Chapter 85

PURE WILL

Augustus fell.

The force wall had caught him square in the chest, sending him tumbling backward through empty space. He reconjured his wand to his hand while tumbling through the air. Gravity shifted halfway through his fall, turning his downward plunge into a sideways slide. He crashed onto a cube moving perpendicular to his trajectory, rolling hard across its surface before managing to grab an edge.

Above him, or what currently counted as above, Erasmus floated amid the golden light fading into his body. The wizard’s eyes were closed, absorbing whatever power the orb had granted. When they opened, triumph blazed in them.

“Finally,” Erasmus breathed. He raised his hand, attempting to conjure without words or components.

A shield flickered into existence around him. Unstable, wavering like a heat shimmer, but there. The wizard laughed with delight.

Then he frowned. He tried different spells. Lightning crackled briefly before dissipating. Ice formed and immediately melted. Each attempt looked weaker than Augustus’s most basic conjurations.

Erasmus frowned. “The calibration is different. No matter. With a little practice, I won’t need those crutches anymore!”

Augustus pulled himself to his feet, watching the wizard struggle with his new power. Erasmus had turned away, focused entirely on forcing another spell into existence. Based on what he’d said, the man’s pride wouldn’t let him acknowledge it was a struggle despite his experience. That he’d theorized about Will-based magic for years, mocked by his peers, was clearly driving him to achieve immediate success. Except now that he had it, it wasn’t working quite right.

Augustus spotted his drone tumbling where the blast had sent it, caught against a cube rotating slowly through the void. The thing’s navigation struggled with the shifting geometry. He opened a portal in its path, forcing the drone to zip through to his side before closing the portal.

The drone showed surface damage, but quickly placed itself between him and the only target as programmed.

Augustus spun his wand and conjured a portal to a nearby cube, floating in Erasmus’s blind spot, then stepped through. As he emerged from the other side, Augustus snapped his wrist back and forth, each slash sending a spinning disk of deadly wind at the wizard’s back.

Somehow, Erasmus sensed the threat and turned. He slammed the staff against the cube, trying again to cast without a word. The shield pulsed into existence, long enough for Augustus’s wind to splash harmlessly against it, before it flickered and died.

“You’re still here?” Erasmus said. His eyes narrowed. “No matter. I have already claimed your power; defeating you will be a minor inconvenience.”

Augustus said nothing. He opened another portal and vanished.

The wizard hastily threw up another shield as Augustus attacked from another angle. Fire splashed across the unstable barrier, making it waver but not breaking through.

Augustus kept pressing, each attack carefully measured to keep Erasmus focused on protecting himself.

Behind the wizard, the drone was moving to catch up with Augustus.

Annoyed at his failed attempts, the wizard’s hands dove into his component pouches, pulling out a pinch of sulfur. He spoke three words in his arcane tongue. Fire erupted from his palm, larger and perfectly stable unlike his pure Will attempts.

But Augustus was already gone, having appeared on a different cube. Ice formed with a snap of the wand, shooting toward the wizard. Erasmus deflected it with his staff, the equations along its length flaring.

“Kol’veth aran!”

Lightning split the air where Augustus had been standing. He emerged from another portal, sending a force blast that cracked against Erasmus’s hastily raised shield.

The wizard’s face twisted in frustration. “Stand still and fight properly!”

Augustus kept moving. The same strategy as earlier. Portal. Attack. Portal. Attack. Never the same angle twice. Never the same element. But each time, angling the drone’s trajectory just a little closer toward his enemy.

Erasmus’s shields grew stronger as he fell back on classical casting. Components came out for each spell. Gestures grew more elaborate. The integration of his new power and old knowledge wasn’t working. Every attempt to blend them produced weaker results than either alone.

“This is your fault,” Erasmus snarled, fumbling in his pouches. “If you’d just died like you were supposed to, I could focus!”

A cube drifted between them, blocking line of sight. Augustus used the cover to reposition, emerging directly above. Three rapid bolts of fire forced Erasmus to spin his staff in a defensive pattern, deflecting each one.

