Two nights before the fourth trial, Caen sat in his room with Zeris and Aunt Vensha. He sat cross-legged on his bed, a portion of his mind was performing some Dream-guarding exercises he’d found in the restricted section of the library, while another was inspecting the soul structure of Stormsong, who lay on the bed beside him.

Zeris was reading through her notes on a sofa she’d brought in from the living room, and Aunt Vensha was sitting at his desk flipping through a book.

“If you frown so much, you’ll get wrinkles,” Zeris said to Caen. “Pre-trial jitters?”

He nodded, letting out a sigh. “I’m going over worst-case scenarios.”

Zeris lifted an eyebrow. “Pahanai?”

“She’ll be coming after me in this round.”

“And she won’t be alone,” Aunt Vensha chipped in, not looking up from her book.

Pahanai usually worked with a team, though she’d been known to switch things up at times. He’d watched every trial she’d participated in just to get a better feel for her fighting style.

Caen’s frown deepened. “I’m more inclined to avoid her, but encountering her might be a given. She eventually finds everyone she goes after. But that’s not my only concern. She’s in the Tried and True faction with Yeishi. And I’ve had petty altercations with Fahptis and Anomis. If they all decide to work together…” he shook his head.

“Wow,” Zeris said. “Do you have a plan for dealing with them?”

“Individually, yes,” he admitted. “As long as Anomis doesn’t pick a different sword, I can render him weaponless in a fight.”

“And Fahptis’s armor hinders his speed over long distances,” Aunt Vensha mused. “He’ll be easy to escape from.”

“What about Yeishi?” Zeris asked. “Everyone keeps talking about his other bloodline. How powerful is it?”

“It dampens magical effects,” Caen said. “But if I had to fight Yeishi in a group, it could make things easier for me, since everyone else would be restricted in some way. In the past three trials, I haven’t seen him exclude any of his allies from his bloodline’s effects. That might be a ploy, though.

“If it were just his Body-enhancement I had to deal with, I wouldn't be too worried. But between his offensive Spirit-healing, his weapon, and that bloodline, I don’t think I stand a chance.”

“You might have to run if you see him, then,” Zeris said, shrugging.

“No shame in that,” Aunt Vensha added.

Caen leaned his back against the bed’s headboard and ran a hand through his hair. “Then there’s Pahanai. She has incredible reflexes, even for a Body-enhancer. But between my spores, vines, and flickering Soul-sense, I’m pretty sure I can escape from her with Stormsong’s help.”

He glanced down at the sword, still frowning.

***

A portion of Caen’s mind glanced at the time construct in the corner of his vision as the labyrinth began changing around them.

Pahanai completed her slash. She wasn’t close enough to cut him, but Caen still made a short movement with the sword’s straight edge in front of him.

A wind blade, which was invisible to his eyes right now, clanged against Stormsong and cracked Chasma. Caen was immediately filled with energy. He tried to clamp down on that power and preserve it for later. But that didn’t work.

At the same time, a violent shock wave erupted from Stormsong, shoving back Pahanai. Yeishi, too, who had tried to come in from Caen’s blindside, was driven back by the explosion, but his twin-bladed sword, Sequence, remained fixed in the air, thrumming.

Despite Caen’s flickerings, a Spirit-healing affinity flared in Yeishi’s soul, then sharp pain bloomed in Caen’s spirit. Sequence spun towards Caen; he smacked it aside with Stormsong, failing, once again, to preserve the agitated energy within himself. In the same moment, Stormsong let out another deafening boom that did not in any way seem to affect Sequence.

A wind blade bit into Chasma again, this time breaking through the fragment and his armor, and slicing his skin. Grunting in pain, Caen darted after Pahanai. She immediately leaped backwards with preternatural speed, sending more wind blades at him.

They’re trying to whittle me down, he realized, deflecting another blow from Sequence just as the wind blades bit into Chasma. His assailants stood on opposite sides of him, reorienting whenever he tried to keep them both within view.

His will was nearly strained to the limit within Yeishi’s Dampening bubble, and all his spells were much weaker. He rejected an emergency transit.

A group of scaled bears charged down a passageway. The creatures ran past Pahanai, ignoring her and attacking Caen and Yeishi.

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Even though it strained him further, Caen was thankful for the monsters’ arrival. Yeishi laid waste to the creatures, and in the meantime, he couldn’t attack Caen. Pahanai kept attacking, however, not caring for the fact that her wind blades struck the monsters more times than they struck him.

“Stormsong, can you compound shock waves?” a portion of Caen’s mind inquired.

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“I need you to store up a few and let them out all at once.”

