Entirely on the defensive, Vir wasn’t able to gain a single pace. In fact, he lost ground every time she forced him to jump back to avoid her spells.
Finally, her aim flew true. Vir shielded his face and activated Toughen, pushing prana and blood to his forearm just before an Icicle embedded itself into it.
“Gah!” Vir cried out in pain. Even with his hardened flesh, the ice shard embedded itself into his left bicep, freezing the flesh around it.
Vir holstered his katar, dove into a roll, and yanked the projectile free, all in one smooth motion. He gripped the prana around the wound, preventing blood from leaking out of his body. Doing so would damage his arm in the long term, but for now, it stopped his blood from leaking out of the wound.
I can’t take much more of this, Vir thought as his reactions slowed from the sheer number of wounds he’d sustained.
With a prayer to Janak, Vir looked to the sky… and found his opportunity.
He sprinted at Maiya, recklessly hurling chakrams and chakris, forcing her to hide behind her wall.
Twenty-Five paces. It’ll have to be enough.
The moment Vir’s disk barrage ended, Maiya popped back out, ready to unleash her spells.
Instead, she found only empty dunes.
Panicking, she whirled around—a moment too late—to see Vir, his katar pressed against her throat. He’d ditched the chakrams to fit within her shadow.
But he wasn’t done. Vir viciously slapped the orb out of her left hand and tackled her, sending them both onto the sand.
If this was the Maiya of before, she’d have given up. But not this Maiya. Without panicking, she used Vir’s own momentum to flip him, straddling him, dagger already in hand.
Not gonna let you!
Vir sent power into his legs and Micro Leaped, juking Maiya, throwing her off of him.
He then straddled her, pinning her under his superior weight. He held her arms, preventing her from wrapping her fingers around the Ice orb in her mejai bracer.
And then he pressed down on her chest, forcing her to writhe in fear of being crushed.
Only then did he bring his katar right up to her eye. “Yield,” he commanded.
Maiya continued to struggle, trying to reposition her dagger to stab him. Vir increased his pressure on her chest. “Yield!” he repeated.
With one last glare, she acquiesced. “I… yield.”
Vir immediately let off his pressure and offered her a hand up. Instead, she brought her knees to her face and began rocking back and forth.
“Maiya?”
“I thought I could beat you, Vir. I really did. Every waking moment I had, I spent it either on magic or sparring with you. I even hid some of my powers so I’d have an upper hand!”
“Are you kidding me?” Vir said and plopped down beside her, doing his best to ignore the throbbing pain from his left arm. Slowly, he let blood circulate back to the wound to allow the clotting process to begin.
“I barely got away from your attacks,” he said. “If you’d charged your spells even a tiny bit faster, I’d have been done for. That was incredibly close. It used to be that I could steamroll you, but now? You were really trying to kill me, weren’t you?”
Maiya looked at him. “Only because I knew you were good enough to take them. I had to. If I went easy on you, how could I possibly win?”
Her strength was honestly monstrous. Not only could she sling C Grade Wind and Ice magic in rapid succession, her dagger mastery spooked Vir at times. Only accomplished mejai or highly trained Talent wielders would pose her any threat at all.
Vir used to worry for her safety. Now, it was the opposite. He worried for the safety of the poor chals dumb enough to cross her.
“I’m proud of you, Maiya,” Vir said, patting her back. “I truly mean it.”
He’d worked tirelessly to get to where he was, and so had she. She’d progressed so much, taking only months to do what most mejai took years to accomplish. Of course, Vir had jumpstarted the process and helped guide her growth, but she was the one who put in all the hard work.
Once she’d found the key, all it took was practice, honing her prana control until she could channel more and more prana into her orbs, diligently sitting near Wind and Water prana sources. From there, she’d worked on distancing herself from those sources until she could channel prana anywhere.
After that, it was a matter of more efficiently controlling her blood flow—a task she’d continue working on for years to come.
“T-thanks. Well, it was close. Just wait until I can charge B Grade orbs in combat. You aren’t gonna stand a chance!”
“Uh, huh. Guess we’ll see, won’t we?” he said, hoping that day never came. Maiya was scary already. What kind of a monster would she be with B Grade magic?
Maiya’s eyes bulged. “Vir! Your arm! Why didn’t you say anything earlier! You’re injured so badly, we need to get help!” she shouted, standing up and desperately hailing Riyan.
You’re the one who did that to me, y’know?
“They are ready,” Riyan said, observing the end of the duel.
Tanya remained silent.
“You disagree?” he asked, cocking a brow.
“No. She is ready. But… you have spent half a year training these two. So much time and effort spent crafting them. And yet…”
“And yet?” Riyan prompted.
“You would send them away to their deaths?” Tanya asked, a trickle of compassion showing through her voice.
“I am not running a charity, Tanya. I took them in because I felt they would be of use to me. They understood the terms, and they agreed to them.”
“What you are asking is suicide. They will not understand what they are up against until it is too late!”
“When did you start caring about their well-being?” Riyan said. “This isn’t like you.”
“They are both special. The boy is a prodigy, and Maiya… She—I was wrong. She possesses talent. Exceptional talent. Riyan, she can become powerful! It would be a loss to Hiranya to lose her.”
Riyan went silent. “She will survive.”
“Truly? Can you think of a single traitor who has ever been spared the death sentence?”
Riyan heaved a great sigh. “A leader knows better than to develop ties with their subordinates. Tanya Chakar, you know this. You have seen it time and time again on the battlefield. Isn’t that right, Commander?”
Tanya clenched her jaw.
Riyan looked across the dunes at Maiya, who was currently stomping their way, no doubt demanding medical help for her friend.
“Are you aware? The boy and girl intend to flee soon.”
Tanya’s eyes grew wide. “How do you know?”
“Vir has been frequenting his cave cache to the south far more often lately. They often sneak out to hold private counsels. They think they are being discrete, but I frequently tail them. They still have a long way to go if they think they can hide from me.”
“I—I see,” Tanya replied.
“Ensure that they fail.”
“Yes, sir,” Tanya said, her voice devoid of life. “It will be done.”
60INTERDICTION
“Pack your things,” Tanya commanded, addressing Maiya, who stood in her bedroom. “We travel for Sonam, the capital city of the Kin’jal Empire.”
“What?” Maiya asked, incredulous. “Now!”
“Yes, now. I have already seen to our supplies. Come, quickly pack your things and let us be off.”
Maiya’s breath caught. She rapidly sorted through the various excuses she could give the woman. But nothing she came up with had any weight.