by Ivan Kal
The warrior’s sword, encased in purple light, slammed across the shield. Light exploded into all directions, but the shield held. The caster knelt and stabbed his wands into the stone, and then the ground heaved. It buckled forward and fire blossomed near the caster’s wands before entering the earth, and the wave of rock became a rolling wave of fire and stone. It rose to the height of the avatar and smashed into him.
The warrior raised his shield but he was still thrown back as the rolling wave picked him up and chewed him up, rolling him in the chaos of stone and fire. The warrior struggled to get free, but the caster was not idle. He raised his wands and sent two coiling dragons flying to the sides, around the wave, and then had them smash into the warrior. The purple light broke against the onslaught, and immediately a chime sounded.
There was no blinking in this time by the healers; instead, two humans entered the arena and gathered up the unresponsive warrior. I guess that the pendant can also tell if their status is critical or not, Morgan mused.
“The winners: Wizards of the Sacred!” Ragnor announced.
Amidst the cheers of the arena a guard approached them, and Morgan knew that it was their turn.
“Good luck!” Borodar told them as their team gathered to go. “I hope that we meet each other on the arena floor.”
“Thanks. I hope so, too,” Morgan said and they walked out, following the guard to the preparation area.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
They had their own preparation room. It was small, maybe four by four, and had a few couches and nothing much else. They had fifteen minutes to send someone out. They had already decided who it was going to be; they knew nothing about the Everstorm team, even though they had tried to find out without success. They only knew that they were from the Far East, from a small guild, just like them.
“Are you ready?” Morgan asked.
Vall jumped a few times and shook his entire body, warming up. “I am.”
Their dungeon dives had been fruitful—both he and Lucius had hit level thirty and had evolved their classes. Vall was now a Blazing Dragoon, and he wore the Molten Armor of the Eternal Watch set and carried the Guandao of the Betrayed General. He hadn’t had as much time as Morgan would’ve liked to train with his guandao, but he had gotten good nevertheless. The nature of skills made it easier to pick up things. The armor looked good on him: all black, looking like traditional Chinese armor, with gold accents. It had small plates all over, and a long skirt that came down below his knees. The guandao was the same color: mostly black with a bit of gold thrown in. Vall had used his stone on the weapon, turning it into a weapon that could level. It gained him an extra ability aside from the strength buff it already had, the Tempest of Fire ability, which he could activate to whirl his guandao in order to create a sphere of twisting flames around him.
“You remember what we discussed?” Morgan asked him again.
“Of course I do,” Vall said, annoyed.
Morgan knew that he shouldn’t be pestering him, but it was his own nerves. They had discussed strategies based on the types of opponents he could face, from tanks to casters. After Morgan had successfully created Klyn, all of them had trained together daily, fighting mock one-on-one battles. They had gotten a great feel about what each of them could do, and Morgan had made plans for each of their fights depending on the type of opponent; or rather he had made a series of what/if scenarios for them all. They hadn’t liked them all that much, but they had accepted most of his suggestions—and he had to call them that or they all got angry. Still, his plans did of course allow for independent actions, but he had made them all promise to follow his plans for the opening moves at least.
A guard arrived and let them know that it was time. Vall stopped warming up and saluted with his guandao.
“Wish me luck!” Vall said and walked out.
Morgan watched him go and hoped that they had made the right decision by picking him. It had been a tossup between Ves and Vall, simply because they were both front-line fighters that could take some punishment, and they wanted to try to at least pass the first round. They all rushed back to the lounge and sat down to watch. Vall walked into the arena to the cheering of the crowd, and his opponent was a Nel woman. At first glance it was hard to tell what kind of a fighter she was. She had very little armor on her body: a piece of metal lay on her shoulders, and she had one gauntlet, like Morgan wore, and a thin gambeson everywhere else. On one hip she had a sword, and on the other, a short sword both of which she unsheathed. She wore no helmet, only a circlet that rested on her forehead. Morgan would put her in the light warrior category—someone suited more to one-on-one fights with quick movements and powerful single-shot attacks, similar to Lucius. He only hoped that Vall arrived at the same conclusion.
