by M E Robinson
“If it isn’t the kid from the leather shop. You’re participating in the tournament as well?” he asked, stopping a few feet from Eric’s group.
“Yup,” Eric responded. His attention was split between the tall man and his two companions. One was a heavyset man, with large jowls and fists the size of hams. The other was slim, with a cultured look and a calculating face.
“Oh these are my assistants, Barns and Grott,” said the tall man indifferently, seeing Eric’s glances. “I’m Walsh, but you can just call me Hydrus.”
“I’m Eric, but you can just call me Kyp. These are Griffin, Ryan, Rob, Mark, and Dick,” said Eric, introducing his friends to Hydrus.
“Dick? Does that stand for Richard?” Hydrus asked with a sneer, looking towards Jun.
“No. It stands for what Eric gets everytime he fights me,” Jun responded, shooting Eric a dirty look. Eric just laughed, turning back to Hydrus.
“I thought you were headed back to New York?” Eric asked carefully.
Hydrus smirked. “Nah. Once we found out that you could qualify for the World Championships from anywhere, I told my friends to come join me up here in Novanalba. The players around here mostly suck. Even Grott’s considered a top player over here,” Hydrus explained, pointing to the heavyset man, who’d been fiddling with some arrows in a quiver at his waist.
This drew a smirk from Jun that did not go unnoticed by Hydrus.
“Think I’m kidding, do you? Grott wouldn’t stand a chance in New York. He might make the top thirty-two, but he’d be eliminated pretty quickly. Here, I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes the top four. I’d say the finals, but he’s going to fight me in the semi-finals. The player quality over here is just that poor.”
“Your friend,” said Jun, putting heavy emphasis on the word friend, “has to fight Eric first. And even Eric is good enough to beat him, let alone the rest of us. You’re just lucky you don’t have to fight me unless you make the finals. That is, if you’re good enough,” Jun sneered.
Hydrus’ eyes went cold at this. “Make it past Barns first. He’s just as good as Grott, and they’re both far better than any of you backwater hicks. This tournament is ours.”
Turning back to Eric, Hydrus extended his hand. “I’d be careful of the company you keep. Some people are far more trouble than they’re worth.”
“I think I see what you mean. It’s going to be fun crushing you,” Eric replied, ignoring the proffered hand.
Going slightly pink, Hydrus withdrew his hand. “So be it.”
Hands going to their weapons, Barns and Grott looked ready to attack Eric’s group despite the numbers disadvantage. Before they could make a scene, Hydrus reached out his arms, motioning for them to stand down.
“You’d better not fall before you reach Grott, or you before you fight Barns. I don’t want to miss seeing the expressions on your faces when you realize just how terrible players like you and the others here are when compared to players from a real city,” Hydrus promised darkly, swirling around and departing before Eric or Jun could respond.
“Wow, that dude was a dick,” Ryan managed after a few moments, watching Hydrus depart.
“Yeah, we got that,” Griffin said dryly, looking annoyed.
“Did anyone catch their matches? I’m fairly sure Barns was the assassin player. But I’m not sure if Hydrus or Grott stood out,” Eric asked.
“Grott was pretty good. He’s the guy who won before you went on in the second round. None of his opponents seemed all that good so I’m not sure how he stacks up compared to you or Jun in terms of archery,” Rob replied.
“Hydrus was in group A. But I didn’t see anything special about his matches when I was watching. He used a greatsword, but that’s about all that stuck out. He seems like a major asshole though,” Jun added.
“Takes one to know one,” Griffin muttered quietly.
“What was that Griffin?”
“I said yeah, dude’s an ass,” Griffin replied, causing Ryan and Rob to laugh while Eric broke out into a grin.
Glaring at Griffin, Jun turned to Eric. “You’d better not lose to that Grott guy. I don’t mind if you lose to Hydrus, ‘cause that means I get to destroy him. But you’d better show him that some random assistant isn’t better than any of us.”
“I’m winning the entire thing,” Eric said glibly. “There’s no need to worry about me losing to either of them.”
“Nah, that’s gonna be me. But feel free to take out that Hydrus douche before I beat you,” said Ryan, throwing his arm over Eric’s shoulder.
