stjorthotic Chapter 278: The Forging of a Vanguard
Chapter 278: The Forging of a Vanguard
Over the deafening roar of the crowd, Ray’s calm, almost bored voice echoed in Darian's memory.
A mage’s greatest weapon isn't their magic, Varrus. It's your own impatience. They want you to panic. Stay in the pocket. Make him work for every single spell.
Darian’s attention was brought back when he heard Bruce made the announcement.
"Combatants, ready! Begin!"
Bruce announced as the magical bell tolled.
Viktor instantly shifted his weight, dropping his center of gravity and pulling mana into his palm, preparing to cast a Concussive Blast the second Darian inevitably launched his desperate charge.
But Darian didn't charge. Instead, the heavily armored Bronze Aegis took a slow, methodical step to the right, keeping his kite shield raised at a relaxed angle. He simply began to circle Viktor at a distance, maintaining a thirty-foot gap.
Viktor blinked, what he anticipated Darian would do did not happen. Darian was actively refusing to close the distance.
A cold smirk touched Viktor's lips.
Fine. If you want to play the target, I will happily oblige.
Viktor thought as he raised his white ash staff, reverting flawlessly to his original ‘Human Turret’ roots. He didn't bother with heavy incantations; he unleashed a blistering, rapid-fire barrage of foundation magic.
“Ictus! Ictus! Frigus!”
He cast three consecutive cantrip spells: Kinetic Bolt and Frost Flare.
Six kinetic bolts of blunt force shrieked across the sand, followed instantly by a freezing flare of sub-zero fog aimed directly at Darian. It was a perfectly executed suppression barrage.
But to the absolute shock of the crowd and Viktor, Darian didn't raise his heavy shield to block.
Darian’s eyes tracked the glowing projectiles. He executed what he had learned during the day's training with Ray Croft and executed the Croft-style evasion.
He tilted his head two inches to the left, letting the first and second kinetic bolt whistle past his ear. He shifted his armored shoulder back, letting the third and fourth bolt glance harmlessly off his curved pauldron. He took a single, perfectly measured half-step backward, allowing the fifth and six bolts to land on the arena sands and the freezing fog of the Frost Flare spell to detonate harmlessly in the empty space where his face had been a fraction of a second earlier.
He evaded the entire magical barrage without breaking his stride and without spending a single drop of mana.
"Unbelievable! Varrus is walking through a magical storm like he's strolling through a garden! He isn't wasting an ounce of stamina on his shield!"
Bruce Doyle yelled.
Viktor’s smirk vanished. A flicker of genuine irritation cracked his cold facade. His perfect accuracy was hitting empty air. It's as if Darian was mocking him.
You want to dodge? Let's see you dodge an avalanche!
Viktor thought, his eyes hardening.
Viktor slammed the base of his white ash staff into the sand. He began a rapid, complex somatic gesture with his free hand, chanting the heavy syllables.
“Glacies Disrumpe!”
He cast the 2nd-Circle spell: Glacial Shatter.
It is a massive area-of-effect dome of freezing cold and ice spikes. Darian couldn't side-step an AOE.
The moment Darian saw the staff glow with the dense, heavy blue light of 2nd-Circle magic, he exploded into motion.
Darian triggered his Diagonal Breach skill. He launched himself forward at a sharp, terrifying angle, his iron boots tearing up the sand as he closed the thirty-foot gap with unnatural, terrifying speed.
Viktor’s eyes widened. Darian was moving too fast. Viktor realized he wouldn't finish the 2nd-Circle incantation before the Vanguard was in sword range.
As Darian crossed the ten-foot mark, he snapped two fingers over the rim of his kite shield, aiming them directly at Viktor’s face. It was the exact same, devastating somatic gesture he had used to blind Tengaar Yoran in his previous match.
“Telum.”
Darian calmly cast the 1st-circle spell: The Seeking Bolt.
Viktor realized, his analytical mind moving at lightning speed.
He’s going for the Flashbang Interrupt.
Viktor quickly realized as he aborted his AOE spell instantly. He rapidly shifted his mana and raised his staff..
“Scutum!”
Viktor cast the 1st-Circle spell: Shield.
He created a hard-light barrier to reflect the blinding bolt, while simultaneously pulling back his right hand.
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“Perforo!”
Viktor cast the 1st-Circle Spell: Arcane Lance.
A rotating spear of condensed, translucent blue force formed. Viktor used it to impale Darian during his casting recovery. It was his answer to Darian’s counter.
But the blinding flash of the spell: Seeking Bolt never came.
It was a fake.
Instead, Darian’s fingers sparked with a dull, harmless fizzle of light as his somatic action changed to cast the cantrip spell: Aegis Ward.
Darian charged toward the Arcane Lance although the ward did not fully defend him from the spell it lessened its impact that it did not slow down his momentum.
Darian continued to violently charge towards Viktor, as he reached within melee range he used his kite shield and used his Shield Bash attack to hit Viktor’s magical Shield barrier, using the full momentum the his attack destroyed the barrier.
And in one fluid motion Darian followed it up with a slash of his longsword towards Viktor.
Viktor’s eye widened, with trained precision he evaded using his martial evasion however Darian’s slash still caught him ever so slightly as his arm was cut.
Viktor continued to move back to gain some space as he channeled his mana again.
“Scutum!”
He cast the 1st-Circle spell: Shield again in anticipation of Darian’s pursuit.
But it never came.
Viktor stood frozen behind as he realized Darian was just looking at him with his useless Scutum barrier.
His Arcane Lance earlier was utterly useless against Darian's violent charge.
A drop of cold sweat rolled down Viktor's pale cheek.
The Bronze Aegis hadn't just faked a spell attack; he had anticipated Viktor's counter to it, and punished him by seizing total tactical control of the center of the arena. Darian wasn't just fighting. He was plotting.
