Return of the Runebound Professor

Chapter 112: Innovation

“Ready?” Noah asked, looking over at Isabel from where he stood in the yard across from her. Isabel gave him a sharp nod.

“Yeah. Same rules as yesterday?”

“Same rules,” Noah confirmed.

The ground erupted beneath Isabel as she launched forward. Every time her feet hit the dirt, a ripple of energy passed through the ground as it boosted her forward. As she grew closer, Noah drew on the power of his newest Rank 2 Rune.

It wasn’t all that different from Vibration in function, and he’d spent enough time trying to cause minor earthquakes with the Vibration Runes that he already had a pretty good idea of how it would function.

Just to play things safe, Noah used far less energy than he normally would have. The Runic magic flowed into the ground through his feet. He directed it out and toward Isabel Noah braced himself for the ground to tremble beneath him, but all that he felt was a faint vibration beneath his feet as the magic shot off.

At the same time, as Isabel’s foot landed on the dirt and it started to propel her forward, her eyes widened. A thump ran through the earth and the ground beneath her feet shuddered. Isabel stumbled, losing her footing.

She started to fall and threw herself into a roll, rising back to her feet and hopping a step back, watching Noah warily.

“What was that?”

“Just a little obstacle,” Noah replied, trying not to look impressed by his own magic.

That certainly lived up to its name. It barely made anything along the path shake, but it had a pretty significant effect once it reached the location I sent it to. Not exactly just casting it at range, but it’s pretty close to it. Not a bad sound, either. Pretty solid. Could use a bit more depth, but progress is progress.

“You messed with my control of the stone,” Isabel said, squinting at Noah. “You have some sort of stone or ground Rune?”

Noah just grinned in response. He sent another pulse through the ground and Isabel swore, diving to the side as the matted grass beneath her feet ripped apart under the pulsations of a contained earthquake.

She dashed at Noah, pressing a hand to her heart and pulling a glowing blue blade free. A pillar of rock erupted before her and she jumped off it, launching herself for Noah.

Keeping herself off the ground so I can’t shake her feet out from under her. Smart, but I’ve still got wind.

Noah flicked his hand, sending an empowered gust of wind into Isabel and throwing her back to the ground. She hit it with a grunt, landing just under ten feet away from Noah. The dirt near her hand trembled and a pillar of earth erupted, hurtling for Noah’s chest.

He twisted to the side, striking the pillar with the side of his arm and sending a tremor down its length. The pillar crumbled to dust and fell away. By the time the last of it had crumbled, Isabel was back on her feet once again. She stared at Noah, bouncing from foot to foot.

Noah gave her a few seconds to try to process the new information and develop a new strategy. She wouldn’t learn anything if he just constantly went at her after revealing a new ability – at least, not yet. She’d get there.

Isabel’s gaze focused as she decided on something. She stomped the ground and a wall of stone erupted before her. It raced out, blocking off Noah and just over half of the yard. Noah raised an eyebrow and gathered more energy from Focal Quake. He sent it into the wall, tearing several large chunks of it away with the powerful tremors.

Smart move to wall off a large area and buy herself some more time, but that must have taken quite a bit of energy. Risky, but definitely a worthwhile trade off. What’s she doing, though?

Noah approached the remains of the wall to check where Isabel had run off to. A small frown flickered across his face as he grew closer. The air felt a little too hot. He slowed, his guard raised as he glanced over the top of the wall at where Lee and Todd had been watching.

Lee was there – but Todd wasn’t. Noah threw himself back as several rays of flame erupted from behind the wall, carving through the crumbling stone and narrowly missing Noah. Before Noah could even try to tear down the rest of the wall, Isabel burst through it.

Todd dashed out behind her and sent several more beams of flame at Noah, forcing him to dodge to the side. Noah sent another tremor for Isabel, but she predicted it and jumped, avoiding the tremors.

Noah whipped a blast of wind at her, then rolled to the side as Todd sent a wave of flame rolling toward him.

“When did I say this was a two versus one?” Noah yelled. “I said same rules as last time!”

“It’s called innovation,” Todd called, a huge grin on his face as he sent another two bolts of fire in Noah’s direction. Noah combusted the grass at his feet, grabbing the wisps of smoke with Pyroclastic Resonance’s power and yanking them into the air. As soon as the smoke touched Todd’s magic, it ignited and Noah siphoned the boy’s magic away, flicking it harmlessly off to the side.

The dirt bucked beneath Noah. He launched himself into the air with a burst of wind as walls of stone burst free around where he’d been standing. They slammed shut, forming a makeshift cell, but Noah was already well in the air above them.

“That’s not going to work twice,” Noah called. Todd slung another blast of concentrated flame at Noah, and he shot himself back down with another burst of wind.

Landing in a roll, Noah drew on more energy from Focal Quake. He released it into the ground, targeting the area around both Isabel and Todd. Isabel took a step toward him. Then her eyes widened as the ground shifted.

Both of them tried to keep their balance as the ground writhed beneath them, but Noah wasn’t going to sit around and wait for the magic to end. He darted forward, sprinting straight across the trembling ground and sending pulses of the same energy out through his feet.

