The woman in black looked at Theodore, apparently unconcerned about the tall barbarian princess currently looking at her with violent intent. "Tell your little phoenix to calm down, I'm not fighting her. Then come inside. We have much to discuss."

She turned and walked through the shop door, which opened without her touching it.

Freya took a step forward, flames already starting to flicker around her fingers again.

"No," Theodore said immediately.

"But—"

"No."

"I just want to—"

"Absolutely not."

Freya pouted.

Senna cleared her throat. "If you're quite finished, Master doesn't like to be kept waiting."

She gestured at the door, clearly expecting them to follow, and then walked in. Theodore grabbed Freya's arm before she could do something stupid. Like challenge a woman who could stop time to a fistfight.

"Who is she? Is she the death lady?"

Theodore shrugged. "No idea."

"She's strong."

"Yeah."

"Really strong."

"I noticed."

"I want to fight her."

Theodore bonked her on the head. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because she could probably kill us both by blinking too hard?"

"So?"

"So that's a bad thing, Freya. Death is bad."

"Death is boring. Fighting someone that strong? That's living."

"That's literally the opposite of living."

"You're no fun." She rubbed her head, pouting again. "She stopped time."

"I noticed."

"How?"

"Magic, probably."

"You're hilarious." She deadpanned. "Think she'd teach me that?"

"Probably not."

"I'm going to ask anyway."

"Please don't."

"I'm going to."

Theodore sighed. Of course she was. "Come on, let's go." He said, entering through the door.

The moment he crossed through, Theodore felt a weird ripple in the space around him, and the moment he entered the shop, he realized it was bigger on the inside than it would have seemed on the outside. The shop had a single counter, and shelves that stretched up to the ceiling, full of a variety of things.

There were books, and weapons, and baubles of all kinds, including jewelry, and statues, and other trinkets. The strangest thing was that he couldn't read any of the titles on the books. He didn't know if there were titles on the books, because if there were, he couldn't see them. He looked up and up and up and there was no end in sight.

He looked at Freya, only to see that she was looking around with a curious look on her face. "Yep, weird."

"Come on in, don't stand around and gawk," Senna said.

"Nice shop you have," Freya said. "Very... big. What are the books on the higher levels about?"

"None of your business." Senna said. "Follow me," she said, walking off to a side room.

Theodore and Freya shared a look before shrugging and following her. The next room was a casual seating area. The woman in black sat on a chair, sipping some kind of tea from a small cup, while the table in front of her had two cups, presumably for Theodore and Freya.

Theodore took a deep breath and walked in, sitting on the couch in front of her. She looked the same as she had on the ship, a bit paler perhaps.

"Fight me." Freya said, staring the woman in black down.

"Sit down and have tea," the woman in black replied. "We have a few things to talk about, and I won't do that while you're looming over me." The woman replied. "You could stand to work on your manners, little phoenix. If it is a fight you desire, a fight you shall have, but that is for later. For now, I must talk with this one. So sit."

Freya narrowed her eyes for a moment before sighing and sitting next to him, grabbing the teacup and taking a sip before putting it back down.

"Very well," the woman in black said, looking at him. She stared. And clicked her tongue. "You haven't improved the fire." She stated.

"Excuse me?"

"It is no stronger than I last saw you."

She stared at him.

"Do you know why I am interested in you?"

"The fire? My constitution? Skills?"

The woman nodded. "I have much interest in the fire, and I would like to help you tame it."

"I'm not sure I follow," Theodore said slowly, suspicious of her intentions. In this world, nothing was given for free. Not when it came to power. There was always a price. "What's the catch?"

"Oh, the catch is simple," the woman in black said. "I'm going to help you, and in the future, you will help me. Simple, is it not?" She said. "This won't do." She set down her teacup with a precise clink against the saucer. "Become my apprentice."

Theodore was taken aback.

"Why?" Theodore asked.

Simple question. Probably wouldn't get a simple answer, but he had to try.

"Your fire will be useful to me." She tilted her head slightly, studying him like he was some kind of interesting specimen. "But you're far too weak."

