Chương 43: Chapter 142: Saintly Duelling

"Now, you've both done this before at the academy," Serena said, standing between Amelia and Hinako.

"We don't have the privilege of reinforced walls and ceilings, so keep attacks angled low and reduce the power more than usual. See the restrictions as an extra challenge. Keep it first-circle, and look for clean hits."

"Yes, Captain," Hinako said, not moving her eyes from Amelia. The demon kept tightening her fists and relaxing them, a habit Amelia had learned betrayed the demon's nervousness. Hinako was on the balls of her feet, a nervous energy exuding from her body, ready to dive in either direction from a sudden ball of ice thrown her way.

"Got it!" Amelia affirmed. She flicked her vision into the Shimmer and was treated with the magnificent sight of vibrant aether cycling through and out of Hinako's body. It was as if the demon was her own little lumina storm, localised entirely to another layer of reality. But, as beautiful as it was… Amelia blinked, returning her vision to normal. Access to the Shimmer gave her such an advantage over Hinako that it wasn't fair. Not that it was fair anyway.

To provide meaningful training to her friend, Amelia had to put quite a lot of effort into subduing her speed and the quantity of aether she put into spells. Any Speaker training a second-circle mage would need to do the same, but for Amelia's shard-enhanced existence, she had to be extra careful.

After all, it wouldn't help Hinako if, a few microseconds after the start of each round, she was bombarded by a barrage of ice balls that would require a hundred first-circle mages to replicate, and another hundred to defend against. I'll match her tempo, Amelia thought. A spell for a spell, an attack for an attack.

"To the rest of you…" Serena eyed the remainder of the squad. Mel was the furthest away, quietly continuing to refine her orange aura. The twins watched eagerly alongside Finella, who kept glancing at Noburu. The mistwalker, along with Seonmi, was positioned behind Daichi. They were protected by the third-circle mage in case of any out-of-control spellwork heading their way.

"Keep your aura or protection active," Serena instructed, receiving a litany of affirmations back. Serena stepped to the side, manifesting her own perfect shade of orange. She raised a hand and asked, "Ready?" Amelia inhaled, cancelling numerous wards that boosted her aether regeneration and power. With all her enhancements active, it was risky to engage in a fast-paced duel where a slip of an overpowered enhanced-cast from her would level more than a few buildings.

By keeping only her wards that boosted her perception and control, she felt comfortable enough to partake. I've really come a long way, haven't I? Amelia thought. I used to be so scared of losing control and causing devastation. But after Ascelpius and Suijin, I feel much more in control.

"Begin!" Amelia twisted her aether, activated a formation that manifested a perfectly round ice sphere and launched it at Hinako. The second-circle mage was already diving to the side, curling the floor into a makeshift earthen shield. The ball obliterated the defence, but Hinako was already on the move, twisting her aether and casting her own spell. A sandstorm swept into the makeshift arena, pelting Amelia with magical winds that sought to throw sand into every nook and cranny.

She could have countered it with a wind spell, but she was roleplaying as Lia Liona, an ice mage. Her wards stopped the sand from entering her eyes, but they didn't solve her problem of not being able to actually see Hinako. It was simply easier to keep her eyes closed and avoid the hassle. The turbulent fieldspell twisted and boiled the aetherfield around her. The aether-propulsed waves of sand sought to confuse not just her sight, but her magical perception as well.

An alarm in the back of Amelia's mind flashed as there was a sudden concentration, a twisting of something akin to space-time as the aetherfield was pulled into a magical focality. Amelia ducked, leaping to the side to avoid the earthen spike that hoped to slam into her and win the round. She launched a few more ice balls, taking great effort in manifesting them high and aiming them down towards where Hinako's aether signature was, ensuring they wouldn't fly off and damage the surroundings.

Amelia instinctively modified the formation inside of her, manifesting each ball as a soft-ice that shattered like a snowball upon hitting the floor, lest one accidentally bounce somewhere it shouldn't. This polite conversation of sharp, earthy hellos and cold, icy thank yous continued under the supernatural weather of the sandstorm until Hinako changed tactics. The demon started to bring the earth and stone near Amelia's feet to life, birthing a spear-like structure that targeted her body.

It was a common duelling tactic used by mages like Hinako who were predisposed to Salinas' earth magic. By saturating the atmosphere with a turbulent fieldspell, it served to hide the aether signature of the floor spikes. Amelia had seen Hinako use it successfully against many opponents during the academy sessions. Unfortunately for the up-and-coming duellist, Amelia wasn't a normal opponent.

