Chapter 33

“At its most basic, a battle of magic is like a children’s game. Each side lays out their cards, one by one, trying to secure victory before the other can find some advantage. Sometimes this can mean a battle does not need to be fought for the results to be predicted. Other times, it means the exact opposite.”

—Chaos in Action, Fal’Vaelith

Letting himself settle back on the floor again, Sylvas took his time going through the words of the teleportation spell instead of rushing it like he had to most of the time. It had a slightly melodic quality that he liked. For a moment, everything was dark, and then he was in the stands beside Kaya, who promptly fell out of her seat in surprise. “Stanzbuhr! You can’t be doing that to a hungover woman.”

“Sorry Kaya.” He said, trying not to smirk. Mira’s calculations hadn’t just been perfect, they had placed him perfectly in the right place to have exactly this effect. It seemed that there was still some of the old mischievous nature to his Paradigm.

Just keeping everyone on their toes, darling.

His slate began chirping for only a moment before Mira silenced it, and he made his way down through the crowd. The number of contenders left could be counted on a single hand at this point so all eyes were on him as he descended. Among them were the people he’d beaten, the people who’d been beaten by the people he’d beaten, and the dregs who’d been eliminated without even coming close. Most of them were still in their first year on the planet, just like Sylvas and Kaya, but unlike them they had yet to excel. Those of them on the naval track seemed to have some unspoken advantage, but that may just have been the navy poaching all the best candidates for their considerably more intensive needs.

Regardless, some of them looked like they were on the verge of cheering as he went down to face his next opponent and others looked like they were hoping against the odds that he’d fail and fall flat on his face. That gave him more drive than any amount of applause ever could. He’d spent his whole life proving the doubters wrong, and he wasn’t about to stop now.

Stepping out into the arena for his last match before the final probably should have filled Sylvas with some trepidation, but between Mira managing everything down to the nearest second and his newly empowered body he felt like he could take on the world. Which was why stepping out and seeing Bael standing across the sand from him took the wind out of his sails so hard. “Bael?”

“You’re surprised by my presence?” The elf was speaking in his normal tone of voice, but he must have cast some sort of communication spell that was letting them hear each other so clearly over the distance. “You do recall that I was among the best of the students of the Blackhall before your arrival. Surely it cannot be a complete shock that I have progressed well in the competition.”

“I didn’t—”

“You forgot about me.” Bael cut him off before he could make any excuses. “I was helping you to progress while downplaying my own part in the competition on purpose, it wasn’t a failing of care on your part but a successful manipulation on mine.”

Sylvas began closing the distance between them at a slow walk. Still acclimatizing to his new body. “Because you didn’t want me to formulate a plan to deal with you?”

Bael nodded slightly. “Because I didn’t want you to think too hard about what I’m capable of, or how I managed to ascend to such lofty heights in the rankings without the crutch of Vel and Hammerheart.”

“I know what you’re capable of.” Sylvas was trying to convince himself as much as the elf. “You’re part of my team.”

“And I have been squandering my potential to maintain a low profile.” Bael stopped in his progress across the sand, at almost exactly the line that would indicate ‘medium range’ in their textbooks. “Tell me Sylvas, do you even know what my affinity is?”

Sylvas opened and closed his mouth. Stunned by the realization that he didn’t. He started to sift through his memories for any hint.

We have nothing.

There was an odd pang that felt like betrayal in Sylvas gut as he realized just how much he shared with the elf and how little he’d received back. Even that most basic of information that a simple scrying spell could tell him. “What is your affinity?”

“The most important element in all of creation,” the elf allowed a faint smile to appear on his face. “Magic.”

The spell that Bael had been holding at bay was unleashed, and it stopped Sylvas in his tracks, not because of its power but because of its beauty. To his second sight, the spell forms that had been woven looked like a tapestry, interweaving all the different colors of mana. To his eyes, the shapes of the magic blooming out from Bael were like a fractal, expanding and changing as they grew. It spread and spread out behind the elf until it dominated the whole arena, stopping only as it touched the dome. 

It hung there for a moment, as vast and beautiful as the cosmos, then as swiftly as it had unfolded, it wrapped back in, collapsing down like a tumbling house of cards, folding back into its point of origin. It vanished behind Bael and he remained, stock still and unchanged. At least to Sylvas’ regular vision. His second sight told a very different story. He had cast spells of enhancement on himself before his new embodiment, to keep up with his peers, but he had never seen a spell meant to enhance not the body, but the magic. In spite of the expenditure he’d just made, his core was shining like a star now.