Earth snapped and erupted around Noah’s footfalls as the waves canceled out, creating ripples across the dirt, but his own movement was unimpeded. Isabel tried to lunge at him, but Noah sidestepped the attack and tapped her on the side of the head with a knuckle.

Isabel swore, but Noah had already moved on to Todd. Todd sent a huge torrent of flames out of his hands and into the air around him, forming a defensive circle. Noah couldn’t help but grin at the tactic.

When he’d fought the Hellreaver, its ring of flame had been annoying. But, now –

Noah drew in a sharp breath. Combustion’s powers activated within his soul according to his will, and the air surrounding Todd went inert. His flames sputtered and vanished in an instant, leaving him staring at Noah in shock.

He recovered, trying to throw himself backward, but the moment of surprise in addition to barely being able to keep his footing out from under him proved to be too much. Noah closed the distance between them and tapped Todd on the shoulder, even as his skin started to turn red from his Body Imbuements.

“Goddamn it,” Todd swore. The last tremors faded away, leaving them all standing on still ground once more. The yard had been completely ruined. Clumps of grass and dirt were strewn everywhere, and cracks raced all over the exposed stone visible through deep potholes.

“What was that?” Isabel asked, standing and brushing her legs off. “Since when could you do that?”

Since this morning. It’s a good thing I got so used to using Vibration earlier, or this wouldn’t have gone nearly this smoothly.

“I am a man of many mysteries,” Noah replied. “How are the two of you feeling about that attempt?”

“Pretty shit,” Todd grumbled. “Are you going to bring the sky down on top of us the next time we spar?”

“That remains to be seen,” Noah said with a chuckle. “I’m not sure if calling in backup is something I should compliment you on or scold you for. Technically, the rules were one on one. But that’s not how things work in real life.”

Isabel grunted, dismissing her glowing blade and scrunching her nose in annoyance. “I thought we’d surprise you.”

“I noticed that Todd was missing a moment before you attacked, but you certainly surprised me.” Noah gave them an approving nod. “I think the key thing to focus on is that one surprise isn’t enough against a trained opponent. Sure, it might work, but the real killer is multiple surprises in a row. After the first move, neither of you had the momentum required to follow up on it.”

“We didn’t know you could make earthquakes either,” Todd pointed out.

“You should expect anyone you’re fighting to have just as many surprises as you.” Noah shrugged. “Do you really think Dayton would go down easier than me?”

Isabel and Todd both glanced away.

“It was a step in the right direction. Don’t feel bad about your performances, you both did pretty damn well,” Noah said. “Just focus on where you can improve. If you’re going to work together, don’t just be two different people fighting at the same time. You did a little synchronizing of your attacks, but you could definitely do more. And once you get the advantage, press it harder.”

Noah paused for a few moments, thinking over the fight and trying to figure out what other advice he could give. Isabel was still mostly using close range techniques, but she’d tried to hit him with a pillar of stone. That was an improvement, even if it hadn’t quite worked.

“Todd, you might need some more variety in your moves,” Noah said. “There has to be more that fire can do. Try to mix things up a bit more and I think you’ll be a lot more effective.”

Todd nodded and pursed his lips. “Yeah. I’m thinking on it. Just nothing useful yet.”

“And Isabel, are you using all your Runes?” Noah asked. She’d taken an Armor Rune from Father’s book, but he hadn’t actually seen Isabel put it to much use yet.

Isabel grimaced. “I’m working on it.”

“That’s all I can ask. Lee, any thoughts on your end?”

“They could try being faster.”

Very helpful.

“Noted,” Todd said with a chuckle.

“Well, that wasn’t a bad match,” Noah said. “Next time, fight on your own, though. We can add a duo match in after the solo trainings so you can practice together as well. But, change of topic.”

Isabel and Todd looked to him, noticing the change in his tone.

“To what?” Isabel asked.

“Dayton,” Noah replied. “I’m sure you’re going to hear about this fairly soon, but Dayton either has already or will likely soon be leaving the Linwick Estate.”

Isabel’s eyes widened and Todd did a double take.

“What? Do you mean–” Isabel started.

“I’m telling you specifically so you don’t decide to go after him or the like,” Noah said. “I just wanted you to hear it here first rather than from someone associated with Father. Honestly, Dayton’s an idiot. He might get himself killed before you get around to him. But, if he doesn’t, wait until you’re ready to handle him.”

Isabel chewed her lower lip, but gave Noah a curt nod. She unclenched her hands and let out a huff. “That might take years.”

“Better years and succeed than going now and failing,” Todd said. “But… why’d Dayton go on the run?”

Noah chuckled. “Let’s wait to see what the official story is first. Then I’ll fill you in on the actual one. But, for the time being, I’ve got some work I need to get done. Lee, do you want to–”

“Strech!” Lee exclaimed. “And then hand to hand sparring. Let’s go.”

Noah grinned and headed back into the house, leaving Lee with Isabel and Todd. He wanted to get some more time in working on his runes before Father came knocking, and he suspected time was short.

Unfortunately, Noah didn’t have any way to know quite how short it would actually be.