Return of the Runebound Professor

“Your whole peaceful monk shtick seems to be suffering,” Noah said through gritted teeth. His entire arm pulsed in pain and he was pretty sure the fragments of his broken knuckles were digging into his flesh from within, but he didn’t exactly have time to deal with that problem at the moment.

Alexandra was still coming at him with her sword, and each blow was passing dangerously close to connecting. The only thing that had been saving Noah was her occasional pauses and jerks as she attempted to wrest control of her body back from whatever Gentil had done to her.

The sounds of Lee and Moxie’s fight still rang out from the dark corner of the room and, if anything, they’d actually intensified. Their opponent was holding them both off at once, and it didn’t sound like he was doing too badly.

This is less than ideal.

Gentil’s lips worked like he was trying to say something, but he couldn’t even muster words through the anger. Veins in his neck bulged and the air around him wavered like a mirage as magic poured out of his body.

He doubled over, raking his hands across his back. His fingers tore through his clothes and ripped into his skin, leaving bloody furrows in their wake. Gentil staggered, letting out a furious scream as his head raised again, the red light now filling his eyes completely.

“Damn, man. Temper tantrums should be left for when you’re a toddler. Aren’t you a bit too old for this?” Noah asked, raising his good hand. Gentil’s Shield bracelet was on his left arm. As long as it remained there, Noah didn’t want to risk using Sunder and giving away his most powerful weapon.

Alexandra’s sword bit into Noah’s shoulder. He snarled and launched her away with another blast of wind, throwing her through the door with a loud crash. There wasn’t any room to keep the girl at bay and fight Gentil at the same time. Getting her out of the way would also leave room for him to use Sunder without worrying about leaving any witnesses.

Besides, she’s really tough. I’ve still yet to actually leave a scratch on her, so I’m sure getting smashed through a few more things isn’t going to cause her any long-term issues – if she survives today, that is. I’m not too thrilled about her chances.

“You will pay penance,” Gentil spat, thrusting a blood-covered hand toward Noah. The air before Gentil shifted and Noah dove, just barely moving out of the way in time to avoid four translucent claws that sliced the wall behind him apart into neat sections.

“The hell kind of magic is that?” Noah asked, staggering to his feet and pushing through the pain pulsing through his hand. “Not a very kind thing to do. Shouldn’t we be trying to talk this out?”

“Be silent!” Gentil screamed, lurching toward Noah. He moved in a drunken stagger that was deceptively fast, closing the ground between them in a second and lunging for Noah.

Noah stepped past Gentil, avoiding another bloody claw and sweeping the man’s legs out from under him – or rather, trying to. It was like hitting a brick wall. Noah swore and jumped back, setting off a blast of wind magic between them.

Gentil’s shield flashed to life, but Noah wasn’t trying to hurt him. The wind threw Noah back, and he skidded across the ground several feet away, having bought himself a little space. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alexandra step out from behind the door, her sword still aflame.

Rocks rained from the ceiling, clattering all around the room. Huge vines writhed from where Moxie and Lee were fighting, but the clash of metal showed no signs of letting up. It didn’t sound like anyone was in any position to help Noah.

“You will–” Gentil started, but he was cut off as Noah grabbed the flames from the candles around them and sent them forward in a wall of roaring fire, enveloping him.

Gentil’s shield lit, keeping the magic from touching him. Even though Noah couldn’t see Gentil through the torrent of fire, he could see the glow of the man’s shield as he advanced toward Noah, pushing through the flame like it were a mild breeze.

“Moxie!” Noah yelled. “Are you handling things?”

“We’re fine!” Moxie yelled back a second later. “This is a tough bastard, but we’re holding him down.

Noah’s lips pressed thin. Alexandra ran at him. He let up on the fire and he threw her back through a wall with another violent blast of wind. It was a good thing that she wasn’t employing any strategy or even trying to dodge. If she did, the fight would have probably been impossible without killing her.

As soon as Noah’s fire dropped, Gentil lunged at him, reaching out with a clawed hand. Noah felt magic scream over his back as he ducked and dipped to the side, just barely avoiding Getnil’s grasp.

“I’m going to have to do my specialty,” Noah called. “I’m sorry. Gentil is too damn strong. You’ll be fine?”

It was a moment before Moxie answered. “We’ll be fine! Just don’t do anything stupid!”

Too late.

Gentil turned toward Noah. His molten eyes flared as he took a step toward Noah, holding his hands out to either side like a sumo wrestler.

“No more running. You will be punished,” Gentil hissed.

“And you need to figure out how to keep it from sounding like you’re trying to make dirty talk,” Noah countered, reaching into his bag and grabbing a large tuft of Flashgrass. He Combusted it completely, but let the smoke rise up around him and join in with the rest of the smoke from the candles. A quick glance showed Alexandra had yet to return to the room. Noah called out to Sunder’s powers. He drank greedily, pulling as much power as he could manage. “Come on then. Catch me.”

