Atticus watched in silence as each god rolled and moved their pieces across the board.
When his turn ca, he rolled another three.
This ti, he moved Ozeroth and Whisker forward one domain each and shifted himself one space to the right. He noted with relief that the penalty remained manageable since he hadn't advanced.
The next turn brought multiple changes. Marquis champions edged closer to his position, while Anorah and Ozerra chose to move sideways instead of forward.
Though battles broke out and deaths followed, none ca from his people. Atticus felt Ordan's gaze on him throughout the turn, observing, but he paid it no heed.
Ordan, Dravek, as well as the other powerful Marquis, were closest to the center of the board. Which ant they couldn't directly co for him unless he advanced to their level himself. The champions left behind were their only ans of influencing the board.
Atticus silently watched the shifting dynamics. The other Marquis avoided the major faction champions like a plague, choosing instead to move toward him. When his turn finally ca, Atticus rolled a three.
All eyes turned toward him.
The ti for retreat was over. Champions, and even gods, had closed in on his position. Two domains to the left stood a god from a faction he didn't recognize; to the right, another. Both watched him coldly.
His champions were no better off. Enemies flanked them on both sides. No matter what he chose, either he or one of his champions would be challenged next round.
"Forward. Three movents."
"What!?"
Eyes narrowed across the board at Atticus' choice. Forward… that ant…
Atticus felt the burning gaze of the Redfla as light enveloped him, and he was transported to the chosen domain.
"Hm?"
He studied the man before him. The other Redfla Marquis he had noticed earlier, aside from Dravek's daughter.
Count, no, now Marquis Thane.
Thane regarded Atticus with a raised brow.
"Was that a misstep," he asked, "or precisely what you intended?"
Marquis Thane, and many others watching, were visibly taken aback. Advancing one or two spaces would have placed Atticus behind Thane. Though the other gods would eventually reach him, he could have avoided confronting a Marquis from a major faction.
Yet he had stepped directly into it.
"Ho ho."
Eyes shifted to Ordan at once. The aged man tapped his staff against the board, nodding slowly.
"I see," he said. "You turned right earlier. That wasn't you trying to avoid the others. He was your destination."
Eyes sharpened, especially Thane's.
"Because of my interference," Ordan continued, "the others started circling you, believing you to be an easier target. You intend to change that perception. He's a scapegoat."
Ordan nodded once.
"An excellent decision, Atticus Ravenstein. But reality remains unchanged." His gaze settled on Thane. "The Redfla has occupied the Marquis layer far longer than you. He has slain gods and accumulated power."
Then his eyes returned to Atticus.
"So the question still stands… can you defeat him?"
The eyes of many Marquis hardened. They avoided major factions for a reason. That a newly ascended child would deliberately use one as a scapegoat was beyond shocking.
But of them all, it was Thane who reacted the most, the temperature around him rising.
"Is this truly your intent?" he asked coldly. "You would use as a scapegoat?"
Thane was a being who had lived for millennia. A man who had clawed his way up from nothing to reach his current standing. For soone of his standing to be reduced to a tool… to a scapegoat… Still, not a single word ca from Atticus.
"This domain has already been claid. Do you choose to claim, or deny?"
"Claim."
Eyes widened. He was truly going through with it.
"The domain restriction is a forced champion duel. By choosing to claim, you agree to have this imposed on you?"
"Yes."
"Marquis Thane. Do you accept, or would you like to contest the challenge?"
Thane's eyes turned frigid.
"I accept."
"Marquis Thane has accepted the challenge. Three mandatory power points each have been staked for this battle. The battle may start now."
"Thane."
Thane stiffened at Dravek's sudden call. He turned, t the cold stare, and bowed imdiately.
"Yes."
"End it in one strike."
Thane paused only briefly, then inclined his head.
"As you command."
What had just occurred was clear to everyone. Though Thane held the title of Marquis, he had only recently ascended. Within a major faction, seniority and hierarchy were absolute.
Thane still answered to Dravek.
The board fell into silence as the domain shifted, the white expanse dissolving into a vast, endless desert.
"I'll say this much," Thane said evenly. "Your reasons an little to ."
He slowly drew his broadsword, crimson light igniting in his eyes. His will erupted in jagged bursts, heat rippling outward as the temperature spiked violently. Sand kiloters away fused into glass.
He leveled the blade at Atticus.
"I'll show you the cost of reaching beyond your station."
In response, Atticus calmly drew his katana, holding it to the side. The tension spiked, silence pressing down like a suffocating weight.
The wind brushed their attire. Then they vanished.
They flashed into the center the next instant, the only trace of their movent the sizzling trail of glass scorched into the ground.
Marquis Thane's blade hurled upward before anyone could register the movent, crashing down with such force it felt as though the world itself had followed him.
Despite the descending blow, Atticus' heart remained calm. He felt his will surge through every fiber of his body, pushing him to the very edge, and raised his katana to et the attack.
Thane's eyes narrowed the mont he realized no will wrapped Atticus' blade.
"You overestimate yourself!" he snarled. "I'll shatter it!"
Their weapons collided in a burst of blinding light, and Thane's eyes flew wide.
The ordinary looking katana ripped straight through his will and split his weapon in two.
"What!?"
"The weapon sliced through will!?"
It wasn't only Thane. Every Marquis watching widened their eyes in shock. Dravek's expression darkened into a deep frown, while Ordan's eyes flared with a blinding glow, his hands trembling.
"Impossible…"
Thane recovered almost instantly. His stance shifted, trying to retreat and create distance, but Atticus was already moving.
The montum of his counter vanished mid motion, his katana reversing direction as though the previous strike had never existed.
"No!"
Thane hastily condensed his will in front of him, forming a shield, but Atticus' katana fell like judgnt itself, cleaving through the barrier and splitting Thane's body into two sizzling halves.
"Impossible!" Dravek's eyes burned with shock, but the declaration that followed sealed the outco.
"Marquis Atticus has won the challenge and claid the territory."
The silence that spread across the board, and beyond the ga itself, was heavy.
A Marquis of the Redfla had fallen in two strikes to… a child.
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