“So at the network’s request and with the Department’s approval we’ll be using a different tournament style,” Dean Blane said. “Instead of a single melee we’ll divide the competitors up into groups and have an elimination-style battle.”
“We don’t have the right number of teams,” Conryu said. There was no way she’d get it to work out with thirteen clubs.
“It’s not ideal, but we’ll have to do two groups of three, one in each round, before the finalists go head to head. To make it fair we’ll have a random draw to find out who gets stuck in the threesome.”
“Would that be considered good luck or bad?” Conryu grinned.
Maria swatted him on the shoulder. “You’re awful.”
“It’s actually a good question.” Sonja had a faraway look in her eye. “If two weaker teams got paired up against a stronger team they could gang up and eliminate the stronger contender.”
“I have to go talk to the Vipers. They were the last to arrive and I haven’t told them the new format yet.” Dean Blane started toward a black tent a little ways down from them leaving Maria and the team to their work.
Sonja and the other girls were gathered around Blinky leaving Conryu with nothing to do. He turned to Maria. “So what brings you here?”
“I wanted to wish you luck.” She looked away. “I know I haven’t been good company lately. It’s just I’ve been so focused on the midterm and—”
Conryu covered her lips with his index finger, bringing her rambling to a halt. “I understand and it’s fine. You don’t need to explain yourself to me. You used to get focused like this when we were in high school, not so early maybe, but still. It’s who you are and I wouldn’t change you for anything.”
She hugged him again and he stroked her hair. It felt beyond good to hold her, even for a minute or two. Finally she stepped back and smiled. “Think you guys have a chance?”
Conryu glanced over at the girls and found them still engrossed in whatever they were doing to Blinky. “If we make it past the first match I’ll be impressed.”
“That bad?”
“The design has too many weak points. The fire blasts should help, but I doubt it will be enough.”
Half an hour later Dean Blane’s voice filled the clearing. “All teams gather at the stadium entrance.”
Sonja led the way and when they arrived they found the dean waiting with a hat in her hands and a board behind her. On the board was a tournament diagram with no names. Beside him Sonja was trembling, whether with excitement or fear he couldn’t tell.
Last to arrive was Kat and her cameraman. When they were all set up she nodded to Dean Blane.
“Okay. We’ll be drawing names to see who goes against who. Since we’re the host the academy team will draw first.”
Crystal gave Sonja a nudge when she didn’t immediately move. The little fire wizard gave a whole-body shake and strode up looking more confident than he knew she felt. Sonja rummaged around in the hat before coming out with the number twelve. That put them in the threesome.
Sonja stuck the marker on the board and rejoined Conryu and the others. “What do you think? Good luck or bad?” Conryu asked.
“That depends entirely on who we’re fighting against.” Sonja chewed her nails and didn’t stop until all the names were up on the board. They were taking on Team Down Under and Team Iron Cross. “I’m still not sure if it’s good or bad. At least we didn’t get stuck going against Team Black Viper.”
Directly across from them a group of eight women all dressed in back robes, their faces hidden by deep cowls, spoke amongst themselves. One of them must have sensed Conryu’s interest as she caught his gaze and held it.
Most of her face disappeared in the shadows of her hood, but her green eyes seemed to glow with an inner light. He’d never encountered such a hard, angry glare. Conryu looked away and sighed. It didn’t appear they’d be friends either.
With that taken care of the teams dispersed. The matches were scheduled to begin a little after noon. Any students or teachers that wanted to attend were welcome, but they had to provide their own seats as the earth wizards hadn’t built any into the stadium. It was deemed far too dangerous for people to be that close to the heavy steel golems. A single mistake had the potential to send a construct flying into the seats, crushing dozens.
While that might be good for ratings it wouldn’t do much for the students involved.
Conryu and the team gathered on their designated platform to watch the first match. A couple hundred students and teachers hung suspended in midair or stood on earth pillars. Conryu spotted Dean Blane and Maria flying about a hundred yards away.
The tv crew had set up on a platform like the ones reserved for the teams. While the cameraman focused on the golems entering the arena below, Kat glared at him. Conryu smiled and waved back. It seemed safe enough since she was on the opposite side of the arena.
The day hadn’t gotten any warmer as the sun rose higher in the sky. If anything Conryu thought the temperature had dropped a few degrees. The first match was Team Black Viper against Team Red Scorpion. The Red Scorpion team’s golem was, not surprisingly, a reddish-colored scorpion with huge claws and a needle-sharp stinger on its tail. The scorpion was exactly what Conryu envisioned as the ideal golem.
Team Black Viper was equally unimaginative in its name. Their golem was a ten-yard-long black snake with fifteen-inch fangs that gleamed in the bright sun. The body was so smooth Conryu couldn’t make out a single seam along its entire length.
“Are they all dark magic users or are they just wearing the robes?” Conryu asked. He’d cast the simple detection spell they taught first-year students, but something blocked it.
