Rise of the Devourer
Book 4: Chapter 16 — Tournament Pt. 3

Noah sat back down in his chair in the watching box. The arena workers had completed sweeping away the last of the ice from his match, and the crowd was still excited as they got ready for the next fight.

The announcer's voice rang out over the colosseum: "Third match of the first round!" "Seraphina Starwrought, the amazing Scholar-Mage, against Thane Earthshaker, the Master of Stone and Steel!"

"This should be interesting. Seraphina has been looking forward to showing off her research on magic,” Aurelia said, leaning forward.

As Seraphina walked into the arena, Noah looked down. She strolled with her normal confident stride, and it looked like she wasn't troubled by the twenty thousand pairs of eyes that were watching her every move. Noah could feel the faint shimmer of magical energy already collecting about her as she stepped into the center of the arena. Her silver hair caught the light.

Thane Earthshaker, her opponent, was a towering Drakonian with bronze scales and arms that looked like tree trunks. He had a huge war hammer that appeared like it could break the arena floor with just one swing. People in the crowd clapped for the local warrior.

Someone in the crowd yelled, "The earth mage against the scholar! I bet on the big guy!"

"Don't think less of the mage," was the answer. "She wouldn't be here if she couldn't take care of herself."

Noah watched from the observation box as the two warriors got ready. Seraphina looked small next to Thane's big body, but her posture showed that she didn't care about the size difference.

The announcer asked, "Are the combatants ready?"

Both fighters nodded. Thane raised his hammer, but Seraphina just stood there with her hands at her sides and no weapons or magical concentrates in sight.

"Start!"

Seraphina thought the fight was over before it even started.

She had been looking over Thane's magical signature, attitude, equipment, and reputation for the past few minutes. Earth magic was strong, but it was also predictable because it depended on stability, bulk, and direct force. The kind of magic that worked well against people who followed the rules.

Sadly for Thane, Seraphina had never really cared about following the rules.

Thane hit the ground with his hammer right away when the match started. Stone spikes sprung up all over the arena floor and raced toward Seraphina with great speed and strength. It was the first move she anticipated an earth wizard would make: take control of the battlefield and make the other person defend themselves.

Seraphina didn't get out of the way.

She raised one hand, nevertheless, and said one word in an old language, forgotten to most: "Nullify."

The stone spikes were no longer there. They didn't break or change direction; they just stopped existing, as if they had never been made in the first place. The magical energy that made them went away safely into the air.

Thane's eyes got big with shock, but he was seasoned enough to rapidly adjust. He struck his hammer in a wide arc, and a wave of crushed earth and stone flew toward her like a battering ram.

"Redirect," Seraphina remarked in a calm voice.

The strike hit the wall behind her with a huge amount of force, making a perfect arc around her. The barricades lit up as they took the hit.

Thane now looked like he was really worried. "What kind of magic is that?"

"Something a half-rated mage like you would never have heard of," Seraphina said.

She lifted both hands, and the air surrounding her started to sparkle with complicated magical patterns. The public was used to seeing dazzling shows of fire or ice, but this was real magic in action.

Seraphina didn't need to have all this magic be so visible, it reflected poor technique if anything to waste focus on creating visible structures, and she could have done it without them. But she knew that being theatrical helped her connect with the audience, and she was interested to see if anyone in the crowd would be able to understand the theoretical framework she was using.

All of the earth magic in the arena just fell apart. The stone spikes, the stronger ground, and even the hammer that Thane had made stronger all fell apart like someone had tugged on a loose thread in a tapestry.

Thane looked at his war weapon, which had suddenly become dirt, and then at the arena floor, which had transformed back into perfectly normal stone. The man simply stared, unsure of what to do.

"The thing most mages don’t understand is that magic is just theory put into action. And the only way to beat an opposing mage, is by either, having a better grasp of theory, or by having lots more mana," Seraphina replied as she started to cast her next spell. "And I've got spades in both."

Noah was fascinated as he watched Seraphina methodically take apart her opponent's magical powers from the viewing box.

