Skylands Legends

19.3 Golden Arcade

Jet Vac had been surprised by his own strength, and not just by his physical strength, but his arcane. He had always been Inritus, never really being able to sense the well of arcane power that existed just outside their reality. But that all changed after what happened at the Academy. He had felt an unfamiliar force surrounding him, one that he knew he could reach out and touch if he chose to do so. He had ignored it at first, but after his talk with Spyro he had realized that not using it would mean Splat's death was for nothing. And so when he saw Spyro fall, he knew he had to step in.

He's not sure how he knew he could hold back the Thunder Tow's claw, but it just seemed right. And then the way the wind had danced around him like weaves of energy, it all just made sense to him. He knew that in stopping that pincer, he had used a lot of arcane, more arcane than most of the Skylanders were able to even wield in the first place. But after having done it, he was surprised at how much he still had access to. He wasn't even winded.

Wanting to test out more of his newfound power, he went to battle with the Thunder Tow. He let the arcane power fill his body and felt all of his senses become sharper. He was able to dodge the crustaceans' claws with ease as he flew around the arena. He found the weak spots in the creature's armor and began firing blades up inside the carapace, causing the creature to cry out in pain. He fueled more of his arcane into each of the blades as he shot them, giving them more speed with the wind and allowing them to bury themselves deeper into the Thunder Tow's flesh, some of them even managing to pierce the beast's carapace.

Jet Vac became drunk with this power. He wanted to keep using more of the arcane, he wanted to see how much of it he could use. He continued to draw deeply from it, yet he found no end in sight. Before he knew it, the giant was on its back foot and was swinging wildly in the hopes of getting a lucky hit in. None of it came close.

The crowd erupted with cheers as they started to chant his name. The electric energy of the arena seemed to only feed into his power, and so he kept drawing in the arcane. Ducking and weaving and shooting, he longed to try something new. Something that would show just how powerful he is.

Coming to a halt midair, he drew in the air around him and prepared for the Thunder Tow's next swing. He waited until the last second before throwing all of the air forward and focusing it into a shield. The creature's claw collided with it and bounced backwards, putting it off balance. Jet Vac used the opportunity to strike. He dove straight for its head, gathering air around him, making himself into essentially a tactile missile. He collided with the creature's face at full speed.

The Thunder Tow fell to the ground hard. Jet Vac rose to his feet, standing over the unconscious beast in victory. The crowd was going wild all around him, screaming his name with pride.

All of that power... it felt so good. Jet Vac wanted to keep it going. He had burned through maybe three quarters of his arcane reserves at this point, but he didn't want to stop. The familiar feeling of bloodlust was building up in his mind. He knew he should fight it back, but what could it hurt letting it stay for a moment? It wanted him to use the arcane. It wanted him to kill the beast. What was wrong with that? The arcane was meant to be used, it was a shame if it wasn't.

He held his fist out to the crowd and extended his thumb just as Trigger Happy had. He watched for their response and the crowd went wild. Thumbs were down all over the arena. They wanted him to kill the beast. He needed to kill the beast.

Raising his arm up into the air, he let the rest of his arcane summon around it, filling it with power. He knew a blow like this would kill the Thunder Tow. He just needed to go through with it.

He waited until the cheering had reached the climax and prepared to swing. Just as he did, the image of Splat's bloodied corpse flashed through his mind, stunning him out of his attack. The arcane dissipated around his arm and he slumped down to one knee, gasping for breath.