Despite Noah’s words, he didn’t actually have anything against Ulya. Sure, she’d technically tried to jump him, but nothing she’d done particularly stuck out as rude. He had no desire to break yet another one of her puppets, and had been planning to track Gero down after dealing with Will.

Hell, I would have gone after Gero first if I could have, but I had no idea about where he was. The only one I could track was Will because Lee knew what he smelled like. Unfortunate for Ulya – I’m not backing down now.

The puppet lurched toward Noah, its blade driving for his chest. He set off a blast of wind between them, throwing the puppet back across the ground. She clearly valued her puppets a lot, so unless he had no choice, Noah preferred not to damage it too badly.

Will shifted, and Noah turned to send him a look. He didn’t even have to say anything. Will hadn’t been seriously injured yet, only slightly roughed up. In comparison to what he’d threatened to do to Moxie, it was nothing – but Noah was more than willing to rectify that if Will tried to rejoin the fight.

Ulya’s puppet dashed at Noah, grabbing its sword with both hands and pulling it apart at an invisible seam to split it into two blades. It swung one at his head and the other at his midriff, trying to force him to choose one to dodge and get struck by the other.

Noah sent a wave of power into the ground, making it buck violently beneath the puppet and launching it into the air. The puppet shimmered and vanished as soon as it left the range of Noah’s Domain.

With the way Ulya fights, she’s going to try to send it at me from a different angle. There’s no point getting wrapped up fighting her puppet, though. Especially not if I’m going to try avoid smashing the stupid thing to bits.

Noah launched himself forward – and straight through the crumbling ruins. Ulya’s eyes widened in surprise when she realized that Noah was headed right for her. Her hands came up and a swirling mass of purple magic formed between her palms.

It streaked over his head as he read her motions, predicting where the spell would go and dipping out of the way before it could strike him. It was pretty apparent that Ulya wasn’t used to fighting people herself, and she hadn’t been expecting to fight someone tonight.

Noah slammed to a halt directly in front of her, using a small gust of wind to make sure he didn’t accidentally plow her down. A tiny spark of magic had already started to re-form in her hands, but it sputtered as she stared into Noah’s mask.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Noah said, a note of warning in his voice. “I know I told you to be entertaining, but it doesn’t seem like you’re prepared for a fight.”

Ulya swallowed and eyed Noah warily, but she didn’t step back. “Who are you?”

“Someone your group annoyed,” Noah replied. “Going around and threatening my students is an effective way to get on my bad side. As Will and I discussed, some tests are entirely understandable. What I take offense to is the way you’ve executed them.”

“Tests?” Ulya’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Are you–”

“Shit,” Will said, staggering upright and clutching the back of his head. “You gave Moxie Runes, didn’t you? That’s why she was so strong.”

Took him long enough to make the connection. He’s technically not even wrong. About time, though.

“A fact she likely would have been more than willing to warn you of had you actually just asked what she was capable of instead of threatening to assault her to prove her incompetence,” Noah drawled. “You’re fortunate she decided that you weren’t worth the effort.”

“Your students – Moxie?” Ulya blinked, then paled. Her puppet stepped out of the house, but she made no move to have it attack again. “Vermil too? They called you?”

“Called? No. I typically don’t enjoy getting involved in their problems, and to be frank, they’re more than capable of handling any issues themselves. I just have a vested interest in seeing them and wanted to see the mettle of the advanced track for myself.”

“And you did that by… attacking Will?” Ulya asked in disbelief. “What would you get out of that?”

“Get? Nothing. I’ve always been a believer of treating others in the way that they treat you. If you threaten to assault those you believe to be weaker than yourself, shouldn’t you be prepared to receive the same treatment?”

“That isn’t what happened, though. All of us were to approach our respective targets and test them politely but efficiently. Acceptance into the advanced track relied on their performance in the fight. That’s it. There should have been no threats.”

Ulya seemed to completely believe what she was saying – which meant she probably had absolutely no idea about the wording Will had used with Moxie.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Which sounds entirely reasonable, except I don’t believe that was what happened. I believe Will’s offer to Moxie was that he’d be fighting her until she was no longer able to continue, whilst fully aware that she should have been functionally crippled.”

Ulya looked to Will in surprise, confirming Noah’s thoughts. Will had gone off script. That alleviated some of Noah’s anger almost instantly – she hadn’t been lying. Testing wasn’t unreasonable if they were going about it the proper way, though he still had objection to hounding his students while they should have been focused on work.

“Will?” Ulya asked. “What’s he talking about? That wasn’t the assignment.”

Will looked like he wanted to respond, but one look at Noah made him settle for just clenching his jaw and looking away. A few pieces of stone fell from the hole Noah had left in the wall and clattered to the ground.

