[YF] Chapter 254: Jeriece

Jeriece had been a part of the Inner Circle for the better part of a century. Long had it been since she’d experienced the expectation of fragility that most hold toward her race. Her presence makes sure of that. But she’d seen enough underestimating her for her diminutive size, that she never expected to have done so herself.

Well, maybe that was unfair on herself; she had treated the girl on the verge of adulthood with all the respect her sudden, explosive arrival onto the scene deserved. She simply didn’t account that the way she would fight would be so completely different from what she’d faced before.

Jeriece had struck fast. From what she’d heard, the áed weren’t much different from fire mages — albeit not insane — and had taken the same approach. Of course, what she’d heard were very detailed analyses of a collection of witness accounts, from people who’s very job was to break down one’s abilities.

She’d started by disarming the áed. Jeriece’s information referred to her spear as nothing more than a compliment to her flames. Apparently she’d lost her previous one at some point in the past war, and never tried to find another, so the analysts assumed it was more of a backup weapon. Or maybe something she wanted to incorporate into her style.

As Jeriece had looked upon that dark silvery grey spear with alien white etchings — a beautiful and deadly weapon — she discarded such assumptions. That was not a spear one held unless they were going to use it. She sprung forward, her own beautiful weapon — a prestigious Riparian-make lance — held before her. In an instant, she struck the hand loosely holding the spear.

The weapon clattered against the wall and Jeriece flew up to the ceiling, shifting her lance for her feet to grip the hard surface. It was easier than expected. As with most mages — fire mages especially — it was the close quarters fights they struggled the most. That was what Jeriece assumed the spear was for; to account for her weakness. But the áed’s grip was weak, and lacked the intense stubbornness of a weapons-master.

The volan was disappointed, and let her thoughts be known.

Deciding to end this duel quickly, and to avoid showing off more of her skills than necessary, she dove down on the áed. The girl’s greatest strength, which the analysts had focused on more than anything else, was her lack of care for physical strikes. Her unique physiology allowed weapons to pierce her without pain or injury.

For nearly any physical warrior, she might as well be an insurmountable challenge.

But her defence wasn’t impenetrable. The Viisin had hurt her, and that alone had been enough to indicate how she could be beaten. While she could avoid being hurt by physical strikes, it was clear the hyle of water and decay still affected her. For someone like Jeriece — with her Riparian inscribed lance replete with specialised pressure hyle — it was not at all impossible. In fact, if her hunch was right, then the áed was more vulnerable to blunt strikes than piercing; more vulnerabilities to work with.

So Jeriece struck. She crashed through the girl, allowing the flames of her body to reform around the length of the lance held vertical at her chest, and declared her victory. With her weapon teeming with negative pressure, any flames that came close immediately extinguished.

This was a show dual more than anything. As long as the girl knew she couldn’t win, there was no need to go further. No need to hurt someone that could absolutely assist the nations in their time of need.

“I am disappointed. For the one that achieved enough in the last war to have been denoted a nickname not able to even defend herself… the áed aren’t worth our while.”

It was only when Jeriece spoke her mind and goaded the elder áed in a preemptive attempt to have them bring more of their strength to the table that the girl finally acted. Nothing the volan couldn’t handle, to start. A glare and an explosion of flame.

Only when the body at the tip of her lance disappeared, did she realise she had fallen into the trap of underestimating her opponent.

It wasn’t an odd effect of the firestorm suddenly engulfing the room. Not a trick of the eye or illusion. The girl dispersed into the blaze in a way no fire mage could replicate.

The Inner Circle mercenary swung her lance through the golden flames, parting them with the power of her weapon, and found no sign of her opponent. The fire closed in after each sweep, lapping at her thin fur and inscribed wingsuit, but not charring either.

She crouched, and flung herself through the room. With flames inhibiting her sight, she arced through the air in search for the girl she lost. But it was a desperate attempt. One she knew wouldn’t bear fruit. The áed’s blossoming presence — not yet tempered by years of experience — was detectable all through the flames. Not from a single point. Jeriece couldn’t detect where her body was, as she could any of the others that rapidly rose to their strength.

The áed was the blaze.

As soon as Jeriece realised there was no illusion before her, she locked on the most likely answer. This áed had reached beyond the threshold. As someone with well over a century of mercenary experience, she knew much of the binding many of the stronger creatures held. How they connected with an element and used its strength through their bodies.

Áinfean were a perfect example of a being that reached the first threshold. Where instead of people enhanced by lightning, their flesh had become the electricity itself. Many had speculated if there was a second threshold; the way increased binding made their bodies more flexible and in tune with their element even beyond the original threshold made it clear there was more to achieve beyond it, but it was impossibly difficult to increase that elemental relationship.

But the young woman before her had done so.

Beyond her presence, there was no way to tell this inferno was a living being. Her analysts had been certain the áed were of a similar binding to the áinfean, albeit far more militarised as a race. That meant this áed had achieved what no other in record had.

