Diamantine (Weapons and Wielders Book 2)

by Andrew Rowe

  “That makes sense. And I assume there’s more space to fight than in the Study of Iron?”

  “Right. And the stages are built to be used by high-level attuned. They’re tough to break by accident.” Walter gave me a smile. “We’ll be able to cut loose a little more.”

  I cracked my neck. “I’ll look forward to it.”

  Walter finished leading me to an entry area and met with someone in the uniform of an arena worker. After a brief exchange in Edrian, Walter retrieved a few coins from a pouch and passed them over, then signed some paperwork. “This way.”

  He led the way onto the stage.

  This arena was smaller than the main one, but it still wasn’t small. I guessed it at about half the size of the Korinval Coliseum back home in Velthryn, meaning that the bleachers outside — currently empty — could have handled a crowd of a few thousand people.

  The stage itself was large enough that dozens of people could have fought on it at the same time. I’d rarely had a chance to practice in an area this large, and I had to admit it was pretty exciting.

  Even better, the stage wasn’t just a boring flat surface. Someone had set it up to resemble a hilly area, complete with what looked like real grass, trees, and large rocks.

  It almost looks like the terrain for the test I just finished. Maybe someone had enough information to know what they’d be dealing with in this test, and set up this arena to practice for it?

  That was a pretty good reminder that I wasn’t the only one getting information to prepare for tests. Other people would be devising strategies and training for each match, too.

  Walter and I headed to the center of the stage.

  “So, how are we doing this?” I asked.

  Walter cracked his neck, stretched his arms, and smiled. Then he snapped his fingers on his right hand. A silvery bracelet I hadn’t been paying much attention to vanished, and then there was a long, glimmering halberd floating in the air in front of him. He grabbed it. “How do you think?”

  “Ah.” I grinned. “I think I’m going to like your style of training.”

  I reached for Dawnbringer at my side, then hesitated. “Is it okay if I use—”

  “Please. Don’t hold back on my behalf.” Walter gave me a nod. “It would be an honor to spar against Dawnbringer. And, more importantly, I can’t evaluate your capabilities properly if you don’t use everything available.”

  I definitely wasn’t going to use everything at my disposal, but practicing with Dawnbringer was important. I pulled her out of her scabbard.

 

  Combat now, preening later, Dawn.

 

  I gave Walter a brief salute. He gave me an odd look in response, but then raised his own weapon and mirrored my motion. I realized immediately that I probably should have checked what a Valian salute looked like, since everyone seemed to think I was from Valia. Oops.

  I didn’t have much time to worry about that, though, because Walter came at me swinging a moment later.

  Halberds, if you’re not familiar, are a type of polearm. They’re basically an axe on a long stick. Importantly, Walter’s halberd had about an extra three feet of reach over Dawnbringer.

  Ordinarily, I’d resolve that by cutting the halberd’s head off. There were two problems with that — first, this didn’t have a wooden shaft like an ordinary halberd, and second, his halberd started singing as soon as he swung it.

  I don’t mean that in the typical “his sword sang” flowery sense. I mean it — or, uh, he, probably? — literally started singing.

  “I’ma cut you, I’ma cut you, watch out cuz I’ma cut you.”

  I jumped backward, avoiding the first swing. I think my jaw might have dropped a little.

 

  I know, wait—

  Walter lunged at me. I side-stepped, smacking the shaft of his halberd out of the way with Dawn’s blade. That sent Walter’s swing wide, but he quickly corrected his position for another strike.

  The halberd kept singing. “Keep on dodgin’, soon you’ll see, you can’t quite keep up with me!”

  I’d been momentarily startled, but my instincts took over quickly. As Walter prepped for another cut, I jumped forward, swinging straight for the halberd. I connected easily, driving the halberd downward.

  Magnetize.

  I pushed metal mana through Dawn and into the halberd — and met a steel wall of resistance.

  “Ooh, you gonna try to change me, ooh, you can’t quite phase me!”

  I forced Dawn against the halberd with one hand, then grabbed the shaft with the other. Then, I yanked the halberd straight out of his hands and tossed it toward the arena floor.

  “You struck me down, but I won’t frown, I—”

  The halberd fell silent the moment it hit the floor.

  I came in with Dawnbringer flashing toward Walter’s neck, but he was already moving. Another bracelet flashed and a shield appeared in mid-air in front of him. Dawnbringer glanced off it, then Walter was stepping back and reaching upward.

  A black-bladed axe appeared in his right hand. The shield, however, continued to float right in front of him. “You’re strong. I didn’t expect you to grab my weapon like that, and I didn’t even see you cast a strength spell.”

  I hadn’t cast a strength spell. Not yet, at least. But he didn’t need to know that. “Looks like you’ve got other weapons. Are those going to sing, too?”

  “No. At least, not while they’re in these forms.” Walter chuckled. “And none of the others are quite as musically inclined as Octave.”

  “Wait, so those are all—”

  Walter hurled the axe at me. By the time I knocked it out of the way, he had another weapon in his hands — a rapier — and he was lunging straight at my chest.