Whatever he planned to do with all that power, Sylvas had no intention of finding out. Without any further preamble, he launched himself into the air and began casting. At first he felt certain that he was going to be interrupted, surely Bael wouldn’t have boosted his power so much if he didn’t intend to use it, but even as he cast Inversion on the elf, nothing was forthcoming.

Bael just stood there. Gravity around him had just been inverted so that up was down, and he didn’t budge. Once more, Sylvas was surprised enough to falter. Second sight came to his rescue again. His spell had failed. A spell hadn’t failed on him since he was a child. He couldn’t understand what had happened. He switched tactics, casting a Gravity Spike at the elf, keeping watch with his second sight as he cast so he could watch all of the spell-forms sliding together. Then once again it all fell apart at the moment of completion. And drifting in amongst the words he’d spoken and the mana he’d unleashed, he made out the shimmer of Bael’s own magic.

“You’re countering my spells?” He didn’t mean to blurt it out, but the surprise was real.

Bael began walking forward once more. “Every spell that you can cast, I have observed. Every use you have conceived of for them, I have understood. As you grew and cast your great shadow over us all, I took shelter in it and watched each branch that you extended, knowing just where I would prune them when the time came.”

Sylvas tried again, not casting a full spell, but snapping off a fragment of his psyche to hold it. That worked just fine, burying the spell forms in his mind kept them out of Bael’s reach. He plucked it out, cast the Spike to completion and it fizzled away again.

The elf actually tutted. “I’ve seen that trick too many times for it to work.”

Sylvas flew down to hover in front of Bael. “So there isn’t a single spell that I can cast that you can’t counter?”

“Unless you have expanded your repertoire considerably,” He waved his hand as if dismissing a minor annoyance. “And yes, I’m aware of the alternative mana sources and your ability to cast from other affinities, but you have been studying those spells on your slate, which I’ve also accessing.”

“So this was the long con?” Sylvas couldn’t help but smile at the duplicity of it.

“Some of us are born with great power, others need to exercise their intellect to succeed.” Bael said it as though he were quoting someone, but Sylvas suspected they were his own words.

“I think that there may have been one or two things that you overlooked.” Sylvas drifted down lower.

“Nothing has escaped my notice. I need cast only a single spell, counter any defense you can muster and you are done. This contest is already over, I shall accept your concession as and when you are ready to give it.”

The orbitals buzzed up out of Sylvas bag and formed their own little halo behind him. Bael looked up at the little spheres of metal and a small grimace appeared on his face. “Ah. Yes those. I was hoping they’d have been broken by now.”

Doing his best impression of Bael’s condescending tone, Sylvas gave him a chance. “Do you wish to concede?”

Bael eyed the orbitals, the speed at which they spun around, did his calculations, then held up his hands. “I do. Pain for a purpose is…acceptable, but considering the variables and risk…”

“This was a very civilized fight.” Sylvas settled to the sand and held out his hand for Bael to shake, which he did, with surprisingly little reluctance.

“If only all wars could be fought like this.” Bael replied with a smile. “Not a drop of blood spilled.”

Sylvas pulled him in a little closer. “I’m going to need you to show me how you countered my spells.”

“So I cannot do it again?” Bael’s expressionless face seemed even more blank than normal.

Sylvas grinned at him. “So I can do it to other people.”

“Then I suppose I shall have to muster some other advantage over you for next time we clash.”

With an enthusiasm that surprised him, Sylvas answered. “I can’t wait.”

There was a break after that final match for the final two contestants of the Grayhall to duke it out before they moved on to the final, which would be a three-way clash between the winners. Sylvas, Malachai and whoever proved the best in the current match.

The silvery scaled lizard woman with the ice affinity was off to a quick start, skating across the arena on a shimmering path of her own ice, running circles around the elf she was up against. The other mage had a life affinity, with some focus on plants from the look of things, but while it had held up well throughout his previous bouts, it was pretty clear how this one was going to go. He sent entangling vines out to snatch the najash off her feet, but she was ready, casting her next spell into them. There was sap running through those living vines all the way back to their caster in his armor of wood, and the ice chased up those veins all the way to the heart. Before it had even begun, the fight was over.

There was a smattering of applause from the section where the Grayhall recruits were seated but even to Sylvas it felt half-hearted. Everyone was tired of the preamble by now, they wanted something more, they wanted something interesting. Looking across the dome, he could see Malachai staring back at him. 

They wanted the main event.