Chapter 44: Oh, you.

Moxie left shortly after their conversation to dredge up the information she’d promised Noah, who realized that the day was finally still for the first time since he’d woken up. He stood in the center of his room, suddenly unsure of what to do.

He couldn’t hunt the Hellreaver until he upgraded his Wind Runes, nor could he read up on the Linwicks. But, the longer he left the Hellreaver alive, the more likely he would end up getting killed at a bad time. The sleep deprivation was also starting to get to him. Luckily, there wasn’t any class today as the exam had just finished, but he refused to sit around and do nothing.

Noah walked to stand by the window and rubbed his chin in thought. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, but when he finally snapped out of his trance, the sun had shifted significantly through the sky. Noah cursed under his breath.

“I have to stop doing that,” he said, shaking his head and turning from the window. “No point wasting more time. I’m not actually going to defeat the Hellreaver the next time I go for it, so I might as well give it another run. Evil bastard. Maybe I’ll actually manage to get a good blow in this time. Besides, I need to visit the forest to collect Lee anyway. Might as well do two things at once.”

Noah swapped into his cheap clothes and grabbed his flying sword before heading out of his room. A short walk later, he’d swung by Tim and gotten himself launched off to the Scorched Acres for the second time that day, but this time with a one hour timer on it.

As soon as Noah’s feet landed in the burnt forest, he tossed his sword down and stepped onto it. He threaded Wind magic into the blade and it roared forth. Noah pulled back, having gotten somewhat used to its erratic movement, and hurtled into the treetops.

He flew in a circle to orient himself, then set off in the direction that he recalled the Hellreaver last being in. Arbitage shrunk behind Noah as he skimmed over the treetops, his eyes sweeping them for any signs of fire.

It took a little longer than he’d expected considering the Hellreaver was surrounded by a literal giant circle of fire, but the identical forest stretching beneath him didn’t help his orientation.

After thirty minutes of flying zigzags, Noah’s eyes finally caught on the smoldering orange that he was searching for. He abruptly turned toward it and shot above the trees, only descending once he was just a short distance away from it.

Noah hopped off his sword a moment before it slammed into the ground and landed in a roll. He rose back to his feet, yanking the blade from the packed dirt with a single motion, and stepped up to the roaring ring of fire.

The heat buffeted his face and made his entire body tingle uncomfortably, as if he’d stepped out into the path of the sun itself. He raised a hand to try and ward off some of the heat and glanced around.

There weren’t any other monkeys in the area. With their fur, Noah couldn’t blame them. They probably would have gotten heatstroke in a minute at most. At least that meant he probably wasn’t going to get ambushed.

I’m not sure if I want to sacrifice another perfectly good pair of clothes to the fire, though – even if they’re the cheap ones. Especially when I know I’m unlikely to win this particular fight. I just need to learn more about how the Hellreaver fights.

Noah tried to squint through the gaps in the fire, but he couldn’t see any more than he could the previous time. He resisted the urge to heave a sigh. There was only one option that he could think of, and he didn’t like it.

Reluctantly, Noah stripped out of all his clothes. He wrapped them around his gourd and placed everything in a tree branch, grimacing as he felt the fire immediately start to give his pale skin a sunburn.

At least I’m not cold.

Noah buried his flying sword in the trunk of the tree and swallowed heavily. The last time he’d jumped through the fire, his uniform had taken the brunt of the flame and kept it from singing him too badly.

Is a crappy set of clothes really worth torching myself over?

Noah stood there in all his glory for exactly three seconds before he came to a decision.

Yes, it absolutely is. Money is money.

Gritting his teeth, Noah took two steps back before sprinting at one of the gaps in the fire as fast as he could. He squeezed his eyes shut and dove forward, curling into a ball to try and minimize the area of his body that the fire touched.

Hot licks of agony caressed his skin, and Noah hissed in pain as he hit the ground and instantly put pressure on the burns. He rolled to his feet, suppressing the powerful urge to curse or cry out in pain.

