WIEDERGEBURT Act VI: Chapter 22

I gnashed my teeth together as I ducked below a spatial spear that had been sent my way. Odd thing about these spears. You couldn’t feel them when they moved passed you. It was almost like they weren’t there, but you could see them as they tore the space they passed. It unnerved me. A lot.

Once the spear was gone, I tried to move but found several spatial spears thrusting out of the ground to impale me, forcing me to move backward, away from my target.

Said target was a man with hair like fire and eyes like coals. He was leaner than most of the men I’d fought so far; leaner, lankier, and looking far less attractive than the average Guddomelig. I’d learned from my peers that this man was from the peasant’s quarters. People who were less attractive had poor breeding, meaning they came from the poorest district and bottom level of Ásgarðr.

Despite his below average appearance, his abilities were above average. At the very least, they were giving me a run for my money.

I had already tried merging with the ground, but my opponent had placed a spatial barrier on the floor that separated it from me. I could not touch it. He’d actually tried wrapping me in it, but barriers like that were flimsy. I broke the barrier, so now he just kept me from being able to activate the Fourth State of Spiritualism with the earth.

But just meant I needed to get more creative.

Sixteen light spears appeared around the man and flew toward him. He erected a barrier. The space around him distorted, the light spears flew in, and then came at me, but I had a perfect understanding of the light element now and just absorbed the Spiritual Power I’d expended to make them. They were just a distraction anyway.

A howl went up when my real attack slipped through the man’s guard--a death spear, a spear made of death energy. Practically invisible, the spear flew into my opponent’s side and cut a thin line through his spatial armor.

That was another thing I’d noticed. All the people on the third floor were able to encase their bodies in a kind of conceptualized armor. It was armor composed of the concept they wielded. Since this was something I still couldn’t do, it meant I was not as protected, but I made up for that by being more ingenuitive with what I could use.

Oh. My opponent’s name was a man called Ritzen Hauld. I didn’t know much about him. Only that he was one victory away from entering the fourth floor.

It was too bad he ran into me.

The moment Ritzen was distracted, I activated the Fourth State of Spiritualism with the light element, used the Flash Step Version 3: Light Step, appeared beside him, and slammed my death energy-infused palms right into his gut. The attack shattered what remained of his armor and sent him sprawling to the ground. I rushed over before he could get up, straddled his chest, and pressed my fist right next to his face.

“Surrender,” I said, breathing heavily through my nose.

Ritzen held the angry look for a second, then sighed. “I give up.”

Loud cheers echoed around the third floor seats. While only people who had earned the right could participate, anyone could watch.

I stood up with a sigh, feeling my shoulders slump as the official declared me the winner, gave my badge back, and congratulated me on another victory. This would make five victories in a row. It would have been seven, but I lost my first two.

Still, I couldn’t complain too much. Five victories meant 1,500 credits.

“You almost fucking lost again,” Tora said as I climbed down from the arena.

Tora was also a third floor arena participant, but she had been doing worse than me. Her understanding of the Concept of Creation was firmer than my understanding of my two concepts. I, however, had the benefit of over several decades worth of constant warfare and struggling just to survive.

Experience usually trumped raw power. Usually.

“But I didn’t,” I said. “And don’t think you can make fun of me. You did lose your last battle.”

“I won’t fucking lose again. Just watch me,” Tora growled as she made her way to the arena platform and spoke with the official. It wasn’t long before she found herself squaring off against an opponent who was about twice her size.

It had been half a month since I’d arrived at Hero Hall, and in that half a month, I’d done nothing but fight, study alchemy, eat, and sleep. It was a routine that served me well, but I felt like I really needed a change. If I kept going at this pace, I was gonna wear myself down.

Kari once told me variety was the spice of life. Lin had joked about how that was why I had several wives, which earned her a smack on the head. Jokes aside, it was true that sticking with one routine for so long was wearing me down.

As I thought about what to do, I remembered that I still hadn’t contacted Fray about the Prismatic Wyrm I had defeated and salvaged. I thought about it and decided that I should visit her tomorrow. There was nothing in the rules that forbade us from leaving academy grounds; I knew Tora had left at least once for one reason or another.

Speaking of, Tora managed to defeat her opponent. It had been by the skin of her teeth. She’d used the Concept of Creation to build an indestructible cage that her opponent couldn’t get through--except he had. She’d been rather shocked when her cage was destroyed. That almost cost her head, but she’d managed to win by creating a powerful paralytic toxin that no strong body could defend against.

