It went just as Theo had predicted: the Armeau family had plausible deniability, so the mercenaries were punished and no action was taken against the real culprits. He did hear from Blacksilver officials that House Teal was furious, and the House of Burning Leaves had imprisoned Esaire and his family until the duel. Apparently they'd set up the attack without permission, or so everyone would pretend.

So Esaire wouldn't be able to make another attempt, since he'd burned all his bridges in Norro Yorthin, but that didn't help Theo in the slightest for the coming duel.

When he should have been refining his tactics, he instead found himself soulcrafting desperately. He couldn't just throw aside five months of intense work, nor could he change everything about a finely tuned blueprint. His only path forward was to stick to his strategy and hope he had enough flexibility to pull it off without any element of surprise.

He had one great idea that he could manage in the remaining time: if he built a somewhat high wooden ceiling above his Archcrafter floor, he could send his cantae arcing up into it and then back down. It wouldn't be nearly as efficient as a balanced full third floor, but it was a good stopgap measure.

Theo also began to do something that hurt part of his mind: for the first time since returning to the Nine Worlds, he spent significant soulcrafting time on something that wasn't part of his blueprint. Gathering every last tornadogem he'd collected, he divided them into three windowed boxes to create a full three speed chambers, though a few were left over. That was an inefficient design that would eventually be replaced by other sublime materials, and it bothered him to be taking steps sideways instead of forward.

Though he wanted to direct his torsion strikes through the wormhole, he'd seen the limit of that against strong defenses. Instead of trying to blend those chambers, he reinforced the torsion chamber alone and added a ring of tornadogems around the rainhorn antlers, further sharpening it. In bolt form, the attack might not disable a Ruler, but it could inflict some pain on one.

Yet he needed a stronger edge against Esaire, and speed was his only viable defense. As he worked, he reminded himself yet again that progress meant nothing if it didn't help him survive the duel. It was a small comfort that he could at least throw the unnecessary materials into his singularity once he was done with them.

After unleashing his black hole at full strength, Theo was pleased with the result, and confident that Esaire would have no defenses against it. The problem was, Esaire would know the same thing and take actions against it. Against a slow and powerful opponent, Theo could definitely have kept away and completed the technique, but a fast opponent was a terrible matchup.

One central problem was unavoidable: he generated power beyond his tier by sacrificing flexibility. Once the singularity became a runaway process, his ability to control it was limited, which had been a problem at the quarry. He didn't see any way to make the singularity more flexible without sacrificing power, but that just meant he needed a better setup before he lost control.

If he couldn't buy enough time to generate a singularity, perhaps he could mask the cantae somehow... Theo was considering that problem while soulcrafting when he heard the door to the private courtyard open.

Not one of his friends, just Antha. The Blacksilver official waited until he stopped soulcrafting - and he made her wait until he'd finished his current carving - then nodded to him when he emerged.

"I will be honest with you: when you brought a foreign vendetta to our House and pitted us against the House of Burning Leaves, some wanted to cut you loose." Antha folded her arms in her sleeves, tone too light to be delivering bad news. "I spoke up for you, along with most of those you've worked with. To be honest, there is still some disagreement about whether or not this is an asset or liability."

"It sounds like it's useful to you politically."

"Ah, that is true. We come off as the injured party, playing fair against bullying opponents. The problem is, if we tried to intercede for you to stop the duel, that would be seen as cowardice. It would be beneficial if you won anyway, of course, but there are some who think it would be more beneficial if you lost and we used this injustice against them. Thus we are still in disagreement about offering you more House resources."

Theo didn't bother to hide his sigh. "It's a bit late to be deciding that, with less than a month left."

"I know." Antha at least had the decency to look ashamed. "I may administer House materials, but I cannot gift them on my own. However... I can offer you something else: the time of one of our most valuable soulcrafters."

"What do you mean?"

"One of our Authority-tier soulcrafters would be willing to speak with you about tactics or soulcrafting, to offer advice in these final days. No one can help you soulcraft, of course, but their wisdom is what I have to offer."

What she'd said wasn't actually true: Theo knew for a fact that starting at Dominion tier, soulcrafters could begin assisting one another. It was a type of advanced soulcrafting he hadn't been able to explore earlier, but he'd done plenty of preparation. The knowledge of the local Authorities wasn't all that useful to him... but if their time included their cantae, he did have an idea.

"If they're willing to help me trying something experimental, I accept the offer." He got to his feet and Antha gave him an uncertain smile.

"I'm glad to hear it. Normally I would say this is the wrong time for risk-taking, but if we're going to trust anyone with something experimental, I suppose it's you. Come this way, please."

They had only stepped out of the restricted courtyard into a larger one when a Fithan man snapped into existence beside them. It was Dhan, the same Authority Theo had spoken to the last time, his mask now hanging around his neck, frowning somberly at him.

"Honestly, kid, I'm pretty sure you're doomed." The Fithan man folded his arms over his chest. "I saw the Deuxan, and he's one of the best young soulcrafters I've ever seen."

"Then why are you here?" Theo asked.

"Because it's not a fair challenge, and it wasn't right of them to ambush you like that. I can't step in to help directly or the Authorities from the House of Burning Leaves might get involved too. But in a fight like this, every difference could matter, so just improving your soulhome's cantae flow might help."

"I think my cantae flow is fine, the problem is the positioning of some of my chambers." Theo knew that this might be a hard sell, so he walked forward with more confidence than he felt. He stood before Dhan without flinching, ignoring the impossible gulf between them. "I need a layout remodel, without disrupting the contents of the rooms."

