Nightmare Realm Summoner

Alex didn’t even wait until his vision had changed when his foot hit the arena sand. He drew on his magic and Qi immediately, calling out to all three of his monsters and pumping the Qi into Glint. There was no way he was going to take a chance and not come at Evelyn and Henry with everything he had.

Glint’s claws rent through the air and he stepped into being at his side an instant later. His cloak had lengthened to a long whip-blade ending in a heavy axe that shimmered with unrefined arcs of Riftwarped Qi. Princess and Spark were just behind him.

Claire didn’t waste any time either. She’d already drawn her whip and lowered into a fighting stance by the time Alex’s monsters had pulled themselves into being around them. Neither of them wasted time on words. Their eyes were already seeking out their opponents.

And, strangely enough, neither of them had moved. Alex had fully expected to find Evelyn and Henry sprinting toward them at max speed — if not somehow teleporting and or using some other method to attack before he and Claire had a chance to finish their preparations.

It didn’t look like their opponents were preparing, either. The two of them were just standing there in wait. And while Alex could see why Evelyn, who was clad from head to toe in incredibly heavy-looking armor might not have wanted to make the first move, that didn’t quite extend to her companion who didn’t have a single scrap of apparent protection anywhere on his body.

But Alex wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“How do we do this?” Alex asked. “Split them off and take one each? Or play safe until we figure out what they can do?”

“I’ll move forward,” Claire replied as she ran her hand along the length of her thorned black whip, coating it in her blood — though she made no move to actually activate her Soul Manifestation. “You’re the summoner, so they’ll probably try to take you out first. Just make sure they don’t. Until we know what they can do, you don’t want to overextend.”

Alex grimaced, his thoughts flicking back to Samuel and how that particular fight had ended. “Right. All you.”

He glanced at Glint. The Glasmir’s eyes twinkled in excitement. Ein’Zahl was already aware that they were trying to hide the fact that he was more intelligent than Alex’s other monsters. He couldn’t speak, but there was no need for him to. Alex could still send him instructions telepathically.

Princess moved to stand before Alex as Spark loomed behind him. Glint stood in Princess’ shadow, using the larger monster’s considerable bulk for cover as he waited for his moment to strike.

“You two just going to sit around?” Evelyn called. “I thought you’d be more eager to get to the action!”

“I could say the same for the two of you,” Claire called back. “You’re the ones who challenged us. It’s typically polite for the one on the offensive to make the first move.”

“Well, there’s your first mistake!” Henry said with a cackle. “The Empty Court isn’t the place to go looking for politeness. You’re about to be sorely disappointed. But I like the vote of confidence. If you want us to make the move, then we will. It’s been a while since I’ve squeezed back down to Adept… but I think I still remember how things work.”

“Partial Soul Manifestation.” Henry clasped his hands together before himself, as if in prayer. Then his grin grew wider. “Damned Stupor.”

Nothing happened.

The four of them all stood there, staring for a second. Alex and Claire exchanged a glance. Then they looked back to Henry. He was still standing there, a smug expression on his features, unmoving.

It might have been one of the least impressive Soul Manifestations that Alex had ever seen.

Which probably means we missed whatever the hell his ability did. Great. A tricky one.

Claire let out a sigh. “Okay. I’ll figure out what the hell we’re up against. Be ready.”

Then she burst into motion. Sand sprayed as she darted across the arena, closing the distance between herself and their opponents with several long strides. She sent her whip cracking out well before they were within melee range. The black vine snaked out, heading straight for Henry—

And it shot right past him.

Alex blinked.

He’d never seen Claire miss a still target.

His brow furrowed.

She did miss, right? I don’t think I saw Henry move.

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Claire’s failed attack didn’t deter her. She yanked the whip back and sent it cracking out a second time, clearly putting more focus into the strike the second time around.

And for the second time, she missed. The whip almost seemed to pass right through Henry’s head. And yet, he was still standing in the exact same spot as he had been before. It almost looked like he’d become intangible. He hadn’t moved to take advantage of the situation, either. He was just standing still — and so was Evelyn.

“You might want to help your friend out,” Evelyn called cheerfully.

Alex’s eyes narrowed.

They’re doing the same thing. Trying to figure out what our abilities are without revealing too much of their own. Damn.

Henry abruptly lurched toward Claire. He extended a hand toward her, open-palmed. The attack was fast, but Claire was faster and there had still been a fair bit of distance between the two of them. She leapt back and dodged the strike. Then she sent her whip cracking out a third time.

The weapon snaked out straight for Henry’s body. Alex’s eyes narrowed as he watched the blow carefully.

And then he saw it.

