The Oathsworn

by Liandra Jake

  "So that leaves Nem and Hunter to take care of Carmine and Diego." Panzer said. She looked at Corenden. "But I'm not sure if you can handle Orion." "He's not a powerhouse." Corenden said, giving a determined looked to his concerned teammates. "I've taken on tougher opponents." A ref made a motion towards the group. "Time's up guys." Hunter said. "Are we doing this?" Nem nodded to Corenden. "I trust you can do what's needed." The two teams turned to face each other. The ref signaled to the announcer. "Fight!"

  Carmine and Diego clashed with Nem and Hunter in a burst of Orenth. Locked between Nem's Moon traps and Hunter's twisting Plasma, the two had no way to stop Corenden from flying over them, headed straight for Orion. Corenden pressed against him, his sword bending as Orion turned and redirected the Pog's efforts. Panzer charged through the mess Nem and Hunter created, leaping over Orion with a boost from Corenden's shield.

  Panzer crashed down coated in molten metal, rolling to her feet. Targe backed off immediately, noting how the metal seared the ground. It cracked as it was superheated, making Panzer's blazing form all the more threatening. Orion immediately moved to counter what they were doing and tried to return to Targe. Corenden cut him off, driving the point home with a jab at Orion's face that left him with a broken nose. Panzer began to edge closer to Targe, molten metal gathering in her hand.

  "Carmine!" Orion called out, blocking a bash from Corenden's shield. "Diego!" Carmine flipped over a horizontal Cavity Slash from Hunter. "Busy!" He shouted back as Hunter met his chainsaw with a neon blade. Nem pushed Carmine farther from Hunter's fight, his quick movements and traps keeping Carmine from pinning him down enough to do real damage.

  The crowd watched with great anticipation. Regardless of the slow pace, the two strong teams locked in equilibrium made hearts pace and foreheads sweat. Kronth continually pestered Arend for an answer to who would win. Eventually, he gave in. "I can't say Kronth. When it comes down to team matches, faults and advantages compound. We may take one of them down, but they might retaliate harder than we can take." "What about your gut?" Kronth asked. "Who do you lean more to winning?" Arend laughed quietly, eyes watching the fight. "Us of course."

  The war of attrition was broken by a specific series of attacks. Nem had cut a tight pattern around Carmine, activation the Orenth with a flick of Moon's Sonata. Carmine dived out of the way, head-first into Diego. Hunter's Cavity Slash missed them both, carrying on toward Corenden's fight with Orion. Corenden dodged it easily, but immediately regretted not trying to block it as it collided with Orion's shield.

  The twisting mix of Light and Nova on Orion's blade was multiplied by Hunter's scattered Orenth. The spinning weight doubled its speed, creating a slight drill action along the blade. Orion struck forward, clipping Corenden's arm as the Pog darted to the left. Corenden tumbled back, his right arm now hanging awkwardly from its socket. While not broken, or technically a disqualifier, fighting with a dislocated arm was extremely dangerous.

  There was a murmur in the crowd as Corenden examined his arm. "The poor little thing!" Someone called out suddenly. Orion hesitated as Corenden sheathed his sword and adjusted his dislocated arm with his other. He suddenly dropped from the air, falling five feet directly onto his right shoulder. "GRAH!" Corenden's grunt was met with gasping from the crowd. He stood up, still supporting his arm. Arend' booming laughter drowned out the whispering crowd. Corenden released his right arm, lifting it into the air and giving Arend a thumbs up. "GO FOR IT CLOUD!" Arend called back with a grin.

  Corenden rolled his shoulder as he drew his sword. Water gathered at its tip, a slow creep of wood grew over it, almost as dense as the metal itself. Orion advanced, closing the gap between him and Corenden as fast as he could. Corenden let Orion swing his sword, side-stepping and resting his blade close to Orion's spinning mechanism. In the presence of Light and Water, Corenden's wood grew incredibly fast. It grew tightly around Orion's Sword before he pulled away. By then, a thick layer of wood had encased his sword and forced his spinning mechanism to a stop, forcing Orion to abandon the cumbersome weapon.

  Offense all but gone, Orion retreated to try and help Targe. The crystalline man was locked tightly with Panzer. Molten metal oozed from the space around Panzer. Targe had more than a few scorched patches of rock-hard skin and a faint crust of metal on his crystals.

