Return of the Runebound Professor Chapter 933: Neat Trick

“What?” Baress muttered, her typical jovial mask cracking like a piece of ceramic dropped from the fourth floor. She leaned forward, rising partially from her seat as she stared in disbelief at the arena where Noah and Kali stood. “What did he just do?”

Vivian felt no small amount of smug satisfaction at the expression on Baress’ features. It wasn’t often that the powerful Faction Head was taken this badly off guard. It was pretty clear she thought quite highly of Kali. Baress hadn’t even tried to hide it.

Kali was likely toward the top of the recruits that Baress was after. Then again, given the fact that Kali came from Obsidian Gate, there was a good chance that she was already working under Baress. And there was no denying that the mage was capable.

Her shadowfire rune wasn’t something that Vivian had seen before, and she was all too aware of just how difficult Noah was to pin down. He’d literally managed to slip under Rake’s domain. Even if the Rank 8 had been unprepared for the move, it didn’t change the fact that he’d done it.

Kali was objectively strong. Not the strongest Rank 6 that Vivian had ever met — not by a long shot — but she had a great deal of skill and potential.

And she was tied up in a fight against a Rank 5.

Not just that, she’d been momentarily knocked onto her ass.

But that wasn’t all. Kali had been knocked onto her ass… and not a single person but her, Noah, and Vivian knew why.

The only thing anyone in the arena had seen was Noah using some kind of pressure attack that had completely snuffed out Kali’s shadowfire and knocked her from the sky, winding her so badly that it had been evident in her words.

Vivian didn’t have the faintest goddamn clue how Noah had managed to rank up successfully mid fight. It wasn’t that the premise was impossible. The mere idea of it was just so laughably stupid. Even the slightest distraction would completely ruin the chances of a successful combination.

Doing it in the middle of a fight this important, where death was potentially on the line, was just begging to make a mistake.

But not only had Noah clearly combined a rune powerful enough to put Kali off balance, he’d then gone and somehow it. And that was considerably more baffling than the combination in the first place. To make a rune and tear it apart so recklessly…

But he’d done it. And, if Vivian was completely honest, she didn’t give a flying rat’s ass how. That was a problem that she could concern herself with later.

Right now, she was than satisfied to sit and take in the absolutely gobsmacked look on Baress’ features. This was a rare occasion. One that she planned to savor. Vivian was frankly quite tempted to take credit for Noah’s abilities on the spot… but Rake was also in the room.

And he was watching on with a lot of interest. It seemed that Noah was taking more steps to thoroughly convince Rake that he was indeed who he had falsely claimed to be.

“What was that?” Baress repeated. She looked to Vivian. “That magic. What did he use? I can’t feel it. How could something so weak have knocked Kali back?”

“Where?” Vivian asked, curling a finger through her hair as she let her gaze wander. “There are a lot of fights going on, Baress.”

“Where? Where do you think?” Baress snapped. For a moment, it looked like she would lunge across the table. Then her features shifted in an instant. The normal, almost motherly smile that seemed ever-present on her lips snapped back into place. “Your dear recruit, Vivian.”

“Oh.” Vivian let out a tittering laugh and waved her hand. “Why would I bother paying much attention to that fight? I wouldn’t know what he’s done. That’s his concern.”

“Why wouldn’t you watch your own man?” the Imperator of Man asked, his tongue flicking out to taste the air as he tilted his head to the side. “That’s rather odd.”

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“Hardly,” Vivian said. “Why would I watch a fight where the outcome has already been set?”

“Set?” Baress’s smile didn’t crack this time around. “Whatever do you mean, Vivian?”

“I have to spell it out?” Vivian leaned back in her chair and flashed the other Faction Heads a cold smile. “Spider had won this fight before it even started. It’s unfortunate that your Kali ran into him so early in the tournament, Baress. She could have done very well. But now… I fear she’s not going to make it to the next round.”

***

Kali sent a massive, howling wave of shadowflame snapping through the air like a whip. Huge globules of molten black fire sprayed out as it cracked, sailing toward Spider even as she sent the brunt of the spell hurtling in their wake. She didn’t wait to see if the magic would hit.

It wouldn’t.

But one of the next few dozen arcs of hissing fire that she sent slicing through the air certainly would. No matter what kind of ridiculous magic Spider was using, she’d already found his weakness. All she had to do was keep flinging magic until something connected.

Her prediction proved right.

