ignoring the careful gazes of two war mages in the yellow uniforms of the Glastian military. She wondered if she should have changed but decided she didn’t give two shits. Let them see the blood-stained, singed robe and remember who wore it. She found herself in an antechamber with staff and aides, all of them standing at the side, all of them quiet. She moved to a bedroom.

Although the arena kept its lodgings sober for the contestants, Aldus had managed to make the place comfortable with a few rugs and carefully placed trinkets. The prince sat on a large seat, flanked by bodyguards, Viv assumed those war mages were his two prime contestants. They didn’t look very pleased with her presence, but she guessed they had good reasons.

“Hello,” she said in a perfunctory manner. Her voice was broken, low, the words empty.

“Thanks for having me on such short notice. I want to face Sonagi in the arena.”

Aldus didn’t seem surprised. He felt regal in his elaborate uniform and flawless appearance. She gave him no credit. A child could tell what was on her mind right now. To her surprise, it was his first who answered. He was a genius gray mage with a distant demeanor. Viv gave him a good chance to take down Sonagi if he had a few tricks up his sleeve. The others were simply not that good, however. She knew she could take them without much trouble. Aldus had brought soldiers, not duelists.

“You are angry and we understand that. Glastians are all accustomed to grief. I feel for you, yet we know what anger can lead to. You will make mistakes. You will use your resources too quickly.”

He took a step to the side, looking out the window towards the sea in the distance. The prince let him have his moment.

“What we are fighting for is not greed or revenge. It is nothing short of the fate of Glastia and its people. Each candidate holds a strong vision of what the city would be, should be once the tide finally recedes, which will be soon. Medjin has sold—”

“Myr,” the prince warned.

His champion cleared his throat.

“My apologies. Medjin’s view cannot reconcile with what we want, which is a peaceful future for a city that has known unceasing war for far too long. We cannot afford to leave the fate of so many to chance and last minute, rage-filled additions. You are an unknown. You are—”

“I am not an unknown,” Viv said, finally out of patience. “You have seen what I can do. I’m better than your seconds.”

The man still by Aldus’ side bristled. Viv glared at him.

“You know I’m right. I might even be better than you. If you have any doubt about my ability we can step into a private training room and… have a go or two.”

“The result of a fight against a gray mage in an enclosed space is…”

“You’re just making excuses. You doubt my abilities? Let’s see you put your core where your mouth—”

“Enough,” Aldus said.

Viv felt the wave of calm expanding from Aldus like a cold breeze. She recognized a social skill of some sort and considered resisting but there was no malice here, no threat. Just a polite request not to let emotions take over. A part of her suspected it was an act that both Aldus and his champion Myr had done plenty of times and if it was the case, it was working pretty well.

“My friend Myr is right when he says that your emotions might get the better of you.”

In answer, Viv let her soul show its true color as well. Not just leadership but intimidation, though it was colder here. Neutral. Her vengeance spoke of patience and careful preparations, of a serpentine self-control as unyielding as winter in the service of delayed, controlled violence.

“You do not know who I am so I believe I will remind you. Because of an Enorian prince’s greed, my city was violated. My beloved was slain and her body dumped into the deadlands to rise as a revenant. I did not accept that this was the way of the world and that he was a prince and I'm a nobody. I did not rush headlong to a suicidal assassination attempt. I built an army. I resurrected a nation. We took back our city. We waged a savage war against veterans of thirty years of war and sent them home in wooden boxes. So no, I do not let my emotions get the better of me, I harness them, I use them, and when the time comes… I get even. Always.”

The unspoken part was the punishment she’d inflicted on Lancer. That, the others knew. She was sure of it.

“I have a place to handle Sonagi. Not just that but if I lose you are still ahead because he remains one of the competition’s most dangerous contestants. As you are, you may stop Sonagi but your second will lose against Kos the lava mage. Even then it is not a sure thing.”

