"Caeden, I'm surprised that the Golden God is forming his own group." David Mercuria swaggered up to him, backed by ten more Metal Knights. He was looking around at all the people gathered, some still in line, others already holding gear and waiting for the rest to be armed and armored. A brief moment of anger and jealousy passed across his face before the arrogant smile returned. Apparently, the idea that so many people wanted to join Caeden irked him.

Outwardly, Caeden remained impassive. Internally, Caeden winced. His moniker was incredibly cringey. Golden God? Only someone with an absurdly oversized ego would actually enjoy being called that. The idea of bynames and monikers felt stupid to Caeden in general, but it wasn't really his decision. He was just stuck with whatever the majority wanted to call him.

"What do you want, David Mercuria? If you have no desire to join, this is not the place for you and your lackeys." Caeden kept up his persona, knowing it was likely more important now than ever. Everyone here wanting to join the Forged was literally here for this. For Caeden and his friends to stand up to the other factions for them. He couldn't back down, not at all. Everyone was watching.

David sneered, looking toward the spectral brutes and all the equipment still on their backs. "We have reason to believe that all this equipment was stolen from the Bronze Seat armory. We, as the arm of the Bronze Seat, are here to confiscate all of it until such a time as its origins can be determined." He smiled evilly.

Well, isn't that interesting. Caeden almost laughed. David trying to take their equipment under that pretense meant a few things. First of all, they had no idea Caeden was an ethersmith, or if they did, they had no idea what his skill level was. Subsequently, that meant the Metal Knights weren't keeping tabs on him. Secondly, they had to believe the weapons were obtained illegally. Obviously, the line about them being from the Bronze Seat was a load of crap, but they were expecting to find something incriminating about the weapons and armor. Luckily, Caeden could shut this down easily.

"Is that so? You all must be rather embarrassed then, allowing this quantity of arms and armor to be removed from the Bronze Seat under your watch." Caeden kept his expression neutral. Might as well needle them if they were here to start something. It would get him more insight into who David was as a person and an adversary.

David looked stunned for a moment. Apparently, this whole tale was half-assed; if he hadn't thought through the logical progression of events that would have led to this quantity of infused gear going missing. They must have heard about this event and come in half-cocked, looking to make trouble. Caeden wouldn't be surprised if the man had come up with that story on the spot.

As flustered as he was, David recovered quick enough. Though his followers looked incredibly uncomfortable. "Are you questioning our power?"

"Yes." Caeden replied blithely, "Obviously. If people can simply walk out of the Bronze Seat with hundreds of infused weapons and armor, you all are either blind or incredibly weak."

A thought seemed to occur to David, and he smiled, "When did I say all this equipment was from the Bronze Seat?"

"A minute ago, when you accused me of taking it. Your actual words were, 'we have reason to believe that all this equipment was stolen from the Bronze Seat armory.' That is literally what you said." Caeden pointed out. At this point, several of the students nearby were starting to snicker and whisper to each other.

"Well, I must have misspoken." David's face grew flush. He couldn't be used to anyone calling him out on his horseshit. "A few weapons have gone missing. They could have been misplaced, but in light of your massive stockpile, we believe you have been stealing from all the Seats and possibly other places as well. These weapons are to be handed over to us now!" His demanding tone returned by the end of his little explanation.

"I might have been willing to let you look for your 'missing' weapons among our stock, but I'm afraid it's quite impossible for them to be here. I happen to know the origin of every weapon you can see before you. I know who created them and where they were made. And none of them are from the Bronze Seat." Caeden casually shrugged his shoulders. "You can leave if that was your only concern."

"You can't possibly know where exactly every last one of these weapons and armor were made!" David shot back.

"I very much can," Caeden replied calmly.

"Oh, and where is that?" David added as much skepticism to his voice as possible.

"That's simple. I made them. Every weapon, every piece of armor was crafted by me, here on Academy grounds at Forge One." Caeden allowed himself a small smile.

David's mouth opened and closed like a fish on a hook. "That's impossible!"

"It's quite possible. I'm a fully accredited Master rank ethersmith. These are simple pieces for me. I mass-produced them in my spare time." Caeden was stretching the truth a bit there. While they were mass-produced, making this many pieces had been a difficult task for Caeden, and he certainly hadn't done it in his spare time. It had taken the dedicated effort of several weeks to make this much. But David didn't need to know that, and Caeden felt the line more suited the role he was playing. It seemed to work, as Caeden noticed several new members of the Forged looking down at their infused weapons and armor with a new sense of awe.

