Crow had walked the first few dozen metres in the middle of a ruined road. It then occurred to him that he was completely exposed from that position, and so he hurried to the buildings and began to find his way to the top of one. His magic reserves were completely full from the days of rest, yet he chose not to preternaturally strengthen himself before climbing.

The footing was not great on the rooftops, but it was much better than it could have been. They were mostly flat for one thing, and the solid sandstone made for far a more stable surface than the tiles used on many buildings in Selsis. Nonetheless it wasn’t a fear of falling that racked his nerves, but the knowledge that, high as he was, Crow was making himself clearly visible for potential threats. Granted the task of this stage was one that necessitated a clear view, even if obtaining that view made him a target. He glanced at his gauger once more, the letters etched into it not having changed since his last look.

Personal objective: Eliminate Hostiles to gain credits

Team objective: Gather highest total credits

Details: Top two teams with highest sum credits In five hours succeed.

Gauger will alert teammates to one another’s proximity.

So he needed to act aggressively to pass this stage. He couldn’t just hide, he needed to actively seek fights. Though the use of the word “team” also interested him. The fact that he hadn’t been transported into the same place as other people meant he’d probably need to search for his teammates, though the gauger outright saying it’d let him know when they were nearby made that a bit obvious. Still, the issue was that he had no way of knowing how close he’d need to be to know- and that meant that he had no way of knowing how close he was safe getting to other contestants.

There was a large cylindrical building in the distance, protruding upwards at thrice the height of the surrounding structures in such a way that it immediately caught Crow’s attention. He imagined it was just the sort of thing that would be crawling with potential enemies, that made it just the sort of thing he would benefit from reaching. He took off down the rooftops at a run, his legs carrying him faster than he’d ever gone without magic or adrenalin. His destination was perhaps a quarter mile away, but he was closing in quickly.

Before long he came to gaps in the roofs, some as wide as the streets, and knew his athletic abilities would take him no further. Somewhat reluctantly he activated his strength enhancement and dropped down, barely registering the fifteen foot fall’s impact as he continued on his way before leaping up to the next row of houses. He considered deactivating his ability, having learnt his lesson after the first stage, but decided against it. He could now tell just how much faster he travelled with magically strengthened legs, and on a time sensitive task such as this that speed and mobility would be vitally important. Besides, he was already doing well to resist activating his precognition.

He reached the tower very quickly with his new pace, stopping on the edge of the latest roof and seeing no more to continue across. The great cylinder looked even bigger from this close, though it still fell far from the height of the structures in Bermuda. It was surrounded on all sides by a clearing in which no other buildings rested, and much to Crow’s disappointment seemed to house just as few enemies.

Of course him not seeing them did not mean they were not there.

Hopping back down to ground level, Crow approached the cylinder. He kept an ear out as he did so, eyes surveying the area on all sides of him, certain he’d be attacked. His senses weren’t made any more potent by his enhancement ability, but he’d still rather be alert than complacent. Once he was roughly halfway to the tower, he changed directions on a whim. Moving to his right, going to circle it. And the moment he took a step in that direction, his gauger buzzed.

Crow almost jumped out of his skin at first, assuming he was about to have his arm torn off by some unforeseen attack. After a moment his overly jumpy state of mind pulled less on his nerves, and he was able to gather his thoughts enough to take a more reasonable approach. Assuming there had been an update, he glanced at the gauger. Nothing. Confused, Crow wondered if he’d simply imagined the humming, going to continue moving right.

It buzzed once more.

Crow wanted to look at it, to stick his head down and examine every detail like Astra always did. Unfortunately he wasn’t Astra, and he couldn’t do that with his guard still up. That, plus the short length of the stage, made his next move obvious. He closed his eyes for a moment, reaching into that part of himself that had always been tethered more to time than space, and he activated his precognition.

He’d half expected to immediately be alerted to an attack, and so when he caught a glimpse of his left leg being snapped in half by a light brown blur it wasn’t quite as surprising as it could have been. At least it was unsurprising enough that Crow could just about activate his enhancement before feeling the impact. The sudden reinforcement of his otherwise fragile flesh and bone meant that there was no snapping sensation as the strike landed, though Crow was still sent spinning through the air.