The two war mages scowled but they did not object, at least not immediately.

“Sir, we don’t need her. She’s just a mad dog!”

The second finally had enough. His words didn’t sway Aldus, however.

“We may receive help from the bone witch. Shaya and I always knew we had much in common. Nevertheless…”

“Kos could easily defeat her. His speciality is area defense and denial. She could not stop the heat.”

Myr took a step forward, robes swishing. She could tell another rant was coming and prepared to withstand the torrent of pointless banter. To her surprise, Aldus put a stop to that.

“There is more that we have not told you. As you know, each candidate is allowed a single spelled item.”

“Most choose a focus, yes.”

“The Virg family granted him their most powerful heirloom as a blessing since they decided to support him. While I cannot say that I approve sponsoring the murderer of a family member, I have to admit that their support will prove… concerning.”

“What’s the heirloom?”

“A multi-cored gauntlet.”

“What? I thought it was extremely hard to even get two cores in the same item!”

“This one has four, albeit small ones. They offer a mix of all primary elemental colors which works perfectly well for Sonagi. Worse, since the cores are small, the enchantment is designed for quick recharge. He will be able to keep casting for far longer than usual.”

“His main weakness has always been relatively weak reserves.”

“And they just eliminated it.”

The mages stood with their heads bent. For all their bluster, they knew Sonagi to be formidable. Now that he had received a way to shore up his only flaw, their prospects had gone from hazardous to doomed. The duelist was just too efficient, too precise.

“I had an idea on how to handle him anyway. This doesn’t change anything.”

“You seem rather confident,” Aldus said. “Are you not having second thoughts?”

Viv leaned forward, her face close to the prince’s. His bodyguards stood closer but they didn’t stop her.

“As I said before, everyone here seems to have forgotten who I really am. I’ll remind them all, starting with Sonagi.”

“Then I accept you within my ranks. Do you not wish for anything in return?”

“I’ll leave Sidjin to discuss the details with you.”

“Is it wise to offer the reward before the negotiations even started?”

Viv was about to walk out but she turned at his comment.

“Is it wise to fuck me over? I’m sure you’ll find out shortly.”

***

Deos, Viv decided, was a happy cat. A sated, cruel predator relaxing after his little display of power and control. The obese man reclined in his chair while an attendant massaged his oiled feet, a small meal of fruits left untouched at the side. He did not invite Viv to sit and she didn’t ask. There were no chairs around.

“And to what do I owe the pleasure?” the man said with a knowing smile.

Viv swallowed her anger. He had set Sidjin against his mentor and lost them the competition for a bit of drama. He had also most likely facilitated Sonagi’s betrayal. She would get to him in time. For now, she needed to make sure all the pieces aligned. There would be time for recovery and licking one’s wound later. Right now, getting even had the priority. Time wasn’t on her side if she wanted to face the change without regret. So she gave him her most affable expression.

“You will be delighted to know that I have joined Aldus’ team.”

“Oh,” the man replied without a hint of surprise. “What a pleasant development.”

He stopped there, waiting for her to take the first step. She obliged.

“Team order can be reshuffled whenever the team itself changes. We will be submitting a new one very soon.”

“Stop! Isea darling, thanks for your time.”

Deos signaled and the massage lady walked out as fast as could be polite. Two guards by the door also left after a lazy handwave.

“It sounds like you were going to ask me something extremely, extremely illegal.”

“Nothing of the sort, we are talking hypotheticals,” Viv replied with a smile.

“Hypotheticals do not count in front of a jury of the city’s elders, young tart. You are asking me to take an enormous risk!” He said.

Deos picked a nearby glass and drank thoughtfully. He was being a little heavy-handed in asking for a bribe, she thought. He probably thought her a bot provincial.

“Not such a big risk. If someone were to doubt you, they would have already done so after Sidjin met his mentor upon the sand. It was a risky move on Medjin’s part, would you not agree? Hurt as she was, she would have lost against virtually anyone else.”