"Bullshit!" David spat, all sense of decorum falling away.

"Oh, it's very true. It's even registered on my student ID. Look for yourself." Caeden reached into his robe, pulling out his ID and lowering it to David's face.

Sharp, modifier aura category 5, invasion pressure 2,430, 6th tier control.

Physical Enhancement, modifier infusion category 5, invasion pressure 2,675, 3rd tier control.

Ethersmith Rank: Master

David's face darkened. Something shifted in his eyes. "I challenge you to a duel, from one faction leader to another."

"I have no reason to accept that as I'm busy at the moment. Come back in a week." Caeden waved his hand dismissively.

David laughed, "That's not how this works. You're a faction leader. You have to accept."

"There is no such rule in the school's rulebook." Caeden sighed. Did no one read the book?

"Rules were added when the Seat factions were created. Factions themselves now have rules independent of the base rulebook." David crossed his arms, "You have to accept."

Caeden frowned. "Adjudicator." As he spoke, a figure in all black robes with their face covered appeared in between Caeden and David. "Would you happen to have a set of these new faction rules?"

Wordlessly, the Adjudicator reached a gloved hand out from under their robes with a small booklet, no bigger than his palm. Caeden took it, thanking the Adjudicator and reading through the ten or so pages. The whole time he was kicking himself. He should have realized the Academy would police the factions to a degree. If he had known about special rules regarding faction leaders, Lily would be in charge. They had both agreed he should be named leader, considering his reputation. She could have handled David easily, whereas Caeden had a bad matchup with him.

"I see." Caeden closed the book, tucking it into his robes right next to his copy of the regular school rules. "What are your terms?"

The rules for factions dictated that faction leaders could challenge each other once a week. They would have to mutually decide the conditions for wins and losses, and their faction would be beholden to those changes. The new rules seemed to codify and legitimize the factions as powers within the school.

"When I win, you will disband this faction immediately." David had returned to his smug grin.

Dumb. Caeden couldn't help the thought. These conditions were final, but they only went as far as the leader dictated. Since David hadn't set any further conditions, Caeden could disband the Forged and then immediately reform it without breaking the rules. As well as a hundred other loopholes in such a simple demand. "Very well. When I win, your faction will be forbidden from assaulting or harassing any of my faction members for the remainder of the school year. You must leave them alone and unhindered."

"What? I'm not agreeing to that!" David protested. He could. The rules dictated that the leaders had to agree to the conditions. Technically, the way the rules were worded, another leader couldn't really force another into a duel, as their opponent could just not accept the terms.

Caeden imagined the rules were designed to make the results of a duel enforceable by the Academy, more than to force the faction leaders into a fight. David had simply interpreted them that way. The only reason Caeden was actually going along with this was because he could possibly win something for functionally zero risk. Caeden was starting to notice a trend with these family kids. They didn't know how to read the rules.

"Come now. You're asking me to completely disband." Caeden spread his arms, "You have to make it an equitable deal."

"Argh," David snarled. "Fine, have it your way."

"Duel to first blood. This doesn't need to get out of hand." Caeden added.

David nodded. "I don't need to kill you today. I want your faction gone, not your head."

Caeden assumed David had come here intending to disband the Forged. The whole thing about the infused equipment was just a pretense. He was a proud man, and it probably irked him that some continental that had no family backing could just make a faction and suddenly be on his level. Caeden didn't think the man held any real animosity for Caeden personally; he just hated the idea that someone not 'of his station' could occupy the same position as him.

"Forged," Caeden turned and addressed his new faction. "Clear the field."

Immediately, a space began to form around the two faction leaders until enough room for an actual duel existed. They stood twenty feet apart, with a cleared area in a circle roughly another forty feet out. The Adjudicator stood in the middle of their circle. They pointed at Caeden, then David, and threw their arms down and disappeared. It was on.

"Rose Garden." Caeden couldn't afford to mess around. David was strong and cunning; wasting time with weak mnemonics would get him nowhere. Instantly, a hundred thorns took form around Caeden. Making that many dipped into his reserves, but they would cover his losses in under a minute. Another positive; he had found a way to remove the noise component of the thorns. Now they floated, spinning silently.

"Sword Wall." David was not waiting idly. Swords of liquid mercury took form and rotated around David in much the same way Caeden was surrounded by his thorns. He had over twenty of them. Immediately five took off, heading for Caeden.