His back, arms, and knees felt like they’d been charbroiled. The burn wasn’t severe, but it wasn’t light either. Luckily, his face and… other frontal bits had been spared. Noah shook himself off, taking a slow breath and forcing himself to push the pain to the side.

It was considerably easier to ignore the agony when he was well aware it was going to end very shortly. He’d gotten lucky, as he was downwind of the giant ape and his toasty arrival had somehow failed to wake it from its slumber. Noah wasted no time in calling on the Ash surrounding them, ripping it from the cracked trees with a loud crack.

The magic swirled around his hands in a cloud of dark smoke and shot forth, forming into a dozen jagged spikes just as the Ape’s eyes snapped open at the sound. It lurched to its feet and batted the spikes away with its hand, shattering them.

Noah’s eyes widened. The Hellreaver had smashed his magic aside like it was nothing. The monster roared and reared back. Noah watched it closely, half expecting it to feint the punch again.

It didn’t. Its fist whipped forward and Noah launched himself to the side, hitting the ground in a painful roll and scrambling to his feet. The Hellreaver didn’t wait for him to ready himself.

By the time Noah was standing, a wave of fire was rolling out of the enormous monkey’s mouth and toward him. Noah thrust his hands upward, ripping the ash from the environment and forming an angled wall before him.

He ducked behind it an instant before the flame hit with a roar, washing on either side and over the wall. Its heat licked at Noah and he gritted his teeth. As soon as the flames sputtered out, Noah darted out and flicked two wind blades toward the Hellreaver’s throat.

The monkey raised its arms, letting them absorb the spells in its dense fur, then beat its chest and let out a furious howl. It launched itself toward Noah, stretching out to cut off his path. Noah gathered all the Wind energy he could handle and set it off beneath his feet.

He shot into the air, flailing as he tried to keep his balance. Flying was considerably easier when he had something beneath him, even if it felt like it was actively trying to buck him off.

Noah gave up on righting himself and called on the ash around him once more. His makeshift shield transformed into a needle-sharp pole and Noah whipped it for the Hellreaver. In an incredible show of dexterity, the monster sucked its stomach in and twisted to the side, letting the spell hurtle past it.

The Hellreaver let its gut bounce down and let out a hoot that almost sounded like a laugh. Noah swore, releasing a burst of energy from his last remaining Wind Rune to stop himself from splattering on the ground.

He landed with a grunt and rolled across the packed dirt, cutting himself on several sharp rocks. Noah staggered to his feet and sent a pulse of Vibration into the ground, trying to knock the huge monster off its feet.

The Hellreaver didn’t even flinch. It didn’t even look like it had noticed the magic at all. Noah called on the ash around him, forming another angled wall before him as the Hellreaver drew in a deep breath.

An instant too late, he realized he hadn’t seen the fire coming yet. Noah threw himself to the side, and not a second too late. The monster’s fist crashed through his defenses, smashing them to dust.

Noah’s victory was short lived. By the time he got his feet out from beneath him again, the Hellreaver’s fist was hurtling toward his body once more. Noah tried to call on his wind magic, but it was completely spent.

“Goddamn–”

The fist crunched into his body. Noah’s soul ripped free as his corpse pinwheeled across the clearing and collapsed near the edge of the flaming ring. The Hellreaver reached down, grabbing his body and popping the entire thing into its mouth.

“–it.” Noah finished.

The Hellreaver chewed once before swallowing. It huffed in approval and lumbered back to its resting spot. Yawning, it plopped back down and scratched its stomach before closing its eyes and falling back asleep.

“Zero-two,” Noah muttered, glaring daggers at the uncaring monster. “But I lasted a lot longer this time around. Next time, I’m going to give you something to remember me by. Send more visions, will you? I don’t care how tired I am. I’m going to kill you.”

