Universe's End

Chapter 202: Putting on a show

"C'mon, tell me you aren't proud."

"I would have been proud of any vocation she received," Rory shot back.

"Yeah, I know you would have. But that doesn't mean you aren't preening on the inside over the fact she received the first other Architect-vocation in Ehkorrus."

"I'm genuinely shocked there haven't been others."

"Yeah, well, you need weirdos to get a vocation like that," Apostolos laughed, thumping Rory on the shoulder. "You ready for this?"

"I should be asking you."

Looking at Apostolos, one would assume he was preparing for war, utterly decked out in his gear, his aura pouring out of him like a shining star. For anyone in Ehkorrus, the sight of the Chief Protector, ready for battle, was an awe-inspiring sight. The only person in the entirety of the city known to ever be any sort of challenge against him was the undisputed rank-one member of the Elite Four, Grinning Demon Marcie.

And yet, everyone knew he was undeniably the underdog for the upcoming fight.

Because he wasn't just fighting anybody, he wasn't even sparring against one of the Elite Four members.

He was facing the Lord Founder directly.

Such a fight hadn't been seen in decades, and only by the original citizens of Ehkorrus, fewer than forty of them still alive to date.

Back then, fights had been far more 'equal' as both of them had been tier six for most of those spars. After Rory had broken through to tier seven, it had turned exceptionally lopsided. The extra boost from a race-quality upgrade, stacked on top of the regular ascension boost, had been too much for Apostolos.

Now, Apostolos was nearing high-tier seven, level seventy-seven. Over the last eight years that Rory had been back, his rate of progress had shot up, like making up for lost time.

The reason why wasn't hard to figure out.

Rory made a point of putting him through the wringer, taking opportunities to drag Apostolos into the Maw and sparring, all the while lecturing on things he had learned, especially over the last few years as his former mentor and master had found himself with more free time.

Mid-tier seven, Apostolos had once viewed Blight Commanders as comparable in strength to his own. After his gear upgrades, he'd felt he could trounce several at once.

Now? Even if he equalized his level back to theirs, Apostolos was confident he could tear apart a pack of the commander-type monsters with ease.

And yet, it didn't truly matter, not in the eyes of the gathered citizens.

As part of Roxy's birthday festival, an exhibition match was being held, one that had every single citizen gathered to watch, even if they hadn't been as invested in Roxy herself. The Chief Protector versus the Lord Founder.

Of course, Apostolos was given some major handicaps. First, Rory wasn't allowed to use any gear beyond basic combat robes graciously offered by the Rong clan, billowy white pants, and a tight black shirt, all absolutely mundane in make.

Second, Apostolos was allowed to use everything available to him.

And finally, third, Rory was meant to restrain the full extent of his attributes. He would be fighting at the level of his peak tier-seven attributes, and not what he could muster as a tier eight.

In theory, everything should have favored Apostolos.

And yet.

Apostolos felt a shiver pass through his body. It wasn't nerves, or not entirely. He'd sparred enough with his adopted brother in the past to be past simple nerves.

He was excited.

"Meet you in the arena?" Rory asked, grinning at Apostolos.

"Are you just going to teleport in to rile the crowd up?"

"Who knows?" Rory said with a wink before vanishing as he teleported away.

For someone who doesn't like attention, he sure loves to put on a show.

Alone, Apostolos sighed. He was in one of the competitors' so-called "locker rooms," as Rory described them. It wasn't a new experience for Apostolos; he'd fought in city tournaments sporadically in the past, never once losing a bout, even against Marcie. He had always been the champion.

But not this time.

Knowing it was about time, Apostolos made his way out of the locker room, heading through the small tunnel into the arena.

"And our great Chief Protector is the first to appear! In any other year or bout, he would be the undeniable favorite, a force that even I haven't managed to beat!"

Marcie's voice boomed out extra loud, the 'Honored Spectator' box filled by Irene, Marcie, Violet, Edward, Kai Rong, and young Ms. Roxy. It was somewhat more crammed than usual, but there was evident excitement.

And yet, the excitement paled in comparison to the arena, which was beyond overflowing, with special 'projections' broadcasting the interior to anyone who hadn't been lucky enough to secure seats.

"Credit odds have the Chief Protector with a 10:1 probability of losing! For the Grand Champion of Ehkorrus, the greatest of her defenders to have such odds against him, just who could his opponent be?"

I'd bet my house Rory is about to teleport in right this second to make an entra- yeah, predictable.

Exactly as Apostolos predicted, suddenly a figure appeared, a thunderstorm of energy arcing into the sky like some divine entrance.

"Of course, there can only be one who would corner our great protector! A heavenly founder, a divine general, a shaper of mountains and carver of canyons! The Architect of civilization and the creator of all skills!"

Oh, come on, Marcie, now you're doing this on purpose, we ALL know he is far from the creator of every skill, he can't even get combat skills normally!

"The Lord Founder!"

With a wave of his hand, the air all around the entirety of Ehkorrus seemed to vibrate with anticipation, responding to Rory's will.

Oh, you damn show off.

