Chapter 727 (1/2)

Helen was in her element, swimming in the tides of blood that covered the arena. The swirling currents carried her forward with relentless momentum. When her spear clashed against her opponent, Helen was pleased to note that the other was driven backward by the force.

Bang!

“Peace!” Azriel said raising her hands. The woman’s rib cage expanded and contracted as she struggled to catch her breath. “By the Spearman, if I let you establish that Domain it is hard to break free!”

Helen flashed a bitter smile. “Except if you don’t give me time to set it up, I’m fucking skewered before I can do anything. My Soulskill is still so young. It doesn’t have the power to overwhelm you without any handicap.”

Azriel walked over toward the table beside the sparring arena and took a long swig of water. “Still, attempting the battle both ways is the only way for both of us to benefit meaningfully from the experience. This is a nice warm up before tomorrow’s match.”

Shaking her head, Helen joined Azriel at the table and took up a small towel to wipe away her sweat. “I feel pity for your opponent. That fool will be right fucked if he doesn’t bring his A game.”

“Such an outlook is likely realistic, but the last tournament I was a part of ended quite outside my expectations. It was… unpleasant.” Azriel said with a frown. Helen couldn’t help but chuckle humorlessly. She empathized greatly with Azriel in this case. After all, the culprit had made a fool of her in the match over a week ago, and as per his MO, he immediately disappeared.

Such was the style of Randidly Ghosthound.

“Therefore,” Azriel continued. There is one more task which I wish to accomplish; I will meet with my master tonight, to see if it has any guidance.”

Helen looked at Azriel in surprised. Almost as if reading her mind, Azriel chuckled and said. “The Northern convoy is getting quite near to Hastam. At that distance, it is quite easy for my Master to arrive a bit early. Would you like to come? It always appreciates… socialization. I believe my Master is quite lonely.”

“It’s not like I have much else to do,” Helen grumbled. “Whose idea was it to have a single match a day, and allow a day break between the matches? It will take until the end of the month to get through this damn tournament.”

“When we are not at war, it is a sufficient distraction for many. Unfortunately, we are at war.” Azriel said simply.

Both were silent after that. After spending time on the frontlines, both were familiar with the stress that the Central Domain of the Spearman School was under. Aylwind Sky taking action personally did a lot to alleviate that, but he couldn’t be everywhere at once. Besides, when he mobilized, so did the powerful Propagators on the Wight’s side. They no longer took his purgings lying down.

After breaking apart to wash, Helen and Azriel met back up to head toward the city walls. TO Helen’s surprise, Azriel’s master remained beyond the limits of Hastam proper, in one of the small suburbs that sprung up in the surrounding area.

With their identity as competitors in the under 25 tournament, nobody blinked at the prospect of them leaving the city. But as time went on, Helen became increasingly bothered by her thoughts.

Although Azriel had alluded previously to her Master’s status as a… special, non-Tellite individual, Helen hadn’t thought about it overmuch. But now, walking alone in the darkness along a dirt track to a small nearby village…

I’m going to be murdered, aren’t I? Helen reflected, with a certain amount of relish. Then she mentally glared at herself. Why was she getting excited by the mounting tension of the moment? This wasn’t a battle, there was no reason to be excited.

But Helen couldn’t deny that her heart was pounding as she walked deeper into the darkness behind Azriel. She was grinning widely as she imaged all the ridiculous and sinister plots that Azriel could perhaps have been engaged in to bring her to a place beyond help, where she would be in deathly peril…

It was of course, all mostly a joke. But the part of Helen’s brain that took after her mother sighed and shook her head. This queerness was exactly why she had so much difficulty bonding with people.