It made me realize how dangerous the Concept of Creation was.

“There! How was that? Got any fucking complaints now?” asked Tora as she hopped down from the stage.

“When did I ever complain?” I asked, shrugging. “Anyway, you wanna keep battling?”

“Naww. Too hungry.”

“Then we should get something to eat.”

Having fought seven battles, I was fairly famished myself. The battles on this floor were far harder as well. None of these people were as strong as Durmuz had been, but they were powerful enough that I’d say they could give me a run for my valis.

We left the arena behind and went to the banquet hall. It was a little later in the afternoon than most people usually ate lunch, so there were not as many people present, but that suited me just fine. I had something I wanted to speak with Tora about that I didn’t want others overhearing.

The servant’s who managed the banquet hall prepared a platter of bite sized sandwiches for us. As we sat down at the long tables on the far left, I decided now was the best time.

“I’ve a favor to ask,” I said.

“What’s this?” Tora asked, eyes on me. “A favor? You want me to do something for you?”

I nodded. “I would like you to help me look into Skude’s home life. Fray said she thought there was something suspicious about Klaue and wanted me to investigate, but I haven’t found anything.”

Of course, I haven’t really been trying, but I had asked around. Nobody thought there was anything suspicious. The few people I asked had just looked at me with confusion.

“Huh. So Fray is investigating Klaue,” Tora murmured. “Guess that makes sense. Those two never did like each other. Well, that’s fine. I guess I can ask around for you.”

“That’s great. Thank you.”

“Whatever. Just don’t make a fucking habit of it.”

***

We spoke for about an hour longer during lunch. Tora learned that I was planning to visit Fray to ask if I could have the Less Prismatic Wyrm corpse I salvaged awhile back, so I could sell it to the alchemy store at the academy for spare parts and asked to come with. I didn’t have a reason to say no.

Leaving the academy together, we wandered through the streets of Ásgarðr. I used my memory of the time Chloe showed me the way to reach the palace.

There were many guards around the palace right now, but they all let me through when they realized who I was. I hailed down a passing servant and asked where Fray was. The young woman garbed as a maid led me into a small hanging garden, a little balcony with a wide variety of colorful flowers.

Fray was crouched low as she tended to the garden, snipping off a few leaves with her spatial severing powers. The white dress she wore was folded around her middle. I could see how it conformed to her body through the wrinkles.

“Eryk,” Fray greeted when she noticed my presence. She turned around, smiled at me, and then looked at the woman beside me. “And… Tora, correct? I did not expect you to bring a guest.”

“I’m only here because staying at the academy by myself is fu--I mean, it’s boring,” Tora said, checking herself. Now that was interesting. I had not taken this woman for someone who knew how to watch her tongue in front of others.

“Is that so?” Fray smiled like she had seen right through Tora, which caused the younger woman to blush. “Was there something you needed, Eryk? Or are you just here to visit me?”

“I’m afraid this isn’t a social call. You remember the Lesser Prismatic Wyrm I killed? I’d like to sell the parts I salvaged to Hero Hall’s alchemy store,” I said.

“Ah.” Fray’s eyes lit up a bit. “That is a good idea. A Demon Beast like that will fetch a nice price from the store. I’m guessing you have a place to store it in now?”

“Yes.”

I showed off a small ring on my finger. The runes were currently inactive, but they were still easy to see in the sunlight.

“Very well.” Fray nodded once, then waved her hand, creating a powerful distortion in the air. Space was split. Then several dozen tons worth of scales, blood, organs, teeth, claws, and bones appeared in the air. “Here you are. Everything is still fresh as if it had just been killed.”

“Thank you,” I said, holding out my hand and touching the various parts. The runes on my ring glowed briefly as the parts were stored inside. Once everything had disappeared, I was prepared to leave.

Fray, however, had other plans.

“Must you leave now? Why don’t you two sit down and have some tea with me?”

I really didn’t want to have tea when I had things to do, but I knew it was rude to not drink with my benefactor and aunt. Tora didn’t have any complaints either.

And that was how we had tea with Fray. She asked many questions about Hero Hall, like how our studies were going, what sort of activities we had decided upon, and whether or not we’d had a chance to use the meditation chambers. I didn’t hold back. Since this woman was family, odd as that still sometimes seemed, I felt safe letting her know what I had been up to. Tora also added some commentary, but she was mostly quiet. I had the distinct feeling she was nervous around Fray.

