The herald stood in the center of the podium, with Sol on the opposite side from me. Sol was now carrying a sword that seemed as if someone had labored over it for hours to create an engraving that looked like a wave across the entire blade. I recognized the way it was decorated as being the external manifestations of a legendary sword. I rubbed at the scale pattern on Dragon’s Eye, and drew the blade to ready myself.
Sol nodded at it in appreciation. “Nice sword. Any chance I can have it when you’re done?”
I shook my head. “Not my sword, and I think you meant if, not when.”
Sol laughed. “Sure kid, whatever you say. I’m guessing that sword belongs to one of your women over there? Maybe I’ll take her too when we’re done. Spoils of war and all that.”
His comment enraged me, but I did my best to keep my face flat. “You couldn’t handle her if you tried.” His only response was to smirk and wink at me.
The Herald interrupted our banter. “The rules are, there are no rules. As long as you don’t hit the bystanders, you’re free to use any weapon or tactic.”
It was what I expected, so I made no comment as he continued. “The fight’s over when one of you is dead. With that said, start whenever you’re ready.” He ran off the stage as if worried he would be caught in the crossfire. Surprisingly, Sol didn’t leap into action as I had expected.
“Tell you what, I’ll give you a free hit.” He said, beckoning.
“No thanks, you’re just going to dodge it, and hit me while I’m overextended.” I called back. I had seen exactly that happen at a tavern once, and I wasn’t about to fall for it.
He laughed. “Smart kid. Guess I should start then.”
“Why do you keep calling me kid anyway? I’m in my twen-ghk”
I nearly bit my tongue as I barely deflected his first attack. Even with him standing more than fifteen feet away, I barely had time to bring my sword into position. He was unreasonably fast. The only thing that kept me alive in those first few seconds was that he launched into a familiar sword form which Dee frequently employed while teaching me. Knowing where he was going to strike next, I just barely managed to block and dodge. He frowned slightly as I deflected his fifth strike, and switched patterns. This one wasn’t familiar, and he immediately caught me in the side. He seemed genuinely surprised when rather than bisecting me, I was thrown back by the force of the blow, with a newly cracked rib.
Doing my best to act as if the blow hadn’t injured me, I got to my feet, and dusted myself off. I winked at Sol. “Is that all you’ve got?”
He grinned widely. “I should be asking you that. The great Item God, a weakling like you? It just seems wrong.”
“We’ll see.” I called back.
This time I was ready as he charged, and activated invisibility for a brief moment, just as I dove forward. The result was that he overshot me; allowing me to plant my sword in his back as he passed. Unfortunately the wound wasn’t fatal, and it healed a moment later with a surge of mana.
I reset my stance the moment I came out of my roll, allowing myself to become visible again. Sol had a look of concentration on his face now, something I saw as a welcome replacement for his previous cockiness. Rather than rushing me, he approached cautiously, sword out, and I took the momentary reprieve to heal my rib. Starting the fight with full mana was definitely preferable, I decided. Suddenly, he smirked, and swung his sword; despite being outside of his attack range. Expecting some kind of magical attack, I dropped to the floor; just in time fo feel something I couldn’t see fly over my head.
“Do you know what they call this sword?” He asked, smiling.
“Don’t care.” I replied, hurling an icicle at his face. He jumped to dodge the icicle, allowing me to spring my trap. Casting a spell I hadn’t tried in practical combat before, I poured precious mana into the ground he would land on. Instantly, a sheen of ice coated the floor, causing him to lose his footing when he landed. I fired several more icicles before he had time to stand up, and they dug into his back with a squelching sound. Still he stood, grunting as he pulled footlong shards of ice from his back. The red-slicked ice melted into a pool of blood as his wounds disappeared once again.
“Her name is WaveCrasher, or Cassie depending which part of her you’re talking about. She’s my girlfriend. So you see I can’t lose when I’m holding her.”
