Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Chapter 36: It’s Complicated

Alex had to admit that Zach cut a rather intimidating sight. His dark aether flowed behind him in the image of black wings, in the likeness of an angel of death.

Yeah, okay that’s pretty damn cool. He thought as he pointed his blade forward.

Zach lunged the moment Alex started to move, his spear leaving lines of a dozen overlapping attacks through the air. His weapon thrusts were so fast that their afterimages lingered, solidifying into phantasmal strikes that chased Alex as he tried to retreat. Each illusionary spear carried a fragment of Zach’s aether, giving them enough substantial form that they could pierce and cut as much as the true one.

Alex’s [Projection Shield] flared to life, a layer of azure hexagons rotating in a defensive spiral in front of his body, but even as his projection deflected one shadow spear, two more slipped through gaps, slashing shallow lines across his side.

He frowned as he realized [Projection Shield] alone wasn’t going to cut it.

He drew a sharp breath and released a pulse from the second aethergem set into his spine.

“[Aether Burst]!”

A shockwave of blue energy exploded outward. It rippled the air in a visible wave, scattering the illusionary spears followed by forcing Zach to falter and leap backward.

Zach landed on his feet a few meters away before standing upright and shooting Alex a glare, a smirk touching his lips. “Getting serious now?”

Alex shook his head with groan. “You’re going to force me to reveal things I’d rather not.”

“That’s the point! You said no holding back right?” Zach’s grin sharpened, and in the blink of an eye he vanished into shadow again.

Alex felt the pressure-shift in the ambient aether on his left side. He spun just as Zach reappeared with his pear stabbing toward his ribs. Alex brought up his sword to block. His entire arm shook and he felt a spike of pain from his wrist.

Zach attacked again, and again Alex blocked him and was rewarded with a jarring pain in his limb. It was obvious by this point that Zach’s new spell was an augmentor spell, it was boosting his body to the point that Aleex couldn’t even block his spear without still taking residual damage.

If things continued as they were, Zach would simply batter him down with heightened power. He needed to use more than what he’d shown so far.

Alex straightened and sighed. “Fine. If that’s how it’s going to be.”

He closed his eyes and focused inward. It took only a moment for him to cycle his aether into the pattern of contained within the structure of his repurposed gate. His internal channels ignited one by one, blue-white ather running through the lattice of his body. Lines of light crawled up his arms, his spine, his neck until the surge came.

That same blue-white energy erupted from his body, wrapping him in a shimmering cloak of power. The immediate vicinity buzzed from the raw vitality that saturated the air.

[Vita Surge Cloak] activated.

Zach’s grin held, but his eyes tightened in the corners. There was worry in his expression, as he knew it was Alex’s own augmentor spell that he was seeing, and he knew how powerful the spell was.

Alex didn’t wait even a moment after his power stabilized to rush forward.

Aether flickered in a blue flash, and he reappeared in front of Zach in an instant. Zach barely had time to cross his spear before the first blow landed and the two colliding cracked the air. Sparks sprayed outward in twin streams of black and blue.

Alex pressed onward without giving any pause.

One strike. Two. Three. Then another and another. Blue afterimages trailed behind each, stacking faster and faster in a neon display of streaking azure.

Zach blocked one, parried the second, the next couple came too fast, opening up new wounds on his upper body. Only for Alex’s knee to come shooting up at his chest. Zach caught it with the shaft of his spear.

The dark aura around Zach’s form flickered as he took Alex’s blows. In contrast, Alex’s cloak roared brighter as his battle spirit began taking over.

He was always looking for that push, the challenge that forced him to push limits he had set for himself. Something that got his blood boiling, that feeling of agony turned power inside his body.

This was it.

A fight that could only end one way.

Alex found himself smiling as he watched Zach return to a ready stance with his spear. He raised his own weapon and his eyes moved from Zach to the hilt in his hand, his mind drifting towards a sudden idea.

