Chương 146: One Last Course

It was two points to four, in favour of me. I kept my lance level, aiming at Hinfic, preparing to ride the last course. Even though Hinfic hadn't broken a lance, a different squire rushed in and swapped his lance. It was the same squire who'd been snooping on me. Still, I had to ride. I had no choice. Sure, I could call a recess, but what would that accomplish? I wasn't going to uncover some hidden ploy with the ten minutes that would afford me.

I glanced through the crowd, first looking across the nobles, searching for clues. Nothing. Not even Hinlaw's face gave anything away—except an extreme, bitter disappointment. Was that a good sign? He was disappointed I was about to beat his son? Then, my gaze swept across the crowd. My squad stood near the edge, carrying their weapons and gear. The flag dropped. I tensed my gut, then charged. Hinfic pushed forward as well. His horse's hooves churned dirt, and his horse fluttered its lips.

Hinfic wasn't going to fight fair. He could strike hard and try to unhorse me, or he could try to knock my helmet off. But none of that was a guarantee. If he wanted a guarantee, he'd have to duel me. At least that way, he stood a chance. Besides, he'd practically told me he planned to anyway. His lance dipped down, aiming for Burr. That was how he was going to force the duel. Well, there was always a chance for me to let him hit Burr. He'd lose, of course, by hitting my horse. And it was immensely dishonorable.

But that was only if I would let him hit Burr. Aside from the fact that I wouldn't let Burr get hurt… he was aiming right for her bridle, right for Burr's illusion amulet. I used an Art, but I had to make it look like it was something other than gravity. I cast aside my lance, then thrust my hand forward, like I was using a palm strike. At the same time, I triggered my Art behind him, pulling him back. His lance lifted, and he struck me in the chest. The lance shattered, but it was just a hit to my body.

Not enough to win him the day. But there was something in it, something hard. A brief flash of orange light shone in the air, wisping like smoke before fading, and something solid impacted my chest. A sudden wave of exhaustion overwhelmed me, like I'd just used half my Presence at once. It wasn't gone forever, just... depleted. Something shattered at the tip of Hinfic's lance, and stone pellets washed over me. Had he just siphoned me?

That lance had been tipped—of course, according to the regulations, that was foul play, but it's not like that mattered. Good luck proving it, when all he had was dust. Plus, I had used an Art.

"Foul play!" Hinfic yelled.

"Sir Ricdine sought to unhorse me with an Art!"

"He was aiming to strike my horse!" I shouted back.

"I was defending my horse and protecting her from harm!" I knew how this was going to go, but I looked to the Warlord's messenger anyway, hoping he'd back me up.

"Both have made a claim against each other's honour!" the messenger shouted.

"Let it be settled by a duel on foot! Should Sir Ricdine lose and survive, he will ride one last course against Sir Hinfic. Should Sir Hinfic lose, he will be eliminated from the tournament, and Levi will take his lands." Of course. It was exactly as Hinfic promised. The thegn dismounted from his horse and sent it off to the edge of the arena, and I led Burr to the outer fence and tied her lead to a post.

I then retrieved Sir Ricdine's spear from the edge of the arena, while at the same time, Hinfic drew his great warbrand. I hadn't trained against a thegn with such a sword before. Our sparring sessions were between Dupes, and using weapons we'd expect orcs to wield. We weren't even supposed to be going up against thegns as Dupes, and it left me at a slight disadvantage, but I could leverage my Focus to help process his fighting style better, and I could create a workaround. The bigger problem was my Presence.

Whatever he'd done, he'd drained some of it. I needed to save my Arts as much as I could, especially when I knew they had other plans beyond just trying to trap me. If I had to guess, I only had about half my Presence left. Just under half, going off gut feeling. I needed to save it for emergencies now. I gave my spear a whirl and turned to face him.

"You needed cheap tricks, did you, to beat me? Not much of a thegn. Certainly not worthy of being an Ealdorman. How do you figure you'll beat Lord Ceonwin if you can't beat me?"

"We shall see," he said.

"I have plenty of lances."

"So you'll drain his Presence, like you drained mine. And when he's weak enough, you'll hope he just falls off his horse?"

"How observant."

"I guess it's just my duty to stop you before then," I said.

"You're not fit to be an Ealdorman."

"You may try. But whatever you've done is far worse." Hinfic scowled.

"It's unnatural. No Path-walker should advance as quickly as you do. Nor be as precise at jousting as you." Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"Maybe you just need to improve your own precision." I would've said work on your Focus, but Path-walkers didn't seem to talk about their attributes in the same way Dupes did, and I didn't need that to be what gave me away. Hinfic raised his great warbrand. It had a straight blade with a single cutting edge, and a grip large enough to carry it with two hands. The tip wasn't curved, but it had a slight slope, bringing it to a point. A small guard protected his hands with a crescent shape, cupping the blade.

It was a heavy, sharp sword. I couldn't take a direct hit to the haft of my spear without the sword splitting it in half. Shouting, Hinfic lunged forward. His sword rippled. The air shimmered over it, rippling like water, and invisible droplets flowed behind it, rolling like waves. It was only visible via the distortion of the air. He was a wicca of some kind, but I didn't know exactly what his abilities did. Although this seemed like a resonance Skill, I had to adjust my frame of reference.

