No Need For A Core?
284: A Dangerous Dance

Putting Dhamini entirely out of his mind was impossible, but Hajime still managed to set the matter aside enough to focus on the fights in front of him. While he wasn't terribly concerned about the possibility of losing three matches from random match-ups, he did have to be careful to get the measure of his opponent lest he strike too hard or fast.

Thanks to all the events that followed from Betty finding him entertaining, Hajime had broken more seals than he'd intended to, though this might not be an entirely bad thing. During his delve and his stay at the onsen, he had been watching Mordecai's exhibition matches when he could and he was very glad that some of those people had been pulled.

Getting past either the old man or the druid woman would have required breaking most if not all of his seals, which meant he was going to have to break all of them against Mordecai. That was going to be easier if there were fewer of them to break when the time came. On the downside, that also meant that more of his true aura was going to be noticeable.

As things happened, none of his preliminary matches were particularly notable, though he took care not to show off or end the match too swiftly, and using the rapier that he'd been rewarded after the last zone boss battle, instead of his true weapon helped keep him focused on what he was doing with his blade.

Hajime's fight during the first round wasn't terribly exciting either.

During the second round, he found himself against an orc who certainly had some potential, but Hajime felt that there was something missing. So he drew that fight out a little bit more than absolutely necessary to get a better feel for his opponent. Once he thought he had identified the issue, Hajime picked up his pace and ended the fight with the back edge of his blade against the orc's neck while standing off to the side, having just dodged an attack.

"I'm sorry, but you aren't quite fast enough to deal with me," Hajime said after his victory was confirmed and he had withdrawn his blade. "I do have some advice, however. Nainvil, was it?" When Nainvil nodded, Hajime said, "You are competent, appear to have decent training, and I imagine that you have sufficient motivation given that you are here, but I am feeling a certain lack of passion for the battle itself from you. You aren't enjoying the struggle against both others and your own limitations. That passion is a necessary ingredient; you can't just do this for others, you have to do this for your own pleasure too."

Even the most bookish wizards had to push themselves with similar passion, though they were usually competing against themselves and ever more challenging aspects of magic to master. Few of the bookish types had a great love for fighting, but fighting was simply one of the most common forms of competition and challenge.

Nainvil considered his words for a few moments before saying, "You might be right. I have good reason to push myself, but I have been focusing on obligations and duty. I may need to take some time with my partner to think things over. Thank you, and good luck with your future bouts."

After that match, Hajime found Betty waiting for him just outside of the arena. "So, Dhamini's got you hooked, has she?" Betty asked with a teasing grin.

"Oh, it's a little more complicated than that," Hajime replied with a smile. "My priority right now is to not hurt her. Maybe that won't be possible in the long run, but I need to focus here first, and then I can focus on that."

"Hmm," Betty said thoughtfully, "that's a lot of talk about her feelings. What of yours?"

Hajime shook his head and said, "I'm older than you might think, possibly the oldest person you've met other than your liege, and I do have some experience in handling my emotions. I know how to keep myself from getting too invested, I'm just not sure that's what I want to do."

Betty snorted with amusement and said, "Mordecai's not the oldest person I've met. Though just to be sure, you aren't the ruler of a long-dead kingdom or anything are you?"

He laughed at that. "No, that's definitely not me, that would be..." he trailed off for a moment before swearing. "Oh, of course he's been here. Wait, there was one outfit you were wearing when visiting me..." Betty's raised eyebrow caused Hajime to consider other possibilities, and he sighed. "Boril is Gil's son, isn't he?"

"Now that's interesting," Betty said with a bit of suspicion, "you seem to be very familiar with Gil, and you've given away that you are fairly old, so I would expect you to be rather strong. But someone like Aia wouldn't have been pressed to clear the ocean zone, which suggests you aren't as strong as the clan's matriarch. I'm not certain you seem as strong as Lady Kazue's mother even, but that doesn't seem like it should be the case."

Ah, frozen hells. "Wait, please don't tell anyone. Yes, I have a secret. I even told Dhamini as much, but I also promised to let her into my head after the tournament. At first, I was being secretive so that I could see the state of everything as they are, rather than be presented with a surface appearance. I'm satisfied there, but I still want to make a surprise reveal."

