章 50: Master Class, Part 1
"Sancu, what are you doing here?" I asked.
"Not even going to thank me for keeping the Vorsii ships out of the Voyager's path?" he retorted with a smirk.
"Thank you, so why the hell are you here and why did you decide to help?" I re-asked dryly.
"Predictions were extremely high that the Voyager would be destroyed if you were provoked into fighting the Vorsii swarm. As to why I am here, there is a debt to be paid for my work. You four will play a game of my design and, should you win, I will grant you a favor when you need it most," Sancu said.
"What about Voyager while we play your game?" Katye asked.
"You will be removed from the timeline, so no one will be aware of your disappearance," he replied.
"Was this always planned?" I asked.
"The moment, no, the game, yes," he answered with a smile.
"It's not like we have a choice," Katye sighed.
"You don't. Thank you for understanding, Katye," Sancu said then tapped his cane on the floor and a glowing doorway appeared near the stairs. "Finish your meal then walk through the portal. Making me wait will only increase the difficulties that you will face, and predictions are showing that you will need my favor, or you will doom this universe."
Before any of us could reply, Sancu disappeared. I let out an angry sigh and cracked my knuckles with annoyance. Katye and Raven were also quiet and unmoving after Sancu's appearance, but Echo just returned her attention to her plate of food. Watching her eat with no care made me chuckle, and then copy her actions. So far, Tori's pantheon had never led us astray and I could control myself better after Mimic's trial; if this was meant to happen, then it just had to happen.
Raven and Katye did not go back to their meal, but Echo and I finished a few minutes later. Nyka and Filigree joined us as we walked through the portal that Sancu had left. When we exited the portal we were in a small clearing in the middle of a thick jungle with a small building on the edge of the clearing. Sancu was in the middle of a group of unique individuals, three of which I recognized, though I had never met any of them personally.
The unfamiliar one was a black and brown werewolf, for lack of a better description, that stood eight feet tall and wore lime-green leather armor that had dozens of throwing knives stashed away in the pieces of armor. Another was tiny, no more than three feet tall, and wore heavy robes that were cherry red in color; while he was younger than what I knew from Dystina's memories, there was no mistaking Zahe, a former member of Dystina's old pantheon. The last two were identical to Katye's and my Dusa forms, meaning that they were Alkatyenia and Dystina.
"Thank you for not keeping me waiting," Sancu said with a smile. "I think that introductions are due. Directly to my right and left, I imagine that you all recognize Alkatyenia and Dystina. To Dystina's left is Zahe, Nova-ranked Golem creator and Enchanter before his death. To Alkatyenia's right is Raznar, Lord God-ranked master Hunter before his death. They are nothing more than fragments of Istar's memory of the individuals, not True Souls, but they do have skills comparable to your current level of strength. Each of them has a particular skill that you are lacking, which they will demonstrate for you once, and then walk you through it, in their own way. You will have a total of seventy-two hours to recreate the skill, or you will lose the game. One of you will need to succeed, or your future in the Voyager universe will become much harder."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I retorted.
Sancu tapped his cane and energy rushed into Zahe and Raznar. They both developed an aura as they began to breath and their eyes became more expressive. They looked at the four of us with interest, especially at Katye and me.
"Zahe, this is Raven, your student for the next three days. She has only had informal training for nearly two years, yet her enchanting skill is at the Journeyman rank," Sancu explained.
"Interesting," Zahe replied, rubbing his chin as he looked over Raven. "And what shall I be teaching her during my time?"
"I would like for you to teach her to craft a mana distiller, my predictions place her chances of succeeding in recreating it at roughly twenty-five percent."
"Oh? Well, now, you have my interest. This way, giant; we don't have time to waste," Zahe replied and started walking towards the small building without looking back.
Raven looked over at us, before shrugging and following the gnome-like man.
"Raznar, Echo has inherited your 'Eye of the Hunt', though she has only unlocked the initial level since she has had no training on its proper usage. Her foundation is good, but she still needs instruction on the proper way to use the power if she is to unlock the second level," Sancu said.
"A kitsune? I suppose it could be a decent hunter. Follow," Raznar said with a growl to his voice.
Nyka made a yowl of annoyance, but Echo did not react and just followed the werewolf into the jungle with the small fox behind her. Once Echo and Nyka were out of sight, Sancu tapped his cane again and energy rushed into Alkatyenia's body. Her wings twitched as she came to life, and she looked at the two of us with amusement.
"Well, well, this is a surprise. There can only be a single Fairy Queen of the Arcana, so who are you?" Alkatyenia asked.
Katye shifted into her Dusa form, her aura changing to be identical to Alkatyenia's, and retorted, "I am you."
"I'm afraid that you are just a memory, Alkatyenia, here to train your reincarnation," Sancu explained.
"Hmm... a shame, but Selene always warned that this was a possibility. I take it that Dystina shared a similar fate," Alkatyenia replied as she moved over to the frozen form of Dystina and touched her face lovingly. "So, what task must my Mini-Me complete for your game?"
Sancu smiled devilishly and replied, "I need her at the level of a Fairy Queen. She has had mana for nearly fourteen years, yet she cannot cast a single gesture spell, relying on rune casting for any arcane spells."
Alkatyenia's gaze narrowed on Katye, who was next to me, and I could not help but step back, sensing her fury.
"You're an asshole, Sancu," Katye said, her voice overlapping with a second.
Katye(Alkatyenia) teleported herself away further than Katye should have been able to while the memory Alkatyenia vanished in the next moment.
Looking at Sancu, I growled, "What did you do?"
