Before I could wonder anything more about this strange shrine, Hamon stepped out from behind the female statue.
“You know, if you wanted to trap me, you should have caught me by surprise,” I said. “You’re really not very good at this.”
“It’s time we settled this.” Hamon waved behind him, and two more Clan Wysaro initiates appeared from behind the statues. The two men were red-faced and sweat-drenched but still tried to look menacing.
“Fine,” I said with a shrug. “I’ll beat all three of you.”
“Not alone,” a familiar voice called from the shrine’s entrance.
Vesma and Kegohr entered the shrine, and I smiled at them. “Didn’t need your help,” I jested.
“I don’t want to miss out on all the fun.” Vesma gave me a wink, and I half-wondered whether I’d imagined it. She was really starting to grow on me, and it seemed I was doing the same to her.
A fireball crashed into the ground in front of me, and Hamon smirked. “I’m pleased you’re all here. It makes this all the more worthwhile.”
“So we’re using Augmentation?” I asked. The last time we’d fought had been without magical assistance, so I guessed he meant serious business this time.
“It’s the only way to ensure you’re too damaged to ever return to the guild. I will sear the channels inside your body. You’ll never tap into your Vigor again.”
“You talk too much,” Vesma said. “I doubt you could burn me even if I stood still while you Augmented.”
“Let’s see, then, shall we?” Hamon asked.
“And what will the masters say?” Kegohr seemed intent on preventing the conflict.
“I will tell them that you attacked us, that we were forced to defend ourselves.”
“Like anyone would believe you,” Vesma countered.
“We carry the weight of Clan Wysaro,” said the green-robed initiate on the right.
“And you are nothing but peasants and a half-breed,” Hamon added.
“Enough talk,” I said. “Let’s do this.”
I wouldn’t exactly kill Hamon, but I was sure I could baste and roast him like a turkey.
The two Clan Wysaro initiates jumped from either side of Hamon and ignited their Flame Shields, their right fists engulfed in a dome of fire as they sprang toward me. Vesma and Kegohr produced shields of their own as they clashed with the other initiates.
I circled around them and lifted both palms toward Hamon. Rather than summon Stinging Palm, I used Untamed Torch. A volley of four fireballs no bigger than acorns shot out from the center of my palms. I hadn’t perfected the technique, so tiny spheres was all I could muster, and Hamon evaded them easily.
Hamon lifted his hand and produced a fireball that continued to grow. I used Plank Pillar to seperate us, but a fireball the size of a melon burst through the wooden wall. I twisted aside at the last moment, and the flaming sphere struck the dragon suspended in midair. The statue trembled before it toppled and smashed into a thousands fragments.
Another fireball rocketed toward me, and this time, I didn’t have the time to summon another wooden wall or evade the attack. Before Hamon’s Untamed Torch could hit me, a dome of fire expanded in front of me. It was like a Flame Shield but much larger, and it separated me completely from my opponent. Hamon continued to launch fireballs into the dome, but none of them could penetrate the barrier. I stared at the magical field and wondered where the hell it had come from before it vanished completely.
“Who dares defile the Shrine of Nydarth!” a voice yelled from the room’s entrance.
Everyone immediately stopped fighting, and the traces of Augmentation vanished in wisps of embers. The Clan Wysaro initiates glanced at each other, their eyes wide and mouths agape.
When I turned to the entrance, I expected to see some ghostly apparition or guardian of the shrine. Instead, Rutmonlir stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the sunlight’s rays. He might not have been a spirit or a shrine guardian, but he was still an imposing figure when his wrath was kindled. And right now, he looked madder than I’d ever seen him. As he marched into the shrine, his giant form towered over the shattered statue, and he glared at each initiate in turn. When his gaze met mine, I didn’t turn away like the others.
“I thought when I allowed you all to sneak off that it would be an exchange of fists. Who was the first idiot to use a martial technique?” Rutmonlir’s gaze swept across the room before settling on Hamon. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
“They attacked us first,” Hamon protested. “They lured us here and planned to—”
“Will you please shut the fuck up?” Rutmonlir said, and Vesma stifled a giggle.
“There’ll be enough time to blow hot air up each other’s asses soon enough.”
“The tournament?” I asked.
“Where’d you hear about that?” Rutmonlir questioned.
“Everyone knows,” Hamon said. “My father believes I’ll win.”
“Your father is an ass.”
Hamon glared at Rutmonlir. “You’ll regret saying that.”
“Will I now? You going to make me? Perhaps you’ll tell your old man and he’ll come racing up the mountain. He’ll bend me over his knee and give me a good spanking. No, I doubt he’d do that. He should have done it to you, but apparently didn’t have what it takes.”
Hamon was now visibly shaking with rage, and the Augmentation channels inside his body were alive with Vigor. Networkings of glowing red lines ran across his body, and his eyes blazed with fire.
“Come along,” Rutmonlir said. “You’ve done enough training for today.”
I followed the master outside of the shrine but kept my eye on Hamon in case he threw a fireball
