“I will not warn you twice,” the Prophet of Decras hissed, cold black energy gathering at his back like the maw of a great beast yawning open to swallow him whole. “This is not your fight. Vivian is not your ally. She never has been. You gain nothing at all by aiding her. We have no quarrel between us. Do not create one.”
The Prophet floated above Aqua Terra, anger radiating from his words. And, in the air across from him, hands crossed casually behind his back and long white hair framing his weathered features, was the lone being standing between everyone within the city below and a furious Rank 8 mage.
Tim.
“You’re correct,” Tim said casually. “We have no quarrel. And I would strongly suggest that you keep it that way. As things stand right now, we’re simply having a discussion. Vivian called in a favor. She asked me to have a little chat with you. I am obliging that request because I wish to. Do you presume to order me around, whelp?”
The Prophet’s molten gaze bore into Tim.
Tim didn’t so much as blink.
“Don’t play innocent,” the Prophet growled. “You speak with authority you do not possess. Only a fragment of your presence is actually here. Were it not for the respect I hold your true form, I would have carved you down already. Get out of my way.”
“Do not presume to lecture me,” Tim said, his tone unchanged. “You stay your hand because you fear my power, Prophet. And that is wise. Fear exists for self-preservation. A healthy dosage of it is the only thing that separates a powerful man from a dead one. I have stated my position. Vivian has requested that I keep you from interfering with her tournament whilst she handles an internal matter. And I believe it was you who said that you were only here to talk. So, talk, if you wish.”
“It is not you that I wish to speak with,” the Prophet ground out.
“Then you will simply have to wait for a short while longer,” Tim said. A flash of darkness shot swallowed the whites of his eyes. “I trust that would be vastly preferable to the alternative. I have not yet given you an ultimatum, whelp. And know that, if I do, you will no longer have any choice in the matter.”
The Prophet’s black gauntleted fists clenched. Metal scraped on metal.
But he didn’t move.
***
“Well,” Decras said. He leaned back and ran a hand along the surface of his smooth, bald head. Then he blinked heavily. “I don’t have the faintest damn idea what to say.”
Renewal shoveled a handful of chocolate into her mouth, unable to pull her eyes away from the shimmering screen. It probably would have been appropriate for her to feel at least a little bit irate that someone was screwing so badly with her Prophet.
But she couldn’t keep the snickers from bubbling up and slipping past her defenses. The sides of her mouth still hurt a little from laughing.
“Play it again,” Renewal said.
Decras flicked his hand.
The image on the screen reversed, then resumed its normal flow. A glowing green projection of Jalen vanished, his final words ringing through the room as the Rank 8s stared at him in stunned disbelief. Vivian’s shock was such that her mouth actually hung open slightly in disbelief.
Maria and Baress weren’t doing much better. The looks on their faces were just too much.
Renewal doubled over laughing again.
Even Decras couldn’t help himself. The two of them cackled, fighting for breath as they reversed and re-played the scene again. Renewal couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed this hard. She also couldn’t remember the last time any Rank 8 had looked so taken aback.
“Okay,” Renewal said, wiping a tear away from her face as she fought to compose herself. “Speed it back up. I don’t want to miss what happens next. This is too good.”
“Which part?” Decras asked. It didn’t sound like he was having much more luck gathering himself than she was. “Do you want to see the Rank 8s pretending to be gods? Or all the gaping fish in the crowd?”
He flicked his hand without waiting for a response. Images flashed by, stopping just as Noah and Jalen vanished through a swirling green portal, leaving a stunned combatant and a wordless announcer in their wake. Renewal let out another snort of laughter.
“Forget the idiots,” Renewal said, shaking her head. “I’m far more interested in what’s happening between the Rank 7 and 8s.”
“Sievan?” Decras asked. “He’s still holding that vile little fake Prophet off.”
“No. I already know Sievan is powerful and capable of holding his own. We don’t need to see that dick-measuring contest,” Renewal said. “I want to see Noah’s people.”
Decras flicked his hand again. The image changed, returning to the very first arena that Noah and Jalen had invaded. Yoru floated a foot over the ground, her translucent blue hands crossed behind her back as she impatiently looked around in wait for something.
Renewal and Decras exchanged a glance.
It seemed that Yoru had been forgotten.
Renewal tried hard to keep from laughing.
She really did.
It didn’t work. Decras didn’t have much more luck. The two of them both burst out in chuckles for the umpteenth time that hour.
They were still laughing when a green portal snapped back open beside Yoru and Jalen dove out of it, looking more than a little haggard.
“Whoops!” Jalen said. He cleared his throat. “Sorry. We were… uh, distracted.”
“Right,” Yoru said dryly. The two of them stepped into the portal. Then it snapped shut behind them, leaving nothing behind but the baffled crowd.
