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The Simulacrum - Chapter 123 - Part 2
🕑 Added 2023-09-13 13:59:08 +0000 UTCAfter what, to the unaffiliated eye, appeared to be a very intense round-robin-style Celestial roshambo tournament (pretty much the same rules, but with different finger gestures), it was decided that sci-fi-guy would serve as Josh's first opponent on the training field.
"I don't know, man… I don't like this…" my friend griped in a low voice, so I patted him on the back for encouragement.
"Don't stress it. Consider this an opportunity to get used to combat as a Celestial."
We were standing a bit apart from the rest of the crowd. As usual, the only people who dared to approach me were the head directors and Kane, and at the moment both he and Tsephanyah were busy listening to Angie complaining about flight restrictions. That one was her pet bugbear at the moment, and I had a feeling it would soon get rectified, just to please her.
More importantly, Josh was still a little skittish about sparring with the Praetorian Guards, so I hit his back a bit harder. He let out a gasp and then turned to me, clearly irritated.
"What was that for?"
"To make you stop overthinking this."
I gestured at the training field, where sci-fi-guy was already doing some stretching in preparation. While I had to admit that he looked pretty fierce with his spiky blonde hair, glowing high-tech armour, and his large, double-ended glaive, he was probably the best first opponent for Josh. Contrary to his appearance, he was a fairly cautious fighter, and while all of his twists and twirls with his weapon looked very dynamic and threatening, they left him with lots of openings and opportunities to disrupt. Overall, out of the eight, I would've put him around rank six or seven in a straight-up fight.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Josh continued to grumble, despite my best efforts. "That's a real weapon there. And he looks kinda intimidating…"
"Don't tell me you're scared."
"I'm not scared," he bit back with an indignant huff, but then a beat later he amended, "Well, okay. Maybe a little. That thing looks sharp."
"Pal, you regularly spar with the Knights. Since when did something like that give you a pause?"
"Since I can't shift to Draconian. Or Abyssal. Heck, anything but Celestial would do, really."
"You'll do just fine. The Magiformer can take a couple of hits for you, as usual, so just focus on familiarizing yourself with Celestial tactics."
"I could use some advice though…"
Sighing, I collected my thoughts before responding to his request.
"You call it your weakest, but your Celestial form probably got an upgrade out of the whole Deus-ordeal. Use the opportunity to find out if you have any new abilities, but don't overdo it. If you are linked to Angie the way I suspect, we don't want you to stimulate her inner Deus more than necessary. Overall, just keep your cool, experiment, do some of that harmonic-whatchamacallit we discussed in the past, and it should be fine. If not, I'll—"
"Step in?"
"Give you a fancy state funeral."
Despite not being able to see my friend's eyes, I could feel the heat of his glare on my skin.
"Very funny. Should've said you'll take care of Angie for me or something…" Before he could say anything else I reflexively slapped the back of his head. The Magiformer's wards should've absorbed the impact, but my weird magic resistance stopped that from happening, and the guy's noggin snapped forward, followed by a surprised hiss. "Ow! Hey!"
"Don't even joke about something like that."
"What? Only you're allowed to joke now?"
I levelled a purposefully dispassionate gaze at him and stated, using the most deadpan tone I could muster, "I never told a joke in my entire life." I maintained a silent beat for effect, and then I relaxed my posture and added, "That said, Angie is going to be cheering for you, so do your best."
"Ah, right! Thanks! Pile some more pressure on me, why won't you?"
While Josh continued to gripe and moan, sci-fi-guy finished warming up and was looking expectantly in our direction. I wasn't the only one who noticed, as Angie, ignoring the two grown men glued to her, skipped over to our side.
"Is it starting?"
"The opponent is ready," I stated plainly, falling back into my Polemos routine like slipping into an old pair of comfortable gloves.
"Allrighty!" With an excited smile, she pointed one finger at the sparring ring and mimed throwing a ball with his other arm. "My Justicar! I choose you!"
I could practically see Josh rolling his eyes under the helmet, but at last, he walked into the training field, closely followed by the eyes of his girlfriend. He was reluctant, but I knew the guy, and I was sure that once the match began, he would quickly lose his inhibitions and give the onlookers a good show.
"Lord Archon?"