"He read him like a book! Varrus just baited the prodigy of Arcanum into a phantom counter!"
Bruce Doyle screamed, completely engrossed in the match.
Viktor’s heart was hammering against his ribs. The analytical arrogance was gone. He realized, with a sinking feeling of dread, that he could not beat this monster in a game of tactical chess. He had to overwhelm the board entirely.
"Enough!"
Viktor snarled, raising his staff high into the air. He dug deep into his mana reserves.
“Arcus Fulmen!”
He cast the 2nd-Circle spell: Lightning Arc.
It wasn't a projectile that could be side-stepped; it was a jagged bolt of high-voltage mana that automatically sought out highly conductive targets. Against the armored Bronze Aegis, it was practically guaranteed to hit.
A blinding streak of blue-white lightning tore across the arena, arching violently toward Darian's chest.
Seeing Viktor commit to the heavy spell, Darian didn't retreat. He immediately charged, raising his kite shield like a battering ram. Beneath the cover of the steel, his free hand rapidly wove the somatic components of his third spell.
“Refractus.”
Darian whispered as he secretly cast the 1st-Circle spell: Elemental Ward.
Viktor smirked when he saw Darian charged at him.
“Try and block this!”
“Uurrgh…”
Darian grunted as the Lightning Arc spell hit him mid-charge. Instead of halting, he drove the tip of his longsword deep into the arena dirt, using the steel blade as a massive grounding rod. Sparks flew in a blinding shower as the sword dragged through the sand, leaving a scorched trench in his wake.
The Elemental Ward absorbed the brunt of the elemental damage, but the sheer physical shockwave of the voltage rattled Darian to his bones. His teeth clicked together violently, and the smell of ozone filled his armor. His exhausted muscles screamed as the electricity tried to lock his joints.
Now or never.
Darian thought, his vision swimming.
Using the stored kinetic energy of the Lightning Arc spell, Darian triggered his Aegis Burst! skill.
Darian shattered standard human reaction time. He became a blur of steel, crossing the final five feet instantly, stepping directly inside Viktor’s guard.
Panic flared in Viktor’s eyes. Darian was inside his lethal zone.
Viktor dropped his staff and thrust his palm forward, desperately trying to cast his point-blank execution spell.
“Pulsus…”
Before Viktor could completely cast the 1st-circle spell: Concussive Blast.
Darian was already executing somatic actions in anticipation of Viktor’s move.
“Telum!”
He cast the 1st-circle spell: Seeking Bolt.
For real this time.
A blinding, point-blank flash of kinetic light detonated directly in Viktor’s eyes. The mage shrieked, his vision completely whiting out, his somatic gesture breaking instantly as the Concussive Blast spell was interrupted.
Darian saw the opening. He had his longsword raised, ready to deliver a crushing blow with the flat of the blade as payback for what Viktor had done to Kima.
But the cold discipline of his new training overrode his anger. He remembered Viktor's combat moves from his prior matches. He also remembered the fatal flaw Ray had exposed during his spar with Viktor, which Darian had heard about.
The Glass Cannon Flaw.
Darian stopped his motion and didn't swing his sword. He dropped his shoulder and violently drove the heavy, iron-bound rim of his kite shield directly into Viktor’s solar plexus.
The impact sounded like a dropped anvil.
All the air rushed out of Viktor's lungs in a violent gasp. The physical trauma hit his diaphragm with terrifying force, instantly severing his connection to his mana core. Viktor’s eyes rolled back, his body folding over Darian's shield.
Darian stepped back, letting the incapacitated mage collapse into the sand.
Viktor hit the dirt hard, his staff rolling away, his mouth opening and closing silently as his body desperately tried to remember how to breathe. He was completely dismantled.
Darian stood over him, the tip of his longsword resting gently against the collar of Viktor’s robes. Darian was swaying slightly, his chest heaving, his own reserves completely spent. But his eyes were determined, victorious, and undeniably ‘supreme.’
"Match concluded! The winner and the First Level Group Finals! I present your champion... DARIAN VARRUS!"
Bruce announced.
For three seconds, the Grand Arena was dead silent. The shock of watching a traditional Bronze Aegis systematically out-think, out-maneuver, and out-magic one of the most talented 1st-Circle Novice in the College of Arcanum left the crowd speechless.
Then, the stadium exploded.
It was a deafening, unified roar of absolute awe.
Deep beneath the roaring stadium, in the quiet, sterile glow of the medical area of the grand arena, a small scrying pane projected the arena’s live feed.
Kogar Ramsey sat rigidly on a wooden stool beside a white cot. His brother, Kima, lay unconscious beside him, his breathing finally steady, his bruised face resting against the crisp pillows. Kogar’s eyes were glued to the glowing pane. He watched as Darian Varrus, their leader, stood victorious over the broken form of the mage who had brutally tortured his brother. Kogar saw the exhausted grit of a true Bronze Aegis.
Slowly, Kogar pushed himself off the stool. He stood at strict attention, bringing his right fist sharply across his chest, slamming it over his heart in a flawless salute.
“Strength is Supreme.”
Kogar whispered into the quiet room. The words were no longer just a team motto. They were now an undeniable truth.
Down in the sand, Darian ignored the screaming crowd. He sheathed his longsword, the adrenaline finally leaving his system. He slowly turned his head, looking up into the participant's box.
Sitting in his chair, finishing the last sip of his iced tea, was Ray Croft.
Ray lowered the glass. He met Darian's exhausted gaze and gave a single, slow, deliberate nod of approval.
Darian closed his eyes and nodded back.
The crucible was over. He wasn't just a arrogant noble anymore. A Vanguard for the upcoming Azure Cup had finally been forged.