Return of the Runebound Professor

Two more days passed exactly as the previous two had. Isabel’s team carved through the hordes of monsters attacking them with surprising efficiency, but if anything, that only made Noah even more worried.

If someone was trying to screw with the exam, they could have easily sent something stronger after Emily. Instead, they were sending monsters that were a threat, but weak enough for the four students to handle as long as they remained within the fort they’d constructed.

They’re trying to keep the kids in the same spot. But what’s the point? Just to wear them out until the exam ends? Even if they lose, they’ll have put on a pretty damn impressive performance. I just don’t get it.

The monsters didn’t care if Noah understood their motivations or not, though. They just kept going. Meanwhile, Eline was steadily gathering tokens by stealing them from the other contestants. She hadn’t been successful with every single one of her targets, though.

She’d gone after Edward, who Noah hadn’t seen since they’d arrived at the Linwick Estate, but he’d erected a huge shield around himself that Eline was unable to break through. After a few failed attacks, Eline had sprinted off in search of a new target.

Initially, Noah had been confused as to what Eline was aiming for. But, as the days had passed, the scope of her plans became much more apparent.

There were a limited number of token-bearing monsters. Every token that Eline collected was another student that didn’t pass the exam – and it was working, as far as Noah could tell. Fewer teams had tokens when Eline stole their bags, and there were certainly going to be less available for Isabel’s group if they ever broke free of the monsters sieging them.

“This is completely unfair,” Lee said, glaring at the screen. “It’s blatant cheating!”

“Survival is not always fair,” Evergreen said emotionlessly. “Some will always have it harder than others. Emily should be able to persevere, even in the face of adversity. If she can’t, then she has not been trained as a proper heir.”

“I think there’s a difference between survival and an active force clearly trying to screw you over,” Noah said, crossing his arms. “Lee is right. This is blatant. How many teams are even going to pass with Eline stealing all the tokens?”

“I don’t care.” Evergreen shrugged. “If anyone is unable to pass, then the only person they can blame is themselves. I have no sympathy for weakness.”

Noah glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Despite her words, Evergreen’s eyes were focused on the screen. He wasn’t sure if she wanted to see Emily pass or fail, but there was no doubt in his mind that she wanted something. Evergreen was far from uninvested in the results of the exam.

“Didn’t we already see that tree?” Lee asked, pointing up at the cube. Noah followed her finger to the image of Eline as she pressed through the snow. The storm had lessened, but it was still falling around all the students.

“Which one?” Noah asked. “I’ll be honest, they kind of all look the same to me.”

“I’m not seeing it either,” Moxie admitted.

“No, we definitely just saw it,” Lee insisted. “It’s one of the trees that Isabel and the others passed while they were heading up the side of the mountain to set up their camp.”

Noah sent Lee an impressed glance. “You memorized that? From just a glance?”

“It’s a tree,” Lee replied, as if that should have made everything obvious. Even Evergreen gave Lee a doubtful look, but she didn’t say anything.

“It does sound like Eline’s getting closer to fighting,” Noah said, tilting his head to the side. “Lee might be right. She’s pulling up on our students.”

“Why would she bother doing that?” Lee shook her head in confusion. “They don’t have any tokens. Eline is just wasting her time with them. All she has to do to win at this point is sit around and survive.”

“You’re assuming she was in on the sabotage,” Noah said, a small smile passing across his face. “But if she had no idea and thought things were playing fairly, then finding Emily’s group and stealing their tokens is absolutely the right move to do.”

“So she’s basically putting her chances of victory at risk because she’s making the smart move.” Moxie chuckled and eyed Noah. “That sounds like the exact opposite of what you would normally do.”

“And what would he normally do?” Evergreen asked, a slight frown on her features.

“Win,” Noah replied. He sent Evergreen an award-winning grin and got a scowl in response. They all turned back to the cube. The horde of monsters had been heavily thinned out and only a few stragglers remained.

Eline trudged through the snow, keeping low to the ground. Her eyes darted over the masses of dead monsters and Noah could almost see the thoughts spinning inside her head. With all the enemies dead around her, Eline had to assume that at least a few of them were token-bearing.

It probably wasn’t particularly reassuring to show up to your opponents and find out that they’d carved through a small army of enemies like a knife through butter, but Eline continued on regardless, her jaw set.

She’s really set on winning that bet, huh? Unfortunate for her. I have no clue if the kids are going to actually be able to defeat Eline, but she’s going to be kicking herself about this for weeks, even if she comes out ahead.

The corpse walls of the makeshift fortress appeared on the edges of Eline’s image on the cube. She crawled across the ground, blending in surprisingly well with the bodies littering the ground around her.

On the other screen, Isabel and Todd stood watch at the edges of their camp while Emily finished off a Root Fiend with an ice arrow to the eye. The monster pitched back, crashing to the ground with a dying groan.

“Nice shot,” Todd said, looking down at the monster. It didn’t look like he or anyone else had spotted Eline’s approach yet. Noah wasn’t sure what Eline was planning on doing to actually get into the fort – even if she got past all the monsters they’d piled at the walls, the walls themselves were still an impressive six feet high and Isabel hadn’t left an opening for an entrance.

“This will be enlightening,” Evergreen said. Noah caught her sending a quick glance in Moxie’s direction, the threat in her words clear. He fought the urge to let his annoyance show on his face.

Shouldn’t you be cheering for Emily rather than just waiting to axe Moxie? Your priorities are completely wrong. I wonder if that’s because you’re just a shitty construct or if its because Evergreen herself is a terrible person. Maybe a mixture of the two.

