by Sarah Lin
"I hope what you did was worth it." Antha stepped beside him so she could look down at his face. "Because I welcomed the three of you into our House, I feel a bit responsible for you. Please don't die."
"Sage advice."
Theo remained on his back until she left, thinking about the next steps to take. The most obvious choice would be to begin practicing his new pattern, but after Dhan's cantae, it would be like shoving rocks into his eyes. Instead, perhaps it was time to consider alternate tactics...
Chapter 38
With his deadline impending, Theo accepted that the time for budgeting was over. He'd received his final month of salary, as well as his profits from the granitebile, and that was all he'd have. All he had left was 455 merits and 791 Fithan Discs, no more.
It was too late to do any meaningful soulcrafting, but Theo did have one final plan: he'd round out his capabilities with an armament. He'd developed his blueprint to never rely on them for multiple reasons. Equipment could be easily taken away, weapons could be countered, and he still remembered how his sword had shattered against a powerful demon in his first life.
Still, armaments were too valuable to be ignored. Most required him to soulcraft a chamber for them, which he had no intention of doing. He didn't need any help with offense and speed armaments were risky, but they could be useful for defense, even without a chamber.
His clothes especially could use an upgrade, since his current cloaks were mundane materials that didn't mesh well with his own cantae at all. Clothes made of even weak sublime materials would flow with a soulcrafter's cantae, making them more durable. Some could even turn aside cantae bolts or resist auras and other effects, which in a close battle could mean the difference between a fatal distraction and devoting your full attention to the fight.
So he'd used nearly every single one of his merits to purchase a bolt of a sublime cloth called lightweave. He'd then investigated the best soulcrafting tailors aligned with House Blacksilver and picked out one he thought was promising, a husband and wife team who had gladly taken his money.
Their names were Hessika and Oland, and their business-like focus had immediately impressed him. Both were Archcrafters themselves, their soulhomes dedicated to refining and enhancing sublime clothing. In exchange for seven hundred Discs, they told him they could produce a long coat, including all the secondary materials they'd need for its creation.
With only a few days left, Theo had grown concerned that they might not finish, but he finally received a message that they were done. He thought about inviting Nauda and Fiyu along with him, but to his surprise found they had left the complex on foot, without discussing anything with him. Setting that out of mind, Theo left to meet the tailors.
While driving the sleigh through the city, he heard Senka sit up and yawn. "What're we doing? Why are you kidnapping Senka?"
"Just keep sleeping there and it will be like nothing changed, by the time we get back."
"Okay!" Despite her agreement, Senka promptly scrambled up behind him, using his ear to pull herself up into a position where she could see. "What're we doing? Are we going someplace?"
"We're going to get the coat I ordered." Theo glanced back at the little imp, resisting the urge to shove her off. Since she had stolen so much money for him, he felt obligated to be kinder to her, but that didn't make her less insufferable. "If you stay quiet you can come along."
"Yay!"
Fortunately, it wasn't long before they reached the tailors' shop, which wasn't far from the Blacksilver complex. Theo stepped out of the sleigh and promptly had Senka clinging to the back of his cloak. Though she was a bit heavy, heavier than her size would indicate, he decided to just ignore her and walked into the shop.
"There you are!" Oland greeted him with a warm grin and gestured toward the back area. "We have your coat ready, and I think you won't be disappointed. We've really outdone ourselves with this one, if I do say so myself."
"Senka wants clothes!" She clambered up his shoulder to stare at the tailor. "Give them to Senka!"
"Oh my." His eyes twinkled as he turned away. "I don't know if our clothes will match your... accessory. But I suppose your style is up to you."
In the back room, Hessika sat at a table, quietly examining what was clearly his lightweave coat. She looked up and nodded when she saw him, only briefly glancing at Senka. Her husband bridged the distance to pick up the coat, then flipped it upright with a flourish.
"And here it is! Normally I'd tell you not to expect too much from it, but you clearly understand the limits of clothing as armaments. It should work perfectly for that flying around you need to do and this gravity business. If you soulcraft a complete chamber for it, the material will even repair itself slowly."
"This was well done." Theo took the coat carefully to examine it. He'd never really cared about style, in any of his lives, but he thought the white cloak didn't look bad, and more importantly the base strength of the cloth had been enhanced. Sublime thread for the stitches, buttons made from sublime stone, and many other details he'd expect from skilled tailors.
Wearing all white was a conscious choice, attempting to match his interior and exterior realities. He intended to wear his darkest old robes underneath, to represent the black hole at his core, with the white cloak flaring out as his accretion disc. That level of parallel wasn't strictly necessary, but since everything else was working together, he wanted to be consistent.
"We actually have something else for you." Oland skipped to the back shelves, oddly eager. His wife swatted his hand and his grin decreased marginally. "Okay... we actually went a little overboard. We know that you ordered just the coat, but it seemed a shame to put something so nice over such bland robes. So we made a few other things along the lines you discussed..."
