While Noah traipsed through the Damned Plains, Todd was doing his absolute best to kill an old man.

His foot slammed into the ground and he twisted his body, detonating the air behind his right heel and sending it hurtling in a spinning kick toward Jalen’s head. The old mage cackled as he leaned back and brought his own leg up into Todd’s chest.

Stone armor cracked and Todd stumbled back. He thrust a hand behind himself and stone cracked, flame curling free of his palm as he threw himself back into Jalen shoulder-first. The air around Jalen rippled and he vanished, reforming five feet to his side.

As soon as he reformed, a loud crack split the air. A streak of ice carved across the sky in a flash. Jalen’s hand shot up to grab a transparent blue arrow an inch away from his face. His lips parted in a grin as he spun, gathering momentum before hurtling the arrow back in the direction it had come.

A flash of panic shot through Todd and he spun to watch the arrow. He needn’t have worried. Alexandra was already in front of Emily, her sword whistling as she cut the magic from the air before it could reach its target.

A hand fell on Todd’s shoulder. “Don’t get distracted, kid. You’re—”

The ground beneath them cracked as Isabel erupted from beneath it, driving a glowing blue spear straight for Jalen’s chest. He flickered and vanished an instant before the blow could connect.

Jalen reformed behind them, purple energy gathering around his hands. He reached for their backs — and another icy arrow screamed through the air, this time from the exact opposite direction.

His eyes widened slightly in surprise and he spun, grabbing the arrow. At the same time, Isabel rose fully from the dirt and it swirled up to form heavy armor around her. She and Todd both lunged for Jalen’s back.

A wave of purple magic swirled out from his palms. Todd’s stomach clenched and the world lurched abruptly around him. His foot hit the ground a dozen feet away from where it should have and he stumbled as a wave of dizziness washed over him.

Isabel thumped down beside him. Jalen turned to look at them, Emily’s second arrow held aloft. He let his hand fall and the icy magic dissipated.

“Damn it,” Todd said with a groan. “I could have sworn we had you. Teleporting us away is a cheap trick.”

Emily let her weapon lower and Alexandra sheathed her sword. The two of them headed across the grass to join the others.

“There is no such thing as a cheap trick in a battle,” Jalen said once they’d all regrouped. “And besides, cheating makes things more fun.”

“Wait, wouldn’t the second thing negate the first one?” Isabel asked with a frown.

“Of course not.” Jalen shook his head in disappointment. “Cheap tricks sound so debasing. Like I need to rely on some form of crutch to handle a battle. Cheating is far different. It’s a battle of wits. A truly interesting battle is one where everyone cheats.”

Todd rubbed at the side of his neck. It was a habit he hadn’t quite managed to shrug off yet. He was tempted to ask Jalen what the point of even adding rules to a fight was if they were just going to cheat, but he’d gotten to know the odd Rank 6 well enough to realize that the question would be completely pointless.

“Don’t you feel a bit bad about having to cheat against Rank 2s?” Alexandra asked.

“There is no ‘have to’ about it,” Jalen said with a snort. “I cheat because it amuses me. You should try it more often. Maybe you’d win more if you did — though I see my lessons haven’t been completely wasted on you. Do you plan on remaining invisible forever, James?”

The air to Todd’s right shimmered and James appeared mid-yawn. Emily faded away, and another version of her appeared near the edge of the group. Her lips pursed in annoyance and she jogged over to join them.

“I can’t believe I didn’t even manage to hit you,” Emily muttered. “It was such a good idea.”

“It was,” Jalen said with an approving nod. “Having the light mage form a fake version of you beside Alexandra while you ran to position… very clever. It actually caught me off guard. You also said that James wouldn’t be participating in this fight. That counts as cheating. I’m proud of you.”

“Technically, we just said the only people fighting you would be the ones here,” Todd corrected, a small grin tugging at his lips. “James just happened to be invisible at the time. Invisible and at the top of the hill. My definition of here was a bit stretched.”

Jalen cackled in approval. “Very good. You kept him out of the range of my domain to make sure I didn’t pick up on his presence by accident. But James… how is it that you managed to have your magic running in two entirely different locations at once? You aren’t nearly strong enough to pull something like that off. The range alone should be impossible for a Rank 3, much less a Rank 2.”