Or rather, he didn’t. There was barely anything at all to see. But in the brief instant as the black thorns should have either struck Henry or passed through his body, there was instead a faint blur of motion. It had been so fast that Alex only managed to pick up on it after everything had returned to normal. He was going purely off the memory of what he’d subconsciously picked up.

Was that a dodge? I barely even saw him move. How did he—

A shadow passed over Alex.

His gaze snapped up. Then his eyes widened. Evelyn was sailing through the air toward him, her heels extended straight down as she plummeted toward him like a metal meteor.

Princess lunged forward to meet the armored woman, swinging both of her arms in unison like a massive bat. There was a loud whump.

Evelyn shot to the side, slamming to the ground with a loud thud before skidding backward several feet in a thick cloud of dust that obscured her and left behind nothing but her silhouette. Alex’s lips thinned.

She’d landed on her feet.

It only took a single look to make it very clear that his attack hadn’t even scratched her. The armor she was wearing did more than protect against cutting blows. It clearly had some way to absorb physical blows. There was no way she’d have been able to walk off a blow like that so easily otherwise. Even Alex’s System-strengthened body would have been at least slightly inconvenienced by an impact like that.

“Not bad,” Evelyn said. “Your monster is pretty tough. I was thinking about holding back a bit more to see what you can do, but I don’t think I can afford to.”

She raised a hand into the sky, her fist clenched tight. “Partial Soul Manifestation—”

Princess barreled into her.

The Mirematron collided with a whump, the full force of her strength and weight driving Evelyn back across the san. The heavily armored woman didn’t even lose her balance. She just kept speaking as if nothing had happened, even as Princess slammed her the arena wall with a loud crash.

“Indomitable.”

And… for the second time, nothing happened.

Princess punched Evelyn in the head. Her claws scraped against the woman’s helm with a loud shriek, failing to even leave a scratch in it. Alex’s lips thinned. He resisted the urge to sent Glint forward yet. He didn’t have the faintest idea what Evelyn’s Soul Manifestation did. It seemed she and Henry had a common theme in their styles.

“Something wrong?” Evelyn asked, ignoring Princess as the larger monster wailed on her. It didn’t even seem like her voice was rattled. Even if it hadn’t hurt her, getting hit like that should have made her voice shake purely from being shook around… which meant the force of the blows wasn’t getting through her armor at all. “I was expecting more from someone who seemed so determined to fight.”

“You know, I’ve heard that one a few too many times,” Alex said, his eyes narrowing. “It’s starting to piss me off.”

“Then do something about it,” Evelyn said in a tone that made it very clear she was smirking. She extended her hand to the side.

Princess picked her up, raising Evelyn in to the air like a giant metal piñata. Then she reared back and hurled the woman across the arena. Evelyn flew through the air like a statue, completely unmoving. If someone had told Alex that she hadn’t even realized that she was flying, he would have believed them.

Evelyn landed on the ground with a heavy thud. Only then did she move, stepping forward as if nothing had happened as tendrils of metal slithered out from her armor. Half of them slithered down her arm to form into a large, heavy-looking broadsword in her left hand. The other half traveled along her right arm to create a shield.

Then she started toward Alex in an easy, loping pace.

Princess bounded across the ground, every step she took shaking the sand beneath her. She barreled straight into Evelyn with everything she could muster. The two of them collided — and Princess’ body split apart, flowing past Evelyn as it broke against her armor.

“You’re going to need more than that,” Evelyn said casually, not having even missed a step.

Princess reformed behind Evelyn and spun, leaping at her from the back. Her claws scraped against the impenetrable armor as she drove her weight down on top of the woman again and again, but it was fruitless. Evelyn just continued forward.

Alex’s eyes narrowed.

Evelyn was practically an unstoppable force.

So that’s her Soul Manifestation, is it?

It was definitely one of the strongest that he’d ever seen. If it actually let her just… completely ignore everything that people did to stop her, then it would make Evelyn practically invincible from a traditional viewpoint. But she was still just an Adept.

If her Soul Manifestation is actually making her basically unstoppable, then even as strong as Glint is, I don’t think his claws are going to be enough. A Soul Manifestation specifically made to resist attacks is going to be stronger than him in a direct power-check.

But Alex refused to believe she was actually unstoppable. If she was, she’d have just sprinted at him and used her functional immortality to at least try to just beat him to death.

His lips curled as understanding washed over him.

She’s trying to bait me into revealing my abilities. And if she cares enough about my capabilities to take things slow… then she’s not unstoppable at all.

Alex extended his hand. White links slammed down on his wrist, traveling outward until his anchor dropped to the sand with a thud.

This is a great opportunity to see just how much damage my anchor is really capable of putting out.