Paragon of Skills

“Unlimited Mana and unlimited power are two very different things,” Jacob says.

The next moment they’re two comets falling against each other. Nimirea is wrapped in an aura that brims with overflowing Mana, while Jacob is enveloped by the brightest forging fire, one that he has reaped from the body of the Dungeon Boss himself.

What the two do not know is that two people are watching them.

It’s Sir Renquell and Liuthkrav, the two highest-leveled people in Ashenmere. Outside, everybody got a notification of the Dungeon’s undoing, but only two people also found out that the restrictions on the Dungeon had been lifted. And those two people met while entering the Dungeon.

“I hope this won’t come to blows,” Sir Renquell says.

Liuthkrav, the Mithril Golem, knows very well that Sir Renquell is not talking about Jacob and Nimirea. He’s talking about them.

When they first saw Liuthkrav’s junior brother and Sir Renquell’s daughter fighting after summoning a scrying mirror, they immediately understood that the situation would soon come to blows between them if things got any hotter.

“It is truly a pleasure to meet one of Rafnov’s children,” Sir Renquell had said, bowing his head to the Mithril Golem.

“It is as much of a pleasure to meet a True Elf and an upstanding Knight.”

“Not sure they would call me that out there,” Sir Renquell smiled crookedly.

“My own master was reviled for many, many years by his enemies. One’s own sense of justice must not be lost even when they try to beat it out of you.”

The two had sped up and ended up in the Intermediate Grounds, ready to follow through and go meet Jacob, Nimirea, and the others. But, sensing something off, they had summoned a scrying mirror.

That, as it turns out, had not been a great idea.

“I will not let my daughter succumb,” Sir Renquell had said. “I have much respect for Jacob, but even if my daughter turned into a criminal, I’d rather follow her in the darkest abyss than leave her alone again, Master Liuthkrav. I hope you shall understand.”

“I do,” Liuthkrav had replied. “I am deeply sorry about this, but I won’t let you interfere with my master’s disciple. His mission is of the utmost importance. Not even my life is anything compared to that. And Jacob Cloud had once again proven that he is the right man for this job. I am truly sorry, Sir Renquell, if you’ll try to interfere, I shall fight you to death.”

“I understand.”

And so, the two are still watching as Jacob and Nimirea come to blows again, both deeply hoping they could knock each other out suddenly or come to a resolution of sorts.

But, from the looks of it, it doesn’t look like they will.

Jacob seems to have made up his mind, and while both Mithril Rankers respect that, they know that one way or another, they’ll probably come to blows.

- - -

Jacob looks at Nimirea’s form through the Primordial Grimoire.

[Grimoire Analysis.]

[Flaw Detected.]

[Flaw: Nimirea Arendor circulates her Mana through the Major Polar Vein in her shoulder instead of the Phantasmal Loop when using Spiritual Dash. There’s a 0.2s delay between activation and—]

Given the high pace of the duel, Jacob does not have the time to read the entirety of what the Grimoire says about it, nor let it narrate it in his head. But he has read enough.

Jacob intercepts the pink sword, his arms straining against the blow. Having timed the attack, he manages to slide and punch Nimirea in the stomach.

The woman flies through the air once again, but this time she just levitates midair, staring straight at Jacob with hate.

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The two keep fighting, but soon, Jacob has the upper hand. Despite Nimirea’s power having skyrocketed, it still falls behind Jacob’s.

“HOW?!” Nimirea shouts beside herself, after Jacob’s blow disarmed her, her sword helplessly falling into the lake below.

He points the sword at her throat.

“I risked my life for this,” Jacob says, beside himself. “Why didn’t you use this power for the Boss?”

“I—“ In front of that question, Nimirea doesn’t have a good answer. “I wasn’t sure it would work. And it was only going to be ten minutes. I was trapped with the others and I—“

“Do you want to kill innocents in order to advance whatever it is that you want from your own life?” Jacob asks.

“What? What kind of question is that?! Of course not!”

“Are you willing to join the Champions, then?” Jacob asks.

“I won’t yield like this, Jacob! You can’t force me to join hands with a bunch of goodie two shoes that—“

“Time.”

Nimirea expects Jacob to slash at her and kill her, but instead, she feels air displaced right behind her, and a massive blow at the base of her neck knocks her out.

- - -

Both Liuthkrav and Sir Renquell look on, stunned. They were on the verge of breaking into a fight when Lancelot, Jacob’s squire, materialized out of nowhere.

- - -

“Took you long enough,” Jacob says.

“Sorry, Boss,” Lancelot replies, chewing on metal.

