Vale’s blade carved through the air with a keen howl. Olive flinched back, barely managing to avoid the strike. It cut so close to her face that she could feel the wind of its passing against her cheek.
Her mont of distraction had nearly knocked her from the tournant — but she hadn’t missed what Elias had said. The word had been unmistakable.
Norman. Isn’t that the na of the necromancer from Phoenix Circle? The guy that vanished, and the whole reason Elias and Maeve have to be in this tournant? Why is he saying that when looking at Necrohamr? You can’t an…
Power ignited all along Ri’s armor with a crackling roar. Tongues of black fire rolled up from his armor as he lunged, extending a gauntleted hand for Olive’s arm. She leapt back, torn from her thoughts, and barely managed to avoid getting caught.
A prickle of pain in Olive’s left arm caught her attention.
Her armor was uncomfortably hot. Even though Ri hadn’t managed to touch her, the heat from the flas dancing across his back had been nearly intense enough to burn her from its proximity alone.
A chill ran down her back.
“You’d best keep your attention on us,” Vale advised, lifting his sword to a ready position once more and shifting his stance. “Especially since you wanted to take and Ri on at once. We’re going all out now, Miss. You haven’t shown anywhere near the strength to fight us while distracted. Not if you want to survive. And I’d really prefer you did — there’s only one person we’re looking to kill in this tournant.”
His words didn’t sound like a taunt so much as a request. Vale genuinely seed concerned that Olive was going to get herself killed without putting up a good fight — and sohow, that was even more annoying than an actual insult would have been.
And what’s that last bit an? They’re like Art, hunting soone as well? But who?
Olive dodged back as Ri lunged at her again. Every footstep the armored man took left smoldering black patches of fla on the ground, and they didn’t show any signs of going out.
Vale pressed the attack, dashing forward and moving right through the fire as if it wasn’t there. His sword flashed at her side in a blur of black and red. Olive jerked her weapon up just in ti. Vale’s sword slamd into hers.
The force of the blow nearly ripped Olive’s sword from her hands. It took everything she had to keep a grip on the blade’s hilt. She was sent skidding several feet back, her teeth gritted.
Shit. They can move through that fire like nothing, but I’m going to get cut off really soon. The longer this fight goes, the worse it’s going to get for — and I don’t even know how Elias is doing against his opponent.
“Why did Necrohamr tell us to go all out against this girl?” Ri asked, flexing his fingers. “She’s barely holding up when we trade off the pressure. This isn’t right.”
“Our job is not to question Necrohamr’s orders. Don’t forget why we have this armor,” Vale replied. He pressed his palm to the flat of his blade. The red light pulsing through the veins covering the weapon intensified with a dull hum. “Necrohamr said to go all out. We go all out. Perhaps he wants this fight over quickly.”
A throbbing pulse pounded against Olive’s ears, as if waves of pressure were rolling out from the sword and driving into her head. She gritted her teeth. The Blackguard were speaking about her as if she’d already lost the fight.
And if things stay like this, then I will. I’m fumbling the fight. They’ve got on the backfoot. Focus, Olive.
“Doesn’t make feel good about it. I didn’t sign up to be so ass who throws his weight around, but I’ll do my part,” Ri grumbled. The fire coiling across his armor intensified with a crackling roar and he advanced toward her. He extended his arms to the side like he was preparing to wrap Olive in a bear hug.
Then he charged at her.
Fire roared behind Ri as he accelerated. It rose up over him, coiling into the air like the breath of a furious dragon.
Olive’s hands tightened around the grip of her sword.
She blew out a breath. The world seed to go with it. For nothing more than a fraction of a second, the world hung still around her. She shoved the distractions and questions plaguing her mind to the side.
They were only distracting her. Right now, nothing but the fight mattered.
Then the world was moving again — and so was Olive.
Ri extended a hand for her, but it only found air.
She’d already dodged to the side; her sword arced down for Ri’s shoulder. It slamd into the heavy armor covering his body, bearing with it the force of a mountain. Ri was driven down to one knee as a surprised gasp burst from his lungs.
Olive ripped her sword free from his shoulder. She’d made a deep gouge in his armor, but her blade hadn’t managed to penetrate the tal. Necrohamr really was sothing else — but she didn’t let her thoughts distract her.
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Every scrap of her attention was completely focused on this fight.
She twisted as Vale arrived before her. His sword was already moving. Olive could tell he was aiming for her collarbone — his molten eyes, burning within the darkness of his helm, gave the man’s intention away.
Olive’s sword carved through the air, the full weight of [Hundredfold Blade] behind it.
Their weapons slamd together with an echoing crash.
Vale staggered a step back. Olive’s sword was already moving again, carving toward his shoulder —
Ri lunged.
Olive twisted, abandoning the attack to dodge out of the way. She skipped back as Vale recovered and pressed his advantage. Ri dashed alongside him as the two of them attacked in conjunction.
She ducked; rolled to the side. Vale’s sword passed overhead and Ri’s burning gauntlets cut a path through the air where she’d been standing harmlessly.