Long moments of silence passed before Betty sighed. "You're practically guaranteed to win, aren't you? I'm not sure that's fair as everyone else who was really strong got pulled aside for the exhibition matches."

Hajime winced at that. "You might have a point there. Um, a large part of fairness here is going to be appropriate rewards. The rewards here are performance-based, which is really about how much effort and energy is put into the fight. What if I promise to draw out my fights as much as possible so that the other person has the chance to gain as large a reward as possible?"

Another moment of silence passed before she said, "You seem to know a lot about how a nexus works. I am not sure I would have thought of that. And you are avoiding using Lord Mordecai's name, aren't you? So it seems very likely he knows you." Hajime couldn't refute that; names had power, though usually not as great as some stories liked to claim, and even with Hajime's seals there was a risk of resonance between them. Such things were minor enough to not even notice when you were aware of the other's presence, but an unexpected resonance could draw attention. "Alright, on one condition." Betty stared hard at him, her expression serious. "I won't have you fake anything, but I want you to give Dhamini as much of a chance as possible. Not just a fair chance, make it as easy as you can for her to get what she really wants."

"Are you sure she feels that strongly and true?" He asked softly. At Betty's nod, Hajime gave a half smile and shrug. "Alright, I can promise that. I swear on my name and power that I will give Dhamini as much of myself as I can while still remaining true to myself. I cannot promise how much that will be or for how long, and one way or another I will be traveling a lot, but I will not hold myself back."

It was a surprisingly easy promise to give, which told him a lot about his feelings or at least what his feelings could grow into.

But Betty's eyes were narrowed again. "You didn't say your name when you swore that oath. You haven't been using your real name, have you?"

He couldn't help but laugh at that and said, "Once again, you have me. Don't worry, my real name will be public soon enough. Hmm." Hajime paused at a thought and then added, "Ah, maybe you should talk with Dhamini, in person, and let her know that I have a surprise for the end of the tournament. I am not certain how well she'd react to a sudden reveal."

"Maybe I should just send her to you for that conversation."

Tempting, all too tempting, but he was also fairly certain Betty was teasing him again. "No, that's not a good idea. I need to hold off until after the tournament." While there had been plenty of time for processing emotions, Hajime was certain that being around Dhamini would prove distracting right now, and possibly a bit draining when he needed his strength.

Over the next several rounds, Hajime kept to his promise of drawing out the fights as much as he could, with the exception of the pre-semi-finals screening with an einherjar. He didn't rush that fight either, but she had no rewards to win, she was here for the thrill of it. Drawing out the fights was enough to break another seal by gradually wearing at it, and the fight with the einherjar broke another when he deliberately pushed his speed up to claim a win without hurting the einherjar too badly.

He got to skip the semi-finals thanks to the einherjar that won her bout, though he suspected that one wasn't actually an einherjar; her aura was a little off and she felt more strongly connected to the nexus than the others. Of course, that would be the nexus's secret and Hajime certainly wasn't in a position to complain about other people's secrets.

Which brought him to the finals. The elven spell-blade he faced off against here had the ethereal feel of those elves more heavily influenced by their distant fey ancestry, and the graceful way she danced with sword and spell alike gave credence to that idea.

The first time their blades clashed, a seal cracked. Hajime grinned with pleasure as he felt the tension rise; this was going to be a fun battle and it felt good to be matched against someone with a similar fighting style in a fight this intense. They were both very mobile blade masters who also used special techniques outside of their swordsmanship.

Their techniques were fair counters to each other as well; her jet of fire was redirected by intercepting it with blast powder tossed at the right angle, while any attempt to reach her with a noxious dust at range was easily defeated by a gust of wind.

This forced their dance to stay close together, exchanging sword strikes with a practically musical rhythm. This was when Hajime used light and illusion to his advantage by combining a glittering prismatic dust that floated in the air with the enchantments on his shimmering cloak to create a dazzling display.

Still, he was facing a fellow master; even when she couldn't see the direction his blade was coming from, she parried on instinct well enough that his sword only broke links on her chainmail rather than cutting deep enough to draw blood. He couldn't quite dodge her counter strike either, leaving her to draw first blood as the tip of her sword cut across his cheek. Despite taking less punishment than he had when battling against Dhamini and Cephelia, Hajime was pushing himself in speed and power to keep from taking worse injuries than that shallow cut.

