The second those words left his mouth, the world exploded into motion.
Elvina moved first, her body blurring across the sand with a speed that shouldn’t have been possible for someone without enhancements, shadows erupting from her feet like wings, launching her forward in a predatory lunge.
I didn’t hesitate—couldn’t hesitate—my legs flooding with enhancement as I threw myself sideways, sand spraying in a wild arc. I rolled and came up in a crouch, the blackbane shooting from the sand and materializing in my hands as twin daggers, their edges humming with barely restrained violence.
She was already spinning toward me, hand outstretched, and I watched—eyes wide, pulse hammering—as a tendril of condensed shadow lashed out like a whip, slicing through the air with a sound like tearing silk.
I dove under it, felt the displaced air kiss my cheek with the intimacy of a lover’s breath, then rolled forward. I came up inside her guard, daggers flashing toward her ribs in a vicious upward strike that should’ve ended the fight right then and there.
But she melted.
That’s the only way I could describe it—her body dissolved into shadow, sinking into the ground like ink bleeding through parchment. My blades cut through the empty air where her torso had been just a heartbeat before.
The crowd gasped—a collective intake of breath that rippled through the arena like a shockwave of disbelief.
I spun on instinct, every nerve screaming at me to move, just as she reformed behind me, her hand already raised, shadow coalescing into a wickedly curved dagger that gleamed like polished obsidian.
She thrust it toward my spine with brutal efficiency, no wasted motion, no hesitation, and I twisted hard, enhancing my core muscles to whip my body around faster than physics should allow, bringing one dagger up to deflect her strike in a shower of sparks that lit the space between us like a miniature fireworks display.
The force of the impact rattled up my arm, making my teeth ache, but I didn’t stop—I couldn’t stop. I lashed out with my other dagger in a horizontal slash aimed at her throat, forcing her to jerk backward, her feet skidding across the sand as she put distance between us.
"That all you’ve got?" she called out, her voice high and mocking, punctuated by a giggle that sounded unhinged even by her standards. "Come on, I thought you were supposed to be special! Show me something interesting before I gut you like the worthless—"
Her words cut off abruptly as I vanished, my body slipping sideways into that alternate reality in the span of just five heartbeats. The world around me shifted into shades of gray and black, the roaring crowd reduced to silent silhouettes of mist, their forms barely distinguishable from the walls and seats surrounding us.
Elvina’s figure stood out starkly against the muted backdrop, a writhing mass of darker shadow that pulsed with malevolent energy. I could see her head whipping around, confusion flickering across her posture as she searched for me, hands raised defensively, shadows swirling around her like a protective cocoon.
The crowd erupted into chaos—I couldn’t hear them, but I could see the way their misty forms jolted, hands pointing, bodies leaning forward in shock and confusion, because they’d just watched me disappear into thin air without a trace, no shimmer of magic, no warning, nothing.
I steadied my breath—dashing around her in a wide arc, my feet silent against the sand that felt oddly textured in this in-between space, like walking on memory rather than matter. I positioned myself directly behind her, the blackbane shifting in my hands, reforming into a spear with a long, wicked point that gleamed even in this colorless world, hungry for the violence I was about to feed it.
However, I lunged forward a second too late, the motion carrying me back into reality in a violent snap, and the spear drove toward the space between her shoulder blades with every ounce of strength I could muster.
She screamed—not in pain, but in surprise—her body lurching forward as she threw herself into a roll, the spear tip grazing her back and tearing through the fabric of her dress, drawing a thin line of crimson that bloomed across the material like a wicked flower.
The crowd roared, the sound slamming into me with physical force now that I was back in the real world. Elvina came up from her roll with fury blazing in her eyes, her hand slamming into the sand.
Shadows erupted around her in a circle, spreading outward like a wave of liquid darkness, and from that darkness came things—humanoid shapes made entirely of shadow, their forms flickering and unstable, three of them materializing in rapid succession and lunging toward me with clawed hands and eyeless faces.
