World Sphere - 86 - Baladon’s Defeat (POV)

Chapter 86: Baladon’s Defeat (POV)

Baladon was a mage prodigy in his family. His older brother, Abaddon, was intelligent but acted impulsively. Their father and uncle, Otieno, often had to cover up many of Abaddon’s missteps as he grew bolder. But Abaddon had a leader’s charisma that Baladon lacked. Even with Abaddon’s malice, he still attracted henchmen. Because of this, he admired his brother.

Otieno Bricio, their uncle, a sitting member of the Triumvirate, brought the brothers into a plan to weaken the Torrent family. Otieno wanted Keelan Torrent to replace Abbos Torrent in the line of succession. Keelan had a half-sister, Tessa, who was a model of beauty, and they were extremely close. Their grandfather, Pomare, favored both Keelan and Tessa, and he had made public the knowledge they would both be added to the line of succession when they completed their academy training.

Otieno’s plan was simple. Tessa would bring her brother to the Sowing Festival, and Baladon would conspire to get Tessa to disparage the Bricio family. Baladon would call for an honor duel, and Tessa would point out Keelan to defend her honor. Then Otieno would step in and raise his favored grandson, Keelan, to the line of succession to avoid dueling Baladon. It would accelerate Pomare Torrent’s succession plans and weaken the Torrents. Very simple.

A Bricio mage would plant thoughts in Tessa’s head to choose her brother as champion and to disparage the Bricio house. Both thoughts would easily take root, as they were well within her nature and feelings toward Baladon. Then, they would supply her with an unfiltered truth potion. This part would be difficult, but the Bricio’s had enough agents within the Citadel to make it happen.

Everything proceeded smoothly until Tessa was to select Keelan Torrent as her champion, but then her escort stepped between Tessa and Keelan, professing he was chosen! It was ridiculous as everyone could see she would have selected her brother!

“I recognize him,” Abaddon whispered to Baladon. “I don’t remember his name, but he is the one who messed with my plans to get Loriel to my bed at the Pre-Annuals.” Baladon looked at his brother and doubted his brother’s plan was very inventive, and if it had succeeded, it would have been another mess for the family to clean up.

Abaddon said, “He wielded a staff in the pre-Annuals and was from a tiny village on Titan’s Shield.” That told Baladon he was probably extremely poor if he couldn’t afford a sword, but had some skill with weapons.

At the Triumvirates’ table, Otieno Bricio looked extremely upset that his plans had failed to come to fruition. Baladon’s own father wanted to get what he could from this hiccup, which at this point was going to be embarrassing to Tessa Torrent.

Abaddon leaned in, “I will buy you any tier 3 spell you want if you embarrass the boy.” Abaddon had a much larger allowance than Baladon and it was a good reason to win. Baladon had spent all his allowance on spells. His aether matrix was currently full, but he might be able to expand it enough to add another tier 3 spell in time. He had his eyes on a few not in the Bricio library.

When they were called to the table to discuss the terms of the Honor Duel, Pomare proposed giving Baladon his apple orchards to settle the matter. The orchards were worth far more than a tier 3 spell. However, Otieno Bricio gave him a stern look, and he had to turn down the offer. It was best to stay on Otieno's good side and avoid letting greed cloud his judgment.

The terms for the duel were a contest of spell and sword. This would be the easiest duel of Baladon’s life. He had five offensive fire spells at his disposal, and the young man before him probably only had magic for less than a year. He had also made sure that only bladed weapons could be used so the boy’s proficiency with the staff would not come into play.

His father pulled him aside on their walk to the Audience Chamber. “You will not lose. Take these.” His father gave him a rack of twelve healing potions, his prized necklace of invisibility, and his mithril weave shirt. His father didn’t want to take any chances. He would have to return the necklace and mithril shirt, but he could keep the potions. The rack of potions was all from the same brew, so he could drink them in succession without fear of adverse effects. They all then proceeded to the chamber, ready to enjoy the show.

As they were situated on their starting marks, Baladon’s thoughts were to just keep the duel interesting before crushing the boy. He started with his fire igniter spell. It was the first spell he had learned. The spell had ten evolutions and created a pretty fireball that could be thrown up to fifty feet. It barely took any aether to cast, but it was flashy and should keep the boy at a distance. The problem was that the small fireball was slow, and the boy, Storme, was mocking him by sidestepping the fireballs and not moving closer.

Baladon decided the boy needed a lesson and cast his fire arrow. It was almost impossible to dodge, traveling at 600 mph. He got a satisfying strike on Storme. He was going to return to his fire ignitor spell, but Storme decided to engage. Storme threw something, and Baladon responded with another fire arrow and erected a thermal shield spell to deflect the attack while casting another fire arrow. He watched as he identified the objects as dice?

A bright flash burned his eyes when the dice struck the ground, and a loud sound wrecked his hearing. Baladon cast a powerful fire halo spell to keep the nuisance away while he oriented himself. If the boy had rushed in, he might even have been finished off by the wave of fire from the spell. Baladon quickly summoned a healing potion and drank it.

Baladon gained distance quickly and utilized his father’s invisibility necklace. Baladon felt the blade bite his shin. Storme had managed to close in even after the fire wave that should have blown him back. He swore as he skipped away in pain and summoned another healing potion from his dimensional storage. He limped as he consumed a second potion, which completely restored his sight.