His arms blurred, and multiple waves of force crashed into me at once, flinging me several feet backward. I nearly lost consciousness from the pain, and though I remained awake I could barely breathe through the agony. Sol stalked toward me and knelt over my body, though I wasn’t aware of him. “You put up a good show, now it’s time to pay your dues.” Standing, he brought his sword down with one quick motion, severing my head at the neck.
Chapter 17
Spell: “Deus Ex Machina-Holy activated.”
Spell: “Deus Ex Machina-Fire activated.”
Spell: “Deus Ex Machina-Ice activated.”
I drifted in a formless nothingness as the words flashed through my soul. They were not thought, or heard, more felt as they rushed through my being. Suddenly, I was back in the world, head once again attached to my body. Or so I thought, until I looked down, and discovered that my body lay at my feet, head still sitting several feet away. And yet, I was corporeal, as I discovered when my foot nudged against the carcass of my former self. Sol stood with his back turned to me, grandstanding for the cheering crowd, and I decided not to second-guess the moment.
Turning myself invisible, I grabbed dragon’s eye from where I had dropped it, and slipped up behind him as quietly as I could. There was a shift among the crowd, those who had seen my brief appearance, but Sol didn’t seem to notice; focused on receiving the adulation of the oblivious. The sword felt almost weightless in my arm as I thrust it forward. I’m not certain who was more surprised; Sol or the crowd, when the invisible blade pierced through his chest, and out the other side; resulting in what must have looked like his chest suddenly erupting into gore. With all my strength, I slashed the blade downward from the entry point of the stab wound; however, I hadn’t needed nearly as much power as I used. His flesh parting like butter, I overbalanced; stumbling into his body, which fell into the crowd. After a moment it vanished, avatar
Turning off my invisibility, I shouted: “Talk crap to me now asshole!” It wasn’t particularly witty, but I hadn’t had time to prepare a decent quip. The crowd erupted into a mix of screams, cheers, confusion, and general chaos. I noticed more than a few people with surly expressions giving money to a handful of very pleased-looking neighbors. Somehow, I spotted Amelia in the crowd, taking money from passerby with one of the broadest grins I had ever seen. She won points with me every time a coin entered her palm.
The herald, despite looking nonplussed performed his role with aplomb. “Rowan Loran has won the fight, and as such he is cleared of all charges per the guidelines of his-”
A gunshot rang out, interrupting the herald’s words.”
“Hold your tongue, the judgement is not so simple.” King Emilio called out into the ensuing silence.
The herald bowed toward the king, and remained silent. A guardsman held a megaphone to the king’s lips so that his voice was projected to the entire square. “Rowan Loran, approach me so that I might speak with you in some semblance of privacy.”
I glanced back at my broken body once before following his instructions. Reaching the clearing in which his throne sat, I handed Dee and Izzy their weapons back silently as I passed. It wouldn’t do to appear before a king armed. Reaching the stand upon which his throne sat, I nodded at him. “Milord?”
“Why do you not bow before me?” The king asked.
“I am a Duke. It is not required of me.” I replied, in the most formal tone I could manage.
I had read a book of etiquette Andrit had left in her initial supply drop, and knew that a duke was essentially almost a king in his own right. Dukes did not need to bow before kings.
�
�Very well. Do you know that you have just disrupted half a years worth of plans? In the process, you have also redefined the legal concept of a death sentence. It is quite clear, legally speaking, that you died on that stage. Yet, here you are. Legally speaking, did you survive your sentence? Did you not? Regardless, lawyers will be throwing this in my face for decades. You have broken my cardinal rule: do not feed the trolls Rowan.”
“I’m sorry milord, I do not know that saying.” I replied, though I felt I had the gist of what he was saying.
“Centuries ago, there was a race of giants in this world called trolls. At some point, they learned to extend their lives infinitely through the use of magical contracts. Incidentally, they are the source of many of the myths from your homeworld about demons. Eventually, their power failed them, and they died out as a species.”
