Chapter 218 217 – Phoenix Fire

Phoenixes.

Besides dragons, phoenixes were the most famous of the immortal races. Not only were they immortal in ways even dragons were not, the ever-renewing birds of fire were also more powerful than their scaled peers on average. The strongest were threats for a Cataclysm.

They were not, however, as human as dragons. While the legendary creatures did possess halfphoenix forms, they donned them with far less regularity. They did not gather in societies, rule over others, or do much besides guard their territory and hunt. They were capable of speech and complex thought, but were more wild beasts than people.

“Phoenix fire,” Rafael repeated as the duel below continued. Fotios didn’t appear to be in a hurry. If anything, the blows Saffra had scored had made him more eager to extend the fight. “Does that mean we have an immortal on our hands?”

“A phoenix joining a human tournament is about as likely as a wild bear,” she said sarcastically. A moment later, she realized she shouldn’t be glib. Rafael might be seeking real analysis. “That’s not true. They’re sapient and intelligent, just not civilized. A phoenix wouldn’t show up in a human city and take part in polite duels. It’s against their nature.” She hesitated. “Then again…”

“It’s not outside the realm of possibility.”

“Only because I’ve been running into a lot of strange stuff recently. I’ll keep my mind open.” She was quiet a moment. “He passed the age divinations, though. Those spells are never easy to get around, and phoenixes aren’t generalist mages like dragons, so most wouldn’t have the skillset.”

“Would rebirth reset a phoenix’s age, as far as divinations are concerned?”

She tilted her head. “I… don’t know. Maybe? But probably not?”

“Must one be a phoenix to conjure phoenix fire?” he followed up with.

“I would have guessed yes, but again, I’m not certain. And now that you mention it, I wonder if I could recreate it.” Her words dropped into a mutter as the fancy seized her. “I’ve been wanting to do the same for dragonfire, but there’s the Fires of Creation to deal with first.”

She couldn’t suppress the flicker of annoyance at being reminded of how many research projects she had shelved.

“So a human boy with inexplicable access to phoenix fire is the most probable situation.” Rafael paused as he mulled something over. “Could he be half-phoenix?”

The idea had crossed her mind too. “Not through, er, conventional means, but magic does make almost anything possible. That said, phoenixes can’t breed with each other. The Mother of Fire created them. So half-versions aren’t likely.”

Rafael hummed. He’d gotten his money’s worth coming to spectate the match; he’d expected something intriguing and had found it.

“Do you plan to do something about his participation?”

“That’s the real question, isn’t it?” she murmured. “Depends on what’s going on. I’ll need to talk with him.”

The match below wrapped up, Saffra having expended her reserves and been whittled down bit by bit. The victor was, of course, the obscenely swift, powerful, and skilled challenger who could call a phoenix’s flames to his aid whenever he was in serious trouble.

Couldn’t she have fought him one more round into the future? Vivi thought, upset on her apprentice’s behalf. What am I supposed to say to cheer her up? I’m not good with that sort of thing.

She mulled over her approach as she waited for Saffra and her opponent to exit the arena and be tended to by the healers. Two minutes later, she [Blinked] down with Rafael in tow.

“I’ll let him know you wish to speak with him,” her steward told her.

Ignoring the gawking coming from both healers and Fotios, Vivi walked over to Saffra. The catgirl’s ears flattened upon their gazes meeting, and Vivi suppressed a sigh.

Her apprentice understood what the offered hand meant, and Vivi carried them somewhere private.

They were both silent for a few seconds. Then, not letting herself second-guess the action as she had so many times before, Vivi raised a hand, rested it between two red cat ears, and rubbed the top of Saffra’s head.

“You put up a good fight,” she said. “I was impressed. You stayed focused in a difficult situation, and did everything you could have with the tools you had. Good job.”

Saffra looked startled, since that was how she always responded to anything too earnest—let alone to Vivi rubbing her head, which she had only done once, right before jumping into a void-portal.

Vivi’s hand dropped to her side. “Also, before you start saying something like, ‘I still only made it to the top sixteen,’ you should know that that boy is probably going to be the winner of the entire bracket.”

The words jumpstarted Saffra’s brain; she’d been standing frozen. “Huh? He is?”

