“You guys are seriously creative with these descriptions,” Rei muttered, trying for a smirk that he didn’t think came off as anything more than a pained expression. “It’s not as bad as it looks. I’ll be fine in a day or two.”
“Was it Grant and his posse?” Sense growled. “Are you the reason they showed up looking like that this morning? And when the hell did Warren and Emble start hanging with those guys?”
Rei couldn’t keep his face from darkening, and he hoped his irritation at the mention of the two Brawlers stayed hidden in his bruising. “You’ll have to ask them.”
“Grant had nothing to do with it,” Viv said from beside Sense, speaking quietly again. This back and forth change in demeanor was seriously starting to worry Rei.
“How do you know that?” the bald Brawler asked, turning on her and finally letting Rei go. “That jerk’s been laying into Rei all term, from what I’ve seen and heard.”
Viv opened her mouth, looking like she were trying to come up with a good answer, when a different, deeper voice spoke up in her stead.
“Because I already made that clear.”
As one all six of them—Leron Joy included—whirled to find Logan Grant lumbering towards them like a thundercloud. Behind him Selleck and the others lingered meekly, kicked dogs told to stay, and the Mauler’s approach was so unexpected that no one moved as he shouldered his way between Sense and Kay.
Then, grabbing Rei by the collar of his uniform, he twisted and shoved him up against the nearest hallway wall.
“Grant!” Aria snarled in warning as Viv, Sense, Kay, and several other students passing nearby shouted in alarm.
“Oh shove off, Laurent,” Grant snapped back, not looking at her. “I’m not interested in breaking your boyfriend when he’s already been kicked to shit, don’t worry.”
Rei thought he saw Aria’s teeth bare at the retort, and he held up a hand—as best he could, at least—to stop her escalating. She came up short, but Rei only had eyes for the massive boy in front of him, the pair of them glaring at each other with angry fervor.
No… Maybe—for once—“angry” wasn’t quite the right word…
There was something different about Grant’s expression, this morning, something… off. He looked like he was trying to come off as furious, but it was tinged with something odd, something Rei would never have thought possible given his understanding of the Mauler’s character.
Shame.
“You’re a waste of damn space, Ward,” Grant hissed in his face, his left eye bloodshot from where Viv must have indeed repeatedly punched him the day before. “You’re a anchor, and you have no business being here. I despise you. I despise everything about you, from the way you fight to the way you talk to the way you’ve got your friends wrapped around you finger with charm and smiles. It’s pathetic, and if I ever get the chance to wipe you off the face of this fucking world I’ll take it in a heartbeat, and make it a better place for it.”
He continued to stare at Rei, black-red irises burning.
Then, with a jerk, Grant let go of his collar.
“But… When I put you down, it’ll be on the field. In front of everyone. Again. It won’t be some back-alley beatdown or some half-assed ambush.” Grant looked like he wanted to spit, like the words tasted bad in his mouth. “My ‘friends’—and I use that term loosely, right now—won’t be bothering you again. If they do, Arada can let me know, and I’ll take care of it.”
“Like I need your help, asshole,” Rei grunted, fighting his discomfort and reaching up to straighten his uniform, which had twisted around his neck under the taller boy’s abuse.
Grant’s lip curled in irritation. “I’d say the state of your face right now says you could use all the help you can—”
“In your own words, Grant: shove it.” Rei cut the Mauler off sharply, his patience for wordplay at an all-time-low that morning. “Play the hero all you want. Doesn’t change the fact that your attitude is what breeds people like Selleck and those other cowards, and if you’re unwilling to realize that, then you’re not doing anything more than patting yourself on the back for addressing the symptoms instead of the problem.”
It happened for only the briefest of moments. Grant’s face contorted, twisting into a picture of such an astounding emotion, Rei’s jaw almost dropped.
Was that… regret?
Looks like he’d hit the nail on the head…
In an instant, though, Grant’s facade of rage was back, and he shoved one long finger into Rei’s chest, pressing him into the wall again.
