Sworded Affair

Emma emerged from the barrier to find herself the last one out. Princess Astaroth was the one waiting on her, this time, giving her a confident nod, as though never in doubt as to the outcome of her bout. She also paid a bit more attention to the other two contestants, now that she'd reached the semi-final, if only to try and detect whether Felix had already returned for the salty runback. Surely, two possessions in a row would be taxing on him, at such short notice, but he was both powerful and petty enough that Emma couldn't rule it out entirely.

Neither of the strangers rounding out the final four had the same strange distortion effect on them though, so if Felix had beat her back, he probably wasn't using another disguised doppleganger at least. Neither of them looked too remarkably either, holding themselves at a slight slouch, seemingly relaxed despite this being, by all accounts, a stage for significant political drama. One wore black cloth from head to toe, only his eyes visible through an ensemble that would have been right at home in historical tales of shinobi, with a pair of rusty daggers hanging at his waist. The other wore plate armour at least three inches thick, heavily decorated with spikes that made him look like a hedgehog during a threat display.

"A wonderful show!" Master Europe applauded, each clap of his hands crackling like thunder; he even went the extra mile and made sparks fly each time, something that had to be intentional, because no master could have such poor control as to leak magic in their excitement. "Nearly at the end now, and as before, I'm exercising my discretion to make the most entertaining bracket; if you don't like it, you can complain to the organising committee before next year's event."

Emma glanced back at Princess Astaroth, half-expecting the inevitable match before friends, but it seemed like Master Europe wanted to save that for last, because when he summoned the final two circles, they came with images overlaid; Emma was paired against the rogue-like character, while her friend went up against the walking tank.

"Can't spoil the surprise too early," Master Europe chuckled, giving Emma a wink as the barrier slammed shut, and then it was just her and an assassin, locked in a small bubble together.

"You've done well to reach this point," Emma's opponent broke the silence, drawing one of his daggers. "But I'm afraid this is where it ends for you. There are many eyes upon your esteemed lineage, and none wish to see another challenger, so early in your years. Let this be a reminder than there are mountains beyond mountains, and seas beyond seas, that you might be aware of your rightful place in society, and not attempt to reach beyond your means…"

Emma tuned out her opponent's rambling, focusing on something far more important, which she'd not have much chance to look at since the bouts started: her level-ups, plural by now. This trаnslаtiоn is pоwеrеd by thе rеаdеrs аt М|V|LЕ9МРYR.

[Level Up

Choose one of the three modifiers below:

Stalwart Sword: Epitaph becomes indestructible.

Sacred Sword: Epitaph does additional damage to enemies of the Evil alignment.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Sworded: Epitaph refuses to be wielded by anybody else.]

First up, the choice that had been stewing for a while now, and which was apparent, with the benefit of a few bouts up close.

[Sacred Sword selected.]

The other two options just didn't do much, considering she could dismiss and resummon her weapon at will, so neither destruction nor theft mattered in the long run. Damage against Evil, on the other hand, was hard to go wrong with, even if it meant being more careful with her own weapon, because although Emma had shed her own alignment with her class upgrade, she could see it being dangerous for a few people on her side. More important by far were the recent gains, raising her to a total level of 20.

[Congratulations! You have reached the peak of the Practitioner tier, attained strength encroaching upon that of the Magi. In recognition of this, all accumulated power from this Level-Up has been condensed into a series of Keystone skills, which shall serve both as an immediate reward and, as the name suggests, keystones to shape and direct your future growth.

Please note, that upon reaching this level, the magic within you begins to entrench itself, making it far more difficult to change paths than as a Practitioner, where your internal circulation is far more fluid. This restriction remains in place until you attain Mastery, a gruelling task few ever accomplish. This is an important choice, one not easily undone, so think carefully!]

That was among the most verbose warnings Emma had ever gotten from the automated System, which quickly made sense when she examined the actual choices on offer.

[Choose from one of the Keystone Traits below:

1) In Her House She Waits Dreaming: Choose a target location to make your Domain; upon death, respawn there immediately without limitation. Your Domain may only be moved once every 30 days, and destruction of the Domain invalidates this trait until the cooldown expires. If you choose this Keystone, your future selections as a Magus will be Death-aspected by default.

2) Lord of Decay: Wounds you inflict apply Manablight, an incredibly aggressive infection that spreads through and destroys magical channels in the victim's body, inflicting agonizing pain, rapid necrosis, and the loss of magic in the affected areas. Heavily resistant to both conventional and magical treatment, amputation is the usual remedy for Manablight. If you choose this Keystone, your future selections as a Magus will be Plague-aspected by default.

3) Light of Destruction: A living paradox, a walking contradiction. A paladin who haunts his armour. The damned who walks a path of salvation. Karma set to +500 Karma (Virtuous). Alignment set to Good. If you choose this Keystone, your future selections as a Magus will be Holy-aspected by default.]

Three very divergent choices, each of which would set her path for the next twenty levels at minimum. Emma glanced at her opponent to find him still ranting, insulting her age, her heritage and her hair, not necessarily in that order. In most cases, she would have been annoyed by the blatant taunting, and already opened hostilities, but given the farcical situation, Emma couldn't help but wonder if he could also perceive the System. Was he actually giving her time by dragging things out?

"Ahem," Master Europe's voice came through, cutting off his diatribe. "As entertaining as this is, we're still on the clock, so please, less talking and more fighting."

Emma's opponent stepped forward at a drunkard's pace, swinging his dagger in a painfully telegraphed move. Emma summoned Epitaph and blocked it, giving the opener all the respect it was due, which was to say very little, as she reached out with her free hand and shoved her opponent back, like they were kids at the playground. His next approach was similarly slow, indicating that yes, he was definitely playing some game of his own; the only question was whether this was something as mundane as another attempt at match fixing, or something more sinister in the works.