“You are implying much without any sort of proof.”

“Why talk about proof? We are still talking about hypotheticals. You know what I find unbelievable? That Medjin would place her as second.”

The two glare at each other for a while.

“Medjin’s an arrogant prick. We met. He had an extremely poor opinion of me, yet he somehow anticipated that Sidjin would give me the first position? How… clever of him. Why, if I had not experienced it myself, I would never have believed it.”

“The arena can work miracles. Turn cowards into snakehounds and doddering idiots into tactical geniuses.”

“I would hope so. I do so wish to provide the arena with the greatest show it has seen yet in this otherwise tame contest. Adversary against adversary. Revolutionary against traitor. Would that not be amazing? Ah, but I can only wish.”

Deos breathed in. She waited. When he spoke, any attempt at pleasantness was gone.

“Sonagi will wipe that smirk off your face. I’ll pay him thirty gold talents to kill you on the sand. Tear off your tongue so you can’t surrender.”

“That’s cheap. Constable Tarano paid three times that amount just for information. Before I killed him.”

“I’ll enjoy seeing you put down in your place, Miss Viv. You know where the door is. See yourself out.”

***

Viv had seen people mangled by explosives before. On Nyil, people were part magic. Reality bent to accommodate them, their dreams, their vows. Even their deaths. Back home, people were just the meat that formed them and she had seen plenty of that after explosives were used. It had horrified her. Rakan was not one of those victims. He was whole with the gash closed by expert healers. Surgeons would find nothing amiss except for exhaustion and anemia, and yet he was the most wounded individual Viv had seen because the hurt reached a part of the young Hallurian she didn’t know how to fix.

His core was bleeding.

Mages of his level gathered mana without thinking about it. He was doing the same as well as creating his own and it escaped from his chest as quickly as it formed in a loose stream of energy, like air leaking from a space shuttle. A shimmering cloud of colors spread around him in a breathtaking display of metaphysical lights. Under that, his body was empty. A pierced cask. Viv was reminded of the punishments of the Danaides, condemned by Zeus to fill a sieve with water for all of eternity. The difference was that they’d killed their husbands on their wedding nights while Rakan had trusted a friend.

“I’m sorry. I fucked up.”

“You didn’t, we were betrayed. I didn’t see it coming. I’m sorry,” Viv cut immediately.

Rakan’s eyes were hooded and desperate. They didn’t address the elephant in the room. Rakan’s days as a star caster were done. No one could cast without mana. There were workarounds, of course…

“I can’t pull mana anymore!”

“You can do it from a focus. It’s not all over.”

“He crippled me.”

Once again, Viv’s anger surged until she choked on it. Sonagi had hurt the kid. Their junior. He’d done it for show. The… the sheer audacity of this gnawed at her guts. Patience though, patience.

She had something special in mind for him.

“Why? Did he say why?”

Viv sighed. She wasn’t good at these sorts of things. There were probably better things to say.

“He… Look, what he did makes no sense to you and little sense to me. And that’s how it is. It would be nice if mankind was made of rational actors and if we could reach the same conclusion by looking at the same thing but it’s not the case. And then there are the fuckups. Some people are just twisted. They do things that don’t make sense and they sabotage themselves and ruin the lives of the people around them. I got to admit, I didn’t see that one coming at all so I apologize. I’m more experienced and he still blindsided me.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“No. No, it's not. But you’re my responsibility and I failed us so…”

“You were busy as well. Still dying?”

“More than ever, I guess. I know you can’t help it but just try to forget him as a friend. He is to blame for his decisions. Your sister is here, by the way. The healers had to sedate her. She tried to stab them.”

“That’s just like her. I should see her. Tell her… tell her I’ll be alright.”

“You will. We’ll find a way. Even if we don’t, you’re one of us now and forever.”

“Okay. Okay. You should talk to Sidjin. He’s probably feeling sorry about himself right now.”

