Roles of the Church
"Adjudicator
Adjudicators act as arbiters of the Church's justice across the outlying cities. Serving as the counterparts of the Bishops, Adjudicators settle physical disputes and defend the cities from external threats, projecting the might of Church and reinforcing belief and trust.
Bishop
Bishops act voices of the Church across the outlying cities. Serving as the counterparts of the Adjudicators, Bishops are tasked with the operation of the branch churches, projecting the voice of the Church, establishing and maintaining belief and trust."
***
The remainder of the day following the meeting was considerably less eventful. After a quick library visit, I returned to my room to read over the mission information in detail. Apart from what we had already been told, there wasn't any more vital information. We were only forecasted to be in the city for a day, arriving just after the first Adjudicator departed and leaving just before the second arrived.
Our stated duty was simply to fill the role of Adjudicator in their absence, something which could be incredibly simple or exceedingly challenging, and of course it could be anything in between. In the briefing, we were told explicitly to act conservatively; we weren't to take action unless our motivation was clear. In the cases where any action could cause any sort of undo conflict, we were to seek instruction from one of the Bishops in the city. We were nothing more than a stand-in for the real Adjudicator, and while we would have the same authority on paper, we were unlikely to be viewed in the same way by the people of the city. It wasn't lost on me that the six of us were to do the job of one person, and that we weren't expected to do it well.
Also included in the folder was information on the city and the surrounding area, including a map. Burvil, located northwest of the capital, was considerably larger than Aarkile, having two fringe towns to support as opposed to one. These towns and their forts were placed in a mountain range, guarding the two places where passage was possible. The city itself was partially built into the same mountain range, insofar as the stone used to build the city and its walls was dug out of the mountains, with the created empty space being filled with more buildings.
Included at the end of the city details was list of important figures and families in the city and their affiliations. There were just a handful of families listed, each with a different unique power, only three of which were stand outs. The most powerful family in the city, both in terms of physical and political power, used water magic and was affiliated with the Church. They were one of two families directly affiliated with the Church, the second one being a family which used ice magic. This family was much fewer in number, but due to their good synergy with the water family, they were seen as equals.
The only family I felt we needed to worry about was the third most influential family. They didn't have a family-specific magic, but they were directly affiliated with the People's Government, and while their official stance towards the Church was neutral, they had a reputation for being particularly aggressive towards Church members, especially with hunter teams. In theory, us only being there for a day, and us acting in the capacity of Adjudicator while we were there, should mean we'd avoid most conflict with them.
This job felt weird to me. Dealing with people was significantly more complicated than killing things, but we were getting thrown into it full force, with potential for significant harm to more people than just us. This was largely why I was taking this extra time reading through the material we had been given. Even though the actual details regarding the mission stated multiple times we'd have a simple job ahead, there was simply too much that could go wrong, and it didn't sit right.
My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on my door.
"Slate, meet me in the training room."
It was Lemon's voice. I had reached the point of reading where I was mostly going through the same parts over and over to try and engrain them in my memory, so the distraction was certainly welcome, even if the request made me a bit apprehensive. I placed the papers back in the folder and picked up my sword. As I walked to the door, I mulled over how having the sword on my hip was quickly becoming more comfortable than not, and how I was becoming increasingly eager to use it in actual combat.
After a short walk, I was in the training room watching Lemon move the equipment towards the edges.
"So, we're fighting then?"
"Yep. If you're going to be on my team, I need to know what you can do. The others have been around here long enough to have enough information recorded on their ability. You, being a new addition, have next to nothing on file yet, and if I know nothing about you, I don't know what to do with you."
"What if I'm not a fighter?"
He paused what he was doing to look at me like I was an idiot.
"Then you wouldn't be here. A team member that needs to be protected at all times, no matter what they can do, is more of a hindrance than a benefit."
"So, you'd kick me out?"
"You kidding? I don't have that authority. No, I'd go pester the brass about having a useless team member until someone gave me a damn good reason for you to be here. Now help me move stuff so we can get this over with."
I started moving stuff on the opposite side of the room from where he was.
