Return of the Runebound Professor

Disgust twisted Igris’ features into a rictus snarl and he pointed his three remaining daggers at Noah, looking down the bridge of his nose at him with complete and utter contempt.

“Vile, arrogant creature. You are even more disgusting than I thought. I am going to make you suffer,” the huge demon snarled. Muscle rippled along his body and dull yellow light lit behind his eyes. The daggers in his hands trembled, joined by a rattle as every coin in the room started to tremble. Golden rivers twisted up Igris’ legs and rolled over his body like molten slag flowing in reverse. Coins bubbled like boiling water as beams of molten light broke out from beneath them, rays of sunlight breaking from behind the clouds before they vanished once again.

“That’s cute,” Noah said, tilting his head to the side as a scythe of gold carved through the air where it had been, just barely missing its mark. “But are you really sure that’s wise?”

“I’m going to break you,” Igris promised. He thrust his hands forward and the gold before him erupted up in a pillar. The shape of a massive blade took form within it, thick and unwieldy, with large jutting pieces of gold sticking off it like haphazard icicles. Igris discarded his daggers and lifted the chunk of metal into the air with a roar.

Noah drank power from Natural Disaster and watched the demon impassively. If it hadn’t been apparent that Igris was no warrior before, it definitely was now. The display might have been impressive if it hadn’t taken multiple seconds.

In the time Igris had spent dragging all the gold over to himself and forming the shoddy, glowing armor, Noah could have closed the distance between them and killed the big demon with a single call of Sunder or the Fragment of Renewal’s inverse. There was only one reason the fight hadn’t already ended. Noah needed his opponent alive.

“I’m not trying to be edgy when I say you’re wasting my time,” Noah said, scratching at the side of his neck. He continued to draw energy from Natural Disaster as he spoke, straining the rune to its absolute limits. Igris was still a Rank 5 demon. Underestimating him would be a poor idea.

“You’re the one standing around doing nothing,” Igris replied from beneath the shifting layers of his armor. He took a step back and lifted his weapon, aiming it for Noah’s neck. “I’m going to enjoy ripping you in half and selling your body to Lord Belkus. I’m sure he’ll be interested to hear more about the person that’s been trying to steal the underground from him.”

“You really think that, don’t you?” Noah asked, shaking his head and sliding the potion back into his pocket. He clasped his hands together. Power prickled against the inside of his skin and trembled in anticipation. “Why do you think I just stood here and waited, Igris?”

“Because you are a coward who uses others to do your bidding! You thought I could be intimidated, but I am far greater than the scum that you pride yourself in lording over. Soon, you will envy them.” Igris replied with a cold laugh.

He lurched forward, a massive gold-clad foot slamming into the ground and propelling him toward Noah. Igris let out a roar of fury as he reared back, bringing the huge chunk of metal that moonlighted as a sword in his hands down for Noah’s neck.

“That’s the wrong answer, Igris.” Noah stepped to the side, arcing his body to let the huge blade scream past him harmlessly. It struck the ground and gouged through the stone with an ear-rending screech. Fragments of gold skittered up and flashed past Noah. To his improved reaction speed, they almost seemed to move in slow motion. Not a single fragment struck him.

“Let’s have a quick science lesson,” Noah said as he lifted his hands. Igrus ripped the sword free from the ground and swung it at his head, but he crouched under the swing. The wind in its wake made his face-wrappings whip, but the second strike came nowhere closer to striking him than the first did. “Did you know one of the best properties of gold?”

“Enough of your yammering!” Igris screamed, whipping an elbow for Noah’s forehead. He slipped past the strike. The heavy armor covering the demon had slowed him even further, and avoiding his strikes was a trivial matter. It only took the smallest twitch of his muscles to let it slip past his head harmlessly. Igris let out a frustrated roar as yet another attack just barely scraped past Noah. He hoisted the huge sword and grabbed its hilt with both hands heaving it straight down at Noah’s head.