The crowd went ballistic. Perhaps years ago, such a response would have been lesser, but with years of the city tournament growing in popularity due to Rory's presence and his continued 'sponsorship,' a 'culture' of sorts had developed, an excitement for the arena battles that even the lowest amongst them shared.

"Due to the level of this fight, there will be NO arena floor judge; our Chief Protector and Lord Founder will instead be in charge of controlling themselves and ensuring fair play!"

With as many people gathered as there were, the chuckle at the idea that either of them would resort to any sort of cheap tactic reverberated through the stands.

"Now then, what you are about to see is a battle of the highest level. The projected images above will display what occurs on a delay, slowed so that it may be viewable by those of lower tiers!"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

That had been all Rory's doing over the last few years, something that further compounded in the intensifying interest in arena battles by even casual viewers.

"With that, the time-honored tradition! Hands!"

Apostolos began to walk forward, as Rory remained firmly in place. To anyone who didn't understand Rory better, it almost appeared as if he were going to snub Apostolos.

Apostolos, meanwhile, had to resist the temptation to roll his eyes.

Ever the showman.

As Apostolos reached the midway point, suddenly Rory disappeared and reappeared, now standing across from him with that same old shit-eating grin that Apostolos had long ago grown familiar with.

"Is the theatrics necessary?" Apostolos asked quietly, knowing no one else would be able to hear a lick of what was said between the two of them.

"Of course. Call it a favor on my part," Rory said with a grin. "Excite the people, it fires them up; they push themselves harder. Basic psychology."

"Whatever you say," Apostolos said, and even as he did, he felt the corners of his mouth tugging upward.

"Someone's excited," Rory pointed out. "You're really going to go for it, aren't you?"

"You've beaten the brakes off me enough times over the last few years that this is my best shot at payback."

"Then let's put on a hell of a show."

With that, the two shook hands as they parted, Rory making a point to walk back this time.

Taking his spot, Apostolos began to draw in sunlight, energizing himself even before they'd officially started. Marcie undoubtedly noticed, but it wasn't as if she were going to step in; in fact, they'd directly discussed the point ahead of time.

Just another thing Apostolos needed to prepare.

Rory, meanwhile, stood there with his arms crossed, smiling faintly at Apostolos.

"With the standard exchange of hands, the time is upon us. Three. Two. One."

Here I come, Rory.

"Begin!"

The sunlight shining down on Apostolos seemed to explode outward, his armor and boost released to their max.

Swinging his scythe, a crescent blade of sunlight a hundred meters across and crackling with heavenly energy shot forward as the crowd gasped.

It was a rather large opening shot. Heavenly Fury – Sun God's Smite was one of Apostolos's strongest attacks. He was granted six 'charges' per month, or so had been the case in the beginning. In reality, the heavenly energy gifted to Apostolos from the Khan of Blue Lightning as a boon for their shared friendship was only enough for six swings at his old efficiency levels.

After Rory's hellish training on efficiency, both physical and mental, hours of lecturing that broke his brain?

Fifteen.

Rather than outwardly react, Rory remained calmly standing, arms still crossed. What did change was the flow of energy, concentrated in two areas.

First, his eyes. It was something he and Rory had discovered, that ever since the integration of his Seams Unseen skill into his eye skill, a full or near full release of Eyes of the Architect would have a rather…. Visible effect.

His eyes would shine with light, color changing depending on what exactly he was doing, as they were 'tattooed' with multiple intricate-looking concentric circles adorned with glyphs that neither of them properly understood, some form of magic circles overlaying his eyes. Their best theory was that, with the addition of Seams Unseen, the skill had simply 'burgeoned' past relative capacity, unable to physically contain all the effects without physical alteration to ease the load.

Glowing green, it indicated that two functions were left offline.

Cognition boost and what else?

The second source of energy flow disruption was behind Rory, where a holographic green 'clock' appeared.

What the hell is that? E.O.N damn it, always making up new shit.

Whatever the ticking clock was, Apostolos had a bad feeling about it.

Regardless of whatever magic Rory was brewing up, at the very least, the golden blade of heavenly sunlight-

And there it is.

Finally moving, all Rory did was swipe his hand downward.

And in that same motion, the crescent blade of heavenly sunlight broke, struck through the middle, and destabilized in an instant as the entire magic collapsed upon itself.

Figures.

Rory had spent years trying to better understand spatial concepts with his new Coordinate affinity. One benefit, amongst many, was that against large-scale magic such as what Apostolos had just launched at him, he could sever a single bridging point of space within the magic, causing the entire magic to fall apart as it was physically split into two separate fragments. There were only two counters so far that Apostolos had learned.

First, required a concentrated focus on the 'space' his magic existed within, blocking any probing attempts to disrupt it. It was possible, as he had learned enough about spatial concepts from Rory, that he could manage if he tried really hard to focus.

The second method was far more straightforward: Just use smaller magic.

Smaller magic it is.

The entire exchange had happened faster than the blink of an eye, the crowd catching up a moment after.

Marcie went into a sort of color commentary, but Apostolos had bigger fish to fry than focusing on whatever she wanted to spout.

