'Isn't that Rowan Zyne? Heir to the Zyne family? He looks nothing like his father.'
'If you can even call him an heir. After all, some claim-'
'What do you mean? Are you saying he is a-'
'Oh? Haven't you heard the rumors-'
'His father. They say that he is actually-'
'I guess Mistress Zyne was lonely and-'
'Serves Charles right. He isn't any better. You know that he-'
The Zyne family was not one of the five Branch families. Instead, it was a much smaller house that had once served under the Helios branch. Today, they still worked for that family, but House Zyne had lost most of its respect, and there were even talks of stripping it of its noble status.
This was all due to one man. Charles Zyne had made the biggest mistake of his life, and his actions had nearly cost him everything.
Rowan saw it. His father's face peered down at him. His father, Charles, always had the same look on his face. Disgust. Disgust in his 'son'.
Memories flashed through Rowan, over and over, stuck on loop. He recalled every slap, every jab, and every cruel word that his father threw his way. It all contrasted with another memory. A recent memory.
The memory of his father giving him a brand new set of armor and a sword. Rowan was thrilled to receive it. It was the first gift his dad had ever given him, and for the first time in his life, he felt a sense of pride. His dad would always treat him as if he didn't exist, but now that he had come of age, it was as if a switch had been flipped. Charles wanted him to become a Knight. His father wanted him to join him. His father had given him this expensive gear all in an effort to help his son.
For the first time in his life, Rowan Zyne felt love.
Yet, Davi Hawker was going to take it all away. Davi Hawker was going to beat him. Davi Hawker. A nobody. A commoner. Scum. Rowan felt pure and utter hate. The exact same hate his father always felt for him, and so when he saw his chance, he pounced. He didn't think; he just screamed and stabbed forward with his broken sword, jamming it right between Davi's ribs.
The blow would have been fatal; however, Davi possessed the trait Danger Sense, which detected the bloodlust that was directed at him. This allowed him to curve his body just in time as the sword rammed into him. The twist in his posture made it so the blade avoided any vital spots, and he crashed to the ground with Rowan on top of him.
Screaming rang out in the arena, and the rain kept pouring down, turning the sand into a muddy mess that made both men slip and lose their footing even further. Rowan was entirely on top of Davi now, his eyes glaring down into the scarred man's own.
"You think you're better than me because you can get past my water magic?" Rowan demanded.
"When did I ever make fun of your water magic?" Davi grunted out.
"Don't lie! I've seen the way you look at me!" Rowan screamed out. "You're disappointed in me, aren't you? Because I have water magic!"
"What?" Davi winced as the sword in his side twisted. "I am very lost right now."
"It's not my fault, Dad!"
"Very, very lost."
A red bolt of blood launched toward Rowan, but the man quickly muttered a spell and put up a barrier of water. The rain swirled together and formed a single, massive bubble that both he and Davi rested in. The blood bolt bounced off of it, along with a few other spells, as a couple of people tried to break up the fight, since this was no longer a duel.
Olivia winced when she saw her attack had no effect. "Can someone break—"
Ken was already at the bubble, and she rammed her fist forward as hard as she could. A burst of intense mana exploded out of her knuckles, and rapid cracks formed along the barrier. It collapsed in an instant, and her hand kept going forward, slamming directly into Rowan's face. His nose exploded into a sea of blood, and he was picked up off the ground and sent rolling across the muddy field.
Everyone stood on the sidelines, stunned for a moment. "Holy cow, did she just break through a mana barrier with her bare hands?" Someone questioned.
Ken folded her arms and let out a sigh. "Yo, scar face, you still alive?" Davi managed to get to a knee and nodded. Ken let out a sigh of relief and nodded. "Duel's over, I'm dealing with this bastard now—"
"No." Davi threw his arm out in front of Ken and stopped her from stepping forward. "The duel isn't over."
"Like hell it isn't!" Ken shot him a nasty look. "It was first blood. You already drew it. That last attack was aimed at killing you or seriously harming you. It went well past a duel."
Davi shook his head. "We never actually agreed that the duel would be to first blood." He looked toward Rowan, who was trying to stand up, but the man was clearly out of it after the strike he took from Ken. "I've changed my mind. I want it to be the last one standing wins." Davi tore the broken weapon out of his side and tossed it over to Rowan, much to Ken and the other people in the crowd's shock.
"Davi!" Olivia shook her head. "You can't just change the rules to a duel!"
"I just did." Davi shrugged, then winced again because of the pain in his side. "Deal with it."
"Bro, are you mad he stabbed you and just want to beat his ass?" Bruno asked, giving Davi a suspicious look.
"...Maybe." Davi sounded almost sheepish.
"Classy." Ash shook his head.
Davi turned back to Rowan, who had finally picked up his blade. "You cool with keeping this match going?" He asked, pointing his on-loan sword toward the noble.
