Chapter 26: WHO IS BEHIND ME

The light surrounding Arch collapsed inward before Vise’s waiting attacks could reach him. A thin luminous shell spread across his chest, shoulders and limbs, fitting close enough to his body that it looked less like conventional armor and more like a second metallic skin, while the brightness around his right hand thickened into the shape of a heavy gauntlet.

Vise watched the transformation with open fascination, but the room around him never became completely still. Stone continued shifting through the walls and floor as he studied Arch, gathering itself into new shapes while the older man opened and closed his gauntleted hand. "So you really kept Siphon Aegis all these years." Vise tilted his head as the last of the light settled across Arch’s body. "I thought age might finally have convinced you to stop pretending you could still use it."

Arch rotated his wrist and immediately grimaced when his shoulder complained. "Age has convinced me to stop doing several stupid things, but unfortunately you’ve made avoiding this one rather difficult."

Vise’s fingers moved, and a section of wall exploded toward Arch with enough force to crush him against the opposite side of the room. Mira expected him to dodge because he had spent most of the fight doing exactly that, but Arch planted both feet and raised his armored forearm instead.

The slab struck with a sound that shook dust from the ceiling. Pale light raced across Arch’s armor from the point of impact, spreading over his shoulder and chest before gathering along his right arm. He still slid backward several feet, shoes grinding hard against the floor, but the force that should have broken him seemed to disappear into the glowing shell before pouring into the gauntlet.

Vise’s eyes widened as Arch looked down at the brightness building around his fist and flexed the heavy fingers once. "There we are. Now this thing is actually worth carrying."

The floor surged beneath him before Vise could answer. Arch jumped over the rising stone and charged instead of creating more distance, weaving around a second projection while Vise brought another wall between them. He slipped around its edge and drove the glowing gauntlet toward Vise’s chest with everything the Aegis had taken.

The defensive barrier appeared at the last instant, and Arch’s fist struck it. The force detonated across the transparent surface, spreading a pale ripple wider than Vise’s entire body. His feet slid backward across the stone, but the barrier remained between them and prevented Arch’s fist from touching him.

Arch withdrew before the room could close around his arm. The glow inside the gauntlet had nearly vanished after the single strike, leaving him staring at an undamaged Vise through the fading distortion. "Well, that’s irritating." Arch stepped aside as a stone spear tore through the space where his ribs had been. "I put considerably more effort into that than your face seems willing to acknowledge."

Vise looked at the disappearing barrier and then back at Arch. Excitement replaced his earlier amusement as he understood what had happened. "You turned my attack into physical force and amplified it through the gauntlet." Vise sent a thick pillar toward Arch’s side while continuing to watch the weapon. "The harder I strike the Aegis, the harder you can answer."

Arch allowed the pillar to catch the armor across his shoulder. Light flooded through the shell again, and Arch used the impact itself to twist his body into the return swing before Vise could create more distance. "You have a terrible habit of explaining other people’s abilities while they’re trying to hit you."

The gauntlet came toward Vise’s jaw, and his barrier flashed. Arch struck, and a thin crack appeared across the transparent shield. Both men saw it.

Vise’s expression sharpened immediately, while Arch stepped forward and tried to follow the damaged point with his left fist. The ordinary blow struck the same place, but without the stolen force behind it, the barrier barely trembled.

Stone erupted beneath Arch’s leading foot before he could strike again. He pulled away as the floor snapped shut around empty air, then twisted around another projection that came for his ribs. By the time he found Vise again, the crack in the barrier had already disappeared.

Vise smiled as Arch’s eyes narrowed slightly at the repaired surface. "You could at least pretend that took longer to recover."

"The shield doesn’t care about your feelings." Vise swept one hand toward him, sending three sections of the room attacking from different angles. "Though watching you discover that does improve mine."

Arch slipped beneath the first strike and stepped around the second, then deliberately caught the heaviest of the three across the Aegis. Light travelled into the gauntlet again, and he drove forward before Vise had finished retracting the stone.

The amplified fist crashed into the barrier, and another crack spread. Arch immediately struck the damaged point with his left hand, then his elbow, keeping the transparent surface engaged long enough to bring the gauntlet around again. The second gauntlet strike carried little stored force now, however, and Vise used the weaker impact to drive the floor upward between them.