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“That’s not an answer. You’re going to fail my class at this rate, but I suppose some students need things spelled out for them.” Noah turned his body parallel to the blade, leaving just enough space for the spikes jutting from it to pass by him harmlessly. It slammed into the stone, burying itself several feet into it. Golden spikes snapped off and clattered across the floor amidst a shower of sparks.

“Be silent!” Igris roared. “Stand and fight, you coward!”

“Question 1,” Noah replied, his tone completely flat. “I asked why I would stand around and wait while you summoned your armor.”

Igris abandoned his sword in the ground and swung a fist with a furious roar. He sidestepped the blow, then drove his palm up into the demon’s elbow. A powerful wave of vibration raced out from him and into the golden armor.

The power carried straight through the gold and into Igris. Several muted snaps echoed out from within the armor as Igris’ arm shattered under the intensity of the magical attack. The Rank 5 Demon cried out in pain and stumbled, unable to stand under the fury of the tremors tearing through his body. He crashed down to one knee. Stone cracked beneath his knee and he reeled, nearly falling to his face before he caught himself.

“I waited because I needed to break you,” Noah whispered. “And as for question 2— do you know what makes gold special?”

Igris lurched into motion, extending his arms in either direction. He lunged for Noah in an attempt to tackle him. Noah stepped forward and ducked to let the demon’s arm sail overhead harmlessly. He drank from Natural Disaster and pressed his hands together. Energy raced down his arms and filled his body to the brim, gathering at his palms. Magic started to slip free of his body on its own volition. Arcs of electricity danced along his palms and filled the air with the song of buzzing bees. Noah rose behind Igris. The demon started to turn, but not nearly fast enough.

“Gold is a fantastic electrical conductor,” Noah said. He pressed his hands to the demon’s back and unleashed the full might of Natural Disaster.

An ocean of energy poured from him and into Igris in a deluge of power. Brilliant yellow light lit the room and the inside of his armor lit up like a Christmas tree. Something between a crackle and a roar shook the air, as Igris screamed in agony.

Thick veins of arcing electricity crawled out of the demon’s heavy armor and carved lines across the floor as they sought their freedom. Cracks split the thick gold and warped clumps of coins crumbled away amidst the storm of electricity as the fingers of lightning reached farther across the room.

Noah didn’t let up on his energy. He continued to draw from Natural Disaster and send every scrap of power it could manage into Igris. The Rank 5 Demon’s screams were indecipherable over the roar of energy pouring out of his body. Burnt patches spread across the gold covering him like moss. The armor peeled away in large swathes, crashing to the ground. The pieces covering Igris’ face split down the center and fell to either side of him. His eyes burned like twin suns behind them and lightning licked from within his mouth like the breath of a dragon. His mouth was locked open, fingers twitched desperately in seek of an escape that would not come. The sizzle of burning flesh filled the air and thick black smoke twisted around them.

Noah finally released the magic and drove his foot into the lower part of Igris’ chest. The huge demon pitched back, the light behind his eyes fluttering as the final sparks of electricity slipped free of his body, and he crashed to the ground with a resounding boom that echoed through the destroyed room around them. Noah stepped through the thick cloud of rancid smoke and onto Igris’ chest.

The huge demon wheezed in agony. He’d taken the full brunt of the attack and still somehow managed to survive — but survival was a relative term. Enormous portions of his body had been charred pitch black and gold had melted into his flesh in forked patterns like a mad sculptor had used his body as a grotesque canvas.

“Who… sent you?” Igris rasped, hacking up phlegm and blood.

Noah reached into his pocket and pulled the Mind Meld potion free, popping off the top seal and lifting it over Igris’ face. He sent another river of electricity coursing through his foot and into Igris’ chest. The demon’s scream turned to a sputtering cough as Noah poured the potion into his mouth.

“You did,” Noah replied. Noah popped the second half of the seal off and drained the rest of the potion himself. He looked down at the fallen demon and pulled the wrappings back over his face as a familiar dizziness washed over him. “I’ll be seeing you shortly, Igris.”

Then the world went black.

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