His temper flared, but he paused to consider. This boy had too many surprises. It was best to end this now. Storme’s clothes were singed, but he looked mostly unharmed. The good news was he must be using a lot of aether to heal himself. How much aether could he possibly have left?

Baladon moved around to Storme’s flank and cast his most powerful spell: fiery cone. It was a tier 3 spell that burned a path of fire and would probably kill Storme, but it would ensure an end to this farce of a duel. He would have used this spell as his accidental coup de grace if he had been forced to fight Keelan. That was Otieno Bricio’s backup plan—end Keelan if they had decided to fight instead of promoting him to a succession seat. Now, this Storme would face his end. He held the spell, strengthening its power with his remaining aether, to make sure it finished him.

The bloom of fire erupted forward and engulfed the young man. Baladon felt no remorse. It wouldn’t be the first person he killed. As the flames died, Baladan stutter-stepped. The boy had somehow moved out of the cone. His clothes were on fire, and his hair was mostly gone, but his burnt skin was already flaking off from a healing spell. This boy was starting to get on his nerves.

As he healed, Storme started walking confidently toward him. Damn it, Baladon swore to himself. He was almost out of aether. He drew his sword. He still practiced with the blade, but not as much as he used to. He cleared his thoughts and moved to meet this persistent cockroach.

Baladon threw some mini-fireballs at Storme and was surprised when they splashed on a shield. An air shield? No, it had to be an aether shield, as the air shield would have made a hissing sound on impact. Where did this boy get the aether shield spell? Well, it was time to test the boy’s swordsmanship.

After the first few sword exchanges, he was ready to kill Abaddon! This boy was trained in more than just the staff, and he was damn good with the blade! The accursed aether shields made it hard to gain an advantage. He was losing—not only to a commoner boy, but also in front of a crowd of his peers. He didn’t have enough aether for another fire halo or flaming cone spell. He began exchanging blows with the boy. Unlike Storme, he had to retreat and drink a healing potion to recover. Storme just healed immediately, almost as if he had a regeneration ability. How much aether did he have?

Baladon used a variant of his fireball spell and cast a wave of sparks in the air to highlight the aether shields. Damn it. The boy was able to maintain three aether shields at once! The only weakness of the aether shield spell was that a destroyed shield would have a cooldown before it could be recast. Baladon pressed the attack in this way, seeking a victory that seemed to be slipping further and further away.

He had enough aether for one, maybe two fire arrows. He used a feint and cast the fire arrow aimed at Storme’s head, but the boy picked up on the movement and dodged. Baladon should have targeted the body after taking down the aether shield. Damn it, who trained the boy?

Then Storme spoke. “I believe I have injured you. That means you can concede if you wish, correct?” The common boy was mocking him. Anger flared.

Baladon committed again to the attack, but took many wounds, and used more healing potions as they moved across the floor. The crowd loved the spectacle—Baladon did not. Storme seemed focused and showed no signs of aether exhaustion or physical exhaustion. Was he even human?

Before he realized it, he was down to just two healing potions. If this ended with his loss, he would have to give Storme his arms and armor. That was not going to happen. His father would kill him if he lost the mithril shirt to this boy. The shirt was not just one of his prized possessions but was a significant portion of his father’s personal wealth.

He tried a flanking maneuver after shattering an aether shield, getting close. The boy reached out with his free hand and grabbed the mithril shirt for leverage. Baladon braced, expecting to be yanked forward. Instead, the mithril shirt tore like paper.

He staggered back, stunned. The shirt had shielded him from a dozen attacks and was unbreakable. What spell or power had the boy used? He needed to win this, but now the flapping mithril shirt was more of a liability in its current state, hindering his movements. He might have one more fire arrow—no, he didn't. He gritted his teeth and spoke loudly. “I surrender.” The crowd went silent before erupting.

Baladon’s eyes burned into the boy as the shocked crowd reacted with mixed emotions. Starring spitefully, Baladon would correct this slight. His knowledge about the boy was incomplete because of his brother, so that offense needed to be addressed first. He had entered the match overconfident because of it. He turned to leave, but Pomare Torrent called out, “Baladon! You must leave your arms and armor.”

Baladon felt the stares of the crowd on him and returned before the Triumvirate huddled around the champion. Otieno had outrage on his face at Baladon’s failure and would need to be careful about assigning blame when in front of the Bricio House leader. Baladon removed the mithril shirt and tossed his sheathed sword on the ground with it. That sword was a dungeon prize that he received from his father on his 16th birthday and improved the wielders skill with a blade. Now it was another sting to his pride.

Just as Baladon turned, someone whispered something in Pomare’s ear. Pomare immediately grinned. “Baladon, I've been told you also used the enchantment on the necklace you're wearing. According to dueling rules, any item used in an Honor Duel goes to the winner.” Baladon considered telling the crowd he had actually cast the invisibility spell, but he couldn’t prove it. He unclasped the necklace and tossed it at Pomare, another valuable dungeon that belonged to his father. Maybe Otieno could get it back for his father.

Baladon stormed off, unhindered now. His brother was going to get a piece of his mind for his poor information about the common boy, after his aether recovered.