Published: December 29th 2024, 5:13:30 am
I stood before the Ebros soldiers. The golden armor of Prince Adrien’s elite troops gleamed under the spring sun. By their side stood the Farcrest Guardsmen wearing tunics with the colors of the Marquis—red and black—above their chainmail. Behind the soldiers, the nobles exchanged confused glances. I was supposed to be dead.
Janus paled as the Marquis whispered something to his ear.
“Robert Clarke, you are under arrest for the murder of Izabeka Kiln!” Janus shouted. The man wasn’t wearing his simple black and grey fencing uniform but the gilded red armor of the Captain of the Guard. “Guards, detain him!”
So that was the lie he had used to cover for Captain Kiln’s sudden disappearance. That explained why he and a detachment of guardsmen had chased me into the Farlands. The whole city believed I was responsible, and I had fled the crime scene.
The guardsmen pointed their halberds forward and closed into me. They were veterans. I used [Identify]. Every single one of them had Advanced Classes, around level thirty-five. It was a good sign. The veteran guardsmen were loyal to Captain Kiln.
Prince Adrien remained still behind his men, waiting for the scene to unfold.
I grinned. The stage was perfect.
Captain Kiln emerged from the orc ranks.
“Weapons down, maggots! I don’t remember ordering anyone to detain this man,” she barked, her messy gray hair fluttering in the wind. Despite her ragged clothes, her dignified presence left little doubt of her true identity.
The guardsmen froze, their halberds dropped, and their faces looked like they had seen a ghost. One of them even started sobbing. Even Prince Adrien seemed confused; however, we couldn’t allow a royal inquiry.
“Janus the Weasel, I have come to return the favor. Only blood will resolve this matter!” Captain Kiln’s cloak slipped over her shoulder, revealing her wounded arm. “As it is my right as Farcrest’s Thane, I challenge you to a duel.”
A murmur ran through the troops. Prince Adrien's bodyguards closed their ranks between them and the Farcrest nobles as every pair of eyes fell upon Janus. He was struck, shrunken like a nocturnal vermin under the sun. The truth was poison for liars.
I exchanged glances with the Marquis, and a flash of recognition passed before his eyes. The winner would determine who knew about his betrayal. If Janus won, everything would remain the same, but if we won, we would have the Marquis by the leash. Either of the two was better than losing everything, and the Marquis seemed to realize that.
“I allow the duel,” the Marquis' voice rose above the murmur of the guardsmen.
Prince Adrien glanced at me, trying to piece the puzzle together. In response, I offered a polite bow. The less he knew, the better for Farcrest and the orphanage.
The Teal Moon warriors, royal soldiers, and Farcrest guards stepped back and formed a wide circle. The murmurs grew louder. [Foresight] caught snippets of conversation. Did Janus try to kill the Captain? Shouldn’t the Marquis incarcerate Janus? Why are they dueling?
The support of the guards leaned towards Captain Kiln. Janus was a legend, the only commoner who rose to become an Imperial Knight, but Captain Kiln had bled shoulder to shoulder with the guardsmen.
“Robert Clarke will be my champion,” Captain Kiln announced.
The guardsmen parted ways, and Janus walked into the circle.
“How does it feel, Janus, to have everybody see you for what you truly are?” I asked. “Everyone here knows you're not who you pretend to be. Even as we speak, rumors are spreading throughout the city. They'll question whether you truly attempted to kill their beloved Captain, and they’ll see her arm. Where are you going to run away then?”
Janus remained silent, but no matter how much he pushed his acting skills, my [Foresight] could see through his facade. He was hesitant.
Abei entered the circle, followed by a middle-aged man dressed in a green robe with the royal crest on the chest. Only a month had passed since the last time I’d seen the Scholar, yet he seemed older than I remembered.
“I will serve as the witness for the duel in Tauron’s place,” Abei announced. “Judicial duels don’t usually have restrictions unless both parties agree. Would you like to set any conditions? Incapacitation clause, maybe? Rendition?”
I shook my head. Only one of us would leave the duel arena alive.
Abei sighed in defeat, like he was seeing his sons fight each other.
“A proper duel it is,” he said with a serious expression. “Please, get ready.”
