Welldark B2 Ch. 02

Gravity magic, in terms of combat application, was a peculiar thing. Typically, the basic attack spell of a supernatural art was to conjure a bolt of it. Gravity magic, instead, was applied through direct contact. Any such contact could weigh the target down or, at a much higher cost, lighten it. Freeing people from the grasp of gravity was harder than to reinforce it. Fortunately for the enemies of us gravity mages. Being weighed down may have been incapacitating, but becoming weightless to the point that one started drifting towards the sky was almost impossible to deal with for most people.

Aside from range and cost, the main drawback of gravity magic was its short-lived application. Repeated hits with gravity magic increased and lengthened the effect. Failure to re-apply caused the effect to fade entirely. For that reason, gravity mages had to keep forcing direct engagements, if they wanted to take full advantage of their magic. It was also one of the reasons why I preferred gauntlets as my battle equipment.

The sphere came to a stop. The mundane pull of gravity was not enough to overcome the resting state. I put both hands on it again, channelled, and let it go. I didn't bother to measure. The goal of today was not to check on my progress, it was to exhaust my magic channels. Like muscles, stressing specific magic channels widened them. The more I cast gravity magic, the more the magic channels utilized for that endeavour were stressed, the more Astral Capacity could flow through them, the stronger my spells could be. This class allowed me to utilize all of the additional mana the Astral Cultivation class put at my disposal.

Not that mana was the best word for this. It was an archaic term, used broadly to describe 'magical energy'. It was accurate enough for general conversation, just as 'fuel' was accurate enough to describe the various kinds of petrol. Astral Capacity was specifically the variety of magical energy exclusive to those that knew the Dimensional Truth. It was similar to regular arcane power in that one could use it to conjure various supernatural effects. What differentiated us from regular mages, warlocks, shamans and the like were our Astral Bodies, the capacity to freely travel between dimensions, and Anomalias. Of course, mages, warlocks, and shamans also had their individual differences. Their energies were, respectively, arcane, demonic, and naturalistic in origin, each coming with their own attributes. Not all fuel made all engines go.

In summary, magic was a complicated matter.

And I was trying to distract myself from the boredom of repeatedly moving this sphere up and down by mulling over all of it. It was effective and necessary, otherwise I would have quit already. I still would have much rather been at home lying in Esther's cleavage.

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"Today, we'll do a classic exercise: king of the hill." The teacher told all of us. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with a strong jawline, a short beard, and barely stylized brown hair. In short, he was the kind of 'generic' handsome man that covered the front of magazines. "For anyone who doesn't know what that is, a quick explanation. I have marked the arena with three flagpoles..."

I looked behind the teacher and scanned for the positions. We were inside one of the three major training halls of the Battle Branch of Welldark. They were marvelous pieces of magic engineering. The floor was made from a dense network of hexagonal tiles, which were themselves further subdivided into six triangles. Each of those tiles could individually be raised up to ten metres, the triangles slanted at various angles, and a limited selection of textures created on the surface.

Inert, the hall would have looked like a square kilometre field of grey. As each tile had to be adjusted manually, setting up a battlefield was a tremendous amount of work. Through generations of dedicated teachers and students chasing extra grades, a vast catalogue of pre-sets had been created. As I had seen, they were saved on card-shaped pieces of crystal that looked remarkably similar to electronical circuitry.

Brilliant and ambitious as the engineering behind this whole system was, there were still limits to it. For a start, each of the three major (and ten minor) training halls were limited to a theme. We were in the one dedicated to mountainous terrain. Brown and grey rocks dominated all around, rising as slopes to peaks or sharply as cliffs. Patches of grass and small bodies of still water existed between the rocks. Flowing liquids were too much to simulate for this one.

There was a distinct artificiality to all of it. The angles all around were just a bit too uniform to be natural, as much work as had been done to alleviate that problem. More outstanding was that the sides of the tiles were still completely regular grey hexagons, as the magic only adjusted their upper areas. Consequently, the sides of the cliffs stuck out like sore thumbs.