“Don’t we all. Right, I’ll wake up your sibling.”

Viv walked away from the bed, freezing a second later.

“Viv?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think… Do you think that I could have done something different? Something more? Maybe —”

“No. Don’t take responsibility for other adults’ actions. We all make our choices, alright? We will live with ours.”

Sonagi wouldn’t get that luxury. Viv walked out and notified the healers that Tarana could see her brother. She whipped past them like a fury. Viv was completely ignored as she found Sidjin sitting on a bench with flaking blood covering his eyes to the elbows. He was a wreck.

“Sidjin, wake up.”

“I am here.”

“You need to get cleaned up and then cut a deal with Aldus. I’ll be part of his roster. Sorry but you don’t get a say in the matter.”

The fallen prince stared with hollow eyes. She’d not seen him so guarded since the first days they had met, back when the ruin of his body limited everything.

“You can say it if you want. You were right and I was wrong and now they have maimed him.”

“Sidjin, it’s done. There is nothing I can do that will hurt you more than the guilt you’re already feeling. I don’t really want to kick you while you’re down and, if I have to be honest, I was just as surprised as you were. So. This one isn’t on you. Pick yourself back up and go see Aldus. I can’t afford a moping prince right now. Kind of busy.”

“Revenge?”

“Working on it.”

He nodded.

“You get the first shot. If you don’t get him I’ll—”

“Sorry Sidjin. It’s first come first served.”

***

Viv moved through the motions with focus. Anger was nice and all but Sonagi was dangerous to begin with and now he had a quasi artifact to keep him going. She was not allowed to make mistakes. The familiarity of the flowing patterns calmed her and plunged her in a sea of concentration. Her rage and grief felt more distant here, and so was the distant call of her impending doom. Without the fruit offered by the nascent elemental, her body would have already started to fail. As it was, she could still feel a tightness in her chest, a fever in her bones. It was only a matter of weeks now. Days, perhaps. At the same time, she had never been so powerful. Black mana was an extension of herself, answering her every demand with an ease she had never felt before. She was eager to test her limits.

A knock on her door broke her immersion. She was standing in her personal quarters in the arena, small rooms meant for individual fighters. Unvarnished furniture offered the only comfort over the rough sandstone of the walls. There was no need to make the place more comfortable. She had nobody to impress.

“Come on in.”

A pair of staff members carried a heavy crate between the two of them. They came in at her gesture, dropping the heavy load between them.

“Delivery for you ma’am. We haven’t checked the contents yet so…”

“I know what’s in there. You may leave.”

“But your security...”

“I am as safe as can be right now. Thank you.”

The pair left. Viv had not lied. She was really safe right now.

“Come on out.”

Solfis deployed from the small container with ghastly majesty, his yellow glare inspecting the room before landing on Viv.

//Your Grace.

//I felt your distress.

“Yeah.”

//Status update.

//Please.

Viv did. She explained what had happened and then her plan for Sonagi. Maybe they had spent too much time apart because she was unable to pick any reaction from the bone construct.

“You alright there Solfis?”

//I am operating at peak capacity.

//First, I would like to apologize.

//This incident confirms that I am unable to anticipate treachery among your entourage.

//This is the second time I failed you in this regard.

“That’s ok, I never meant for you to be my spymaster.”

//We will need to recruit one.

//A loyal one.

//There was something else.

//I am being tracked.

//Earth magic has been used throughout the Helock underground in the past seventy-six hours.

//It appears the attempt is to locate someone or something.

//I presume it might be me.

“Is it Elunath?”

//I believe it is the case.

//As to what he knows and plans to do, I can only hypothesize.

//It would be best if I stayed with you and above ground until your next meeting.

“Sure. I hope he’s just fishing.”

//Agreed.

//For now, book a training room, Your Grace.

//We need to conduct tests to see if your plan can work.

//I have to admit.

//I really like it.