Laughing amongst themselves, the group settled down on a pair of large couches, getting ready to watch the first fight.
Chapter 31
Gorin Greatarm and Mary Cloudsov put on a good fight for the opening round of the top thirty-two. Gorin’s enormous club matched up well against Mary’s short spear and shield combination, making for an exciting opening match. Unfortunately for Cloudsov, Greatarm’s weapon allowed him an enormous reach advantage which he exploited well, allowing him to close out the fight with his victory as Cloudsov’s body was surrounded by a blue light, whisking her away to be healed.
As Gorin left the stage, returning to the viewing lounge to the crowd’s chants of “Greatarm!”, Halfthur introduced the next pair of fighters to the audience.
“For the second fight, we have Hydrus Mortang, representing NRG! His opponent is Tanix Reveil, representing Fallen Kings! Fighters, to your places!”
Leaning closer, Eric sat on the edge of the couch, intent on watching every moment of Hydrus’ fight with Tanix Reveil.
Tanix was a tall, college-aged man with a thick beard and a long red robe. A ring of fur around the neck of the robe gave him a cool look, of which Eric was secretly somewhat envious. As Halfthur introduced him, he held a wand aloft, revealing his status as a mage as he played to the crowd. Observing his opponent coolly, Tanix assumed a fighting stance, readying his wand as he pointed it towards Hydrus, who was standing roughly fifty metres from him on the other side of the stage. For his part, Hydrus just stood there uninterestedly, his greatsword hanging loosely in one hand, as if unconcerned about the threat Tanix posed.
“Fighters, are you ready?” Halfthur cried.
Giving a terse nod, Tanix stared straight at Hydrus, who simply gave a bored nod in response.
“Begin!” Halfthur shouted.
Jumping backwards, Tanix instantly began casting a spell, glowing runes appearing in front of him as he moved his wand at lightning speed.
“This guy’s not bad,” Eric commented to Rob, watching as Tanix completed his spell.
On stage, Tanix looked at the runes in satisfaction. With a smile, Tanix watched as a glowing sphere of flame appeared in front of him, leaving a trail of embers in its wake as it shot out towards Hydrus who had begun his charge across the stage.
“And Tanix casts a Flaming Sphere! Hydrus might be in trouble here!” Halfthur shouted excitedly.
Sneering coldly at the oncoming flame, Hydrus brought up his greatsword, cleaving the spell in two as he charged forward, his momentum not halting in the slightest.
“I don’t believe it! Hydrus has destroyed Tanix’s spell! And he didn’t slow down in the slightest. Tanix had better get out of the way, because this man means business!” Halfthur shouted after a moment, watching in amazement as Hydrus rushed towards the mage.
Paling slightly at this, Tanix backpedaled furiously, hurriedly retreating as he fired two more flaming orbs towards the oncoming fighter. Appearing one after the other, the spheres of flame left fiery afterimages in their wake as they flew.
Wielding his greatsword with an unparalleled degree of efficiency, Hydrus chopped through first one, and then the second Flaming Sphere, gaining steadily on Tanix as he charged over the stone floor of the stage.
Gulping nervously, Tanix prepared a different spell, not even stopping to admire his runes as he fired a pair of Flame Strikes towards Hydrus.
“Tanix changes up his s
trategy and switches to casting Flame Strike! That was some pretty fast casting, but will it be enough to stop Hydrus?” Halfthur asked, watching excitedly as Hydrus closed in on Tanix’s position.
Not bothering to block, Hydrus slid between the two spells, somehow managing to find the tiny gap between the two Flame Strikes as he leapt forward, swinging his greatsword down heavily towards Tanix who now found himself cornered at the edge of the arena.
Throwing himself to the side, Tanix managed to avoid the brunt of the blow. However, even this glancing blow caused his health to plummet, his healthbar reducing drastically as he tumbled across the ground. Rolling to his feet, he attempted to run, doing his best to put some distance between him and the terrifying fighter, but it was too late.
