Aries Floor 6, The Emperor’s Ascent - 12:19 PM

  The attack came out of nowhere with hardly any build up. At one moment there was nothing and, in the next, ethereal stars appeared under the roof to descend on the area. Dirt and grass kicked up everywhere, obscuring our vision, but I could see through my aura that this artillery strike was anything but indiscriminate.

  It covered our half of the arena, hitting everything except for the sheep. All except one, who was completely fine despite the bombardment.

  Ross winced as the damage the animal would have taken coursed through his body. The only outward signs of damage was a streak of bruising across his back. It started healing, too. Not nearly as fast as my own would have, but still quick enough to be noticeable.

  “Really? No announcement? No introduction? Just right into it?” Mercury asked, sitting on a sheep from Ross’ side of the arena. “Jeez, you’re as bad as Jamie.”

  The Magical Girl turned around, arching an eyebrow at his opponent. “Ross,” he said. “Also known as Magical Girl Star.”

  “Mercury Moonslayer,” the ninja returned with a bow. “Gentleman thief of Sol Ligatus.”

  “Well there’s your problem,” Ross said. “You think this is about being gentlemanly, don’t you? No wonder your boss wants me to knock you around.”

  “No,” Mercury huffed. “Pretty sure he wants me to learn that I can stand up to anyone, including the guy who’s probably the second strongest one stuck in here.”

  I felt the Orc’s aura twitch. “I’m the strongest one here. That’s why they didn’t give me any backup.”

  “Sorry, man. The Warmonger’s here, that means no one’s the strongest but him,” the ninja said, not sounding apologetic at all.

  “Don’t see him in here with me. Just him throwing his lackey to the wolves,” Ross replied, clearly taking offense to being called second best.

  “Yeah, this ain’t about me!” I yelled. “Just fight already!”

  Mercury slipped off of the sheep he had been sitting on and drew the Princess from her sheathe. “You got it, boss!” he yelled, waving his wakizashi. “Apologies, Magical Girl Star. This is the part where I make you bleed.”

  “I don’t think so,” the Orc said.

  Mercury disappeared in a flash of light as the dust finally settled on our side of the arena and we could see again. The next moment, he was standing beside the enemy. His sword struck against Ross’ side, but it didn’t even cut through the cloth. It still caused damage, just not any that was very noticeable; the Magical Girl’s outfit got scuffed a little bit.

  The Orc’s hand shot out and Ross grabbed Mercury by the top of his head, lifting him up so they were eye to eye. “As a superhero, I’m rated PG,” he explained. “So I’m immune to bleeding, amongst other things.”

  “What? Really? That’s awesome!” Mercury exclaimed, ignoring the fact that he was being held up by a grip on his skull. “How’d you become a Magical Girl? Given your, uh, masculine frame?”

  Ross frowned. “I inherited it from my daughter when she died in my arms,” he stated, his aura showing a turmoil that his voice did not.

  The ninja cringed. “Damn, my bad for asking.”

  “It’s fine, you didn’t know. I’m going to crush your skull now.”

  Mercury screamed for a moment before he was replaced by another sheep. Ross flinched as the damage was reflected again, and dropped it to the ground a second later. His eyes scoured the arena before he swung his wand.

  Large, translucent stars appeared all over the battlefield. They passed through the sheep harmlessly as they roamed, all being pulled in one direction. Ross lifted and aimed the wand that way.

  Half of the floating stars accelerated towards the spot, spinning like shuriken as they became more opaque. These ones moved out of the way of sheep, dodging them effortlessly now that they were ready to do damage. Mercury popped out of his hiding spot amidst a group of sheep, having likely been warned about the danger by his sword spirit.

  His sword moved quickly as he attempted to deflect the first one. It struck the Princess and nearly pushed her aside, prompting the ninja to hold on to the hilt with both hands. The sound of metal grinding against metal filled the arena as he started getting pushed back.

  In a fit of panic, Mercury switched places with another sheep. It worked, but the star veered off before it could deal any damage. Each of the ones in motion slowed down before changing direction, this time behind Ross.

