Mark of the Fool
Chapter 587: Soon

“And the match is off to a rousing start!” the announcer thundered. “Let me tell you, gentlefolk, I’ve seen a lot of things in the many years I’ve been calling these exciting matches! But, nothing like this! We have a golem juggling another golem! Claygon juggling Ultrasteel! Literally juggling, not combat-juggling! Today we’re seeing a level of showmanship that I must say is unprecedented in my rather long lifetime!”

The crowd laughed and chanted Claygon’s name.

The iron golem—Ultrasteel—tried to swing at Claygon, but the stone golem was juggling his opponent too quickly for it to be able to hit him. Ultrasteel’s master—a bald, grey bearded wizard named Obadiah—stared in horror before coming to his senses and shouting commands at his golem.

This only made Claygon juggle Ultrasteel faster.

Alex couldn’t stop a cat-like grin from spreading across his face, and a quick glance at the crowd confirmed he wasn’t the only one looking like a cat who’d gotten the cream.

Toraka Shale—sitting beside her son, Sim—was all smiles as she pointed something out to a number of potential clients who were garbed in fine clothing adorned with sparkling gems that loudly proclaimed their wealth. They watched Claygon with rapt attention and calculating interest.

‘Even when you’re out enjoying an event, you’re selling,’ Alex thought. ‘But what better way to make a sale than by seeing a stone golem completely dominate an iron one?’

“You know, folks, combat-jugglingis a difficult thing,’ the announcer laughed. “For those of you who don’t know, that’s when a combatant uses a certain combination of blows to knock their opponent into the air and keep them there. But, juggling where a competitor tosses their opponent around and around in the air like a series of balls is unheard of! How will Obadiah respond?”

The bald wizard threw an undisguised venom-laden glare at the announcer, before turning back to the fight. His face was washing red and his hands were shaking.

“Ultrasteel! Keep flailing your fists! Just hit him when he goes to catch you!” Obadiah screamed.

‘He…should not have said that out loud…’ Claygon thought.

Before the iron golem could begin any flailing, the four-armed golem caught the larger construct and hurled it straight in the air with full force.

Ultrasteel blurred, tossed like a whirling projectile, striking bars looming above the arena. The cage groaned from impact, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

Since what goes up must come down, the iron golem slowed, then began its rapid descent, plummeting toward the cage floor.

“No!” Obadiah screamed.

Claygon watched the falling golem, and ever so casually, stepped to the side.

A deafening crash reverberated through the arena as the flailing Ultrasteel hit the ground.

“Oooo, well that’s a knockdown if I ever saw one!” the announcer shouted. “Claygon’s on fire! Can Ultrasteel catch up?”

“Grab him!” Obadiah cried. “Use your weight and grapple him!”

With painstaking effort, the iron golem climbed back to its feet.

“Until now, gentlefolk, Ultrasteel has used its titanic strength and impossible toughness to batter and pin its other opponents to the ground!” the announcer declared. “But how can it manage against the first foe that has it thoroughly licked in the strength department! What tricks does Obadiah have waiting to show us?”

The older wizard winced, his shoulders slumping and his face turning even redder.

Alex raised an eyebrow.

‘Claygon, I don’t think Ultrasteel’s master has a lot in his bag of tricks,’ he sent the thought through their link. ‘Unless he’s a really good actor, it looks like he’s at a complete loss as to what to do next. I bet you he only entered the competition to show off his golem: I’m not sure he’s much of a fighter.’

‘Thank you father…” Claygon watched the iron golem lumber toward him. “I will keep my focus on Ultrasteel…then…you watch the master.’

‘And that’s what’s called teamwork.’ Alex grinned.

The iron golem shambled toward Claygon, its arms raised and fingers flexing, ready to grab its smaller opponent.

“You are…too slow.” Claygon sidestepped Ultrasteel again, casually thrusting the haft of his war-spear between the iron golem’s feet. There came the grinding shriek of metal on metal as Ultrasteel’s feet and the weapon’s handle became entangled.

“Oh, come on!” Obadiah screamed.

His golem hit the ground like an overturned farm cart.

More laughter ran through the crowd.

“Another knockdown!” the announcer shouted. “This is turning into an unmistakable example of crushing might and skill! Ultrasteel can’t catch a break!”

“Try again!” Obadiah shouted. “Get up! Just grab him!”

