The Ruby Magician

“You’ve gotta be shitting me,” Brett said. He was sitting at the edge of his seat, intently focused on Cedric’s individual trial.

Beside him, Faye couldn’t hold herself back from laughing. She knew their group was up to something, and at first found it frustrating that Cedric or Marcy wouldn’t tell her what they planned. But now she realized their idea, and it was wonderful seeing the guild member’s reactions.

They weren’t just facing dummies to use as target practice. They were using dummies that could fight back.

It was a brilliant idea, she had to admit. Watching Climbers go after hunks of wood over and over was only a little entertaining, despite it being important to see how they used their abilities. But this was far better. Cedric and his group could show off reactions and combinations and defensive abilities in addition to their attacks. They likely set the dummies to be on par with the fourth or sixth floor, too, which made them far more capable than just wooden dummies that could swing a sword. No, they’d give an actual fight.

But, the strategy required the Climbers to actually be decent and able to hold their own. Otherwise they’d look foolish being hit by dummies by biting off more than they could chew.

Faye didn’t think that would happen, but it was still important to note.

“He’s a real life bolt of lightning,” Nigel said. “Those have to be purple rarity Boots of Mobility or something similar. He’s moving so fast!”

Cedric was half way through his time and he was putting on an absolute show. He avoided arrow after arrow with careful positioning and quick hops, while blasting the other dummies apart with strong lightning spells. Once when he was almost cornered, his circlet glowed and created two copies of himself that spread out in different directions. It was a good defensive spell, and it got him out of being cornered.

Then he waved his scepter with a flourish and caused a spell to lash out as a streak of ice instead, much to the crowd’s delight. Faye knew his scepter could change his element, but seeing her guild member’s faces light up in realization was just beautiful.

By the time his match was over, the crowd was yelling and clapping louder than any other Climber, and the other guild members were also joining in.

Faye’s excitement then turned to concern. If they took that much notice of them, then they might also extend an invitation to their group. And she didn’t want that. She wanted her friends to join her guild.

But that was a worry for another day. For now, she sat back and enjoyed the show.

*****

“I think the crowd was definitely receptive,” Cedric said, returning to the group. The four others all congratulated him while Wyn breathed a sigh of relief.

“Glad that you warmed them up,” Marcy said. “I’ll keep them going.” She hopped out onto the stage, her Master Avian Cloak billowing behind her. Like before, Sonya announced her, then stepped away to let her begin her trial.

Similar to Cedric, Marcy requested four dummies for her trial, all of them wielding weapons. They had the same weapon combination as well, except the spear dummy now carried a sword and shield.

Immediately she laid down a trap that caught two of the dummies, lashing them to the ground in ropes of water. She started shooting the other dummies with arrows, firing one projectile after the other. Each one hit the dummy in a vital spot before they started dodging or blocking them. Once that happened, Marcy began backing up and firing magical shots. One exploded a dummy in a small fiery hit, while another caused a small whirlwind of magical wind to eviscerate it with dozens of small cuts. When it would be too damaged to continue, the dummy would fall to the ground before being magically regenerated from one of the assistants standing at the edge of the match. Each time the crowd would cheer louder, supporting Marcy as she “killed” one of the dummies.

The fight continued for another minute until the two dummies were freed from their trap. From there, it was a four on one match. The dummies closed in on Marcy and threatened her with their numbers advantage, but her ability to sense oncoming danger with her Extrasensory helped keep her safe. Firing arrows so close to their targets didn’t allow her to use her magical effects as she could be caught in the blast, so instead she teleported away in a cloud then activated her cloak.

Flying above the arena made the entire crowd stand and point. She started attacking the dummies in a similar fashion as before, similarly killing them nearly as fast as Cedric.

Towards the end of her trial, she activated her Deathhawk and worked in tandem with the summoned beast to put on a grand finale. The large creature’s talons completely shredded the dummies while Marcy continued to attack with elemental arrows. The combination killed several more dummies before her time was up, much to the crowd’s delight.

*****

Following her, John stepped into the middle of the arena. He felt far more comfortable wearing his armor and equipment, but he still felt nervous. Cedric and Marcy really drew in the crowd with their trials, exciting them with their decision to face dummies that could actually fight back. Why the judges didn’t think to do that to begin with was beyond him, as both Cedric and Marcy said they weren’t difficult opponents and were easily dealt with. The flair of fighting something that could fight back was what was exciting.

So John decided to make it even more exciting.