  The Magical Girl quickly moved his wand behind his back and gave it a waggle. A long, bright red blade burst forth from the five point star at the tip. It blocked a slash the ninja had aimed at his spine before Ross turned and slashed back.

  Another star flew diagonally from the tip of the wand as the Orc attacked, flying away before slowing down and curving back to Mercury. The ninja attempted to shove his opponent forward, but the difference in Strength was too much. Instead, he lashed out with his foot and caught Ross in the back of the knee.

  The Magical Girl buckled and Mercury made another strike. This time, the Princess landed cleanly between his opponent’s shoulder blades before he had to back off. He pulled his blade’s sheath from his back and wielded it in his off hand as the stars converged again. Two of them got close enough to merge together, becoming a much larger projectile.

  He backpedaled, changing direction every time a sheep attempted to trip him up. While the scabbard was only made of wood, it was still a part of the Princess and held up exceptionally well as the star tried to cut it in half. I was expecting him to change places again, but he tried to weather the storm. He grit his teeth as a third one became assimilated, pushing him back.

  Ross moved between the sheep, doing everything he could to not just kick them out of the way, and raised his sword. That was when Mercury lunged.

  With a roar of effort, he put both blade and scabbard against the star and pushed it backwards. The next moment it was gone as the Princess used her dispel ability, the same one that had allowed the ninja to disperse my Distant Slice before it could cut him in our last bout.

  The Magical Girl attempted to dodge the surprise strike, nearly trampling a sheep in his path as Mercury’s blade went straight for his throat. He had to lean back, nearly avoiding it, and the ninja flowed into his next attack, making an X with wakizashi and scabbard. The wooden container glowed with a light that gave it a deadly edge.

  Both would have cut if Ross were capable of bleeding, but his overpowered class saved him from that. He got his footing back and put both hands on his sword. Planting one of his shoes into the dirt, he swung hard.

  Mercury, for whatever reason, tried to block. Perhaps it was to get a grasp on how strong Ross really was, or perhaps it was because he had stopped thinking for a moment. Either way, he raised the Princess and fortified her with the scabbard.

  They went flying into the air, sailing comically over the sheep. I could see his eyes widen as he slammed into the invisible arena wall some twenty feet away and slid to the ground. Strands of wool were starting to accumulate on his black outfit, slowly allowing him to blend in with the surrounding sheep.

  “Why aren’t you moving like you usually do, you damn ninja!?” Ash called, raising her hand to her mouth.

  Mercury shook for a moment before he stood up. “You said you needed to watch me fight, so I was slowing it down for you!”

  The Monstersmith scowled. “The fuck did you hear that from?”

  He pointed to a spot next to him before he blocked an incoming star with his wakizashi. “The Princess heard you telling the Warmonger that you wanted to make something for me when I was coming back from the stealth mission. She said you couldn’t keep up with how I fight.”

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  “That’s not what I said,” she spat before crossing her arms.

  “Don’t like that,” Jamie reiterated between mouthfuls of popcorn, referring to her dislike that there was a spirit roaming around once again.

  “Whatever, just fight this asshole normally. You’re going to lose otherwise!” Ash yelled.

  “He’s going to lose regardless!” Ross roared.

  Before Mercury could respond, the Magical Girl sliced the air in front of him and reached in. An identical cut appeared from within the star that the Princess was holding back, and his arm reached through it. He grabbed the ninja by the wrist and pulled.

  The star started getting smaller once Mercury’s arm was through it, and it looked like it was going to cut it clean off. This was when he swapped places with another sheep. It fell to the ground, protected by the Mirror Armor, while Ross took the damage.

  “How many times can you do that?” the Orc complained, rubbing his arm where he had been injured.

  “About a billion more times,” Mercury answered as he stood up from amongst the livestock. “Alright. Ash says to go fast, so let’s go fast.”

  “Sure, kid, let’s—” Ross didn’t have time to finish his sentence.

  Mercury became a blur of black and white as he sprinted across the sheep. The Magical Girl, clearly caught off guard, raised his sword only for the ninja to disappear. He had dropped, getting cover under the animals to continue his charge despite how low he was to the ground.

