Now that he could actually follow the fight, though… Rei found himself stricken with an awe the likes of which he had never before experienced.
Despite the irregularity of the combat, despite the proximity of Esku and Thren, despite neither of them being able to bring either of their weapons to bear to any appropriate extent, their exchange was fluid, flawless, and seemingly without end. In consecutive volleying back and forth the two third years twisted and swung and slammed the broad-sides and butts of their Device hafts at each other, almost appearing to take it in careful turns to duck and dodge and dance out of the way. The whole time, however, neither girl stepped beyond the disadvantaged range they shared, like they both held more faith in preventing the other from bringing the full might of their weapons to bear than they did in having the chance to applying their own true strength. To the casual observer it might have seemed like fear, like cowardice.
To Rei, however, it spoke only to the absolute acknowledgement by each combatant of the other’s ability.
Wham-WHAM!
Thren was the first to land a real blow, the paired kicks happening so fast Rei almost missed the combo despite having been watching with riveted, rapt attention. As Esku had adjusted her footwork, taking a small approaching step over the dust-choked flat, Thren had hooked her heel with the crook of an ankle, jerking the leg forward. In a blink the Lancer’s foot was back up, slamming into the Mauler’s chest even as she just started falling from the surprise off-balancing. Esku rocketed backwards, limbs and still-held hammer trailing after her body like the tails of a kite. She hit the ground only a few yards from the field perimeter, tucking and rolling and coming up on her feet in time to deflect the driving point of Thren’s weapon, thrust forward in a graceful assault as the Lancer had zipped across the flat ground with nothing more than a shove of one foot and a pulse of yellow light from her external. Despite the failed attack the crowd roared in approval as the first use of the module occurred, the mere effect of it enough to send screams of excitement rippling through the crowd.
Rei forced himself not to get caught up in the energy, forced himself not to get lost in the avid exhilaration of witnessing such a battle with his own two eyes for the first time.
Thren recovered from the deflection in a blink, keeping behind the momentum of the skating lunge to drive a narrow shoulder into Esku’s armored side. This turned out to be a mistake, because while the Mauler slid several feet across the salts, she herself hardly shivered from the impact. Instead, she took the opportunity to release the haft of her hammer with one hand, slamming the back of a clenched fist at Thren’s face. The Lancer blocked only barely in time with a raised arm, but the minimal Defense her slim Device must have offered was highlighted when Esku’s blow landed hard enough to drive through, catching Thren in the head anyway and sending her staggering sideways. Rei thought he saw something like shards of yellow glass raining to the floor of the field, and sure enough when the Lancer looked up the right side of her visor was mostly shattered.
Well… At least it wasn’t her face.
Unperturbed by the damage to her Device, Thren thrust herself sideways. Any other User would merely have made an awkward hop with such a motion, but the third year instead slipped over the ground in a graceful arc around Esku, salt dust rising in wisps after her trailing foot. The Mauler—not to be outdone—looked to time the angle of the circle, then blurred forward to try and catch Thren by surprise.
It didn’t work, but it did provide Dent another chance to shout about the second Break Step usage.
Over several minutes the fight continued to evolve, growing more and more vicious at every opportunity. Thren managed to drive the point of her lance into Esku’s side, earning herself the advantage for a time before the Mauler caught her left arm in a downward chop of her blue hammer. A minute later the Lancer had demonstrated that she also possessed the Repulsion Ability, but Esku looked to have read some sign in the shifting of her opponent’s body, because she leapt clear of the blast radius only an instant before the energy was released. It was the Mauler’s turn after that to unleash Mirage—an Ability that briefly projected an autonomous-but-harmless second copy of herself—but Thren used the advantage of her reach to keep the two mirrored images of her enemy at bay long enough for the hologram to flicker and fade. Not long after that the two girls looked to be reduced to nothing but their own physical ability, the fight ramping up in both speed and savagery as the pair grew desperate to end the match before either of them reached the limit of their Endurance.
In the end, it was Thren’s body that failed first.
Not for a moment had the Duel slowed down. Not for a moment had the two girls disengaged, or had one retreated in an attempt to catch a breather and recover. On the contrary, the paired third years had gone after each other like beasts lost to bloodlust, hacking, slashing, and stabbing all while throwing dust and sand into the air in great clouds as they steadily ruined the perfection of the salt flats between them. For this reason, it surprised no one when the end came abruptly, when the loss was delivered only after body, mind, and Device alike had been pushed to their limits, and very likely beyond.
PING!
The sound of loose steel ringing clean echoed the flashing, whirling form of Thren’s green-and-yellow lance flying point-over-end through the air, knocked out of its User’s grip by a massive up-cut from her opponent’s hammer the Lancer had tried desperately to deflect. She managed to save herself the impact of the blow, but her Strength failed her in that moment, her weapon sailing well-clear of her reach. Immediately she launched herself backwards, skating in reverse without taking her gaze off of Esku, obviously making a play to retrieve the lance.
Unfortunately for her, she chose to withdraw in a straight line.
Rei could forgive her the mistake. According to his clock they had been fighting for nearly 6 minutes now, and the girl had to have been exhausted. Still, not only did he wince as he watched the retreat, but on either side of him he saw Aria, Viv, and Catcher alike all share in his moment of realization.
