noct

6. To Adjourn

The next day, it wasn’t Rhys and Bast who manned the stall. Instead, the smallest, most delicate of the orphans sat behind the cloth, peddling their bags to all passerby for one silver a bag. Two...

5. Scalping

The two of them arrived at the arena as the first spectators arrived. Rhys threw down the red-and-white robe he’d found earlier, tucking the sleeves underneath so it appeared as nothing more than...

4. Cashing In

As the first day of the tournament wound to an end, Rhys and Bast retreated, quickly making themselves scarce before any of the tournament’s organizers could corner them and ask a few pesky quest...

3. Tournament Time

Tam and Den crawled back to the orphanage by nightfall, covered in filth and bites, and none the happier for their stint in the depths of the pit. They glared death at Rhys, and Rhys ignored them. ...

2. Good Time Had By All

Rhys propped the chair up on the garbage at the edge of the pit and clambered up it. It was a short walk from the pit to the town, and dark when he got there. The town had a wall, and the gates wer...

1. God of Trash

A/N: Guys, I'm... I'm so sorry. I can't live without writing two books! I tried to hide this sickness, tried to pretend it wasn't real, but--but I can't hide it any more. That's right. This foolish...

274. Vi's Castle

As he’d suspected, Vi’s castle hadn’t truly fallen at all. There was no sign of damage to the walls. Instead, it appeared that Vi had simply retreated her castle back into the earth, somehowâ...

273. Go Off

Ike raced through the forest. What Scar had said kept replaying through his head. Why were they executed when the trial ended? Did the trial devour them to re-seal the monster? Or… was it simply ...

272. Plan D

Ike reached the castle before anyone else. He sat down in the deepest point of the rubble to meditate for the few precious moments he could. He’d used almost all his aether in that attack. He nee...

271. Punching Feet

Ike rushed toward the figure’s feet. Storm Clad lashed him with hot water, superheated from the heat the figure gave off. Lightning crackled all around him. Green energy built up around his arm a...

270. The Monster Arrives

At long last, the figure lifted a foot. Trees flew from the passing wind of its step. A shadow fell over the forest. Its foot slammed back down, and the earth jumped. Tremors reached where Ike stoo...

269. Hand to Hand Combat

While the others fled, Ike leaped up to meet the hand. He was no larger than a wasp compared to the immensity of the hand, but he jumped up anyways. The trees shattered under the hand, brushed asid...

268. Equilibrium

A new phase of the battle began. They still fought, but less often than before. Now, their times in battle were interspersed with long breaks, as Ike and Wisp brought centipedes out from the earth ...

267. Centipede Charge

Ike at their head, the centipedes rushed through the castle and out onto the battlements. Wisp was gone. The Old Guard had hidden. There was only one tasty morsel ahead of them, and his name was Ik...

266. A Buggy Plan

The centipedes gave chase, and Ike ran. He sprinted through the halls, tracing back the path he’d taken to the center of the nest. The centipedes followed hungrily, their mandibles gnashing, hiss...

265. Crashing Waves

One after another, the monsters charged Ike’s castle. Like waves washing over the beach, they slammed into Ike and his defenses. He and the other defenders fought in waves to meet the monsters. T...

264. Final Castle

Ike charged up to the battlements. A shadow loomed over the castle. Without calling Mag, he could already decode what had happened. All three streams of monsters, Scar’s, Rufus’, and Ike’s ow...

263. Mana Flows

The mana flow ended at a spiderwebbed dark hole that vanished deeper into the earth—one of the centipede holes from the previous round of the trial. The mana grew even thicker beyond the hole, bu...

262. Hoping and Coping

Back at the castle, Ike didn’t immediately go rest. He paced the battlements, watching the battle from close enough to jump in if he needed to. However, Scar and her men had the battle well in ha...

261. Beating Them Back

The monsters were pushing toward the walls when Ike returned. Despite the short time he was gone, Wisp’s fire trap was no more, and the fighters had fallen back, relying on the defenses Ike and t...

260. Reinforcements, Part Two

Scar’s men jumped to the moment she gave the order. In a matter of seconds, they’d gathered everything they owned and regrouped on the battlements. Scar gave the order, and they followed Ike, a...

259. Alliance!

Ike rushed toward the border between his and Scar’s castles. The trees rushed by, the monsters from his castle far behind him. Ahead, a fire raged. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky and rus...

258. Metal Palms

Ike dashed toward the monsters. They stared at him, startled, but only for an instant. In the next, they rounded on him as one, swinging their axes. A wall of blades cut toward Ike, the axes all st...

257. Sword Talking

Ike leaped forward, and this time, the sword didn’t fight him or struggle toward the axes. It obeyed his command, moving almost as neatly as his old sword had. Unlike his old sword, he felt a sen...

256. Between a Foot and an Axe

The monster stomped down on him, while the other swung its axe. Caught in between, Ike stared between the two of them.

Uh oh.

He surged his aether to Lightning Dash and leaped ...

255. A Choice

Rufus slashed out. His blade cut into the old man’s neck. The old man startled. His eyes widened as his head flew away.

His body sagged to the ground with a thump. Rufus stood over him, bre...

254. Duel in the Dark

The sun hadn’t yet risen. A full night had not passed, merely a few hours. Ike sprinted through the scorched woods toward the place Mag had pointed to. He didn’t try to be stealthy or subtle. N...

253. The Battle Continues

A roar broke Ike out of his meditation. He sat up, checking his aether levels. Over three-quarters full, almost completely full. Good enough. He hopped off the table and headed outside. 2024-12-19 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post

252. Strategy Time

The round room was packed with everyone in it. Relin had started to shoo the Old Guard out, until Ike told her to let them stay. They were just as much a part of this plan as anyone else. He looked...

251. Preconceptions

Rufus and his men stood in a line atop the battlements. Ike marched back and forth, looking them up and down. Wisp followed after him, miming his actions in some strange game of her own. He didn’...