Arch jumped back before the stone could trap his legs, and the crack healed again. Mira followed every exchange from the chair, her attention shifting between Arch’s glowing armor and the barrier that refused to let any of that power reach Vise. Arch could take a devastating attack and return something even stronger, but Vise’s defense kept absorbing the answer before his actual body ever had to.

Vise seemed to enjoy the problem more each time Arch failed to solve it. "You need my strength to make that gauntlet dangerous, and after all that effort you still have to get through me."

A massive stone column swept through the room at waist height. Arch jumped onto it rather than away from it, ran two steps along the moving surface and kicked off just before Vise slammed it into the wall. He landed near the other side of Vise and continued moving before the floor could reshape beneath him.

"You sound very pleased with that arrangement." Arch ducked beneath a stone hammer descending from the ceiling and looked past Vise toward another slab forming behind him. "That usually means somebody has become comfortable."

Vise raised an eyebrow, and Arch changed direction. He ran directly toward the slab Vise had been preparing and turned his body only when the enormous mass finally launched. The attack caught him across the back with enough force to throw him forward, and the Aegis erupted so brightly that Mira lost sight of the metal beneath the light.

Arch hit the floor on one hand, and the gauntlet was already blazing. He pushed himself up and crossed the remaining distance before Vise realized Arch had intentionally accepted the attack.

The shield formed over Vise’s chest, and Arch struck it. Cracks raced across the transparent surface. Vise was thrown backward several steps even though the barrier kept the gauntlet from reaching him, and his shoulder nearly hit the wall before he regained his footing.

Arch stumbled after the punch, and the glow in the gauntlet died again. Vise looked down at the fractures spreading across the shield and gave a breathless laugh. "You can damage it."

"Thank you for noticing." Arch moved before a ridge could close around his ankle and kept his eyes on the cracks. "I was worried the increasingly obvious fractures might be too subtle."

The shield repaired itself, and Arch’s expression tightened. Vise sent another heavy strike from behind, and Arch turned into it enough for the Aegis to take the worst of the force. Light rushed toward his gauntlet once more, but Vise had already shifted position before Arch could return it.

Arch chased him, and the charged fist came from below. Vise’s barrier caught it beneath his chin. The impact forced his head upward even though the shield prevented physical contact, while the floor immediately rose beneath Arch and launched him away before he could continue the exchange.

Arch landed hard against one shoulder and rolled through the impact. When he returned to his feet, he was breathing more heavily than before, but his eyes stayed fixed on the barrier.

Vise saw the fatigue and walked forward while the room shifted beneath every step. "You’re slowing down. The Claim still works beautifully, but the man inside it has aged considerably worse."

Arch rubbed the side of his neck and stepped away from a narrow spear. "You have an extraordinary gift for identifying things everyone else in the room already knows."

Another attack came from the opposite wall. Arch let the broadest section strike the Aegis across his side, taking the force with a grunt as the gauntlet brightened. He twisted with the blow and converted the momentum into another charge toward Vise.

The shield appeared, and Arch hammered the same region he had damaged before. A fracture opened, and his left fist followed immediately. The second blow carried almost nothing capable of damaging the barrier, but it prevented the crack from disappearing at once.

Arch stepped closer and struck again with the gauntlet before the shield could fully settle. The fracture widened, and Vise’s expression changed enough for Arch to notice immediately.

Arch drove his shoulder into the transparent surface and forced Vise backward while continuing to attack the same section. His left fist followed, then the gauntlet, his elbow and his shoulder, with another ordinary punch landing before the barrier ever had the quiet moment it had used to restore itself earlier.

The room attacked from behind, and three separate impacts converged on Arch. He twisted enough for the Aegis to catch the strongest of them, but the combined force still separated him from Vise and sent him skidding across the floor. Arch remained upright, though one hand immediately pressed against his ribs.

Vise looked at his barrier. Several cracks remained, and they were healing, but much more slowly now.

Arch stared at them, and the answer had been in front of him the whole time. Vise’s shield could recover from individual amplified strikes because Arch was forced to retreat and recharge after each one. Sustained pressure denied it the opportunity to repair itself, but maintaining that pressure meant staying close enough for the room to tear him apart while his body tried to keep pace.

Arch rolled his damaged shoulder and breathed carefully through his ribs. His knee had begun protesting every sudden change in direction, his lungs burned, and one arm felt increasingly unwilling to rise above his chest.

