CH 10 - Usurpation

Dainn

The guests began arriving before ten. First of all, those closest arrived, meaning the nobility of Nubia. They all brought a minimum of five, a maximum of ten servants,

The Apollo family, with their head Arthur and his wife Lily, came first. With them came his two sons, Joeffrey and Franklin. They had a girl with them, and I was told it was their ward, Beatrix. It was that moment that I began to wonder if wards were required to properly be called a Lord in this world.

After them came the Nubian leader, answering only to the Imperial Council of Four, King Stanford Artemis. He was a widower, though his only son Alistair was in attendance. He had two wards with him, a man and a woman. They were named Ibana and Igor.

Soon followed Nobles from the other three kingdoms. Ares from Tartarus, with his ward, three wives, and five sons. As soon as he showed up, I could tell Henry perked up a bit, his competitiveness flaring, perhaps.

Then came Lord Derrick Demeter of Salem, and his husband, Darius. I guessed sexuality was fluid in Elysia. They had no children to speak of, but they were in their early twenties so I guessed they had time to adopt. They did have a ward, though. A young girl of about eight, the youngest ward so far, save for me. I found out her name was Isabelle.

From Reme came the Lord Romulus Zeus. His wife, Victoria, was a very built woman, and I got the feeling he was the boss in the street, and submissive in the sheets. His son, Regulus was a warrior like his mother, though the daughter Rema was clearly a mage of great power. More than Sara Leanna, though less than what I guessed Henry had. Their ward didn't hold a candle to her, but then again, not every one of us were mages. The boy was clearly a swordsman, and his name was Brutus.

Finally, we had the only guests that weren't nobility. The sixth banquet table was reserved for an adventurer's party known as the Arcane Archers. They were Emilia's favorite, and I had to admit, it was where I got the idea for my mana bow. Their being here was Bartleby's gift, from what I heard.

Of course, now wasn't the time for the feast, that would be later tonight. Now the guests were mingling in the back courtyard, enjoying a tea party as they caught up and doted on Emilia.

I had decided to wander away, since she was being crowded, and instead did some surveying of the situation. The archery targets had been removed and all loose arrows picked up. Multiple shaded tables had been set up, and I could tell that a fairly large portion in the center was cleared.

I smiled as I marveled at the set up. On the surface, it provided a natural area for the guests to gather and converse. But it was also perfectly set up for a duel to take place.

I was just waiting on my que from Lord Henry. He was currently in a heated conversation with the Lord Ares, so I decided to mosey on over and make myself available.

"-and then, this idiot thought he could impress the entire crowd by casting a Royal Red flaming sphere. Tell me, Ezekiel, what happened next? It seems to be slipping my mind."

Ares grunted. "I forgot my Blessing boosted my power, so my spell was larger than I intended and I caught myself in the blast. It's how I got this burn scar here." He pointed to his neck, where tendrils of burned flesh peek out from beneath his mithril plated shirt. I noted that he was armored, and with the only metal that was strong enough to resist steel and still allowed mana flow.

"Yeah! Took three Blue mages to put the fires out, and three healers to keep you alive!" There was raucous laughter amongst the nobles, save for Ares. He looked smug, and was closely watching my master.

"Still, I did win that Imperial Tourney, for what good that did me," he looked intensely at Sila as she stood by her husband, holding his arm. "But enough about us, Henry. I'd much rather talk about this ward of yours. I was told he had no affinity, and yet apparently you still deigned to care for him. I must know what you see in the boy."

Henry returned his smug smile. "Oh, he is quite the genius. Top scores in all subjects, and despite no affinity, he has handedly bested every test thrown at him. I'd say in three years he'll start surpassing his instructors. It's only a matter of time before we send him off to the Royal Academy. He'll probably be the youngest graduate they'll ever see."

Ares glared. "A bold statement, certainly. Though if he is as great as you claim, then why does he avoid everyone? Seems like cowardice, if you ask me."

I smirked to myself, because Henry gave me the look I was waiting for. I approached. "My Lord Ares, my deepest apologies if I have offended you. I merely stood back because this is not my day. Though, if you'd prefer, I'd be happy to indulge you in a demonstration."

I gave him my most practiced fake smile, and I saw his pupils dilate. I felt a dangerous, burning bloodlust, but didn't falter. "Indulge me? What an insolent little child. Fine, if you wish to demonstrate your skills, then be my guest. Erick, come forth."

The ward, and my first true challenge in this life, stepped forward. His hair was bright orange and long, pulled back into a neat ponytail. His eyes were fiery, both in their ruby color and in their intensity. I could see a darkness in his eyes. He had sharp features and held himself high. He was over twice my height, being near a decade my senior.

Yet, despite all this, he wasn't intimidating in the slightest.

First of all, his mana was chaotic, flaring and surging though, even at the apex of the bursts, it was nothing to worry about. He was nothing compared to any of the instructors I've sparred against.

He turned his nose up at me and scoffed. How could I blame him? I was a four year old kid, after all. I smirked like a little brat.

"Really, my Lord? What honor is there in besting a toddler?" His voice dripped with condescension, and so I decided to take a little snipe.

