Andrew Rowe - Sufficiently Advanced Magic

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what was happening.

So I fought.

I fired again, this time managing to graze his shoulder and knock him back a few steps.

“Irritating,” he said. “But you can’t stop me. If she’s not already dead, I’ll finish it soon. Don’t worry; I have no interest in hurting you.”

“What are you doing? Stop!” I tried my legs again. The ring had been doing great work. I made it to a half-standing position before my legs collapsed under me again.

Jin sighed. “Just stay down, Corin. It’s nothing personal, but she’s a threat.”

I trembled. Not with cold this time, but with rage. “A threat? She’s unconscious , Jin!”

Jin took a step closer to her, and I fired again. He deflected the shot with his dagger, but the force of the impact nearly forced him to drop it.

Jin shook his head at me. “Not an immediate threat. A long-term threat. I can’t allow you to hand her over to Katashi. Not after everything we’ve just learned. Not after everything she’s done.”

“Okay, I can understand having moral concerns about making god beasts, but this is not the way—”

“It’s not about that, Corin.” Jin sighed. “It’s about protecting my own people.”

“We stopped Orden already, Jin. There’s no need to worry about her tricking Dalenos into a war.”

He closed his eyes. “That was never the concern, Corin.”

“What are you talking about?”

With a sigh, he reopened his eyes. “I’m not from Dalenos. I’m from East Edria.”

I clenched my hands into fists. “You. You’re the Edrian spy that everyone has been so worried about?”

Jin chuckled. “I thought your mind would jump that way. That’s why I never told you. Everyone from Edria must be a spy or a traitor. No, Corin, I’m not a spy. I’m just a student who happened to be born in East Edria.”

He shook his head, giving me a sad smile. “You want to know why I never told you I’m from Edria? Because there’s nothing but hatred toward Edria here. Never mind that I’m from the part that was conquered in the same war that Valia is always talking about.”

I…couldn’t argue with that. Not really. If he’d told me he was from Edria, even East Edria, there was no way I wouldn’t have associated him with the Six Years War. I wasn’t above judging people by their place of birth, as much as I wanted to be.

I would have to be better in the future.

I shook my head. “You gave Dalen as your last name, though.”

“My last name is Dalen, Corin. You remember the story from class about the Unbroken Queen? My family were among her retainers. Where I come from, everyone in service to a family uses their family name. Even when the queen finally perished, we kept the name.”

I nodded. “I remember the story. That still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here, though.”

“There’s no conspiracy, Corin. I’m just a transfer student. I never showed you my attunement because I’m a Mesmer. That’s an Edrian attunement. I’m Sunstone because we take our tests at a younger age. I’m not an assassin. I’m not even that much of a patriot, truth be told. But when I hear people are making artificial attuned to use as weapons against my home? I pay attention.”

“Only for defense,” I tried, but the line sounded weak, even to me.

Jin tightened his hand into a fist. “Right, right. I’m sure they’d never realize that they had enough weapons on leashes to try them out. Maybe just wipe a small city off the map to scare Edria a little. You know, as a defensive measure. With acceptable civilian losses. It’s not like they’d be Valian citizens.”

I clenched my jaw. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe someone would use an artificial attuned like that. But you’ve seen Vera. You saw her with Echion. She treated him like a brother, not a weapon. She’s one of the ones that would try to stop this kind of madness.”

He shrugged. “Might be true, but right now? My best bet here is to make sure she never makes it to Katashi — so that he launches the attack that he promised you. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll be thorough enough to eradicate the monsters on your council that were pulling the strings on this whole plan.”

I narrowed my eyes. “And the people who live near the tower? Our civilians? Katashi said he was going to send Seiyru next time, Jin. The real Seiryu — not a manifestation like Sera made. A fully-grown god beast, unleashed with the purpose of destruction. That’s exactly the type of thing you’re trying to stop!”

Jin’s jaw tightened and he turned his head to the side, unwilling to meet my gaze. “You’re right. I’m behaving just like Orden, in a sense. I know that. I value my home over yours. And, if need be, I’m willing to sacrifice your home in order to save mine. Maybe that makes me just as much of a monster as the people I’m fighting. Maybe it’s just human nature.”

“I won’t accept that.”

I pushed my hands against the ground.

I clenched my jaw.

And, with trembling legs, I stood.

I flexed my legs experimentally. I felt a momentary surge of pain in the right one, but it held. “I won’t accept that either of our nations has to suffer a tragedy. And I will find a way of stopping it — even if that means stopping you.”

Jin stepped into a dueling stance, knife pointed toward me. “Even if you have to kill me?”

I clenched my hands into fists. “I’d really rather avoid that. But I’ll do what I have to do to stop a slaughter.”

Jin laughed. “You’ve got more spirit than sense. But that’s something I like about you. Unfortunately, Vera is going to bleed out here, and she’s not conscious. You can’t save her even with the ring.”

I nodded. “Another problem I’ll solve after I’m done with you.” I took a step forward tentatively, then another. I was unarmed, but I led with my right hand. It was tingling from using the gauntlet as much as I had, but I still had a fair bit of mana left.

“Not every problem is solvable with the tools you have on hand.” Jin stepped closer, almost in knife reach. We began to circle each other.

“Then,” I replied, “I’ll make more tools.”

I pointed my hand at him and fired. Jin dodged to the side, just as I’d expected, and attempted a shallow jab. I deflected it with the gauntlet.

We circled each other further. My legs trembled with the effort, moments from failing.

He must have seen the weakness. He stepped forward and tried to trip me.

I let him.

Staying standing had never been a viable part of the plan. Not with the condition I was in.

Instead, when he stepped in, so did I. I grabbed his arms and dragged him right down onto the floor with me.

We hit the ground hard.

Unfortunately, he was on top. Fortunately, I still had a good grip on his arms, and they were half-way pinned beneath me.

He started maneuvering immediately, trying to get his knife into a striking position.

I slammed my forehead into his already injured nose.

Jin recoiled, but his shroud stopped most of the damage, and I was dazed.

He pulled his arms free of my weakened grasp and jammed his dagger into my left arm. I screamed, flailing my right arm free, and tried to reach for something vulnerable. We were pressed too close together for me to hit his face.

But that wasn’t what I was aiming for.

I grabbed the phoenix sigil pinned to his chest, felt the mana inside — still almost full — and took a deep breath.

And then I flooded the sigil with mana far, far too fast.

Jin tried to pull away, but I had a good grip, and he was far too late.

The sigil exploded in my hand. Metal shrapnel and mana lanced out in both directions — into my gloved hand and into Jin’s chest.