章 76: Elder Spright
"I'm ready." Emile exhaled and narrowed his attention on Fay.
Then moments later, Elder Zegris raised his arm and declared the start of the match. Within an instant, patches of Fay's body began to blur and morph into various colors.
After just a second, Fay vanished. Emile remained still and observant. He knew panicking was the worst thing he could do in the middle of a battle.
Like a watchtower, Emile's eyes scanned the room before him, but he couldn't even catch a trace of her. Out of options, Emile abandoned his eyes and instead gambled on his ears.
He heard the sound of his breath and that of those around him. He heard the thump of his heart beating in his chest. And then he heard a rush of air behind him.
A white light flashed and Emile exploded across the room. He turned around to face Fay and bent over to slow his acceleration.
In the next moment, Emile found himself sliding across the floor in a sprinter's crouching start. Looking up, he saw Fay across the room; her daggers in the process of tearing the air to shreds.
The two made eye contact and a moment of surprise appeared on Fay's face, but she quickly refocused and her body once again began to dissipate into the background scenery.
Emile activated the Nimbus Charm once more and blasted towards Fay. He held his arm out and slammed it against her forehead.
Fay's body split like a log as her head exploded backwards, cracking the stone floor as the two collided. When she opened her eyes, Emile's scimitar was already next to her neck.
Emile waited in silence and did nothing more than indifferently look at Fay, like she wasn't worth his time. After a couple of seconds, he pushed the edge of the scimitar against her neck causing a stream of blood to run down her body.
Fay looked up and met Emile's gaze, her eyes remained fierce, but then Emile pushed a little harder and more blood spilled out of her neck. Fay looked away and with distinct irritation in her voice said,
"I forfeit."
Emile released the scimitar and it burst into essence.
"Good." He replied.
Then he brought his attention back to the two Elders who each looked at him differently.
"Welcome, Elder Spright." Zegris congratulated him as he slightly tipped his head down in acknowledgment.
"Yes! Truly well done!" Willow clapped and walked towards him.
The closer she came the larger she grew. Willow must have been a foot taller than Emile and she wasn't even wearing heels.
Extending her hand forward, she too welcomed Emile as an Elder.
"And by the way," she continued, "thank you for sparing Fay. Do take care of her for me, won't you?"
Emile strained his neck as he looked up to meet Willow's eyes:
"I'm sorry?" Emile asked.
"It's one of our pesky little rules—" Willow explained, "in a duel there are only two outcomes: either one contender kills the other or one contender forfeits their life to their opponent."
Emile looked down from the Willow tree and caught Fay burning a hole in the side of his head with her gaze. But the moment Fay noticed Emile was looking at her, her gaze softened and she looked down to the floor.
"My life is now yours, Elder Spright." Fay said with a calming and serene tone.
Emile took a step back.
"Wait, wait, wait—" he took more steps back, "I can't own someone."
Suddenly Elder Zegris appeared behind Emile. He placed his hand on Emile's shoulder and offered his two-sense:
"An Elder must have servants, Elder Spright. It is not only a sign of your authority, but we three Elders each manage a third of Black Gates. Besides that girl, you now have a couple hundred people beneath you."
"Hundred?" Emile repeated. His mouth hung open after asking.
"Yes. We must inform you of everything now. Let us go now, shall we?" Elder Zegris urged.
"Oh I was just getting tired of this place Zegris, I think we should leave too." Willow agreed.
'Hundred people?!'
'What did I just sign up for?!'
Before Emile could say anything, he found himself walking along with twenty other people through the streets of Rising Tide. Beside him walked both Elder Willow and Zegris while the entirety of their subordinates followed behind.
Meanwhile, Fay walked two steps behind Emile. He was convinced he could feel her breath on the back of his neck.
After walking out of the outer ring and through the residential districts, their caravan of people crumbled until only a handful were left. Pulling his arm, Willow guided Emile into a popular tavern.
After a few short seconds, Willow pulled them all past the bar as she followed a waitress. They arrived at a private room behind the tavern.
Zegris, Willow, Spright, and Fay all sat around a small table in their private room. The room wasn't big, they were more like cubbies than actual rooms.
The walls pushed up against the backs of the two booths and the edge of the table. Other than the entrance, there was no place in the private room to stand.
Even then, Emile found it remarkably cozy. Beneath the floor hot coals released steam upwards into the room and a pitcher of beer was already in the room, waiting on the table for them.
Confused at their final destination, Emile asked why they didn't stay in the storage facility for their meeting.
"Well we just got a new Elder, don't you think we should celebrate a little?" Was the response Elder Willow gave him.
"You mustn't be so tense, Spright. In the meeting of Kings you have to appear brazen, practice this now." Zegris instructed.
Meanwhile, on the receiving end of that advice, Emile was lost in thought someplace else.
'Am I allowed to quit being an Elder?'
'Surely Collector wouldn't send me somewhere I couldn't leave'
'Right?'
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