The wizard’s breathing had grown labored. Sweat beaded on his forehead despite the cool air. Maintaining flight while casting was draining him. Despite his skill with magic, the man was clearly more suited to a study than a battlefield. Especially against an opponent with the kind of Endurance Augustus possessed.

Augustus pressed harder. His drone was getting close, but the timing wasn’t quite right. Not yet. The moment had to be perfect.

The wizard threw up another wordless shield as Augustus attacked. Fire splashed across the barrier, making it waver but not breaking through. Erasmus’s face lit up in triumph at the success.

He portaled to a cube near the second pedestal, landing in clear view. The golden orb pulsed atop its platform, theoretically within reach. He made a show of stumbling, then catching himself as if the gravity shift had disoriented him.

Erasmus took the bait immediately, flying toward him with newfound confidence. “That power is mine by right! I’ve studied for decades while you’ve been playing with your little tricks!”

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Augustus kept blasting, each attack carefully measured to keep Erasmus focused forward.

Behind the wizard, the drone moved into position.

“Is that all?” Erasmus floated to a stop, staff raised. “Let me show you what real magic looks like!” He gestured, trying to cast without words. Lightning crackled around his staff but discharged harmlessly into the air. “Why isn’t... the focal point should be...”

The shield shattered with a final, carefully timed blast of force. “Attack”, Augustus said quietly.

The drone’s response was immediate. It spun up behind Erasmus, razor-edged blades extending to full rotation. The wizard heard it coming and started to turn, throwing up his hand instinctively.

The blades caught him at the wrist.

Erasmus’s scream was primal. His hand tumbled away into the void, blood spraying from the stump. Raw magic exploded outward from him, undirected and wild.

The force slammed into Augustus’s chest armor, lifting him off his feet. The armor caught most of the blast, pieces of it ablating away as it absorbed the energy, but the impact still drove the air from his lungs. He flew backward across two cubes before managing to catch himself. His ribs screamed in protest. The drone had been thrown as well, spinning end over end before righting itself, and zipping back to defend Augustus. Its armor was at least as strong as his own.

When the explosion ended, Erasmus had fallen to a lower cube. He knelt there with his staff between his legs, right hand pressed against the stump of his left, trying to stem the bleeding.

“Vel karan,” he gasped. The bleeding slowed as the wound partially cauterized. “Mor’tesh.” The pain seemed to lessen.

His remaining hand went to his belt, fumbling for a potion. Red liquid sloshed as he brought it to his lips with shaking fingers.

Augustus tensed. A healing potion would undo his hard-earned advantage. He struggled up, hauling himself to his feet.

Erasmus downed the vial in one swallow. No flesh regrew. The stump didn’t heal. But the wizard stopped shaking. His breathing steadied. He stood straighter, eyes sharpening.

Not a healing potion then. Pain suppression. Maybe a stimulant too, judging by how his pupils dilated.

“You think you’re clever,” Erasmus said, his voice steadier now. “But I still have fifty years of experience to your what, five? Ten?”

The wizard raised his staff one-handed, having to cradle it against his body with the stump for stability. He spoke again in that flowing language, and lightning shot toward Augustus.

Augustus responded by snapping his wand toward the drone, encasing it in a powerful shield. It slipped into position, catching the lightning bolt and dispersing its energy. The shield flickered and vanished.

Augustus emerged behind Erasmus, the portal disappearing immediately. His ribs protested the sudden movement, each portal jump sending fresh complaints through his chest. But he’d fought through worse during his deployment. Pain was just information. File it, continue the mission.

He sent three rapid fire bolts at Erasmus’s back. The wizard spun, forcing a chantless shield to erupt from the end of the staff. The bolts crashed against it, destroying it, but dissipating in the process.

The real problem for Erasmus became clear. He fumbled at his belt with his remaining hand, pulling out what looked like sulfur. But then he had to trap his staff against his body with his stump, trying to angle it properly while speaking the incantation. The staff nearly slipped.