We did run into one issue when Chloe appeared before us while we were having tea.

“Master Eryk,” Chloe said with a graceful smile as she held out the expensive tea kettle to me. “It looks like you have finished your tea. Please let me refill your cup for you.”

“Oh, thank you.”

I held out the cup as the woman refilled it, trying to ignore the odd sensation I felt at Chloe’s smile. It was very different from the normal smiles she gave me.

“I could also use a refill,” Tora said as she held out her cup.

In that moment, as Chloe turned to Tora, I felt a chill run straight down my spine. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Chloe even muttered a gracious “Of course, Lady Tora” as she poured the woman her tea, but I thought I felt a strange energy pass between the two.

“You are an awfully good servant,” Tora said, for some reason emphasizing the word servant as if that was important. “Very refined.”

“Well, I am Master Eryk’s personal servant. That means I have to always be at my best so I can attend to him.” Chloe’s smile widened a fraction, but that just caused strange shadows to appear on her face.

“Is that so?” Tora asked. “Heh heh heh.”

“It is indeed. Hm hm hm.”

As the two began laughing, I felt something like someone had dumped a tub of ice water over my head, or frozen me solid into a block of ice with a powerful Spiritual Water Technique. All the while, Fray just looked at what was happening with a smile.

***

“I think that is the first time I’ve seen you act so demure,” I said as we were leaving the palace.

“Sh-shut the fuck up,” Tora growled, her cheeks red. “Of course I’m not going to act… like I usually do in front of Lady Fray.”

“Lady Fray?” I tilted my head, now curious. “So you, uh, look up to Fray, I take it?”

“It would be more accurate to ask ‘what woman doesn’t look up to her?’” Tora began with a frown. “Lady Fray is what all women aspire to be. Beautiful. Powerful. Refined. A warrior who is feared by her enemies and loved by her people. You clearly don’t know how fortunate you are to be so close to her.”

I did know that Fray was a powerful warrior and leader within Ásgarðr, who controlled her own division of the army known as the Valkyries, but I didn’t know she was that popular among the city’s populace.

We made our way back to Hero Hall, taking several turns into narrower alleys as we traversed the streets. I wanted to avoid larger avenues with a lot of people. Yet as we were making our way back to Hero Hall, I felt a sudden sensation like fingers trailing down my back. It was not the pleasant feeling of a lover’s caress. Someone was watching us.

“We’re being followed,” I said.

“We are?” Tora looked started. She tilted her head, eyes going crossed for a moment. I sensed Spiritual Power emit from her body in waves. “Ah. It seems you are right. There are ten people following us. Fuck. They look like members of the Northern Division.”

The Northern Division, or in other words, members of Klaue’s group. I wondered what they were doing following us. It was true I had humiliated Klaue’s son, and he was not the kind of person to let that go, but I also didn’t think he would be dumb enough to send his men after me like this. Maybe I had overestimated him?

“What kind of technique was that?” I asked.

“I call it Sonar of All Creation,” Tora explained with a pleased smile. “By emitting Spiritual Power infused with creation energy through my skin, I can create a perfect map in my mind of everything in a ten kilometer radius around me. Pretty fucking useful, right?”

“Very useful,” I agreed.

“What should we do about our tail?”

That was a good question, and I didn’t really know how to answer it at first. I wasn’t sure if they were following us to keep an eye on us, or if they were doing so with the intent to harm us when they saw an opportunity. Maybe they had just heard about how we had been at the palace and wanted to know what we were up to?

“Let’s find a remote location where no one will see us,” I said. “I’d like to see what their purpose in following us is. If they’re going to ambush us, they won’t do so in a populated crowd like this.”

“I’ve got just the place. Follow me. We’ll see if those fuckers take the bait,” Tora said.

I followed Tora, who knew Ásgarðr far better than I did. She took a number of streets and alleys, ascended and descended to various levels at will, and eventually arrived in a back alley that was so far off the beaten path not a soul could be seen. This alley was set between towering buildings and had a wall blocking off one side. Walls didn’t mean much to me, but anyone else would have been trapped.

It didn’t take long for the ten people following us to arrive. All of them were cloaked and wore masks, which made me frown. I hadn’t used my wind sonar to get a good look at them. Now that I had, I wondered how Tora realized they were from the Northern Division.

