The two spheres of Mana seemed to be at a stalemate. Thalrix had the density advantage and as much as Thessa melted the layers of his tinfoil ball away, the poor folding actually helped him.
There were so many air pockets in Thalrix’s ball that the fire couldn’t pass on its heat evenly and efficiently. In fact, after observing for a while, though Theron knew that Thalrix couldn’t make a ball as smooth as his own, he could certainly do much better than this.
It was clear that Thalrix was a genius for a reason.
The most important point, though, was that while Thessa’s Fire Mana seemed to flick away and vanish into the wind easily, from time to time, Thalrix would take control of the cooled molten Mana that flaked from his tinfoil ball and slap them back on.
Slowly, Thessa’s ball of fire became smaller while Thalrix’s own, while having shrunk a small bit, had remained relatively the same size.
A sneer came from Thalrix, the painted lights of orange and red dancing across his silver teeth and tattoos in the somber lighting. He could feel that victory was approaching.
“You know, maybe if you strip for me I’ll forgive you and won’t take your head. But I’m a man of the people first and foremost, so you’ll have to give us all a little show.”
After the first goading got a reaction out of her, Thessa had hardly reacted with anything other than cold, ruthless efficiency afterward.
Even hearing these words now, her expression didn’t change or shift in the slightest.
Her flames seemed stoked by something else entirely.
“It seems that it’s time to end this.” She finally spoke after the third wave of Thalrix’s taunts.
She allowed him to rise to a high, riding on a wave of arrogance and complacency. But now…
He would pay.
Chi. Chi. Chi.
Sparking embers suddenly erupted. Not from the air, not from Thessa, but from within Thalrix’s tinfoil ball.
There was a sudden change to Thalrix’s expression, but it was too late.
’Fascinating Theron thought. ’She can control the heat of her flames through her soul itself; this is far more control than any Fire Mancer has. She allowed Thalrix to think the bits of metal had cooled down, while in reality the kernel of her flames was still in there. Then, when the time was right
BANG!
The tinfoil ball exploded.
Thalrix crossed his arms in front of himself, protecting his face and using his Mana control to send the tidbits of shrapnel curving away from him.
PENG! PENG! PENG! PENG! PENG!
The rebounding echoes pelted across the barriers, a violent upswell of shuddering, quaking Mana filling the air.
Thessa unleashed an enraged shriek as though all her compressed fury was erupting all at once.
Her body flashed, appearing above Thalrix and slapping down.
A flaming palm crashed down from above, expanding so fast it was already the size of Thalrix’s body by the time it collided.
In the same fluid motion, Thessa used her other hand to flip a palm, pulling out a sword that instantly erupted into flames.
She didn’t even wait to see the result of the palm, slashing down with all her might.
There was no chance to succeed.
Sigil had already tapped a foot, a covert barrier of wood appearing around Thalrix.
The Ironhart were soon to become a subordinate of his Thistle Clan, and he couldn’t allow their best genius to die so easily. Inwardly, he sighed.
He really hated politics.
BANG!
Thessa’s blade rebounded against something hard, but through all the flames she couldn’t see exactly what it was and wasn’t sure that Sigil had interfered. But it didn’t take a genius like her to make a guess at that.
She was sent flying back, her wrists rattling beneath the pressure.
Her thoughts were already swirling with how to attack again when a figure suddenly appeared before Thalrix, waving a hand. The flames and wood all dispersed at once, making it impossible to see that Sigil had ever interfered in the first place.
Thessa landed heavily on the ground and was still about to risk everything to burst forth once more, but a large back had long blocked her way.
The cloaked figure.
A stalemate.
Two hidden Mancers stood across from one another, their charges to their backs. It was clear that neither had the intention of stepping aside.
Thessa huffed for breath. “So the Ironharts don’t know how to keep their word. I don’t know why I expected anything else from a little Earldom.”
Her words dripped with venom, her fury lacing through them all.
The cloaked figure before Thalrix didn’t say anything even after their young master stood to his feet, wiping his mouth of blood.
There were tidbits of metal sticking out of him, but it was clear that he hadn’t suffered any substantial injury at all.
He sneered. “I don’t remember agreeing to give you my head, slut.”
BANG!
A slap turned Thalrix’s head. The cloaked figure that stood to protect him didn’t say a word, just turning and thrusting out a palm.
After this, he threw a spatial ring forward and then took Thalrix by the arm, vanishing.
Thessa trembled with rage, but there was nothing she could do. She had known things would end like this; it was why she had attacked so fiercely and without hesitation.
In the end, it still wasn’t enough.
Theron watched all of this calmly by the side. As the proceedings continued, there didn’t seem to be anything nearly as entertaining that would occur, and the night waned with nothing more than empty small talk and Malaya doing everything she could to avoid eye contact with him.
The Ashenvale sisters, though, seemed quite eager to get to know Theron, taking turns to see which of them could fluster him first to no avail.
And like this, the banquet ended. As for the winner?
All that could be said was that it was an unfortunate debut for young noble Sigil.
**
Thessa sat in a hall on the ground, her head buried into the fabric of her dress. Her wails filled the hall, tears streaking down her face.
“My best friends… my best friends… Soren… Teagan… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
The heart-wrenching cries of a broken heart echoed, and yet a stone-cold figure stood right next to her in a cloak of black, reacting as though it hadn’t heard a single thing.