  I deflected the rapier, then ducked as I felt metal moving behind me. The black-bladed axe flew straight through the space where my head had been. Walter reached upward and caught it on the return, then launched into a flurry of strikes with both axe and rapier.

  I wasn’t used to finding myself on the defensive. I didn’t like it, so I changed it.

  Body of Stone.

  I swung hard, aiming for his center of mass and knowing he’d block. When he did, the impact sent him staggering backward. That was all I needed.

  Release Body of Stone. Burn.

  I jumped forward, flames igniting around my free hand. I swept it toward his face, going for my usual flame-blinding trick — but the floating shield moved in between us, cutting off my movement.

  I punched the shield instead, battering it out of the way. It flew backward several feet, too far to get in the way of my next attack.

  I pointed Dawnbringer at his chest. “Luminous Arc.”

  A blast of light flashed outward, hitting Walter straight in the chest. I saw his shroud flicker as the blast passed through it and left a burn mark on his chest.

  That didn’t slow him down much, though. He hurled his axe at me again a moment later, then while I was distracted by deflecting it, his rapier changed.

  A moment later, he was swinging a greatsword at me instead.

  I only had a moment to think “that’s my trick!” while I hopped backward. The greatsword smashed into the ground, leaving a broad rent in the terrain where I’d been a moment before.

  Then I was swinging around to deflect the black axe again, which was trying to hit me while it rebounded toward Walter.

  I quickly hurled a blast of flame at him, but his shield had flown back and it intercepted the attack without difficulty. Then Walter caught his axe on the return, holding it in one hand and the greatsword in his other.

  There was a moment while Walter and I both backed away, evaluating each other.

  I’d fought opponents with floating weapons before on multiple occasions. The problem was that my usual approach was to destroy them, and these weapons
appeared to be sentient. Moreover, at least one of them had resisted my magnetism trick.

  Worse, Walter still had four bracelets visible that he hadn’t used yet.

  I had to change the fight before he had a chance to deploy the rest of them.

  I slammed my boot into the ground.

  The stone beneath Walter rippled — then stilled before my spikes could emerge.

  Walter shook his head. “Not going to beat me with such a simple stone spell. But if we’re using magic, then...”

  A hail of iron spikes appeared in the air around me, then flew inward.

  This, at least, I could handle.

  Magnetic repulse.

  The spikes flew back outward. I shot forward, gripping Dawn with both hands and swinging downward hard.

  Body of Stone.

  Walter caught my swing with his greatsword, but he was still wielding it with one hand. He struggled as I pushed him backward, then I kicked him hard in the chest. He flew back a step, and I slashed sideways, pushing on Dawn’s aura.

  A shockwave of light followed my swing, cutting through the air. His shield flew to intercept, with my crescent glancing harmlessly off the mirrored surface.

  I was ready for that, though. I kept moving, grabbing the shield before it could move out of my way, then swung it by the top to deflect the axe that Walter hurled a moment later.

  As the axe wheeled around for its return pass, I hurled Walter’s own shield at him, then spun and grabbed the axe by the hilt as it flew toward me.

  The axe trembled in my grip, but a floating weapon still had only a limited amount of strength to move. With Body of Stone active, I could hold it in place with minimal effort.

  Wielding two weapons at once wasn’t my usual style, but admittedly, it was a nice change of pace.

  Walter’s shield course corrected in mid-air to avoid hitting him, but by then, I was in close and swinging at it. I knocked it straight to the ground with his axe, then smacked his greatsword out of the way with Dawn.

  When I brought Dawn in again, there was another flash from one of his wrists, and Walter was covered in a full suit of gleaming armor. My next swing with Dawn connected, only to glance harmlessly off his shimmering mail.

  Then he raised his free hand and conjured a blast of flame straight toward my chest.

  Move.

  I commanded the flames aside, and they shifted at my command. That gave Walter a moment to break my sword press, though. He whipped his greatsword around and connected with my forward leg.

  I winced as he drew a bloody line, then pulled back, frowning.

  “You really need to make better use of your shroud.” He raised his greatsword, resting it on his shoulder. “If you were, that wouldn’t have even cut you.”

  I pulled back, grunting. “I don’t need one. And you should keep a better grip on your weapons.” I shook his axe in the air.

  “I can’t recall the last time someone has managed to steal my weapons like that. I’m impressed you managed it, but I have many others.”

  “And I’ve got plenty more ways to handle them.” I took a ready stance. “You ready for more?”

  “No, no.” Walter shook his head. “That’s enough for now.”

  I blinked. “We’re stopping so soon?”

  “Look at your leg.”

  I looked down. There was a pretty significant gash where his greatsword had connected just above my knee. I shrugged. “I’ve had worse. I can keep going.”

  Walter gave a deep belly laugh. “I’m sure you can. But I’m not competing with you right now. You’re here for training, and if you keep fighting on an injured leg like that, it could hurt your chances in the next match. Grandmother would eat me alive if that happened.”

  Release Body of Stone.