“Well… this is fucking interesting,” Tora muttered. “Looks like they want a fight.”

Almost the moment she said that, five of the ten pulled swords from sheaths within their cloaks and rushed forward. Their weapons became overlayed with powerful fluctuations. I sensed the Concept of Death on their swords. Meanwhile, the ones in the back raised their hands, Spiritual Power surging as they created a spatial lock around Tora and I.

It was a well-coordinated assault. The ones in the back locked us in pace, while the ones charging forward attacked. Most people probably would have been caught off guard by such a strong offensive.

I was not.

When the five guards were within attacking distance, they swung their swords forward, cutting into the bodies of myself and Tora. I was a little surprised they were willing to kill Tyr’s daughter. Maybe they didn’t care about her, or maybe they didn’t want to leave a witness. Whatever the case was, their swords tore through the bodies from shoulder to hip.

And then the bodies turned into water.

“What?!” one of the guards finally broke out in shock.

I appeared behind the guards who had activated the spatial lock, having deemed them the greatest threat. So long as I could move, I could fight, but I couldn’t do anything if I was frozen in space.

Coating my fake arm in death energy, I manipulated the earth element composing it into a jagged spear that I thrust forward. I felt a jolt travel up my arm as my attack didn’t skewer this man’s back but bounced off what felt like a hardened shell. The man spun around, and I ducked to avoid a powerful strike that would have removed my head.

With the cloak he wore torn and tattered, I was able to glimpse the armor underneath. It was covered in a glowing rune array. No doubt this was what had blocked my ability to penetrate his skin.

I quickly analysed what I could of the rune array while I dodged the man’s attacks. Two of my attacks came up on my left, but I shifted against the ground so none of them could strike me without running the risk of striking their allies. Even with this measure in place, some of them still attacked. Their techniques slammed against one of their allies, which caused the runes to flare before going back to normal.

The rune array was made from a combination of the runes Uruz, Thurisaz, Eihwaz, and Algiz. Eighwaz and Algiz were defensive runes, while Uruz and Thurisaz were runes of power. The power runes charged the defense runes, keeping them active and empowering them.

Which meant I just needed to disrupt the power runes.

Disrupting runes was not as easy as it sounded. Also, because the runes themselves blocked Spiritual Techniques, I couldn’t use those to destroy the array. That meant getting creative.

I slipped into the guard of an enemy by replacing myself with a mist clone, which was exactly what it sounded like, then slammed my real hand into the man’s chestplate. My body torqued as I rammed my fist home, putting all the force I could into this attack. My aim was true. The runes on the chest plate ceased functioning when the armor received a crack.

Once my the armor ceased working, I used the Flash Step to appear behind him, created another spear with my fake arm, and thrust. My attack sliced through the man’s back and burst out his chest. He released a strangled gurgle, but that was the only noise he could release as viciously removed my hand-spear from his body with a downward swing that eviscerated him.

One thing I had noticed about using concepts to attack was that most people could only handle one technique at a time. The more complicated the technique, the more concentration it required, the harder it was to use anything else. It took a moment to switch from using a spatial lock to launching an attack, and I could use that moment to my advantage.

I killed one more guard before they could respond. Even though it was not my real hand, I was still able to feel the blood run down it as I slit a man’s throat. My weapon carved a deep furrow in his trachea as I swung it horizontally. The man tried to stem the flow of blood, but I kicked him in the chest. He plowed into one of his comrades and they both went down.

That meant I only had to deal with two of them.

“You’re going to regret that!” one of the men snarled.

I didn’t respond with words as the two released their Spiritual Power and created a thick armor of spatial energy that covered their bodies. This armor would render a lot of attacks ineffective. Tapping my foot against the ground, I channeled Spiritual Power into the stones, and made several spikes just from the floor and impale the two men who’d just gone down. Their screams of anguish caused the two who’d been a second from attacking me to turn their heads a fraction.

That was all the distraction I needed.

In a straight fight, there was no way I could defeat five powerful Spiritualists of the God Race, but I never fought fair when it life and death battles. Distractions. Taunting. Misdirection. I wasn’t above using any dirty trick I had at my disposal.

These cloaked men were the same as the other Guddomelig I had fought in the arena. They were overly arrogant and believed so much in their own superiority that they didn’t stop to think about attacking when we least expected it. Once we went to a remote location, they appeared before us as if challenging us to a duel. Was it honor, pride, or stupidity that made them act so? I wasn’t sure, but I’d be damned if I didn’t take every advantage I could.