Surprised by the unfamiliar voice, I turned to my left, where I found a short woman dressed in one of the many types of military uniforms of the Elysium, this one being a blend of a modern dress uniform mixed with ancient Greek style bronze greaves and bracers. Her face was unremarkable, and her auburn hair was done up in a short ponytail. I couldn't recall her from memory, but considering the circumstances, I figured she was one of the volunteer guards.
It was the first time I was directly approached by one of them, so I couldn't help but raise an intrigued brow at her. She remained resolute, despite my lack of response, but her eyes were betraying her apprehensions.
"Yes?"
The moment I spoke, she exhaled a pent-up breath, as if she just overcame a major obstacle.
"Please forgive my brazen approach, but we… I mean, the guards have many questions about what's happening, and there are some strange rumors as well, so we thought we should inquire from the Archon before the news gets irrevocably twisted."
It took me a second to untangle her meaning, but if I understood the gist of it, the rumour mill was already going at full steam, and she wanted to get confirmation from me. I would've been surprised, but then again, my time in the Elysium had already proven that the whole place was practically running on rumours. If anything, her unexpectedly direct approach was a breath of fresh air, and I was willing to humour her just for that.
"Be more specific."
My prompt made her twitch, but seeing that I wasn't going to chase her away, she retrieved a small notepad from the pocket of her uniform, along with a cheap ballpoint pen. How unexpectedly analogue. Also, why did I suddenly feel like I was being interviewed? Did the Elysium even have any newspapers? Or other news services? I didn't think so, and in retrospect, the lack of news reporting probably contributed to the rampant rumour-mongering. That said, I was planning to make some official announcements to quell the shipping wars anyway, so maybe this was a good start to that.
In any case, while she was busy with preparing her writing implements, I glanced over at the training field, where the sparring match was already in full swing. As expected, once he overcame his nervous streak, Josh was performing about as well as expected. Sci-fi-guy twirled his weapon over his head before comboing it into a rhythmic series of slashes. Diagonally down from the left, then using the other end to swipe from horizontally to the left, followed by another twirl and a stab at the solar plexus. It was all very telegraphed, so Josh had no trouble avoiding it, and he deftly dodged out of the way of the strikes before closing the distance with a burst of speed and delivering a knee strike at his opponent's chest.
Sci-fi-guy's weapon, despite technically being a polearm, had a fairly short range due to it having blades on both ends. Yet, it still had the weapon type's weakness in close-quarters combat, making it hard to swing once the opponent slipped past its ideal engagement distance. Josh must've realized this as well, as he stuck to the guy like a fly to the glue-paper by grabbing onto his weapon and didn't allow him to increase the distance.
He was always more of a technical fighter than a powerhouse, and without the raw power boost of his Draconian form, or the offensive magics of his Abyssal form, he had to rely on his instincts more than usual. Still, the way he suddenly twisted sci-fi-guy's weapon and used it to throw him was rather surprising. While sci-fi-guy wasn't the strongest of the Praetorian Guards, he was still pretty nimble, and I thought he would've foiled something like this fairly easily.
"Go, get him!" Angie cheered for Josh from the sideline, standing all alone, without anyone daring to approach her. "Give him the eye of the tiger!"
Did she mean that literally, I wondered as I tried to focus more on the duel to see if it involved any of that Celestial harmonic malarkey? However, before I could get into it, I was reminded of the nervously fidgeting woman by my side and I turned back to her. I figured I'd have more than enough time to watch Josh's fights later, so I decided to get her out of my hair first.
"Ask your questions."
"Yes! Thank you for your time, Lord Archon!" She flashed a nervous smile and put her pen against the scratchpad. "Let me see… Ah, yes. This Justicar? Is he like Lord Archon's esteemed Arbiter?"
"Yes, you could certainly say that."
She jotted down a few words, then hesitated.
"Speaking of her, are the rumors of her being the Lord Archon Polemos's mistress… um… true?"
"No."
My dry response made her shrink back. In the meantime, I sneaked a glance at the sparring field, where Josh was steadily gaining the upper hand. Using a move that reminded me of Elly's approach to hand-to-hand combat, he once again closed the distance. Even though they weren't meant to be used like that, he utilized the wards on the sleeves of the Magiformer to deflect the blade swinging at his side, and before his opponent could respond, he delivered a right hook to sci-fi-guy's chin. On second look, it was more of a palm strike, but it sent him reeling back either way.
"If that's the case…" The impromptu reporter by my side called out to me again, pulling my attention back to her. "What about the relationship between the second advent of Deus and her, erm, Justicar?"