Switching from scythe swings, Apostolos held his hand out as beams of sunlight shot forward. Light speed beams, they packed almost no punch, but they were far faster than any Rory could react to, even when he was using his full tier eight attributes.

So, Rory didn't react to the light beams.

He reacted instead to Apostolos; even before a beam was fired, a small red crystal appeared in its path, absorbing the linearly traveling sunlight and shattering.

Frowning but not surprised, Apostolos raised his scythe overhead, swinging it and slicing through the air itself as sunlight suddenly found itself forced to pool into a singular point before the point exploded, as hundreds of rays of solar energy fired nearly at random.

It wasn't even close to enough.

Bringing his hands together as if cupping something, the rays of light that flashed toward Rory never made it, vanishing into what seemed like nothing.

Folding space.

Again, an adaptation of what Rory had learned over the years. A layer of folded space around him that was extremely brittle, like a single pane of glass.

The problem was that the sunlight parade, individually, had no oomph; the weakly folded space could disperse it with little issue.

Light-speed attacks won't work.

Concepts were weird. Lacking physical mass, his magic, solar magic, could travel at the speed or near the speed of light. Except that being so fast, it was as if the universe itself dampened how much actual punch the beams could contain.

But the inverse could also be made true.

Pointing his scythe forward, clear 'glass' suddenly formed in the air. While Apostolos was most well-known for his solar magic, he had been quite the pro at freeform magic since his youth. Having gotten a crash course again over the last few years, it wasn't much effort on Apostolos's part to manifest something like a basic glass lens. They were less 'real' than had they come from projection magic, but not everyone was Rory, who could store a bajillion different 'schematics' within his mind and even alter them on the fly, if not construct them on the fly.

Which sort of felt like defeating the point of projection magic if he could do that on the fly, but those were complaints that Rory had always laughed off as if he were being silly.

Thoughts that had taken place in an instant, Apostolos didn't let them slow him down as he fired dozens of sunlight rays through the magical glass lens. Collected and concentrated, the beams shot out from the focusing lens were moving considerably more slowly, as if the light were traveling through thick syrup.

At least, from the perspective of light, it was moving slowly. To mortals, the beams were still faster than most tier sevens could react to.

Most.

Rory was not most.

Flicking a finger forward, green lances shot forward from green 'portals' that had appeared behind him, each one intercepting a beam of slow-moving light. They weren't actually portals; they were magic circles that were projecting the weapons, but to the layman, there may as well have been no difference.

In a straight-up magic fight, Apostolos hadn't been expecting to dominate, not even close. Still, he'd been hoping that with his practice over the years, and Rory's restriction on gear and attributes, he'd have a more definite edge.

Clearly, he'd been mistaken.

It came down to output per 'unit' of magic, or in simpler terms, efficiency. With his anima body, solar affinity, scythe for channeling solar pneuma, and every other thing going for him, Apostolos had often found solar magic almost reflexive.

That had been a mistake. Apostolos was good at getting some bang-for-his-buck –a phrase Rory had explained to him in the past as being Earth-based in origin— but that was compared to people who otherwise simply relied on skills to do everything.

Rory was on an utterly different level. He'd spent decades intricately observing, investigating, and extrapolating on the fundamental aspects of pneuma, learning everything he could to further his own skills as an Architect.

What that translated to was that, even with his attributes restricted, even with Apostolos having gone far heavier on Pneuma investment than Rory had over the years, it didn't matter one bit, because Rory could do with one 'unit' of magic that Apostolos needed ten or twenty or thirty or however many arbitrary made-up 'units.'

It was only from the collision of their magical attacks that Apostolos truly grasped the difference.

I'm not winning a magic fight.

That was a sobering thought, but one Apostolos had at least considered the possibility of.

That means I've got to get up close and personal.

Apostolos had always expected that at some point, but he really did not relish the thought.

Again, on paper, Apostolos should have had better physical attributes. His anima body freed him from ever investing in durability and mostly from investing in Flexibility.

Thirty percent to Strength on average, five to ten percent to Flexibility on average, fifteen to twenty percent to cognition on average, forty percent to pneuma on average, and zero to five percent to growth on average, with the returns generally shuttled back into pneuma.

Meanwhile, Rory had rarely strayed from over twenty percent in strength. While he had a heavier flexibility investment than Apostolos did, his anima body and Anzu-race bridged that gap and then some.

So, on paper, he should have been the superior close-range fighter.

Just like on paper, he should have been better with magic.

The reason for Apostolos's unease about taking the fight close quarters was Rory's cognition. As a combat attribute, cognition was typically a mistake to invest in too heavily; the increase in cognitive capabilities was not worth the decrease elsewhere from having fewer attributes to spread around.

But his former master wasn't that simple. He'd avoided that problem by being one of the few who could invest heavily in growth and not just keep pace, but still ascend faster than just about anyone else in Ehkorrus.

All of that was to say, while Apostolos wanted to avoid a close-quarters fight, it was beginning to look inevitable, and the deck was likely stacked against him.

Clutching his scythe tightly, Apostolos felt the tremble of excitement as he prepared himself.

Whether win or lose, Apostolos had every intention of making the most of the experience.