It was more like an Art. Waves of invisible cutting power rolled through the air behind his blade, rushing toward me, like echoes of his original swing. They sliced through the air, continuing forward long after the swing finished. I stepped away from the swing and let the waves of warping air roll past beside me, like waves crashing toward the shore. A different Art rippled across Hinfic's skin, and he flourished his sword. It was an invisible Art, something that temporarily enhanced his physical attributes.

The air swelled around him, and pressure gathered on his limbs. He began a flowing attack pattern, waves still rippling on the edge of his sword. Every time he swung, an aftershock followed, cleaving through the air a moment later. If I dodged the wrong way, or not far enough, it'd still cut me. So I kept stepping to the side, leaning away from his attacks.

The invisible swells of cutting force left slices in the ground as they travelled, and when they hit the wooden boards at the sides of the lists, they left half-inch thick scores in the wood before dispersing. But I couldn't dodge everything. I held up my forearms to shatter one swell of cutting force. My metal vambraces fared far better, but it created an ear-splitting scrape, and I slid back when it hit—just far enough that I could roll away from the rest.

If I didn't go on the offensive soon, though, I was done for. Readying my spear, I waited for Hinfic to launch one more attack, before rushing forward and attacking, weaving through the gaps in his attack, where his extra, invisible cuts surged toward me. Most Path-walkers would struggle to identify the gaps. Most Dupes would, too. But I'd been training my Focus for months, envisioning where I needed to put an Art, no matter how difficult it was to see, and no matter how invisible the Art would turn out.

I twisted sideways, navigating around the first cut, then ducked down, then arched my back. With a leap, I charged forward, knocking aside Hinfic's physical sword with the back of my spear, before twisting it around and lunging in. I jabbed again and again, forcing him to dodge. He avoided the first few strikes, leveraging his enhanced speed and his physicality-improving Art, but eventually, I forced him to use his blade.

He tried to deflect my spear, but his warbrand scraped along the shaft, shearing off a ribbon of wood. My spear only narrowly jutted up above his shoulder, and I twisted around, dodging the secondary slice that his blade Art created. Then I used a resonance Skill and stabbed at his neck, aiming for his weak armour. He had a chance to surrender, but if he didn't, I was going for the kill. The air rippled around the head of my spear, and it shone, as if light from another direction suddenly rippled off it.

Before it could hit, Hinfic twisted his sword around, catching my spear with the blunt edge and pushing it aside. He was just too fast.

"You didn't really think that would work, did you?" Hinfic snarled. He kicked me in the chest, sending me sprawling back onto the ground. I pushed myself up, then scrambled to my feet.

"It was worth a shot," I panted.

"A basic spear Art. No bodily enhancements. Not even a proper sword. In what world could a pathetic out-country thegn like you ever have beaten me?"

"You haven't won yet—" He attacked again, pushing me back with an impressive attack pattern, full of flourishes and sword spins that my eye struggled to track. They were just too fast, and every single one of them created an extra swell of cutting force, which occupied my Focus. I have to figure out where they would be, and how to position myself to avoid them. It wasn't enough. Some glanced off my armour, the chainmail dispelling them.

One hit my helmet, knocking me back, and another smashed my face, knocking off the covering of chainmail. It didn't matter. My illusion charm was still active. I tried to steady myself. I looked for openings, and with my spare Focus, I found them. I tried to act on them, to turn the fight back in my favour, but I wasn't fast enough.

Whenever I tried to exploit an opening, like jabbing my spear at Hinfic's exposed thigh, he just deflected the attack with a movement I couldn't predict, leaving another notch in my spear's shaft. If I had my Art, I could do better. But using it would give me away. I kept pushing, but with each hit, Hinfic improved his position, gaining ground, forcing me back toward the boards that separated the lists from the nobles' viewing stands.

With each hit, I was in a worse position, making it harder to raise my spear and defend myself. I backed away, trying to keep my weapon up, but as the seconds flew by, all I could do was stop myself from getting sliced into pieces. I lost a chunk of my spear's shaft near the bottom, shortening the weapon. Something slashed across my thigh—either an aftershock of his slices or his actual sword. Then my back brushed up against the boards. Hinfic kicked aside my spear, and it tumbled out of my grasp.

Then he slammed me against the boards. It would've broken the spine of a regular human, but beneath me, the boards cracked. I still felt the impact, though, and it still thrust the air out of my lungs. Blood pumped in my ears and my heart thundered in my chest, pressing against my armour. I had to get out there and keep fighting. I had to do something. Hinfic threw me to the ground, then kicked me in the mouth. A tooth broke, and warm blood flooded my cheeks. Still, I tried pushing myself up. It didn't work.

His boot slammed down on my back. My eyes widened. That had only been inches away from the illusion pendant. I tried to roll over, but Hinfic stomped again, too quickly. He slammed me face-first into the mud, and I fell forward, arms out to the side. He didn't hit the pendant, but he was close. Again, he stomped.

"Where is it?" he hissed. Somehow he knew about the pendant. And he was trying to destroy it. I clenched my teeth, trying to muster a second wind, trying to do anything to push myself away. Hot breath rebounded off the ground, and a moment later, a force from above slammed my gaping mouth into the dirt. I had to activate my Art, Presence be damned, secrecy myself be damned. If I didn't do something, he'd destroy my pendant. I was too slow, though, and my art never got out.

His knee slammed down into the center of my back. Something metal cracked. With a burst, the illusion amulet popped, destroyed. A shimmer washed over my face. The illusion fell. I was laying limp in the middle of the lists, my identity revealed to everyone.