When Esku lunged forward in her third Break Step of the match, it came to no one’s surprise.
The Mauler’s ability caught her up to Thren so fast, she would have actually passed her opponent had it not been for the hammer swinging horizontally at her side. The massive, uneven head of blue vysetrium caught the Lancer full in the chest, and between the momentum of the Break Step and the blow itself, Rei could only whistle in astonishment when Thren was sent catapulting back so fast it wasn’t even a heartbeat before she slammed into the perimeter barrier with a shuddering impact that sent a wide ripple of static along the projection in all directions. She slid down the invisible wall from there, the shattered parts of her external tumbling about her shoulders to fall to the ground. At once she was struggling, and the girl found her feet for a moment. Just a moment.
In CAD-fighting, there is no mercy.
WHAM!
Esku’s hammer, thrown with the confident precision of someone who had practiced the exact motion ten thousand times before, took the beaten Lancer squarely in the head, crushing it against the wall. As a phantom-call Thren was obviously spared the ugly, eruptive decapitation this would have earned her otherwise, but just the same there was a collected “OOH!” of sympathetic pain from the crowd on impact.
Then, as User and hammer alike tumbled to the ground, the Arena spoke.
“Fatal Damage Accrued. Victor: Mira Esku.”
The absolute explosion of cheering that followed this announcement was so loud, Aria started and covered her ears in surprise at Rei’s right, only lowering her hands again after the initial wave of screams and applause had died down. Over the noise only Dent’s voice could be heard, amplified as it was.
“An excellent fight to both cadets! A flawless demonstration of positioning, Abilities, and prowess! Congratulations, Cadet Esku, on your first victory of the season!”
The cheering rose again, and
from the left Viv had to holler to be heard.
“That was brutal!” She, like Rei, was watching Mira Esku wave to the crowd, face glistening with sweat over a broad smile now that her grey-white Device had been recalled. At her back Sabina Thren looked to be having trouble getting to her feet, and in a blink of impressive Speed an officer of the Institute was by her side, steadying her.
“As it should be!” Catcher howled ecstatically before whistling his approval along with the crowd.
“They were basically an even match!” Aria seemed to think Viv’s statement deserved more of an answer. “Once you get to that level…”
“Unstoppable force. Immovable object.” Rei nodded. Thren looked to be recovering from the cerebral scrambling her FDA had caused, because she was trying to make another attempt to stand—with help this time. “A-Rank. S-Rank… Down where we are you’ll get plenty of matches that end fast. It’s normal. In the grand scheme of things we’re brand-spanking new at all this. After a few years, though…” He waved a hand to where the Lancer was being led, leaning heavily on the assisting officer, from the southeast side of the field, all while Mira Esku continued to wave as she walked off in the opposite direction.
“Maybe.” Viv was able to speak in a normal voice as the applause finally subdued. “But still… That was brutal.”
Whether fortunately or not, this fact didn’t change for the rest of the afternoon.
After Esku versus Thren, a consecutive series of equally devastating matches took place in rapid succession, each seeming more awesome than the last. Tim Greyson—a Duelist whose twin scimitars had blades made of pure red vysetrium—narrowly beat out David Jenson after almost falling prey to the Brawler’s nasty combination of Overclock and repetitive Strike Pulses—an Ability that extended the reach of a User’s attack by combining it with a short burst of electromagnetic energy. After that, Verah O’Donnel took the win over Jasper Serent after nearly 10 whole minutes of the two Sabers managing a treacherous, mountainside variation of the Northern Tundra field. Next came the upset of Karen Behst—an A3 Phalanx—giving up a win to B9 Mauler Elizabeth Aaron when a distinctly cocky attitude cost her first her right leg, then the match in quick order.
After that the pairings became a little more varied, the fights a bit more scattered now that Major Reese’s selection had caught the attention of the crowd. An A4 Duelist made short work of his B8 opponent, ending the match with such quick ferocity there were nearly as many boos from the crowd as cheers. Two fights later, an A3 Lancer took his time dismantling the B7 Brawler he’d been pitched against, earning much appreciation from the stands, but glares of disapproval from both Reese and Captain Dent after the match was done. From there the up and down of the pairings became almost consistent, with breathtaking battles interspersed with brutal defeats that left Rei feeling sorry for the weaker party.
Still… No one missed the hammering in of Valera Dent’s earlier point.
“Remember when I told you you’d make a good training partner if only because of the number of hours you were going to force me to practice?” Aria asked Rei under her breath at one point, as another mid-A-Rank Brawler punched the lights out of the B7 Lancer she’d been set against.
Rei nodded without looking away as FDA was announced.
“Do you feel a bit better about that now?”
He smirked, but didn’t answer.
The afternoon pressed on with its undulating excitement, though the energy of the crowd as a whole never fell below a certain level. Even when the matches set two B-Ranks against each other the fights were as intense as the top-level second year’s had been, leaving no one wanting for so much as a moment for entertainment. By the time the thirty-second—and final—pairing concluded with a 9-minute match between two A-Ranked Phalanxes, even Rei found that he had shouted himself hoarse despite every attempt made to keep focused on the fights rather than the outcomes.