He had been using the weapon, practicing and fighting with it, getting used to changing its shape on a whim. He knew how aether moved through the hilt, the material’s resistance points, how much he can push it before breaking.

Which was also why he knew his idea might work, maybe.

It was a wild idea. And the thought of it failing… it was insane.

Alex smiled. “Come on then, last chance to take me down.”

“If you say you’re ready,” Zach shouted back.

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There was a level of careful timing that Alex had to make sure to get right for his plan. So when Zach bent his knees in preparation to attack, Alex merely breathed and focused himself. Watching carefully for the instant he would move.

Zach pushed off with his feet, shooting forward with spear in hand. Even as he moved, dark aether shot up and down his spear, coating the entire weapon in a black aura which seemed to lengthen the weapon even further.

Keeping his sword pointed forward, Alex reacted by deactivating his [Vita-Surge Cloak], ending the buff entirely.

It was a move so unpredictable it caused Zach to hesitate a step, pulling back his blade. His brows began fighting each other on his face as expressions of confusion, anger, fear, and more all warred to show themselves.

Yeah, be confused. Alex thought.

Even with the hesitation, Zach still pressed. But by then, the backlash from Alex’s spell had already hammered at his body, and was easily eaten up by his Meridian Imprint. The imprint then converted that to pure aether and dumped it into Alex’s channels.

Zach was almost on him now, thrusting toward his chest.

Pain still hit Alex’s stomach from his wound, but the flood of aether was gathered and sent down his arm, forming a spell pattern as it was funneled into the hilt in his hand.

The spearhead passed by Alex’s sword just as the tip of the aether blade erupted with a concentrated [Aether Burst].

Fwoom… clang-clink!

The explosion of energy wrenched the spear from Zach’s grasp and tossed it across the platform.

“Oh fu—“ Zach began, realizing what had happened.

Alex’s conjured aether blade had shattered from the casting of the spell, he had made it too powerful. But that didn’t matter. The hilt was perfectly fine, and he simply reformed the blade as he stepped forward.

Hard light blue energy sharper than steel was set against Zach’s throat.

“Well?” Alex teased.

Zach sighed and closed his eyes. “Alright… I forfeit.”

The bubble around them popped, bringing in the rush of sound and the approach of the medics.

Alex dropped to a knee immediately, clutching at his midsection, which still bled. He chuckled, knowing he was had been a crazy fool to have tried something like that.

He might not have been able to cast the spell through his weapon at all, and would have been skewered by Zach. Or if, it hadn’t been strong enough, or caught Zach unaware as much as it had, it might not have managed to disarm him, and he would have taken even more wounds, wasted aether, and ended his augmentor spell far too soon.

It was a lot of what ifs that didn’t do in his favor. But somehow, he had pulled it off. Because it was crazy. Because he was crazy.

“I’ve been telling you exactly that for months,:” Obby whined. “You didn’t believe me. Now you tell yourself I’m right but give me no credit.”

Sorry, Obby. Yes, you were right. I’m an insane meat-sack. Alex grinned as the medics got to work on him.

Zach merely gave him a nod as another healer began working on his arm.

***

The roar of the crowd still felt fresh in Alex’s ears after the arena’s door closed behind him. He sat back on the bench and closed his eyes, trying to get himself under control. His racing pulse hadn’t slowed even after the fight had ended. And his muscles and tendons still tingled with a soreness from the [Vita Surge Cloak]’s backlash. Even with his [Backlash Devourer] imprint, there was lingering strain. Twitches crawled up and down in his back, and faint tremors ran through his hands.

It would take a few hours for that to subside.

“Alex!” Holly shouted as she burst into the room and she darted toward him. Her face was flushed with excitement, her smile wide enough to light the entire corridor. “That was insane! You won!”

He managed a grin. “Yeah… guess I did.”

Holly threw her arms around him before he could say anything more. He felt her warmth on his neck and face. It was relaxing enough to bring his heartbeat back down to normal almost right away.