“What happened?” I asked, intrigued.
Emilio smiled like a predator remembering his conquests. “We stopped feeding them. My ancestor decreed that no one was to sign their contracts on pain of death. The surrounding countries followed suit, and without our life force to sustain them, the troll race disappeared from this world. Though most may not be aware of the history, as a people we have not forgotten the power of words. Which is why I regret that you have armed my enemies in such a way.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry that happened. Know that I didn’t intend to do that, but I was thrust into a life or death situation I didn’t particularly want. I only reacted accordingly.”
Emilio nodded impassively. “Indeed, my words were merely a warning, not an indictment.” The King told me. “I still must do my best to interpret the ruling as well. Though I may be a tyrant, it is laws that bind my people together. Anything else would invite chaos.”
I nodded, and waited a moment as he mulled over the situation. “Very well, I have reached my decision. As you did not properly survive the deathmatch, you will not be absolved of your crimes; however, since death has been dealt, I determine that your punishment has been served according to the current laws. Your crimes remain on record, but you leave here a free man with all the associated rights and privileges of such status in this country.”
I bowed to him, but before I could remove myself, he spoke again. “Oh, one more thing. You wished to speak with me about a trade treaty correct? Speak to my herald when we are done here, and he will schedule a meeting at a more… fortuitous location.” I nodded, and retreated to where my spirits stood. With that, our audience with the king was over.
The crowd around the site of my deathmatch dispersed as the guards carried King Emilio away. I turned to Amy. “What exactly did you do to me?”
She smiled widely. “Actually you’re dead. What we did is allow your spirit to manifest in the same way ours do. Speaking of which, you’re going to run out of the mana used to sustain this eventually, at which point I’ll have to bring you back the old-fashioned way. After that, the spell should start refilling from your own excess mana regen, and be ready to use again in about a month.”
“A month?” I asked, amazed by the time frame.
“It took four of us depleting nearly our entire mana reserve outside of what we needed to maintain our forms. Even Gwen let us borrow her mana. All of that only buys you about half an hour. If you increase your mana regen, the time frame will shorten.”
I nodded. “One more question. What’s with the name of the spell?”
Amy shrugged. “Usually we can change the name a bit, but for some reason we weren’t able to. The universe seemed insistent on the name.”
I was familiar with what she was talking about, having had similar experiences with my own item power creation so I simply nodded, and accepted the statement. “Well I guess we go back to the ship now.” I said, feeling at a loss now that we were no longer fighting for our lives.
“Sounds good.” Dee chimed in.
She grabbed my body from the platform, and began walking towards the waterfront. Izzy grabbed my severed head, and followed behind. I walked next in line, trying not to stare at the surreal vision of the pain-wracked expression on my own face. If I had thought the vision of my own body was surreal, it was nothing compared to the moment a few minutes later when my very existence started to flicker. I stopped walking, and the others stopped to watch as I discorporeated. Within moments, I had ceased to exist.
Epilogue
A few days after Amy brought me back to life, I concluded the negotiations with Emilio. In exchange for money from the empire, they would provide an assortment of goods. Food, and arms that would hopefully help the empire survive. Apparently, the demons had their own means of crossing the planes, so my services as a middleman weren’t even particularly necessary. I found myself wondering why I had even been involved at all, if both sides could have done it for themselves. At the same time, I negotiated my own treaty with him. Similar goods, and free emigration of colonists in exchange for access to my dungeon world. To facilitate this, I created a permanent portal in his capitol; ironically, located on the platform where I had fought Sol. When i returned home, I would create a similar portal in my own town, making trade as easy as crossing through one, and into the other. Emilio seemed thrilled to have a way for Sol to continue “grinding” now that he had depopulated most of the nearby monsters. Our business done, we departed the city in our ship.