It was, perhaps, a little unfair how easy it was for Amelia's mind, so aligned with the aetherfield as it was, to differentiate between the noise of the sandstorm and the sudden spike in activity that precipitated an incoming earthen spear. In fact, it was rather fun to manifest a little Marzanna ward each time a few inches above where the spear would manifest. It made a satisfying high-pitched ping when it shattered against the ward. Let's end it the same way, Amelia thought.

She manifested a blizzard, intentionally misaligning some of the spells' sub-formations so that it leaked concentrations of distracting aether around Hinako's location. She kept it from being too cold, while massively boosting the formation of ice-crystals, creating a dense sheet of snow that would blind Hinako far more than any sandstorm. And then, when the demon's aether signature seemed unsure of what to do, Amelia took advantage of the dozens of shattered ice balls that blanketed the ground around her.

She activated a spell, manifesting the lingering fragments into a spike that hit Hinako's core from a shallow angle.

"Break!" Serena shouted, punctuating the order with a blow from her whistle. The sandstorm and accompanying blizzard died down. Hinako stood there, her hair a sand-covered and icy mess, breathing heavy.

"That blizzard," the demon began, "it was… it was…"

"Terrible, right?" Amelia replied with a grin. She shook her hair, dispatching an amount of snow and sand that could be used to make some kind of desert snowman. She patted down her clothes and said to Hinako, "When the formation is constructed as poorly as I did, it really screws up the aetherfield, doesn't it? Although it takes ten times more aether than usual. I suppose I used more than a first-circle ice mage would, right?"

"Right," Serena echoed, "but her debut match will be limited to first-circle. She may find herself against an opponent like herself, who is capable of higher circle magic, who can do something similar." Serena turned to Hinako, saying, "It's an excellent duelling technique, and a good tactic against Miss Liona. Keep in mind, Officer Aikawa, that rarely on the battlefield will you find yourself able to do the same.

An experienced mage or warrior would immediately move away from a place so saturated with atmospheric aether that it disrupted their senses. Unlike in an arena, where the opponent has to stay within the confines, the battlefield is far more fluid."

"Yes, Captain," Hinako said.

"Thank you."

"One minute," Serena said.

"Consider your next moves for the upcoming round." Amelia collected her aether while the allotted time passed. It was customary in duelling arenas to wait a nominal sixty seconds between rounds to let the atmospheric aether disperse, or at the very least, even out. She took the time to play with her spell formations within her body, arranging first-circle Marzanna spells in all kinds of interesting ways that may surprise Hinako.

The entire system and structure of formations had fascinated Amelia when she formally learned about it at the academy. So much was already understood, with sections of spells isolated into groups of subformations that were individually taught in a structured environment backed by rigorous mathematical modelling. Yet, despite all that, there was a supernatural aspect to spell-casting beyond just aether. And that was what academics called the Will of the Gods.

If demonkind knew about the exact makeup and formation of the coveted divine healing spells of Aseco, Amelia hadn't seen them in any books. Neither had she been asked to demonstrate it to Intelligence in any capacity, so she assumed they had already possessed the information from elsewhere. She did know Cascadia knew a lot about the other branch of human healing— Rula. She'd found books in the academy library that rather methodically detailed the exact arrangement of one of Rula's healing formations.

The information there would enable a demon to structure a spell in the exact manner needed to cast a simple healing spell. Yet, it would never activate. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Fourth, fifth, and sixth-circle spells could only be activated with divine aether, an entirely different category of aether that was a magnitude more pure and dense than the common atmospheric aether present everywhere.

The communion of a Speaker meant they swapped out—often explosively—their normal aether with aether supplied from the realms of the gods. The accepted theory on why a demon couldn't activate healing spells was that even first-circle formations required a tiny amount of divine aether supplied by that branch's god to work. In a way, casting a healing spell by declaring the spell's name was similar to Speaking a First-Word, except that, in this case, it would be Speaking a spell's name.

If she looked at it from that perspective, then whether it was a first-circle spell, a First-Word, or even a Second-Word or beyond, it was all differing levels of communion. The deeper the communion, the more willpower and strength were needed from the aether user to withstand the divine connection. Now she thought about it more, she'd recently relied on her own skill and aetheric control to Speak Aseco mentally, without vocalising the Word out loud.