“Too bad it can only work here.”

//I wouldn’t be so sure.

***

Sidjin was feeling miserable. Miserable and guilty. The enclosed space reminded him of his cell from the hell his life had been. It smelled better. There was that.

He did not react when a tall frame squatted silently by his side.

“What do you want, machine of death?”

//Is our little princeling feeling sorry for himself?

Sidjin glared but he was grateful for the distraction.

“Since when do you use sarcasm?”

//My creator personally enhanced my sarcasm module.

//I have developed it over the centuries.

//I will state I have not come here to talk about me.

//However exciting the topic may be.

//I will talk about you.

“And my fuckups?”

//Precisely.

//The fuckup that started eight hours ago.

Sidjin blinked. It was early morning outside the walls. The pale light of a winter aurora colored the world outside a dull gray. His breath clouded the windows with condensation.

Eight hours was after… after he’d stabilized Rakan.

Gods, the young man didn’t deserve that.

//Someone as experienced as you should already understand it.

//However, this does not look like a wall and the problem does not look like a beastling tide so I understand that your feeble organic brain might be confused.

//The crisis is not over.

//It will only be over once we have safely left the arena.

//Do you understand?”

“You need me to kill Sonagi?” he asked with a mixture of terror and hope.

//No you dimwit.

//I need you to stop moping.

//Offer her assistance.

//Barring that, offer her company.

//Barring that, plan.

//Act.

//Or at the very least, sleep.

“I can’t!”

//Try harder.

//Alternatively, I could assist.

The golem clenched his horrifying slicers into a fist. It looked like a bone mace and screamed ‘blunt for trauma’.

“No thank you.”

//Be here for her.

//Weakling.

“I appreciate your encouraging words. I am concerned about her. Maybe I should go at him first…”

//Oh no.

//No no no.

//I see you still do not understand, meatbag.

//So I will state it for you.

//Do you know what is the hardest thing to do for a pure black caster?

“Healing?”

//Holding back.

The golem stood. Sidjin found there was something fascinating about the way it moved, human at times and so alien at others. He wondered how Viv could ever relax in the creature’s presence. It was a centuries-old construct from an empire known for its ruthlessness, not a damn butler. And it was mad. Or at least operating far beyond what it was designed to do. Exhaustion muddled his thoughts. He found himself drawn in the twin baleful glare of the golem’s optics.

//Her Grace has always worked best when she discarded her petty concerns and focused on the objective.

//As is the case now.

//She has no need to consider politics and the risk of being too bloodthirsty at this point.

//She can finally… let go.

//And the solution she has found is so elegant, so appropriate.

//I am quite proud.

//When the time comes, you will sit in your lodge and bear witness to my mistress delivering Harrakan greetings to this city.

//I have heard reports that the Helockians do not like her much.

//They believe she is a pushy, arrogant upstart.

//They have forgotten the truth of this world.

//I have trained her in the ancient ways of the greatest civilization this continent has ever seen.

//She was born for magic.

//In a few hours, they will remember that their positions and titles mean nothing beyond the tiny halls of their manors.

//There is only vision.

//And the power to carry it out.

//My mistress has decreed that Sonagi shall die a memorable death.

//They will remember it.

//And they will remember her.

//I simply cannot wait.

***

It was now the morning of the second day of the tournament. It was also a rest day for Helockians, and so crowds had gathered in the massive arena in unprecedented numbers, glutting around heating pillars and sellers of warm tea. Yesterday had ended on a high note with a nice betrayal, a fallen son of Helock rising from the ashes, and an upstart humiliated. Or so they’d been told by the whispers falling from the upper rafters, crumbs of intrigue to feast on. Sidjin had been thoroughly outplayed with his menagerie of outcasts. The outlander had tasted defeat at the hand of a clever opponent. Shaya had fallen too. Order would return to Glastia now that the choice was between a champion of the military or a champion of the nobility. No mercenary queen and no race traitor would sit on the throne. Order had prevailed! There were even rumors that something unexpected would happen.