Activating a skill, Hydrus rushed forward, his blade glowing slightly as it descended directly onto Tanix’s head. With a scream, Tanix collapsed, his healthbar dwindling to nearly zero from only two strikes. Looking at the audience, Hydrus grinned, giving them a thumbs up. Receiving a mighty roar, he frowned, twisting his fist to give them a thumbs down this time. Hearing an even greater roar, Hydrus smirked and raised his greatsword high. With a mighty shout, he brought it downwards in a great chopping motion, directly upon the neck of Tanix.
With a flare of blue light, Tanix disappeared, leaving Hydrus alone on the stage to exult in the cheers and shouts from the audience.
“Wow! That was certainly an amazing fight, and what an ending. Hydrus didn’t even take any damage despite Tanix’s excellent control over the Flaming Sphere spell! NRG has their first fighter through to the next round and we certainly have a new favourite to win after that!” Halfthur shouted, hyping up the crowd as Hydrus left the stage.
Eric swore, “Damnit. Why’d he have to be good?”
“Maybe Tanix was just bad?” Griffin suggested.
Eric shook his head. “No. He knew a pretty powerful spell, his casting speed was pretty quick, and his rune formations looked good. As mages go, he was definitely one of the better ones - Hydrus just gave him no chance to fight back.”
Rob nodded. “Yeah. Flaming Sphere is the fire version of my Stone Sphere. It’s a pretty good spell, similar to Eric’s Wind Dart. The fact that he was able to cast two of them in quick succession shows he’s talented. And he was also able to cast Flame Strike almost instantly, which takes a fair bit of practice.”
“Hydrus’ movement was super clean. He didn’t waste any motions, he just advanced in the straightest line towards Tanix. Even his blocks were pretty much perfect, he took care of the spells without stopping or breaking his stride. The dude’s skills are good,” Jun added with an annoyed look on his face, as if Hydrus’ skill was a personal affront to everything he stood for.
“Either way, it’s not like he’s unbeatable. There’s no way that douchebag is winning this tournament,” Mark said firmly.
Murmuring their agreement, the group turned back to the projection, where the next match was set to begin.
The next two matches were both exciting affairs. Astrid used her incredible archery skills to eliminate a fighter using a fairly standard sword and shield setup, while Tamira used her spear skills to come out on top of a fight between herself and another spear user.
As Tamira left the stage, Eric rose from the couch, making his way through the tunnel for his first fight of the round of thirty-two. Emerging into the sunlight, Eric smiled at his opponent, the dual wielder from Ryan’s sword group.
“For our fifth fight of the round of thirty-two, we have Erick ‘Kyp’ Kystfyr, representing Riptide! And his opponent, Mikasa Zweischwert, representing herself! Fighters, to your places!” Halfthur yelled, his voice echoing through the stadium.
Taking up his position, Eric stared at his opponent. Mikasa was a dual wielder, using a pair of slim swords to overwhelm her opponent with fast, agile attacks. She was also one of the few fighters from group B that Eric was wary of, along with Rob and Grott. Considering his options, Eric nodded slightly to himself. It would do him no good to be eliminated before fighting Hydrus, and his opponent next round was likely to be Rob, which meant that his magic would be revealed anyways as Rob was not someone he could take lightly.
Hearing Halfthur ask if they were ready, Eric nodded. Gripping his falchion, the fingers of his other hand resting gently against the handle of his athame, as he stared unwaveringly towards Mikasa.
“Begin!” Halfthur shouted, raising the curtain on the match.
Drawing his athame with his left hand, Eric prepared a Wind Dart as he rushed forward to meet Mikasa’s charge. Activating Dashing Cut, he darted forwards, his blade swinging savagely towards Mikasa’s shoulder. Bringing up her left hand, Mikasa parried Eric’s strike, the sword in her right hand stabbing towards him as her other blade tangled up his sword.
Twisting slightly, Eric blocked the strike with his athame. Sliding the blade along the length of her sword towards her hand, he forced her sword away as his dagger slid towards her chest. Sensing this, Mikasa jumped backwards, disengaging her swords from Eric’s own.
With a grin, Eric fired the prepared Wind Dart, the spell crossing the short distance between the two fighters almost instantly and slamming into Mikasa’s unprotected chest.
