by Andrew Rowe
“Weight of the World.”
Diamantine flashed — and everything changed.
The swirling nexus of metal crashed to the floor. Alexander gasped and his sword dipped, nearly touching the floor before he wrestled it back upward. Zhang Yun winced, but managed to maintain his stance.
Oskar, watching from a distant part of the arena, visibly shuddered in his armor. For a moment, it looked like he was about to fall to a knee, but he let out a shout and a burst of energy surrounded him, seeming to give him the strength he needed to remain standing.
Kamaria, unencumbered by armor and weapons, seemed to struggle the least among the challengers — but even her stance shifted, as if she was suddenly being dragged down by the weight of armor, rather than clothing.
I’d been in enough fights to understand what I was seeing — Edria Song’s technique had amplified the weight of everything the other fighters were carrying. I wasn’t sure how it worked — perhaps it had been a burst of density mana that clung to other objects, or some kind of gravity amplification — but the impact on the fight was obvious.
All of the other fighters would have to struggle just to wield their weapons. And with Oskar’s heavy armor, he was burning through mana just to find the strength to stand.
The princess, of course, was not affected in the slightest. She drew her sword from the ground, smiled, and slowly advanced. With a flick of her wrist, she severed the rope that Alexander had been using to haul Kamaria out of the way.
Kamaria moved her hands, and with great difficulty, raised bits of metal to form a shield in front of her just before the crown princess lunged.
Diamantine passed through the metal shield without resistance, then clear through Kamaria’s shroud. Only a fraction of the sword’s tip pierced into Kamaria’s chest, but that was all it took.
In the next moment, Kamaria Clarent had turned to stone. The few remaining bits of floating metal settled to the ground in the moments that followed, as if they had just given up hope.
The remaining fighters didn’t give up quite so easily.
Oskar slowly lifted his colossal axe, though the movement took obvious effort. Then, one step at a time, he began to walk across the arena toward the crown princess.
As the crown princess turned toward Zhang Yun, who was still channeling mana into his weapon for what had to be some sort of devastating technique designed to penetrate the crown princess’ incredible defenses, Alexander dropped his rope and snapped his fingers.
A glowing box appeared around the crown princess, barely large enough for her to fit inside. Then, as Alexander moved his hand, it began to press inward.
The box shattered after an instant, but it had accomplished something important — the crown princess had been momentarily blinded by the presence of the box.
Zhang Yun struck. The air around his spear whistled as it parted, a burst of incredible force cascading forward with lightning speed. He’d chosen to strike with pure transference mana, sharpened to a deadly point — a type of mana that would explosively combust on contact with Diamantine’s aura, just as the tiny crystal bits that Ari had thrown might have.
It was a beautiful maneuver, perfectly aimed for her center of mass. Her armor would stop it, of course, but killing the princess was not the objective. He was simply hoping to hit her with breathtaking force.
The crown princess correctly anticipated that Zhang Yun would strike in that moment of blindness. She began to move her sword toward the floor, likely to raise a crystal wall to block the attack.
That was the moment when Ari flipped upward from the floor and slammed, shoulder first, into Edria Song’s back.
Edria Song had proven throughout the match that she was largely immovable and practically invulnerable. But very few things are completely immune to a Juggernaut catching them from behind by surprise.
She only slid a half-inch from the impact. Ari bounced right off of her and slammed back into the ground. But Ari maneuver had done what it needed to — it startled her.
And Zhang Yun’s spear crashed into her chest with full force.
There was an ear-splitting crack as antithetical mana types met and violently shattered the space around Edria Song. A spherical field of pressure rippled outward, crushing the stage beneath her like paper and hurling Kamaria Clarent’s body across the stage. For a moment, I thought the petrified body might shatter on impact, but a gleaming green field caught the statue and set it down safely.
Ari, however, was unprotected.
The field hit him with such force that I heard a snap before he even hit the ground. He screamed, and I saw fresh blood as he clutched at his right arm.
In the center of the devastation, the target of the attack — Crown Princess Edria Song — floated above the collapsed stage.
Her hair hadn’t even been mussed.
She turned to Zhang Yun first. “Truly, your attacks are as potent as they say, Zhang Yun. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to test myself against one of them.”
He bowed his head. “Your words are a balm to my soul, Crown Princess. I am honored to—”
Edria Song flickered forward. She hadn’t teleported, she just moved so quickly that even I couldn’t process what was happening. When she reappeared, she stood next to Zhang Yun with her sword lowered, but not in a passive position.
She’d already struck.
And before Zhang Yun could finish his next word, he had turned to stone.
“Can we get these statues out of the arena?” Alexander shouted, either to the princess or to the arena staff.
There was a pause as the princess turned toward him, then nodded. “Very well.” She waved a hand and the statues vanished. I didn’t know if that meant she had teleported them herself with virtually no effort, or if the people outside the arena had simply done so on her command. Either was dangerous, just in different ways.