The area we stood in was flat rock, the elevation rising steadily towards the back of the artificial mountain slope. I spotted a yellow, red and blue flag up there, each further away and each at a higher place.

"...when you reach the flag, you slot in one of these devices," the teacher gestured towards a basket full of rectangular pieces of metal and plastic, numbered and coloured in various ways, next to a table with an empty list on it. "It tracks the time your team has been in control of a point. To take over a point, you remove the opponent's device and slot in your own. These things are sturdy, so feel free to chuck them as hard as you can to delay your opponent's counterattack. Do not destroy them though. The further away a flag, the more points each second is worth. You fight in teams of two. Any questions?"

I raised my hand. A simple gesture gave me the go-ahead. "Teams of our own choice?"

"Yes." The answer caused some sighs and chatter by my fellow students. By the size of the crowd, the chatter rose quickly in volume. This being a mandatory class at a reasonable hour, from 18:30 to 20:30, attendance was high. Over fifty people mumbled and the teacher had to clap to retain their attention. The voices ebbed away as he spoke over them. "I know that some of you feel like you have no chance whatsoever. However, there are three capture points. You can engage wherever you feel is best, and you can be sneaky about it. All that is mandatory for this class is that you have a chance to win. It is on you to take it. First place gets 100 Dark, second place 50, third place 25. Now, form your teams."

I agreed with that whole methodology. Usually, the combat games we engaged in were balanced with fairness in mind, pitching people of equivalent strength against each other or compensating with numbers. That was a poor representation of reality and I had wholly expected that circumstance to change as the weeks and semesters continued. It was good for people to learn they were inferior combatants. It either motivated them to try harder or to specialize in something else.

To be fair to my critics, I was making these statements from a superior position. To start with, I was arguably the strongest person in class. I had earned much of that through hard work, but it was also true that I had natural advantages. Beyond that, I was squeezing the ass of the arguably second strongest person in class.

The only argument to be had was which one of us was which.

"Ey, Karitas," one of the other males in the class approached me. "Want to give the rest of us a fighting chance by separating from your Queen?"

"With the deepest of respect and the highest esteem I hold you in, dear colleague, I must ask a simple question: would you?" My hand rose from Esther's butt to her boobs and squished a handful of the other kind of softness. The raven-haired lady of my love reacted with the barest of gasps. Otherwise, she did not care at all.

"Was worth a try," the guy shrugged and walked off, to form a team with one of the many women around.

'Kudos to him for being cordial,' I thought and turned my attention to Esther. All of my attention, to be specific. My hand was still and steadily kneading her bust. I could feel even less than usual, courtesy of the grey vest she wore over her long-sleeved gym clothes. Under the top, she wore a sports bra, reducing the apparent size of her breasts immensely. A loss as far as my eyes were concerned. Obviously, I could accept her taking precautions against jiggling or a strike at her back exposing what she wanted to hide.

The temporary loss of the delectable sight of her large breasts was a sacrifice I almost appreciated, knowing I would get to unpack them later. After tugging them into a sports bra for two hours, she was usually appreciative of a front-side massage. Besides that, her yoga pants still gave a phenomenal view of my Queen's bubble butt. All of that, exclusively mine to caress.

Until she softly flicked my cheek. "You are diminishing our chances," she told me and squeezed the bulge in my sports pants. Words could hardly describe how gleeful the touch made me. It proved all over again just how much she was my kin when it came to wearing desires on one's sleeve. A squeeze was all I got, however, for a great many reasons not least of which was that she meant what she had said.

Like a bee from a jar of honey, I only separated my hand from her bosom to enjoy more of it later. "Do we need to try?" I asked, to be looked at with a raised eyebrow. The two of us were clearly the most powerful among our peers, but if four of the remaining upper echelon ganged up on us we could still be in trouble. "Let me rephrase. Do we even need the money? We could just sit this one out."

"Lazy Karitas, you are aware of my answer, so why ask the question?" she responded with a sigh. "I shall not be found wanting. You will support me in this endeavour."