Rowan gave Davi a look of pure rage once more and was ready to go, but Ken got in the way of both men. "No," Ken said, shaking her head. "I'm not just going to sit by and let this happen—"
"Vil Thread Plushie."
Ken suddenly felt something smash into her back, and the next thing she knew, she was flat on her stomach. Everyone, even Davi and Rowan, was totally caught off guard, as a large five-foot-tall stuffed teddy bear sat on Ken's back. It had bright pink fur, and its arms were crossed. The red-haired girl let out a hiss and tried to stand up, but the plushie was shockingly heavy, straining her back. The thing was even heavier than an actual bear.
"What the hell! Get this thing off of me."
"After the fight." A voice sighed out. Ken glared up and found herself looking at the blonde woman who had climbed out of Davi's vault earlier. Her arms were folded, and she seemed mostly bored. "They're both grown men; if they want to keep beating each other senseless, then they can. Just sit by and watch the show. That goes for the rest of you. Any of you try to get involved in the fight, and I'll personally have you become one of my plushies' chairs."
Olivia frowned and really wanted to object, but she knew there wouldn't be a point. Davi had already made up his mind, and whoever this strange woman was, her spell was able to instantly take Ken Yuan out, who was probably the strongest person in the arena, so it wasn't like she could do anything anyway.
Around them, several people readied barriers of various magic types, steadying themselves for the second bout.
Davi turned back to Rowan. "Now that that's been settled, where were we?" A bullet of water launched through the rain, and Davi felt a wave of pain as his shoulder was pierced. Rowan wasted no time, restarting the fight in an instant. Davi winced as the pain hit him, and he swung his sword up just in time to block the next bullet that came his way. "Row Shadow Robes."
The outfit twisted and jutted out of the dark floor, attempting to bind around Rowan's legs once more, but the nobleman was ready for it and placed mana into his legs, allowing him to jump back, avoiding the trap. As he did, he slashed his sword out again, sending a large vertical wave out. "Row Water Tendril!"
The tendril appeared in the air, the droplets of water forming into the shape of a long tentacle that swiped down at Davi. The black-haired swordsman was fast, though, and he side-stepped it, the tentacle missing. That didn't matter to Rowan, though, because he had another reason for creating the large object, one that only Ash realized.
Rowan pointed his shattered sword in Davi's direction and used his second-best spell. "Row Water Slicer!" He announced. The blade formed in front of him, but it also formed directly behind Davi, coming from the tendril. Dual-casting. Both attacks launched at the same time, and with how wide they were, Davi wouldn't be able to dodge them, nor would he be able to cut through both, leaving him with only one option. He would either have to go up or down, and Rowan already knew which way Davi was going to go.
"Row Shadow Vault—"
"Vil Water Ignite!" Rowan yelled, lifting his sword to the sky.
Several people in the arena screamed out in pain as every bit of water within a thirty-meter radius suddenly exploded in a wave of brilliant light. It sparkled and shone, and it was as if the sun itself had taken root on the planet. Even if one were to close their eyes, they'd still see the mass of light that poured out in every direction, and all the shadows were wiped away, leaving no pit of darkness for the vault to open up into.
This spell was of the Vil level, and thus it took a considerable chunk of mana, sweat already pouring down Rowan's face just from using it. He didn't stop, though, and forced the lights to stay on, everything being turned a nasty white color as he watched in glee as Davi's escape attempt failed. The blades closed in, about to tear Davi in two, who was now a shadow mage without a shadow.
After the last match with Davi, Rowan had managed to resolve the issue with his bank, and he had bought this spell just in case. It was his trump card, though he had wanted to avoid using it, since Vil-level magic took a serious toll on the body. He had also bought one more spell just in case, which would be his final gambit in case this plan failed.
Davi felt himself enter a crouching position as he tried to enter his vault, but the sudden blast of light made that impossible. It was like fighting Tori all over again. Without the ability to use his vault, he instead thought fast, and he punched the ground as hard as he possibly could. The muddy sand absorbed his blow and resisted the effect, so he moved to plan C and rammed the sword into the ground and twisted himself up onto the handle, using it to vault up into the air just in time for the slashes to reach him.
Davi managed to get above them, and the sword was stabbed into the ground below the slashes, so they missed both him and his weapon; the two attacks met in the middle and canceled each other out.
Davi landed on the ground and tore the sword out of the sand and took off running toward Rowan, who was shocked that he managed to dodge it. Rowan stabbed his sword out again and screamed. "Row Water Arrow!" The attack was launched toward Davi, but he blocked it with the sword. The second one still came at him fast from behind, the tendril launching it out, and that one did hit him, jamming into his shoulder, but that barely slowed Davi down.