A competent second-circle mage like Hinako could mentally invoke most of the first-circle formations, but she had to vocalise the name of second-circle spellwork. Daichi could mentally invoke second-circle Salinas spells, but had to speak out loud the third-circle ones. Now Amelia realised it was the same pattern as Speaking Words. The same mastery over the communion, only at differing magnitudes. Should I start thinking of spells as just tiny Words, then? Amelia thought.

"Get ready," Serena said. But then why can I use both demon and human magic so easily? If spellwork required sufficient communion with the gods in question, why had both sides so readily accepted her? Of course, there was no doubt that all the gods had recognised how tremendously adorable and titanically cute she was, but Amelia wasn't so foolish as not to know that some gods were reluctant to accept her completely. Asclepius, for example, very much inappropriately decided to protest to the Eastern Overlord!

She thought back to the Passage, where she'd dug deep within her and called upon her instinctive powers to order the arcwhale back home. While she'd vocalised her request out of instinct, it was the divine aether that backed her intention that so forcefully imposed her will on the rampaging animal. Just like when she'd given Narean a good tongue-lashing when he'd taken over Serena.

Both had been exhilarating, powerful sensations that Amelia hadn't had time to ruminate on as the events of the Passage had distracted her. I'm… I'm… Amelia felt herself swallow. I'm generating and supplying my own divine aether, aren't I? As that thought came to mind, she felt like another piece of the puzzle had fallen into place. When I cast Divine Healing of Aseco, I'm really casting Divine Healing of… of me, of Amelia.

It just so happens I'm structuring my healing spell the same as Aseco does, because I'm sort of, a little bit, copying it.

"Begin!" This was the power of her shard, wasn't it? Something impacted Amelia's chest, throwing her backside onto the floor of wet sand. She didn't mind losing a round against Hinako. Her mind was racing, coming to another conclusion that she'd known to be true deep down, but now seemed easy to admit. The shard that had bonded with her was part of the shattered soul of a god. Why else would Amelia be able to generate divine aether?

"Break!" But this divine aether of mine… is mine, Amelia realised. She wasn't borrowing, stealing, or otherwise being provided divine aether from someone or something else. Her powers might be rooted in her shard, but the shard was part of her. It was her, just as much as her arms and legs were. If a meat-eating bodybuilder developed a muscular body, would someone argue that their muscles weren't a part of them because they were built from the protein of other animals? No, of course not.

"You spaced out," Serena said, appearing in Amelia's vision.

"Something wrong?"

"I realised something," Amelia said.

"I mean, I had an epiphany. Or two."

"Oh?" Serena raised an eyebrow.

"Mmm," Amelia hummed.

"Good ones. I'll tell you about it later."

"Do you…" Serena reached out a hand. Amelia took it and was hoisted up.

"Do you need time for some more epiphanies, or are you ready for the third round? You're currently tied for the win." Amelia rolled her eyes.

"I'm ready." Even as she said it, her mind remained distracted. Questions kept popping up, framing mysteries that revealed themselves even as prior ones were answered. If the divine aether generated by the gods allowed them to cast any spell, then why were they associated with specific branches? Why did Suijin's branch lack formations with similar effects to Igni's? Was it just personal preference, or something else?

Serena might know, Amelia thought, making a mental note to ask her girlfriend when they were alone later. For now, focus, Amelia! She forced herself to settle her mind. Hinako was poised; her nervous energy was still there, but now it was backed by a triumphant disposition that exuded confidence.

"Having fun?" Amelia teased.

"It's not like I'm duelling a saint," Hinako said flatly.

"How long were you going to hide it from us?" The demon's hand-squeezing had increased in tempo.

"I didn't believe it when Mel told us!"

"I didn't hide it," Amelia protested.

"I would have told you the truth if you asked!"

"Who in the Seven Hells goes around asking people if they're living saints?" Hinako cried, incredulity pouring from her.

"We need to have a discussion about what constitutes a normal topic of conversation because evidently you—""Begin!" Serena shouted, letting her hand fall. The aetherfield churned with glee as Hinako's formation activated. Dozens of thin, rectangular pillars sprouted around Amelia, forming concentric circles. Each one was six feet high and an inch thick. They served both as light defensive structures that the demon could shelter behind and as a way to obscure Amelia's line of sight.

Amelia launched an ice ball, shattering the pillar that Hinako's aether signature was hiding behind. The demon was already moving, darting behind another one and launching her own attacks back. While Amelia's wards dealt with that, she began to experiment. She formed another ice ball, but instead of perfectly constructing the formation, she allowed one of the substructures to twist into something unusual.

