Though Theo was mostly glad when they had a second chance at the quarry competition run by House Teal, it also reminded him that he had less than three months left. Half his time before the duel had elapsed, and though he'd made significant progress, "significant" was the bare minimum he needed to survive.

As they headed out to the quarry, Nauda was chatting cheerfully, tossing her staff from hand to hand. Both of them were eager to test themselves against the whirlwind again, though via different means. By contrast, Fiyu had sat still and silent the entire time, even her eyes closed. When they drew nearer, she finally spoke.

"Do we know what the top prize is this month?"

"Not sure." Nauda glanced back at her, grin fading. "Are you going to try to win?"

"I would like to try." Fiyu's expression shifted to a shy smile. "I think I can. I thought my perception chamber was perfect, but I have been inspired to make improvements. This will be a good test."

"Wait for the prize announcement," Theo suggested, "and then decide whether or not it's worth it. You can still test yourself and then stop at the last second, like we did."

"Yes, but I think you and Nauda will benefit more from it than I will. If you do not need me to collect tornadogems, I would like to win the trial. It is very noisy and disruptive out here."

That was fair enough, and since only one of them could win each month, it didn't hurt to start. He suspected that he and Nauda could gain much more from the trial itself, unless the prize was ever something truly valuable. Given the state of House Teal, he suspected it wasn't likely, though it was always possible they'd sell off something from their vaults...

Then he caught sight of the quarry and other thoughts fell away. A Deuxan sleigh sat near the entrance, and Esaire leaned against it.

All conversation ceased, and only discipline kept Theo on his path. Here, in front of so many witnesses, Esaire couldn't possibly be attempting an assassination. More likely it was a challenge, which had its own risks and potential benefits. Deciding to pretend he didn't care, Theo stopped the sleigh not far away and stepped out without even acknowledging him.

"I'm impressed you haven't run off again." Esaire kept pace with him, ignoring the other two. "Or do you just understand that we'll keep following you?"

"You're a few months early for a duel." Theo looked back at him without expression, trying to parse the exact emotions he saw in the other man's face. There was anger, but tightly controlled, not in control of him.

"My grandfather heard that you failed this training course last time, so I figured you'd try again. Just a little friendly competition."

Since any answer would be useless, Theo didn't bother, just accepting that he might not get the training he'd wanted this time. He thought that this might work out in his favor, since the training course and its prize would be useless to Esaire. Talented soulcrafters with an organization behind them didn't often make mistakes, so this was an opportunity... provided that Esaire didn't pull off something else.

"Everyone, attend to me!" It was the same official from House Teal as the previous month, Lady Baryara, spouting the same vainglorious platitudes.

Tuning her out, Theo instead examined Esaire from the corner of his eyes. Though Esaire felt like an Archcrafter, Theo suspected that he had had already ascended and built a shielding wall. His clothing was immaculate, of course, but the strangest thing was that he wore a Deuxan dueling blade at his hip. Previously he'd used gloves that were a powerful armament, yet Theo didn't see them.

They might be hidden, but it was a curious choice. Given that they knew Theo fought at range, it would have been logical to try to close the distance and use the gloves to tear him apart. Then again, perhaps Esaire had decided he needed range as well, or was worried about direct contact with Theo's abilities.

At the end of her speech, Lady Baryara announced the prize: a sublime material called a mistsphere. Fiyu perked up, but then tugged on his sleeve and whispered.

"I would like the prize, but should I stay to help you?"

"No, go for the top." Theo shot a quick glance at Esaire, who didn't seem to be listening, and then leaned back to her. "I think Esaire wants to win, but I suspect he also wants to attack me. That will give you a chance, and it might work against him."

"Okay, I will do this. Be safe."

Not long after, Lady Baryara sounded the beginning of the match. Esaire drew his sword with a flourish, turning on Theo... who promptly leapt down the side of the quarry into the whirlwind.

He was moving far faster than intended, fragments of stone whizzing around him, yet he mostly kept up. A few did manage to strike him on the way down, but they no longer moved so quickly that his eyes couldn't track them. It would be more difficult around the central mountain, but his main intent was to put space between himself and Esaire to spread out the fight.

When he looked up, he struggled to see through the full whirlwind... yet he soon saw Fiyu. She walked calmly down the side of the quarry, gracefully stepping aside from each stone that spun her way. It was nothing like Tythes's indifferent evasion, but instead a surprisingly elegant dance. Such choreography would be impossible with pure reaction time: she must be feeling each and every stone in the quarry and planning her route to spin around them.

Nauda slid down the slope quickly, only knocking aside a few rocks on her way to him. She glanced at Fiyu, then upwards. "Looks like Fiyu will be fine, but Esaire is right behind me. Want help?"

"Let him fight me." Theo flexed his fingers and prepared his cantae. "Step in if he tries to inflict permanent injury, but otherwise stay wary. I don't think he'd do something like targeting Fiyu, but we should be ready."

He was going to say more, but at that moment Esaire descended through the storm. His body was cloaked in a sapphire aura that burned with a Ruler's cantae, against which rocks shattered into harmless fragments. As he landed, Theo gestured to his own eyes, hoping that Nauda would understand. She nodded and stepped back, but then he needed to focus on Esaire.

The first lunge was blindingly fast, and it would have skewered him if not for his new speed chamber. As soon as he dodged, Theo dropped a reverse gravitational field over both of them as he leapt back. Esaire flinched as he started to rise, while Theo returned to the ground.