A familiar band of energy formed around Noah’s throat, and he didn’t bother resisting as it yanked him out of the circle of fire and back into his body just outside it – where he promptly fell out of the tree he’d set up in.

Noah’s hand shot up, even despite his blaring headache, and he grabbed onto the branch to keep himself from faceplanting. He groaned and forced himself to unravel his clothes through squinted eyes.

Sweat trickled down Noah’s back as he shuffled into them, flinching at every flicker of light that bit at his vision. He eventually managed to get into all of them and tugged his sword out of the tree, strapping the gourd to his waist before trudging away to find somewhere shadier to rest.

Noah was so focused on doing everything he could to avoid thinking about his headache that he nearly bowled straight into Lee when the Skinwalker suddenly appeared before him. Or rather, he would have, had Lee not stepped to the side.

“What are you doing?” Lee asked.

Noah flinched at the noise. He straightened and peered at Lee. “Oh, crap. Forgot. Should have spoken to you before doing stuff.”

Lee glanced over Noah’s shoulder, in the direction of the Hellreaver.

“You just tried to kill the Hellreaver,” Lee said. Noah couldn’t tell if she sounded more impressed or baffled. “How’d that go for you?”

“Poorly.”

“I could have guessed that myself,” Lee said dryly. She poked at Noah’s shirt beneath his coat. “You’ve got this on inside-out.”

“It’s a new fashion.”

“Sure,” Lee said with a smirk. “You all here? You don’t look that great.”

“I’m fine,” Noah replied with a grimace. He hadn’t expected the Skinwalker to find him that quickly. “How’d you find me? I thought we’d meet at the normal spot.”

“Took me a bit since you zipped off right after arriving,” Lee replied with a scowl. “I wish you’d waited for me to show up. I’d have loved to see you fighting the Hellreaver. I bet that would have been fun.”

Need to be more careful. Got lucky Lee wasn’t here when I revived. Idiot. Think more. Just so hard to string thoughts together with the exhaustion. If I don’t take care of the Hellreaver soon, it’s going to blow my cover one way or another.

“I’m sure you’d have liked that,” Noah said with a forced chuckle. “You did good with the exam.”

Lee grinned. “I did, didn’t I? I even shifted back to your form to get Todd to work with me. I’ve got no idea who that kid and the old guy were, but pissing them off was hilarious. Can we do that more?”

“No promises.” Noah grimaced, then shook his head. “Probably, though. I owe you clothes.”

Lee’s grin stretched even wider. “Yes! Do I get to pick?”

“Within re- rea- ah, normal stuff. Yes.” Noah rubbed his temple, trying to push the headache away. “Not today, though. I’m about to go back to Arbitage.”

“Seriously?” Lee asked. “You really came here just to get your ass handed to you by the Hellreaver?”

Noah cleared his throat.

“Do you like it or something?”

“What? No.”

“Could have fooled me,” Lee muttered. “Fine. Do I have to wait out here until you get back?”

Noah shrugged. “No. Can you just walk into Arbitage?”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Lee nodded. “Can’t see why not. I wouldn’t know what to do, though. I’ve never been in a big city.”

“School, not a city. You can just come to my room,” Noah said through a frown. “Don’t get too caught up with anyone, though. Just go straight there. Building T. It’s got my name – No – ah, Vermil. Magus Vermil.”

Noah couldn’t tell why, but the headache felt more violent than it normally was. He shook his head, pushing the pain back. It would only be for a few more hours, and it was a poor idea to show weakness in front of a predator – even one he was allied with.

“I can do that.” Lee rubbed her hands together. “Okay. I’ll find you in your room once you disappear.”

“We can shop tomorrow,” Noah said. Then he leaned back against a tree. “I’m just going to relax now.”

“Whatever you want,” Lee replied with a dismissive wave. “I’ve got a long run ahead of me. Be seeing you.”

Then she was gone, a blur vanishing through the trees. Noah grimaced and leaned his head against the rough bark, waiting until the transport cannon called him back.