"It's their private matter. Ask them."
"I-I wouldn't dare to question Her Grace!" the Celestial woman sputtered in audible fright, even going as far as to shake her hands defensively.
"But you are fine with questioning me," I pointed out, with just a hint of irritation. Yet, after some thinking, she gave me a faint smile.
"It's different. Lord Archon Polemos is very reasonable, so there's nothing to be…" She paused, as if just realized what she was saying, and after staring at me for a bit, she sheepishly amended, "Not as much to be afraid of."
"Does she look scary to you then?"
I pointed at Angie, and she followed my outstretched finger, just in time to catch him excitedly hopping in place as Josh finally caught sci-fi-guy in a double wristlock and forced him onto the ground, his weapon clattering to the ground just out of range.
"It's not about that, it's just that…" She hesitated, but when I urged her with my eyes, she explained, "Raising the ire of Deus would be worse than death."
"Quit being overdramatic."
Despite my warning, she remained entirely serious. Meanwhile, sci-fi-guy left the sparring grounds and got replaced by midriff woman. I imagined Josh would have more trouble with her, and I was curious how he would deal with her ranged hit-and-run tactics, so I circled a finger in the direction of the Celestial woman by my side.
"Let's move things along. Do you have any other questions?"
"Y-Yes! Only a few more!" She hastily jotted down a few things, and then took a deep breath, as if to steel herself. "This isn't something I personally believe, so please don't take offense, but there are many voices who say that the way Deus returned to us to too much to be chalked up to coincidence."
"Elaborate."
"At once! Some say that Deus being reborn as a young girl, and one Lord Archon Polemos was personally acquainted with before your awakening, is divine providence, and that the two of you are meant for each oth—"
"No. That's not a thing," I stressed, on no uncertain terms.
"I… As I said, I personally do not think anything of the idea, but are you certain of this? Some say Deus's second advent took a female form just for the sake of the union between the two of you."
Levelling the flattest stare I ever stared, I closed my eyes and slowly exhaled.
"That is one of the most asinine things I've heard in my life, and I have encountered more stupidity than you can fathom."
Blinking, she wrote something down with trembling hands, and it took her a couple of seconds to gather her nerves and look me in the eyes again.
"So you are against a personal union with Deus?"
"As I just said, it's a brain-dead notion."
"Would you say it's something that shouldn't happen, couldn't happen, or mustn't happen."
"Yes, on all accounts."
My response left her conflicted, and for the time being, she retreated behind her notepad. Considering this an opportune time, I glanced over at the duel, and to my shock and surprise, I found Josh battling armour guy in the ring. When did he beat midriff woman, I wondered, but not for long, as my attention was drawn two different ways at once.
On the training field, Josh was glowing much brighter than before, surrounded by an ethereal haze of colourless light that permeated the entire sparring ring. More alarmingly, I could see the outlines of wings behind his back. I had no idea whether they were visible to anyone else, because all the ambient magic lighting made it hard to determine, but while one pair was fully defined, another pair was more of a vague outline, while the third pair was little more than a negative space leaving behind a wake whenever Josh moved.
And oh boy, did he move. He was fast, and even though only his toes touched the ground at any given time, he was dashing around so fast that he was practically leaving afterimages in his wake. Though again, that might've been just my perception because of all the ambient magical lighting and whatnot. That said, while his form was different, the way he was zig-zagging around armour-guy was very reminiscent of my knightly sister's Sanic the Red Hedgehog impression. The guy was lucking nobody really cared, but his blatant copying of others' moves like that was seriously infringing on their intellectual properties.
But staying on topic, Josh used his speed to get into the blind spot of armour-guy, and I could hear a short, jaunty whistle even where I was standing. My friend wasn't fond of singing, or even humming, so whenever he used Celestial harmonic magic, he preferred to whistle the tune… which, now that I thought about it, was what I used to disguise my phantom limb based tweakery in the Elysium. Huh. The guy was stealing tricks from literally everyone, wasn't he?
In any case, Josh swung his arms to the side, until he was T-posing, and it created a shockwave. Since he was right behind armour-guy, it made him stagger forward and momentarily lose his footing, but it even buffeted the clothes and hair of the people standing around the right. Right after that, Josh's hand glowed and, accompanied by another series of whistles that definitely reminded me of a popular song, he swept them down diagonally, creating two overlapping, crescent-shaped waves of light merging into a large X.