And that achievement immediately had Jeriece grasping at straws. Her lance was having an obvious effect on the flames, eradicating them where she managed to strike, but they were quickly replaced. And after only a few moments of her gliding around the room, the blaze learnt to avoid the hungry weapon.

Most of her skills lay in wielding that lance and outmanoeuvring her enemies with speed. Unlike the other races, enhancement didn’t improve her strength enough to compete. It improved her perception and reaction times to the point where she could have her lance between her enemy’s eyes before they even noticed her move. But her opponent had no eyes to pierce. Not only that; Jeriece couldn’t outmanoeuvre a blaze that covered every corner of the room this duel was bound.

Even as she shot through the air faster than she was sure the young woman could see, she felt tongues of flames lap at her tail, drying out the fur along it. Really, it was a blessing the blaze wasn’t all that hot.

Immediately after thinking that, those golden flames shifted white.

The heat made her sweat, and any exposed fur along her body started to smoke a little after some time flying through the fire. Jeriece was forced to roll. She spun as she flew through the air and swung her lance in her path to push back the flames that threatened to leave char her wingsuit. It was hot now, but not so bad that she couldn’t handle it for some time.

Jeriece wasn’t sure what to do.

The volan suddenly broke through the blaze and found herself looking down on the crowd gathered at the entrance of this large hall. Considering the majority were politicians with little if any enhancement, they looked surprisingly unbothered by the temperature. Jeriece’s eyes shifted to the áed standing at the front. None looked like they were doing anything but watching, but she realised they must have been blocking the heat from affecting the rest.

Remus was staring starry-eyed into the wall of fire. It was a better sight than the stressed visage he’d taken on in the past months, but it was strange that this was what finally calmed him down. Behind him, was one of Jeriece’s fellow Inner Circle mercenaries, staring up at her with an unimpressed eye. She scowled at the sight; Naier, the dual stone and force mage, was a right bastard. He wouldn’t be doing any better right now, and yet he still acts as if she should be doing more.

Jeriece calmed herself and wiped off her scowl before long enough time would pass that it would be noticeable.

As she looked down upon the open space where the áed obviously refused to spread her flames, a slight temptation overtook the volan; to fight here, where she didn’t have to deal with the blaze lapping at her tail constantly and where she could use these spectators as shields to stop the young woman from attacking.

She immediately crushed that thought, and dove back into the flames. Barely an instant had passed since she’d first broken free of the firestorm. Jeriece hated that the idea of using people shields had even risen to her thoughts. This wasn’t a battle against the Empire. It was a semi-friendly duel. For a short moment, before she rededicated herself to properly challenging this áed, she lamented that she truly had become what she’d once hated about the Inner Circle. But years of victories built upon desperate measures meant some ideals couldn’t be upheld.

After acting so arrogantly before, Jeriece could hardly let this battle end as it was. Even if the young woman had shown without doubt it wasn’t all talk and propaganda. She was an asset in battle. Not particularly for taking on other elite as these flames, while hot, weren’t enough to surpass the defences of most the strongest of Henosis’ elite. Well, not unless they couldn’t get rid of her within a few hours.

Death by slow-roast didn’t sound pleasant.

As it was, this duel would end with a stalemate. Neither able to actually hurt the other. But with all the pact nation leaders and Naier’s disappointed stare watching on, she had to put on a better showing.

So… how did you beat someone that was no different from a firestorm?

You either doused it, or removed all the fuel that let it spread.

The leaders of the Order likely wouldn’t be happy, but they had given her freedom, and she would jump at the chance to use her strength to the fullest.

As she twirled through the blaze, she adjusted her grip on her lance. Twitching a finger over a set of inscription switches, the off-blue glistening colour of the negative hyle already threading across the weapons surface began to pulse with power. With her second hand — pulled away momentarily from angling her flight — she spun the weapon. It rotated in her grip at speeds even Jeriece found difficult to follow, and her hand burnt from the intense void of pressure in her hands, but she kept her claws steady.

The powerful weapon was near impossible to wield for any besides herself. It took every fibre of focus to keep it from spinning out and crashing through the walls. Walls that despite the princesses assurances, Jeriece knew wouldn’t hold. They were inscribed ranked stone. Even some Beiths could break their way through.

She had to readjust her grip a thousand times a second to wield it. When striking, that number would amplify tenfold. As she continued sailing through the air, Jeriece felt her wings no longer catching air. The lance created a cone of void around her. Suddenly the flames were no longer a worry; they couldn’t reach her within the cone with the pace she was moving, being eaten by the suffocating space between them.

The inscriptions lit up along Jeriece’s wingsuit in response to the activated weapon. Negative pressure hyle ran along her back and through her wings. Once the flow was complete, the volan had control over her movement again. By shifting the void either above or below her wings, she could force them to act as if the air was still fully present, and not in the minimal and turbulent state the Riparian weapon caused.

She shot through the room, and the flames recoiled.

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I just realised there's only half a week until book launches. Exciting! I'll put a link up on the 7th (I just realised it's probably america's 7th, not mine) anyway, i'll put a link up when it releases if anyone is interested. I'll appreciate anyone who leaves the book a review over on Amazon. :D

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