Unfortunately, Esaire immediately shifted the nature of the aura around him, again resisting gravity and returning to the ground. To do so he needed to drop the defensive shield, though Theo was immediately skeptical of that switch. Was he trying to deceive Theo into thinking that he could only manage one, as preparation for the duel?

In any case, the few rocks whirling around the bottom of the quarry seemed to be no threat to Esaire at all, since he stepped aside from them without even taking his eyes off his opponent. As that opponent, Theo realized that he had a difficult fight on his hands, since the rocks were still a threat to him. Even with Esaire having his back to the coming rocks, this would be difficult.

"You did kill Delarde, didn't you?" Esaire raised his sword to a thrusting position, but held that stance. "Tell me the truth."

"I didn't do it with my own hands, but when he attacked us, I fought back." Though he wasn't sure what he saw in his opponent's face, Theo decided to go with honesty. "You must have known he'd made enemies."

"Delarde had his flaws, but he was my friend." Esaire crept another step forward, eyes remaining calm. "If it had just been self-defense, I might have let you run. But when I learned what sort of person you are, I decided that I needed to end this."

"And just what do you know about who I am? Why would the Armeau family chase me this far?"

"There's no point talking to you anymore."

Another rush, but this time Theo was ready, leaping aside from the thrust. It transformed into a slash with startling speed and he barely leaned back in time. He tried to cast a gravitational torsion field into his opponent's torso, but Esaire pushed through it, kicking him in the chest.

Theo flew into the air, temporarily caught in the whirlwind, but Esaire leapt after him even faster. Instead of trying to strike back, Theo focused on dodging. He brought himself back to the ground sooner than normal with a gravitational field, dodging just under another thrust. As soon as he hit the ground, he sprang upward with reverse gravity, taking him through the whirlwind again.

Esaire frowned, perhaps realizing that his defensive aura meant he couldn't feel what gravitational fields Theo was using. Between them, the other contestants stared, set up defenses, or tried to take cover despite the fight going on around them. Nauda stood near the center, watching carefully.

When Theo's gaze shifted away, Esaire's cantae flared. Theo moved on instinct but the sword still pierced through the side of his arm. Esaire was no longer holding back, and his full speed was overwhelming.

A blow slammed into the side of Theo's head and he hit the ground, too disoriented to generate any more fields. Esaire immediately leapt above him with a foot on his chest, his sword positioned overhead. It first targeted his head, but Esaire hesitated a moment, then aimed it for his shoulder instead.

Nauda struck from behind, a pulse nullifying Esaire's cantae aura and then her staff slamming into his arm. He cried out in pain and staggered... but only one step.

Theo scrambled back to his feet, watching Esaire. That blow had contained Nauda's full strength, and it would have shattered the bones of most soulcrafters, but the way Esaire flexed the arm, he obviously retained its full use. He wasn't just a Ruler, he'd moved further along with his blueprint. Truthfully, Theo didn't like the odds even with the three of them fighting together.

"I have won." Fiyu spoke softly, barely audible over the wind. Esaire turned to her as if surprised and saw her standing just above the whirlwind, the mistsphere in one hand... and cantae flickering in the other.

For several heartbeats, Theo thought that Esaire might try to attack them all anyway. Then he snorted derisively and sheathed his sword again, turning his full attention to Theo.

"You won't be able to rely on anyone else when it's time for our duel." He switched back to his defensive aura and leapt from the quarry in a single bound, shattering through rocks in the way.

Once he was gone, Theo breathed a sigh of relief, which was a strange thing to do at the bottom of a tornado creating a vortex of sharp rocks. He was glad that Esaire hadn't pressed the matter, but even more glad that he'd left. Their fight hadn't taken very much time, so they could still make use of the opportunity to train.

Nauda watched for a possible return while Fiyu moved down to them, again easily evading the rocks. Once she arrived, they found a corner of the quarry partially shielded from the wind and huddled close enough to speak.

"I spent the entire fight trying to use my telescope," Nauda began. "His control is excellent, but you managed to create a few openings. Esaire is a Ruler now, but you obviously know that."

"He's too fast." Theo tried to bind the injury on his arm, which would definitely need healing but wasn't overly deep. "What I'm afraid of is what else he might have in store."

"His second floor is strange, all of it dedicated to a single complex room."

"Probably a Corporeal Floor, which will transform him physically."

"That was my impression, and it explains how his body alone shrugged off such a solid hit from me." Nauda frowned to herself, but soon continued. "Anyway, his third floor has a completely soulcrafted interior, but it's empty. I couldn't tell anything about it from the layout alone. So he had three full floors of cantae, but no new techniques."

"For now. We'll see how much has changed in another three months."

"Will you be okay?" Fiyu asked. "You've soulcrafted faster, but he will have so many advantages. I hope you are not discouraged by today, but I would be discouraged."

"Actually, this is a good thing." Theo smiled at the two of them and he didn't have to fake it. "Attacking me now was honestly a bit childish, because it just gave me more experience against him. Now, let's get to work and try to take as many of those tornadogems as possible."

Though everything he said was true, as Theo began to train his reflexes again, his mood declined. This attack might have been a tactical error on Esaire's part, but he was no fool. For Theo to win, he needed to overcome an opponent who had massive resources behind him and likely a decade of soulcrafting more than him.

If he was gambling on the fight, he wouldn't like his odds.