His back thudded against the ground after a moment of weightlessness, however gravity was apparently too little a force to wind him in his magically augmented state. Rolling quickly to his feet, Crow locked eyes with his attacker. A tall boy a few years older than Crow with white hair and skin similar to the Princess’s in tone, his clothes left most of his torso exposed- revealing a wall of sharp abdominal muscles- and he wore a ridiculous amount of jewelry. Of course as distinctive as his appearance was, it was also quite tertiary compared to the terrifying amount of magical power he was giving off. Twice as much as Crow, maybe a little more or a little less- he’d never been the best at assessing things. The boy was standing perhaps ten paces away, but took a few steps closer as he spoke with a smile.

“Not bad. Actually, kind of amazing. How’d you see me coming?”

Still shaken by the abrupt assault, Crow took several seconds to formulate a response.

“I didn’t, just got lucky.”

He’d never been a particularly paranoid person, but his experience in the first stage gave him the impression that he might be best served by not volunteering information on his abilities. The boy continued coming forward, now no more than half a dozen paces away. Suddenly his eyes widened slightly as he stared at Crow.

“God’s tear, that’s the Eye of Chronos!”

Drat.

Crow didn’t answer, just adjusted his stance. Though his enemy was not approaching he could still attack at any time, and Crow had no idea how his ability worked. Thankfully his nearly full magic reserves gave him plenty of time to find out.

He glimpsed himself being sent flying once more, this time spinning like a top while his head lurched towards the ground. A shoulder hit, and one that he was just able to avoid with nothing more than a graze. His newly slowed perception of time allowed him to realise what it was that he’d dodged this time around, a column of sand about as wide as a head. Unfortunately jumping out of its path brought him right into a second one, which caught him in the ribs and plucked him from his feet. Crow’s stomach lurched as the air left his lungs, he hit the ground gasping for breath and rolled painfully. Before he’d had even a moment’s rest, however, he glimpsed himself being thrown once more- he couldn’t dodge from his current position, so he simply folded his body up and took the attack across his limbs.

This time Crow’s flight was interrupted mid-way through, his back crashing into the sandstone wall of a house and caving the worn material inwards as he continued into its interior. Dust filled the air, catching the rays of sunlight spilling in and irritating Crow’s throat. Still he was glad for it, the temporary reduction in visibility was probably the only reason his opponent didn’t follow up with another attack.

His ears were ringing, his body throbbed from the many places it had been struck, his vision was blurry and he knew another assault could begin at any time. But this small lapse was the only chance Crow would have to regain the upper hand, he grunted as he pulled himself to his feet and began to strategise.

As he could breathe without trouble, that meant his ribs were probably intact. They’d been hit the hardest so Crow assumed he wasn’t dealing with any other broken bones, which meant that once his head had cleared and he’d gotten over being winded he’d still have his usual mobility. His enemy was familiar with what the Eye of Chronos was, and judging by his feint-attack he knew, at the very least, about its precognition. That meant Crow probably might not be able to surprise him with his time dilation, so he was better conserving his magic reserves.

The dust began to thin, and Crow kept an eye on the ground around him. Based on his being flung into the air, all of his enemy’s attacks had struck at an upward angle. That meant those jets of sand could shoot up at Crow from his feet, or even right behind him. Just as Crow felt his anxiety begin to rise in the wait for a precognitive warning, it came. His body shooting forwards, slamming into the ground- downwards this time- and flying back out of the building. He rolled forwards, feeling the wind generated by the attack as it barely missed him- shooting downwards past the back of his neck. The ground in front exploded as the projectile slammed into it, sending yet more dust spraying upwards along with fragments of chipped stone. Crow grit his teeth and rushed through the cloud back out into the courtyard.

He hadn’t known his enemy could attack from different angles, but it was good that finding out hadn’t cost him an injury. He looked around, quickly locating the boy as he stared down at Crow from a rooftop. They remained frozen like that for a second, moments dragging by agonisingly slowly. And then with a speed so great Crow barely saw, the boy waved his hands outwards and attacked once more.

