The Central Arena of Aethelgard Academy was a massive bowl of hot intensity. High Noon had arrived and the sun was currently receiving a boost from the four Tier 7 Sun-Cores installed around the perimeter.
The air did not just shimmer, it vibrated with a dry and artificial heat that turned every breath into a lung searing chore. Thousands of students and faculty packed the marble stands. Every boy and girl in the crowd was paying attention.
Inquisitor John sat as rigid as a spear. His single visible eye, the Truth-Seeker Eye, was pulsing with a faint blue light. He was here to find a Vessel and today he had the best seat in the house for a dissection. He did not care about the heat or the crowd. He only cared about the mana signatures.
David Silver stepped onto the sands of the arena and the crowd did not even bother to boo. They just stared in disbelief. He looked like he had been dragged through a hedge and then lightly toasted.
His uniform was still singed from the previous day and in his right hand he carried something that barely qualified as a weapon. It was a rusted and notched training sword he had pulled from a scrap bin.
It was blunt and pitted with orange oxidation. The hilt wrap was unravelling and it looked like it would fall apart if he swung it too hard.
"Relatable humor, David," he whispered while squinting against the glare. "You are about to fight a dragon human hybrid with a piece of junk you found next to a pile of old boots. If you win this, the poets are going to have a really hard time making it sound majestic. Your parents are going to be so confused by your choice of equipment."
— [Infinite Regeneration System] —
[Host Information]
↳ Name: David Silver
↳ Life-form: Human / Engine-Bearer
[System Note: Your ’Dignity’ stat is currently at an all-time low. However, your ’Irony’ levels are through the roof. I suggest not hitting yourself with the rust. You might need a tetanus shot if you are not careful.]
"Focus, System," David thought while his gaze shifted to the opposite gate.
Sterling Greyjoy did not walk out, he erupted! A pillar of crimson flame shot into the air as he stepped onto the sand. The Dragon-Vein Injection had fully integrated into his body.
Sterling’s skin was no longer human. It was covered in overlapping red scales that pulsed with internal heat. His fingernails had hardened into obsidian talons and his eyes were two burning pits of dragon fire. He looked like a demon from the fiery pit of hell.
He was draped in House Greyjoy’s legendary Dragon-Scale Armor. It was a Tier 5 masterpiece that was said to be impenetrable. In his hand he held a broadsword made of refined Quick-Silver and the blade was roaring with red mana.
"Silver!" Sterling’s voice was a tectonic grind. He pointed his sword at David and a spray of molten sparks hit the sand. "Look at this arena. Look at the Sun-Cores.
My father spent a fortune to ensure that when I erase you, the entire Empire sees the truth. You are nothing but a Static error in a world of gods. I am going to turn you into ash!"
David raised his rusted hunk of metal and the tip wobbled slightly. "Nice scales, Sterling. Do you have to rub oil on them? Or do you just naturally smell like a burnt match? Also, your armor is a bit flashy. Are you worried people will not notice you if you do not glow like a tavern sign? It is a very loud fashion choice."
Sterling did not growl, he screamed! He lunged across the fifty foot gap in a single and explosive burst.
The sand behind him turned to glass from the heat of his takeoff. David’s Flash-Step mastery kicked in and his perception slowed the world to a crawl. He saw the Quick-Silver blade coming for his neck. It was a horizontal arc of red destruction.
David did not counter or block. He ducked and the heat of the passing blade singed the top of his hair. He rolled across the hot sand and came up in a clumsy and stumbling crouch. It looked more like a fall than a tactical move.
"He is just running!" a student shouted from the stands. "Look at him! He is terrified of the dragon!"
High in the box, Inquisitor John’s Truth-Seeker Eye narrowed. He saw David’s mana core, a cold and static block of lead. It was not moving or flaring. It was a broken organ. But his eye also caught the way David’s feet hit the sand with a precision that defied his clumsy appearance.
Sterling spun around and his eyes were flashing with a predatory hunger. "Running will not save you! Dragon-Aura: Ignite."
A wave of red mana rolled off Sterling and turned the arena into a literal oven. The heat was so intense that the air began to distort. Sterling charged again and his movements became a blur of Tier 4 Peak speed.
He rained down a barrage of heavy and overhead strikes. Each one was capable of splitting a boulder. David parried the strikes, or rather, he let the Quick-Silver blade slide off his rusted hunk of metal. Each impact sent a jar through his arms that felt like a lightning strike.
[Warning! Structural Integrity of rusted training sword is at 12 percent.]
[Detection: One more direct block will result in weapon pulverization. You will be holding a handle.]
"I know!" David snapped internally. "It is time. System, initialize the Rusted Spark sub-routine. Vibration Reinforcement. Tier 1."
[Passive Multiplier Activated: 100,000x!]
David focused his will on the rusted blade. He did not push mana through it. He pushed it into the molecular structure of the metal itself. Because of the multiplier, the Tier 1 Vibration spell underwent a catastrophic evolution.
The rusted sword did not glow or catch fire. Instead, it began to hum with a sound so high pitched it was silent to the human ear. The rust on the blade did not fall off.