The wave rushed forward, and while armour-guy was caught flat-footed, he still managed to raise his shield and deflect the attack, though it still sent him reeling back and rolling on the ground.
That… was weird.
I'd seen Josh use that move before, but I was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be that powerful.
"That's it! Keep up the pressure! Hit him with interference!" Angie continued to cheer from the side, and as I glanced over, I was reminded of the second thing that was drawing my attention. Namely, the brightly glowing halo over her head.
In fact, as I thought about it, I couldn't remember any other Celestials with literal halos floating over their heads. Even Seraphim bigwigs of the Directorate only had a vague light around their heads when they showed off their wings, not an actual, rotating ring of light. To be fair, until very recently, I didn't meet enough Celestials to connect the dots, but I figured that probably had something to do with her Deus-ness as well.
But if it was glowing that hard, did that mean?
"Ts. Ow…" Angie let out a pained hiss and touched her temple, and before I knew it, my legs were already carrying me over to her side.
"Are you all right?"
"Hm?" She looked up at me, and I shuddered for a moment. Her eyes were hazy and dull, yet there was also a strange light in her pupils, giving her an eerie atmosphere completely unbefitting of the usual Angie. At first, she had a hard time focusing, but after blinking a few times, her lips bent up into a modest smile. "Don't worry, Polemos. It's just that my head… What did I say just now?" She paused and squinted to look at me again. "I thought I just said something strange, but I don't know what it was. Do you know what's going on, old friend?"
Now it was my turn to blink, and it didn't take long to figure out what was going on.
"Hold that thought for a moment," I told her, and after assuming a pre-dashing position by sheer reflex, I Phased right next to Josh.
He had his arm raised over his head, and he had a flat, oval disk of light extending from his fingertips, vaguely resembling a blade ready to strike down at the bracing armour-guy. The armoured man was obviously at the end of his rope and unsteady on his feet, and even his magitech shield was flickering, as if it would give out at any moment. It wasn't that surprising, considering Josh was obviously tapping into Deus's power under duress.
With a swift motion, I grabbed Josh's wrist and held it in a vice grip, starling both him and the onlookers.
"Stand down, Justicar," I ordered with as much gravitas as possible.
A second later, the disk-blade over his fingers faded out of existence, and only once it was completely gone did I let go of his hand. From the corner of my eyes, I could already see a mixture of surprised, confused, and discontent faces, so I had to quickly give a suitable excuse for my interruption.
"Justicar. This was meant to be a spar. I thought it was implicit that killing your opponent was not allowed."
Josh remained stock still, but I could practically feel the perplexity radiating from behind his face-plate. It wasn't the time or place to explain any of this to him, so I patted him on the shoulder and practically dragged him along towards Angie while loudly telling him, "You did well holding back so far, but you require more discipline. You are not allowed to spar with the Praetorian Guard again until you can control your powers under all circumstances."
That should've been enough to allay the suspicions of the onlookers for the time being.
"Aw. It was just getting good! I didn't tell you to do that!" Angie complained with a pout, but then right after that she shook her head. "Or did I? My head feels kinda muddy…"
"What's going on?" Josh hissed in a low voice, after making sure nobody was within earshot.
"I'll explain later."
Saying so, I glanced around, looking for Jaakobah. I couldn't find him, but my eyes did meet with Tsephanya's, and he took that as a signal to come over.
"Is everything all right?"
"Yes, it's just that…"
"Pole— No, wait. Leo? Yes, I think it's Leo," Angie mumbled by my side, tugging on my sleeve. "Where can I get a glass of water around here?"
Sighing, I turned back to the Reformist director and told him, "Deus requires some fresh air and something to drink."
"I'll arrange for both!"
Sounding unusually energic, the blonde director turned on his heel and started giving out orders. In the meantime, I glanced around again, trying to find either Jaakobah or Kane. Either of them would've been good enough to relay my message to the Praetorian Guard members, but I couldn't see either of them in the crowd.
Neither could I find the woman who was quizzing me until recently. That bothered me, but I quickly shook the concern out of my mind and gestured for Josh to support Angie instead. We had more important things to worry about. Finding out how my interview would affect the Celestial rumour mill had to wait.
Comments
Danielle Warvel
His dismissal of the reporter celestial is 100% going to bit him in the ass later.
Egathentale
Hello, dear readers. Chapter-part delivered, next one should be on schedule, now I'm off to potato-farming. See you soon!