“I think I may have to apologize,” Ulya said. “It seems Will may have gone considerably farther than he was meant to. I can swear that the advanced track doesn’t value itself on bullying members. We just want to ensure the quality of everyone within it. Was there any significant damage from Will’s actions? We would be–”

Noah raised a hand, cutting her off. “I’m not here because I’m babying my students, Ulya. I can see how you’d view it as such, but as I’ve already said, they can handle their own problems. I’m here because I wanted to see the extent of your arrogance and to entertain myself. I have much better things to be doing other than going around, crushing the weak beneath my heel.”

He sent a very pointed glance at Will that Ulya didn’t miss. She grimaced, nodding her understanding.

“We’ll deal with that, and we’ll make sure to avoid your lot in the future.”

“Avoid? On the contrary. Feel free to treat them like anyone else,” Noah said with a laugh. “Challenge is good. And, as fun as it is to turn someone’s words in their face, you and Will don’t have much to fear from me. I can’t go around crushing people weaker than me in the neutral zone, but Vermil and Moxie are both perfectly capable of challenging you themselves through the normal channels – and they don’t have to hold back.”

Ulya winced, sending a glance at the puppet standing by the hole in the wall. “I’m more than aware. Vermil destroyed one of my puppets.”

“Then perhaps you should have told him you didn’t want it broken before you started fighting. Words are effective, but it seems like you all have some difficulty using them,” Noah said. “No matter. You’ll learn – and I’d suggest you pass the warning along to Gero.”

“You’re going to go after him?” Will asked nervously.

“Did you hear nothing I just said? No, I’m not. Why would I waste my time? I’ve already passed the message along. I don’t need to do anything. If he tries something as stupid as threatening to kill one of Vermil’s students in a training exercise, then Vermil will kill him himself.”

“He cares that much about his students?” Ulya asked. “You’re referring to Alexandra, right? Gero is a pretty brutal teacher, but he’s very effective.”

“Perhaps, but Vermil doesn’t enjoy when other people threaten to kill his own. As far as he’s concerned, the only person allowed to try to kill his students is him. He’s rather territorial.”

Ulya looked like she couldn’t tell if Noah was joking or not. With his expression covered as it was by the mask, it was impossible to tell. Either way, it got the point across. Hunting Gero down as well would have been a pain in the ass, and Ulya had definitely gotten the message even if Will hadn’t.

All in all, that’s pretty much everything I wanted. Cocky little shit got his own words tossed back to him without making me step too far over the line, people have a good explanation as to why Moxie is strong again, the advanced track isn’t going to try their stupid shit again unless they do it through me instead of trying to just go after my students, and the mysterious benefactor can disappear without a trace. The only thing I still need to do is establish a few hooks that I can pull on later.

“I’ll keep your words in mind,” Ulya said. “And I’ll ensure Will and Gero do as well. There are other tests throughout the advanced track, though. I assume from your comments that you want them involved, just in the proper way?”

“See? Look at that. Words work,” Noah said. “They’re just considerably less fun than punching people. That’s precisely what I want. If you want them in the advanced track, then treat them like everyone else. If you don’t, then don’t. I really don’t care. There’s nothing you have that I don’t. I just don’t want to deal with the fallout of Vermil killing off another group of idiots. It gets tedious.”

Ulya started to nod, then paused when she registered what Noah had just said. He’d seeded more than enough questions in her mind to make sure that she’d have a vested interest in learning more about him – which meant that, when they next spoke, Noah would have the upper hand in getting information.

Now I’m satisfied. Moxie would be proud. I didn’t even have to kill myself.

“Then I believe we’re done,” Noah said. “Keep this in mind for the next time you decide to twist your orders, Will. You never know how strong someone is until the fight is over. A little respect goes a long way, but at least you gave me something to do tonight. I wouldn’t suggest you draw my attention again.”

With that, Noah turned and strode down the street. It would have been better if he had a way to theatrically disappear or teleport away, but his only fast-departure move was blowing himself up. And, while that definitely would have left an impression, he wanted bragging rights that he’d solved a problem and lived through it.

Ulya and Will’s stares bored into his back until he turned the corner and vanished into the darkness. Noah was pretty certain that Ulya would hold true to her word. He was less sure if she’d tell the other advanced track teachers about the fake master cleaning up after Vermil’s messes, but something told him that she’d likely give as little information away as possible.

Everything he’d learned about this world told him that information was one of the most valuable resources, and the advanced track teachers were unlikely to treat it any differently. She and Will would likely warn Gero off whilst giving away as little as possible and trying to figure out what they’d learned to their advantage.

He suspected he’d find out soon enough. With all the seeds he’d just planted, it wouldn’t be long before Ulya showed up at his room, trying to fish for information about him – and in turn, she’d tell him everything he needed to know about the advanced track.

Noah grinned as his steps faded into the night.

Not bad. Not bad at all.