  With the Princess’ scabbard on his back again, Mercury used both hands to slice through the magical garb to get at the man’s Achilles tendon. It didn’t work, of course, but by the time Ross lashed out with his foot the ninja was already gone.

  The other stars, which had been content to float around the arena, started to move. First in one direction, then the other. Ross’s fuzzy brows furrowed as he looked around, trying to get a visual on the ninja.

  It wasn’t that he was moving so fast as to be invisible—that wasn’t something Mercury was capable of yet—but he was moving way faster along the ground than someone should. His outfit had been completely covered in wool after he cut some off, which blended him in well with the seemingly copy and pasted sheep.

  A whistle came from behind Ross, causing him to spin and swing his wand sword. With his height, he had no problem avoiding any of the regular sized sheep so long as he kept his attack above a certain range. Or so he thought.

  Mercury had lifted one of the animals with one hand. Both him and Ross took damage as the Magical Girl’s swipe connected, however. Even though the Orc had done all of the damage, the fact that the ninja was holding the sheep meant it was partially his fault.

  He grimaced, but knew how to handle pain. The Princess slashed against Ross’ neck before the two disappeared and reappeared.

  Tenfold Strikes was a useful ability that allowed Mercury to teleport in place while he attacked several times over a short period. None of them were more powerful than a regular slash, but they could cause a lot of damage with their speed and layered strikes.

  Ross took a step back. Not only was he taken by surprise, but he was off balance and the repeated strikes at his neck weren’t helping. There was no blood, though he was clearly bruised. With a yell, the Magical Girl took a step forward and swung the moment Tenfold Strikes was up. Their swords clashed, and another star flew out of the wand’s tip.

  It was obvious that, despite all his power and skill, Ross was no trained swordsman. He swung his wand sword like a bat with little finesse. I could feel Mercury’s surprise in his aura as he met each cut and thrust with a parry. He no longer tried to meet his opponent head on Strength to Strength, but leaned on his training.

  Mercury began to accelerate as he became more confident. The Princess was a blur, only seen through flashes of steel as they met with the Magical Girl’s laser sword or dispelled one of the stars that tried to cut him. He danced around Ross like he was a tree waiting to be felled.

  I leaned back, not realizing that I had moved to the edge of my seat, and waited. Mercury hadn’t seemed to realize it yet, but Ross was setting up for a big move. I could have warned him, but both he and the Princess honestly should have been paying more attention. A big teaching moment was about to happen, one that I had been hoping for.

  With every heavy step, Ross stamped his foot into the ground. With Mercury moving everywhere, it was easy for him to make the outline of a star in the dirt beneath him without stirring up suspicion. He yelled, grabbing everyone’s attention, and carved out the shape whenever he needed to, retreating to it when necessary.

  It wasn’t very subtle, but sometimes people missed things in combat.

  “Star Magic!” Ross yelled, wasting no time once the outline was complete. The ground around him started to glow absurdly bright, causing Mercury to cover his eyes. “Supernova!”

  All of the light and the errant stars were sucked into Ross, causing the red half of his outfit to glow bright purple. His wand sword grew two times its size and changed to a searing white blue color. He swung it at speeds equal to Mercury’s, and the very air split apart.

  The ninja tried, and failed, to dodge out of the way.

  An intense ripple of energy crashed against the sides of the arena as the ninja was stuck inside a ball of light. Due to the horizontal nature of the attack, it went over the sheep instead of striking them, though pain did wrack Ross’ body when it came to the ones closest to Mercury. It was bad enough that he fell to one knee, though the animals eventually started moving away.

  After several seconds, the light faded, revealing a heavily breathing Orcish Magical Girl and a downed ninja. Ross stood and raised his arms in triumph, the act making him stumble back a step. I smirked.

  It was so good to see a plan come together.

  Mercury, against all odds, shifted. The Princess’ blade glowed with the same light as the Orc’s supernova had, and he gripped her haft tightly. Slowly, he started trying to stand back up.

