Chapter 177: Skill Issue

Chapter 177: Skill Issue

No more than a minute after Karina left the room, the door opened. Janice stepped inside and sat down across from Father as the door shut again behind her. For several moments, neither of them spoke.

Then, to Janice’s surprise, Father sighed. He rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers and poured himself a glass of wine. Setting the bottle down on the desk before him, Father drained the entire goblet in one fell swoop.

“Pieces are moving, Janice,” Father said. He looked up at the ceiling, letting his fingers run along the smooth wood of his table. “And not even I can predict where all of them will land.”

Janice chose to remain quiet. This was a side of Father that she’d rarely seen before, and she was pretty sure she didn’t like it. It wasn’t exactly emotion – Janice wasn’t sure if Father even had that – but he sounded pensive. Thoughtful.

As if he was considering that things might not actually go his way.

“Is there something you would have me do?” Janice asked, realizing that Father wasn’t planning on saying anything else until she spoke. “Should I interfere with Karina? It’s likely that she will attempt something drastic after your words.”

“If she actually manages to kill Vermil, then I will do nothing but thank her,” Father said with a shake of his head. “No, her path is cut from ours. We no longer need her branch’s strength. All has gone as I wished it to, and we will join the main branch within a month.”

“Then what concerns you?”

“There are too many things changing,” Father replied. “More than there should be. Vermil – or rather, the demon puppeting his body – I don’t know what he seeks. I have no doubt he suspects that I was the one that ordered the Inquisitors after him, and yet he has done nothing.”

“Not very demon-like,” Janice said with a nod. “I have confirmed that he is at Arbitage. He and a woman from the Torrin family went on a trip to train their students.”

“Just like real teachers.” Father tapped a finger on his empty goblet. “I do not understand him, and that is cause for concern. Anything that I cannot understand is something that can surprise me.”

“It looks like he’s not interested in what we do. Maybe he plans to leave us alone if we do the same to him? The Inquisitors don’t have any trail left of him – I’ve already taken care of the search party that they sent out to determine what happened to the original two that came for Vermil, so he has no reason to maintain his anger toward us.”

Father gave Janice a slight shrug in response. “For now, yes. But relying on the good will of others is a poor plan. Vermil is not the only one, though. I did not lie to Karina. She would have been a useful member of the family. It is a shame that she will be wasted.”

“There’s always a chance that she comes to an agreement with Vermil,” Janice pointed out, shifting uncomfortably in her chair. “Considering the manner in which he dealt with us, there’s a good chance that he’ll find a way to work things out with her.”

“It is possible,” Father agreed. “But that will leave her compromised. She will no longer be trustworthy. Karina’s usefulness to us is gone. If she survives, at best, she will be a neutral party. At worst, she will be an enemy. And she is not the only one.”

Janice watched Father silently, her expression unreadable.

“Brayden grows even more distant than he once was, and though he obeys my orders, I suspect his interests are no longer fully aligned with the family.”

Janice said nothing.

“Do you have no thoughts on this?” Father asked.

“No, Father. I do not.”

“And if I were to ask you to investigate Brayden?” Father asked. “To determine if he is starting to take actions that benefit him rather than our family?”

“I would investigate, Father.”

Father smiled. He poured himself another glass of wine. “You are the greatest among my children, even if you are not born of my blood. Your loyalty will be rewarded in time, Janice. I have much to think over. Go.”

“Do you have any orders for me?”

“Keep to your current duties,” Father said. He paused for a moment, then took a sip from his glass. “And look into Brayden. I do not believe he has turned against us, but one may never be too cautious.”

“Yes, Father.”

***

“Nobody does,” Lee said, giving Contessa a sympathetic pat on the back.

“Enough teasing,” Moxie said with a shake of her head. “It’s a waste of good time. Contessa will do her job. If she betrays us – then Lee can have her fun.”

“Fine,” Lee muttered reluctantly. Contessa let out a relieved sigh, sending a grateful look to Moxie. Noah suppressed a grin.

Look how quickly the tables have turned. You were abusing her less than a month ago, and now Moxie is the only thing that’s keeping you from getting eaten alive.

A few minutes later, Contessa had been sent on her way. Everyone gathered at the camp, and after Noah filled the students in on what had happened, they prepared to get back to training.

“I’ll handle today,” Moxie said. “Considering what you showed me this morning, I’m getting the feeling that you’re practically frothing at the mouth to test your new magic out.”

“Got me there,” Noah admitted. “Will all be fine?”

“Lee will be with me,” Moxie said. “And I don’t think either Contessa or Bria are coming back any time soon. We’ll be fine.”

“Great,” Noah said with a grin. He rubbed his hands together and drew his flying sword, tossing it to the dirt. “I’ll see you all in a few hours. Don’t slack off, kids.”

“Have we ever slacked off?” Isabel asked.

“It’s a figure of speech, and it makes me sound cool,” Noah replied. He sent a pulse of magic into his sword and it bucked, launching off the ground and carrying him into the sky. Noah scanned the ground beneath him as he flew through the air, searching for some Bleaters to test his magic against.

There were likely some other monsters in the area as well, but he knew Bleaters pretty well and didn’t want to end up getting killed because he couldn’t work his new Rune properly yet.

Actually, for that matter, it would probably be smarter to test what I can do before I try to fight.

Noah landed on the top of a nearby hill, stumbling as he tripped over a large rock and catching himself before he fell on his face. Sending a glare back at his sword, Noah plodded over and returned it to its place on his belt.

The surrounding area was empty of monsters from what he could see, and it was far enough away from the camp that he was confident he wouldn’t cause the others any trouble if he started a fight.

Noah reached into his soul, drawing power from Natural Disaster. It felt... thicker than the magic from his Rank 2 Runes, for lack of a better word. He took a few moments to let his body get used to the magic.

Unlike all his previous Runes, Natural Disaster covered much more than just a single element or individual type of magic like water or ash. It was much closer to a concept.

Deciding to keep things simple, Noah went with a water angle. He reached into the air with his senses, trying to draw the water from it.

It came, but much slower than it had when he’d been using Trilling Monsoon. What normally would have taken him a second actually took nearly thirty. Noah’s brow furrowed.

Did I somehow get weaker with this combination?

He gathered the water he’d pulled from the air and pushed his intent into it. And, to his surprise, the Rune resisted. Instead of forming into a spinning drill of water like he’d imagined, Natural Disaster’s magic actually pushed back against him.

That didn’t stop the magic from flowing out of his body, though.

Noah’s eyes widened as he felt the Rune pull more energy than he’d originally planned to use. The sphere of water churning above Noah’s palm exploded outward, turning into a thick black cloud above his head.

The air around Noah crackled. His eyes widened and he flung himself to the side as a bolt of lightning crashed down from the cloud, slamming into the dirt where he’d been standing with a loud crack.

Noah spun toward the cloud, his eyes wide, as it dissipated. The lightning bolt hadn’t been massive, but it had more than enough energy to pack a serious punch. As the smoke rose up from the ground before Noah, a grin flickered across his face.

Got a bit of an attitude, huh? I can work with that. Let’s see just how far I can push this, though. If I can summon thunderclouds with that much energy – if I really pour all my magic into a spell, what can I do?

Noah pressed his palms together and drew deeply on Natural Disaster, reveling in the power that filled every part of his body.

Let’s find out.