Group by group, the spectators would look at the distant, rotund shape of Deos sitting on his crown wrapped in lush covers like a precious egg. They would see his wide smile and the goblet waiting in his ham fist, untouched for now. He seemed pleased. That was a good thing, right? And so the people turned back to their neighbors to speculate what could possibly come to add the permon fruit on top of an already pleasant distraction.

In the antechamber of the lodge gate, Viv waited. She would be first. Solfis had gone on a small expedition late at night to make sure everything would be ordered as intended. The golem had mentioned that he didn’t have to use violence, so her argument had been convincing. Deos knew his crowd wanted closure after yesterday’s slap. He hoped for the phoenix to finish his ascent by slaying she who would cage him. Solfis had reported that part of the crowd wanted Sonagi to pay for what he had done to his apprentice, but that was a minority. Humans on Nyil rooted for their side first, and justice second.

That was fine.

It was going to be fine. She felt confident. The same poison coursing through her veins was going to push her to new heights.

“It’s time,” Sidjin said.

He squeezed her hand but his gaze was calm. He did not doubt her.

“You can return to Rakan’s side if you want,” she said.

The fallen prince shook his head.

“He is in no danger and his sister is here for him. I’ll be here for you.”

“Ok. Thanks Sidjin. I will be right back.”

“Don’t jinx it!”

“Hey,” Viv replied with a smile. “That’s my line.”

“A line?”

Viv shrugged and left through the opening and the wan winter light reflected on cold sand. The familiar hubbub of the mass welcomed her, some booing the one who dared stand against their newest champion. Sonagi already stood on the grounds, looking regal in his modified protective robe wearing the red of Helock. Viv spotted the massive glove around his hand though the duelist made it look like a bling accessory. A hazy cloud of many colors of mana expanded from the item in a floral aurora that merged with Sonagi’s own. It really was the perfect tool for him. She stopped in her designed circle just as Deos finished her introduction.

“But will a heart full of vengeance be enough when we face the prodigy? The four-colors champion of Helock returned to fame for a second time!”

Sonagi spoke up first. It was his moment after all.

“I harbor no ill will now that I am free again. Your pupil has survived. It is time for you to let go of your anger and return to your home in far Enoria. Do not let vengeance consume you because it is not worth the cost. If you stand against me, I will face you with my full might. You are a worthy opponent. I will have no choice.”

He stopped and spread his arms like a benevolent contestant. A winning smile gave him an aura of indulgence, of patient forgiveness. Viv could leave intact if only she let go. She vaguely wondered if he had accepted Deos’ proposal to kill her here. He knew of course that she would not and could not simply walk away. This was just another play in the oldest of games: pred-bloodshed banter.

“I do not banter with dead men.”

There, simple and to the point. Sonagi smiled and it felt genuine to her. He really believed he would win. The crowd booed and aahed in anticipation for what was shaping up to be a fight to the death.

A sense of utter calm came over Viv. There was no stress at all. No pressure. She let go of her worries. Rakan was stable while his condition could only improve. Harrak was safe under Lady Azar’s attention. She had a plan to turn part elemental. The world would only bring more challenges for her to face but right now, there was nothing to fear. Just the sand, the pale sun, and Sonagi. The man who had broken Rakan for money and fame. In a way, it felt liberating. No need to stress about political repercussions and whatnot since she had already decided what to do. Her reality now narrowed down to just the shield-contained area they stood in.

She breathed in the cold air perfumed with dust and old blood.

It was time.

“You may begin.”

“Glastian trenches!”

Sonagi pushed himself back with a blast of air, then plunged in a depression in the sand that quickly turned into a network of ditches. The sand yawned then changed, flat ground turned into striated gaps where he could hide at ease.