I hummed, as if I had to consider this. Obviously, the final answer was a foregone conclusion. We both knew that. A little negotiation was how the two of us could pass the time until the line in front of the team write-in had diminished. "Alright, since you want the victory, I want the money," I told her.

"A hundred Dark equals roughly a seventh of our monthly allowance. Such a sum should enter our shared finances."

"Fifty-fifty split, then, half for the shared finances, half for me."

Esther considered for a moment. The difference between the two states of affairs was tiny. Our shared funds paid for most of our food, snacks aside, covered our dates and whatever devices both of us wanted in the household. Whatever happened, I got the value out of the shared funds anyway. "What do you wish to acquire with 50 Dark?" she inquired instead.

"I want massaging oil and thought about getting some toys -- of the sexual variety," I added that last part only because my Queen had consumed exactly as much lewd content as I had shown her. Which was barely any. "You know the remote-control vibrators I showed you?"

"I refuse to wear such in public, perverted Karitas."

That was a strong and disheartening rebuttal, but I had a feeling that I could weaken her on that front. All depended on time and context. "Could still be fun at home." I stuck to the safe lane for now. "Definitely need that massage oil."

"Which would be appropriate to be paid by the shared fund. I am the primary benefactor."

"I must vehemently disagree, my dear lady. By the truth of my hands and the light in my eyes, there can be no doubt that it is I who benefits the most from the privilege of oiling your angelic curves." She quietly stared at me for several seconds. "Too much?" I asked to hear her velvety voice's response.

Esther's red lips parted, pressed together, and then she shook her head. After brushing one of her unruly strands behind her ear, her amber eyes focused on me once more. "I grow tolerant of occasional extrapolations," she said with a slight smile. "Fine then, take the 50 Dark. I trust you will use them wisely, my Karitas."

Hearing her say that raised my mood considerably. Not only did she use my second favourite title for me (after Master), but she expressed that she trusted me with the money. My lack of financial awareness was one of the spots where our relationship sometimes came to small blows. I had gotten better in terms of frivolous spending, because I had her to keep track of things and because, between both of our incomes, we had quite the sum available every month. I also did my personal bookkeeping, but that was a sporadic effort. Motivation to write down what I spent on every meal every day was low.

"Best you keep an eye on me. How about we buy these toys on our next shopping date?"

"That would be in three weeks," she reminded me. Shopping dates were specifically on the first weekend of every month, when we toured various shops we did and did not know for several hours in search of what may be handy. Keeping that to a specific date prevented us from debating larger purchases the rest of the month.

I shrugged. "Not a long time to wait, cosmically speaking."

With that decided and the line greatly diminished, Esther and I took one of the last few point trackers from the basket and then wrote our names on the list next to the number imprinted on the device.

"Do we make a rush for the one at the back?" I asked.

"It is the objective with the most points associated." Esther held out her hand and I placed the device in her palm. She tucked it away in the breast pocket of her vest. "Give me a proper starting position," she requested.

I closed my eyes and manifested the starting block used typically in running competitions. Although I had made it heavy, I added some extra weight with my gravity magic. Esther pushed against it with her feet twice, testing how well it was secured. Approving, she nodded and positioned herself in front of it. Her hands touched the line separating the flat gathering area from the training hall proper. Everyone else lined up as well, the last names entering the list.

I stood next to my waiting Queen. "Ready!" the teacher shouted, causing Esther to raise her delicious derriere in preparation. "Set!" Much as I enjoyed that sight, there were competitors I had to consider. I closed my eyes and prepared my Astrality. "GO!"

The sound of magic attacks rang in my ears, colliding with a solid object. First right next to me, then behind me. I opened my eyes and turned around, as Esther passed me by. At the first blink of the competition, I had created two walls to either side of the lady of my love. Everyone knew we were the favourites and that made us the targets for an opening ambush.

The walls had warded off the first round of attacks and now it was on me to dismantle the rest with my presence. I had teleported five metres ahead and now stood in the path of anyone watching to chase right after my teammate.