Sore throats, of course, didn’t stop any of them from conversing enthusiastically as they finally made their exit from the Arena some 10 minutes later, following a brief call for a last applause for the afternoon’s fighters from Dent. As always, the four of them made a line immediately for East Center, the path to the facility a bit more well-trafficked than they were used to at this hour.
“That was amazing!” Viv did her best to exclaim once they were free of the bulk of the crowd, trailing the path east only with the other students who looked to be of a same mind as them. “I get it. I’ve got to say it. I get it. I finally understand why you two fanboy so hard about the SCTs.”
Rei chuckled, glancing back at her from under the brim of his cap and pulling the collar for his uniform jacket up around his neck to fight off a chilly autumn breeze. “This is what convinced you?” he asked, amused. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely badass and all, but I’ve been forcing you to watch S-Ranked matches with me since we were fourteen, Viv!”
“It’s different in person,” Aria chimed in. “At least in my opinion.”
“Exactly,” Viv agreed, puffing into her cupped hands to keep them warm as they walked. Despite a healthy late-afternoon sun still lingering over the skyscrapers of Castalon at their backs, her breath misted through her fingers. “This is my first-time seeing matches like this up close!”
“It is?” Catcher sounded astounded. “Seriously? Then what was it that got you so interested in becoming a User in the first place?”
“I was good at fighting,” Viv told him with a perfectly straight face. Only after Catcher had blinked at her in confusion did she break into a smile. “It was the excitement, man. The energy. I mean, I was good at fighting—”
“She was,” Rei agreed as they took a turn in the path, passing beneath a copse of overhanging willows.
“—but my family are all bureaucrats and politicians. Not something I would be good at.”
“She wouldn’t.” This time Rei grinned as he chimed in.
Viv glared at him a moment, but it was Catcher who spoke again first.
“Okay… Sure. I guess I see that. But still… You’ve never seen an SCT in person?!”
Viv shook her head, and for some reason Rei found Catcher staring at him in amazement.
“Can you believe that? If I’d had nothing but the feeds to watch, I don’t know if I’d be here, today.”
Rei smirked, looking forward again. “You’re asking the wrong person to back you up there, man. The feeds are all I ever had, and I used to have to sneak into the Matron’s office to steal her pad to watch before the Estoran Center let me go to Grandcrest.”
There was a smack from behind him that could only have been Catcher face-palming.
“Sorry, man,” the Saber grumbled apologetically. “That’s me being an ass.”
Rei laughed. “How? By forgetting that I come from a different place than most of the other cadets here? If anything I wish more people would do the same.”
There was a rare pause in the conversation as Catcher—mollified but obviously still embarrassed—held his tongue, and it was Aria who spoke up from Rei’s side as the East Center came into view a ways ahead of them.
“I think it was freedom, for me.”
Rei looked at her sidelong. “The reason you got interested in becoming a User?”
Aria nodded, her pale, freckled cheeks flushed in the bright cold.
“Not your family?” Viv’s expression was inquisitive.
Aria gave a dry laugh. “If you asked them they’d definitely say otherwise, but if anything my mother’s pressure was more of a constant reason I sometimes considered not pursuing a career in the ISCM.”
“You would have ditched the military just to spite her?” Catcher had clearly recovered from his faux pas already. “That’s a serious grudge, Aria…”
Aria shrugged. “It’s a seriously earned grudge. At least I didn’t flee to the front lines to get away from her, like Amina did. Not yet, anyway.”
Rei looked at her side lo
ng. “Just make it big in the SCTs. She won’t be able to pull on your leash then, will she?”
Aria gave him a look that was both appreciative and exasperated. “Tell that to my brother.”
It was Rei’s turn to shut up, knowing he’d put his foot in his mouth as they reached the training facility, the doors of the building hissing open for them readily. He knew the story, of course, knew the tale of Kalus Laurent at this point. Though not as much of a prodigy as Aria, her older brother had still achieved Pawn-Class certification almost straight out of school, 2 years prior, becoming a rare S-Ranked A-Type at the very impressive age of 22. He wasn’t yet a regular of the Intersystem circuits, but there was no doubt he would be soon enough.
And yet, despite that mounting success—or because of it, perhaps—Kalus had cut off all ties with his family for no other reason than to escape the whispered words of Salista Laurent.
And that was still a better option than the eldest child, Amina, had ended up taking in order to slip loose of the family’s clutches.
Feeling a bit of an idiot, Rei let the others talk amongst themselves as they changed in the Center’s single large locker room, then headed for their favorite training room hall. The facility was busier than usual—with nearly every practice field claimed by cadets inspired by the opening weeks of the Intra-Schools—but Viv had started making a habit of booking their time each morning in the ballpark of when they expected to need access to it. The variation in the days’ match-lengths had made this tricky, but whether because it couldn’t be bothered or because they were already frequent customers, the system had never given them grief for the occasions they were late to their reservations.
Iron Prince: A Progression Sci-Fi Epic (Warformed: Stormweaver Book 1) Page 73