Augustus didn’t let him finish. An ice spike forced Erasmus to dodge, scattering the sulfur.

“Damn you!” The wizard grabbed for another component, iron filings this time. Again the awkward juggling act with the staff.

Augustus portaled again. He could see the pattern now. Every classical spell needed three things: the right words, the right materials, and proper staff positioning. With one hand, Erasmus could only manage two at a time.

His attacks were weaker than Erasmus’s properly-cast magic, but they never stopped. No pause to reach for components. No awkward staff positioning. Just will and focus shaped into fire, ice, force, lightning.

Erasmus completed a wind spell that scattered Augustus’s attacks, but sweat beaded on his forehead despite the chill of the arena. The stimulant was masking pain, not eliminating exhaustion.

The wizard tried another spell, reaching for a small crystal. His hand shook slightly as he brought it out. The tremor was barely visible, but Augustus caught it. The potion’s effect was already starting to wear off.

Augustus pressed harder, sending a barrage of force bolts while his drone circled to Erasmus’s left. The wizard had to choose: block with his staff or try to complete his spell. He chose defense, and the crystal tumbled from his fingers into the void.

“No!” Erasmus’s composure cracked. He reached for another pouch, fingers fumbling with the drawstring. More components spilled out, floating away in the strange gravity.

Augustus kept up the rhythm. Portal behind. Fire. Portal to the side. Ice. Portal above. Lightning. Each movement sent pain through his damaged ribs, but he pushed through it. The drone followed as best it could, shields refreshing whenever Augustus had a spare second.

Erasmus’s spells grew more desperate. A massive fireball that Augustus simply portaled away from. A chain of lightning that the drone’s shields absorbed. Each spell took longer to cast as the wizard struggled with components and positioning.

Blood loss was taking its toll despite the stimulant. Erasmus’s face had gone pale, his remaining hand trembling more noticeably. When he tried to cast a transformation spell, he dropped the mercury he needed, his fingers unable to maintain their grip.

“This isn’t... possible,” Erasmus gasped, leaning heavily on his staff. “I am a master of the Third Circle!”

Augustus sent a focused force blast that caught Erasmus in the shoulder, spinning him around. The wizard fell, landing hard on another cube. For a moment, he struggled to breath. But desperation forced Erasmus up despite the pain, grabbing the staff as he rose.

Augustus flanked him through another portal, one of his ethereal hands pulling the drone through after him.

The wizard spoke a longer incantation, his voice growing louder with each word. Fire erupted from his staff, not a simple bolt but a massive cone of flame that filled the space between them. The heat was overwhelming, turning the air itself into a weapon.

Augustus sent his drone forward into the flames. Its shields flared brilliant white as it weathered the assault, giving the illusion that Augustus was behind it.

While Erasmus maintained the inferno, focused entirely on what was in front of him, Augustus opened a portal behind the wizard.

He stepped through silently, wand already swinging.

The wind blade took the wizard in the back, cutting deep and clean. The fire died instantly. Erasmus half-turned to look behind him, then toppled forward, staff falling from nerveless fingers.

Blood spread across the stone beneath him, pooling around his collapsed form. He tried to push himself up with his remaining hand but only managed to turn his head enough to see Augustus standing over him. The wizard’s breath came in short gasps, each one weaker than the last.

“The power,” he said, voice cracking. “I had it. Pure Will made manifest. Why wouldn’t it work? The theory… The Archmages were wrong. They had to be…”

“You were right,” Augustus said quietly. “Will alone can shape reality. You just couldn’t let go of what you knew before.”

Erasmus looked up at him, eyes unfocused from blood loss. “Let go? Fifty years… of study? The foundation of… everything I am?”

“Yes.”

The wizard laughed, a bitter sound. “It was meant… to be more… together…” Then Erasmus of the Third Circle sighed his last breath, before breaking apart into glowing golden motes along with his staff.

Augustus stood there for a moment, breathing hard.

The remaining pedestal floated past on its cube, the golden orb still glowing.

He opened a portal and stepped through to claim his prize.