Viv changed half of the arena into a disc of nightmarish fangs and tentacles arching back towards her like the maw of some demented sand worm around a perfect circle, just where she stood. Several casts of eldritch walls at once molded the place as she saw fit. The very sand changed, turning dark and pitted like volcanic stone. She set out to draw sigils on the ground with a use of telekinesis. Each one was etched like a jagged wound bleeding only darkness. She cast a glance at several fireballs raining dawn from the other side of the arena.

“Aegis. Durandal.”

Most of the projectiles pinged on her defenses, but there was a powerful one hidden among the dregs that she detonated mid air. It was typical of Sonagi to use decoys and misdirection. A flash of mana near a trench signaled his presence but it was bait and Viv didn’t bite. She carved one symbol after another on the ground with a jeweler’s patience. The air suddenly tasted stale in her mouth. Another attack. She vented mana to disrupt a subtle gray construct designed to make her choke. Her work resumed. Another flash of mana persisted and this one she could not ignore.

“Astra.”

Even as she kept working, a wave of black orbs flew to the concentration. The detonation sent plumes of sand and dust in the air. The edge of a circle formed on the ground. A cast of eldritch wall destabilized it, making the spell fail. Some subterranean attack hit the eldritch walls’ outer layer and failed. The ground was too soaked with black mana to be a conduit for such attacks, as Sonagi should have guessed. Colors faded around her while power sang in her chest. It was cold and spicy, lethal, yet familiar. Intimate. It was so much hers, this poison. The last sigil appeared with a wave of her hand. More attacks landed on her shield then another wall formed at the far end. Sonagi figured she would not come out and play so he had to force her out. He was a little late.

“Deadland domain.”

The walls of the arena faded to a sickly yellow.

***

“What’s going on? What is she doing?” Deos asked his head assistant.

The mage frowned. Deos lent his spyglass and was ignored. It wasn’t needed.

“This is a blasphemous reversal of the Academy’s work. While the original was designed to purge the edge of the deadlands on contamination, this one does the exact opposite.”

“Speak plainly.”

“It’s absorbing all the magic inside of the arena to turn it into black mana. Excuse me, I must see to the containment shields.”

***

A ray of change to make the wall hers. A blast of annihilation to pierce it. Viv pounded Sonagi’s defenses, forcing him to expend large amounts of energy to reverse the contamination or risk being skewered. He adapted by moving his circle to avoid the blasted areas. It was an impressive display of control but not one without cost. She could follow him around as he dug like a mole. Her core was ablaze. Black mana sang tempting whispers in her ears, ravaged and blessed her conduits as it surged to follow her every will. The dance was intoxicating. She intercepted projectiles and blocked others. Disruption became the name of the game and what a wonderful dance it all was. Any of Sonagi’s spells could kill her on impact if they landed so they did not land. Glassed sand, molten sand, puddles of hungering liquids peppered the ground between them but none had reached the circle.

“Harrakan domain.”

A second circle appeared around the first. Something hissed at the edge of her hearing. Her soul warned her that something immaterial was bleeding in or out. She wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter.

Sonagi finally finished his own attack.

A lance of pure red energy thrust through the arena, air blurring from the incandescent heat. Viv formed her shield into a sharpened cone. It met the beam at the edge of the infused sand and was immediately pushed back. The deflected energy scored deep gashes against the walls, the ground, even the barriers above which stopped it in a haze of colors. A world away, people gasped and yelped before the titanic display. Temperature inside the arena immediately increased until sweat peeled on Viv’s brow but it was done. She had redirected the beam.

It had destroyed her spell, however.

“Out of time!” a mocking voice said from behind cover.

Viv disintegrated the steaming glass, reformed her circle and drew the missing glyphs once again.

“Seriously?”

“Deadland domain.”