Standing in the middle of the arena, he hoped it wasn’t a bad idea. Every other person in the group was more flashy than him. They could all use spells or magical attacks to some degree, and John was stuck with skills that made him stronger or his sword more deadly. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it didn’t exactly make a good show. Not like he wanted for this event. In order to up the ante, he asked Sonya and the judges to increase the difficulty of the dummies to the strength of an enemy on the eighth floor. He still only faced four of them, but one was a ranged dummy and three were melee combatants. One held a sword and shield like him, another a large hammer, and the third an axe.

John closed his eyes and focused his mind. He knew he could fight them, but he wanted to do it well. He had to show he wasn’t an average Squire. He was someone who trained for years before coming. His parents and older sister were Climbers, and they ingrained in him hard truths and first hand experience that people rarely had. Not only that, but he nearly died from being too trusting during his very first climb.

He wouldn’t make that mistake again. And he was a better Climber for it.

Activating his Squire Aura, he embraced the feeling that overcame him when his strength, endurance, and energy were amplified. Wyn always talked about how great it felt having his aura, but he only felt a little more than half of what John had. The Aura worked to give himself a large boost, while the benefits it shared with others were only less than moderate.

Sonya started the match while John thought about Lionel. About his betrayal. He was potentially a friend and he literally stabbed him in the back. Then he took his sword, the very sword his sister gifted him to use. The sword that he couldn’t bring himself to use again as it was tainted with the memory of that bastard.

Breathing out like a bull, John channeled his anger. He activated Focus in addition to his Aura and he shot forward with incredible speed. Before the three melee dummies could raise their weapons he already attacked one with two slashes, his sword faintly glowing blue from the aquamarine gemstone socketed in the hilt. The dummy faltered but didn’t fall, its body and abilities enchanted to be similar to a monster beyond anything he’d encountered so far.

Except for Lionel. The true monster. He was the hardest opponent John ever had, but he held his own against the man for longer than this trial required.

Filled with resolve, John pushed himself. He was a whirlwind with his sword, slicing, slashing, stabbing, and completely dismantling the dummies. When the ranged opponent would reposition to attack, John would dodge or block the arrow with his shield effortlessly, all while still dealing with three opponents at once. Some blows hit his armor, but he didn’t feel any injuries. Instead, his chest piece was building up energy, exactly as he wanted.

Eventually one dummy fell. Then a second. John rushed over and downed the ranged dummy, much to the crowd’s delight. They were cheering even louder than Cedric and Marcy, on their feet admiring the warrior taking down his foes. Foes that moved faster, hit harder, and were overall more powerful than the dummies in the last two rounds.

He then called out to Sonya. “Add another!”

The crowed roared in response while a fifth dummy joined the chaos. John’s attacks were strong enough to stagger the dummies on each hit, and he held his footing with each block of his shield. Once he activated the Earthen Tremor in his boots to knock back the three melee dummies before jumping to the ranged enemy and bashing it to the ground in a hard hit, activated from his sword skill Bash.

As the trial neared its end, John activated the stored energy in his chest armor and once again knocked back the closest dummies. He knocked each one to the ground one after the other, and as his time ran out each one was finished.

Sonya stepped forward and called the match while the crowd went berserk. John raised his sword and shield in response, and they loved him for it.

He stepped off the stage with a new appreciation for himself and his abilities. He was more than capable, even without the flashy effects of using spells and flying or teleporting around.

Passing Tasha and Wyn, he nodded to them both in confidence.

“Keep it going,” John said. “We’ll show them how strong we really are.”

*****

Tasha took center stage and took a deep breath. This was her time. She felt confident, contagious from John, but also nervous. She had decided to have a slight change to her dummy configuration. Instead of only having dummies to attack her, she also had some dummies to defend. It was a bold move, but she felt confident in her strategy. Her setup was two dummies with weapons attacking her, and two stationary dummies she was supposed to defend. Not as extravagant as the others, but different enough to stand out.

When Sonya called the match, Tasha immediately began calling Zoraquin. It was an easy decision to bring him as he was a fighter but also could last longer than Baratheon. The attacking dummies immediately closed in on the still dummies, but that was alright. She could heal them after a few attacks, as was their design.

Zoraquin materialized before her a few seconds later, and then immediately rushed to begin attacking the dummies. Tasha healed both dummies then performed her Multi-target Arcane Aura around the defenseless dummies and Zoraquin. To her delight, Zoraquin was able to hold off both attacking dummies while taking sustainable damage to the magical armor. The crowd was delighted, too, based on their cheers and praise. She had a feeling he could last out the remainder of the time if she replenished his Arcane Aura once or twice more.

But that meant she would do nothing. And she didn’t want to do nothing.

Instead, Tasha moved forward and aimed her Unicorn Horn at the dummies. She commanded Zoraquin to fall back, and the moment he stepped out of the way, she blasted both dummies with a Holy Beam. The spell powered through both in seconds, requiring assistants to come and repair them.