The iron golem surged onto its feet.

This time, the bald wizard had the presence of mind to cast a body enhancement spell on his construct. The golem now moved with greater agility and power, grabbing Claygon’s shoulders.

Of course, the success of this action was likely due to the smaller golem not bothering to move. At all.

“Yes! We have him! He’s ours!” Obadiah grinned, yelling in triumph.

The grin abruptly faded.

“Too…weak.” The stone golem reached up and grabbed Ultrasteel’s hands, peeling the larger golem’s fingers off of his shoulders and getting himself free. An alarming creak of metal tore the air as he pressed the larger golem to the ground, pinning it in a grip that no amount of resistance could break.

“A pin!” the announcer bellowed. “Ultrasteel’s in trouble, folks! Can he recover? Who will come out on top?”

“I think it’s pretty obvious at this point,” Alex whispered gleefully, already mentally counting the coin he was going to win from the bet Kybas had made for him. “Are you smart enough to realise it, Obadiah?”

Either he wasn’t smart enough, or he was too stubborn; but, whichever it was, Obadiah spent the next two and a half rounds sending Ultrasteel at Claygon again and again. Now and then, he tried a new spell or a new—poorly thought out—strategy to try and close the point gap…but nothing worked.

By the end—

“—Claygon wins the final round with a score of 10-0, 10-0 and 10-0! It’s been a long time since we’ve witnessed such a crushing defeat, folks!” the announcer called. “Or to put it another way, such an overwhelming victory by a one man, one golem wrecking crew! Who else will they terrorise? Hold onto your hats, folks! The end of our competition is almost here!”

“Wait for me, Tyris,” he whispered. “I think we might get our duel in the finals, after all.”

Up in the stands, Toraka was all smiles as Obadiah cursed and tugged at his beard.

Ultrasteel was not a golem made by her workshop, after all.

And Alex knew there were few things more thrilling than watching a competitor humiliated in defeat.

“The semi finals are upon us!” the announcer’s voice rumbled as he floated high above the arena. “Another exciting match awaits us, one featuring two monsters among monsters! On my left, we have Claygon! The titan! The devastator! The wrecker! With Alex Roth giving him commands, casting spells or just standing back and letting him do his thing!”

He gestured to the stone golem and his master, drawing earth-shaking applause from the crowd.

All day, the audience seemed to grow louder with each dramatic win Claygon scored. Alex was also getting swept up in the excitement, and had to fight the urge to scream and whoop any time his golem threw one of his devastating punches.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the time for such things.

It was time to focus; he didn’t particularly like the look of their opponents.

“On my right, we have…Phoenix and Jace!” the announcer called.

The spectators’ voices swelled like a wave filling the stadium.

Jace was a red haired man—squat, powerfully built, who watched Claygon with the sort of gaze that would wither all but the bravest of hearts. He looked to be only a few years older than Alex, but his face was a mask of ferocity and confidence.

And the Thameish wizard only needed one look at the beast he commanded to find the source of that confidence.

The creature was taller than Claygon, covered in feathers of red and green, with a long snake’s tail writhing behind it. Curving talons bit stone as it pawed and scratched the ground, spreading its short, flightless wings.

A crest rising above its skull was the colour of blood, and its beak looked like it could shred a bone-charger’s tough hide. But the most unnerving thing about its appearance was its two reptilian eyes, their slate grey pupils were slit horizontally, expanding and contracting seemingly at will.

Some of the spectators were pointing, making clucking sounds and mocking the creature's appearance; from a distance, it did resemble a massive, oversized, mutated rooster.

But Alex knew there was more to it.

“It’s a bloody cockatrice,” he muttered. “Who would think there’d be a damned cockatrice in the competition?”

‘What is…a cockatrice…father?’ Claygon’s question echoed through Alex’s mind.

‘It’s a powerful magical beast,’ the Thameish wizard answered mentally. ‘It’s incredibly dangerous. Looking into its eyes can strike supernatural fear into you, but things become much bigger problems when it channels its inner mana into its gaze.’

“What…happens then…?”

Alex swallowed, remembering the petrifying Ravener spawn rampaging through the Research Castle. The image of Claygon cracking when the invisible creature skewered him with its beam was seared into his mind, along with the memory of Watcher Shaw turning to stone, then shattering like glass.