He couldn't let them reach him. One of the biggest problems with fighting David was that all his constructs were inherently poisonous. If Caeden got a cut, it would be much more devastating than a simple cut. Plus, the liquid nature of David's domain made defending against it much harder. Caeden sent out two thorns for each sword, and the constructs began clashing in midair. The swords were only semi-liquid. They rippled and splashed but maintained their shape. Problematically, this let them absorb much of the rotational force empowering Caeden's thorns.

"Lock." Caeden made a gesture, ten of his thorns suddenly accelerating their rotation. The physical substance of his shroud began deforming under the force. Then they stopped dead, all motion gone. "Release."

The petals that formed the rose-like shape of the thorns inverted on themselves, creating a spike pointed right at David. Then they shot off with all of the kinetic force Caeden had just stored in them, flying in a flash of red over toward the leader of the Metal Knights.

"Barricade." David didn't even blink. A massive wall of mercury surrounded him in an almost complete bubble. There was a small section by his head where he could look out. Otherwise, he was surrounded. In response to Caeden's attack, he sent out five more swords, all approaching Caeden at different angles.

"You think this is enough?" Caeden scoffed, sending out more thorns to counter. Internally, he was worried. Because all David's constructs were semi-liquid, Caeden's own shroud wasn't able to rip them apart. It completely nullified Caeden's normal long-range attacks. Plus, that bubble of mercury had proven it could handle high-density single-point damage. He didn't want to get closer, as that would make avoiding damage that much harder.

Well, go big or go home. Caeden mentally shrugged. He didn't have many options, so he had to take a risk. This was one situation where a long, drawn-out battle wouldn't benefit him, as Caeden would end up using more shroud maintaining his defenses than he could feasibly generate. That, and he wasn't confident about being able to block David if he started attacking seriously.

So he went for the risky option.

"Speedform." Caeden's golden body with its purple accents shrunk rapidly. His bulky musculature slimmed down into a lithe runner's physique. Back to six feet in height and significantly slimmer, Caeden's whole body was unrecognizable outside of the color scheme. In a smooth, practiced motion, Caeden drew Forged Infinity and flicked over to 001. A long, red, single-edged blade no wider than two inches unfolded from his shrouded weapon. Then Caeden blurred out of existence.

At least, that's probably what David saw. Really, Caeden had just shifted every aspect of his body to maximize speed. After weeks of practice and effort, he had much better control over Physical Enhancement. He now had a few mnemonics with this shroud as well. Technically what Caeden was doing now was possible for any shrouded with good infusion skills. All it took was a proper application and combination of formshift and physical enhancement, the fundamental skills every shrouded gained from infusion. He just had an easier time of it, seeing as physical enhancement was literally his shroud's domain.

What Caeden actually did instead of disappearing was blitz around behind David's mercury shield. The fact that he had a viewing port in the shield indicated a lack of skill with investigative aura sense. If it were Caeden, he would have completely sealed the entire thing and used his aura senses to direct his attacks from total safety. On the way past, Caeden tried to slice through the shield with Forged Infinity. It didn't work well. The mercury was both rigid enough to prevent him from breaking through and flexible enough to not shatter under pressure. The viewing gap David had left open was also too small for him to just run inside. So that idea was out.

The level of speed Caeden could achieve in this formshift was mind-melting. He had to invest a significant chunk of shroud into enhancing his brain and eyes just so that his mind and senses could process fast enough for him to use it. The problem was, he couldn't leverage the same amount of raw force in this form. He needed to be fast enough to avoid every single attack while strong enough to pierce through David's defenses.

If he had more powerful long-range attacks, Caeden would have used them. Unfortunately, a modifier shroud like Sharp just inherently had less potential than an object shroud. After all, the aura constructs he made, like his thorns, were manifestations. When they broke apart, they dissipated into nothingness. Meanwhile, all of David's attacks were him using his aura to manipulate actual, real mercury. Even if Caeden did damage to his flying swords or the shield surrounding him, that mercury didn't disappear. It just splashed around for David to pick back up. He had a major, inherent advantage in long-range combat.

Caeden knew he put himself at a further disadvantage when he proposed the duel be to first blood. But, he genuinely didn't want a fight to the death. Sure, David was a classist dickhead, but he didn't deserve to die for it. Plus, killing him would have major complications for Caeden immediately and in the future. Plus, he wanted to avoid killing whenever possible. Caeden had already killed when he saw no alternative in the ancient structure. At the time, he had neither the power nor the luxury of resolving the situation without killing, and he regretted it ever since. So he wanted to keep this as far from lethal as possible. He also wanted to win.

