Or maybe she wasn’t Researcher’s original Summoner — she’d just made a contract later, like at the time I’d seen Mizuchi leaving.
It didn’t matter at the moment.
What mattered was that we’d been completely outmaneuvered.
“You’re a difficult man to find, Tristan Cadence.” Mizuchi stepped forward. She was still a good twenty feet from us, but that barely meant anything with her speed and ranged attacks. “I was fortunate I detected Researcher’s entry to the spire and summoned her to see what she was doing.
“Imagine how surprised I was to learn that you were planning to meet with your brother! I’d have never reached you if you’d been wise enough to remain in your little sanctum, but you were foolish enough to step outside.”
Tristan stepped out in front of Sera and me. “What do you want, Mizuchi?”
“I think I already made that perfectly clear.” She raised a hand, inspecting it. The hand shifted into a claw. “You have committed the worst sort of treason, Tristan Cadence. I’m certain that you’re aware the penalty for that is execution.”
Tristan raised his off-hand into a gesture to wait. “If you do that, you’ll never learn where Tenjin is.”
“I’m sure I’ll learn to live with my disappointment.”
Researcher stepped forward from the doorway. “I’m…sorry, Corin. If I’d refused to help her, she’d have broken our contract. I’d be gone forever.”
I understood not wanting to die. “It’s okay. We’ll figure this out.”
“Such an optimist. You’re very like your mother. It’s a shame she’s not here to see her children die, but I’ll make sure to tell her all about it before I deal with her.”
Tristan stepped forward again. “Can I confirm who sent you, at least, if you’re planning to kill us anyway?”
“A good try, dear, but no. How about you stop moving and prepare to die?”
I felt my body freeze as Mizuchi’s spell took hold. I was getting really tired of mental compulsion spells, and this one was extremely potent.
Fortunately, I had planned for this.
“Ignore her commands,” I whispered to myself.
That activated the Ring Formerly Known as the Ring of Derek Controlling, which I’d modified to only activate based on my instructions.
The perception mana flooded into me, successfully overriding Mizuchi’s command. Her spell was weaker than what she’d used in the ballroom, most likely because she was still recovering from being banished.
I took a step forward, preparing to draw my weapon.
“Shrugged that one off somehow? Okay, just go ahead and kill yourselves.”
I struggled as her command washed over me, raising my sword. Not to fight Mizuchi, but to follow her order.
“Ignore her,” I commanded myself. The ring activated again, but this time, she’d put more effort into the spell. The ring wasn’t working quickly enough.
My arm continued to move against my will, bringing my sword up to my throat. I struggled to convert my mana into mental mana, but I was failing.
Tristan took a breath, then stepped back and put a hand on my shoulder, seemingly unaffected by Mizuchi’s spell. “Absorb magic.”
I felt Mizuchi’s spell tear out of me, freeing me from the paralysis in an instant.
It was not a pleasant sensation. Still, I was glad to be free.
He repeated the process with Sera. “Absorb magic.”
Sera and I shivered as we recovered from the spells, taking a few more steps back.
Mizuchi shook her head. “That attunement of yours is extremely irritating. I suppose we’ll have to do this the hard way.”
“It can be a lot more than irritating.” Tristan took another step closer to Mizuchi, retaining his combat stance. “Don’t test me. You won’t like the results.”
Mizuchi laughed. “You think you can threaten me?”
“You’re not at your full strength. You were just banished recently. I doubt you can even transform.” Tristan took a step forward. “My brother here fought you when you were at full strength and made it through. I’m willing to bet I can do better.”
“Your brother survived because I let him survive, fool.” Mizuchi let out a growl. “And while I may not be at my full strength, I’m still more than capable of handling a few human children.”
While Tristan briefly had Mizuchi’s attention, I reached into my bag and opened the Jaden Box. “Retrieve: Healing Potion.”
I handed it to Sera. “Drink that.”
She nodded, accepted the potion, and drank it. The wound on her arm began to close.
It wasn’t much, but if we were going to fight Mizuchi, I wanted to be as prepared as possible.
And giving her the healing potion had given me another idea.
“I’m done chatting.” Mizuchi clapped her hands together. “Now begins the killing. After I prevent you from fleeing, that is.”
She whirled around, moving as a blur away from us. Then her claw was scratching a rune into the wall.
I realized what it was immediately — an anti-teleportation rune. She was sealing off our only means of escape.
In that moment, I could have activated the necklace and fled before she finished it. But Tristan couldn’t leave the spire; his brand would kill him.
And I was not leaving him behind to die.
I glanced at Tristan with my attunement active. His aura was still Sunstone. If he’d been hiding his power like I’d expected, he hadn’t made any move to change it.
When I looked at Mizuchi, I saw something far more interesting. Her shroud was shimmering, with several colors, which I recognized as being multiple layers.
Much like me, she had the equivalent of multiple attunements. Or at least multiple shrouds.
Several of them. I couldn’t count the number; it was too much of a blur.
Sera acted in the moment while Mizuchi was distracted. “Wall.”
A wall of ice appeared, crossing the entire room between us and Mizuchi.
“Wall. Wall. Wall.” She layered more walls in our way, knowing they wouldn’t last long.
I turned to Tristan. “Can you beat her, since she’s weaker than usual?”
Tristan raised a hand to his face and laughed hysterically. “Goddess, no. I was bluffing. We don’t stand a chance.”
“Then can you get Keras to us?”
Mizuchi finished her rune, turning toward us and taking a deep breath.
I saw something interesting then, since my attunement was still active; one of the layers of her shroud vanished as she inhaled.
That was fascinating.
“Not from here,” Tristan replied. “Only from the sanctum. There’s no time.”
Mizuchi exhaled, blasting a jet of flame straight through all four layers of Sera’s wall.
Tristan jumped in the way of the attack.
For an instant, Tristan was engulfed in fire, and my heart sank.
Then the flames twisted and converged into a single point — his right fist.
He stepped toward Mizuchi. The flames surged upward from his hand, enveloping his sword. “Thanks. I needed something that could hurt you.”
Mizuchi growled and lunged at him, moving faster than I could follow.
Tristan could, though. He stepped out of the way, swinging and hitting Mizuchi with his burning blade. The flames exploded on contact, and Mizuchi flew backward, cracking into the ice wall.
Sera pointed. “Wall.”
Another wall appeared in front of Mizuchi and curved around her, effectively trapping her between two walls.