“I’ll handle Selleck and the other idiots. You just do your best not sink your little group. I don’t care if you’re getting stronger, Ward. I don’t care if you’re catching up. You run when you should fight. You hide when you should face. You’ve tricked and connived into every small victory you can claim so far this year. Your way of doing things is a disease, and you’re going to kill the potential of your friends if you keep it up.”
“Oh shut the hell up, Grant.”
It was, to everyone’s surprise, Aria who chimed in at that moment. Rei and the Mauler both turned to look at her, but there was no hint of the shy, uncertain girl she tended to live off of the battlefield. Instead, Aria stood now with all the erect surety of the ace of Galens first years, green eyes narrowed at Grant with such intensity they might have cut through flesh.
“You’re quick to dismiss Rei’s ability just because you don’t like the way he does things,” she snarled. “You’re so damn sure of yourself that you lack even an ounce of self-awareness. Maybe consider the fact that you’re not the smartest person in the room. Maybe consider the fact that Viv and I—who I think you know are both going to be top contenders at the Intra-Schools—are intelligent enough to know what’s good for us, and what’s bad. Wake the hell up, and stop insulting everyone around you with your misplaced masculinity issues.”
She spoke with such burning sharpness that neither Rei nor Grant appeared to have anything to say in answer, both of them staring at her in surprise. After a second Aria’s face flushed with embarrassment as she returned to herself, and she took advantage of their astonishment to grab Rei by the arm and pluck him from between Grant and the wall.
“Keep assuming your enemies are nothing more than what you see at first glance, and one day you’re gonna be left bleeding by someone unexpected,” she muttered as a final statement, pulling Rei past the Mauler firmly. He let himself be led away without a word, watching Grant’s eyes trail them as the Mauler tried to hide the astonishment that lined his half-opened mouth. After a second Sense, Kay, and Leron all moved to follow.
Rei didn’t miss, however, Viv’s hesitation, her blue eyes finally lifting to look at the back of Grant’s head.
Nor—when she finally hurried to follow them—the fact that boy’s own gaze broke from him when she passed, watching Viv herself go with what could only have been called disappointment.
CHAPTER 33
Early October – Two Weeks Later
Squad-formats have long been a favorite of tournament enthusiasts, arguably even before the SCTs became a sanctioned event by both the ISC and the ISCM. Given the nature of the archons and their existence only at the extent of our expansion into the reaches of space, the military deemed it safe to share footage of combat exercises and team training with the masses as a form of morale boosting, a way to raise the spirits of the billions across the six—now seven—systems. The commanding officers of the armed forces underestimated the effect these feeds would have however, particularly when it came to instances of squad-based mock battles.
Within a few years, the Simulated Combat Tournaments were born, with Team Battle and Wargames formats drawing views and crowds second only to the very highest echelons of individual Duels.
- Essentials of Simulated Combat in Military Training
Lieutenant Colonel Hana von Geil, Ph.D.
Distributed by Central Command, Earth
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“Dammit!” Lena Jiang’s angry voice cut through the chaos of the com noise. “Dorne got by us! Ward! Lancer headed your way! Just hold them off long enough for reinforcements to get back to you!”
“Got it,” Rei answered dryly, trying not to sound too annoyed as he shifted his attention from NOED-linked communications to the trees around him. Under his feet the shin-high grass weaved and danced in the simulated wind, and the forest that surrounded the clearing he stood in bent and swayed in the same rhythm. Birds traced graceful arcs across the sky overhead, where only the occasional cloud patterned the clear, endless blue. It should have been mesmerizing.
Regrettably, though, the distant sounds of battle—steel clashing against steel and people shouting as they fought—somewhat ruined the scene’s peaceful effect.