Crow noticed swirling in the sandy ground a few metres from him just before he glimpsed it striking him, the milliseconds-long head start let him lean back to avoid the twin shots projectiles as they shot for his face. He stumbled to regain his balance, looking up and glimpsing another projectile impacting his chest. He couldn’t dodge it with his footing as haphazard as it was but he could still turn his shoulder to intercept. A dull throb expanded from the point of collision as Crow was plucked from the ground and deposited ten feet back by the hit. He rolled as he landed this time, coming to his feet incredibly quickly. As he looked back he saw more swirling in the sand on the floor, however now it was a full five metres from him. Frowning, Crow wondered if it was a trick.

And then he grinned in realisation.

“You’re in trouble now!” Crow beamed. “I’ve figured out your weakness.”

There was a distinct pause, then his opponent shouted.

“WHAT?”

Crow felt his face redden. They were twenty metres away, of course he hadn’t heard him. Pushing his embarrassment aside, he repeated himself louder.

“I SAID I’VE FIGURED OUT YOUR WEAKNESS!”

Another pause, then.

“YOU’VE FINGERED WHAT?”

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Crow tried again.

“I’VE FIGURED OUT YOUR WEAKNESS.”

“DUDE I CAN’T HEAR YOU, IT’S TOO WINDY.”

Crow almost hadn’t noticed the gradually increasing gale, his fight had been demanding all of his attention up till that point. He wished he’d known about it before embarrassing himself. Oh well.

Crow closed his eyes, feeling that familiar hot pain spread out over them as he activated his strain’s second ability and felt the world around him slow. Looking back he didn’t immediately notice a difference, however if he focused he could clearly see grains carried through the air by the wind- or more specifically how sluggishly they were moving compared to a few seconds ago. Licking his lips anxiously, he took off towards his enemy at a sprint.

Twin pillars of sand erupted from the ground ahead of him, each as tall as he was and swirling half as wide. Before they’d have been terrifying quick, and they were still moving fast enough that he wasn’t sure he could dodge them. But he had a chance. The right pillar shot forwards first, twisting as it arced towards Crow’s legs. Slowed as it was, it was just slow enough that Crow could leap to his left- flipping mid-air and watching the attack hit the ground and break apart into the billions of individual grains it was made of. Crow landed at a sprint, ducking down and rolling under the second blast of sand. He was sure he’d avoided it, but something grazed his back just as his legs were about to come up over him. Still he took no major impact and was back in a run an instant later.

He was only fifteen metres away now, still too far to make out his enemy’s expression. Judging by the break in attacks, however, he’d surprised him. Crow had taken two more strides by the time he saw his opponent’s arms move to conduct the sand once more, however there was no swirling in the ground before him.

Crow glimpsed himself being struck once more, this time from behind, and took a sudden step to the right. He grinned at the sight of the projectile sailing far ahead of him, barely losing a step.

He was close enough to clearly see the confusion etched into the boy’s face now, and growing closer by the minute. Crow dodged two more shots before he was within a few paces of the house, then kicked off from the floor and shot upwards- easily landing on the roof with a crouch.

His enemy had more potency than him, much more. However his attacks were also much faster than they should have been. Speed was one of the least efficient things to increase with magic, the potency required to increase it by ten could increase strength or toughness a thousand fold. That meant that with such a great distance between Crow and these projectiles, they had to have used a ludicrous amount of potency. In other words, the boy wouldn’t have had nearly as much to put into his physical abilities.

Crow closed in and lashed out a kick, aiming for his enemy’s thigh. Much to his surprise, it missed. More than that, his target stepped inside its range. Before he could adjust Crow felt a strong hand grip his shoulder, there was a foot placed next to one of his ankles and then he was forced into it. The world tilted and Crow felt himself spinning around, his back slammed into the roof hard and he coughed in pain. The sun bore down on his face, dazzling him. Then something blocked it from his eyes, a foot. Crow yelped and rolled out of the way, the stomp crashing through the roof as though the several-inch sandstone were dried bread. He gasped as he stumbled to his feet, however the boy didn’t seem to be in any hurry to follow up. Instead he just smiled again, a smooth, self-assured smile that told Crow he knew full well how much stronger he was.

“Let me guess,” the boy began. “You thought, since my attacks were so fast, I’d put practically all my potency into them. Is that about right?”

Crow deactivated his time dilation, not wanting to waste magic reserve on a conversation. Reluctantly, he nodded. The boy’s smile widened.

“That wasn’t a bad leap in logic, but unfortunately for you I was taught the values of casting from an early age.”