He remarked, "I've never seen anything like that. She's dominating entirely. Stopping his magic from working."

"Theoretical magic at its best," Valeria said. "Seph was called Mage-Killer back when she started out. She’s fairly strong against normal opponents, but she’s practically untouchable against mages."

"Look at Thane's face," Aurelia said with a hint of sympathy. "Poor guy doesn’t know what to do."

The Drakonian warrior in the arena had stopped using magic and was running at Seraphina with his hands raised. It was a simple plan, if magic wasn't working, fight with your fists.

But Seraphina had thought about that as well.

"Kinetic Redistribution," she murmured, snapping her fingers, and all of a sudden, Thane was sprinting through what felt like thick syrup. His progress slowed to a crawl, and every step took a lot of work.

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"Gravitational Adjustment," she said next, and Thane's body grew too heavy for him to lift well.

"And finally," Seraphina added with a sense of scholarly pride, "Localized Temporal Acceleration."

She moved quickly, but Thane seemed like he was stuck. It seemed like she walked around him three times, touched many areas along his arms and chest with precise finger strikes, and then went back to where she had been standing.

She then called off all of her spells.

Thane lurched forward, and his speed took him beyond where Seraphina had been standing. He turned around and raised his hammer, but his movements were slow and awkward.

"Targeted mana interference can mess up the nervous system," Seraphina said in a casual way. "In about two seconds, you'll lose control of your motor skills."

Thane's eyes got bigger as his legs gave out, and he fell to the floor of the arena. He was awake but couldn't move well.

Another flash of gold light, and Thane was gone. The arena's safety mechanisms whisked him to safety.

"Seraphina Starwrought wins! A brilliant show of magic!"

For a minute, the gathering was quiet as they thought about what they had just seen. Then the cheers started. People liked two things. An underdog beating the odds. And an overwhelming victory that dominates the opponent. Seraphina had given them the latter in spades.

When Seraphina got back to the viewing box, her pals were happy for her but also confused.

Vion exclaimed, "That was amazing, Seph! I've never seen magic used like that before."

"Honestly, I don't get why people don't use their strongest attacks right away." Seraphina said as she sat down in her chair as if she had just come back from a nice walk.

Noah lifted an eyebrow. "Because they'll be countered?"

Seraphina glanced at him with real confusion. "How can your strongest attack just be countered?" She shook her head in a way that said no. "If your best strategy can be easily beaten, then it's not really your best strategy, is it?"

"That's... actually a fair point,” Aurelia said. “Most people's strongest attacks don't involve changing the basic rules of magic, though."

"Oh that wasn’t my strongest attack. Not even close. I wouldn’t waste it on that guy. I just think more people should use them more often.”

The group all looked at each other at her words, and then shook their heads in unison.

Noah could see Valeria walking toward the entrance tunnel as the arena got ready for the following match. She looked attentive but sure of herself; she'd been preparing for this moment for years.

"Fourth match of the first round! Valeria Stormwind, the Northern Valkyrie, and Marcus Ironforge, the Unbreakable Shield!"

Both boxers got a lot of cheers from the crowd. While Marcus was a local favorite known for his impenetrable defense, Valeria had developed a strong reputation during her time in Drakonias.

Noah watched both participants enter. “This one is going to be more traditional. Valeria doesn't like magic that isn't real."

"No, but she has her own strengths," Aurelia said. "Look at how she uses her weapon."

Marcus Ironforge lived up to his moniker and what people said about him. He was built like a wall of a fortress, with armor that appeared like it could stop a charging dragon and a shield that was almost as tall as he was. His defensive posture was flawless, with very few openings and great positioning.

Valeria, on the other hand, moved with the smooth grace of someone who has been training with weapons since they were a child. Noah could see that she was sure of herself since her sword and shield were perfectly balanced. This was her thing.

"Start!"

This match opened with a classic charge, which was different from the others. The two warriors soon closed the gap, and the sound of steel hitting steel rang through the arena. Marcus's shield work was really good. He easily blocked Valeria's first attacks with his huge shield, which covered him entirely.