Gentil lunged, screaming. Noah’s veins turned black. Icy power flooded his body as Gentil’s hand clamped down on Noah’s neck. Bands of pain erupted as Gentil started to squeeze his throat, but that did nothing to halt the hungry magic within him.

Noah released every ounce of it. A black flash carved through the air as a spear plummeted from the darkness beyond the ceiling, carving through the air like the avenging fist of a god and slamming straight into Gentil’s back.

The Shield flashed – and shattered. Magic swirled around the two of them, buffeting Noah’s hair back and filling the air with thick, syrupy power. Gentil screamed in pain. The bracelet on his wrist cracked, falling to the ground in two perfectly clean halves.

Ah, shit. Sunder didn’t kill him.

Gentil straightened. As powerful as Sunder had been, it had spent everything just penetrating the Rank 5 Shield.

“What was that?” Gentil hissed, his grip tightening around Noah’s throat so much that he couldn’t breathe. Noah’s legs kicked and he wheezed, grasping at his magic. He was draining fast, and the pain was ramping up at an alarming rate.

Noah’s lips worked, trying to form words.

“Tell me!” Gentil screamed, shaking Noah violently. His grip loosened just enough for Noah to speak. “And if your veins turn black again, I’ll snap your neck here and now.”

Sunder’s already done its job. I won’t need it again.

Noah drew on Natural Disaster one last time, grabbing all the smoke that floated in the air around them. Then he reared back, calling on every last scrap of power he had, and forced every wisp of smoke into Gentil’s mouth.

Gentil sputtered in surprise, coughing as Noah forced the smoke into his lungs. His grip slacked for just another moment, and Noah took that to force the last of the smoke that he could gather from the Flashgrass, shoving it between Gentil’s lips – there was no need to put it through his nose, as that was still flattened.

Noah then reared back and drove his good fist forward with all his might, punching Gentil in the mouth. Teeth cracked beneath the blow, but Noah’s own bones broke alike. Gentil’s body was somehow magically reinforced, but he didn’t have time to worry about why.

Gentil bit down on his arm like a rabid dog, but Noah flashed a cold smile through the pain cutting through his body.

“I’d say I’d see you in hell, but they won’t let me stick around,” Noah spat. The tip of his finger – the one belonging to a hand that was currently shoved into Gentil’s mouth – sparked as Noah called on Combustion.

Gentil’s eyes bulged. He desperately tried to pull back, but it was too late. Flame raced down, following the trail into the condensed ball of smoke roiling within Gentil’s lungs. The last thing Noah’s eyes were graced with was the look of terror on Gentil’s face.

***

A huge explosion rocked the room, swallowing both Noah and Gentil in a ball of flame that shattered every single piece of melted wax around them. The resulting shockwave put out every other candle in the room, which was momentarily lit with blinding light from the fireball.

The flame rolled across the ceiling as ash rained down. Two charred, brittle corpses, both ripped completely to pieces and warped forever beyond recognition, cracked as they hit the ground, falling apart almost instantly.

For an instant, the cloaked man fighting Moxie and Lee froze, staring in disbelief at his dead master. That instant was enough. Moxie’s vines whipped out, finally managing to grab his arms and yank them taut.

Lee’s axe whistled through the air and slammed into his neck. It thunked, biting several inches before grinding to a halt against impossibly tough skin. Lee didn’t seem particularly concerned with that, though. She just reared back and swung it again.

The man struggled furiously, trying to pull himself free, but the blood-red vines were as strong as iron. No matter how hard he struggled, they held firm.

About fifteen chops later, his head finally rolled off and thudded to the ground. The vines holding him up receded, and the nameless man’s body was dumped to the ground beside his head.

Moxie spun toward where Noah and Gentil’s fight had ended, sprinting over to it. Lee ran up beside her, her eyes passing over the remains of the bodies.

“Good,” Lee said with a sigh of relief. “He’s definitely gone.”

Moxie nodded, though she looked a lot less relieved than Lee. She swallowed, the adrenaline still making her heart slam in her chest. “Yeah. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that. Damned Plains. This guy was a monster.”

“He had some weird magic,” Lee said. “Not a Rank 4, though. He didn’t have a domain.”

“Rank 3,” Moxie said with a nod, letting out a slow breath to try to steady herself. “But one that was jumped up with higher rank magic. I don’t know how much we’ve got until the rest of this evil bastard’s people show up. Lee, you can smell magic, right?”

Lee nodded.

“Can you look for anything with a magical scent and try to collect it?” Moxie asked. “I’ve got something to deal with.”

“Okay,” Lee said with a nod. “What is it?”

Moxie turned her gaze toward Alexandra, who leaned against the doorframe, her face covered in ash and flaming sword held loosely in her hand.

“Her.”

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