He’s in a new Dragonkin form, covered in overlapping golden scales that pulse with a slow, molten warmth. His fangs are longer, edged with the Mithril he’s been chewing, and armored ridges have grown along his knuckles and forearms, fused to his bones. His eyes glow with a warm, steady light. Heir of the Sun has bled into his very constitution.

The crowd of Champions below stirs. Vyrrak, among them, elbows the much smaller Zibrek, asking the Goblin, “is he chewing Mithril? Am I going insane?”

Indeed, Lancelot is chewing Mithril ore.

Jacob flies down to take Nimirea in his arms and deposit her on the platform amidst the rest of the Dark Champions, followed by Lancelot.

“Jacob?” Asterion asks. “What’s… what’s happening? Are you going to kill her?”

“What?” Jacob looks down at Nimirea in his arms. “Oh, no. I’m not going to kill any of them.”

“You just said you were, though, lad,” Boomgar intervenes. “Did you change your mind?”

“If I have to be honest,” Jacob says tiredly, “I wanted to scare them a bit and destroy their contracts with Asmodeus. That part about killing her… the reality is that I don’t have the guts to do it.”

“So… you’re letting her go?” Vyrrak frowns.

“Oh no. But I realized that I can’t do this all by myself. They are someone else’s problem.”

Suddenly, a new person appears in their midst.

He’s a normal man with golden spectacles on his face.

“Headmaster,” all the Champions say in unison.

The Headmaster waves his hands and a bunch of mandalas gather above the Dark Champions. He nods at Jacob a moment later.

“Your Primordial Spell worked as intended,” then, he turns toward everybody else. “I was in contact with Jacob Cloud until the Dungeon locked everything down. He warned me about the Dark Champions. He also said that, in case they were to show up, he’d remit the final choice of what to do with their lives to me.”

Everybody is surprised by that.

“Why?” Vyrrak asks, turning to Jacob. “You—you just said you put your own life at risk to kill the Dungeon Boss and Lyra. Why… why this now? Nobody would fight you on the final say about what to do with the Dark Champions, Jacob. You could very well slaughter all of them now and we’d agree with your choice. They were great allies, but, at the end of the day, we’re enemies.”

Jacob looks straight into Vyrrak’s yellow eyes and nods.

“I don’t think we should give them more arguments to call us dictators, Vyrrak. Justice… what’s justice here? They helped save hundreds of thousands of people in Ashenmere, potentially even more out there. Does that even out what they have done so far? I don’t know. But if I killed any of them now, especially Nimirea, it’d be because of my revenge for Iskara and the hate I feel for them even now after they helped us so much. I genuinely don’t know what the best choice is, here. I… I don’t have any plans for this.”

The Champions look at their Leader, the young man who has fooled even an Apostle of Apocalypse, saying that he doesn’t know how to deal with the Dark Champions, and they finally feel the tiredness of this whole ordeal descend upon them.

Vyrrak is the first to take a seat on a nearby rock while the Headmaster ties up every Dark Champion and, one by one, teleports them away.

The Champions are huddled together, not even talking, just staring at the Headmaster and the bizarre scene of him taking the Dark Champions away.

“I think it was for the best,” Orrivane confesses to Jacob while the Headmaster turns after making Nimirea disappear.

“I’ll be waiting at the Academy. We’re almost done with the first year and I have a surprise for your second year.”

“Can’t wait,” Jacob says ironically, and the Headmaster just disappears.

“By the way,” Sabrina Margrave asks, pointing at Lancelot, “where was he?”

“Digging out ore. Because of his Imperium Skill and his Constitution, he became essentially invisible to the Dungeon—and that allowed him to sneak off and just extract ore and kill Nightmares nonstop. Since he can now eat ore to recharge energy, I told him to do his own thing to mess with the Dungeon. He was a decoy.”

The Champions look at each other, unaware that Jacob had such a plan. They knew Lancelot was off somewhere else messing with the Intermediate Grounds, but not this much.

After a little more chatter, Vyrrak looks at Jacob and asks, “so, what’s next?”

“Summer vacation, no?” Jacob smiles. “I—I promised my mother I would visit. I hear that some sacred grounds of my family opened up or something.”

“You’re coming around for the Sacred Grounds?!” Kai says, all excited. “Oh man, that’s great!”

“Yeah, but let’s just relax a little,” Jacob sighs. “I need a break from all the fighting, the Evil Gods… the Primordial Gods…”

“Something tells me,” Vyrrak sighs, “that you’re not going to get that break.”

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