"How far should I be moving things?"
"I just want a good amount of room in the middle here. There's more than enough room in here for these things to be both out of the way and accessible, but for some reason they put everything all over the place."
"So about this far?"
"That'll work."
Bit by bit a square area was cleared in the center of the room, extending the already clear area the beast-like robot spheres were in.
"Alright, that should be good enough."
We met in the center of the room. The space we had clear felt nearly too big, making me feel small.
"So, what are we doing exactly?"
"Fighting. I thought I made that clear."
"No, you did. I just figured there'd be more to it than that."
"I was getting to that, just needed more than two seconds. We'll do fists only and try not to kill each other."
"I'd like to hear a little more certainty than 'try', but alright."
I started walking towards the edge of our little arena before pausing, looking down at my sword. There was the sensation of something pulling at my sleeve that somehow conveyed a feeling of worry. The sword did this every time I threatened to put it down, and even though I had largely grown used to it at this point, it always gave me mixed feelings. I couldn't deny the usefulness of the sword, and it wanting to remain by my side certainly didn't seem like the worst thing for me. On the other hand, it was a sentient sword. The only thing I could do in the moment, however, was to put it down while trying to, in some way, convey the temporary-ness of the separation. Having it by my side to potentially fall on was worse than dealing with its feelings.
I returned to the center of the room, standing roughly ten feet from Lemon, who was looking at me quizzically. He seemed to put out of mind whatever he was thinking as his eyes became serious and he took a fighting stance. I responded in kind, adopting a more defensive stance.
The distance between us wasn't large, and I fully expected him to cover it in almost an instant. While the explicit purpose of this was for Lemon to gauge my strength, I would also have the opportunity to gauge not just his strength but his character as well. While not necessarily accurate, the way he approached this fight would show me how he would lead our team.
Seeing me ready myself, he smiled faintly before launching himself towards me. He crossed the distance as quickly as I expected, bearing down on my face with a fist that seemed to emanate a faint heat. Acting mostly on reaction, I sidestepped towards him on the opposite of his attacking side, intending to throw a jab at his undefended side. Before I was able to attack, he struck out sideways with his unused arm. This fist struck out like lightning, hitting me in the same moment I registered the attack. It was an attack I had no hope of avoiding, but what stopped me from even defending against it was that his eyes, which I had been watching to predict his moves, hadn't moved in the slightest since I moved.
The fist struck me hard in the chest, making me skip a breath and sending me stumbling backwards a few steps. After hitting me, Lemon had taken a few steps backwards, returning to almost the same position he had started in, and was now slowly walking towards me in the same stance as before.
I forced myself to steady my breathing before once again taking a defensive stance. The situation was the same as before. There was nothing new to read about Lemon's person, and I knew that at any moment he would cross the remaining distance between us in an instant. His eyes were completely placid; the focus of someone with years of experience doing just this. As I was deciding my next move, he moved.
Like before, his fist was before me, attacking in the same manner. I sidestepped to the other side this time, acting even more purely on reaction than the first time. His hand narrowly missed my head, but before I could even make a move in response, he drew his arm back and struck the back of my neck with his elbow, between my shoulder blades.
I once again stumbled a few steps before quickly turning back to face him. He had created some distance and was slowly walking towards me once again. I rolled my shoulders to alleviate the pain between them, all the while watching my opponent for any movement. It had become clear that the follow-up attack was the blow that was intended to hit me, but there was too much power behind the initial attack to ignore it. Blocking it was a sketchy proposition at best, but it wasn't off the table.
As I was thinking, he attacked again. This time, I moved directly towards him. I had one hand positioned to block the secondary attack while I bent my legs slightly to avoid the primary. I didn't have an attack in mind this time; I was out of ideas and I wanted to see how he'd respond.
Just as I was about to make contact with him, he bent his outstretched arm and struck down on my shoulder with his elbow. The blow made me bend forward slightly where I saw a knee quickly rising to meet my nose. I kicked back reactively, once again stumbling backwards, as I realized his knee had stopped just before where it would have hit me. My heart, already beating rather quickly, briefly sped up a bit.