A duo of the more able competition came right at me. I created my gauntlets and let them approach. 'One of them will try to make a run for it,' I reckoned and looked back and forth between them. One was blonde, the other a redhead.

At the last moment, the blonde swerved away from me. I immediately dashed at her. All that mattered was that I tagged the blonde with my gravity magic. Even if it only lasted about ten seconds, the gap between her and Esther would become too large to catch up on. A tap on the wrist was all I needed to succeed, Immediately she whirled around. If she couldn't run, she would take care of me first.

My white shirt was consumed by a firestorm shot in retaliation by the redhead. Like the scorched skin underneath, most of the clothing was immediately restored by my Astral Body. The state of disrepair one's clothes were in was a good tell for how much their Astral Capacity had been diminished. My shirt was barely frayed around the edges

'I shouldn't get stuck here.' Esther could fend for herself for a while after reaching the flag, but I could get surrounded whenever the competition decided that taking me out early was to their advantage. Which, if I remained a sitting duck in the starting area, they inevitably would.

Aware of my surroundings, I dashed off to the side. The blonde and the redhead were right after me. Another student tried to hit me with a poison-drooling axe. As the weeks had progressed, more and more people had found their Artefacts. That had been the largest advantage Esther and I had possessed over everyone else. Everyone who caught up in that regard considerably narrowed the gap.

Alas, there was still a gap.

Reacting swiftly, I knocked the weapon aside with my armoured hand. I jumped back, dodging an opportunistic attack by the redhead. The fireball sailed right by me, as I backed up against a cliff. Two duos closed in on me.

My eyes shut for a little bit longer than a standard blink and then I found myself on top of the three-metre-tall cliff. "I greatly appreciate your attention," I thanked the ladies and then ran after my Queen. Curses filled the air behind me.

Esther left the rest of the competition in the dust, sprinting, leaping and manoeuvring over the artificial landscape with the grace of a mountain lioness. Most of the other students had opted to head to the two other flags, so the primary threat, numbers, was eliminating itself. All I had to do was stay clear of the routes everyone was taking.

I jogged, retaining my stamina, and kept a constant eye on Esther's position and my surroundings. No one was gunning for me at the moment, which was nice, but I still needed to accelerate. Someone was using their new Artefact to effectively slide up the mountain side.

Whether this was some kind of stone-shaping, gravity inversion, or some other manifestation of the soulborn weapons' unique capabilities, fact was that the female student was rapidly approaching my Queen and that there were three more people in hot pursuit, with an additional two, the blonde-redhead duo, hanging further back. A total of eight of the fifty students in the class were gunning for the high-point flag.

Despite all efforts of the rock-slider, Esther arrived first. She slotted her device in place. Feather pulled from her tricorne, she whirled around. I was close enough to hear the ringing of her conjoined weapon manifesting

The duo of blades, short sword and sabre, were of a plain lead grey. Flat sides of both weapons were covered in glowing runes. A second time, they rang out when their handles were pulled apart. Esther drew her left hand, holding the short sword, back. Magical lightning exploded out from the weapon, screaming as it crackled. A well-aimed throw launched the thunder-infused Artefact at the vanguard of our competition.

The brunette jumped to the side, ending her charge just short of the contested area. Continuing to fly, the small arm suddenly disappeared mid-air. It laid, unenchanted, in Esther's hand again. The greyish blue runes on her sabre were now partly discharged, betraying the time reversal she had just applied to herself.

Although the charge was broken, the engagement remained. From a closing distance, I watched Esther fend off one, then two, then four assailants. As the number of enemies increased, the opportunities for her to counteract became fewer. Soon she was doing nothing but dodging. Any attacks she attempted existed solely to create space between the time tracker and those that would replace it with their own.

The last pair stood ready nearby, waiting for the other fighters to tire themselves out. I made eye contact with them. They were women as well, making me the only male in the upper area of the map. Getting sweaty with a bunch of sexy fighters was generally to my liking. Preferably inside a small ring, maybe with some oil involved. The kind of stabbing this competition demanded, I did not enjoy.