Vivi nodded. “It was phoenix fire, those flames that burned away [Nullification Pulse].”

A long silence.

“…is that like, a spell or skill I don’t know about?”

“No, I mean literally the fires that only phoenixes use.”

Saffra blinked several times. Her mouth opened, then closed.

“Or supposedly thatonly phoenixes can,” Vivi corrected. “Speaking of which, I need to question him. See whether he’s a phoenix himself, which probably isn’t the case, or whether something else is going on. He might not belong in this tournament at all. Not to get your hopes up. I doubt it’s something that’ll disqualify him.” If he were disqualified, that would result in Saffra getting her placement back.

“Phoenix fire,” Saffra repeated, thankfully not focusing on the long shot of returning to the tournament. “Really?”

A small smile pulled on Vivi’s lips. “I kept telling you that other people would have absurd advantages, and that your armor and void spells weren’t really cheating, all things considered. That fire could have cleansed most orichalcum-tier effects. Higher. Honestly, even if it’s a skill he earned, he’s the one who cheated. It’s way too unfair an advantage.”

Maybe that was only her opinion because it’d been used against her apprentice. Again: it was a given people would enter the tournament with bizarre, fantastical abilities.

“It wasn’t cheating,” Saffra replied with a huff. “Besides, he was way faster and stronger than me without that trick. I didn’t stand a chance.” Her annoyance grew. “Only reason I got a few hits in was because he was playing around.”

“He’s probably much higher level than you are. Like I said: you did a great job given who you were up against. Plus, if he comes first in the tournament, that basically means you got second.”

Saffra rolled her eyes. “I get you’re trying to cheer me up, but that’s nonsense, Lady Vivi.”

“If you say so.”

Vivi was somewhat surprised she’d said mostly the right things—or at least that the absurdity of Saffra’s opponent had dimmed the disappointment of the loss.

“You can go question him, then,” Saffra said. “You’ve got me curious now. You said he’s probably not a phoenix? That means he might be?”

“It’s not impossible,” Vivi said. “But I’ll disqualify him if he is. Unless he’s newborn, which I find even less likely. Let’s go find out.”

She returned them to the healing area. Rafael and Fotios were standing off to the side. The boy had been staring up at the lean, well-dressed demon with naked fascination, and whatever he’d been cheerfully babbling about cut off—the same expression turned to Vivi.

Approaching them, she said, “I’ve created a sound barrier. Anything you say is protected.”

She considered congratulating him on his win since that was the proper thing to do, but it felt weird with Saffra present.

“Wow,” Fotios breathed. “It’s really you. You’re way shorter than I imagined, Lady Sorceress!”

He stepped up to her, put his flat hand parallel to the top of his forehead, then sailed it outward in a straight line to demonstrate exactly how many inches taller he stood.

“That’s crazy,” he effused. “You’re tiny!”

She knew almost everybody thought it when meeting her, but nobody had ever stated it so plainly.

She took a step back to make space, and couldn’t help but glance first at Saffra, who wore an expression of blank disbelief, then at Rafael, whose serene mask had never been more impenetrable. Vivi probably would’ve teleported him into a volcano if he’d smirked, so that was a wise decision.

Fotios started blinking as he digested their three reactions.

“Oh, sorry. I did something weird again, didn’t I?”

“It’s fine,” Vivi said.

“It’s okay to be short,” he offered. “It’s just not what I expected.”

Vivi’s eye twitched. He’s a twelve-year-old boy, she reminded herself. “We just have a few questions for you, Fotios.”

“Questions? What could you want from me?” He tilted his head innocently at Saffra. “Is it because you’re from Vanguard? Again, you fought super well.” He gave her two big thumbs up.

It’s almost an impressive level of cluelessness, Vivi thought.

Saffra clearly didn’t know what to make of him either. “…thanks,” she replied. “You fought better.”

He shrugged. “Well, yeah. Of course.”

Saffra’s eye twitched. Like apprentice, like master, Vivi thought.

“I just want to make sure the integrity of the tournament is intact,” Vivi said, choosing to get to the point before he said something else ridiculous.

“The integrity of the tournament?” His brow furrowed. “Wait, you think I cheated?” Fotios seemed absolutely dumbfounded by the accusation.

“No, not exactly. I saw the ability you used when Saffra caught you in her [Nullification Pulse]. Your phoenix fire.”