The return trip was largely uneventful. I continued to farm the dungeon periodically, as we sailed, and it gave me time to read through a repository of books Andrit had left in her second supply drop. Though I knew the dragons were more self-interested than actually helpful, the books featured a number of practical skills that I was interested to learn about. By the end of the trip, I was able to use the accumulated dungeon XP to elevate Gwen to godhood as the new goddess of lightning.
I was disheartened when, upon landing, I unrolled Larry, and discovered the extent of the mold infestation. Already it covered a third of the continent, though luckily we had dispatched the only concentration of it on the eastward end. Otherwise, it might now be blocking our progress. I wasn’t looking forward to the monumental effort of clearing it.
The land journey was uneventful, and soon we had returned to Rowans Oak, a few days left to spare on Andrit’s timeline. Relief flooded through me when I saw the smattering of buildings, though the Firenzian flag flying from the tavern put a hitch in my step. Andrit never had sent the garrison of troops she had promised, but I’d hoped the Rockys would be enough of a defense to last until we made it back. I sighed, and motioned at Izzy, who nodded.
Wordlessly, she vanished from sight. By my instruction, the others returned to their items. I held them, and followed suit, turning myself invisible. Half an hour later, Izzy spoke up from empty air, presumably guessing I hadn’t moved. “There are about a hundred soldiers garrisoned in the buildings. The citizens seem fine otherwise, but I haven’t seen the Rockys anywhere.”
I started to nod before realizing I was invisible. “That’s it? Let's get to work then.”
Everyone returned to the world, and the next hour was a slaughter. I spared several who surrendered, but by now I knew better than to avoid the necessities of my role. Soon, we had cleared the entire garrison. I got the full story from the prisoners after some threats from Izzy. They had been sent as a reprisal for our escapades in Apocola, a hundred-fifty strong, to find the settlement guarded only by the Rockys. Though the Rockys had accounted well for themselves, taking fifty soldiers with them, they had eventually been overrun, and imprisoned. The soldiers had brought with them a metal chest capable of suppressing the souls of items imprisoned within. I didn’t even know such a thing was possible, but when the prisoners led us to the chest, and we freed them, I discovered it was true. I trusted in my spirit’s strength, but it was still a disturbing development to know that they might be imprisoned if we were ever defeated.
“What will you do with us?” Asked one of the prisoners.
I hadn’t thought that far ahead, but after a moments deliberatio
n, I knew the answer. “I’m going to talk to the Kingdom of Yardspan, they’ll release you back to Firenze as prisoners of war.”
The prisoners hung their heads in acknowledgement. I created my permanent portal to the dungeon world from a hastily erected archway of stone, and brought them through. Amelia had been put in charge of Yardspan’s outpost on the small planet, due to her personal connection to me, and she readily accepted the exchange.
The cleanup process took several days. The former prisoners were, as always, reluctant to help, but the colonists I had rescued so long ago were perfectly willing to aid with burying the newly deceased. Thanks to them, over a hundred bodies were properly and safely buried in individual graves some distance from my settlement.
Finally the day came when I was scheduled to meet with Andrit again. Since we hadn’t established a particular time, I merely did my best not to become too busy during the day. When the entire day passed with no appearance, I grew worried. When the second day passed, and still nothing, I was certain that something had happened. On the third day, Andrit finally manifested, though in a different manner than i had expected.
Dee ran to get me from where I had been reading a book in the tavern. “Rowan, come quick! You have to see this!”
I followed at a jog, and discovered Andrit sobbing, sitting in the dirt, back propped against a crate.
“They’re gone. My brothers, they’re gone. I’m all that’s left.”
I knelt down in front of her. “What happened?”
“The rebels. They found support from… somewhere. An army of talking lizard-men appeared out of thin air in the middle of a crucial battle. We were overwhelmed. It turned into a massacre, and my brothers thought their personal presence might turn the tide. They fought well, but the lizards… ate them. Even the bones. There’s nothing left for me to resurrect. I’m all that’s left of the empire.” She resumed sobbing. I glanced at Dee, and she shrugged, clearly just as much at a loss as I was.
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