The Blacksilver Authority immediately frowned. "If you mean moving a wall, you should be able to do that yourself."

"No, I want to switch the position of two rooms."

"As an Archcrafter?" Dhan glowered at him, while Antha shook her head. "So you want me to flood your soulhome with my cantae, to loosen it enough to move. But I can't soulcraft for you, so that will be up to your own focus and willpower. Do you really think you can manage to move entire rooms?"

"You already said I was doomed. Why bother trying if I can't manage something like this?"

Theo refused to let himself blink or back down as the two Blacksilver members glanced at one another. Eventually Dhan shook his head. He rolled his shoulders, gathering his cantae, and pointed to the courtyard floor.

"Sit down, then, and we'll see if you destroy yourself."

Smiling, Theo got into a comfortable position and entered his soulhome. Though he was mostly satisfied with his new blueprint, he'd made one error that had been beyond his power to correct. Of the four technique chambers in the corners of his first floor, he should have placed the mass and anti-mass rooms opposite each other.

It was hardly a fatal error, just the sort of thing that had slowed him down in his first life. With willpower, he could force everything where it needed to go, and he had plenty of raw cantae. The problems emerged when he needed to flow cantae in three-dimensional shapes: he wanted to form circles that passed from corner to corner, which currently mixed his gravity creation and gravity manipulation abilities. Putting the comparable techniques on opposite sides of the singularity would let him form a perfect loop between them.

"If you start to fall apart," Dhan said, "I'll withdraw my cantae. I admit, you have a solid soulhome, so it shouldn't do much damage. But if you collapse in the middle..."

Instead of answering, Theo walked up to his soulhome. He warmed up by touching a single cornerstone from his first floor and sliding it free from the wall. As soon as his soulhome stopped making architectural sense, his cantae began draining, and it required his full attention to hold everything stable. If he returned it to a logical structure before releasing his hold, all would be well. If not...

Moving one stone was an amateur technique compared to what Theo intended. He replaced the cornerstone in its position, then took a step back and grasped the entire corner chamber with his willpower.

Hostile cantae began flooding through him, shaking his foundation and making the grass in his soul field shake wildly. If turned toward malicious ends, the Authority could have reduced his soulhome to rubble. Instead, the steady scouring weakened the bonds of Theo's soulcrafting... just enough that he could manipulate it in ways that would otherwise be impossible.

Grasping the corner of his soulhome, Theo began pulling a chamber away from his first and second floors simultaneously. A full ninth of his soulhome slid free of the others in a column, the severed sections glimmering as his soulhome destabilized.

Having everything so out of balance gave him a fierce headache, but Theo pushed through it, dragging the two rooms over to the next corner of his soulhome. He left them standing free and grasped the next corner, pulling out another column of two rooms.

As soon as they came free, his vision began throbbing like he had a strobelight in his head. Theo grunted in pain both physical and spiritual, but forced himself on. His new soul might not be accustomed to this, but he'd once done such things on his own. He wouldn't let himself fail, not when he could force himself on.

Struggling through the instability, Theo placed his first chambers into their new position, pressing them until they touched the rest of his soulhome. Fortunately, his symmetrical design and consistent theme made his soulhome accept the repositioned rooms easily, sealing back together. He breathed a sigh of relief as the ache in his soul declined, but when he tried to move back to the remaining column, he staggered in the hostile cantae still raining down on him.

No, he wouldn't accept failure. This was one of the few times that he could fight with willpower alone, and he refused to surrender when faced with nothing but his own weakness. Theo forced himself back to his feet with a growl of pain and staggered to the remaining rooms.

The short distance back across his soulhome felt far too long, but eventually he pushed the rooms into place. They sealed almost immediately and he sagged against the wall, gasping for breath. Soon after, Dhan stopped forcing cantae into him and his soulhome solidified itself: still the same form, but four of the rooms had switched places to perfect his design.

Theo didn't intend to leave his soulhome, he just tumbled out as his mind gave in. He saw Dhan staring down at him with a strange expression. "Two rooms at once? Are you mad?"

"That's possible." Theo rubbed his forehead, finding that the headache had followed him into the real world. "But it worked."

"All for a slight improvement in flow." Dhan shook his head slowly and began walking away. "Maybe it might make a difference at higher tiers, but that's not going to save you from a sword through the chest. Don't make me regret this."

As Dhan vanished, Theo realized that he was "just" an Authority. At the moment, the Fithan man could crush him effortlessly, but he had a limited understanding of soulcrafting. It had taken him to a place of great power, it just wouldn't take him any further. Yes, the improvement might not be essential now, but when Theo reached Ruler, he'd be grateful to have perfected his design.

He'd also had a secondary objective, which he was surprised went unmentioned: by scouring his soulhome with such intense cantae, he'd strengthened himself against being overwhelmed in the future. After his soulhome had weathered an Authority's power, a Ruler's cantae wouldn't be able to crush him so easily. All in all, Theo was pleased with the backhanded gift that House Blacksilver had given him, so he dropped onto his back to recover.

"I hope what you did was worth it." Antha stepped beside him so she could look down at his face. "Because I welcomed the three of you into our House, I feel a bit responsible for you. Please don't die."

"Sage advice."

Theo remained on his back until she left, thinking about the next steps to take. The most obvious choice would be to begin practicing his new pattern, but after Dhan's cantae, it would be like shoving rocks into his eyes. Instead, perhaps it was time to consider alternate tactics...