Like before, the two of us stood with roughly ten feet between us, but unlike before, Lemon wasn't moving towards me. Instead, he spoke.
"Humans and beasts are completely different opponents, but it doesn't mean you must give up all you've learned to fight one to defeat the other. A beast will attack simply and effectively, but most important, ruthlessly. A person will have multiple avenues of attack, and as many avenues of counterattack, but they may not always be attacking with the intent to kill you. With either opponent, nothing is gained from allowing fear to take hold. If you fight with the fear of death, you fight towards death. Simple as."
"Fighting without regard for my own life against something that will ignore its own injuries to kill me seems like a bad idea."
"Sure, but think of it this way. You either win or lose; you live, or you die. If you're fighting something that can kill you, if you hesitate, because you don't want to get hurt or something, it will kill you. That said, always know your opponent. There's no reason to fight an unwinnable fight, and a dishonorable win is better than an honorable death."
"I get that you want me to figure out whatever you're talking about on my own, but if we're going to be practicing anyway you might as well get to the point."
"Fine. Your primary goal right now is not getting hit. It's reasonable. You don't know how I fight so you choose caution first. Thing is though, you should've realized pretty quickly that I'm not trying to kill you. It's actually very easy to tell when someone's trying to kill you, but you'll figure that out on your own soon enough. That said, just because someone isn't trying to kill you, doesn't mean you shouldn't be fighting with the intent to kill them."
"I think some people would disagree with you on that."
"Yeah, well, fuck 'em. My comment about fearing death was specifically telling you to get over your fear of being hurt, but there's another element to it. You can't fight if you're worried about hurting or killing your opponent. Pull a punch at the wrong moment, and you lose; potentially die. Fight to kill, kill to win. Or force your opponent to tap. Whichever comes first."
"So, you want me to try and kill you?"
"Right, so brains aren't your strong suit, noted. I'm just telling you to go all-out. I'm someone trying to kill you; you're fighting to live. That is the situation we'll be getting into, and I need to know how much I can rely on you. Now, ready yourself."
As he finished talking, Lemon put his hands back up and started walking towards me once more. This time, I matched his stance and started moving towards him. The standard gap we had set came and went, and Lemon made to launch an attack yet again. This time, however, I watched for the moment he shifted his weight to his leg to dash towards me, and just as his balance was mostly on one leg, I moved. With as much strength as I could, I darted towards him, throwing out a simple but strong low punch at his abdomen, keeping my other arm up near my chest and face.
The punch looked and felt good, and for a moment I thought it may actually connect. The thought faded quickly though, as I watched him continue his movement, putting his weight fully onto his leading leg and spinning sideways, using the movement to dodge my punch, and using the momentum from it to throw a punch at my head. This was a new move from the previous punches, and it carried noticeably more power behind it while also moving considerably faster than the others. The only thing I could think to do in the moment was to duck. I made the split-second decision to push off the ground towards him with as much strength as I could, using my new position to attempt to drive my shoulder into his chest. This time, my attack landed.
There was a solid thump as my shoulder hit him squarely in the chest while his fist passed harmlessly over my head. The two of us stumbled a few steps in the same direction while he let out a few shallow coughs. I decided in that moment to truly take his advice to heart, giving him a strong shove before he could regain his footing. I regained my balance in a few more steps while he continued stumbling backwards, nearly falling over.
As soon as I found my footing, I dashed towards him, abandoning any defensive posture in an attempt to push my advantage as much as possible. Before I could reach him, he was able to catch himself and throw his hands up, prepared to meet my attack. A small smile crawled out of the corners of his lips. I too smiled as I reached him, throwing a full-strength punch, with the added momentum of my whole body, directly at his face. His smile faltered as he hastily put his hands in front of his face.
As my fist struck his hands, there was a puff of black smoke. I stopped nearly dead in my tracks, having lost all of my momentum in that punch. Barely registering the smoke phenomenon, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I looked at my shaking hand, thinking about how hitting him just now felt like striking a wall. Through the smoke cloud, I could make out Lemon smiling at me.