“Remember folks, Phoenix wasted no time in turning his opponents to stone within seconds of the start of his previous rounds!” the announcer cried. “Even the arena’s protections can’t stop such powerful magics, but rest assured, our wizards stand ready with Rock to Flesh spells to reverse petrification!”

‘That’s what happens, Claygon. It petrifies its opponents’ Alex thought. ‘It turns them to stone.’

‘But…I am already stone…’ Claygon thought.

‘Yes, that’s true, but a cockatrice’s gaze can even turn earth elementals into rock statues,’ Alex thought. ‘Just dead hunks of rock. I don’t want that happening to you.’

‘It will not…I am stone,’ Claygon assured him stubbornly. ‘And even if it does happen…I will not be a coward like the ones you and Tyris talked about…I will fight. If I turn to stone…those wizards will turn me back. I want to be one that ‘does anything’...not ‘says anything’.’

Alex flinched, not having realised that his conversation with Tyris had made such an impression on Claygon. Something about that didn’t quite sit right with him.

‘We can talk about that later, Claygon,’ he thought. ‘For now, try not to meet Phoenix’s gaze. Fight as best you can while looking away—Get ready, the match is about to begin.’

‘I…will be fine…father…’ Claygon said.

Across the arena, Phoenix scratched the ground, its eyes fixed on the golem.

“Claygon versus Phoenix!” the announcer bellowed. “Who will come out on top? Let’s find out! Begin!”

The bell rang.

Phoenix darted forward.

Before Claygon could turn away or Alex could give a command, the cockatrice met the golem’s gaze…and then its eyes flared bright green. Alex could feel its power billowing, focusing through dilated pupils, burrowing into his golem.

“No!” he shouted.

Across the arena, Jace grinned.

“Ooooo, an unlucky break!” the announcer said. “Claygon catches the cockatrice’s gaze! How will—Oh? What’s this?”

Claygon was staring right back at the cockatrice. His stone form was not changing. The metal on his body wasn’t petrifying. The light in his fire-gems continued to shine.

One flared.

And a beam of flame lanced from Claygon’s third eye, striking the cockatrice dead in its forehead. The creature reared back, shrieking in pain.

“You’re alright!” Alex shouted at Claygon.

“I…told you…I would be…’ came the reply.

Alex sighed in relief, thinking back, remembering how Claygon had evolved into a stone golem.

‘He’s been petrified before,’ Alex thought. ‘Maybe he’s resistant or immune to that kinda crap now.’

“What a wild turn of events! Claygon appears to be unaffected by Jace and Phoenix’s main strategy! This is quite unexpected, gentlefolk!” the announcer crowed. “How will Jace and Phoenix cope?”

Jace might have been capable of many things in his life.

Coping—at least in this situation—didn’t appear to be one of them.

“Phoenix…uh…just…” he stammered.

Claygon took the opportunity to blast the cockatrice over and over again with all three fire-beams. Phoenix—unlike its namesake—did not rise from the flames, instead, it flapped about in panic as Claygon bathed it in fire.

“Uh…Phoenix…uh,” his master mumbled.

Jace cast haste magic on his pet, commanding it to circle and strike Claygon from behind. The cockatrice sped around the golem in a blur, leaping, landing on his back, trying to topple him from his feet.

Claygon did not budge.

Jace went pale.

Claygon grabbed the screeching Phoenix.

Jace went paler.

The stone golem bashed the cockatrice into the ground over and over again, like he was trying to dig a pit.

The hard way.

“Ha…haha…” the announcer laughed nervously.

The crowd cheered, though some simply stared, slack-jawed.

“I…I give up,” Jace muttered quietly.

“What’s that you say? You’ll have to speak up so we can be sure of what you said, my friend.” the announcer said to the muttering man.

“We give up!” Jace screamed, sounding a touch hysterical.

“There you have it!” the announcer cried. “A quick end to our first semifinal match! Alex Roth and Claygon come out on top!”

In the stands, several people were tearing pieces of paper to shreds, their faces like thunderclouds as they stomped for the exits. Alex wondered how much coin they’d lost betting.

He grinned. “Looks like Tyris and I are going to be duelling each other soon enough!”

Below the arena, a man in a mask waited for his semifinal match with Tyris Goldtooth.

He heard the cheer of the crowd above, knowing that—likely—Roth and that monster had won again.

One of his hands flexed, the finger joints popping.

“Soon.”