“Better. I dislike having distractions.” Alexander waltzed forward, raising his sword. “Oskar, if you’d care to join me, perhaps we can let the real battle begin?”
The huge armored man nodded in Alexander’s direction, then resumed advancing toward Edria Song.
“You want to fight me up close? This should be amusing.” The crown princess smiled, lifting Diamantine to rest it on her shoulder. “Come on, then. I’ll even make things easier for you. Weight of the World, I release you.”
Oskar straightened immediately, taking a breath loud enough that I could hear it. His steps came a little faster after that, and he seemed to move his axe with less difficulty. The change was subtler for Alexander, given that his sword was the only heavy thing he’d been carrying, but he still moved a little easier.
“Thank you, princess.” Alexander smiled brightly as he finally closed to sword reach. “I will appreciate the chance to fight you on even terms. I—”
Alexander flew backward, a wave of pressure following in his wake. The crown princess ‘tsked’ as she recovered from her swing. “You talk too much, Alex.”
The duelist of House Theas landed and slid across the ground. I realized from the position of his sword that he’d parried her swing, which had moved faster than I could see.
That was impressive speed on his part as well — but it had been the wrong move.
His sword clattered from his hand as he winced, gripping it with his other hand. She’d either sprained or broken his wrist outright, simply from the force conferred through the swing when he parried.
While Alexander recovered, Oskar finally struck.
The Emerald-level Legionnaire swung his axe downward, straight for the center of the crown princess head. The strike was slow and predictable, enough so that there was obviously something else planned.
Edria Song side-stepped the swing rather than blocking it, confirming my suspicions. When she struck back in the aftermath, Oskar moved his axe with surprising speed to block with the shaft. The force of the impact knocked him back, but didn’t seem to harm him as much as it had with Alexand
er.
As Oskar prepared another strike, Alexander used a boot to fling his sword upward to his other hand, then swung in the air. Dozens of daggers of energies appeared around Edria Song, converging in a moment.
Edria Song flicked her sword from side-to-side, shattering the daggers. Oskar took the obvious opening, swinging a wide strike toward her waist. The surprise came when his suit of armor suddenly turned glimmering white, so bright that it was almost impossible to look at, even through the pool of water.
Edria Song stepped back, wincing and raising one arm to shield her eyes. Oskar’s swing missed her by inches.
“Got you.” Alexander pointed his sword at her feet. Green energy massed around her, solidifying and latching her to the ground. Then, he rushed forward, sword raised.
Oskar pulled back his axe, flames erupting across its surface. His armor still glimmered brightly, preventing the crown princess from looking at him directly.
And I realized that of all the attacks that had been directed toward the crown princess, she’d never allowed fire to hit her directly. Every time, she’d found a way to block or evade it.
And for the first time, I realized there was a chance they might actually hurt her.
The crown princess swung blindly toward Oskar, a hail of stone spikes following her swing. A wall of green energy from Alexander flickered in the way, blocking the stone projectiles.
The crown princess tore free of the energy that was binding her legs. That might have allowed her to back away from Oskar, but it didn’t account for the figure behind her.
“This is for Grandmother!” Ari yelled, rushing straight at the crown princess from behind while Oskar stepped forward and swung his burning axe.
And then, in an instant, everything changed.
The crown princess blurred, then her off-hand was holding Ari off the ground by the neck. She hurled him straight at Oskar.
She’d reacted fast, but she still had one more attacker on the way. A green glow of energy burst around Alexander as he lunged and slashed.
His blade stopped when it reached her cheek.
Not because he’d stopped his own swing with perfect control.
No, he’d hit her as hard as he could. His entire arm reverberated with the force of the blow.
And then, as Ari crashed into Oskar’s spiked armor, Crown Princess Edria Song cut Alexander’s sword in half.
“Oh.” He sighed. “Goodbye, then.”
Diamantine flashed, tracing a thin cut across Alexander’s face. A moment later, his body was petrified.
So fast.
Even with my own ability to counter petrification, I wasn’t sure if I could do it quickly enough to react to something like that.
The crown princess stared at the statue for a moment. “You were very irritating.” She raised Diamantine again.
For an instant, I thought she might strike shatter the statue with her next swing.
But as Oskar dislodged Ari’s wounded form from his own, she turned toward them instead.
Oskar lowered Ari’s battered form to the arena floor. “You did well, little one.” Oskar spoke in a booming voice with surprising softness. “Rest now.”
He reached down and touched the arena floor, reshaping a field of stone over Ari’s fallen body.
By the time Oskar had finished, Edria Song had slashed him across the chest. Diamantine didn’t cut straight through his armor, but it did something worse. As she struck, his breastplate shattered into shrapnel.
Oskar staggered backward, clutching at his injured chest.
“Go ahead, Oskar.” Edria Song stretched out her arms, Diamantine far off to the side. “Take one last swing. Use fire. Show me.”