Crow wanted to complain about several things, namely the fact that his opponent was looking at him as though he were an older student. Instead he simply asked.

“Casting?”

Crow hadn’t really expected to receive an answer, yet he did.

“You haven’t heard of it? It’s when you apply a modifier to your ability. In my case I need to use existing sand rather than creating my own, among other limits.

On the other hand it also lets me get far more out of the potency I put in, which means I can give it a sizable speed boost without sinking everything I have into it. Though I still only have about half left over, it looks like you’ve got about three quarters of your potency on physicality. I guess your strain doesn’t use up too much?”

Crow didn’t answer. The boy was right, he did have about three quarters of his potency on physical enhancement. On the other hand he didn’t want to give him the advantage of knowing… no, it was more that he didn’t want to admit he’d been read so easily. His breath recovered, Crow reactivated his time dilation- grimacing slightly at the pain and leaping into another attack.

He threw a right cross for his opponent’s jaw, then dragged his hand back and launched a left jab. He needn’t have bothered, as his feint likely didn’t end any more or less disastrously as a simple haymaker. The dark skinned boy stepped to the side, Crow’s fist sailing harmlessly past his head, and gripped him by the elbow. With a seemingly effortless tug he pulled Crow off-balance, then stepped in and shoved him heavily on the chest. He didn’t have particularly good leverage, but the strength behind his push was great enough that it sent Crow flat onto his back. The wind rushed by his ears for a second, and then he heard the scraping of stone splitting as his back met the ground. The world suddenly seemed to make a lot less sense, where was he again?

“Oops.” Ears ringing as they were, Crow barely heard the voice as it came. “I almost put you through the ceiling, I guess it’s thicker than the walls are. Lucky.”

With a jolt Crow remembered that he was fighting, his head’s murkiness being cleared by the urgency of combat. He grunted as he came to his feet, staring back at his opponent. His opponent, however, merely stood watching him.

“Are you ready to continue?”

Shocked by the utter calmness displayed before him, Crow just nodded dumbly. His enemy raised an arm and gestured for him to attack again, and Crow obliged.

It was somewhere around the fifth time he was sent slamming into the floor that Crow realised his precognition was still active, and yet it hadn’t once shown him a glimpse of an incoming attack. Panic began to seize his chest as he backed away from the boy, desperately trying to think about what was happening.

“Are you gonna run away?”

The boy seemed genuinely curious, as though he would completely understand the action. Of course he would, Crow couldn’t even land a blow on him. He was slower, weaker and less durable- all despite physical powers being the area he was better suited for. His enemy was just on a higher level.

And yet he didn’t have a chance of doing what he needed to if someone this weak could dissuade him.

“Not on your life.” Crow replied, raising his fists in a bare-knuckle boxer’s stance. The boy smiled, holding his arms out by either side.

“Good to hear. By the way, you may want to turn off that warning ability you have.”

Crow felt his chest tighten. Fighting off panic, he played dumb.

“What warning?”

The boy rolled his eyes.

“Oh come on, you’re not fooling anyone. The warning you used to dodge every attack I sent your way despite each one being faster than you. Turn it off, it won’t help in a melee.”

And then it clicked. Crow had never been attacked while he was seeing a glimpse of the future, he’d never thought about it before but now it made sense why. Because his glimpses never appeared unless he could finish watching them before their warning came true. And in a close quarters fight, where each attack came from within arms’ reach, such a timeframe was incredibly slim. Slim enough that against a faster opponent he couldn’t possibly see any of them, even with the aid of his time dilation. Half reluctantly, Crow allowed the symbols on his irises responsible for his glimpses go dun and walked towards his opponent.

“Magic reserve management is half of mystical combat,” the boy explained cheerfully. “There’s no point having incredible power if you run out of steam and can’t use it. Of course if you’re too conservative with your abilities you might be too damaged to make use of them by the time you-”

Crow’s foot leapt free of the ground, shooting towards the boy’s stomach like a piston. A heel kick, both fast and powerful. And this time it worked, landing heavily on its target and sending the boy folding over slightly with a grunt. Crow was amazed to see himself actually hit his mark, but shook off the surprise to follow up. He grabbed the boy’s shoulders and stepped even closer, sending a knee upwards to slam into his ribs while his torso was bent.

