Chapter 409: East meets West


    ke rose up from the holding cell into what felt like a scene from the Matrix. It looked the loading zone the crew of the Nebuchednezzer used to simte the program— apletely nk, almost white space with nothing except t ground.


    The sky was white. The horizon was white. It was uniform enough it actually screwed with ke''s perception of distance.


    Erik the Swede of the Arcane Order stood maybe two hundred feet across, inspecting his surroundings with total calm.


    ke wasn’t sure if he was pleased. He’d have preferred to smash his way through the Order against everyone <em>except</em> the Swede first. But he supposed one had to y the hand one was dealt.


    With his preparation mana caps and fifteen seconds to prepare, ke had brought himself a trio of constructs—two arcane legionnaires, and one psionic ''jaguar'', plus a big bundle of javelins.


    Erik <em>seemed</em> alone and not to have prepared at all. But even from a distance, ke could see the magical enchantments surrounding him in barely colored bubbles.


    "Everything he''s wearing is enchanted, Master," Navi chirped above his shoulder. "Would you like me to describe the total list?"


    "No, thank you," ke said with a sigh.


    Suddenly his demonic ne and mana gem didn''t seem so impressive. How many tricks might his opponent have that had nothing to do with his ss, and everything to do with his ''gear''?


    Their eyes met, and Erik gave a polite nod, which ke matched.


    "Ready when you are, Mr. Nimitz," he called.


    ke took a breath. Standing there and channeling seemed somehow...rude. At least for now. Instead ke sent his constructs forward in a spread pattern to disrupt area effects. He kept his attention on his shields, ready with Telekinesis, ready to counter any kind of mental energy.


    The problem was: he had no idea what sort of powers Erik actually had. He definitely should have done a little research and watched the man’s fights. But no time for that now.


    "I want everything he does identified," he said to Navi.


    "Yes, Master."


    The little orb floated forward and ke tried not to worry about it getting fried. It was definitely resistant to magic and other kinds of damage, but he had no idea <em>how</em> resistant.


    Erik started moving his hands in some kind of spell, arcane energy swirling around him. ke was a bit jealous, to be honest.


    <em>His</em> powers didn''t involve any kind of drama at all. He mostly just <em>thought</em> and things happened. There was something definitely cool about weaving a spell like a physical thing. ke supposed he could sometimes pretend.


    His constructs were about half way when the spell finished. A red sphere appeared, growing just above Swede''s head.


    "Navi?"


    "Elemental magic. Projectile based."


    The red sphere split a momentter, three missilesunching like fiery basketballs towards ke''s constructs. Out of curiosity more than anything, ke used the ''counter'' he''d only ever tried against mental effects.


    It was more or less like using Telekinesis or even Mental Influence, except instead of physical objects or minds bing his targets, it was the magical energy itself.


    To his considerable surprise, it worked.


    It wasn''t as easy as countering mind magic, but ke could still see the contours of Erik''s spell. The next tricky part was deciding how much mana to actually burn. If he used too little, it wouldn''t stop the effect. If he used too much, he was just wasting his mana for no reason.


    He decided on about 10% of his total remaining.


    Purplish psionic energy loosed like three res into therger auras of the flying spheres, and shattered them. Erik instantly went into another spell, this time swirling with visible power as the constructs closed.


    "Pure arcane, Master. Aura."


    With his runic sight, ke saw the size of this one''s ''aura'' and instantly rejected any attempt to block it. It seemed whatever his ability to counter exactly was, it worked far better against magic that was ''released''.


    Trying to block something like an aura felt like trying to spray a housefire with a garden hose.


    Erik turned blue as a sphere formed around him in something like a fifteen foot radius. ke''s constructs crashed into it, shing and wing as the thing flickered but held. ke moved forward and started channeling an arcane st, Erik starting another spell of his own.


    "Elemental. Ray."


    A ''ray''? That was new. ke was sweating as he watched his channel tick down, but he also couldn''t help but smile. Sure, this was simted life or death. And yes, if he lost now he was out of the tournament. But the fact was: this was fun.


    Erik finished his ray a hair''s breadth before ke finished his st.


    A red beam like a shlight sizzled then mmed into one of ke''s legionnaires with an audible thwack. Erik held out a hand, and the beam followed where he pointed. It disintegrated ke''s construct like high powered water jet hitting sand.


    ke''s Arcane st struck the wizard’s blue shield with a sh of light. And not much else.


    Erik held his ray until both ke''s legionnaires had burst apart, their arcane y crumpled to the ground. The psionic Jaguar, though, just refused to die. It started leaping back and forth, and even when it was being struck it held together with twice the resistance.


    "OK," ke said, a little annoyed now as he activated True Making. "Try this one."


    He activated Duality of Ambition for a temporary psionic Defender construct, setting the duration to two minutes. He made it unreasonablyrge, a kind of stooped over ape with fists the size of ke''s head.


    ke''s body just froze as he channeled, but he did his best to hold a pose to something suitably cool and wizard-like first.


    His jaguar shattered about the same moment he finished. Erik dropped his ray, looking out curiously at ke before True Making snapped a circle of psionic power and ripped his creation into the fabric of reality.


    ke devoted half his mind to personally rushing his new pet forward, straight for his opponent''s shield.


    Erik didn''t hesitate. He started another cast of his ray spell, but ke was moving forward now and getting ready to try and counter it. The shape was not at all ''ray-like'', and moreplicated to deal with than ke expected.


    He supposed it was because it was actively channeled, or still attached to his opponent''s body. It wasn''t impossible to stop, but probably not worth the effort.


    ke decided to try anyway. He let his construct go on auto-pilot, using both halves of his partitioned mind to chart the magic and figure out where to strike it for maximum effect.