The sword rumbled as Caen quickly dispatched the monsters. He caught a few more wind blades on Stormsong’s edge. With each clash, shock waves erupted out of the awakened weapon, but Yeishi and Pahanai weathered these easily, as they were keeping their distance. The pain from Caen's spirit was getting worse.

Sequence split into two long swords without guards. Both attacked Caen, just as his spirit was rocked by such startling pain that he almost lost all his spell constructs. He exerted his will to maintain them.

“I will store up one shock wave,”

the sword finally said.

“That won’t be enough,” Caen said as he struck aside one half of Sequence. The other half slashed his side, cutting through both Chasma and the armor.

The sword grumbled. “Two, then.”

“Stormsong—”

“Three. No more. That’s as far as I’m willing to inconvenience myself. You’d better use this decisively.”

“Thank you. I’m going to fluctuate very briefly, but I have a plan. You can start now.”

Just as he deflected a thrust to the head from Sequence, the weapon’s other half stabbed into his left shoulder and retracted quickly. Yeishi’s spiritual attacks had not abated, nor had Pahanai’s wind blades. Caen was gritting his teeth in pain. Chasma was cracked and split all over his body. Three strikes, and Stormsong had not released a single shockwave.

Caen deflected another remote swing from one of Sequence’s halves. And the moment this happened, he pushed the agitated energy within himself into Stormsong.

Several things happened at once.

The deafening explosion of energy that erupted outwards from the sword was five times as potent as usual. It knocked back both Yeishi and Pahanai, who were each standing a few yards away.

Caen slammed the other portion of his existence at Pahanai. He had not done this in the trials so far for fear of raising too many eyebrows. Every instance of him flickering Soul-sense up till this point had been relatively light.

In the same moment, Caen hurtled towards Pahanai, who was quickly recovering from the shock wave.

Reverting his soul structure caused the sword to lose its luster. He empowered his movements with Body-enhancement and Kinesis. He reached her in a breath, already swinging for her neck. Pahanai pivoted, bringing down her axe on his head.

Caen paired Stormsong’s primary enchantments with Dream-guarding and immediately channeled the surge of energy into the sword. A concussive shockwave rippled out of it just as the blade reached Pahanai. Her hand, which was in the way, got completely cleaved off at the wrist as the sword continued onwards into the side of her head.

Right before she vanished in a pillar of light, there was utter shock on her face.

“Wonderful!” Stormsong exulted. “Very Wonderful!”

Pain bloomed in Caen’s spirit the very next moment, and one half of Sequence slashed through the space he’d already vacated.

The time construct flashed. The labyrinth began changing around him.

Caen bolted into a passageway before it was completely cut off by a reshaping wall. Yeishi was a second too late.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Stormsong scolded. “The enemy is behind you!”

“I still have a trial to win. This is me being decisive. I won’t let myself get distracted.”

Stormsong rumbled.

Caen immediately cut down a trio of Returned that attacked him and punctured a hole through another wall. When he slipped through it, he was overcome by waves of pain and exhaustion.

He was just on the cusp of will fatigue. The power from Stormsong’s ability still surged within him, however, urging him into action. Ignoring the buzzing from his identifier necklace, he dispatched the flying creatures and rushed for the opposite wall.

One more puncture and he exited the perimeter of the labyrinth. He staggered to the side after squeezing out of the hole he’d made. He was panting heavily, and his limbs were shaking from exhaustion. Pain leaked from his spirit into his mind and body.

He dropped Stormsong’s ability and sheathed the sword. Then he began casting spells to soothe his spirit, mind, and body. His mana reserves were almost empty. He stopped channeling mana into the sword, opting instead to drag it behind him. He rejected yet another emergency transit.

The walls of the arena curved around him, and off to the side, sat an archway. A great distance to his left sat another. There were only so few Returned out here.

Caen shuffled towards the closest archway.

Someone rushed towards him. A Returned in thick plate armor, wielding two long sickles whose blades shone an ominous red.

In an instant, Caen Mimicked Stormsong’s primary enchantments. When he swung, the weapon left its scabbard behind. As soon as he tore into the Returned’s helmet, the man vanished in a pillar of light.

The other nearby Returned moved away from his path as he shuffled onwards. No one else attacked him, though he kept alert.

A very short distance away from the archway, his identifier necklace suddenly stopped buzzing. It grew very cold. This hadn’t happened before.

With supreme effort, Caen empowered himself with a spell and lunged for the archway.

He didn’t reach it.

A cold sensation spread over his entire body, and then he was wrenched through space.

Caen reappeared on a lushly carpeted floor and fell to his hands and knees, rasping from the severity of the spatial transport.

A weight he’d come to identify with aura pressed down on him.

“Rise, Herb Mask, and greet your Grand Elders,” a powerful voice boomed. “We have many questions.”