Well. That was blunt.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"So what about it?"

Theodore stared at her.

"And why should I agree to that?"

She smiled.

"Well, for one, you'll be trained by one of the strongest people in the world." She said it matter-of-factly. "Is that not enough?"

Theodore was taken aback. Again.

That arrogance…

Beside him, Freya had gone very, very still. That wasn't good. Still Freya was dangerous Freya. Still Freya was calculating-the-best-angle-of-attack Freya.

"You don't believe me?" the woman asked, tilting her head.

"No?" Theodore said.

It came out more like a question than he'd intended.

She smiled again. "That's fair."

She stood up. Extended a hand.

Theodore felt something invisible wrap around him. He imagined pain but it wasn't even uncomfortable. Had she used telekinesis? What was—

They erupted upward.

Freya's shout sounded behind them, fading fast as the shop fell away. The ceiling wasn't there. Hadn't been there? Theodore's brain was having trouble keeping up because one second he was in a cozy tea room and the next—

Sky.

Just... sky.

They stopped.

Hovering.

Theodore looked down and his stomach did this weird flip thing because below them, way below, was Astra Lucis. The capital spread out like someone had spilled a city-shaped inkblot across the landscape. Tiny buildings, tinier people. Smoke from chimneys rising up in lazy spirals that looked fake from this height.

He was flying. No, not flying. Hovering. Suspended in air by absolutely nothing except this woman's apparent disregard for physics.

"What are you—"

The woman looked toward Holden. Miles and miles away. She muttered a single word.

"[Blink]."

The world lurched.

Theodore's everything tried to turn itself inside out. It was like being grabbed by a titan who'd decided throwing him across the continent would be faster than walking.

Then it stopped. They materialized above Holden.

[Arcane Awareness] has leveled up! – Lvl 15 > Lvl 16!

[Arcane Awareness] has leveled up! – Lvl 16 > Lvl 17!

[Mana Convergence] has leveled up! – Lvl 14 > Lvl 15!

Theodore barely registered the notifications through his shock. That spell. Or skill? That was... what even was that? He'd observed so much about space and magic in that instant, felt the way reality bent and twisted and reformed, that his skill had just given up and leveled twice.

Below them, on the winter's white expanse, something moved. A lot of somethings. Black dots against snow, surging forward like a tide of wrong-colored ants. Except ants didn't howl. Ants didn't have teeth the size of daggers or eyes that glowed with predatory hunger.

Monster horde.

Heading straight for Holden.

Theodore's throat went dry. "That's—"

"Yes."

"They're going to—"

"They were."

Were?

The woman was watching the horde with the same expression she'd had while drinking tea. Mild interest, maybe a touch of boredom.

"You knew about this," Theodore said. It wasn't really a question.

"I've been keeping tabs on matters related to you since we met on that sandship." She tilted her head slightly. "Quite interesting, the enemies you make."

"And you called me to your shop at that exact time because...?"

"Timing is everything in making an impression."

"Why?" he asked.

She smiled cheekily. "I like making an impression on my apprentices."

Theodore's lips twitched despite himself. Of course—

"Watch, Theodore Lockheart. For this is what you're trying to reach."

The air changed.

The woman raised her hand, palm down, fingers spread. Like she was going to pat something on the head.

Theodore felt the enormous amount of mana gather.

What was she—

The spell didn't need her to name it. It named itself, falling from her lips with the weight of inevitable destruction.

"[Sundering]."

A ripple spread out from her hand like she'd dropped a stone in a pond. Except the pond was reality and the stone was the concept of annihilation.

A pulse erupted from somewhere deep below, the ground convulsed, twisted, rejected its own existence. A wave of pure destruction rolled outward from directly beneath the monster horde, and Theodore watched the earth literally unmake itself.

The snow exploded upward first. Then the frozen soil beneath. Layer after layer peeling away like skin from muscle, muscle from bone, bone from nothing. The monsters didn't even have time to howl. They were there, then they were paste, then they were mist, then they were nothing.