I cast off my jacket, secured the straps of my black leather armor, and adjusted my leather gloves. I checked my pockets. Everything was in place: the enchanted pebbles, the Holone Grapes, the Leechflame Dagger, and a backup orc dagger strapped to my boot. I doubted myself for a second. The shotgun and the enchanted rifles might be useful, but the combat area was barely ten meters in diameter, and Janus could cross that distance with a single teleport. Stopping to aim would be a liability, and he could tank it using a skill. It was better to stick to the plan.
A blue barrier covered the circular area as I prepared myself, and the man in the green robe guided Abei outside the arena. I walked six steps toward the mountains while Janus did the same toward Farcrest. On the other side of the barrier, the kids clung together like ducklings without a duck mom. I turned and focused on Janus.
The barrier was sealed shut. Nothing would escape until one of us was dead.
The sounds from outside the barrier came in distorted.
“You can run away whenever you like, Janus, but I can’t say the nobles will be happy with a murderer who can pass through Fortifier barriers,” I said with a grin.
Janus was still at a loss for words, his brain trying to make sense of the repercussions of our sudden appearance. Our plan was working. Trapping a Void Jumper was impossible, yet we had engineered the situation to keep him in place.
Janus finally opened his mouth.
“This doesn’t change anything. Whether the city hates me is irrelevant. Tauron needs me, and the rest will fold when they realize I’m a Prestige Class, ” Janus said, blinking rapidly like he had just snapped from a bad dream.
He drew his sword. It was different from the cheap iron sword he used to carry.
Mastercraft Orichalcum Sword. Enchantment threshold: 3000.
“When I kill you, they’ll forget all about you, and that little orphanage will be nothing but a memory yet again.”
“If,” I said.
Janus grinned, entertained.
“You are dangerous, Robert Clarke, but inside this barrier, you don’t have the protection of Prince Adrien. You forfeited your greatest advantage, and the chance of talking your way out has passed,” he said, testing his blade with his thumb. “I recognize your [Mana Manipulation] is strong, but in the end, you are still a weak and squishy Scholar.”
I drew my sword.
Neither of us saluted.
“May the best fighter win. Fight!” Abei shouted from outside the barrier, his voice amplified by a spell.
Janus disappeared, leaving behind a screen of dark mana particles. The crowd gasped. He closed the ten meters between us in the blink of an eye and thrust his sword towards my chest. [Foresight] showed me the projection of the movement. I parried and countered with a precise diagonal swing, but Janus easily dismantled my attack.
Movement skills like [Quick Step] increased movement speed for a short duration. However, Janus’ blink allowed him to move almost instantly. The crowd noticed the difference.
“Do you hear them, Caretaker?” Janus said. “They know I’m better than them. That's all that counts when monsters appear.”
We exchanged quick blows. My mana barrier blocked any hit my sword wasn’t fast enough to catch. Janus moved back and forth like the tides, always ahead of my movements but unable to land a killing blow. He was reading me just like [Foresight] read his movements.
Janus accelerated the pace, but I kept up. I had to slow him down before he unleashed his real speed. Using [Mirage], I created two perfect copies of myself in an attempt to obfuscate his detection skills. Janus stepped back, sensing something was wrong. The illusion was perfect in every sense.
The three blades crackled with bluish mana.
Sensing the danger, Janus disappeared.
I opened the floodgates, and [Foresight] drank mana like a man lost in the desert. A shiver ran down my spine as a chunk of mana was torn from my mana pool. Time slowed down to a crawl. The black mana particles froze mid-air. Then, with the corner of my eye, I saw a tear in reality slightly above my head. Janus emerged from the portal, his sword over his head, ready to kill me in a single strike.
My brain burned. I couldn’t enter slow-mode every time he blinked—the strain was huge—but I had a plan. Half of the pebbles inside my pouch shot out just as I wrote the first runes. Janus cut the first, but several others stuck to his armor and cape. Then, the enchantment circuit closed, binding the pebbles to the armor and cape. They shone with a weak light.
The world sped up again. Janus attacked faster than I could react; his blade gleamed with dark mana. My mana barrier shattered, and I felt the prick on my chest, barely piercing my skin. The Ghoul armor protected my vital organs. I kicked the ground before he could chain a second attack, and a forest of stone spikes emerged around me. Janus jumped back, and I pushed the attack. We exchanged blows, more and more stone spikes emerging from the ground as I advanced.