Though she remained stern-faced, Hessika did seem eager to reveal several items from one of the locked cabinets in the back. The couple quickly assembled a display of smaller items: a black shirt, gray pants, a belt, and solid boots. None of them were made from materials anywhere as valuable as the coat, but they did appear to be all sublime materials.
"You see?" Oland waved his arms over the display grandly. "A complete set, all made to your measurements. Now, you could reject them and we'd sell them to someone else, but I'd be very disappointed. They can all be yours for just a hundred Discs."
A little more than he had, even if he emptied his pockets. Theo estimated that they were actually giving him a good deal, so it would hurt to reject the offer...
"Senka pays!" She dropped down from his shoulder and began pulling objects out of her sack. A yellow marble, half of what looked like a rat corpse, a large leaf... and eventually money. Hessika scowled down at the objects flying out onto her floor while Oland laughed good-naturedly.
She came up a little short, but Theo took some of his last Discs to equal the total. As soon as the payment was complete, Senka lunged up onto the table, trying to shove one of the boots into her mouth. Theo pulled her back and set her down, not sure quite how to react.
"Thank you, Senka." He saw no sign of intelligence in her eyes, but the fact was that she'd been helpful. "Please don't eat the clothes."
"They're not for eating, stupid fumpet! Go wear them!"
"You can!" Oland gestured him toward what appeared to be a fitting room with entirely too much glee. "You wouldn't rob a poor couple of the chance to see their handiwork, would you?"
Seeing that he was outnumbered, Theo picked up everything and stepped into the chamber. He heard Senka scrabbling around the door, which thankfully didn't have large enough cracks for her to enter. In relatively short order he discarded his old robes, which had been nothing but items he'd stolen to replace the clothes that had been created when he left Earth.
Now, at last, he was wearing clothes that suited the Nine Worlds. When Theo finally pulled on the coat and looked at himself in the mirror, he was satisfied by that, at least. It did look a little too bright and heroic for his taste, but it was
all perfectly tailored and he could already feel it soaking in cantae.
When he emerged, he spread his arms to either side. "What do you think?"
Oland clapped loudly, apparently for his own work. Hessika gave a small smile of satisfaction and nodded to Theo. Senka made a terrible retching sound and vomited all over the floor.
~ ~ ~
The vomiting had ruined the mood, somewhat, but the tailors had still been pleased with Theo's business when they escorted him out the door. Senka thrashed around the entire ride back, muttering something about how he looked "blooky". By the time they got back, she seemed to have fallen asleep, so she really had come full circle.
On his way back to his room, he got a few glances, but no one tried to talk to him. That is, until he reached the male quarters and ran into Fiyu and Nauda emerging. Fiyu smiled just like usual, while Nauda ran her eyes up and down his new outfit and raised an eyebrow.
"Well, apparently you decided to duel Esaire in fashion instead of soulcrafting. I feel like we can't be seen with you anymore."
"Nauda," Fiyu said quietly, "they are sublime clothes."
"I'm aware, but I really am surprised." Nauda shifted her weight, leaning against her staff. "You purchased it too late to soulcraft a chamber, so it's not core to your strategy. That coat isn't bad, but it's not going to stop Esaire if he stabs you."
"It's an intentional redundancy." Theo folded the lapels back, since they weren't quite comfortable around his neck. "My soulhome has been highly optimized toward a single strategy, but there's a danger of over-optimizing. Systems built like that can become extremely fragile, falling apart when introduced to a shock they weren't optimized for. So I'm taking steps that are compatible with my strategy, without being a part of it."
"Oh!" Fiyu's smile returned and he noticed that she was carrying a bag in both hands as she squeezed it. "That is actually related to what we wanted to talk to you about."
"You were looking for me?"
"We were buying a few things," Nauda said, putting a hand on his shoulder to lead him back inside. "But that's done now, so we need to talk."
Once they reached his room and secured the door, Fiyu opened the bag and began removing sublime materials. He recognized the mistsphere she'd won months ago, apparently not yet drawn into her soulhome, and the potent bracers she'd purchased. There was also a skull made from pure black bone, plates of dark glass, a ring made of pearl, and a glowing piece of magma. The only connection he saw was that they all generated significant cantae and matched their blueprints better than his.
"We cannot fight alongside you, but we want to help." Fiyu pulled her bag back and then nudged the objects toward him. "These are for us, but also for you."
"Consider this a loan," Nauda said. "These all have a lot of raw cantae. I figured that they would help you fill out your empty rooms a little, even if they don't change everything. You can give them back to us when the duel is over."
Reconsidering them in that light, he saw immediate possibilities. The skull had raw power that could make him a bit more durable, the mistsphere could help fuel his overall design... yet for once he didn't want to think about soulcrafting and instead looked up to his friends. "You realize that I won't be able to return them right away? Removing sublime materials is a difficult skill."
"We want to help you, Theo." Fiyu again pushed the objects a little closer. "This will be a long journey, yes? It is okay to wait a little while if we can continue traveling together."
Nauda patted his shoulder in agreement and Theo felt something flicker in his blackened heart. It wasn't a replacement for those he'd lost, but he had something truly valuable with them. Or he would, if he survived the next few days.