  I lowered my sword — and Walter’s axe — very deliberately and with great difficulty. I was still itching to fight. “I...understand.”

  “I’ll also need Rejoinder back.” He gestured at the axe.

  “Oh. Right, sorry.” I released my grip on his axe. It floated back to him. I thought I felt something like a glare coming from the axe, but it could have been my imagination. Maybe.

 

  I took a breath, centering myself as best I could. It was...difficult to get myself out of combat mode once I’d started. “That singing halberd — Octave, I think? What’s...how...?”

  Walter laughed. “Ah, yeah, he’s a real handful. Catches most people off guard a bit.” Walter caught Rejoinder, which flashed and vanished. A bracelet sat on his wrist again a moment later. His other weapons, shield, and armor did the same a moment later. “I suppose you’re probably not very familiar with Soulblades, then?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “Right, Valian.” He nodded to himself. “Your classes don’t cover most foreign attunements. It’s a shame, really. Soulblades are like Summoners, only we use objects.”

  I processed that. “Ah, so Octave isn’t an enchanted item, he’s...what, a summoned monster that can take the form of an item?”

  Walter shook his head. “No, sorry. I explained poorly. I’ll explain more on the way back — we need to get that leg of yours looked at.”

  I nodded. “I’ll bandage it up real quick.”

  I took a moment to use the bandages in my bag to wrap the wound. My Body of Stone spell had been active when he cut me, preventing the wound from going very deep. If he’d been using an ordinary sword, it probably would have bounced off me entirely, but the wound showed me that I needed to be ready for people like Walter who had enchanted equipment.

  After that, we headed back toward the Study of Iron. Walter explained while we walked.

  “So, a Soulblade makes contracts like a Summoner, but we bind creatures to existing objects. That can be done with mundane ones, but I prefer equipment that is already enchanted. Enchanted items can handle contracted monsters as long as they have enough capacity left.”

  I nodded. “That makes sense...but is it normal for them to be able to talk while they’re in an object?”

  “Ah, no. They’re always aware, but most can’t speak unless I summon them. Octave is a special case — he’s a sound elemental specialized in music. So, he just uses a bit of sound mana to make a voice.”

  “That’s a neat trick.”

  Dawn’s voice chimed in my mind a moment later.

  Maybe. We’ll do some research.

 

  We’ll discuss it privately later.

  <...Okay.>

  I turned my attention back to Walter. “The bracelets...each one is a shapeshifted weapon or item?”

  Walter smiled. “Something like that. Not going to give all my secrets away. I’m here to teach you, but let’s not forget that we might still go up against each other in the ring eventually.”

  I hadn’t forgotten that. In fact, now I was looking forward to it very much.

  It had been a long time since I’d found a swordsman that I didn’t know if I could beat in a straight fight. It reminded me of the first time I’d fought Taer’vys, or Velas, or Landen. That was, admittedly, more than a little bit invigorating.

  “I’ll look forward to it.”

  ***

  We got back to the Study of Iron shortly later. Walter took me straight to Fai, the resident healer, and spoke to him in Edrian.

  Fai laughed, then gestured for me to lie down. I grunted and complied. He removed my crude bandages then pressed a glowing hand against the wound.

  His touch felt cold. That was...strange to me. I’d been healed many times in the past, but it had never felt quite like that before.

  Admittedly, the numbness that set in immediately thereafter was pretty helpful. It helped hide both the pain of the wound and the strangeness of flesh mending itself back together.

  Walter walked off while Fai worked on my leg. I held as still as possible, thinking.


  Both Grandmother and Walter are right. My lack of a shroud is a serious problem.

  I had a few options to think about there.

  I could try to go hit the spire and get an attunement. I could probably show them Dawnbringer and skip any kind of questions about where I’m from. They’d probably let me in, and the Judgements aren’t supposed to take that long. But a fresh new attunement might be obvious to people, and I don’t even know if I’d get one that would generate a shroud.

  That is, of course, assuming I get one at all. I could fail, or as a foreigner, I might be ineligible for one. Worse, if I got one, it might not work with my biology.

  I could buy some armor, but it always slows me down, and my body is tougher than most ordinary armor anyway. Magic armor would be good, but it’s expensive, and my aura is probably going to break it.

  Maybe I could get an item that generates something similar to a shroud, then train with it sufficiently to generate that aura naturally...but I suspect my own aura is going to get in the way of that, too. Worth trying, maybe, but not something to invest too much into.

  A reinforcement elixir that just makes me even tougher would be ideal, since I wouldn’t have to worry about the aura disrupting it, but I don’t know if the elixirs would even work on me. If I had more points, I could experiment without worrying about it, but even the cheapest elixir would cost almost my entire point savings...

 

  I blinked. I hadn’t been expecting Dawn to listen to all that.

  I mean, I’m obviously going to try to earn more in each match, but we’ve still got a few days and I’d like to find a way to improve my odds before then.

 

  I don’t think there’s any way to...wait. Can people give points to each other?

 

  I considered that for a moment, and a smile moved across my face.

  Dawn, you’re a genius.

 

  You’ll find out very soon if this works.