Janus blocked my sword with ease and dodged most of the stone spikes. The ones that managed to hit didn’t hurt him, though his armor was dented and battered in several spots.
Janus tore off his left shoulder pad, confused. Then, he disappeared. For an instant, I lost the mana signature of the enchanted pebbles, but at the next moment, they reappeared behind me. Janus was sneaky, almost invisible to my mana sense, but the pebbles shone like lighthouses. [Swordsmanship] and [Foresight] moved my body, but Janus was faster than me. I managed to block a killing blow, but he still grazed my left arm.
I used my Wind-Shot Boots to thrust at full speed. The [Mirage]s moved with me. Janus hesitated for a split second. My sword hit his naked shoulder, but it felt like I had just hit a concrete wall. My sword, even with the mana coating, bounced. My defense was wide open. Janus grinned, his eyes full of malice. In a panic, I used [Aerokinesis]. My body spun mid-air, just like I’d seen Firana doing, and I buried my boot in his side. It also felt like kicking a concrete wall.
Captain Kiln was right; high-level warriors were extremely durable.
Janus stumbled back.
The combat extended for minutes and minutes to no end. I shot Mana Draining Pebbles, but after the first few hits, Janus learned to destroy them. My Ghoul armor was turned into a pincushion. Janus was agile like Firana, but his arm carried the force of a dragon. He blinked around me, unleashing a flurry of attacks against my mana shield. [Foresight] drained my mana pool as I countered his attacks. Soon, my body was covered in minor cuts, but I felt no pain. Anything outside the Fortifier’s barrier disappeared from my conscience. All that existed in my world was Janus and me.
I needed to slow him down, but I had run out of Mana Draining Pebbles.
Combining [Geokinesis] and [Hydrokinesis], I turned the ground into a deep and soft mud. I remained afloat thanks to the stone pillars under my foot. Janus sunk to his knees, the weight of his armor pulling him down.
Janus grinned, and mana swirled around his feet. Then, he pulled himself and stood atop the mud pool like solid ground.
“I can walk on walls, Caretaker. You will need something better than cheap tricks,” he mockingly said as he disappeared into a curtain of black mana particles.
My mana barrier was draining energy at a worrying pace. Each one of Janus’ blows was the equivalent of the charge of a dozen Ghouls. His teleportation skill, however, required a lot of mana. I examined his face. Black circles had appeared under his eyes.
My mana pool was still my biggest advantage.
“Running out of juice, Janus?” I gasped for air, pulling strings from the Fountain and slowly replenishing my mana pool. “You shouldn’t have put me in the same forest as a Monster Surge Boss. You fumbled it, Janus, and now everybody sees you as what you truly are. The lies are over.”
Suddenly, blackness surrounded me like someone had turned off the sun. The only light source was the Bind-Light pebbles stuck to Janus’ armor.
“What are these things?” he grunted, trying to tear them off. The Bind rune kept the pebble stuck to the metal. “I guess it doesn’t matter. Where we’re going, these will be useless.”
A burst of mana erupted from Janus’ body. I raised my mana shield. Captain Kiln wasn’t the only one with a secret technique that put a lot of strain on the body.
“Do you know the secret to killing high-level combatants?” Janus clenched his jaw in pain. “You don’t let them use their skills.”
The ground parted, and we fell to a place without sky. I landed in a shallow pool that extended as far as the eye could see. The water was freezing cold. Fragments of the world fell with us: pieces of armor, my cloak, and a bunch of dirt that clouded the water. The water barely reached my ankle. Under the water, there was perfectly leveled solid stone. Here and there were vestiges of old ruins. The place reminded me of my mana pool, a flooded underground cave, but we weren’t floating in nothingness. In the sky, there was a single faint white star.
I clutched my sword and used [Hydrokinesis] to cast Janus into an ice prison, but the skill didn’t obey. The water remained undisturbed.
“Surprised?” Janus grinned, noticing my failed attempt.
The Bind-Light stones had slipped from his armor.
My Wind-Shot Boots were offline.
There wasn’t a single speck of environmental mana.