Ragnor asked them if they were ready, and when they nodded he announced the start of the battle. Morgan’s eyes were glued to the arena floor as Vall activated the two abilities of his gear, Molten Core and Minor Strength. His armor turned red, looking as if it was molten—although it wasn’t, they had tested it—and the guandao did the same, giving him an increase in speed and strength. The crowd loved it, and they roared as Vall came alive.
His opponent crouched and raised her weapons. Vall did the same, then leaped, fire trailing behind him as he activated one of his new abilities, Blazing Leap. Morgan saw the woman’s eyes widen as Vall raised his guandao high and crossed the distance in an instant. Then as he was coming down upon her, he activated another ability—the newly purchased Jump Slash—and fire blossomed around his guandao’s blade as it started coming down. The woman started, raising her weapons to block, but Vall activated another ability, Double Momentum, and his guandao blurred and came down. The ground splintered and dust exploded all over. Morgan didn’t catch what happened, as it was too fast even for his eyes to see—but as the dust cleared a bit he could see the woman standing some distance away from Vall. Her gambeson was torn on her shoulder and blood was seeping through, but not a lot of it, and otherwise she was unharmed. Morgan grimaced—she was very fast.
“Go Vall!” Clara yelled out, cheering him on.
Vall didn’t hesitate, but pursued his opponent. A relentless assault that gave his opponent no room to act was his specialty. His Juggernaut class might’ve evolved, but his build was still mostly the same with a few additions. He leaped again, closing the distance, but the woman was ready now, her weapons already up and ready to block. But Vall didn’t use his slash ability this time; instead, as he raised his guandao, he took it in a whirl above his head and activated Tempest of Fire. Fire blossomed from both ends of his weapon and then it roared to life, surrounding Vall in a sphere of fire, shrouding him from sight and threatening the woman with the fire itself.
The woman reacted immediately, and this time Morgan caught what happened. She had some kind of disengage ability, he saw, as her form blurred and she back-flipped away. Vall came down on to the ground, the tempest around him disappearing as he stopped whirling his weapon. The woman swiped her weapons at him, sending a wind blade toward him. Vall sent a crescent of fire at it to negate it, and even before the two crescents met activated his Blazing Charge ability. Fire burst forth all around him and the ground cracked as he ran forward, every step cracking the stone. The two crescents met in front of him and a small blast exploded, obscuring Vall from sight further.
The woman couldn’t see him, but she sure as hell could hear him, as the entire arena shook from his charge. She drew back both her weapons and they started to glow, sparks flying off of them. Then as Vall appeared she stabbed forward, a lance of lightning exploding toward him.
He had to have noticed the attack in time, because he raised his weapon and whirled it, spawning a sphere of fire around himself. The lightning hit the flames and passed through—unopposed, of course, as fire could not stop a lighting strike—but Morgan noticed that the lightning continued through the sphere on the other side. The woman couldn’t see that her attack had missed, but then Va
ll soared through the fire in a jump. He raised his guandao and brought it down, again using the same combination of abilities as before.
The woman was taken off guard and barely managed to get out of the way. She jumped to the side and as Vall’s weapon slammed against the ground, cracking it and sending stone twisting, she stumbled and fell. Vall reacted immediately, pivoting and cutting from the side toward her midsection. The woman rolled and evaded as she pushed herself of the ground and got to her feet. But now Vall was in close range and they started exchanging blows. She blocked with her short sword and tried to attack with her longer one, but Vall met every strike of hers with his own. Then she danced away, and her tail lashed out, wrapping around Vall’s forearm and pulling his arm and weapon down, his guandao’s blade slammed into the stone and the woman lashed out with her weapon.
He twisted slightly, making her stab miss its target, but she still stabbed him in the shoulder.
“Crap,” Ves muttered.