The instant nervousness that overtook the boy was a revealing reaction. “P-phoenix fire?” he stammered. “What do you mean, ‘phoenix fire’?”

“I know what I saw.”

He floundered. “You can tell that sort of thing just by looking? I didn’t think that was possible.”

“I have keen senses.”

At her unyielding certainty, he began looking around as if seeking an escape, though his posture didn’t suggest he’d try to make a run for it.

“Obviously, there’s nothing in the rules of the tournament saying that phoenix fire is banned,” Vivi said, “nor that immortals are barred from entering.” She had let Ember participate, so it would be hypocritical to condemn others for joining.

She let the open statements linger to see how he would respond.

“Riiight.” He swallowed and rubbed at the side of his arm. “Well, I… I don’t want to lie to the Sorceress, of course. That’d be like, a for-sure way the heavens would throw me out when I die, right?”

He chuckled anxiously despite the joking tone, and Vivi took psychic damage at the reminder that to some portion of the population, she wasn’t merely a legendary hero, but literally divine.

A desperate hint crept into his words. “But I can’t go talking about things that aren’t mine to talk about, you know?”

I guess it would’ve been too easy if he could answer.

“I understand,” Vivi said. “Setting that aside, what’s important is that, if you’re a phoenix, and your rebirth fools the divination spell we used, then I consider that a violation of the youth bracket’s rules—in spirit, at the very least.”

He gawked at her. “Me? A phoenix?” A laugh escaped him at the sheer ridiculousness of the idea.

It hadn’t been her leading theory for many reasons, but she finished shelving the notion. His reactions were too genuine. “So you’re a human who can use their fire.” That was honestly the more interesting scenario. “How?”

The shiftiness from earlier returned. “Um,” he started. “Like I said, it’s just that…”

“It’s personal,” Vivi said. “All right. Your business and your secrets are your own. I was just curious.” She studied him. “There’s… nothing concerning going on, is there?”

“Concerning?”

“Nothing related to the phoenixes as a whole, or something threatening the world?”

“H-huh?” He was suddenly both baffled and alarmed. “Threatening the world? What do you mean by that?”

Okay, maybe she’d been catastrophizing. The boy was here to fight in a tournament, not anything more. There were going to be plenty of interesting figures like him; each one didn’t herald a Cataclysm. She’d made the same mistake with Xun.

“Never mind. However, I do want to rerun the divination to be certain. Is that acceptable?”

Relief crashed over the boy. “Oh, sure. I get why you’d be suspicious. I can’t believe you could tell with just a look!” He twitched as he realized his mistake. “E-er, not that I’m admitting I actually used phoenix fire or anything!”

Given his behavior, Vivi knew what she would find. After casting the appropriate spell and analyzing the results, she discovered nothing unusual. Under her careful scrutiny, the divination would surely have given an anomalous result had Fotios been ‘young yet not’ through a cycle of rebirth, or some other edge case.

So, he’s the age he claims. Does he have partial phoenix heritage? Or did he grow up with one as a parent and they taught him their abilities? Some people were raised by wolves. Why not phoenixes? It would explain why he was a little odd. Maybe it’s a class he got?

How strange. She wanted to sate her intrigue with a concrete answer, but he didn’t want to give one, and bullying the truth out would be wrong for any number of reasons. Whatever phoenix he was involved with might be a hidden immortal, not wanting his or her presence revealed to the Sorceress.

“That’s it then,” Vivi told him. “Thank you for humoring me.”

“No problem.” His brilliant cheer returned within an instant. “Hey, so, those black and purple spells—did you make those?”

She paused. “I did.”

“Neat! What are they?”

She guessed it wasn’t a major secret, but then again, this boy seemed like a blabbermouth. He was definitely going to go around repeating anything he heard from the Sorceress.

Feeling a bit bad about not reciprocating the enthusiasm, she said, “I’m afraid I must get going, Fotios.”

“Okay!” he replied, not put off by her evasion in the slightest. “It was nice meeting you, Lady Sorceress. And Lord Steward, Ms. Vanguard Mage.” He beamed at each of them in turn, waving goodbye.

…really, just way too upbeat.

Living with phoenixes must not be that bad, if that was how the boy had turned out.