Normally, the spell would fail to activate from such a mistake, but she forced it by sheer willpower to work and observed the result. One iceball compressed itself into the size of a marble before exploding upon impact with one of the earthen pillars. It might have made for an effective fragmentation attack if it hadn't turned into mist. Amelia mutated a different subformation and created a ball of ice that flowed around the pillar like liquid, before falling to the floor, where it began to bubble.

The third attempt created a normal-looking ice ball, but this one had a mind of its own, randomly deviating from its flung path as if it had somewhere else to be. Amelia continued launching these wild balls, trying to control the randomness, but had little success. It did, however, work wonderfully to confuse Hinako.

First-circle magic didn't possess homing spells, so the demon was surprised when one of Amelia's attacks missed her by a wide margin before suddenly reversing its velocity and slamming into Hinako's back.

"Break!" Serena shouted. The earthen pillars melted back into the ground, revealing a dumbfounded Hinako, who asked, "You were mutating the formation, weren't you?" Seeing Amelia nod, the demon shook her head and continued, "You're so lucky. Do you know how rare it is for a mutated formation to not only manifest an attack worthy of scoring a point, but to actually hit the opponent? I can count on one hand the number of times it's happened in duelling history!"

"Luck is my middle name," Amelia chirped, giving everyone a luck-induced spin.

"You should see me play cards!"

"Don't I know it," Finella mumbled from the side.

"Or dice," Amelia added.

"Don't I know it," Mel muttered. The demon had finished her refinement and been observing the duel.

"In combat," Serena explained, ignoring the comments, "mutated or otherwise problematic formations are a common occurrence, especially when inexperienced mages fall under their first artillery bombardment. A warrior practices their strikes thousands of times so when they're under stress, they can move instinctively. It's no different for mages. Remember that."

"Aye, aye, Captain!" came the chorus of replies.

"Now then," Serena continued.

"It's time to share the information about Noburu's blessing." While Finella perked up like a peeka that had seen a mouse carrying a bundle of peekaleaf, Serena gestured for Noburu to step into the centre.

"Since it seems we cannot go a day in Ishaq without causing chaos, we might as well get this over with sooner rather than later." Once Noburu was in position, Serena said to everyone, "Noburu's blessing, and his agreement to help Miss Liona emulate its effects, is the primary reason he was placed amongst the Vengeance's cohort." While Finella looked like she was quite literally going to explode in anticipation, Serena merely sighed and said to Noburu, "It would be simpler to show them first.

In your own time, Sailor."

"Yes," Noburu said.

"Yes, Captain." He took a deep breath and frowned, his face contorted into an expression of deep focus. His eyes were distant, as if trying to recall a faded memory. Then, a subtle disturbance manifested in the aetherfield, as if a magical bell was rung. A loud snap sounded. The smell of burnt toast tickled Amelia's nose. And Noburu disappeared.

"Fuck!" Finella cried, jumping forward.

"He can turn invisible!?" The Northerner took another step.

"That's not possible, is it? I've never heard of a blessing like that! Is he here?" The demon put her arms out, as if she were stumbling blind.

"Where is he?" She reached the spot Noburu was at, but found no purchase with her hands.

"He's moved!" she exclaimed.

"Find him!" She was joined by Arin and Ido, who jumped into the fray and joined Finella in acting like blind drunks. It only took a few seconds before Arin shouted, "I got him!" The demon wrapped her arms around an invisible figure.

"He's here!" she shouted, only for Finella to dart over and start prodding and poking the 'invisible' Noburu.

"I can't believe it," Finella said.

"There's no light distortion. I can't even sense it in the aetherfield. How is it—ah!" She jumped as Noburu reappeared, letting out his held breath.

"That's so… so…" The demon struggled to find her words, instead continuing to poke Noburu as if he were a piñata filled with secrets.

"Officer Bright…" Noburu said quietly, trying his best to defend against Finella's aura-enhanced prodding.

"There's no need…"

"It's not invisibility," Serena said.

"It's not?" Finella backed away, looking between the pair.

"I don't understand, Captain."

"Noburu's blessing allows him to leave this plane of reality and step into the Shimmer." Finella was quiet for a few seconds before her mouth opened wordlessly. She kept closing and opening it, doing a decent impression of a waterborne fish. Then, with a mighty exclamation, she shouted, "He can do what!?"