Vise smiled when he saw understanding settle over him. "You finally figured out how to break it."

Arch shifted his stance and watched the cracks disappear one by one. "I figured that out several bruises ago. I was hoping a less exhausting solution would eventually present itself."

Stone rose behind him, and Arch moved before it could strike. Vise increased the pressure immediately, filling the room with attacks that forced Arch to weave through narrowing spaces rather than choose when to engage. He ducked beneath one piston, stepped over a rising ridge and deliberately let a broad slab crash into the Aegis across his chest.

The armor flared, and Arch was thrown into the opposite wall. He hit hard enough to lose his footing, but the gauntlet now burned bright enough to paint his face in pale light. Arch looked at the remaining distance between himself and Vise and pushed himself upright.

Mira recognized the decision on his face. "Arch, whatever ridiculous plan you’ve just chosen, remember that you still have to get us out afterward." She pulled against the restraints as he forced his damaged shoulder into position. "Winning the fight and collapsing beside us would be extremely unhelpful."

Arch breathed once through the pain and gave her a tired look. "That is a remarkably sensible argument, Mira. Unfortunately, I appear to have reached the part of the plan where sensible arguments stop being useful."

Vise attacked, and Arch ran straight toward him. The floor rose in his path, but he planted one foot against the moving stone and vaulted over it. A pillar struck his side while he was still airborne, sending more force through the Aegis and into the already glowing gauntlet.

Arch landed inside Vise’s reach, and the gauntlet came down. Vise’s shield appeared across his shoulder, but Arch struck the damaged region again and a crack burst outward.

He followed immediately with his left fist before the fracture could contract, then drove the gauntlet into it again while Vise tried to retreat. Arch refused to give him room, forcing his exhausted body into a pace it had already warned him it could not maintain.

The room attacked Arch from behind. He allowed one heavy strike to connect with the Aegis across his back, and light flooded violently toward his right hand. Instead of retreating to recover, Arch stayed against Vise and continued hammering the same area of the barrier.

His ordinary punches did almost nothing by themselves, but that no longer mattered. Every weaker blow kept the defense occupied long enough for the next charged strike to arrive, and every amplified impact widened fractures that had no time to disappear. Vise’s shield began flickering under the sustained pressure.

Vise raised the floor between them, and Arch stomped down before the stone could separate his footing. He drove his shoulder against the barrier. Pain crossed his face, but he remained there long enough to pull the gauntlet back.

Every trace of absorbed force inside the Aegis rushed into his fist, and Vise saw it coming. The room surged toward Arch from every direction, but Arch punched first.

The gauntlet struck the web of existing fractures, and the barrier held for one impossible instant before it broke. Transparent shards of light burst outward as Arch’s fist tore through the collapsing defense and struck Vise directly across the chest.

The impact lifted him from the floor and launched him into the opposite wall hard enough to crater the stone around his body. Blood left Vise’s mouth before he dropped onto one knee.

Mira stared at him while Arch stumbled several steps past the punch, his arm hanging heavily at his side. He had finally reached Vise himself, and the damage was obvious in the way the man struggled to draw a complete breath.

The light surrounding Arch began to flicker, and he looked down. The Aegis faded unevenly across his chest and shoulders while the gauntlet lost its solid shape around his hand. Arch clenched his fingers as though he could force the Claim to remain through stubbornness alone, but the brightness continued breaking apart.

"Come on, you miserable thing." Arch tried lifting the arm again and winced when it refused to cooperate properly. "You could have given me another minute."

The gauntlet vanished, and the remaining armor followed. Arch stood without the Aegis protecting him, breathing hard enough that every inhale lifted his shoulders. The final assault had taken more from him than he wanted Mira or Vise to see, but his body had stopped accepting negotiations.

Across the room, Vise coughed blood onto the floor and pressed a hand carefully against his chest. The punch had damaged him badly enough that even standing required effort, yet when he looked at the blood on his fingers, disbelief slowly became laughter.

"You broke it." Vise forced himself upright against the damaged wall and looked at Arch with something close to delight. "You actually put your fist through that shield."

Arch tried to straighten and nearly lost the argument with one of his knees. "I’d celebrate more enthusiastically, but several parts of me are currently reconsidering their employment."

Vise looked around the room. The floor still obeyed him, the walls continued shifting, and Mira’s restraints remained locked around her wrists and fingers.