It began to vibrate at 100,000 times the speed of sound. The blunt and notched edge was no longer a piece of metal. It was a high-frequency molecular saw.
Sterling saw David stop. He saw the boy standing there with a broken and rusted sword held low. Sterling laughed and his mana flared into a massive draconic silhouette behind him.
"This is the end, Silver! Dragon-Strike: Heaven-Render!"
Sterling leaped into the air and his Quick-Silver blade trailed a fifty foot tail of red fire. He brought the sword down with the weight of a falling mountain. It was aimed directly at David’s head.
David did not move until the last microsecond. He stepped forward and swung his rusted piece of junk in a short and upward diagonal slash.
"Oh no! I tripped!" David yelled. His voice was purposely loud and panicky. He stumbled forward and his feet tangled as he swung the vibrating blade.
The rusted sword met the Quick-Silver blade. There was no clang or explosion. The high-frequency blade sliced through Sterling’s Quick-Silver sword like it was made of warm butter.
The Tier 5 weapon was simply unzipped at the atomic level. The rusted blade continued its path and met Sterling’s impenetrable Dragon-Scale Armor.
The scales were designed to reflect magic and absorb physical impact. They were not designed to resist a blade vibrating at molecular speeds. The rusted sword carved through the chest plate of the Dragon-Scale Armor in a clean and effortless line.
It did not draw blood because David had controlled the depth to the millimeter, but it sliced the heavy plate in half.
David’s stumble carried him past Sterling. He fell onto his hands and knees. The rusted training sword snapped in two from the sheer stress of the vibration the moment the multiplier turned off.
Sterling landed on his feet with his half of a Quick-Silver blade still clutched in his hand. He stood frozen for a second. Then the legendary Dragon-Scale Armor began to fall apart.
The chest piece slid off his torso in two perfect halves and hit the sand with a heavy thud. The Quick-Silver blade simply dissolved into dust.
Sterling stood in the center of the arena with his torso bare. The black Void-Rot veins on his neck were pulsing in the sunlight. He was not wounded, but his honor and his weapon had been cut to pieces by a piece of trash.
The silence in the arena was absolute. The Sun-Cores continued to hum, but the crowd was a tomb.
"What happened?" a voice whispered from the stands.
David scrambled to his feet while holding the broken hilt of his rusted sword. He looked at it with an expression of pure and bug-eyed shock. "Oh man! Did you see that? It just broke! I think the rust made it sharp like a serrated knife! It must have been a very lucky hit!"
He looked at Sterling who was shivering from a total and soul-crushing shock. "Sterling! Are you okay? I think your armor was defective! My sword just slid right through! I must have hit a weak spot! A rusted weak spot!"
[System Note: Your ’Innocent Bystander’ acting is reaching Tier 2. The Inquisitor is currently squinting so hard he might pull a muscle. He is very suspicious of your luck.]
Inquisitor John stood up in the High Box. He looked at the severed Dragon-Scale Armor. He looked at the rusted hilt in David’s hand. His Truth-Seeker Eye pulsed blue but he found nothing.
David’s core was still Static. There was no residue of Tier 5 magic. There was only the physical evidence of a very lucky and very strange impact.
"Defective armor," John murmured. His voice was cold. "A rusted training sword hitting a stress fracture. Statistically impossible, but the core does not lie. There is no mana signature of a Vessel."
John sat back down while his gaze remained fixed on David. He did not believe in luck, but he could not argue with the lack of evidence.
Sterling Greyjoy dropped his broken hilt into the sand. He looked at David and the dragon fire in his eyes flickered and died. It was replaced by a hollow and terrifying emptiness.
The Void-Rot was no longer being suppressed. It was taking over. He turned and walked toward the gate with his shoulders slumped. His golden dream had turned into a handful of dust and rust.
David stood in the sun with the broken hilt in his hand. He had won the duel. He had humiliated the Greyjoys and saved his family’s title. He had done it all while looking like a clumsy idiot.
But as he looked at the black veins on Sterling’s back, David did not feel like celebrating. He felt the cold weight of the Chronal Debt in his mind. He had overclocked reality to win a schoolyard fight and the world was getting thinner because of it.
"Relatable humor, David," he whispered while tossing the broken hilt into the sand. "You are the strongest mage in the room and everyone thinks you are just the luckiest klutz in the Empire. Enjoy the silence while it lasts. It is a very quiet victory."
He walked toward the exit and the heat of the Sun-Cores finally faded. He had survived the Duel of Rusted Sparks, but the Imperial Games were still coming. Next time a rusted sword would not be enough. He needed to find the source of the corruption.
As he entered the tunnel, David saw Rachel standing in the shadows. She did not say anything. She just nodded as a slow and respectful acknowledgement of the monster he was hiding.
David Silver smiled a tired and human smile. He kept walking. The Static had won again. The Engine was still hungry and the hunt was just beginning.
He walked back to his room while his face was pale about the future but his eyes were concealing a secret. He was ready for the next challenge!