  Ross, astonished that anyone could survive that, stared down in surprise before raising his foot and stomping down on the ninja’s head. The Princess returned to normal when Mercury lost consciousness.

  <<<>>>

  [[Notice]]

  The duel is over. The Ophiuchus faction wins!

  [[Emperor’s Ascent Quest 6 Complete]]

  After a wonderful one on one battle, Ross Haverstein comes out on top! Sol Ligatus’ reign over the Emperor’s Ascent ends early as the undisputed strongest player in the scenario asserts his dominance.

  1,000 points goes to the Ophiuchus faction! Better luck next time for the newcomers.

  <<<>>>

  “Your boss was right about one thing,” Ross said, offering Mercury a hand as they sprung back to full hit points. “You did not make things easy for me. What made your sword glow at the end there?”

  Mercury accepted the help up and held the Princess aloft. “I… don’t know. She’s asleep right now, though. That’s unusual.”

  “Your blade is asleep?” Ross asked, arching an eyebrow.

  “Yeah, she’s a sword spirit,” Mercury answered as he sheathed his weapon. “Warmonger? You know what’s going on?”

  My smirk only became more smug as they turned to face me. “The Princess needs her beauty rest after a good fight,” I said cryptically.

  Jamie kicked my leg without standing up. “That’s not an answer,” she chastised.

  “No, it’s not,” I chuckled, reaching down to rub where she had struck me. “Thanks for the help, Ross! I promise that it’s nothing detrimental. And well fought. I look forward to fighting alongside you in the cooperative room someday, so long as the condition Baltastasia forced on me improves.”

  Ross looked from me to Mercury as if trying to decide whether or not to be mad at my machinations before shrugging. He offered the ninja a hand. “Good fight.”

  “Good fight,” Mercury replied. There was a little bit of disappointment in his aura, but he took his defeat in stride. “Next time, we’ll be comrades.”

  “Yeah. Sounds good. Fighting you is really annoyi—”

  The area around us warped and we were back on the mountain with the staircases to the second to last room before us. Mercury had been pulled close as there wasn’t enough space for the original distance between us, and Bethany quickly jumped him for a hug.

  “Okay, so now that Ross is gone, what’s actually happening to the Princess?” Kayla asked.

  “Yeah!” the ninja exclaimed, waving his sword in the air. “What did that supernova attack do to her?”

  “More like, what did she do to the supernova,” I corrected with a smile. “And, if you want to know…”

  I leaned forward conspiratorially, and everyone else except Bethany copied me whether they meant to or not.

  “We’ll discuss it when we visit your Patron tomorrow,” I finished, and I laughed as the guild shook their heads. I pointed at the sky with a shrug. “What? I’m not going to give away all of Mercury’s secrets with all these watchers!”

  “Yeah, alright,” Ash said, clearly disappointed as she started climbing the stairs. “Let’s get moving, then.”

  “Not like he’s going to change his mind,” Jeff said, trying not to pout. It was completely obvious, though.

  “But it’s not bad, right?” Mercury asked quietly as we were the last to start ascending.

  I threw my arm around his shoulders. “It’s good, Merc,” I told him. “Everything went according to plan, so don’t you worry.”

  “Alright, thanks,” he said, most of the trepidation he felt falling away. “Can’t wait to find out what happens tomorrow. Or see what happens when she wakes up.”

  “It’s going to be glorious,” I replied, letting my arm fall away as we climbed to the next destination. “Promise.”

  [[Announcement]]

  is on sale for a limited time. Right now, it's 2.99, but it will bump up to 3.99 in a few days before the sale ends on the 2nd!

  But that's not all. I have also started writing Courier Quest International, its sequel! I decided, fairly late last night, that the April Writeathon was the perfect time to get back into the story. If you're interested, you can check out my announcement .

  That said, it does mean that the 3/week drop rate for Run is going back to 2/week until Courier Quest is done. The 29th is going to be the last Saturday chapter for at least the month, and I'll pick it back up after. (This previously said the 5th, but that was wrong. My bad.)

  That's all for me! I hope you all are enjoying this arc as much as I am!