I cursed under my breath, the spear shifting back into daggers as I threw myself into motion. Enhancements flooded my legs and arms as I met the first shadow construct head-on, ducking under its wild swipe and driving my blade up through its torso.
The thing dissolved with a hiss, collapsing back into formless shadow that dissipated like smoke, but the other two were already on me, attacking from opposite sides with a coordinated precision that suggested Elvina had more control over these things than I’d hoped.
I twisted between them, my body moving on pure instinct, deflecting one strike with my left dagger while my right hand came up to parry the second. My feet danced across the sand in rapid, precise steps that kept me just barely ahead of their attacks.
The crowd was on their feet now, their cheers and shouts blending into a deafening roar that made my skull vibrate, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I registered Iskanda’s voice rising above the chaos, though I couldn’t make out the words.
I enhanced my right arm and drove my elbow backward into one construct’s face, feeling it collapse under the impact.
Then I spun, kicking the second one square in the chest with my leg, sending it flying backward in a spray of shadow fragments.
Elvina cursed from beneath her breath, her hands weaving through the air in complex patterns, and I saw the shadows at her feet rippling, spreading, connecting to the pools of darkness cast by the torches around the arena.
She was trying to expand her territory, I realized, giving herself more places to sink into, more angles to attack from.
The tome had mentioned this—shadow mages were strongest when surrounded by darkness, when they could blur the lines between their magic and the natural shadows of the world.
I couldn’t let her set up, couldn’t give her time to fortify her position, so I did the only thing that made sense in the moment: I ran—hard, fast, and wide—tearing across the arena’s curve in a sweeping arc.
My boots hammered into the sand again and again, each stride kicking up thick plumes of dust until I’d stirred the entire pit into a swirling, storming haze. By my third circuit, visibility had plummeted to almost nothing, the world reduced to silhouettes and motion.
The crowd’s confusion was palpable, their cheers faltering into uncertain murmurs. I heard Elvina cough somewhere in the dust storm, her voice sharp and irritated.
"Cheap tricks!" she spat, and I grinned despite myself, because cheap tricks were half my arsenal.
I blinked once, letting that odd tingling sensation ripple across my vision as I activated my elven sight. The world sharpened, clarified, and I saw her silhouette through the haze, saw the way her body tensed in preparation.
The blackbane shifted in my hands then, elongating and curving into a bow. I felt the weapon’s awareness pulse against my palms as I drew back on the string, feeling the familiar resistance, the way the bow seemed to anticipate my intent.
An arrow materialized, weaving itself into existence from threads of black material that twisted and braided together until they formed a shaft as thick as my wrist, the head broad and cruel, designed to punch through armor and bone in equal measure. I enhanced my shoulders and arms, feeling the muscles flood with power, and released.
The arrow screamed through the dust cloud like a meteor, the sound it made—a deep, resonant whistle that rose into a shriek—cut through the arena so clearly that even the spectators in the upper tiers flinched in response.
Quentin’s voice erupted from somewhere near Elvina’s entrance tunnel, a panicked scream of "Elvina, look out!" that was so raw and terrified it almost made me laugh.
I saw Elvina’s silhouette jerk sideways through the dust, her body contorting in a desperate dive as the arrow passed so close to her head it tore through several strands of her hair, sending them spiraling through the air like falling feathers.
The projectile slammed into the marble wall behind her with a sound like a thunderclap, embedding itself so deeply that cracks spiderwebbed out from the point of impact.
The crowd lost their minds, roaring and stomping their feet hard enough that I felt the vibrations through the sand.
The dust began to settle, and I could see Elvina pushing herself up from the floor, her expression no longer confident or mocking—it was sharp now, focused, edged with the first real flicker of concern I’d seen from her.
"You little piece of shit—" she snarled, and shadows erupted from her hands like serpents, three thick tendrils that lashed out toward me with blinding speed, each one splitting at the end into grasping claws. I knew this attack—I’d read about it in the tome, a binding technique meant to immobilize and crush.