I pulled mana from the Fountain, but the power felt weak and distant. I looked up into the sky. A sense of intense dread got a hold on me—the sole white star in the infinite void couldn’t be the Fountain, right?
“Where are we?” I asked, holding back the urge to cast a weak fireball. I had to keep it a secret until the last moment.
Janus opened his arms.
“I don’t know. Nowhere? No matter how far you go, this place remains the same. Hard stone, fresh water, and ruins too old to make any sense of them, but what is inside this place is irrelevant. What is important is that you can’t use your skills here,” Janus said meditatively. “Say, Caretaker, do you think you are a better fencer than me without your [Swordsmanship]?”
Without a warning, Janus lunged. Our swords clashed. My blade was pushed to the side. Even without the System, Janus was stronger than me. Following the flow of the movement, Janus moved his sword in an arch as he tried to bypass my blade and hit my face. I didn’t see the attack coming. I grabbed Janus’ sword with my hand, and the blade bit through my leather gloves. Pain exploded in my brain. I tried to stab him, but my blade was tangled with his.
The fight became chaotic. We struggled for control of the position, locked in an awkward grapple. Without the System, there was no more “fantasy swordsmanship”; there was just the struggle for survival. Janus was taller than me, and he was built like a bear. Janus’ blade slashed my hand as it slipped from my grasp.
In a desperate attempt, I let my sword go and channeled the little Fountain mana I could grasp. I grabbed Janus’ forearm and transferred heat into the metal. Janus howled. He let go of his sword and pushed me away then fought to untie the knots of his bracers. The swords got lost in the muddy water.
I charged shoulder-first into Janus’ stomach. We both fell. Disoriented, I reached for my boot and pulled out the orc dagger. I tried to channel more Fountain mana, but there was nothing to draw from. Janus was already on his feet, dagger in hand. His forearm boiled with blisters.
We got closer. I swung at Janus’ stomach, but he stopped my arm with the palm of his hand. He swung at my eyes, but I leaned back, letting the knife cut through the air. Janus put too much force in the blow, and he slipped. I seized the opening and aimed at his neck. Janus raised his hand to block, and my knife ended up embedded in his shoulder.
I clenched my teeth. It wasn’t a killing blow.
Janus grinned as his blade pierced my skin and muscle.
I stumbled back, and I lost hold of my knife. Janus approached me, a malicious smile on his face. I tried to push him back, but my arms felt as heavy as cinder blocks. I fell to my knees. Then I saw the blood coming out in torrents. I clutched my stomach, trying to make sense of the scene. It wasn't possible. Blood was supposed to remain inside. I searched for a Holone Grape, but Janus cut my belt and threw away my knife and the pouches.
“Don’t rush…” Janus grunted. “I’m going to enjoy watching you die.”
Blood came through my fingers. My vision was beginning to blur.
Then, we were back in Farcrest. The sun was blue, and the spring breeze caressed my face. [Foresight] came back online. Alarms went off in my brain—a timer. I was dying. Cauterize. I couldn’t focus. [Pyrokinesis] didn’t respond. [Foresight] gorged on my mana, and time slowed. Every single cell in my body was fighting to live; my heart rate slowed, my capillary vessels contracted, and hundreds of other survival mechanisms were triggered. The System wanted me to survive at all costs, but it only delayed the inevitable.
Janus fell on his knee, his shoulders shaking due to Mana Exhaustion.
I only needed a minute.
My backpack was still there. I crawled and grabbed Byrne’s shotgun. The chamber was empty. I had used the last of Ginz’s shells on the Lich. Then, [Foresight] threw one last idea into my conscious mind. I searched my pocket and pulled out a bright red shell—the shell I had been saving for Holst. I felt the plastic under my skin and put it inside the chamber.
Janus recognized the threat, and his eyes shot wide open. He tried to blink, but he was out of mana. I didn’t trust my aim.
I used [Stun Gaze].
Despite any level differences, he didn’t have the mana to resist. The skill grasped him harder than his incipient mana exhaustion. Janus turned into a statue.
I pulled the trigger. The bang deafened me.
The rain of lead hit Janus at four hundred meters per second. He remained still, like an old oak. Then, blood poured through the holes in his armor, mouth, and nose. Without uttering a single sound, Janus fell flat on his face.
The orphanage was finally free.