Return of the Runebound Professor Chapter 943: Wise Choice

The Imperator’s fingers drummed against his elbows as he stood, cross armed, watching the fights unfolding in the arenas through shimmering images projected across the walls of his room. It was a rare moment of silence. There were no other Faction Heads here to bother him. Vivian had, at the very least, given them secure rooms.

He had no doubt that she had some manner with which to spy on him. This was her city, after all. But it was quiet enough for him to enjoy the moment. As much as bantering with the other Faction Heads in hopes that one of them would let something slip was, it grew wearisome.

Besides, he already knew what he was here for.

At this point, he’d identified the majority of the people he was most interested in. And at the very top of that list was Lee. She interested him far more than almost all of the other competitors in the tournament. Her solo match had been particularly amusing.

The Imperator had been expecting to watch her devour her way to victory. It would have given him another chance to see exactly how her very odd magic worked. But she hadn’t been quite so kind as to give him the opportunity. Instead of eating anything at all, she’d just sprinted at her opponent and smacked them with the flat of her massive axe.

That blow had been strong enough to send her foe rocketing into the wall so hard that they’d passed out upon impact. Well, either that or they’d died.

The Imperator didn’t particularly care.

All he knew was that he had to have Lee. She was something he rarely saw. A talent that could not be permitted to slip through his fingers. She would be on the top of his list to approach during the next event.

But she wasn’t the only one.

A few other mages had caught his eye.

Foremost amongst them was an ice mage who used a bow. She used an interesting technique to fill the air of the arena with a frosty mist that seemed to tell her exactly where her opponent was at all times. That let her shoot an arrow that traced her opponent despite their best attempts to dodge it — winning her the fight in a single move.

There were a number of techniques that could accomplish what she’d done. But the girl was a Rank 4. Most of the skills that one needed to accomplish what she had would require a Soul Domain, which only came at Rank 6. A Rank 5 could have reasonably pulled some of them off… but she had no access to the information her domain contained in Aqua Terra.

That meant she was somehow emulating the power entirely on her own. And innovation like that was indeed worthy of his attention.

She wasn’t the only other one. There were several more. A wind mage. A storm mage. A man who had yet to use a single scrap of magic through the entire tournament. A few more that he was still waiting to see the performance of… and one or two Rank 7s who had yet to have a chance to demonstrate their skills against a worthy opponent.

There had also been a warrior who fought with heavily imbued armor had held his interest for a short while, but the man had crumpled in a single blow. He’d probably failed to protect himself against mental attacks. Such a foolish move dismissed him from the Imperator’s thoughts instantly.

The Imperator crossed his arms behind his back, letting his gaze sweep over the many fights unfolding before him. This batch of mages was really quite good. He wasn’t sure if it was because the latest years had been particularly prosperous or if it was just a batch of skilled individuals. It really didn’t matter.

All that he cared about was ensuring that he was the one who emerged victorious after the Solstice.

The Imperator’s lips curled.

Then he spotted something on one of the images. One of his mages was on the field. They weren’t exactly his most promising. It was a Rank 4 who had pushed to the very limits of what he was capable of, supported by his family and pumped full of combinations that his father had designed well before he was born.

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The Imperator only even knew of him because of his family. They’d done a great deal in service of the Horde of Man. Bjorn was a sad shadow of his mother and father, without any real skill to his name. But he did have quite a deal of power.

Between all the imbued items he’d brought to the tournament and the powerful runes that he held — even without real understanding of their strength — he was a formidable opponent for anyone near his stage. The man would probably make it fairly far so long as he didn’t get too unlucky.

But there was currently something rather odd happening.

His fight had clearly already started… but he wasn’t moving.

He was just standing there, and so was his opponent.

The Imperator’s eyes narrowed. He focused his attention, sending it inward into the fight, letting the audio from the arena wash over him.

***

A droplet of sweat rolled down the back of Bjorn’s neck.

He gripped the amulet in his hand tightly, pumping power into the imbued weapon as quickly as he could. Strands of spatial magic wove through the air to pin his opponent — a young male demon with cold eyes — in place.