The wave kept going.

Past where the horde had been, carving a canyon where there'd been plains. Trees on the distant Deadwoods edge fell, turned into splinters that turned into sawdust that turned into nothing. A hill that had been sitting peacefully for probably a thousand years just disappeared.

The destruction stretched for miles. Miles. Theodore couldn't even see where it ended, just watched this expanding cone of absolute annihilation spreading outward from the epicenter.

His [Arcane Awareness] wasn't even trying to understand what was happening anymore.

"Oops."

Theodore's head snapped toward the woman. Oops? Oops?! She'd just deleted a chunk of geography and she was saying oops?

This was his land, dammit!

She raised her hand again, and Theodore instinctively flinched back. But this time the magic felt different.

"[Temporal Reversion]."

The destruction... reversed.

In seconds, the landscape was pristine. White snow, untouched. Like nothing had happened at all.

Except the monsters were still gone. Very, very gone.

Theodore stared at the empty expanse where hundreds of monsters had been charging moments ago.

The woman lowered her hand, brushing an imaginary speck of dust off her sleeve. She turned to him.

"Does that satisfy you?" she asked. "Is that enough of a demonstration of my strength?"

***

William POV

They were positioned on a ridge overlooking Holden, far enough to claim plausible deniability but close enough to watch their handiwork unfold, and then offer a helping hand. The horde Garrett had gathered was large. Dire wolves, frost bears, even a few ice drakes scattered throughout. A few on the level of that Frost Wyrm, but more than enough to send a frontier town into panic.

The guards on Holden's walls had noticed. William could see them even from here, little ant-people running back and forth, probably screaming about incoming doom. He smirked. He relished in their fear.

The smirk died on his face.

"Did anyone else feel that?" Felix asked, hand going to his sword like that would help against whatever that had been.

"Feel what?" Samson was still watching the town through his looking glass, apparently oblivious. "They're mobilizing. Slowly, but they're—holy shit."

"What?"

Samson lowered the looking glass. His face had gone pale. "The horde. It's... they're gone."

William snatched the looking glass, brought it to his eye. The horde had been there, he'd seen it himself, hundreds of beasts charging across the snow-covered plain toward Holden's walls. Now there was just... white. Untouched snow. Like the monsters had never existed.

"That's impossible."

"Tell that to my eyes," Samson said.

Garrett hadn't moved from his position, but William could see the tension in his shoulders. The prodigy who'd made a Frost Wyrm kneel was suddenly very, very still.

"Magic?" Felix suggested weakly.

"What kind of magic does that?" William asked. "That was—there were hundreds of them. You can't just make hundreds of monsters disappear."

"Teleportation?" the Valdric heir offered.

Garrett finally spoke. "No."

Garrett Brennan sounded spooked, worse still, he looked absolutely terrified.

"They were destroyed," Garrett said, still staring at where the horde had been. "All at once. Instantly."

"That's not possible," Samson insisted. "The amount of power that would take—"

Garrett interrupted. "I saw it. Then in an instant, everything was back to normal."

William felt his mouth go dry. Again. He was getting really sick of that feeling. First losing his class, then watching Garrett turn monsters into puppets, and now this. Some invisible force that could obliterate hundreds of beasts like wiping chalk off a board.

"We should leave," Garrett said, his face unreasonably pale, like he'd seen something utterly insane.

"What?"

"You heard me." Garrett was already turning away. "This Theodore is more complicated than we thought."

"We can't just leave!" William sputtered. His revenge, his plans, everything he'd been holding onto since Theodore had stripped him bare. "We came here to—"

"To cause some chaos and make a point," Garrett cut him off. "The chaos has been prevented. The point is moot. We're leaving."

"But—"

Garrett looked at him. William felt his words die in his throat. Right. The man who'd made a Frost Wyrm's head explode with a tap. Probably not someone to argue with.

"The capital awaits," Garrett said, already walking. "I've overstayed my welcome here as it is. The tournament is more important than this."

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