Andrew Rowe - Sufficiently Advanced Magic

He opened his free hand, running it across the blade of the sword. Fire trailed where his hand passed, igniting the edges of the weapon. He swung the sword in an arc, launching a burning crescent at Councilor Theas, but a blast of lightning from my mother smashed into the crescent, detonating the two attacks in the air.

Keras glanced back down at my mother, then back to Councilor Theas. “Two sorcerers? You certainly prepared for me.”

Councilor Lanoy cracked his knuckles. “Three, actually.” He traced a pattern in the air, leaving a glowing blue rune shimmering in front of him. “I would advise you again to surrender.”

The masked swordsman grinned. “Oh, you misunderstood me. I wasn’t complaining. I’m just starting to get interested.”

“A pity.” Councilor Lanoy pressed his hand into the glimmering pattern. It split apart into a series of spheres of mana that spread out and then rapidly converged on Keras’ location.

The swordsman spun to slice the first one with his blade, but it detonated before he managed to strike it, creating a rippling shockwave of force that sent Keras stumbling backward along the icy wall, right into more of the converging projectiles.

A dozen more blasts of blue-white light erupted as the spheres burst around Keras, blinding me for an instant with their intensity. When my vision cleared, Keras was still standing. His tunic was shredded and bloodstained, a hint of blood dripping from his lips. Burn marks were visible on his back.

He was grinning more brightly than ever. The aura around him flickered, then intensified, turning a silvery hue.

Keras vanished, reappearing next to Councilor Lanoy and driving a fist into the older man’s gut. A shimmer of silver and green erupted on the impact. The councilor folded around the punch, collapsing to the floor in an instant later.

“Elias, Warden of the Adamantine Wall, I summon you!”

Councilor Theas shimmered brighter green, a shimmering shroud of runes surrounding her as a metallic titan appeared on the floor below. The creature was roughly humanoid, but it must have been twenty feet tall, and it crackled with green energy that matched Councilor Theas’.

She summoned a golem, I realized , and a powerful one at that.

“Grab him, Elias!”

The golem was surprisingly fast for its size, reaching out with a massive hand to grab at Keras. He was still faster.

His sword shimmered silver. His hand blurred. Metallic fingers clattered to the floor below.

A moment later, Keras was running around the circle of the upper level, blindingly fast.

He paused in front of me.

I raised my hands. “I am just here to observe.”

Keras’ eyes narrowed underneath his mask for a moment, then he grinned and chuckled. “Fair enough.”

He blurred again, appearing in front of Elora.

She blasted him with a cone of ice at point-blank range.

For a moment, it looked like it had worked. Keras was completely enshrouded in frost. Within, however, I could see a crimson glow beginning to form… and then the ice burst apart.

Just in time for the golem’s other hand to punch Keras into the wall.

For a moment, the room was still.

Then, inch-by-inch, the golem’s massive fist began to move backward.

Keras was pushing it back with his off-hand.

“That,” he said, cracking his neck, “Actually hurt.”

His sword-hand twitched. The golem’s arm separated into two halves, which Keras pushed apart.

“Elias, I dismiss you.” Councilor Theas grimaced, waving toward the metallic creature.

The golem vanished.

She raised a hand again, a crimson aura appearing around her. “Vanniv, I—”

Keras appeared in front of her, his sword blade glimmering with a silvery aura. He pointed it at her chest. “That’s enough.”

Councilor Theas’ hands tightened into fists. “Very well. I concede your victory. I will withdraw.”

“Good.” Keras waved his empty hand. “And tell the group from Dalenos waiting outside not to bother sending reinforcements unless they have someone more powerful than you are.”

Theas looked like she was going to say something else, but she was interrupted by a blast of flame annihilating the floor below Keras and enveloping his entire form.

My mother had moved to the position just beneath him on the lower level and blasted upward. Since she was on the level below, he had no way to see it coming.

Keras hit the floor right in front of her, smoke trailing off his body. He was covered in scorch marks now; she’d obviously hurt him. But the burns weren’t nearly enough to account for the intensity of the flames. The shimmering aura around him must have provided him with some degree of protection, like a barrier.

He was in a kneeling position when he recovered from the blast. When his eyes reopened, I could see that his irises were silver, bleeding into his sclera.

When he stood, dusting himself off, he turned that silvery gaze toward my mother, standing only a few feet away. “Ah, yes. Sorry to keep you waiting. Shall we?”

He raised his sword and waited.

My mother drew the saber at her side. “Let’s.”

Keras moved first, but I could tell that only because of the position where their blades locked. His weapon had been stopped by her saber when it was inches from her face.

Mother was the one smiling now.

Keras frowned.

“Let me reintroduce myself. Laura Lyran. Councilor. Elementalist. And, perhaps most importantly, Emerald Swordmaster.”

Then she kicked him in the chest.

Keras took the kick with a grunt, stepping back in surprise, and losing his push on her weapon. Mother followed with a series of rapid strokes at chest level, her own movements too fast for me to follow, even with the Divination-enhanced vision.

Another of her strokes went low, but he kicked it aside, pressing forward with a thrust of his own. Mother batted it aside with her off-hand… which was glowing with electricity. The charge traveled through Keras’ weapon and into his arm. He winced, managing to maintain his grip, but barely dodged the follow-up swipe at his gut. It tore another line across his tunic and a crimson trail along his chest.

“Curious,” Mother mused. “Your shroud isn’t working properly.”

“I’d love to tell you all about it after you surrender.” Keras swung downward in a cut that should have come nowhere close to hitting her. His blade grew longer mid-swing, forcing my mother to make a split-second dance to her right.

Where his left fist was heading.

She took the punch with a wince and then struck him in the ear with a cupped palm.

Keras stepped back, grimacing, and shifted his stance to one I’d never seen. His right arm extended almost completely, the tip pointed toward my mother’s chest. It looked almost like an Edrian fencing stance, but I’d never seen one with the sword-arm extended so far.

The intent of the stance was clear enough. It left little of his body exposed, and his sword was in the way of any further attempts at getting close to him with a fist.

My mother stepped back, lowering into a standard defensive saber stance. Then she flicked a finger against the flat of her saber and a voltaic charge traveled along the surface of the blade, flickering back and forth from hilt to tip. As long as that electrical charge was on her blade, she could shock him on any contact between their weapons. I approved of the tactic; it made attrition her ally

It also made me deeply concerned.

Such a tactic would only be necessary if she knew she was at a disadvantage.

Keras took a step forward, pulling his arm back an inch. Mother moved her guard upward. Keras reset his stance.

A test, then.

Keras and my mother stood motionless for moments save for their eyes. They were both searching for weaknesses, finding none.