Fuck it, he's tough. We'll just go for it. Caeden saw no way to resolve this without going for a more dangerous attack. David was simply too powerful for him to fight while holding back. The amount of good securing a nonaggression pact with the Metal Knights outweighed the small chance his attack would severely harm his opponent. Honestly, Caeden had known he would almost certainly have to use one of his more dangerous mnemonics to win this fight from the beginning. He had just hoped it wouldn't come to this.

Caeden had created several extremely, extremely lethal mnemonics since he had learned of them. Some were combinations of two mnemonics that used both his shrouds. What he was going to use didn't make the top ten list for lethality. He still wasn't sure about using it. But, he didn't see another option besides forfeiting, which he wasn't willing to do.

Preparing himself and praying this worked without causing too much harm, Caeden transformed Forged Infinity. First 000, then 002, then 023. Now he had a wedge-shaped plow with two handles that he could hold in front of himself like a battering ram that was nearly as tall as him, around five feet high. Facing the back of David's shield, Caeden activated two mnemonics in rapid succession.

"Bramble."

"Acceleration."

First, red smoke drifted from his mouth, the gold and purple. The first mnemonic caused crimson spikes to grow all over his body and the battering ram. The second mnemonic was accompanied by Caeden starting to run straight for David's shield and caused him to accelerate at nearly twice the speed he could usually achieve in speedform. That acceleration was mitigated by the massive, heavy metal wedge he held. Still, he blessed across the distance in a fraction of a second.

Upon hitting the shield, Caeden noticed it really behaved like a non-newtonian fluid, hardening in response to the massive physical impact he was generating. It also stretched, eating up massive chunks of the kinetic force he had generated with his charge. A surprising, concerning amount, actually. Caeden slowed to a fifth of his speed in an instant. Still, he was breaking through. Before his momentum entirely died on that stupidly powerful shield, he burst through. Slamming into David's back, three different spikes on the wedge punched into him. Even then, the barrier had killed so much of his momentum that the spikes barely made it an inch into the faction leader before stopping.

Caeden could tell David was using infusion, as his body was hard as stone. He was flung forward off his feet rather than sliding further onto the spikes. All told, Caeden did much less damage than he was expecting. Apparently, he didn't give David enough credit. His defenses were insane. The Metal Knight hadn't even gotten serious yet.

Walking over to the bleeding, fallen foe, Caeden reached a hand down. "I would have liked to use a less dangerous attack, but your defenses were far too good. I could not hold back."

With a slightly embarrassed scowl, David took the offered hand and Caeden pulled him to his feet. "I don't want to acknowledge you, considering your lack of culture, but your combat skills truly live up to your reputation. I think my plans today were not as well-conceived as I had hoped. I will uphold my end of the deal. None of the Forged will be attacked or harassed by any Metal Knights for the remainder of this year. You have my word, on my family's name."

He then signaled those who came with him, and they left as fast as they could as students around him began to murmur and comment on his loss. Caeden watched him go with conflicting thoughts. He was absolutely a classist asshole, but he seemed to take honor and integrity seriously. Caeden wasn't sure how to feel about him. The only reason he tried to start shit with Caeden seemed to be from a genuine belief that Caeden didn't deserve to be a faction leader. Even believing Caeden had stolen the infused weapons from somewhere tied into that.

"Well, that kicked ass!" Erik suddenly appeared, pulling Caeden from his thoughts. "You really showed him up. Man, he's not going to live this down for a while! Ha!"

Caeden shook his head. "I'm surprised you didn't jump in."

Erik shrugged. "Oh, I was going to. Lily stopped me. She circled around while you were having that mental dick-measuring contest with Mr. Mercury and said we should let you handle it. Some prestige bullshit. Whatever, she's way smarter than me, so I went with it. Besides, she said it wouldn't matter if you lost after she got a book from the black-covered weirdo."

Erik was obviously referring to the Adjudicator, who seems to have left the second the fight was over. Apparently, Lily had caught on to what Caeden was doing.

"Well, big leader man, what are we doing with all these people anyway?" Erik asked.

Caeden looked over the gathered throng of hundreds of students, all of whom wanted to follow him.

"I have no idea."