Morgan didn’t comment, as he was too focused on the fight. Vall burst into fire and shouted, sending a shock wave spreading around him. The woman stumbled back, her tail letting him go. Then Vall attacked again, slashing, stabbing, and whirling his guandao. The woman parried and whirled, cutting from the side. Vall didn’t have the time to bring his weapon to block, so he shifted his shoulder, taking the blow on it and redirecting it away. Slashing attacks weren’t as effective against his armor. The woman changed pace, trying to go for more piercing attacks instead, but it was Vall who was dictating the pace of the battle. He stabbed with the butt of his guandao, then whirled his weapon to bring down its blade.
The woman evaded and parried, but Morgan could see her getting slower, see her losing strength. The battle was nearing its end. Vall attacked, a slashing move from the side—she moved to parry, but he stopped the attack and used the last of his new abilities, one that he had learned from Morgan.
Vall used Momentum Shift and his guandao change direction. Instead of cutting sideways, it cut down at an angle, scoring a deep cut on his opponent’s leg. She grimaced and closed her eyes tightly, but then the jewel on her head burst into light. Morgan closed his eyes as a sharp pain assaulted his eyes. Sounds of pain roared all around them from the stands. When the light was gone, he opened them and blinked several times to get the dancing shapes out of his sight and look at the arena.
Morgan saw Vall with a blade sunk deep into his stomach, his hand holding his enemy’s hand and weapon tight against his body. His other hand, holding his guandao, was raised high above his head. His eyes were closed, his expression pained, but he slashed down.
The woman’s eyes widened. She tried to pull back, but Vall held her hand tightly, keeping her weapon inside of his stomach.
The guandao came down. She tried to put her short blade up, but Vall activated Double Momentum when it was halfway down and it blurred faster than her sword could rise to block. He hit her shoulder, cutting through her gambeson and into her body, through her collar bone and half way down to her chest.
The woman fell to her knees and grunted in pain, and Vall pulled on her hand, bringing her closer. He let go of his weapon and raised a fist, smashing down. He half missed her head, hitting her somewhere in the throat area. She croaked and then he hit her again, this time in the temple, knocking her out. He raised his fist again, but the chime sounded as his fist came down. He stopped just shy of hitting her and a healer appeared next to them. She spoke something that Morgan couldn’t hear, and then Vall let the woman’s hand go, leaving the sword in his stomach and falling to his knees.
The healer tended to the woman first. She pulled out the guandao, and then poured a healing potion down her throat, the wound closing itself shut. Morgan had to wonder how much coin the two Great Guilds were throwing at this event—a single healing potion cost several hundred platinum bars, an obscene amount of wealth. At least for a small guild, but from everything Morgan learned it was probably nothing for the Great Guilds. They had the people with the expertise as well as resources to make them. As people ran into the arena to gather the woman from Everstorm, the healer turned to Vall. She didn’t give him a potion—instead, she pulled the sword out and healed him with an ability.
Vall then stood up, and Ragnor spoke.
“The winner: Sky Force!”
The arena roared its approval, and Vall grabbed his weapon from the floor and raised it high, eliciting an even stronger reaction. Then, after a few moments of basking in his victory, he walked out of the arena, and three mages from Ta’elara’s school came out and started repairing the grounds.
“Congratulations!” Borodar and his team said. Morgan smiled at the big man with a genuine expression. He could tell that the man meant it.
“Now it’s your turn to win,” Morgan told him.
Their team sobered up, but nodded seriously. Morgan and the others walked out of the lounge to meet up with Vall as the Last Vanguards went to the preparation area.
They found Vall in the tunnels leading up to the lounge. Ves ran up to him and caught him in a hug, and Vall laughed as he picked her up. The rest of them walked up and congratulated him.
“Well done, Vall,” Morgan said as he clapped his shoulder.
“It was a tough fight. She was very fast,” Vall said.
“You were great,” Lucius told him.