Emily worked a thin metal bracelet off her wrist. Twisting black lines ran across it, rippling with faint energy. “Todd imbued this with James’ light magic. It drains a lot of his power, but it let me use him like a battery to temporarily turn invisible.”

Todd took the bracelet from her, a frown pulling across his lips as he studied the imbuements. They were badly strained. Maintaining a connection between the original owner of the runes and the bracelet’s wielder had proven to be too optimistic for such a rudimentary item.

It did let me get much more power out of it than if I’d closed the circuit and separated it from James. Definitely has potential to continue working on. This bracelet is fried, though.

“I love being a battery,” James said without a single trace of sarcasm. “It lets me feel like I’m being useful because I’m completely out of energy at the end of the fight and I’ve barely even had to do anything.”

That’s hardly true. The bracelet relied heavily on James actually funneling it power. Emily just activated it. That was the only way I could get it to do the complexity of proper invisibility. James should have been under really significant mental strain. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Todd jumped as he felt someone poke him in the side. He glanced over at Isabel and blinked. “Sorry, did you say something? I was zoned out.”

“I know.” Isabel rolled her eyes and snaked her arm through his. “You had the look on your face. Stop working on imbuements for long enough to get the rest of the feedback, would you?”

“Oh, that was it,” Jalen said with a wave of his hand. “What do you think I am? A teacher? I’m just bored. Figure the other problems out yourselves. You clearly aren’t doing something right because you didn’t manage to beat me.”

“Yeah. We aren’t cheating enough,” James grumbled.

“Very good. You should cheat more next time.” Jalen nodded sagely. “Until then, I don’t suppose any of you want to play darts? I’m still trying to track down the rest of the sorry bastards I’m going to put to work. I reckon I’ll have them by tomorrow.”

“They’ve managed to avoid you?” Todd blinked in surprise. That was odd, to say the least. Jalen didn’t seem to be the type of person that anyone could hid from. Not for long. What kind of people was he —

“Actually, I just haven’t had the motivation to find them yet. It sounded really boring so I just haven’t gone looking.”

Ah. Of course.

“Vermil and Moxie would have found them already,” Emily muttered.

“You don’t even know who I’m getting or why I need them,” Jalen protested. “Don’t compare me to them. The only thing Vermil was good at was darts, and that’s because he cheated.”

“How do you cheat at darts?” Isabel asked.

“I’m not sure, but I’ll figure out how he did it at some point when we play again.”

Todd tilted his head slightly to the side. Jalen had outwardly said he thought Vermil would be able to escape the Damned Plains, but there was a difference between what people said and what they meant.

Jalen has complete confidence that Vermil will get out. I mean, I do too… but how much does he know?

“If class is done for today, I’m going to go sleep,” James said. “There’s an advanced track meeting tonight that I want to get ready for.”

“I should prepare as well. The imbuements on Emily’s bracelet are all screwed now, but I should be able to get them patched up before tonight,” Todd said. “Thanks for the training, Jalen.”

“I was just killing some time,” Jalen said with a shrug. “I hope you’ll all endeavor to make tomorrow more interesting. It’s not a real fight unless I’ve lost a few limbs.”

I don’t think we’re going to be in a position where we’re cutting off a Rank 6 mage’s limbs anytime soon.

“I will strive to meet your expectations,” Alexandra said without a hint of sarcasm. She drummed her fingers on the hilt of her sword, and a flicker of embarrassment passed through Todd.

She’d asked him to imbue a new weapon for her after Yulin had cut through her old blade. He hadn’t quite managed to get everything right on it yet, but he was close. There were just so many different things competing for his attention.

I’ll get the sword before the meeting tonight. It’s probably a bit more important than fixing the bracelet.

“Good. I hate being disappointed,” Jalen said. “Good luck with your meeting tonight. I might show up, but only if it looks like I can break something.”

With that, he snapped his fingers and vanished, leaving the students to their planning for that night.