Black mana roared out faster than before into the dry air, down into the darkening sand. It crawled around the edges of the shield, testing it, gnawing at the stone. It explored the limits of its prison. Viv’s side of the circle was now a monochrome slashed by scars of pure void, reaching, despoiling, and expanding. Always expanding. The pit of her circle drank the very life around it and spat back a promise. Viv stood in the middle of that vortex feeling the world at her fingertips, flinging curses that could pierce a tank’s armor without so much as moving. None of what Sonagi tossed at her left a dent now that smaller spells fizzled before they could ever land. He tried to bait her with openings. He tried to bluff her with mirages of mighty spells. She knew him, his style, his strengths. There was no need for her to engage him in a contest of wit. Not when she could crush him instead.

“Harrakan domain.”

She felt more than saw another beam coming and placed her shield farther. She formed a thick wedge with such ease she was tempted to stop using sigils just to see if the black mana would move by will alone. It was so easy to displace the beam of radiant fury so it carved the arena’s wall instead of her circle. In desperation, Sonagi sent a veritable avalanche of sand on her circle, drawing deeply into his focus. She merely made the eldritch soil climb higher until the tide fell back.

Sonagi charged her. He threw everything he had left in a frontal attack. Stones, shards of ice, sprays of water, invisible blades, fireballs. The torrent met her own werfer and pushed it back, deeper into the darkened land. She spotted a glimmer of hope in Sonagi’s gaze. Foolish. He should have known better. Viv was merely putting most of her attention in her circle.

She saw his despair when the third layer activated.

“Palace domain.”

Black mana exploded. Sonagi’s spells were snuffed out. Power flooded the farthest reaches of the field in a tide of hungering energies, barriers flashing overhead to contain the onslaught. Sonagi had revealed himself and her spells lashed at his defenses. He fell back, stumbling into a ditch. He tried to blend through the sand but it was no longer his. Brown mana did not exist in this place of quiet. The jealous reign of the black had begun. It did not share but it did obey her and her alone.

The only splotch of color was a dome over the kneeling form of the duelist. Just as he looked up to face his end, Viv stopped her attacks. She realized her body was coated in thick armor, ghostly wings jutting high above and behind her. Fear twisted Sonagi’s traits. Then confusion.

“Viviane? Please?”

She did not reply. Had he not been listening? Massive ropes of dark energy danced around her like under an unseen wind. She felt their caress, their promises, yet she resisted the call for instant gratification. A plan had been made. No, a promise. And now she would deliver it.

“Viviane?”

The fourth layer flared to dark life.

“Epicenter.”

Sonagi choked on his words. The dome grew smaller and smaller. There were no sounds coming from the outside as none could pierce the blanket of mana. No wind. No movement. Just the two combatants and the abyssal pressure of the Ascender.

***

Deos stumbled down the stairs, cursing his awkward footing. The damn mage was here with most of his crew in one of those circles. The fools charged him a fortune to maintain those. It was time they earned their keep.

“You! Open the gate and get Sonagi out of here! I said the match is over! That horrid bitch can’t just ignore me like that in my own arena. Do something!”

“We are very busy,” the mage grunted.

Deos was not used to being ignored. Not anymore.

“Don’t forget who puts talents in your grubby hands you little shits!”

“If this barrier falls for any reason, the blast will kill everything from Maranor’s temple to the sea gate. And I do mean everything. You pay me but I serve Helock first and foremost. The gates will stay closed until she drops her spell.”

“I told her to stop!”

“Then tell her again. Now shut the fuck up and finish the fight before she triggers another layer or we’ll all get to meet our gods today. Is this clear enough?”

***

In the void-tinged hell of the arena, Viv watched life ebb away at her leisure. She felt at home here. Safe. And satisfied.

[Arcane duellist.]

[Arcane duellist.]

[Arcane duellist.]

“Please…”

[Arcane duellist.]

[Arcane duellist.]

Sonagi breathed one last time. His delicate trits twisted into a mockery of humanity.

[Revenant.]

Viv willed the body to ash. Only scraps of his robes and a rusted gauntlet remained.

“Now, you are forgiven.”