Only when Olive shot back to her feet did she realize that neither of her opponents had been trying to land their last attacks. They’d been repositioning.
Ri had managed to get the flank on her. She was pinned between them. Despite all their earlier words, they were treating the fight like she was a serious threat rather than soone who was guaranteed to lose.
They knew what they were doing.
“For what it’s worth, I don’t feel good about this,” Vale said. “You’re an incredible warrior. I would have preferred to fight you one on one.”
A wailing screech tore out from his sword. It was like the gates of the underworld itself had shattered and all the souls trapped within it were screaming desperately for help.
Olive’s eardrums ruptured. Violent ringing swallowed her hearing entirely. She staggered as blood poured down the sides of her face. The world spun around her like a circus wheel and her balance evaporated, a snuffed candle in the wind.
Hearing would have been the only way she could track Ri when he was behind her. By cutting it off, she had no way to know when he attacked. The man was behind her sowhere, but if she turned back to him, then Vale would have an opening.
They’d trapped her. No matter which direction she turned, she was exposed.
Panic tried desperately to drive into Olive’s thoughts. Her mind whirred, throwing suggestions borne of emotion rather than logic. She nearly charged right at Vale, completely ignoring Ri, in hopes of tossing caution to the wind and betting everything on a wild strike.
But she didn’t.
Instead, Olive stood her ground. Her hearing was gone. She couldn’t turn in either direction without exposing herself to the other.
Those were the terms of the fight. She couldn’t change that. All she could control was what had yet to pass.
Olive shifted her stance. She felt the wind prickle against her skin. She felt the blood trickling down the sides of her face, the rumble from the roars in the crowd above.
None of it mattered.
There was only her, Ri, and Vale.
Three motes of light in the darkness.
Olive released a soft breath.
The air around her shimred, but the change was visible to only her. Golden letters blood to scrawl before her eyes. Olive didn’t read them. There was no need to waste the ti or energy. She already knew what they said.
I can’t say I’m surprised.
Her Challenge had reared its head once more.
“Elias, Maeve,” Olive called. Her voice was just loud enough to be heard over the thunderous crowd. “It happened.”
Vale and Ri didn’t let her say anything else. He exploded forward, his sword screaming through the air in a black blur as he lunged at her. Olive knew that Ri had done the sa from behind her.
Olive’s vision tightened. The world went dark — nothing existed but her and her opponents. Her Challenge burned everything else to ash.
But, to her, absolutely nothing had changed. She’d already been completely focused on the fight. Things weren’t the sa as they had been the last ti her Challenge had arrived. Her team trusted her — and she trusted them. Elias would hold his opponent’s attention. Maeve would back them up when the opportunity arose.
And Olive would do her job as well. She would keep her opponents’ attention on her until an opportunity arose.
She spun, power pouring through her body and down her arms to gather within the blade of her sword. Olive swung it like she were trying to cut through reality itself, nothing but determination remaining within her eyes.
A clang echoed, sohow distant to her ears, as her sword knocked Vale’s to the side. She continued the strike and brought it around to connect with Ri’s shoulder.
He’d been exactly where she’d expected him to be.
Right where she could cut him. Where she could match the full might of her strength against his armor.
Olive’s lips twitched into a smile. She twisted her sword to strike with the flat of the blade rather than its sharp edge at the last mont.
The Challenge could be damned.
I am more than my sword. The sh doesn’t determine how I fight.
The only one that rules my blade is . And when I decide that I’m going to swing the damn thing like a bat instead of trying to cut soone, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Her swing was t with a satisfying crunch. Ri tumbled across the ground, bouncing several tis before skidding to a halt. The fire covering his armor left a smoldering trail in his wake, but Olive didn’t pay it any mind.
She spun back to Vale, catching his next blow with an overhead block. The two of them locked in place, each straining to overpower the other.
Ri charged them again. Olive couldn’t turn to see him, but she felt his steps in the ground. She shifted her weight and redirected Vale’s sword before leaping into the air.
Her foot slamd into Ri’s chin as she vaulted back, landing on the ground and staggering a step before catching herself. The world still spun, but she refused to let herself lose balance.
That had been a trick from Reya — and definitely not one that focused on the pure art of the blade.
And yet, for so reason, the sh hadn’t punished her for the deviation. There was no ti to wonder why.
This was bigger than her. Elias and Maeve needed Olive. If she failed the Challenge, then she failed the Challenge. She didn’t care about it anymore. The only thing that mattered right now was her, the sword in her hands, and the fight at her feet.
“Is that all?” Olive asked, her words nothing but a muted buzz to her own ears. “I was expecting better. I’m still standing, you know.”
Ri staggered to his feet, now in Olive’s line of sight. He and Vale exchanged a look. They said sothing, but Olive couldn’t hear it. She didn’t need to.
Vale lifted his sword once more, placing his palm on the flat of the blade. Ri lowered his stance to let a gauntleted hand rest on the ground. The two of them clearly weren’t done revealing the full strength of their armor.
And that was just fine with Olive.
They weren’t the only ones with more tricks.
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