about to make the same mistake and turn my back on him while I dealt with Arcturus. But I’d be more screwed if Arcturus made it out of the circle. There was no way we could pull the same trick twice.
“Took you a while,” I said, while my thoughts raced. My eyes darted toward the magic circle—then widened. Darshan had gotten up, and was staggering into the magic circle himself.
He was nearly green with nausea and pain, but his gaze was determined as it met mine. I’ve got this, he mouthed.
Acubens was beginning to follow my gaze, toward Darshan. I immediately slammed a bolt of higher magic at him. He grunted, turning back toward me. I fired off another bolt; this time, tendrils of shadow rose and ensnared it, snuffing it out.
With sweeps of his hands, Acubens flung more whips of shadow toward me. One grazed my cheek, and I hissed as numbness spread from where it made contact. But his attack couldn’t overwhelm me. I heightened my agility and charged toward him, dodging shadows, chanting a new spell to armor my hands in magic. Lunging, I caught hold of him, caught my fingers in his shadow magic, seeking weak spots. Shouting an abjuration spell, I dug my fingers in and tore.
Acubens spun, hissing in outrage. His shadows surged back toward him, forcing me to let go and jump back. But I’d opened a rift in the weave of his shadow magic now. Acubens pressed a hand to it, trying to stanch the black mist pouring out.
I took advantage of the brief respite to shoot a glance at the magic circle. Darshan looked terrible, fallen to his hands and knees, and I had to fight the urge to run to him. But he’d made his way across the circle, even if he’d had to crawl. With what magic-enhanced strength he could muster, he grabbed Arcturus and shoved him over on his back.
Arcturus lashed out weakly, the Circle of Reversal dulling both his magic and his body. Darshan grunted as he took Arcturus’s punches, but dragged himself on top of Arcturus before he collapsed, pinning him in place with his own weight.
Their limbs tangled as Arcturus fought to free himself. At last, Arcturus threw Darshan off and flung himself over, but it was too late. “Combatant Arcturus Nightfeld is out of the duel.”
Even through the walls around the dueling grounds, I heard the crowd in an uproar.
Darshan lay limply on the floor, battered and exhausted beyond endurance. He grinned dazedly at me.
“Combatant Darshan Jain is out of the duel.”
I turned to face Acubens, gathering magic into my hands. “It’s just us two,” I said.
His eyes shone with battle-lust. “The moment of reckoning,” he said, cracking his knuckles.
We met in a clash of light and shadow. Tendrils of darkness sliced at me as I deflected and dodged. Acubens used them in cleverer ways now, learning from our last round not to let me get close. He lashed out at tricky angles, forced me to dodge away from him, to waste as much of my dwindling reserve of magic as possible in an attempt to get closer. I’d had to burn through an enormous amount of magic just to hold Arcturus back, while Acubens was still fresh as a daisy.
I needed to finish this quickly. “Scared to fight me up close?” I taunted.
But that didn’t prick Acubens’s pride like I’d hoped. Instead, he laughed, hungry and exultant in a way that made my heart twist. “Why would I make it easy on you?” The shadows roiled around him like a storm. “I want to see how far you can go. I want to drive you to the edge and then over it. You’ve been hiding from me all this time, Cly Redbriar, but you’re finally showing me your secrets. So show me more. Show me what you can really do.”
He threw out his final words like a challenge of his own, even as a new wave of shadows shot toward me. “Break me if you can.”
I moved to dodge, then stopped. No. Enough of this.
He wanted me to break him? I had an idea how.
No shields this time, either. It was all or nothing. I flared my lower magic. Strength. Reach. Speed.
I aimed my hands at Acubens and closed them into fists, grabbing him bodily from afar. His eyes widened, but he didn’t have time to react.
My magic was the lever. I was the fulcrum. With all my strength, I swung him in