"You know..." Theo looked up from the sublime materials with a smile on his face. "The optimal thing I need to do right now is relax, so I'm at my best for the match. There's a place in the city called the State of Rest, and we can finally all enter..."
Chapter 39
Zero months. Zero days.
Theo sat in the waiting chamber outside the arena where the duel would take place, attempting to put everything else out of his mind. There had been final gambits, final preparations, and final soulcrafting, all of it in the past now. He emptied his soul of everything except his objectives.
Only the fight remained.
~ ~ ~
Nauda had expected the duel to take place in the Yorthin Coliseum, though in retrospect she realized that it was a bit large for a single fight between two individuals. Instead their group had gone to a small arena owned by the House of Coin, officially serving as a neutral location. Though House Blacksilver had sent representatives, Nauda didn't feel that they truly counted as allies, since they were only there for the sake of the political balance.
They had been kept in their own waiting room at first, while Theo departed to prepare. He carried most of their sublime materials, wore Fiyu's bracers, and they had plans for her staff as well. Eventually they were allowed into the central arena chamber, so Nauda examined the room carefully. The Armeau family had already proved willing to hire mercenaries and attack outside the terms of the duel, so she wanted to be ready.
As soon as she arrived, however, she realized that she didn't need to be worried about that. An Authority from the House of Coin sat in a walled podium to serve as a judge, and there were many other soulcrafters present. Both sides had apparently agreed not to bring anyone above Ruler, but she saw another Authority in the crowd: Tythes sprawled across four seats, balancing an entire tray of pastries on one foot and occasionally shoving one into his mouth.
Looking away from him, Nauda analyzed the arena instead. It appeared to be a simple block of golden marble, though she noted several spheres along the edges that felt like sublime materials and could no doubt form a barrier to keep the fight contained. The platform itself was reasonably large and the ceiling was moderately high, which she thought was fair to both contestants. Of course, given that Theo's life was on the line, she would have preferred a bigger arena.
"I am worried," Fiyu said quietly, for perhaps the fourth time that day. She needn't have said it, given the anxiousness written across every line of her face. Nauda remained unsure how to comfort the other woman, so she just smiled back.
"We've done everything we can. We'll have to trust him."
Fiyu didn't respond, just shifted her head around as if trying to observe the whole building at once. There wasn't much to observe, since the building wasn't packed and the majority present were well-behaved House officials. With one obvious exception... who she just then realized was ambling in her direction.
"Here to make a profit in the aftermath?" Tythes handed the tray of pastries to a random soulcrafter moving in the other direction and they had no choice but to take it. He leaned against the seats beside them and smirked. "Surely you're not stupid enough to believe your little friend has a chance of winning?"
"Are you here to make a profit?" Nauda asked. "Or do you just need someone to bully?"
"I am an Authority! You will treat me with respect!"
"Of course, Lord Tythes. Forgive me for troubling your glorious mind with such questions."
He glared down at her, eyes twitching as if he wasn't quite sure about her tone... except there seemed to be something darker lurking underneath. Tythes abruptly brought his presence down on her, and Nauda winced, but she refused to look away from his gaze.
"I should crush the life from you right now." Tythes leaned closer, his face becoming sinister. "In fact, since we're already here to watch an execution, perhaps I'll-"
When he started to raise his hand in her direction, Nauda reacted first, thrusting her staff out so the forks caught his arm. She knew she had absolutely no chance against his strength, but with so many soulcrafters around them, she didn't think he would truly strike her. He certainly looked shocked, staring down at his arm bound in place.
"Oh, how quaint." Tythes began to move his arm, exerting only a fraction of his stre
ngth to continue moving it toward her. Nauda braced herself against the floor and fought back as well as she could, not giving up a single inch. "Why bother fighting? You know you'll never change anything. The powers that be can never be toppled from their perches, so you might as well begin groveling beneath them."
It required all her strength just to remain standing, much less speak, so Nauda just gritted her teeth and refused to give way. Tythes still forced her backward, driving her to the ground with deliberate slowness, watching for her to collapse. Fiyu hovered nearby, standing ready but aware that she couldn't truly help. Nauda's effort was equally futile, but she couldn't tolerate that smirk...
"Enough." The Authority from the House of Coin raised a finger in their direction, not containing any cantae. Tythes heaved a great sigh and stepped away, while Nauda dropped to one knee, keeping herself up only by leaning on her staff. "No fighting outside the duel."
With that, she turned away in perfect disinterest. Still, the House of Coin had enough political power to keep Tythes in check, and he seemed to have grown bored with their contest. Instead he dropped down into one of the seats nearby and stuck his feet up on the arena, which required quite an awkward stretch.
"You're confident in your friend, huh? Dumb. You are a dumb person."
"Why should I bother talking to you?" Nauda said. "You just want to amuse yourself."
"Oh, to the contrary." He sprang upward with alarming speed, eyes suddenly fixed on hers. "I'd like to see your spirit break. Why don't we make a little bet on this duel? When you lose, you'll have to break that staff of yours in half, lick my boots, and tell me that you'll never defy your betters again."