Around Rei’s arms and legs, Shido’s phantom-call gleamed in the daylight. He could actually feel the heat of the sun on the back of his neck, but after weeks spent in squad-training with the other classes the realism of the projection no longer astounded him. He truly placed himself mentally in the field, ignoring the fact that it was all a hologram, eyes sweeping the tree-line around him as he took two steps back, closer to the plain black pole that was Red Team’s objective “flag”. It was still strange to witness the CAD pulsing crimson rather than blue about his limbs, the vysetrium having adapted to the side-designation, but Rei set this small distraction aside, looking for a glint of light in the woods, listening for the approaching crack of disturbed underbrush.
Sam Dorne of D-1, however, proved himself a slippery bastard for a Lancer.
The flash of metal catching sunlight alerted Rei to the User before anything else, and he whirled to his left. Dorne had managed to sneak around to the north side of the clearing without him noticing. He was barreling from under the cover of the trees to make a direct line to the flag, his Device glowing blue over orange-and-black steel, spear tucked at the ready under one arm. With a crunch of the loose earth shifting under his soles Rei was between the boy and the objective, Shido up and set. Dorne didn’t so much as pause, but why would he? Rei had only reached a CAD-Rank of D5 two days prior, while he knew for a fact the Lancer had hit D9 around the same time Viv had done the same. Their gap in power was substantial—even more than Dorne knew, given Rei’s skewed specs—and it was with a confident shout that the boy brought his weapon around in a diagonal strike aimed at Rei’s thigh.
Unfortunately for the Blue Team member, Rei had long since made a point of studying the art of spear-wielding, and even with his better specs Sam Dorne couldn’t have held a candle to Aria if she’d fought him barehanded.
Speed was where Rei could meet the Lancer most closely, and he applied this fact by twisting and bringing one leg up, into the inside arc of the spear’s strike. The haft caught on the steel plating of his shin, impacting harmlessly, and Rei continued the turn even as he planted the defensive leg again. His other foot came around in a whirling heel kick, and Dorne was forced to duck to ensure his head would stay fixed on his shoulders. The Lancer cursed, leaping back, but the moment he could Rei followed, practically hearing Viv’s constant criticism to keep his opponents within assailable range of Shido’s claws. He punched out, going for Dorne’s exposed chest, but with a twisting snap of the spear the Lancer smashed the strike aside. Again Rei turned the momentum into a spinning kick, and this time he caught Dorne in the side.
The Blue Team member hardly budged, having planted and braced, but by closing the distance between them Rei had eliminated the boy’s most significant advantage.
People were shouting across the coms again, but Rei didn’t have time to be distracted. He kept his focus on Dorne, intent on staying between him and the flag as they traded blows back and forth. With his reach stolen, the Lancer’s ability was severely reduced, and Rei could see the awareness of that fact bright in the boy’s face as they fought. Good. That was good. If he was distracted by his own failing, then maybe—just maybe—Rei had a chance to turn their power mismatch on its head.
He stayed tight to Dorne as they circled the clearing, not letting him get out of range for even a moment. He was struggling to land any kind of significant blow, but all he would need was one opportunity, one shot. His opponent’s strikes were short, concise in his limited range, and while they looked well-practiced they subsequently lacked the speed that would have had the Lancer outclassing him. Dorne wasn’t adept at close-quarters like this—what User of his Type was, at their level?—and if Rei could just force him to grant him an opening…
And then, from the east, there was a blurred flash of familiar purple-and-yellow, and all at once Rei’s right leg failed him as a burning pain cut across the back of his thigh.
“Urk!” he managed to quell the scream, but he could do nothing to stop himself from collapsing as his knee gave out. Dorne, to his credit, didn’t hesitate to take advantage of the surprise assistance, his spear coming around in a blur before Rei had even hit the ground. The glowing-blue of the blade took Rei a little above the heart, and a searing burning enveloped his chest. As a last resort he tried to yell, tried to get the word to the rest of his team.
“Objective compromised!” he wheezed into his coms. “Objective compromised! There’s two! There’s two!”
But then he saw the damage notifications flashing across his frame, and knew it was too late.
