Litvir would have jumped in surprise as the colossal, golden sword embedded itself in the table in front of him, but he had heard Soulblade coming from a mile away. Not just via the psionic aura that the elder Decay Lord generated, but also because of his loud, plodding footsteps, footsteps that all the Beh’evok around here made.
“Souldrainer, I challenge you to a duel.”
“What, right now?” a voice next to Litvir squeaked. Eksi had also felt Soulblade’s presence, but he had picked up on Soulblade’s intentions about ten minutes ago, while he had been pacing back and forth in his office. Admittedly, he hadn’t told Litvir about this, mostly because Litvir had been busy helping fellow Decayling and Time Drake Elkisa more easily control her emotions without them affecting her time-altering powers, and Eksi had been helping Litvir out, as he often did. The three of them were now in the busy main Phantai canteen, seating area and general relaxation hub, and there were a LOT of other Decay Lords wandering about.
Litvir got up to face Soulblade, looking not at all amused. “You want a duel, Psehon?”
“Yes, Souldrainer, did you not hear what I just said?” Soulblade snarled, not liking how Litvir had openly used his actual name. Being not just an elder Decay Lord but also one of the Three Great Blades, the leaders of the Phantai sect, Soulblade was a colossal being, towering over Litvir, covered in purple and gold plating, with a crown of golden horns around his armoured snout and skull and a pair of pincer-like coverings that hid away his mouth, nostrils and ear holes, as well as covering his eyes in tinted, purple, plastic-like lenses. The sword Soulblade carried was larger than Eksi, 1.8m long and pure gold, but with a serrated purple edge along one side and a large purple gem embedded just above the hilt.
Litvir looked Soulblade up and down, then crossed his arms in amusement. “Why?”
“I need to prove that I am the master Psion around here. As far as I am concerned, you are in my way.”
“I will be honest with you, dear, I do not see myself as the master Psion here, I do not make such a claim, nor do I intend to try and claim such a position for myself, you do not need to challenge me to anything.”
“Your words are not proof enough. I must defeat you in psionic combat.”
Litvir hesitated, then glanced down at Eksi. Eksi shrugged, then smiled. “I’ll be honest, ser Soulblade, there’s three Psions standing here right now and you kinda don’t impress me.”
“Eksi, are you trying to get me to fight this brute?”
“Yep!”
“Alright, fine…” Litvir rolled his eyes, then started unclipping his cape, folding it up neatly and placing it on the table. He then clapped his hands together, summoning a set of gunmetal armour and his gunstaff. “Do you want to do this here, Soulblade? Or somewhere else?”
“You accept my duel?”
“I do.”
Soulblade pulled his sword from the table and pointed it at Litvir. “Very well, may the master Psion win.”
With a wave of his armoured hand, the tables and chairs all around Soulblade and Souldrainer abruptly flew backwards, giving them some space and creating a small arena in which to fight in. While Elksia and the nearby Phantai had all been moved back, Litvir noticed that Eksi was still standing, unmoved, crossing his own arms and tutting loudly. However, Litvir didn’t have a chance to comment as Soulblade immediately charged his sword with glowing golden energy and swung it at him, a ripple of energy flying forward even though the sword didn’t even come close to hitting Litvir.
In response, Litvir kicked himself off the ground, floating in the air. He dodged several more of the blasts of energy from Soulblade’s sword, before calmly and telekinetically ripping the sword from Soulblade’s hands. Soulblade hissed, and instead of reclaiming his sword, he simply summoned a new one, which he threw right at Litvir.
“Are you going to fight back properly?” Soulblade attempted to take control of the battle, by closing in the wall of tables behind Litvir while he flicked Soulblade’s thrown weapon away, but Litvir just floated over Soulblade, giving himself more space.
“I am simply doing what any good Psion would do and am watching patiently, waiting for an opportunity to strike!”
“Ah, so you fight like a coward.”
Litvir dodged more flying chairs and tables, but realized he couldn’t do the same as Soulblade conjured a swarm of floating, flying daggers, all of which he directed straight into Litvir. A purple, translucent shield protected Litvir from this torrent, but Litvir was quickly coming to the conclusion that he couldn’t win this battle with physical telekinesis.
Snarling, Soulblade abruptly stopped with the daggers and charged forward. He swung his blade downwards, slicing through Litvir’s shields, forcing Souldrainer to stumble backwards. Litvir quickly reorientated himself, firing several shots from his gunstaff to increase the distance between the two Decay Lords, then forced away the wall of tables behind him, giving himself even more space. Sure, Litvir was a 2.8m tall armoured Rethavok and a pretty strong one at that, but he was also not a 3.5m tall armoured Beh’evok with mounds of muscle underneath that shimmering gold and purple plating. A head-on fight was out of the question.
However, before Litvir could come up with a better strategy, everything suddenly sparkled in gold. Soulblade was undoing all of Litvir’s efforts to make some space for himself, and had created a new set of psionic walls, covered in sharp, golden spikes. Soulblade’s fellow Phantai were cheering him on, shouting at Soulblade and suggesting that he tear Souldrainer apart. Weirdly though, there was a tiny amount of Thantir support, because Eksi was still just… standing right there, watching. Again, Soulblade charged forward, but Litvir also lunged, skidding between Soulblade’s legs then using a blast of telekinesis to propel Soulblade back. The hulking Decay Lord stumbled and only just caught themselves.
This just made Soulblade angry though. Another wave of golden daggers appeared, this time coming from the spiked walls. The angle caught Litvir off guard, and he felt a couple of daggers scratch across his left arm, one of which drew blood.
“Bow before your Psionic master, Souldrainer!” Soulblade growled. “Before I hurt you further.”