Groaning slightly, Mikasa took a step backward, attempting to process what had just happened. She’d watched Eric’s fights in the earlier rounds, and had categorized him as a simple sword user, using a single sword and his speed to overwhelm his opponents. She’d thought that all she had to do in order to win was to tie up his sword with one of her own and strike at him with her second blade. So long as she didn’t give him room to use his bow, she judged that she would win thanks to her superior swordsmanship. He wasn’t supposed to have magic, or a parrying dagger for that matter.
As these thoughts whirled through Mikasa’s mind, Eric advanced, activating Dashing Cut once more to close the distance nearly instantly, not giving his opponent time to react to this unexpected development. Casting an Arcane Strike that he’d prepared mid-dash, Eric aimed it at her face. Reacting quickly, Mikasa leaned backwards, the spell blinding her slightly as the violet bolt passed just overhead. Taking advantage of her awkward stance, Eric thrust his sword forward, stabbing directly at her chest and forcing Mikasa to parry with both swords. As she did so, Eric used his momentum to continue forward, bullrushing into her and knocking her down.
As Mikasa struggled to rise, Eric thrust his sword downwards, causing her to roll to one side. Preparing a Wind Dart, Eric strode forwards, following her roll with a kick that lifted her bodily, throwing her several feet across the stage.
Groaning slightly, Mikasa jumped to her feet, but Eric was already in front of her, his athame plunging deeply into her stomach before she could react. As she watched, the athame glowed slightly, as Eric fired the prepared Wind Dart directly into her ribcage. Stumbling backwards from the impact, Mikasa was powerless to defend herself as Eric used his falchion to end the fight, the blade slashing at her repeatedly as she desperately attempted to raise her swords in defense.
As the blue light enveloped her, Mikasa stared unwillingly towards Eric who offered her an apologetic glance. This was the power of hiding one’s true abilities. Had Mikasa known about Eric’s magic, it was likely that she would have been able to devise a countermeasure, or at least have been prepared for him to cast a spell after she parried his first strike. Unfortunately, there was no room for regrets in battle. Eric had won, and Mikasa was eliminated.
Watching the blue light fade, Halfthur announced Eric’s victory to the crowd. “And Kyp wins! That was an excellent fight! It’s a shame that such a beauty had to be eliminated this early on though,” Halfthur commented, causing Eric to glance up at the announcer’s booth and roll his eyes.
Whose side is Halfthur on? Eric wondered with annoyance as he entered the tunnel to rejoin his friends. Passing Rob, Eric gave his friend a pat of encouragement before continuing back to the viewing lounge.
The rest of the matches in
the top thirty-two passed fairly uneventfully. Rob, Jun, Ryan, and Mark all won their matches, as did Grott, and Barns. However, the final match of the top thirty-two was set to be quite the eventful one.
“Why do I have to face Seryllia?” Griffin groaned, staring at the pairings list for what must have been the thousandth time since it had appeared.
“At least you get to fight her now. Imagine if you’d fought her last round,” Eric advised, attempting to cheer up his friend.
“Yeah, but imagine if I didn’t have to fight her for another two rounds like Jun gets to?” Griffin retorted.
“What do you mean? Jun’s going to have to fight you not her, don’t give up before you even start,” Eric replied with a laugh.
“Yeah. And it’s not like she’s got some unbeatable super skill like you do. You’ve got Wild Strike, what does she have?” said Rob, attempting to console Griffin.
“Ugh.”
“Anyways, you should get going. Ryan just won his match, and you don’t want to forfeit,” Eric advised.
“It might end better for me if I do,” Griffin replied darkly.
Jun rolled his eyes. “Just get out there, you pussy,” he said, pushing Griffin off the couch.
Rising to his feet, Griffin glared at Jun, before sighing and heading for the tunnel. As they watched him appear on the projection, making his way to the other side of the stage, the group began to discuss his chances as Halfthur introduced Griffin and Seryllia to the crowd.
“Since when were you able to dual wield Eric?” Ryan asked curiously as Griffin’s nervous face filled the projection.
Eric laughed. “That was actually a risk. I have no clue how to dual wield, so I just blocked like I would in Tae Kwon Do, and used the dagger as an armguard. It worked surprisingly well.”
“lol poor Mikasa,” Ryan laughed.
Hushing them, Mark pointed to the projection. “It’s starting.”