Everyone was all clearly wondering why Vivian hadn’t been doing anything about the very evident breaking of the tournament rules, not to mention the sheer number of times someone had teleported into and out of an arena that should have been functionally impenetrable.
And if Renewal was honest, she was slightly curious as to the answer to that herself. She didn’t get the feeling it was because Vivian had finally figured out that Noah was the one she’d been looking for. That had helped smooth things a bit… but it wouldn’t be enough to completely ignore an insult.
“Noah?” Decras asked.
“Vivian,” Renewal replied. She finally managed to bring herself fully under control. “I didn’t think her relationship with Noah was so good that she’d let him traipse around like this for no reason… but I can’t see her having any trouble with Baress either. She had Rake and Maria on her side. There’s no reason for her to not be interfering yet.”
“True enough,” Decras agreed. “Let’s take a look at her, then. I’m quite curious as to the answer myself. I’d also love to know what in all the planes it was she offered Sievan to make him do her a favor. That man does not forgive grudges easily. Despite the way he likes to act, he’s as petty as they come.”
The image changed.
And then they were looking beneath Aqua Terra once more. Vivian stood alongside Rake and Maria, facing off against Baress and the trio of apostles flanking her.
Surprisingly enough… Vivian actually seemed quite composed. She’d managed to keep herself from showing too much emotion at the rather ridiculous heist that Noah and his people had somehow pulled off.
“The way I see it, this was over before it began,” Vivian said. “No more dancing around. You will surrender, Baress. I will require compensation for my time and annoyance. Even though you didn’t manage to take my Key, you did cause structural damage and attempted to steal from me. That will not come cheap. And if you attempt to fight or run… Rake is bound to deal with you.”
“She’s right, I’m afraid,” Rake said. “I would suggest following Vivian’s instructions. You have been outplayed.”
“Don’t you think you have better things to be doing right now?” Baress asked, her teeth clenched. “Spider is making a joke of you, Vivian. I never thought you to be soft. But you’ve got nobody to blame but yourself, Vivian. You’ve gotten soft. How many years has it been since you’ve accomplished anything meaningful? Your Empire is stagnant. This is why I came for the Key. It would have been wasted on you. I won’t try to pretend otherwise. Look at yourself. Letting someone mock you so badly but doing nothing… isn’t that a little bit pathetic?”
Vivian let out a snort of laughter. “You think I’ve been stagnant? You stupid old bag. A great deal of information has fallen into your lap tonight. You purchased it with your idiocy. And yet you still can’t see the truth when it’s written all across the world around you?”
“What are you on about?” Baress asked, eyes narrowing in a mixture of anger and confusion.
“I have been training,” Vivian said coldly. “Me. My Empire. For years, we have been in a silent war. One that, until today, the other Factions have all been entirely unaware of. I may be hardly able to tolerate the presence of my opponent… but we have honed each other. To be honest, I had thought people would have at least suspected something. It is disappointing to see you were all so blind.”
“A war?” Baress asked, baffled. “Against whom? Every single faction is represented here. Nobody is left to fight against. None of our Factions are in active…”
And then she trailed off.
“Spider,” Rake said. “Spider has an entire Faction? He’s not just a lone mage?”
“My ex-husband is as insufferable as she is capable,” Vivian said, her lips starting to curl upward. “His faction is elite, but it is secretive. We have an agreement. I help provide training and support for his people to sharpen themselves in silence. And, in turn, he supports me in whatever operations I need an… outside hand in.”
“You’re lying,” Baress said, dread crossing her features. “You mean the second Key—”
“Was his,” Vivian said. Her cold smile finished forming. “It always was. He just gave it to me as a favor. Jalen, that insufferable ass, was telling the truth. That was a training exercise that we put together, purely to see if anyone would be idiotic enough to try and go for the bait. And sure enough… we caught a fish.”
“Fuck,” Baress said. Realization finally set into her features.
Kyyle yanked a small bone out of his pocket. He shattered it between his fingers in a snap.
An arc of red electricity leapt from him to connect to the other three Apostles. And, with a hiss of Chaos magic, the three of them vanished.
Vivian took a step forward. Maria did the same.
“It seems your remaining allies have deserted you,” Vivian observed through her smirk. “But that’s hardly a surprise. You’ve been playing into my hand from the moment you set foot in Aqua Terra, Baress.”
The other Rank 8 woman’s knuckles went white around her wooden staff. There was a long second of silence. But there were no options left for her, and all of them knew it.
One by one, her fingers released.
The staff clattered to the ground at Baress’ feet.
“Well played, Vivian. Very well,” Baress said, her words as stiff as a plank. “We will discuss my surrender.”