Chapter 112: Innovation

Chapter 112: Innovation

“Ready?” Noah asked, looking over at Isabel from where he stood in the yard across from her. Isabel gave him a sharp nod.

“Yeah. Same rules as yesterday?”

“Same rules,” Noah confirmed.

The ground erupted beneath Isabel as she launched forward. Every time her feet hit the dirt, a ripple of energy passed through the ground as it boosted her forward. As she grew closer, Noah drew on the power of his newest Rank 2 Rune.

It wasn’t all that different from Vibration in function, and he’d spent enough time trying to cause minor earthquakes with the Vibration Runes that he already had a pretty good idea of how it would function.

Just to play things safe, Noah used far less energy than he normally would have. The Runic magic flowed into the ground through his feet. He directed it out and toward Isabel Noah braced himself for the ground to tremble beneath him, but all that he felt was a faint vibration beneath his feet as the magic shot off.

At the same time, as Isabel’s foot landed on the dirt and it started to propel her forward, her eyes widened. A thump ran through the earth and the ground beneath her feet shuddered. Isabel stumbled, losing her footing.

She started to fall and threw herself into a roll, rising back to her feet and hopping a step back, watching Noah warily.

“What was that?”

“Just a little obstacle,” Noah replied, trying not to look impressed by his own magic.

That certainly lived up to its name. It barely made anything along the path shake, but it had a pretty significant effect once it reached the location I sent it to. Not exactly just casting it at range, but it’s pretty close to it. Not a bad sound, either. Pretty solid. Could use a bit more depth, but progress is progress.

“You messed with my control of the stone,” Isabel said, squinting at Noah. “You have some sort of stone or ground Rune?”

Noah just grinned in response. He sent another pulse through the ground and Isabel swore, diving to the side as the matted grass beneath her feet ripped apart under the pulsations of a contained earthquake.

She dashed at Noah, pressing a hand to her heart and pulling a glowing blue blade free. A pillar of rock erupted before her and she jumped off it, launching herself for Noah.

Keeping herself off the ground so I can’t shake her feet out from under her. Smart, but I’ve still got wind.

Noah flicked his hand, sending an empowered gust of wind into Isabel and throwing her back to the ground. She hit it with a grunt, landing just under ten feet away from Noah. The dirt near her hand trembled and a pillar of earth erupted, hurtling for Noah’s chest.

He twisted to the side, striking the pillar with the side of his arm and sending a tremor down its length. The pillar crumbled to dust and fell away. By the time the last of it had crumbled, Isabel was back on her feet once again. She stared at Noah, bouncing from foot to foot.

Noah gave her a few seconds to try to process the new information and develop a new strategy. She wouldn’t learn anything if he just constantly went at her after revealing a new ability – at least, not yet. She’d get there.

Isabel’s gaze focused as she decided on something. She stomped the ground and a wall of stone erupted before her. It raced out, blocking off Noah and just over half of the yard. Noah raised an eyebrow and gathered more energy from Focal Quake. He sent it into the wall, tearing several large chunks of it away with the powerful tremors.

Smart move to wall off a large area and buy herself some more time, but that must have taken quite a bit of energy. Risky, but definitely a worthwhile trade off. What’s she doing, though?

Noah approached the remains of the wall to check where Isabel had run off to. A small frown flickered across his face as he grew closer. The air felt a little too hot. He slowed, his guard raised as he glanced over the top of the wall at where Lee and Todd had been watching.

Lee was there – but Todd wasn’t. Noah threw himself back as several rays of flame erupted from behind the wall, carving through the crumbling stone and narrowly missing Noah. Before Noah could even try to tear down the rest of the wall, Isabel burst through it.

Todd dashed out behind her and sent several more beams of flame at Noah, forcing him to dodge to the side. Noah sent another tremor for Isabel, but she predicted it and jumped, avoiding the tremors.

“It was a step in the right direction. Don’t feel bad about your performances, you both did pretty damn well,” Noah said. “Just focus on where you can improve. If you’re going to work together, don’t just be two different people fighting at the same time. You did a little synchronizing of your attacks, but you could definitely do more. And once you get the advantage, press it harder.”

Noah paused for a few moments, thinking over the fight and trying to figure out what other advice he could give. Isabel was still mostly using close range techniques, but she’d tried to hit him with a pillar of stone. That was an improvement, even if it hadn’t quite worked.

“Todd, you might need some more variety in your moves,” Noah said. “There has to be more that fire can do. Try to mix things up a bit more and I think you’ll be a lot more effective.”

Todd nodded and pursed his lips. “Yeah. I’m thinking on it. Just nothing useful yet.”

“And Isabel, are you using all your Runes?” Noah asked. She’d taken an Armor Rune from Father’s book, but he hadn’t actually seen Isabel put it to much use yet.

Isabel grimaced. “I’m working on it.”

“That’s all I can ask. Lee, any thoughts on your end?”

“They could try being faster.”

Very helpful.

“Noted,” Todd said with a chuckle.

“Well, that wasn’t a bad match,” Noah said. “Next time, fight on your own, though. We can add a duo match in after the solo trainings so you can practice together as well. But, change of topic.”

Isabel and Todd looked to him, noticing the change in his tone.

“To what?” Isabel asked.

“Dayton,” Noah replied. “I’m sure you’re going to hear about this fairly soon, but Dayton either has already or will likely soon be leaving the Linwick Estate.”

Isabel’s eyes widened and Todd did a double take.

“What? Do you mean–” Isabel started.

“I’m telling you specifically so you don’t decide to go after him or the like,” Noah said. “I just wanted you to hear it here first rather than from someone associated with Father. Honestly, Dayton’s an idiot. He might get himself killed before you get around to him. But, if he doesn’t, wait until you’re ready to handle him.”

Isabel chewed her lower lip, but gave Noah a curt nod. She unclenched her hands and let out a huff. “That might take years.”

“Better years and succeed than going now and failing,” Todd said. “But... why’d Dayton go on the run?”

Noah chuckled. “Let’s wait to see what the official story is first. Then I’ll fill you in on the actual one. But, for the time being, I’ve got some work I need to get done. Lee, do you want to–”

“Strech!” Lee exclaimed. “And then hand to hand sparring. Let’s go.”

Noah grinned and headed back into the house, leaving Lee with Isabel and Todd. He wanted to get some more time in working on his runes before Father came knocking, and he suspected time was short.

Unfortunately, Noah didn’t have any way to know quite how short it would actually be.