“You were incredible out there. And that final burst through your sword—” she pulled back to look him in the eye, “—I thought you were going to let Zach win for a moment there. Then your blade lit up and… you know that was a stupid plan right?”

He chuckled softly. “I did, yeah.”

But behind his smile, guilt gnawed at him. Zach’s expression at the end of the match… that grim but calm disappointment, was stuck in his head. He’d seen the determination Zach’s eyes fade at the moment. Alex had stopped Zach’s run in the tournament. Stopped his chances at the Inheritance Dungeon. But he knew those things weren’t why Zach was so upset.

“I just…” Alex started, looking down at his trembling hand, “I wish it didn’t have to come down to him or me being the only winner. It’s not like him winning would have gotten her to—never mind”

Holly’s expression softened. “What?”

Alex debated mentally about telling her what Zach had said. It was just emotional drama, basic stuff. Granted, besides Henry and Peter, the rest of the team were basically still teenagers, early twenties at best. But it all seemed so silly.

Plus, he didn’t really want to tell Holly that Kate might be trying to go for him. It felt like a whole ocean liner of trouble in the making.

Still, in the end, he knew he wouldn’t be hiding things from her. Not this anyway. Obby was a different story.

“Zach feels like Kate is obsessed with me, and he was trying to beat me to earn her attention,” he finally said.

“Oh, yeah I know.”

“Look I haven’t b— wait, you know?” Alex sputtered. “And… you’re fine with that?”

Holly shrugged and tapped his nose playfully. “I mean, it’s kinda hard not to notice when she constantly give me dagger eyes. And come on, you’re a catch, that’s why I reeled you in after all.”

“So you knew about this, and let me bumble around ignorant for months?” Alex leaned back against the wall. “Holly, what the hell.”

“I mean, I wasn’t going to tell you that the blonde bombshell of our group was into you. And you were the one who didn’t notice, okay.” She shrugged. “You know Cole was into you for a bit too, right?”

“Seriously? He made some jokes and stuff with Allie, but I didn’t think it was serious. Wait, Allie isn’t also—“

“No,” Holly laughed. “I think she’s too busy fighting off Devon’s advances for her to find a guy of her own. Though, I do think she would have tried climbing onto Ghrukk a long time ago, if Myrae wasn’t in the way.”

Alex’s head swam as he realized the web of relationships that he just wasn’t picking up on. Things were complicated, he’d leave all that to Holly and focus on fighting instead.

“Damn. Poor Devon,” he chuckled.

“Come on,” Holly said, brushing the long locks of hair from her face. “You need rest before the next round tomorrow. I’ll make sure Allie comes by to double check the med team’s work.”

“I could use a nap,” he admitted.

They exited the waiting room under the arena and headed down the hallway toward the exit.

Then, Alex slowed, his head turning down a side path.

At the far end of the hall, a man stood in the shadow of an archway, partially hidden. He lifted one hand, subtly beckoning. Alex recognized him immediately as the same representative who had approached him after the fight.

The one who’d hinted at “a sympathetic party”. Whom Alex was damn near certain was from Earth.

Holly noticed his pause. “What’s wrong?”

“Someone I need to talk to.”

“Now?” she frowned, looking from Alex to the figure. “Alex, you just finished a fight. Whatever it is, it can wait.”

He shook his head. “It can’t. Go ahead, I’ll meet you at the suite in a bit.”

“Alex—”

He gave her a tired but firm look. “Please.”

After a reluctant pause, Holly sighed and nodded. “Fine. But if you’re not back in an couple hour, I’m coming to get you out myself.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

She squeezed his arm once, then turned down the hall. Alex watched her go until she completely vanished from sight. Only then did he turn back to the waiting man and approach.

The representative smiled faintly. “Mr. Pierce. You’ve done well today.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t come just to congratulate me.”

“Of course not. My employer wishes to speak with you privately.”

Alex hesitated. It was risky to just venture off on his own to see this mystery person. But Alex needed to know who this was, and what they offered. His curiosity burned more harshly than the pain of his body.

He nodded. “Lead the way.”