Instead the one foot he had kept on the ground was suddenly swept free of it- then a strong hand grabbed it by the back of his knee while another shoved his opposite shoulder downwards. His legs were dragged up and his head was pushed down, straight into the ground. Crow saw stars as he felt the stone shatter and fall through into the building beneath them. He gasped, laying still and panting for air- just waiting for the dizziness to subside. As his vision cleared, he saw the face of his opponent glancing down at him.

“That wasn’t a bad attack, if you hadn’t hesitated before following through you might’ve landed two or three more blows.”

Crow groaned in response. The boy laughed.

“I’ll give you a minute. By the way, since we’re resting, how come you went for my thigh with that kick? It’d have been easier to land one on my knee or ankle, surely.”

What was with this kid? Didn’t he know the stage had a time limit? Crow felt his disorientation gradually subside, however it was still not entirely gone. With that in mind his best course of action was obvious, he forced out a reply.

“Why did you only target my feet with your first attack? You could’ve taken the advantage instantly if you’d gone for somewhere more important.”

The boy seemed almost embarrassed, placing a hand on the back of his head as he replied.

“Well, I figured you might not activate your enhancement in time… didn’t want to kill you, you know?”

Crow nodded.

“I do know, that’s why I avoided shattering your knee or ankle.”

The boy beamed.

“You know, you’re a pretty good guy!”

Crow rushed forwards and the boy raised his guard to meet him, however just before they clashed there was a sudden rumbling. The building they were on began to tilt, then break apart. After a moment of confusion they each leapt clear. Crow landed flat on his stomach, though the fall wasn’t nearly high enough to hurt him. He glanced at the boy, expecting him to have prepared a second attack after the distraction, but realised he was climbing to his feet with a look of confusion. Just as Crow was wondering what had happened, he felt a great presence approach.

A man walked towards him, or at least someone Crow assumed was a man. He wore a suit of dark armour, like the kind the Princess’s bodyguards were adorned with only with a beak-shaped visor. His every footstep was accompanied by the clinking of metal, and his back was to the crumbled ruins of the building Crow and the boy had engaged in their melee on. His breastplate was the only part of his body with any white on it, in the form of a symbol which made Crow’s blood turn to ice as he looked upon it.

Shhhhhhhhhhh

Black mist escaped from the metal mask as the man stopped half a dozen metres away, his posture bent forwards like a predator about to pounce.

“Two more brothers of blood, how tragic to find them equal part traitors of heart.”

The handsome boy took a step forward, eyebrow arched as he spoke to the man.

“You can speak? You aren’t wearing a gauger… huh, and here I thought they only put monsters here.”

Crow barely managed to force his voice out into a strained whisper.

“They do. I know that symbol, he’s a member of Alkatif.”

The boy glanced at Crow, suddenly tense.

“Sorry but I’m not Gaean, what’s Alkatif?”

“Terrorists. They killed five hundred people a while back, I remember reading about it in the newspaper.”

Shhhhhhhhhhh

The boy immediately turned back to the terrorist, fists clenched.

“Ah.” He said simply. “Not particularly unthreatening then. Good to know.”

“Why are you here?” Crow snarled, feeling his cold fear leave his body- replaced with a searing anger. The terrorist didn’t seem to notice.

“If I kill you, as well as any other young chosen ones I happen to encounter, I will have earned myself burial in the holy land of Haven. Where the Teary Eyed God will judge me personally and accept my sacrifices!”

His words were muffled by his metal beak mask, but the zeal and madness behind them were not diminished a fraction. The handsome boy cleared his throat before speaking.

“Uh, sacrifices?”

“He means all the innocent people he murdered” Crow spat.

Shhhhhhhhhhh

“Murder is to slay ones kin, one’s equal. I did no such thing. I merely helped those too wretched to wield the divine power of God and allowed them to serve a greater purpose.”

The handsome boy took another step forward, his features suddenly marred by disgust.

“Hey kid?”

There was no hint of relaxation or humour in the boy’s voice now, in fact just looking at him gave Crow the impression he’d somehow aged several years- resembling a teenager no longer. Shocked by the sudden change in his tone, he answered.

“Yeah?”

The sand at their feet twisted, though Crow knew it was no threat now.

“Fuck this guy.”