  Orion leapt between the two, blocking a punch from Panzer. Orion was thrown back into Targe from the raw force she had put behind it. Corenden joined Panzer, sword at the ready. "So much for one-on-one." Panzer said. "And good work." "It's not like I had a choice." Corenden replied. Targe aimed a sharp crystal at Corenden. It shattered on contact with his armor, leaving only scratches. "Got anything up your sleeve?" Corenden asked Panzer, brushing off some powered crystal from his arm. Panzer cracked her knuckles, shooting Targe a glare. "There's a few things I haven't used yet."

  Corenden rushed forward with Panzer. Orion readied to block the two. Panzer held nothing back as she threw a sharp right directly into Orion's shield, leaving her palm open and striking forward with the middle of her fingers. Panzer shifted her weight to the right as he pushed forward; turning her hand and snapping her hand forward, twisting her fist and striking with her knuckles. In an explosion of Nova and Neon, Panzer and Orion created a feedback loop between each other and their equipment. Orion, with Targe's extra power and a Shield not tuned to handle powerful Nova interactions, was crippled. The force of the explosion sent Corenden and Targe flying.

  With a protective Wood and Water shield, Corenden rode the blast, bee-lining for the vulnerable Targe. Targe rolled as Corenden cut through one of his crystals, an electrifying energy discharging down Corenden's blade. Panzer was ready with a sharp downward kick. Targe's jaw popped as Panzer drove her heel between it and the ground. "Ow." The announcer was ecstatic. "Orion and Targe have been eliminated! It's now 4 V 2, Dragon's Den!"

  Carmine and Diego grew anxious. With Targe gone, they were missing a key source of Orenth needed for their attacks. "This shit is ridiculous! How are we supposed to do this now!?" Diego grumbled to Carmine as they watched Dragon's Den regroup. "Obviously, we can't." Carmine replied as she cocked her weapon. Diego sighed, revving his chainsaw to a higher speed. "We should train even harder for next year." Carmine raised her weapons. "First one to fall has laundry duty?" She asked with a casual glance his way. "Remember you have to wash mine with little soap." Diego replied as he ran forward.

  - - - - Final Match - - - -

  Dragon's Den's team was taking a well-earned respite before their next match, the one everyone was waiting for with great anticipation. Cobalt Soiden was sitting only a few feet to their right. Hunter was napping on the bench beside Corenden, and Nem and Panzer were talking tactics. Janese was scolding Corenden for how he set his arm in the previous fight. "You could have broken more than a few bones! Not to mention the damage to your joint! What would you have done if you pinched something?" Corenden shrugged. "I didn't think about those kinds of consequences. I thought about how it would win the fight."

  Janese uncrossed her arms to poke at Clouds shoulder again. "Jeeze Corenden. You used to be so upbeat and worry-free." Unable to shrug with Janese inspecting his shoulder, Corenden settled for poking her head with his free arm. "I was also ignorant and not preparing for the responsibility of raising a child." "You changed during that journey with Arend, not when you learned about Berry. Fighting has changed you." Janese said quietly. Corenden laughed, pulling his arm free from her. "Look around. The Guild's changed from fighting. We're growing up Janese, and it's not a bad thing. The fun's not over, but we have a lot more to do now."

  Nate's call to Janese cut off her reply. Looking over, she saw him holding up a giant basket of nachos. Hunter raised the arm from his eyes and poked Janese. "I know you well enough to know your concerns about this new 'development.' No one is going to force you grow up. Not that anyone can anyway." Janese poked Hunter back as she stood up to join Nate. Corenden glanced over at Hunter. He spoke before the Pog could as
k. "Think about her behavior whenever she's with Nate. She's one of the older members, and yet she hangs off him like she's sixteen. How do you think she feels seeing someone like you acting his age for a change?"

  Hunter replaced his forearm on his face. "Get some rest. You pushed yourself out there, and even just shutting your eyes will help you feel refreshed." "So would taking the rest of this off." Corenden replied as he began stripping his armor.

