My serpents uncoiled from my shoulders, a roiling mass of beast, confusion, and exhaustion aspects. The tumbling mixture made a poor weapon or shield, and it was difficult to control. A precise strike was out of the question, and there was no way I’d be able to use the serpents to block Rafael’s jinsei-infused attack.
That was all right. This technique wasn’t about precision.
I took a deep breath, focused all my attention on what had to happen next, and waited for Rafael to strike.
“This is over,” my opponent declared. “You’re done.”
His fist shrieked toward me, a shadowy trail of dark jinsei behind it. It was a brutal, ferocious attack. If it touched me, I’d end up with broken bones at the very least. With no jinsei to defend myself, it might even land me in the emergency room.
Professor Song seemed to realize that, too. He shouted wordlessly and rushed back into the ring. There was no way he’d reach us in time, but it was nice that he’d at least tried to save me from the crippling blow.
My Eclipse nature strained to burst free of my control. It wanted to stop Rafael, no matter the cost. It didn’t care if it revealed itself, or how badly it would hurt my opponent. It wanted to survive.
But I couldn’t do that. Killing Rafael over a duel of honor wasn’t just monstrous, it was dangerous. Someone would find out what I’d done, what I was, and they’d kill me for it.
I pulled the serpents tight around me, like a cloak of churning jinsei.
Rafael saw the shield form and his grin widened. He saw the wispy protection and knew it couldn’t stop his brutal assault. His fist hammered into the thin veil of the serpents.
Just as I’d hoped.
When Rafael’s aura passed into the thin layer of serpents that protected my chest, I sprang my trap. I let the tiniest piece of my Eclipse core’s hunger rip through the tenuous connection between us. A dull roar filled my head, and a seismic shift revealed a new level of martial mastery to me. The serpents were no longer separate from my core or aura; all three parts of my sacred arts were joined. The fusion strengthened every part of me, and I saw the end of this fight as clearly as I saw Rafael’s sneering face.
Something in my core snapped, and a new technique burst into my thoughts: Thief’s Shield.
For the briefest moment, my aura overlapped with Rafael’s. In that split second, my Eclipse core stripped the aspects from his aura and drained the jinsei from his core. My dark urge wanted to absorb all of the sacred energy from my foe, and it took a shameful effort for me to stop the flow of power. A spike of black pain speared my core when I killed the technique, and I groaned and nearly fell.
Rafael went to one knee, eyes fluttering, chest hitching as he tried to catch his breath. The shock of losing nearly all of his jinsei and having his aura stripped of the aspects he’d leaned on to fuel his technique had stunned him senseless.
Professor Song reached us just as I ended the duel with a tap of my boot’s toe against Rafael’s chest.
“Final point, Jace!” the professor called as blue sparks shot into the air around the ring. Rafael toppled onto his side. “The duel is complete. Jace Warin is the winner.”
The crowd roared, cheers and boos mingling together in a wave of emotion that tumbled over me. I raised my hands over my head, bolstered by the energy that poured out of the crowd. I reached down to offer Rafael a hand up.
The woozy Disciple stared at me for a moment, shook his head, and tried to stand on his own.
“I don’t need help,” he said.
“Everyone needs help,” I said. “Take my hand.”
Rafael glanced at my hand, then up to my eyes. Finally, he accepted my offer. I hauled him to his feet and raised his hand into the air with mine.
I’d won the duel without killing my opponent. I wondered if Rafael knew his prize had been the greater one that day.
The Hit
TIME SEEMED TO RUSH by after my duel with Rafael. If I wasn’t in class or eating, I tried to sneak away to channel and focus on advancing my core. That almost never happened, though, because Rachel and Clem had both gotten very good at ambushing me and hauling me off for some one-on-one time.
Clem insisted I practice my scrivening with her or help her with her martial arts. Rachel wanted to hike in the wilderness connected to the school or cook fancy desserts in the cottage’s kitchen.
I definitely enjoyed my time with both of them, but it was all getting exhausting. While it was nice to be the center of attention, it was also nerve-racking. Anything I said to one of the girls would eventually get back to the other, making all our conversations fraught with potential peril for me.
That’s why I was almost glad when the holiday break arrived. I could use the time alone to recharge my social batteries and prepare for the last half of the year.
For the next month, I read the Manual of the New Moon, searched for Hahen, ate with the staff who’d stayed behind for the holiday, and generally enjoyed the peace and quiet. It was a good month that came to an abrupt halt when an unexpected booming echoed through the cottage on the last day of the break. Someone had come to see me.
“Hey, stranger,” Hagar said when I opened the door. “Guess what time it is.”
“Let me guess,” I said, closing the door behind her. “Another job?”
“Could be,” Hagar agreed as we headed down the path to the cottage. “What I do know, though, is that the elders want to see you.”
“Really?” I asked, suddenly excited. I’d finally