Davi smacked the ground as hard as he could, getting his sword coated in clumps of sand, and when he swung his blade again, the sand clumps were sent flying off the sword and hurled in the air, smacking directly into Rowan's eyes. The noble howled in pain as the sand burned and tried to rub it away.
Usually, hitting him with an attack like that would have been impossible since Rowan kept his water skin spell on during combat; however, because he was maintaining both a Vil-tier spell and a Row-tier construct, as well as using dual-casting, his Core was too strained to maintain his proper defense, something Davi had easily noticed and saw through.
Rowan got the clumps of sand out of his eyes and glared toward Davi, only to see that the man was no longer in front of him. Rowan looked up just in time to see Davi falling toward him from the sky, the man's blade raised above his head once more in order to cut the sky. Rowan knew that if he were to launch his cutter spell, the first one would be sliced in two before it could hit Davi, and the second one wouldn't make it to the raven-haired man before he landed and got a hit off. A hit that would likely take Rowan out of the match.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Rowan as he watched Davi fall toward him, and for a moment, just like earlier, he saw it. A flicker of his father. A flicker of a man who hated him. A man who had been born with gem magic, a gorgeous type. Not water magic…
"For the first time in your life, you can finally make yourself useful." Rowan found himself staring at the face of his father. He was a tall and imposing man with long red hair and bright blue eyes. His armor was forged out of various gems, such as rubies, emeralds, and even diamonds, that all twisted together into his suit. "House Zyne hasn't had another member join the Arcane Knights since myself. With the hole that has been caused by the Hydra Storm's captain stepping down, the position of vice captain is now up for grabs. That is a position that I've decided I earned. Here."
Rowan's arms awkwardly shook as his father shoved the short sword into his grasp. He had never held a blade, and in truth, he had never been given something from his father. It was strange.
"Don't screw this up." The man said sternly. "You have lived a life you don't deserve for the past twenty years. It's time for you to repay your debt. 'Son'."
His father had given him a task. House Zyne was in ruins, all because of the sin Charles committed, but Rowan could be the one to fix it! His father believed in him. His father had given him a gift. His father had ordered him to become a Knight.
House Zyne wasn't worthless. House Zyne wasn't going to remain in ruins. Ashley and Sera also believed in him. They were with him since the start.
Rowan didn't want to disappoint them more than he disappointed his father.
He snapped back to the battlefield, everything moving in slow motion as Davi came down toward him. Rowan knew what he needed to do. Besides the light spell, he had also spent the rest of his money on one more spell. Rowan raised his arm, and he dropped concentration on the tendril, causing it to fade as well as the light spell, bringing the shadows back. It didn't matter, though. Davi was in the middle of the air and would have no way to dodge. This particular spell was unruly and hard to control, only launching in a straight line.
"Vil Water Dragon."
Davi's eyes went wide as he fell toward the oncoming spell. A tremendous amount of water flowed and twisted. It became long and serpentine, having a slender body and two small, stubby arms that poked out of its side. It wasn't what he had been expecting, but the head was one he was very familiar with. A dragon-like skull formed at the end of the construct, and it let out a hellish roar as it blasted toward him.
The spell would be impossible to cut through. Row was easy, but Vil was another level altogether and could only be matched with equal or greater force.
There were five levels of spells. The weakest and most common was Row. Every mage could use Row grade magic. It was as simple as it could get. If a mage got particularly strong, they could either gain a new spell that would be a higher grade or upcast an old spell as a higher tier. Vil was the stage above Row, and it was ten times stronger than Row was and also required ten times the amount of mana. The only reason Rowan had been able to use two Vil-tier spells back-to-back was because of the heavy rain, which was cutting the cost down by a lot, but even a second Vil spell was pushing it, and his body was reaching its limit.
Above Vil was a grade of magic that only people on the level of Arcane Knights could use. This grade was Ril. It was ten times greater than Vil and thus one hundred times greater than Row. Like Vil, it also had a high cost, costing ten times more than Vil, or a hundred times more than a Row spell.
Above Ril was the fourth grade of magic, which only captains could use. Vow was the final grade many would reach and was one thousand times stronger than a Row spell and one thousand times more expensive as well. In any war, a single use of a Vow spell could end the fight before it even began or permanently alter the planet.
There was one more grade above Vow, however. A grade that had never been seen, but legends spoke of it—the final tier of magic. Full magic. A grade of spell so powerful that it was stated that when Haru would use it, she would alter the very universe itself and bend it to her whims.
These were the five grades of magic. Stopping a spell on the level of Row wasn't that hard, but once a spell hit the tier of Vil, it could only be countered with equal force, meaning another Vil spell, or something just as substantial or greater than the level, like a higher-grade spell.
Davi knew he didn't have a strike that was on the level of Vil. Therefore, he did the next best thing.
The water dragon's mouth opened, ready to swallow him whole, but Davi focused his mana and used a trump card of his own.
"Vil Shadow Vault."