  Panzer and Nem's conversation was interrupted by a man donning mismatched scraps of armor. "Hello! Your fight out there was fun to watch!" He sat next to Nem, his square, muscle bound-build contrasting Nem's narrow, lean build. His clear blue eyes were friendly and inviting, complimenting a laid-back smile that reminded Nem of Arend. Leaning forward a little, Nem noticed a dark-skinned teenage girl sitting next to the man, arms crossed with a sucker in her mouth and looking out at the field.

  "You're Alvori Mellona from Cobalt Soiden, right?" Panzer asked, a little put off by his friendliness. From what she remembered, he had a quick and harsh temper. Alvori beamed. "So you know my name! I'm glad you remembered, Pan." "Pan-!?" "Why did you come over here?" Nem asked, cutting Panzer off and blocking her with an arm. Alvori shrugged, his ever-present smile still glued on his face. "Just wanted to chat a little! And you know, Syl here also uses Moon Orenth, Zee!"

  Ignoring his new, and rather pointless nickname, Nem leaned forward again to look at the teen again. "Sylvania Reed." She said quickly, ignoring Nem as best she could. Nem figured the red in her cheeks wasn't from the cold. He looked sideways at the beaming man he would soon fight. Alvori looked to Panzer, arching his neck over Nem when he leaned back. "You've got a pretty impressive amount of power for being bare-handed. Have you ever sparred with 'Rios?" Panzer forced a smile and replied through gritted teeth. "No. I have never fought Arend." "He's pretty strong for being so young! I wonder what it's like being part Pendragon." Alvori said.

  Much to Panzer's displeasure, Alvori didn't leave until the next match started. Sylvania remained quiet unless Alvori tried to include her in the conversation, tugging at Alvori's arm when their teammates wanted to have a brief moment to strategize. "I don't know why, but I'm compelled to punch him in the face. In the face…" Panzer told Nem as they walked out on the field. "It's something about that smile…"

  Nem only half-listened, watching the other group closely. Alvori and Sylvania seemed close and comfortable with each other's presence, but the other two seemed to have a mutual distrust and possible hatred for each other.

  Yagami was a man from the East who was dressed white and yellow clothing that would better fit a high-ranking member of Silver Napalm attending a formal ball than a fight. The fancy uniform seemed fitting to his personality, however. He flaunted his arrogance and spoke like everything he said was the absolute truth, dismissing anything anyone else said to the contrary.

  His weapon of choice was a two-handed hammer of a matching white and yellow with a ten-pointed star-shaped head. A sun was emblazoned in glittering yellow on both faces, but only one was used for attacking. A small hole in the center of one of the faces emitted extremely focused Light based attacks absorbed from the reversing face, through a mechanism in the hammerhead. A large shield reminiscent of the Sun Legendary Weapon was hung on his back with pride, going unused unless he was somehow unarmed. Let free to drape over the shield, his long blonde hair was obviously something he took pride in.

  Gorm was a simple Rilla-Changed man, and Nem could tell that fact was part of what made him a deadly foe and a thorn in Yagami's side. Donning green and grey fur that looked like something resembling the clothing of the wild men from the north, his form was rather imposing. The simple sections of green pelts hung off his massive shoulders with little concern with organization. Around his waist a mix of green and grey fur covered only what they needed to, leaving his legs open to the cold.

  Like all Rillas, Gorm's feet closer resembled hands rather than feet, and he had a sort of lurching gait as he needed to use his arms as much as his feet to move the dense mass of muscle that bulged under his hairy skin. He carried no weapon, but as a user of Earth and Wood, and a great physical strength, he used his environment to fight enemies; from ripping up chunks of earth, to swinging around entire trees.

  Despite Cobalt Soiden's hard-hitting team, Nem had a plan. Alvori and Sylvania's apparent closeness would make them more prone to backing each other up rather than their teammates, who outright detested each other's presence. He was sure he and Hunter could take out the two brutes while Panzer and Corenden distracted the other two. He based this solely on the Type matchup at Corenden's request, trusting the Pog's judgment of their powers.

  Alvori and Sylvania had their weapons at the ready as they walked out on the field together. Free of Alvori's distraction, Nem could get a better look of the girl Panzer would be fighting. She was small by normal standards, with a willowy build and a pair of silver eyes with a glint Nem found familiar. Her long black hair was tied back in a bun; her shyness was gone with the anticipation of a fight.

