NOVEL WEB 368. Dark Magic
They clashed. In the blink of an eye, Ike and Arkoz exchanged a dozen blows. Arkoz was fast, but Ike was faster, and Ike was armed to boot. The black energy on Arkoz's hands emitted a cold, dangerous aura, something that Ike instinctively feared, but it didn't matter how scary it was when it couldn't land on him. The black energy reinforced Arkoz's hands, and he clearly expected it to fend off the Hungry Sword, but the Hungry Sword's scales scraped up the dark energy and bit at Arkoz's hands beyond it as if they were barely clad at all. Arkoz kicked at Ike, forcing him to back away, and hopped back, adding a little more space between them.
"Need help, Ike?" Wisp asked.
"Nah, I think I can take him alone. We don't even need our eyes in the sky if this is all he's got in him. Don't even cast your webs now. I'll signal if I need you guys, but honestly? I kind of need to vent some frustration, and this guy looks like a good target."
Wisp nodded. She gave a thumbs-up and retreated a few steps, letting Ike have this one. He wasn't the kind of proud guy who wanted to solo-battle all his enemies, and he was more than happy to team up on a loser to deliver a beat-down, but he really didn't see this guy as a serious threat to him. His strength didn't even challenge Ike's strength, his blows didn't make Ike's arms ache. It seemed like his only advantage was the black energy, but he lacked the speed and strength to make good on it.
"Do the dark arts, like, give you sneaky tricks in return for weakening you?" Ike asked.
"You dare impinge dark magic?" Arkoz snapped.
Wisp thought for a second, climbing up the wall toward Som. "I think it's more like, dark magic is a way for weaklings to get power, even if they shouldn't be able to get stronger anymore. So it's shortcuts for weak people. Stuff like poison and energies that weaken you, and stuff."
"Got it," Ike said, nodding. He really shouldn't let that black energy hit him, then, but as long as he kept Arkoz from using his tricks, the guy was just a loser who had to rely on tricks and traps to survive. They were like the assassins from the King's trial, but even more backhanded. There was nothing wrong with clinging to whatever you needed to in order to survive, but acting big because you knew a few tricks? Ike chuckled under his breath. Som needed to vet his bodyguards better.
Arkoz twisted his hand in a mysterious way, and black ravens shot out from it. They rushed toward Ike, cawing in hideous voices and baring their claws.
Ike activated Storm Clad and thrust his hand out. A ball of lightning burst from his palm and intercepted the ravens as he activated Tempest, one of his few ranged skills, for the first time in a long time. The tiny tempest tore the ravens apart, then rushed past and struck Arkoz. Arkoz's robes shifted in a mysterious way, and the tempest spun apart, dissipating to nothing.
"Neat. Are those robes dark magic?" Ike asked.
Arkoz looked at him, taken aback. "They're merely enchanted. Can't you tell?"
"I don't know how to tell you. I really don't know what dark magic is. I can't tell the difference. But if those robes aren't dark magic, then they're about to be mine," Ike declared.
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"They're… an ordinary Rank 3 enchantment. Nothing you can't buy in the market."
"Hey, Ike, he just said you can't buy them in the market," Wisp chirped.
"No no, that's not—I…"
"You know what? I just heard that I could get them without spending money, actually," Ike said. He tensed his grip on the Hungry Sword and pushed a pulse of aether into it. He was done playing along with this Arkoz guy. He'd already determined that he was far stronger than this supposed Rank 4. It was time to end the fight. Arkoz's eyes widened. He threw his hands up. The dark energy flared higher than it had ever flared before, and the sensation of danger Ike felt from it peaked as well, but the Hungry Sword didn't care. It opened its horrifying maw as Ike swung it and bit Arkoz's hands off, swallowing the dark energy and the man's hands in one fell swoop.
"Hey! I wanted to eat those!" Wisp complained.
"You can have the rest of him," Ike appeased her.
"For real?"
Ike shrugged. "Why not? You can eat dark mages without repercussions, right?"
"Yeah, mostly." Wisp didn't wait another second. She charged in, opening her mouth.
Arkoz braced himself, despite his missing hands. Expression grave, he prepared to engage in melee combat with the small woman running toward him.
The small woman transformed into a giant spider, and he had long enough to look startled before a pair of mandibles descended from the sky and stabbed into him. Horrible crunching and slurping sounds came from the far end of the alley. Ike looked away, only to stare directly into Som's horrified gaze.
He sighed. "This probably did nothing to lessen your disgusting views about beasts, did it. Trust me, this is just Wisp. And hey, like she said, he's a dark mage. He kinda had this coming."
Som just stared, traumatized.
Ike frowned. He'd expected him to start spewing hatred or something, not this… silence. Well, hold on. He's a Rank 1, and the lands around the cities are all hunted out. He wouldn't necessarily have encountered beasts in the wild, or actually hunted any of them. It certainly tracked, when he was unable to understand Ike as anything but a beast just because he used aether, when all kinds of creatures used aether. Maybe… maybe Som just really hadn't experienced anything in the world. Maybe he was just a sheltered city slicker who'd never experienced the real world.
Ike patted Som's leg—it was the only thing he could reach, from where Wisp had hung him. "First time seeing someone die? It's rough, yeah. Don't puke. You'll have to hang there in your own vomit until someone comes to get you, because I'm not doing anything about it."
"Who are you?" Som spluttered at last.
Ike looked up at him. "Just a couple of savages. You know, Som, Rank isn't everything. Next time, think before you insult, okay?"
Wisp, in human form, bounced up beside Ike. "Yummy. Hey, are we sure about not eating him? If we eat him, there's no witnesses."
"There were no witnesses. Right?" Ike asked, giving Som a look.
Som shook his head hard.
"You think he's actually going to abide by that?" Wisp asked.
"I think he'd better, or else there's no reason not to eat him next time," Ike said. "After all, we're only letting him go this time on the assumption that he's not going to tell anyone about the 'accident' that happened to his bodyguard. In fact, none of this happened, and he never saw us, right?"
Som nodded.
"If he tells someone… well, then we know he's a tattletale, and there's no reason to leave him alive."
Som shook his head even harder.
Ike patted Som's leg in a friendly manner, making it very clear that this was not a threat, just a statement of fact. "Because if he sends anyone after us, we'll know, and we'll find where he sleeps, and we'll eat him in his sleep."
He shook his head so hard it blurred and his whole body wobbled in the web.
"I think he gets it," Wisp said.
"Good." Ike walked away.
Wisp hesitated, looking up at Som. "One little bite wouldn't hurt…"
"Wisp, come on."
"Fine." Leaving him hanging there, she jogged after Ike.