Appearing before one of the men, I created my Dragon Tail Ruler from pure death energy. I raised the massive weapon, compressed with so much death energy it had turned black, and swung it down on one of the soldier’s heads. The attack slammed into him with so much force the stone beneath his feet shattered.

Sadly, my opponent was not weak. He raised his hands in a crossguard, blocked the attack, and pushed me back with a shout of effort. Meanwhile, the other spatial user attacked me from behind, unsheathing his sword and creating a severing spatial blade that warped the air around it. I transformed into lightning and tried to travel inside of the guard I’d been attacking, but I unfortunately could not break through his spatial armor.

Reappearing several meters away, I took a quick moment to see how Tora was doing. She didn’t appear to be doing poorly, though I wouldn’t say she was doing well either. Blood ran down a cut on her arm and face. She was favoring her right side. However, she wore a wide grin like she was enjoying the battle. Two of her foes already laid dead.

I could spare her no more time as one of my enemies created a long spiral-shaped spear of spatial energy and threw it at me. This was not an attack I could afford to defend against. I tried to merge into the ground and found my ability blocked. Guess that was a strategy every half decent Spiritualist came up with after my competition against Skude.

Since I couldn’t merge with the earth, I transformed into light, absorbed the power of the sun around me, and used it to not only dodge but create several dozen spears that attempted to skewer my two opponents. My attacks hissed and sizzled as it struck the two, but none of them penetrated that spatial armor.

I think it was at this moment that I realized what the difference was between trained soldiers and those people I fought in the arena. It was true these men were arrogant. At the same time, they had the power to back that arrogance up. I might have surprised them, but once they stopped underestimating me and brought their full power to bear, it took everything I had just to remain alive.

One of the men tried to create a spatial lock around me, but I saw the spatial distortions seconds before it could form and made liberal use of the Flash Step Version 3: Light Step to get out of the way. It wasn’t until the other soldier appeared before me that I realized I’d been led into a trap. The spatial lock had been a distraction!

With no time to dodge, I raised my fake arm as the man came down with his sword. I felt no pain. However, the sword had been coated with a sharp spatial energy that had been compressed to a fine point. It severed my fake arm at the elbow. I was fortunate I’d had the foresight to add an overlay of life energy to my arm. I was able to avoid my torso being cut open. Leaping back, I gained some distance from the two.

“Ha… ha…”

Breathing deeply, I realized this battle had been going on for two long, and I was getting tired. Even though I could absorb light from the sun to maintain full capacity, my body still had limitations. Fighting a two on one battle with trained soldiers that had a greater grasp over the Concept of Space than I had over my concepts put a strain on my body and mind.

I was just wondering what I should do to get myself out of this situation when, to my great surprise, Chloe appeared behind one of the soldiers. She held a powerful looking silver spear in her hand. With a simple thrust, the spear penetrated the soldier’s back, exploded from his front, and severed his spine. She lifted the man into the air like he weighed less than my pillow and tossed him into the other man.

Now was my chance!

I burst forward, channeled death energy into my real hand, and created a thick overlay. The black energy ran rampant, but I compressed it. Then I added more death energy, which I compressed again. Again. Again. Again. The Concept of Death was so thick around my hand that my arm had disappeared entirely, and I even had to create some armor from life energy to avoid decaying my own limb.

Then I thrust my arm forward. My target was the man’s neck.

Despite being knocked off balance, this man was still a trained soldier. He moved enough that my attack struck his arm instead of his head. My hand went through his shoulder, severing the arm, which plopped to the ground in a spray of blood. Trained this man might have been, but a severed arm still hurt. He screamed and gripped his arm as he stumbled back.

And then Chloe killed him with a thrust of her spear. The weapon penetrated his skull and killed him instantly.

We didn’t have time to celebrate. Tora was still fighting three soldiers and losing badly. She had more wounds than before. Cuts ran along her torso. She was bleeding profusely from a wound in her left thigh. I think the only reason she hadn’t been killed yet was because she’d managed to create armor from the Concept of Creation, which was more powerful than the Concept of Death, but her armor was still flimsy and incomplete, and their understanding was also greater than hers.

Chloe and I shared a glance, and then raced forward to help Tora finish off her three attackers.