The exchange was not quite as in her favor as it seemed, however, as Hajime had released another handful of dust into that hazy mess of light without her noticing. This one was an acid, though it would only turn corrosive when it had a chance to react with water, such as the sweat beginning to dampen her clothes.

Its effects were not quick to show, but she showed signs of being distracted by discomfort about the same time that dots of corrosion appeared on her armor. When Hajime sought to press her with a flurry of attacks, he was thrown back by a defensive blast of force. A spell like that was costly, but it did its job in buying her time and space.

She grinned at him when she figured out what had happened. "Oh, you are a tricky one. Want to add a little extra wager on this fight?" The glint in her eyes held promises for what that wager might be.

What was with this place? He'd met battle-roused women before, and he was hardly immune to that feeling either, but they seemed concentrated here.

"Alas, I can not take you up on that offer," he replied, "I find myself already rather distracted by another." As soon as he finished speaking, Hajime launched himself toward her again.

By the time there was another pause in the flow of the battle, Hajime had broken a third seal in this fight. Both of them were marked with cuts and burns, and Hajime had discarded his left gauntlet after it had gotten mangled when parrying one of her strikes.

"You know," she said, her speech slowed by needing to breathe heavily, "it was a sincere offer, but yes, a distraction too. Good call. Lucky lady. Might be interesting to meet her."

The two of them were slowly circling at a distance as they searched each other for openings.

"Maybe you have," Hajime responded. "Even odds you fought her. Lovely golden eyes. Hypnotic even."

When the elven woman processed his hints, her step stuttered for a moment in shock and that was when Hajime launched his attack. The sand of the arena floor was now thoroughly mixed with his powders, including his secret ingredient which was abrasive even in this form. He swung his blade in a sweeping, upward arc that channeled his spirit and will into that mixture, creating a crescent blade of vibrating particles.

She mostly dodged it, though a few outer bits of dust cut shallow lines into her face, and the blade spent itself against the arena wall, where it left a small mark.

Hajime ignored the sudden focus of attention he felt from some of the spectators and swept several more blades towards his opponent as she dashed towards him. She dodged with sharp movements, and the way she moved gave him an intense feeling of sudden danger.

He spun at the last moment, raising his blade to block the blow that could have severed his neck from behind. He was not in a great stance to hard block an attack like that, and the strain cracked a fourth seal as he forced his body to respond the way he wanted despite the awkward angle some of his muscles were forced to work in. Great, the spell blade also knew how to far step, this should make things interesting. The thought was a mix of sardonic and sincere, as she did indeed pick up the pace by using her far step to close in quickly when she had a spell charged.

The next few minutes left both of them with a growing catalog of injuries from both blade work and elemental energy, and the final exchange broke a fifth seal. This exchange came to an end with her sword lodged in his ribs, and the tip of his rapier piercing out the back of her neck, though missing her spine. Fire and lightning ate at his side while a toxic acid seeped down her throat and into her blood, but Hajime grabbed her sword arm while keeping his own as still as possible. "Freeze," he managed to force out as he held her gaze with his own.

A heartbeat later Mordecai landed in the arena. Half a beat more and he was at the elven woman's side, his hand coated with vitality so intense that it physically glowed. Only when Mordecai touched her neck did Hajime slowly withdraw his blade.

He was expecting his wounds to be tended to, but he was not expecting to find the red-headed kitsune at his side, carefully removing the sword lodged into his ribs while weaving her own healing magic to knit flesh closed and restore his spiritual energy. He looked at Kazue with surprise, and she gave him a smile that wasn't entirely friendly, given how sharp her fangs looked. "I don't know all of what's going on, but my friends better not get hurt in whatever is happening with you, Betty, and Dhamini. For now, they want you healed up, so healed up you will be. Don't make me regret this."

Right, the fox lady was cute but scary and dangerous. It shouldn't be a surprise really, he knew kitsune better than that. For now, he simply said, "Thank you."

When everyone’s wounds had been tended to without needing to invoke the nexus's boon, there was a small victory celebration, though it was a placeholder for the larger ceremony that would take place after his fight with Mordecai tomorrow, whatever the outcome.

Hajime felt very aware of Mordecai's speculative appraisal during this celebration, but he was fairly confident that the last set of seals were enough to make even his blood unrecognizable. For now.