I was already moving, bounding back before the tendrils fully formed and vanishing into that alternate reality just as they snapped closed on the space where I’d been standing.
The crowd’s confusion peaked again, voices rising in excited chatter, speculation, awe, because they’d never seen magic like mine, didn’t know what to make of a combatant who could simply cease to exist whenever danger approached.
I circled her again, watching as she spun in place, her posture tense, her shadow constructs reforming around her in a protective circle—five of them now, she was getting desperate, burning through her reserves to create more minions.
Smart, but predictable.
The tome had been clear, shadow constructs required constant focus to maintain, and the more she summoned, the less attention she could spare for defense.
And thus began the dance. I shifted my strategy entirely, the blackbane morphing in my hands into something I hadn’t tried yet, something desperate and wild—a wicked sickle with a long chain trailing from its base, the links shifting and rattling with that same hungry awareness the weapon always carried.
I burst back into reality in a low crouch, whipping the chain in a wide arc that screamed through the air with enough force to make it sing. The weighted end caught two of her shadow constructs simultaneously, shearing through their forms and turning them to mist.
I yanked the chain back with enhanced strength flooding my arms, reeling the weight toward me just as the third construct lunged forward with its clawed hands outstretched.
I spun, letting the sickle blade whirl around my body in a defensive arc that intercepted its attack. The construct recoiled, reforming itself a few paces away.
I didn’t give it time to recover.
Instead, I lashed out with the weighted chain again, this time wrapping it around the thing’s torso in two quick rotations before planting my feet and spinning with everything I had.
The construct went flying, tumbling through the air in a chaotic spiral before slamming into the marble wall with enough force to shatter it back into its formless shape, dissipating like smoke in wind.
The other two constructs surrounding Elvina broke formation as they lunged for me in unison, but I was already moving, dismissing the chained weapon and reforming it in my hands, one side elongating into a short sword while the other compressed and widened into a rounded shield.
I closed the distance with enhanced legs that ate up the sand between us in three explosive strides.
The first construct’s hand came down in a vicious overhead strike that I caught on my shield—barely. The impact reverberated up my arm with a dull, muted thud. It felt like being hit by something that existed halfway between solid and liquid, something only pretending to obey the laws of matter.
In the same motion, I drove my sword through its torso, the blade punching clean through the shadowy material and causing it to explode outward in wisps of dissipating darkness.
The second construct was already on me, coming in low and fast from my left, but I pivoted on my heel, bringing the shield around in a brutal horizontal swing that caught it square in what passed for its head.
The thing shattered like glass struck with a hammer, fragments of shadow scattering across the sand before evaporating into nothing.
And then I turned to Elvina.
She tried to react, shadows coiling in front of her to form a defensive barrier, but I’d studied the patterns, knew from the tome that shadow barriers were strongest at their center and weakest at the edges, so I didn’t strike head-on.
Instead, I came in at an angle, my blade carving through the outer edge of her defense like it was made of tissue paper.
The tip of my sword kissed her side, drawing a line of blood that made her hiss in pain. Her eyes narrowed, and I saw the moment comprehension dawned, saw her expression twist into something ugly and hateful.
"That tome. You studied it. You learned my techniques." She laughed then, but it was bitter, sharper. "Clever little whore. But knowing my tricks doesn’t mean you can survive them."
"Funny," I shot back, the blackbane shifting into daggers again as I advanced on her, forcing her to backpedal, "I was thinking the exact same thing about you. All that shadow magic, all that sneaking around in the dark, and you still can’t land a hit on me. Maybe you’re not as good as you think you are."
The words hit harder than any physical blow. I saw her face contort with rage, saw the shadows around her flare and writhe like living creatures.
She screamed—her voice raw with frustration—before slamming both hands into the sand. Just then, the entire arena floor erupted with shadow tendrils, dozens of them, maybe hundreds, bursting up from below like a forest of thorns, each one grasping, striking, trying to bind me in place.