"Good defense!" someone in the crowd yelled.

Valeria, on the other hand, didn't care. Noah could tell that she was studying Marcus's defense habits to find the flaws that might come up. There was always something wrong with perfect defense.

She started changing the angles of her attacks and trying out other ways to fight. Marcus stopped high swings with his shield, low sweeps with his sword, and feints that he didn't fall for. People in the throng might have thought she was being stonewalled, but Noah could see the meticulous logic underlying her attack.

"She's figuring out how well he can defend himself," Erwest said. "Very organized."

"Over there," Vion said, pointing at the arena. "Did you see that?"

Noah had seen it: Valeria attacked from his left side and he hesitated for a second. When covering that angle, Marcus's shield placement was a little slower.

Valeria had seen it as well.

Her following combo was a whirlwind of accurate hits. She faked high, then low, and finally came in from the left, just like Marcus thought she would. But instead of the simple blow he was ready for, she rolled her sword around the edge of his shield and hit the space between his armor plates.

The point of her sword hit its target, extracting first blood. The crowd roared with appreciation. It was the kind of swordplay that even those who weren't fighting could enjoy.

Marcus fought back, and his sword skill showed that he wasn't just known for being good at defense. But Valeria had found what she was looking for. That weakness on the left side showed out every time he attacked from certain angles.

She started to use it in a planned way, making little cuts and blows while evading his counterattack. Marcus was smart enough to see what was going on, but being able to change his strategy in the middle of a fight was a whole other story.

Valeria's precise combo that Noah had seen in training sessions brought the end. She tied Marcus's sword to her own, moved inside his guard, and hit his helmet with her shield rim hard enough to make it ring like a bell.

Marcus staggered back, blinking quickly and looking bewildered. Valeria's sword swept his legs out from under him before he could get back on his feet. He fell to the floor of the arena. Her next hit went down toward his chest. When the arena's safety spells went off, a flare of golden light surrounded Marcus. He was there one second and gone the next, teleported to the hospital bay.

"Victory to Valeria Stormwind! Marcus Ironforge has been taken away for medical care!"

The crowd cheered as they saw a clean knockout, which meant that the safety systems didn't need to give up when they decided that a combatant could no longer safely continue.

"Both fighters did great swordwork! The Northern Valkyrie moves on to the second round!"

Valeria was breathing hard as she got back to the viewing box, but she appeared happy with how she did.

"Good fight,” Noah said.

"He was good," Valeria said, taking the praise from the others. "Better than I thought. That work on the shield was almost perfect.

"Almost," Seraphina said. "I still think you could have ended it faster if you'd used your abilities more optimally—"

"Not everyone fights like you, Seph," Aurelia said with a laugh. "Some of us like steel that is honest."

"Honest steel is fine," Seraphina added. "But honesty doesn’t ensure victory."

As the crowd started to leave and the arena workers started to clean up at the end of the day, the announcer's voice echoed through the colosseum one last time.

"Ladies and gentlemen, that wraps up the first day of the tournament!" Four bouts are done, and there are four more to come tomorrow! Paladin Erwest Ivan will face off against the unpredictable Neal Harth in our first match tomorrow!

That announcement made Noah's stomach feel like it was tied in a knot. Neal's Chaos Primer route was really hard to foresee, and Erwest's simple fighting style might have trouble against someone like that.

He responded, "That will be an interesting match."

"Erwest can handle it," Aurelia said, but Noah could also hear the worry in her voice. "He has fought opponents he couldn't predict before."

"Not like Neal," Vion replied in a low voice. "Chaos magic doesn't follow any rules we know of."

Noah thought about the matches that will happen tomorrow as they left the viewing box and headed back to the palace. Four of his buddies had made it to the second round, but things were only going to get harder from here.

Today, however, had shown them all something important: they all belonged at this level. Valeria's tactical genius, Aurelia's ability to change her fighting style, and Seraphina's understanding of theory had all worked against skilled opponents.

Noah was sure they were ready to tackle the new trials that would come tomorrow.

The competition was not over yet, and the greatest was yet to come.