    Than heunched another ''re'' of energy, this time with at least 20% of his mana, which passed straight into Erik''s shield and struck his channel with another sh of light.


    The Swede flinched in obvious surprise as his spell fizzled. He blinked and re-doubled his efforts as ke''s construct mmed into his shield with repeated, violent cracks, the energy crackling and flickering as it waned.


    This time ke ignored the spell. Heunched himself forward with Telekinesis, getting as close as possible as he took his ne in hand and activated Mind Rend. The demonic artifact clenched and red, the burst of foreign energy leaping forward like a w to ke''s eyes.


    Erik could apparently <em>stop</em> his channels. He waved a hand and held both in the air as if to catch the psionic w, a sh of white light overtaking the blue.


    "Divine Shield," Navi called.


    Divine? Apparently Erik had multiple affinities, or at least could use them. But ke hadmitted now to a strategy of ‘overwhelm’.


    Sparing no mana, he lifted his many javelins with Telekinesis and started raining them at the Swede’s shields with one half of his mind, starting yet another True Making with the other. This time it wasn’t a construct, though—it was a kind of huge, metallic cup, made right over Erik’s head, a spike pointing down in its center.


    The Swede had blocked the Mind Rend, andshed out with a swiped hand in ke’s general direction.


    “Elementa…”


    The spell was too fast for Navi to keep up. A spray of light much like Carl’s washed over ke, turning everything white. He closed his eyes and blinked but knew it was toote. He couldn’t see a damn thing.


    <em>Well yed</em>, he thought with cold rationality. Magic shields were great. But they didn’t stop you from getting blinded by bright light.


    But then blindness (hopefully <em>temporary</em> blindness) didn’t stop ke’s magic, either. His construct was still hammering away, timer ticking down but still with a good minute. ke didn’t know if his opponent had moved, but there wasn’t much for it now. He finished his channel, hoping the giant piece of metal helped smash that shield.


    It fell a good thirty feet and nged with an arcane sizzle. ke grinned as he heard Erik grunt, then tossed a few telekic javelins towards the source of the voice and started a huge Arcane st. He just hoped his vision cleared before his channel finished.


    “Teleportation, Master!” Navi chirped.


    “Fly to him,” ke said. “Call to me where he is.”


    He heard the little construct zip away, still blinking to try and gain some sight. Little dots and swirls were appearing with grey overtaking the ck, and he almost sighed with relief.


    His channel ticked down, and some kind of spell shed against his shield and sizzled all around him. Then another. His mana was dropping, his shields fading. Navi called out just in time, obviously knowing when ke’s spell would finish.


    With a leap of faith, ke aimed at the location with his ears and tiny bits of vision, sting a huge 20% mana st at ground level.


    He heard something hit the ground with a soft thud. A trumpet red.


    ***


    "What happened, gentlemen?" Jeong said calmly, masking his rage at the Spymaster and High Wizard''s failures. Both men said nothing, though for entirely different reasons. Erik looked lost in thought, probably trying to consider exactly what he believed had urred. Michael looked like an angry, pouting, shame-filled child.


    Jeong mmed his fist on the table, cracking the hard stic with a sound like thunder.


    "My mind powers did nothing," Michael said, shaking his head. "Then I hit him full force in the head with my strike, but..."


    "You should have struck his neck, or his heart," Jeong countered. Michael opened his mouth as if to yell an answer before remembering himself.


    "I considered that too risky, my lord. From what his people tell us, we know he heals absurdly quickly. He might very well heal a heart wound. I decided an injury to the brain was the best option. I intended to exploit that weakness to injure him further."


    "The temple, then. The back of the skull. You should have..."


    "With respect," Michael cut him off. "I attempted that. He moved like you do. Inhuman speed. I''dmitted, so I struck. I felt my Shadowde bounce off his bone. It damaged him badly but not enough. I didn''t expect him to chase me so quickly, so <em>effectively</em> in the dark. You know my powers. With the failure of my mind powers I had limited time and tools. A decisive first attack was my best chance. It failed."


    "He ate your throat like a deer, with the entire world watching," Jeong said, trying to keep his voice under control. "Far better if you had just surrendered."


    Michael said nothing because what could he say. Erik took a breath and spoke like he was discussing the weather.


    "I was outmatched. I countered his spells more or less correctly, save for underestimating his construction abilities. We have nothing like this. He is unique. Next time, perhaps, I would ignore his constructs and attempt a quick kill, or else deal with his familiar. But familiars are notoriously resistant to magic. His defenses are not trivial, either, and to ignore his offense would be to die quickly. I see no obvious solution.”


    Jeong calmed as the Swede spoke. He was correct—the wizard had been clearly outmatched, probably getting lucky with his blind spell, but failing regardless.


    Unlike Michael, the man would have at least learned useful things from the encounter. And Jeong was not entirely displeased at the second Nimitz'' brother''s power.


    If he could be recruited, he might bnce the power of the European wizards. If Jeong could win him personally, could gain him as an ally, he might both destroy Mason and help cow his chief rivals in the east in a single blow.


    But he kept the same expression of rage and disgust on his face. Without another word, he rose from the table and exited his make-shiftmand room.


    His best were at least close to a match for the western elite. Considering his superior numbers, to crush them in a straight fight might be entirely feasible, and probably preferred.


    There was only a single question left—the question of Jeong himself against Mason Nimitz. But even the Spymaster’s de had near fatally wounded him. Yes, he regenerated, but not enough. The same de wouldn’t pierce Jeong’s shield no matter how it struck.


    Soon, very soon, the arrogant young man was going to find an opponent he couldn’t defeat so easily. And Jeong would crush his spirit along with his spine.


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