Right hamstring severance registered.
Applying appropriate physiological restrictions.
Ascending aorta severance registered.
Fatal Damage Accrued. Communications interrupted.
Removing “Reidon Ward” from combat.
As Dorne wrenched his weapon free of Rei’s chest, the pain vanished all at once, as did most of the sensation throughout his body. A moment later he found himself sinking, sinking down through the grassy ground, his vision of the projection distorting as he slipped beneath the hologram into the 10-foot space under the elevated field where “killed” combatants waited out the end of a Team Battle. He regained feeling in his limbs as he continued to descend, and by the time he was deposited gently onto the plain black of the projection plating Rei could shove himself up with a bare grunt of effort.
He found his feet just in time to hear the Arena announce the end of the match.
“Contact with Red Team’s objective maintained for 15 seconds. Winner: Blue Team.”
Looking up, Rei couldn’t help but chuckle as above him the field started to dissolve. At the same time, the scattered members of the opposing squads began descending across the broad expanse of the 70-yard Team Battle zone, including the two directly above him. Sam Dorne recalled his Device as he descended, the CAD vanishing to leave the boy in only his grey-and-red combat suit.
Beyond him, though, the real culprit of the fight was also floating down gracefully, one gauntleted hand still raised to her side where she’d touched the black pole and maintained the 15-second contact needed to win, the modified red glow of her weapons turning back to sliver before Rei’s eyes while she grinned down at him.
“Two on one’s not very fair!” Rei called up, feigning irritation.
From the air, Viv laughed, letting her hand drop. “I just gave you a love tap. Dorne would have had you soon enough, I’m sure.”
In addition to sword and knife, Gemela gleamed around her forearms as the light of the true day caught on the gauntlets, brand-new additions when the Device had become one of the first—outside of Shido—to evolve among the first years, upgrading when Viv had hit D9.
“I hate to say it, but I’m not so certain,” the Lancer himself said with a frown, finally reaching the plating lightly as the last of the Woodlands field faded above them to reveal the open canopy of the Arena proper. Looking around, he nodded to Rei in a rare show of respect “I’ve got to admit you’re a lot tougher than I’d heard, Ward. We rushed because we thought you’d be a pushover when we realized you were on defense. Good fight, though.”
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�Good fight,” Rei returned the nod before recalling Shido. After the CAD had dematerialized into its bands, he continued. “Probably just luck, though. I managed to stay inside your optimal range. Someone—” he offered Viv a mocking glare as she came to land and started approaching as she recalled Gemela in turn “—has been drilling it into my head non-stop for six weeks now.”
“Well don’t complain about it too much. It worked on me.” Dorne frowned, brushing a hand across a sweat-dampened head of red-brown hair as he looked Rei up and down. “That being said, isn’t it weird to have you defend? Especially on your own as a Brawler? Why weren’t you on recon or the like?”
Good question, Rei thought angrily, but decided on a more diplomatic answer instead as he offered what he hoped was a passable shrug. “I’m technically an A-Type, so maybe my squad-leader was under the impression I’d have something hidden up my sleeve?”
“Clever of her,” Viv answered sarcastically as she came to stand beside the pair. Then her blue eyes narrowed a little. “Then again, maybe you should ask her yourself, Dorne. Looks like she’s on her way over here.”
With a sinking feeling Rei looked around the Lancer to indeed find a tall, black-haired girl approaching at a clip that said she was not planning to have a friendly, post-match chat.
“Great,” he muttered. “This’ll be fun. You two want to do me a favor and get back to the Blue Team? I need to deal with this.”
With a look that said “Good luck” Dorne turned and hurried towards the far side of the field perimeter, where the Red Team was gathering. Viv, for her part, hesitated a moment, then seemed to decide this was indeed a battle he’d have to handle with on his own.
Iron Prince: A Progression Sci-Fi Epic (Warformed: Stormweaver Book 1) Page 52