  Two sleek black gauntlets covered Sylvania's arms a few inches past her elbow. Sprouting from her wrists and curving out above either elbow were two matching blades of translucent, pale white metal that were twice as sharp as they looked. A narrow ridge on the black gauntlets closed the gap between them and the two blades, providing ridged support for high impacts. Her hands were loosely curled, hiding the sharp fingers of her gauntlets and the Mithril pads on her palms that allowed her to have instant use of the Crystal Korvan hiding within her black gauntlets. Combined with her martial arts-esque swordplay, it proved more than a match for Panzer, and Nem wondered how Panzer's Power/Orenth based style would match hers, especially with Alvori playing protector.

  Alvori's weapons were rather simple. A rust-proofed mace that soaked anything it connected with and a matching shield that had a constant bubble of water on its surface, prepared to extinguish any kind of attack from Fire and others in its Group, and splash back onto anyone who hit it. Both of his water-based equipment had the added affect of a very small numbing agent, boosted from the cold weather. His fighting style was based around the sole purpose of disabling his foes rather than beating them up, and it had yet to fail him.

  Despite the announcer doing his best to rile up the crowd for the last fight of the day, the eight participants had eyes only for each other. Panzer and Corenden shifted their weight towards the left, following Alvori and Sylvania's movements and trying to guess their plans. The announcer hopped to his feet and stuck his hand in the air. "Enough! It's time to see what they're made of! Shake the earth and stir the heavens!" He snapped it down to point at the teams in the field. "FIGHT!"

  Dragon's Den moved like a single body, weaving and crossing in front of each other before separating to take on their selected opponents. Cobalt Soiden had no say in the matter of who to fight when they found the four pushing against them at full force. Like Nem had predicted, the fight essentially split into three separate skirmishes: Nem Vs. Gorm, Hunter Vs. Yagami, and Corenden and Panzer Vs. Alvori and Sylvania.

  Corenden's sword bit into Alvori's shield, coated in a serrated edge of wood. Corenden easily blocked his mace with his own shield. The groan and crackle of growing wood marked the absorption of Alvori's water. The man simply pushed back with his shield, forcing Corenden's sword against his chest. Flicking his shield up, Alvori opened Corenden to a thrust from the head of his mace. It bounced off of Corenden's armor, much to Alvori's surprise. He quickly snapped to attention when he saw Panzer flash past him, headed straight for Sylvania.

  With a backhanded swing as he turned, he flung a bubble of water at Panzer as he brought his shield up behind him to block Corenden's attempt at a counter. Panzer stumbled as a crust of metal hardened on her back, tightening against her skin with a faint sizzle of neon. Sylvania descended with a flurry of Moon like a celestial snowstorm. The blades of her gauntlets shimmered with the silver Orenth as she half passed Panzer before thrusting he
r elbow forward towards the women's face.

  Panzer watched the blade closely linked to Sylvania's forearm pass within inches of her face as she ducked, rolling as the dark-skinned women dropped her elbow down, driving her blade towards Panzer's head. As Panzer scrambled to her feet, thinking she managed to avoid getting hit, Alvori aimed a swing of his mace directly at the half-melted spot of metal he had hit before. She cursed as his water splashed out and crusted her back with metal. He backed off when she lashed out with a wild punch that cracked against the ground. Corenden floated close behind her as their enemies retreated a few steps.

  "They're obviously trying to save their energy to fight Nem and Hunter." Corenden whispered. "What?" Panzer asked, keeping her eyes on the two. "Think about it; Nem's only got Moon Orenth. He has an advantage against her Crystal and Alvori's Water, but he'll only increase Sylvania's power, and Alvori's strength isn't dependent on his Orenth. He's obviously willing to throw a lot away for Sylvania." Corenden explained.

  "Exactly like Nem predicted then. And Hunter's at a disadvantage against both of them. It's a good thing you suggested what you did; they obviously planned the same thing." Panzer murmured in reply. "But you're not exactly at a perfect advantage yourself." Corenden replied as he placed a hand on Panzer's hardened back. She glanced back briefly when he began applying a layer of wood. "Looks like excellent firewood. You're really cut out for this line of work, Corenden." "You can thank the Orenth I was born with. Wood, Water, and a touch of Air makes for a wide variety of advantages." Corenden replied.