Is it because I'm not focused enough? No, that's not it. I've drawn from the Ethereal even after nearly blacking out from training with my mother. There's something else at work here, I thought, flexing my left hand into a fist repeatedly.
"You can't draw from the Ethereal here," Ysevel said solemnly in a moment of realization after having noticed my frustration and the situation we were now in. "Yep, and he's already back on his feet," I said tiredly, pointing at Irun with my sword. "Ah, that's better," he said as his arm, now fully regenerated in its daemonic form, twisted and flexed momentarily as if he were testing its capabilities.
I immediately got into a high guard, shifting my right foot a little behind me and bending my knees as I raised my sword's hilt to the height of my eyes, pointing the tip of my blade toward my target. "You're outmatched, Thoma," Irun began, finally turning his attention towards me. "You can't draw from the Ethereal here no matter how hard you try," he said, lazily picking his sword up off the ground.
Is he really that much stronger than me in this realm? Is that why he's acting so confidently? I thought, trying to gauge the situation as accurately as I could.
"You've grown a lot since our last fight, sure, but you're still no match for me down here," he said, closing the distance between us in the time it took me to blink. I barely managed to deflect the incoming attack in time, and I realized how much I had relied on using the third stage to make up for my lack of physical prowess.
He swung at me again and again, using a mixture of different techniques that we'd been taught as younger boys and some I'd never even seen before.
This bastard was holding back during our fight, wasn't he? I realized, barely able to deflect the oncoming blows.
"If I'm so outmatched here, why haven't you killed me yet? Is it because you want to enjoy killing me, or is there something else?" I asked aloud, pirouetting out of the way of a downward slash before backpedaling a little more. When he didn't answer, I realized my hypothesis was confirmed.
He's hiding something, I thought, leaning back to avoid another blow aimed at my neck.
It made sense. Honestly, it was the only thing I could make any sense of. He could draw mana from the realm that I couldn't, already putting me at a disadvantage, and since he hadn't already skewered me since coming here, it could only mean one of those two options.
But the lack of an answer to my question from him, or even Ysevel, meant it was likely the latter.
I deflected another attack aimed for my gut, this one being much heavier than the last few, and it sent me soaring through the air. I deftly landed on my feet and noticed something strange with his demeanor.
"Why are you holding back? We've known each other since we were young boys, and yet you still thought it was a good idea to betray us all. So, tell me, what has changed from Coltend until now? Have you finally realized what a shithead you've been?" I prodded with no small amount of derision in my tone, parrying a short combo of attacks aimed at my head and chest while introducing some of my own.
His face winced momentarily, and I knew I'd struck a nerve with my question, but there was no time to figure out exactly what was going through his head as he moved toward me. He knocked me even further back and followed up with another series of sequential attacks quickly, prompting me to realize that there was now a fire behind his attacks that wasn't there before. He struck repeatedly, but even without the availability of my third stage, I'd trained with my mother, Bernar, Anwill, and the others long enough to hold my own against him even without mana.
That's not to say it was easy by any means, just doable.
I felt a large tendril of dark mana race down from the sky, and I prepared myself for the attack I knew was coming. I tightened my abdomen and braced for impact for an attack that never came.
At least, whatever did come for me wasn't from him.
"Stop it, you two," Ysevel commanded, outstretching her arms and encasing the two of us in chains of dark mana. We were held in place, unable to move anything but our heads. "What is this? Who the fuck are you?" Irun asked angrily, trying to wriggle his way out of the spell.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't try to do the same, but doing so only made things worse and restricted my movement further.
"Do you really think you're in a position to ask questions?" Ysevel asked, raising an eyebrow as she tightened the binding chains even more. Irun stopped himself from saying whatever retort he had conjured in his head and clicked his tongue as he looked away momentarily. "You know, I could kill you right now without much effort, but before I make that decision, I want you to decide something for me first," she began as she moved in front of him.
"What could you possibly want from me?" Irun asked, his tone suggesting that he was quickly learning his place in her presence. "I want you to be honest with us. Both of us, to be exact, but I'll leave the choice of how this all plays out up to you," she said, piercing him with her sharpened gaze. "The trees have eyes, the hills have ears, and the rivers have mouths," he replied cryptically.
She seemingly understood what he meant because she drew in more dark mana and cast a half-sphere around us, muting all sound from the outside in an instant. The only sounds we could hear inside the dome were those of our breathing.
When the fuck did you learn to do that? I tried to send her, surprised to see her use dark mana so efficiently.
Unfortunately, she didn't answer.
She had never broken her eye contact with him as if she were searching for something in his thoughts. "Now, you're going to tell me a bit of what you know, and I'll tell you a bit of what we know. We'll call it a fair exchange of information. How does that sound?" she asked in a nonchalant tone.
Irun, still looking around to the extent that he could, eventually gave up on his bravado and nodded his head before speaking. "That sounds fair to me," he finally replied. "Good, I'm glad to hear that. So, tell us: Why did you come to Caegwen, and what was your purpose there?" she asked plaintively.
Does she already know what he's going to say? I wondered, keeping my mouth and thoughts shut so as not to ruin the moment.
"I was, uh, sent there to retrieve something under the guise of a test mission for the hegraphenes," Irun replied bashfully. "These hegraphenes, I'm assuming those were the creatures that were with you?" Ysevel asked in the same tone as her first question.
"Yes, they were, but you and your team expertly killed them all without much remorse," he replied sardonically. "And what were you sent there to retrieve?" she asked, stepping in a little closer to where her face was only a few centimeters away from his disfigured one.
"Originally, I was told to retrieve the Dreambinder Jerkin and the Benevolent Ring by the Undergod, Volzuk, who said they were in Caegwen, but that I needed to search for them," Irun began.
"We weren't there long at all, as I knew we'd already been spotted a few moments after our arrival. I meekly played the role that was given to me so that Gavar, the hegraphene Thoma's mother fought, wouldn't have any suspicions as to what my secondary mission was," he said, turning his face away momentarily.
"What was your secondary mission, and who gave it to you?" Ysevel asked.
Without a word, he nodded his head in my general direction.
"What? Why me?" I asked, genuinely confused. Irun chuckled before he spoke. "I've answered enough for now. I think I've earned an answer or two of my own, haven't I?" Irun asked. Ysevel nodded her head. "Yes, you have. So, what's your question?" she asked plaintively.
"How did you know I was going to open a portal? You jumped towards us before the portal had even formed," he asked her. "I could feel the dark mana resonating from whatever runic device you used. I just didn't realize what it was until I was almost too late," she replied plaintively, pacing once or twice in front of him.
Irun nodded his head in understanding. "Then why did you come down here with him?" he asked in a similarly plaintive tone.
She froze mid-step.