“Yeah, if you could’ve just managed not to get stabbed through the stomach it would’ve been perfect,” Clara said as she pushed Ves out of the way and bent down to look at him.
“Well, in my defense, I was blind at the moment,” Vall said as he scratched his cheek.
“Whoa,” Clara said. “This is some good work! I can barely tell you were injured at all.”
“Yeah, there wasn’t even any pain, unlike when a certain someone heals me.” Vall mock glared at her.
The tiny orc woman huffed, but kept looking at his stomach with her senses.
“We should get back up. The Vanguards are fighting next, and we don’t want to miss their fight,” Lucius said.
They all nodded and started walking up, hearing the crowd cheer louder, probably meaning that the fighters had entered the arena. As they walked into the lounge, they heard Ragnor announce the start of the fight, and they hurried over to the edge to watch. Before they reached it, however, the chime sounded.
The crowd gasped. Morgan looked at the others and then ran up to the others members of the Vanguards, who looked at the arena proudly. Morgan cast his eyes and saw a crater in the middle of the arena and green fire burning around it. Hexna stood at its edge, and at the bottom was a form that was so battered and twisted that he couldn’t tell what it was. The healer stood next to her opponent, her orange ability covering the body. She put the healing potion in their mouth and then blinked away.
The crowed was stunned silent, there was no sound coming from them as Ragnor announced the winner.
“Winner: Last Vanguards!”
Hexna started walking away from the arena floor as the crowed woke up and erupted. Morgan turned to look at Borodar ,who had a somewhat sheepish look on his face.
“She has issues with holding back,” he said with a shrug.
Morgan looked back at the crater. “Right, I can see that,” Morgan said, as he wondered just how well he knew his friends.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The next few matches passed with fewer surprises, and if Morgan could be so immodest, with a lot less skill and entertainment value. The first four matches had all been quick, true, but each had showed off a lot from the teams that fought. Even Hexna’s display was entertaining in the sense that it was not something that was seen often, but as the matches progressed, Morgan felt a bit of anxiety seep in, because soon it would be his team’s match against the Harbingers of Fate. They hadn’t decided who was going to fight—the Harbingers hadn’t yet fought any matches, and this one would be their first. It meant that they had all of their people free to choose from, and Morgan’s team only couldn’t pick Vall.
Morgan had caught Emily looking at him a few times, a strange look on her face. Morgan assumed that she was trying to rattle him, and didn’t respond or even acknowledge her or her team.
Then the guard arrived and both they and the Harbingers walked to their preparation rooms. Once in the room, they looked at each other, all of them thinking about the same thing.
“So, who will it be?” Vall asked.
Morgan wasn’t sure how to even pick. The choices weren’t really all that simple. If they planned to go further, he knew they had to pick strategically. He didn’t know if they could get to the final, but if they could then they would be at a disadvantage. They had five members and five rounds to go through—that meant Clara would have to fight, and if they spent all of their fighters now, then it would be she who was left at the end. But if they used her early, when many other teams still had their fighters available, they might lose and be out of the tournament. Morgan didn’t think that the Harbingers would pick their supporter, even though he was certain that Evor had some fight in him. They wouldn’t risk losing on their first match, and that meant someone stronger.
On the other hand, ideally Morgan would want to keep Lucius for as late as possible, since he was their strongest fighter, and that meant that the choices were between him and Ves.
“Either Ves or me,” Morgan told them with a sigh. He wasn’t sure if that was the right call, but the others seemed to agree.
“I don’t know how well matched I am against any of their people,” Ves said.
That much was true. She was their tank, meant to take their enemies’ attention and hold it while they dealt with them. She had some offensive abilities, and her bear was a plus, always, but they knew about it and had probably prepared accordingly. Morgan on the other hand hadn’t revealed many of his abilities to them, as his true focus was still hidden. He hadn’t really gotten to train as much as he wanted with utilizing Klyn, however, and the arena was completely solid and smooth stone, meaning his plants couldn’t grow anywhere.