"Oh very little, to be sure," I started, before I narrowed my eyes and gave him my greatest shit-eating grin. "However, getting obliterated in a duel by a toddler is nigh irrecoverable."

The boy looked shocked, appalled, and furious. I saw him remove a glove, and then throw it at my feet. "Pick it up, whelp."

A challenge to a duel. I didn't want to be the one to make the demand, and so I goaded him into doing it. "Gladly," I said wickedly as I bent down to retrieve the garment. "I have been coasting for far too long. Please, entertain me."

It didn't take long for everyone to clear the space so conveniently ready for us. It was a thirty foot diameter circle, with the tables acting as a makeshift ring. The audience filled the spaces between the chairs to finish the effect.

I looked over and saw Emilia with her dad, mom, and sis. She looked a little nervous, so I gave her a thumbs up. She beamed. "You got this! Show them what you can do, Dainn!"

I looked back at Erick. He was fuming. "Nice girl. I'm sure if I asked, I could have Lord Ares arrange a marriage between us. When she's a little older, of course."

"In your dreams," I said, and realized that that one insult bothered me more than it should.

"Begin!" called out Bartleby from the sidelines.

Erick wasted no time. He tested the waters with three rapid Mentor level ember spells. Bolts of flames like shooting stars fired from his fingertips with the speed of a baseball pitch, each one travelling a different route as they flew towards me.

I flicked a single finger up, creating a stone tile that grew and snaked to block the paths. It was a Student level Orange spell.

And I saw surprise flash on his face at that moment, so I decided to see if I was wasting my time here by casting a Master level lightning lance. Electricity surged in my open palm, and I knew he was waiting for me to wind up a throw so he could dodge or counter.

I didn't need to wind up. I blasted out a bolt of lightning the size of a hearse at him with the speed of a locomotive. It only occurred to me at the last moment there were people behind him, so I also put up three layers of earth as protection.

He tried to back up, and realized he was trapped, though that wasn't my intention. I was sure it was over already, without needing my Combo spells.

The lighting obliterated two walls and cracked the third, before finally fading. I didn't see Erick.

Then, above me, I felt gathering mana. I looked up and saw him flying. He had encased his footwear in flames, and I remembered seeing what looked like burn marking on them before this. Did he somehow have flame resistant boots? Whatever his secret was, he was using it to fly. I admired the core strength necessary to pull that off.

But that wasn't the pressing concern. He was channeling a Royal flaming sphere to drop on me.

"Interesting. You know, a spell like that tends to have a pretty large area of effect. I kinda want to see what you can do, but sadly, it seems you are far too reckless to face here. Too bad, I remain bored."

It was time, but to finish this and to show the world a new form of spellcasting. I started by uncorking my magic and letting it all flow free. I needed to do this because I was planning a tactic called usurpation. It was when a mage takes another's power right from them in the midst of combat. It was a difficult thing to do, and typically ended with the person with more mana winning.

I then visualized the shape the spell should take, and finally I applied Red and Orange magic into it all. I did this in less than a second, and even had to delay a second longer for Erick to finish casting his spell. As soon as he did, I countered with my Combo spell, Infernal Fist.

The earth shot up into a grasping hand to catch the flaming sphere. As it made contact my mana overpowered Erick's, and his flames became mine. They turned from bright orange and yellow to vibrant blues and violets.

As the hand pushed through the flames they were absorbed into every nook, cranny, and crevice, becoming like a certain fire based alien from a popular cartoon franchise. The rocks melted but I reinforced it and Erick was doomed to simply watch as he was grabbed out the sky, and brought crashing into the courtyard.

There was a collective gasp from the audience,

I dispelled all the magic, and saw that I had knocked him out. More than that, I cracked his skull open. I quickly ran over and healed him.

I held my hand over his head, readied the healing magic, and gasped. As I gathered my magic near him, I felt something different. I couldn't understand what it was, but it was like I was being called out to.

I shook it off and cast the White magic. I held it as his wound mended, and noted multiple burn scars through his now torn and burned clothing. I felt like showing a little mercy, and targeted those as well.

I grimaced, and then put more magic in, taking my spell from Mentor to Royal, and saw the scars fade. They must have been fairly old. From his own magic? Odd.

My vision started to blur as I reached my limits. I had apparently burned through more mana than I realized usurping Erick's control.

I felt arms around my neck. And tensed for a moment before I caught the smell of vanilla and rose. It was the perfume Emilia put on for today.

"So cool! I knew you could do it, Dainn!"

I heard applause break out, and I stood and delivered a bow, blushing as I removed myself from Emilia.

I looked around and saw Henry looking proud, whilst bragging to those around him. "..used four schools! And that last spell! I didn't even know he could do that!"

I last saw Ares, and I realized he was well suited to the name of a war god. The look of rage on his face, the complete lack of any tingle. He could have started slaughtering people and it would take us ten seconds to catch on. He was giving off no warning signals for a predator to detect. It was unnerving.

I decided that since my job was done, that I should rest for a moment. I suddenly thought I might need to be ready for trouble, and I had just burned a lot of my magic for the day.