Oskar nodded grimly, once again infusing his axe with fire. “As you say, Crown Princess.”
There was a pulse of power around him as he roared and swung the burning axe.
The blade smashed directly into her chest, an inferno briefly hiding Edria Song from sight.
When the smoke cleared, Oskar held the broken shaft of a bladeless weapon. Smoke rose from Edria Song’s body. She was, however, entirely unharmed.
She frowned, then, and for just a moment her expression changed.
Disappointment, I realized.
She had wanted the attack to work.
Then, with a crack, Ari burst from the stone behind her, trailing blood from a dozen wounds.
“Hah! It’s going to take more than that to stop me!”
With a sad smile, Edria Song shook her head.
Then Diamantine sang, and both Oskar and Ari turned to stone.
***
In spite of Grandmother Iron’s wishes, Rei and I ran straight to the infirmary after that.
I’ll save you the suspense that we felt. When we found Ari, he was flesh and blood. His right arm was broken, but he only needed one arm to cheer enthusiastically at us.
“That. Was. Amazing!” He grinned brightly at us. “Have you ever seen anything like that before?”
“No,” I admitted, to my own surprise. “I have not.”
I had fought opponents of terrible power before. Ones that outstripped my own abilities at the time I’d fought them several-fold. But what I’d seen in that arena…Zhang Yun, Alexander Theas, and Oskar Klein were all fighters at a similar level to my own.
They hadn’t even scratched her.
Upon reflection, I realized that my assessment of the match hadn’t been quite right.
The match had been staged, in a sense — just not the way I’d expected. No one had gone easy on the crown princess.
It had been the other way around.
Crown Princess Edria Song had been toying with them.
If I wanted to stand even the slightest chance of beating her in the eventual fight for Diamantine, I had a great deal of training to do.
But the time for training would be later.
With the opening ceremonies completed, it was finally time for the first round of the tournament to begin.
Chapter X – Crossing Edges
Reika was practically vibrating with excitement as we left the infirmary to get ready for our own match. I couldn’t blame her. I was pretty happy to get the fighting started, too.
So, naturally, the first step of the process was sitting in another waiting room.
Well — let me amend that. The first step was having our identification checked at one of the information counters at the designated time, after which we were directed to a specific waiting room. There were different waiting rooms for the people who had purchased advantages for the test, you see. The higher the reward, the shorter the wait.
I hadn’t expected to regret saving my points. I wasn’t worried about losing because of the advantages given to others, of course. I just hated waiting rooms.
Some people were even unluckier than we were. We were in one of the very first matches after the opening ceremonies, but some people would be stuck waiting until the evening.
Much like the first test, this one was split into different rounds across several days, due to the sheer number of participants. Our waiting room held about fifty people, but I didn’t know if that accounted for everyone taking the test at the same time as we were or not.
“This is torrrrrture,” Reika complained. “There have to be laws about keeping us waiting for this long.”
I regretted not bringing my backpack, where I’d been storing a newly-purchased Valor board and a set of hand-made Valor pieces. Reika and I hadn’t brought any books, either, since we’d expected to be going straight into a combat scenario and didn’t want to get them damaged.
I ended up spending most of the time asking Reika questions about Diamantine and the other swords. She had some answers, but not as many as I hoped.
“There are a lot of conflicting stories about what the swords can do, even among experts. What you saw from Diamantine in
the opening ceremonies is pretty much what my father taught me — it can petrify people it cuts, manipulate density and brittleness, and protect the wielder from virtually all forms of attack. Some people say the defensive properties are an extension of density manipulation, other people argue it’s a completely separate function.”
“Okay. What about that ‘Weight of the World’ ability? Have you heard of it before?”
Reika shook her head. “Nope. Density manipulation is the most likely, but I was just as surprised as you were when it happened.”
“And when she shattered the swords early on — she accomplished that by making them ultra-brittle?”
“I think so. Normally she’d have to hit something to do that, though…maybe she has a way of projecting her sword’s aura at a distance, like you can? That’s kind of scary.”
“It is. Particularly if she can do that to magical weapons.”
You…do remember that you’re a metal sword, right?
I heard a gasp from Dawn.
Yeah.
Let’s try to plan on protecting you before we actually fight her, just in case.
<…Good idea.>
Reika, understanding that I’d been chatting with Dawn, was patient throughout the telepathic exchange. “As for the other swords…I can’t say too much. Soulbrand is supposed to, well, burn souls. Some people talk about it healing the wielder, too, or even resurrecting the wielder — but I find that a little farfetched. Twilight’s Edge is said to be the edge between life and death. People argue a lot about what that means, but it obviously has shadow powers, and possibly healing or death powers, depending on who you ask.”
“And Flowbreaker?”
“Flowbreaker was lost so long ago that the stories are even less consistent. Usually it has to do with tidal forces or purity, but there are people who claim it was an ice sword, too. You’d probably be able to find out more if you went to the Water Temple.”