Either way, Noah was quite curious to see how things would fall out as well. He didn’t see James anywhere, which meant the boy was invisible somewhere. If Eline didn’t know about his abilities – which Noah suspected she didn’t – there was a good chance he might get the jump on her.

“I can’t wait to see the look on Eline’s face when she realizes they don’t have any tokens at all,” Lee said.

“Likewise,” Noah said with a grin. “I’m willing to bet it’ll be pretty funny. It looks like she’s about to try to make a move.”

Eline had reached the edge of the bodies surrounding the walls and, at least as far as Noah could tell, she was still entirely undetected. Isabel, Todd, and Emily were all still standing at the top of their fortress, but they were staring into the air for some reason.

Noah frowned. “What are they looking at?”

“No idea,” Lee replied. “Can we change the view of the cube thing?”

“It only focuses on individuals. You can’t control what its looking at manually,” Evergreen said. “If they’re distracted, then they can only blame themselves when something goes wrong.”

Streaks of pinkish-white energy flashed across the screen abruptly, followed by a brilliant peal of lightning. A wave of force slammed into the ground, throwing dead monsters. Eline’s shield shimmered to life around her, but it didn’t look like it was necessary. The other students all staggered, grabbing onto the walls to keep their balance as their eyes went wide.

“What is that?” Todd breathed, taking a step back.

“I have no idea, but isn’t that Tenfort beside it?” Emily swallowed. “Maybe a powerful monster showed up?”

“Swap Eline’s screen to Tenfort,” Moxie said urgently.

For once, Evergreen didn’t respond with a dry or angry remark. She just nodded and did as requested. The image flickered, then abruptly shifted to a view far in the sky. Tenfort stood atop his floating sword, his features guarded.

Across from him was a fairly average looking man. His head was bald, but a thin layer of hair had just started to grow back. Square features trimmed thin lips, but his eyes glittered with dull pink light. He stood in the air completely on his own, arms crossed.

“You may not be in this area,” Tenfort told the newcomer. “This is a sanctioned testing ground for Arbitage, and falls under the neutral ground treaty. No families or organizations that wish to remain allied with any of the Bastions are permitted to have a presence here during the duration of the exam.”

The bald man scratched the side of his head. “So prickly. One of life’s great duties is to be kind to those you meet.”

“If you do not leave, then I will assume that you are a threat and act accordingly,” Tenfort warned. “You will not be told again. Depart this area. I am a Rank 6 mage, and I will exert the full force of my strength against you.”

“Please don’t,” the bald man said wearily. “I’m just passing through. When you say Bastions, you mean cities, right?”

“I mean Bastions,” Tenfort said flatly. He held a hand out and metal slithered down his arm, forming into a curved blade. “You are out of warnings. I don’t know what your goals are, but I told you the consequences of ignoring me.”

Tenfort blurred. Metal swirled in his wake, carving through the air toward the bald man. There was a brilliant flash of pink light and Tenfort shot back, streamers of pink smoke curling up from his arm.

He righted himself, staring at the bald man in disbelief.

“As I said, we got off on the wrong foot. I understand you’re doing some… important, ritual, perhaps? I don’t know. I’m just looking for the nearest large city. I have some questions to ask.”

“Who are you?” Tenfort demanded. He shook his arm off, but the pink smoke remained on it. There was no sign of his sword, and when Tenfort raised his hand again, nothing happened. “What did you do? This is impossible.”

“Bah. Backwater empires,” the bald man said, massaging his brow. “This is why you were locked up, you savage. Does that badge on your cloak imply that you’re a Rank 6 mage?”

“What else would it–”

The bald man snapped his fingers. Tenfort vanished, launched through the sky like a pink comet. Noah didn’t even see what had happened. One moment, Tenfort had been there. The next, he was gone.

“What in the Damned Plains?” Moxie breathed. “Tenfort is one of the strongest Enforcers in Arbitage. Whoever that is has to be at least a Rank 6, then.”

“We need to get the kids out of there,” Noah said. “Evergreen, how can we get them?”

Evergreen didn’t get a chance to respond before Tenfort flashed through the air, shooting back from where he’d been thrown. He slammed into the bald man, driving a glowing sword straight into the man’s chest.

Blood sprayed from the wound and the two of them plummeted from the sky, crashing into the ground below. The snow around their landing area exploded up all around them, obscuring them for an instant.

No more than a second later, Tenfort and the bald man shot back out of the snow. The bald man had Tenfort by the collar, and a brilliant ring of pink light shimmered around them. It didn’t look like Tenfort had been wounded, but his body was stiff as ice.

“You’ve got a degree of strength, but I’m not here to fight,” the bald man said, shaking Tenfort slightly. “My name is Ferdinand. I have come on behalf of the Great Church of Repose. Once you answer me, I’ll be on my way. I have no desire to harm any of you.”

The pink ring around them shattered, and Tenfort regained control of his body.

“I don’t know any of what you’re talking about,” Tenfort growled. “What do you want?”

“I have come to–”

The rest of Ferdinand’s sentence was lost to the wind. Black energy rippled through the air where he’d been standing as he shot off, blurring through the sky. A distant mountain peak at the edge of the screen exploded, leveled in less than an instant.

For the briefest second, Noah saw a woman flying in the air where Ferdinand had been, black magic curling away from her fist. Then she was gone.

“What in the Damned Plains was that?” Todd asked, his bewildered voice coming from the screen and voicing every single one of their thoughts.

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