***

Jalen reformed in a room that didn’t belong to him. There were rudimentary imbuements on it to prevent anyone with space magic from entering — imbuements that he ground out with a flicker of thought, not even bothering to try to slip by gracefully.

He blinked in surprise.

The room was covered with paper. It had been tacked to the walls and strewn about the floor, covered with beautiful, flowing script that would have been far more in place if it wasn’t clearly the ravings of the mad.

Theories and drawings covered the papers, each one trying to break down a movement or different type of strike. He went to peer closer at the papers, his interest piqued.

“What in the Damend Plains?” a woman standing in the center of the room demanded, her voice coming out as a terrified squeak. “How did you get in here?”

Ah, yes. I forgot there was a person here.

Jalen tore his gaze away from the papers. “I teleported. Nobody told me you were insane.”

“I — what? It’s impossible to teleport into this room. It’s warded,” the woman said, her eyes narrowing as she dropped into a fighting stance. “Who are you?”

“Do you really not know?” Jalen tilted his head to the side. “You should control the insanity. It’s only useful when properly applied. I am not to be forgotten.”

The woman paused. Then she took a step back. “That arrogance. Magus Jalen of the Linwicks? What the fuck are you doing in my room? And why is your hood up? It’s hard to figure out who you are when I can’t see your face.”

“You had some dealings with Vermil, yes?”

The woman stared at him. Then, slowly, she nodded. “I did. What does—”

“His students need your help because he’s currently off killing some demons,” Jalen said through a yawn. “They are progressing, but I want them to progress faster. I imagine you should be able to help me with that.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “I owe Vermil nothing. We had a business relationship and nothing more.”

Jalen tilted his head to the side. Then he waved his hand around. “Does Otto know about what you’re doing here? All this research? Something tells me he doesn’t, or you wouldn’t have those rudimentary Imbuements on your room. They’re too shit to be his, meaning you’re doing this on your own. Otto isn’t a fan of missing information.”

The woman hesitated. “I’m not hiding anything from him. I am simply verifying it.”

“Right,” Jalen drawled. “What is it that you go by nowadays? You change your name too often for me to bother remembering it — not that I’d have remembered it if you kept one.”

“Bird.”

“Well then, Bird, either you come help Vermil’s students or I will shamelessly blackmail you with Otto’s annoying ass. Good luck researching shit with him pestering you.”

Bird’s eye twitched. “What do you want me to do?”

“I haven’t figured that bit out yet,” Jalen admitted. “I’m sure you’ve got something you can offer them, though. Some Runes, perhaps? The treasurer of the King family has access to quite a bit of power.”

“You want me to steal from Otto?” Bird demanded, taking a step back. “I won’t. That oversteps both of our boundaries. You’re the head of the Linwick family. Why don’t you—”

“Don’t feel like it, and I don’t know them well enough to give good runes. I’m not saying to steal from Otto — his nose is too sharp for that,” Jalen said with a shake of his head. He blurred forward, prodding Bird in the forehead. “I’m saying to use your own privileges and access to get them something. I’m more than aware you’re capable of it. You’re young, but Otto hasn’t been shy bragging about your abilities and role in the family. Granted, I did burn the majority of the letters he sent, but I’ve glanced at a few.”

Bird’s lips pressed thin. Then she sighed. “Fine, but only if you promise to keep this secret. I will not be blackmailed by the same thing twice. I need to fully research this style before I tell Otto about it.”

“Whatever you want,” Jalen said with a wave of his hand. “I really don’t care as long as I get what I want.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Bird said wearily. “Can you get out of my room now? You’re ruining my practice.”

I rather like this helper of Otto’s. Too bad she’s so loyal to him. She’s got balls, even if a big part of them is knowing I can’t mess with the Kings too much.

“Just one more thing,” Jalen said.

“What is it?”

“Put some damn clothes on before you find the students. Vermil is going to be pissed if he finds out I sent a nudist after them.”

Bird glanced down at herself and her cheeks went bright red as she spun in search for clothes. “Shit! I forgot I was practicing. Why in the Damned Plains didn’t you say anything earlier?”

There was no response. By the time she found them and looked back, Jalen was gone. Bird pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers and let out a defeated sigh.