His eyes flicked down to the ring that laid on the dirt at his feet in two pieces. One of the four magic detectors that his mother had made for him. They’d been meant to warn him when he was up against someone dangerous enough to go all out against, but no part of him had expected one to shatter so early on.

But his mother’s magic didn’t lie. If one of the rings had broken, it meant the demon that he currently had pinned in place was somehow a very significant threat. And that meant Bjorn couldn’t take any chances.

He’d activated his second most powerful imbued item the very instant that the fight had started, and it had worked flawlessly. His opponent hadn’t so much as budged from his starting position. But now he had a new problem.

The amulet was drawing so much power just to keep the demon pinned that Bjorn himself couldn’t move. The two of them were stuck there until one of them ran out of power.

Bjorn did have some extra magical energy stored in some of his items. He hadn’t initially been too worried about running out of power at any point soon. But his opponent was still resisting, and there didn’t seem to be any stress in his features.

He was just standing there.

Watching.

“What is this?” the demon asked curiously. “Is that an item you’re using to hold me in place?”

Bjorn didn’t answer. His teeth clenched. He needed to find a way to finish the demon off without exposing himself. Everyone knew that the physical abilities of demons were far greater than those of humans, which meant he couldn’t afford to try and enter a physical contest.

He had to cut the demon down from where he stood.

But that involved moving. Moving meant he could lose his focus and hold on the demon.

And given the broken ring on the ground at his feet… that meant defeat.

“Hey,” the demon said. “It’s a bit rude to ignore your opponent. I’m admiring your equipment. I didn’t realize there was an Imbuement that could pin me down like this. It’s spatial magic, right? How does it work? I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s fascinating.”

The demon sounded genuinely fascinated.

And that bothered Bjorn even more. This item should have been terrifying. At the very least, it should have put the demon on edge. But his foe didn’t sound concerned at all.

“Shut up,” Bjorn growled, his mind spinning as he tried to figure out how he was meant to pull this off.

“No, seriously,” the demon said. “I thought Imbued items were pretty limited in range. This feels like you’ve somehow gotten a spell contained within it, range and all. You didn’t even need to get close to activate it. That’s really impressive. Whoever made this must be really skilled.”

“They are,” Bjorn growled. “My mother is a great mage.”

“Is that so?” the demon’s eyes sparkled in interest. “So she made this? She’s an Imbuer, then? How long did it take? Can she put other spells into items like this? What about stronger ones? Could you hold the powers of a Rank 5 while being a Rank 4? Is there a limit? Is your family famous?”

The questions came one after the other, so fast that one barely had a chance to end before the other begun.

“Yes,” Bjorn said. He couldn’t help himself. It was hard to be proud of his lineage. “I come from the Beaumont family. They are a great line of mages, and we have perfected the art of limited-use Imbuements. They are far more powerful than normal ones, but at the cost of durability. So you can only imagine what else I have at my fingertips. If this item froze you… the next will end you. It would be wise to surrender now and save us both the trouble.”

A sharp spike of pain drove through Bjorn’s thoughts.

He jerked, sucking a surprised hiss through clenched teeth. Weakness cut through his soul, as if someone had suddenly torn a hole in it.

Three loud cracks split the air.

He stared in disbelief as his remaining power-detector rings shattered, falling to the ground in a heap at his feet.

Wind brushed against his skin.

He looked back up.

The demon was standing directly before him, a cold smile curling across his lips.

“One more question,” the demon said. “Do you know where Spider is?”

“I — what? How?” Bjorn stammered, staggering back. He could still feel the imbuement in his amulet working. It just wasn’t doing anything. The demon had completely broken free of it.

“That’s a no,” the demon said. He patted Bjorn on the shoulder. “I’m afraid you’re no longer useful. Thanks for the meal.”

Then he reached out, pinching Bjorn’s amulet between two fingers.

He crushed it to dust.

Bjorn stared at it in disbelief. Then he swallowed.

“I surrender.”

The demon smiled.

“Very wise choice.”