Spider teleported, a spinning disk of chaotic red energy spinning to life before him even as his feet landed on the ground. Black fire slammed into it with a crackle, spraying past the edges of the shimmering magic. He ducked back to avoid being burned, cracks already spreading through his defenses, as another blast of fire slammed home.

The magic shattered.

Spider teleported.

“Stop running!” Kali snarled. “Why don’t you fight back! Do you think you can win this fight without lifting a single finger?”

Spider didn’t have a chance to answer immediately. There was still enough fire filling the air of the arena to burn multiple small towns down to the ground, and a very fair bit of it was hurtling straight toward him.

The masked man danced back, arcs of magic flashing around him as they sliced through the closest scraps of molten flame. He teleported once more to dodge a larger amount of the fire, landing in one of the few patches on the ground that weren’t smoldering.

Kali’s eyes narrowed. Spider’s display of skill was beyond impressive. Even a small mistake would have ended him him getting scorched to a cinder. It would have been far smarter for him to use the more powerful defenses that he’d called on at the start of the fight instead of the more precise, targeted strategy he was employing now.

Kali’s lips curled. She blew out a slow breath, heat venting from her mask as the temperature in the air around her inched higher. A thick haze warped an increasing portion of the arena surrounding her. Motes of flame ignited in the air, hanging there like fireflies from the Damned Plains.

“Alright, Spider,” Kali growled. “You’ve got good reaction speed. I’ll give you that. But let’s see how you stand up when I turn up the heat.”

“Was that a pun?” Spider asked. “You can’t use those and keep your edgy naming. It clashes in a very displeasing way.”

Kali ground her teeth.

Then she reached down deep into her soul. She felt the raw magical force lingering within it, stored there by merit of reaching Rank 6. Trained by years of fighting and pain. Refined by reaching the very peak strength she could without advancing to Rank 7.

She let the power well up within her.

Then she released her Soul Domain.

A screaming howl tore through the arena. The air around her ignited.

All of it.

Shadowflame enveloped the world ten feet around her in every direction. Not a single scrap of unused oxygen remained. Huge tongues of bleak fire scorched thick gouges into the arena, melting straight through the ground.

Then they pulled back. They wound around Kali’s body, hardening into solid plates. The light around her bent like it had passed through a prism, and the ground at her feet started to melt purely from its proximity to the molten black armor now covering every inch of her form.

Kali raised her hands. Clutched within them were two daggers, as black as the night, so hot that their edges had turned pure white.

Every scrap of the air around her burned away, consumed to fuel her Soul Domain. This technique was one of her strongest weapons, and one of two uses of her Soul Domain. It was certainly the strongest one she was willing to use against a pissant like Spider. She would need the other one to deal with far more dangerous opponents — like those who actually fought back against her.

There was no way he could dodge this. The flame on her blade would swallow magic just as well as flesh and metal — and anything that dared grow close enough to her would be incinerated.

The moment she got anywhere near Spider, he would immolate on the spot.

“I’ll give you a single chance. It is not one I normally offer,” Kali called. “You’re impressive, Spider. I don’t know what it is you just did. But this fight is over. Surrender. I’m sure you can feel the heat, even from where you are now. There’s no dodging—”

Laughter echoed through the arena.

Kali blinked.

Then her eye twitched.

“You think this is funny?”

Spider only laughed harder, doubling over in his mirth. He raised a hand as if begging for her to pause for a second longer. “I — no. Sorry. Sorry. That was good, Kali. Do you have any idea what it takes to get to laugh?”

Kali’s jaw clenched. “Then you’ve made your choice. What a waste of potential.”

“Oh, I doubt it,” Spider said.

Kali blurred.

Spider snapped.

The distance between the two of them closed in an instant.

Kali arrived directly before Spider, standing no more than a few inches away from him.

And then she blinked.

His body wasn’t melting. He hadn’t caught aflame. He didn’t even look like he was in pain.

And then Kali realized that she wasn’t holding anything anymore. Her Soul Domain was still present. All her power was still there, entirely untouched and in wait for a scrap of air to burn.

But that air never came.

Her armor and daggers had vanished, unable to reform without the immense amount of oxygen they required to remain burning. It was almost as if…

Kali’s eyes widened.

She couldn’t breathe.

“That’s a neat trick,” Spider said, his lips pulling into a grin behind his cloth mask. “But it doesn’t work too well if the air is inert, does it?”