"The memory of Alkatyenia will not harm Katye, only force the seal that 'Alkatyenia' placed on her Arcane Mana to open. Katye's strength is too low compared to your current power, so if you lose control, she can't stop you," Sancu replied.
I gritted my teeth, wanting to deny his claim, but it was true. Katye could, at most, disturb my storm, but if it was a true fight, I could overwhelm her in a matter of minutes while Raven and Echo could only last seconds. As much as I tried to ignore the fact, I was still a danger to the people around me.
"Now, now, none of your women are in danger. If you should be worried for anyone, it should be yourself. Join with the Storm or suffer; I promise only that you will not die," Sancu said then tapped his cane and vanished.
Before I could complain, I sensed mana rushing into Dystina's body and her aura forming. If L'Naan's aura had made me want to suppress her, Dystina's filled me with a bloodthirsty rage. It was wrong; her aura was wrong. It was like mine, yet not, and I needed to remove it.
I shifted straight into my Dragon body form and swung my tail at her in hopes of catching her off-guard. I did not. Two strong, scaled hands stopped my tail for a moment while her feet dug into the ground as I slowly pushed her back. As my momentum died, her mana stirred, and my instincts flared.
Leaping into the air, I narrowly avoided a giant earthen spear skewering my gut, but she followed it up with a jet of violet flames. I did not escape the fire unsinged, proving the heat of the flames since I could resist most fiery attacks. Still, I remained in the air and climbed higher with every flap of my wings.
Dystina also transformed into her full-sized Dragon form, which was even larger than my own, and chased after me. She released a few more blasts of her dragon breath, and while I dodged the first few, the only way I could defend myself from the last one was by summoning my Chaos Storm. Unfortunately, that only served to enrage her more as she let out a thunderous roar and called out her own Chaos Storm. It was further proof that we truly were the same Soul when our two Chaos Storm Domains, instantly, melded together.
I could still feel the massive storm that surrounded both of our bodies, yet I had no control of it. Her Will was stronger than mine, built up over hundreds of years of fighting for her life and freedom, so she could strip away my influence. While I was not completely defenseless, my Domain had shrunk to merely five feet around my giant Dragon body, making me feel weaker than when I developed my first Domain.
Suddenly, she vanished from my senses altogether. I even turned my body to attempt to see her with my eyes, but she was nowhere to be seen within the storm. Crimson lightning shot at me from my right side, which I narrowly dodged, but then she reappeared directly above me and grabbed my wings with both of her talons. With a sickening crack and tear, she ripped my wings off my back, causing me to roar in pain as I fell from the sky.
I tried to use my Storm Clouds to cushion my fall, but I still hit the ground hard. The next thing I saw was a move that I used regularly against Katye, Raven, and Echo, Dystina nose-diving straight at me and releasing a jet of violet flames. I knew that I could not take those flames lightly, and the body slam would be even worse, which made me realize that I had no way to withstand her attack. Her body was stronger than mine and my Chaos Storm Domain was nothing in front of hers, taking away all of the advantages that I was used to having.
Since I could not fight the flames, I shifted into my humanoid form and knelt down, placing my hands on the dirt. Despite all of the advantages of my True Soul, it was built off of her, so there was no way that I could compete against her, fighting like her. The first element that I had focused on was Earth; I spent years using Stone Manipulation to create all sorts of things, so it was the strongest element in 'my' repertoire.
Walls of stone erupted from the ground to deflect the direction of the flames. I kept pulling more and more dirt on top of the walls as the fire burned through each layer while infusing my Soul Power into the spell as well. My entire focus was on making the walls stronger, ignoring my blistering skin, and then she slammed her body on top of me. I spit out a mouthful of blood, but the walls remained intact. She dragged her claws across the stone pyramid that I had created and even tried to invade the rock with her own mana, but I held firm.
She probed me for a few minutes before I sensed her moving a little away from me. While she could easily be preparing a spell and waiting for me to let down my shield, I knew that by balling up like this, I had already submitted to her being the stronger of us. To ambush me would be an insult to her pride as a True Dragon, so I let the wall crumble around me. Dystina was laying a pile of broken trees, looking at me blankly, still in her Dragon form.
"Pathetic," Dystina rumbled. "Even as a newborn, I would not have been defeated that easily. You're a beast of the Chaos Storm, yet Earth is your most mastered element; ridiculous."
"Istar took some creative freedom with raising your reincarnation, in Rebecca's defense," Sancu explained.
"That brat has my Soul?!? Where is Selene?" Dystina demanded, rising to her feet in anger.
"Dead, I'm afraid, and her True Soul consumed. Before your death, you did manage to wipe out all those who were responsible for her murder," Sancu answered.
She snorted out a plume of smoke and settled back down on her bed as she grumbled, "Of course, I did."
"As you may have noted, Rebecca is lacking one of your trademark abilities. She was raised a human with no mana and then placed into a trial of Alkatyenia's choosing, gaining access to her mana fourteen years ago. She has only meddled with the Chaos Storm once, when her Ego could withstand a Telo transformation, and has been unable to do so since."
"You don't say?" Dystina replied, her eyes narrowing and with a purr to her voice.
I had thought that Alkatyenia had been intimidating when she locked her eyes onto Katye, who had been beside me, but that was nothing compared to Dystina's glare. A trapped mouse facing a house cat was a close analogy, though the difference in strength put us on the scale of an ant versus an elephant. I knew that I was in store for a beating unlike any that I ever had before, and a single thought rang through my head.
"You're an asshole, Sancu," I growled.
"Chance often is," he chuckled before vanishing with a tap of his cane.
A/N: Sorry for the late release!
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