“As much as I do not have a problem bowing to superiors, Psehon, you are not my master, not here.”
The torrent of daggers only increased. Litvir thickened the telekinetic shields around himself, redirecting some of the daggers towards Soulblade, but the ones that got too close to their creator simply evaporated away. Grunting, Litvir then summoned a telekinetic spike of his own, which struck Soulblade in the chest but didn’t seem to harm him.
“Your telekinetic powers are weak, Souldrainer.”
Litvir smiled. “Sure, but my telekinetic powers are not my main focus. Why do you think I was given the name Souldrainer?”
Slowly, the barrage of daggers seemed to settle down, before petering out completely. Soulblade snarled and attempted to charge towards Litvir once more, but he felt oddly heavy and tired. He quickly realized what was going on as the world around them melted away, and the battle had been drawn onto another plane of reality.
“Because you are a vampire?” Soulblade shook his head, an attempt to clear the fog in his brain. That only seemed to make things worse though.
Reality was now different. The interior of the Phantai ship was gone now, replaced by a cold, stone temple, somewhere Soulblade recognized. This was the place where Soulblade had been deified, where he had gained his god-given psionic powers. A place that Soulblade had converted into his own mental training area.
“You have made a mistake, coming here, intruding in my own personal playground!” Soulblade may have now been weaponless, but that didn’t stop him from ripping stone chunks from the walls and flinging them in Litvir’s direction. To his annoyance though, Litvir calmly phased through the onslaught of concrete and very gently placed his hand on Soulblade’s head.
“How… How are you doing this?” Soulblade stuttered as he found himself completely frozen. “The Voidborn elite cannot touch my mind, but… your mind, your telepathy… it makes no sense! HOW?”
Litvir didn’t answer at first. He was busy combing through Soulblade’s memories. The more dangerous, deeper secrets were well-shielded, but while Litvir could have broken into them with a bit of time, he simply couldn’t be bothered, and instead focused on higher level but more embarrassing secrets.
“It is simple, really. Your telepathic powers are intricate but you were not born with them, you were given your abilities and you built them in a specific way to combat a specific threat. I was born with telepathy but I could not control it, and ended up developing a system that is completely alien to most other psionic entities, to the point that you have no idea how to work around it.”
As he worked, reality returned to normal around them, they were both still in Soulblade’s mind and in the Phantai relaxation areas, surrounded by other beings. Litvir decided to stop digging and pull out the secrets he had already found.
“Huh. I forget that you Beh’evok are not intersex the way we are. You are completely and utterly submissive to both Telin and Phos in the bedroom. To the point that you only ever take, and often from both ends at the same time.”
Soulblade’s eyes widened. He couldn’t tell if Litvir was saying these words out loud or not. The Three Great Blades were supposed to mostly be equals, even if Voidblade did most of the final decision-making. The idea that this vampiric asshole was revealing Soulblade’s desires was deeply disturbing.
“I suppose though, bedroom acrobatics are not nearly as bad as some of the things you have done. Lightblade seemed somewhat apologetic when it came to murdering Decaylings. You though, you enjoy watching the light fade from someone’s eyes, you almost feed on that final, dying spark. But you do not get the same hit from a Voidborn, the same way you get off a Decayling or another more sentient being. And, at the same time, you have a burning desire to know what it feels like to watch a Life Goddess die.”
Litvir paused, then glanced to his right. Soulblade struggled to do the same, his body completely unmoving apart from his eyes. Standing there was a new being, a very small one. A slither of yellow energy trickled around both Decay Lords.
“You’ve proved your point, Litvir. Let him go.”
With a sigh, Litvir relented. He snapped his fingers, and consciousness fled Soulblade’s body. The elder Decay Lord collapsed on the floor and remained unmoving for a little too long. The Phantai all hesitated, before getting to work putting the tables and chairs back in place, then deciding to all leave.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?” Voidblade roared as he grabbed Litvir by the throat, only to find himself briefly frozen in place. He unwillingly let go of Litvir, then stepped back, watching as Soulblade staggered back to his feet.
“Psehon challenged Litvir to a duel!” Eksi tutted, the tiny Decayling hovering up until he was in Voidblade’s face. “Psehon did this. Litvir was just defending himself. Are duels around here common? Should we be concerned? Because I know both Rethans and Beh’ens are beings bound by honour, and neither of you will back away from a slight against said honour.”
The Great Blade grunted, then took Soulblade by the hand and stormed off, not answering Eksi’s questions. Tutting once more, Eksi landed back on the ground, made an odd clicking sound, then started walking off towards the nearest place he could get a drink and some food.
Litvir hesitated, ignoring the few remaining confused Phantai around him, then followed Eksi.
“You did not need to intervene.”
Eksi just shrugged. “I wasn’t going to intervene, but I didn’t want you to see too much. Last thing we need is an angry army of Decay Lords falling apart and attacking us after you revealed too much to them. Some secrets are best kept secret. Anyway, congrats on being the Master Psion around here. Want anything to drink?”
Again, Litvir hesitated. “I… I am not the Master Psion around here. And neither is Soulblade. If anything, you are…”
“Eh, whatever…” Eksi tutted dismissively. “Let’s get something to eat, then go to one of the observatories or something. This place is stupid.”
“O-of course, good idea, Eksi…” Litvir muttered, feeling rather uneasy all of a sudden, before abruptly excusing himself. “I would join you, but I think I ought to speak to Retvik and the Great Blades first.”
Eksi wasn’t listening, he had already wandered off. With a sigh, Litvir headed back to the tables to grab his cape and his gunstaff, then made his way towards the higher areas of the Shimmering Blade, where his fellow leaders were waiting.