Vise’s smile changed, and Arch saw it. "You hit me harder than the boy did." Vise pressed a hand against his injured chest while his eyes moved slowly toward the place where Sio lay. "You shattered my shield and nearly drove me through my own wall, but my room didn’t lose control for even a second."

Arch became quiet, and Vise’s interest sharpened. "That weak little punch of his barely had enough physical force behind it to hurt me, yet something underneath it reached deeper than anything you just did." He wiped another line of blood from his mouth and studied Arch instead of Sio now. "Your attack damaged my body. His attack touched the Claim."

Arch gave him nothing, and the silence was enough for Vise. His smile returned as the floor attacked before Arch could move.

A column struck Arch’s shoulder and spun him sideways, while another caught his ribs before he could recover from the first. Without the Aegis, there was no light to swallow the impact and no gauntlet waiting to return anything.

Arch hit the floor hard as Mira pulled violently against the chair. "Arch, move before he pins you."

Arch tried to rise, but a stone ridge struck beneath his stomach and lifted him several feet before throwing him across the room. He landed on his back, rolled onto one side and barely dragged his head clear before another pillar smashed down beside him.

Vise walked after him. His damaged chest made each step slower, but his Claim required almost nothing from the rest of his body. The room could continue fighting even while he stood there bleeding.

Arch forced himself onto one knee, but a second attack struck his thigh and another clipped his shoulder. Vise changed the angle of the floor beneath him before Arch could recover, and the wall caught the older man across his back when he lost his footing.

Mira fought her restraints until the pressure around her wrists returned. "Arch, get up. You can complain about being ancient after we’re somewhere with chairs that aren’t trying to kill us."

Arch planted one hand against the floor, but his arm shook beneath his weight. "I remember you being much kinder when your primary weapon was tea."

Vise slammed him down again. Stone struck Arch across the spine and pinned him flat long enough to tear the breath from his lungs. When the pressure released, his fingers scraped across the floor without finding enough strength to lift him immediately.

Vise stopped several steps away. Blood still stained his mouth, and every breath clearly hurt after Arch’s punch, but the difference between them had become brutally simple. Vise still controlled the room, while Arch had exhausted the Claim that had allowed him to survive inside it.

"You should have stayed outside." Vise lifted one hand as the ceiling above Arch began thickening into a massive descending block. "At least then you could have continued pretending those doors made you untouchable."

Arch rolled onto his back and looked at the stone gathering overhead. His breathing remained ragged, but even now his expression carried more irritation than fear. "I did try staying outside." Arch wiped blood from the corner of his mouth as stone rose beside his shoulders and restricted what little movement remained. "Then you kidnapped my best friend’s wife and nearly killed his son, which made ignoring you somewhat inconvenient."

The block descended while Mira strained forward, but the restraints gave her nowhere to go. "Arch, move your head before that thing comes down."

He turned toward her as something moved behind Vise. Arch’s eyes shifted, and for the first time since the Aegis disappeared, something other than exhaustion entered his expression.

Vise noticed. The enormous stone block continued lowering as he slowly looked over his shoulder, trying to follow Arch’s attention. "What are you looking at?"

Arch did not answer as movement crossed the space behind Vise. He started to turn, but the blow landed first.

Something struck Vise from behind with enough force to fold his body forward, and his defensive shield flashed automatically around him. For a fraction of a second, the barrier seemed to catch the attack exactly as it had caught everything else, but a crack suddenly split through it.

Another fracture followed the first, and the entire shield shattered. Vise’s eyes widened as the room convulsed around him.

Cracks ripped through the floor beneath his feet and raced outward faster than any physical impact Arch had produced. They climbed the walls, tore across the ceiling and split every shaped surface of Vise’s Claim as though something had reached beneath the stone and pulled its foundation apart.

The restraints around Mira’s wrists fractured, and the descending block above Arch broke apart before it could crush him. Vise tried to raise one hand, but the room stopped listening.

Stone formations collapsed throughout the chamber, walls losing their unnatural shapes as control bled out of them all at once. The enclosed domain that had swallowed every escape attempt began coming apart around its owner.

Vise stumbled forward and caught himself with one hand. Blood fell from his mouth onto the cracking floor.

For the first time since Mira had been brought into that room, there was something unmistakable in his face. He did not understand what had just hit him, and when Vise turned toward whoever stood behind him, the room shattered.