After a few more seconds of magical repairs, the dummies returned to the fight. Tasha had Zoraquin fight with less intensity, and she activated her boots. Copies formed around her and spread out, confusing their opponents. Zoraquin took that time to dismantle both of them again.

The crowd once again clapped in excitement. She may not be a primary attacker in her climbing style, but she had enough variety to keep things interesting.

After another repair, Tasha then summoned the wings from her Unicorn Horn wand and flew up out of the dummy’s reach, toying with them to the delight of the crowd.

But she wasn’t done. She dismissed Zoraquin and began another Calling. She had less than a minute remaining, but she wanted to show off. The dummies couldn’t touch her while she flew, instead attacking the magically protected defenseless dummies. After a few seconds, though, her Calling came.

Baratheon landed on the arena with a loud thump that made the crowd gasp. The Celestial was an angelic brute, nearly blinding white in appearance that was taller and more muscular than any man. It immediately began tearing into the dummies, smashing them to pieces in seconds.

The summoned Calling dismantled the wooden enemies two more times before Tasha’s time was up. She bowed to the roaring crowd and walked off smiling.

Wyn caught her and gave her a quick hug. “That was incredible! That’s the loudest I’ve heard them cheer yet!”

Tasha’s curls bounced along with her. “You’re just being nice. But I’m just glad it went as well as it did!”

“I had no doubt. I’m proud of you.”

Tasha gave him another hug, then spoke in his ear. “Now it’s your turn. Show them why you’re our leader.”

*****

Wyn let go of Tasha and focused.

It was time.

He walked up to the center stage and Sonya met him. “So, let me guess - you want some dummies to fight you too?”

Wyn softly smiled. “Something like that.”

Her face quickly went from a smirk to a frown once he told her what he wanted. After confirming what he said by asking him a second time, Sonya then instructed the assistants to ready the dummies with a judge’s approval.

“Our final participant in this five-Climber group is one that you all should be familiar with by now,” Sonya said, controlling the crowd with her booming voice. “He participated in the mage trials and made it to the second round, and participated in the combat trials and made it to the finals. No other Climber here today can say they participated in as many trials, and we still have another trial to go! Please welcome to the arena Wyn, the Ruby Strategist!”

The crowd’s cheers softened at his class, but not by much. Then they quieted more when the assistants finished setting up the dummies. It was the quietest they’d been for all of the combat trials, but Wyn didn’t mind. He was about to tune them out whether they were dead silent or as loud as the previous matches.

He looked into the crowd one last time and saw Arabelle. She had a look of concern on her face. Wyn could understand why, but he didn’t want to worry her. He wanted to reassure her.

As Sonya motioned for the start of Wyn’s match, he expanded his shield and lengthened his dagger to a long sword. He stared at his opponents and steeled himself. Now was when he was going to make them remember him.

*****

“Gods, is he mad?” Nigel asked.

Faye stood up, not caring if anyone behind her could see or not. She was far too invested and curious to watch sitting down. She and the others wanted to see Wyn’s match, but this was excessive. He likely bit off more than he could chew, exactly as she feared.

If he could pull it off, though… well, that would be memorable, at the very least.

A sly smile formed on her face. “He’s not mad. Just determined.”

“If he pulls this off…” Brett started, but trailed off as Wyn started using magic. He placed a large glyph on the ground, then he began glowing in a dense, bright green aura. An aura that none of them immediately recognized.

Then more guild members around them stood. No one said a word, too focused on watching the Ruby Magician face eight dummies at once.

*****

Wyn placed a Wellspring to the left side of the arena and a charge of Web from his necklace directly over it. If he could lure half of the dummies inside, that would break up the enemies. He was curious to see if he’d get any mana from them, too, from his skill.

Sonya wasn’t too pleased when Wyn said he wanted the dummies as strong as John’s trial but asked for twice as many. She likely thought he was going to be injured, and he was fully preparing himself to be. It would help show off his healing and supportive ability on top of being able to actually fight. His diversity was his strength. While some saw that as a detriment, he wanted to show how beneficial it could be instead.

After placing his traps, the dummies were equally prepared. They stood in two rows, looming over the arena like monsters waiting to pounce. They had a variety of weapons with three of them in the second row carrying ranged weapons.

While Sonya readied the start of the trial the crowd was relatively quiet. It was the quietest they’d been all afternoon. Were they expecting Wyn to fail and just waiting for him to be overtaken? Or were they hoping for Wyn to overcome them despite the odds?

It didn’t matter, of course. What mattered was accomplishing his goal. And to do that, he had to play all of his cards.

No holding back now.

As Sonya dropped her hand, Wyn ignored the outside of the arena and moved. It was time to act.