Crystal shook her head. “They’re using a screen to evade our magic. That snake’s still made of metal so some of them have to be earth wizards.”
Whatever spell protected the wizards also protected the golem. He couldn’t make out what sort of spirit they’d bound to it. He assumed earth since everyone seemed to use that sort of spirit.
On the ground below, the golems circled each other, waiting for the signal to begin the first match. It seemed like it would be an easy win for the scorpion, but Black Viper had won the Brawl before so underestimating them would be a mistake.
“Begin!” Dean Blane’s amplified voice rang out.
The scorpion lunged in, claws open and ready. The snake darted aside and snapped at its opponent, leaving deep grooves in its steel skin.
“It’s fast.” Sonja leaned closer.
Indeed it was. The black snake evaded several lightning-quick strikes from the scorpion’s tail before encircling the scorpion, binding its legs and sending it crashing to the ground. Tail and claws snapped and lashed out, but it couldn’t reach the snake.
The black golem squeezed ever tighter until the first leg gave a painful screech and ripped free. When a second leg joined the first the Red Scorpion team started freaking out, waving their hands and shouting at each other.
The snake opened its mouth and a black miasma gushed out, covering the scorpion in thick fog. When the darkness cleared the scorpion wasn’t moving. It only took a glance to know the magic had been stripped from the red golem.
“They bound a demon to their golem.” That was the only thing Conryu could think of that explained the dark, magic-negating mist.
“Does that seem like a bad idea to anyone else?” Jade asked.
“Yeah, but it’s not against the rules.” Sonja shrugged. “It was only a matter of time before someone tried it. I can’t say I’m surprised it was Black Viper.”
The black snake slithered out of the arena and Team Red Scorpion rushed down to collect the now-motionless remains of their golem. It was a sad scene, watching them drag the thing out.
The next two teams fought and a sphere-shaped golem covered in blades tore a crab-like thing to pieces. Once the debris was cleared out of the arena it was time for Star Blinky to do its thing. The spider golem clattered its w
ay into the arena followed by a steel kangaroo and a humanoid golem with a sword and shield.
“What’s our strategy?” Conryu asked.
“We’re going to tear them apart.” Sonja glared at the other golems as if she could melt them with sheer willpower.
“No offense, chief, but that’s not a strategy. I suggest you stay defensive. If the other two attack each other we can pick off the survivor and move on.”
“You don’t think they’ll double-team us at the opening?” Crystal asked.
“Not unless they arranged it before the match.” Conryu wanted to pace, but the platform was too small. “Blinky has the most obvious weaknesses in its design. If I was one of the other teams I’d leave it for last on the assumption it’d be easy to defeat later on.”
Sonja opened her mouth to, no doubt, argue Blinky’s virtues, but Dean Blane shouted. “Begin!”
The kangaroo leapt straight up, its head flying above the rim of the arena. The knight charged Blinky forcing Crystal to backpedal. A heavy swing of the golem’s sword missed Blinky’s front-most left leg by inches.
The kangaroo hurtled earthward, long spikes springing from its feet.
The knight raised its shield in the nick of time, but the force of the impact drove it into the sand up to its knees. The kangaroo spun and bashed the knight in the head with its tail.
“What should I do?” Crystal looked frantically from Conryu to Sonja.
“Keep your distance,” Conryu said.
At the same moment Sonja countered with, “Attack!”
Before they could decide the kangaroo leapt again. With the knight immobilized there was no way for it to miss.
This time, instead of raising its shield the knight raised its sword. The force of the impact drove the sword all the way through the kangaroo which, it turned out, was hollow. That explained how it leapt so high.
The knight sank in past its thighs. The impaled golem thrashed for a moment then went still, its magic broken.
“Okay, let’s slice them up.” Conryu pointed to a point directly behind the knight. “If you move there it won’t be able to use the shield to block you. Burn its arms off and the match is ours.”
The heat ray turned out to be more effective than he’d expected, slicing off the knight’s arms in less than a minute. They advanced to the next round where they’d take on the ball golem. The next two matches lasted half an hour combined. The winners were a lobster and another humanoid, this one armed with a war hammer. Those unfortunates would have to take on Black Viper. Conryu didn’t envy them in the least.
“That was a cowardly victory.” Sonja stalked around the tent while Crystal and the other earth wizards checked Blinky’s bindings. With each step she took, the temperature went up a degree. If she didn’t calm down they’d end up in a sauna. Conryu rested on a folding camp chair and tried to ignore her ranting. “Where’s the glory in carving up a trapped opponent?”
Conryu opened one eye. “Where’s the glory in losing in the first round? When you’re in a fight the only thing that matters is winning, and we did. May as well savor it since we don’t stand a chance against that spinning ball design.”
“What do you mean?” Sonja stopped circling right in front of him.
“I mean the way it spins won’t allow you to focus the heat beam on a single spot and if we try and grab it those blades will hook Blinky’s legs and tear them off.”
Sonja frowned. “Then how do we beat it?”
“We don’t. Its design is better than ours. That’s why I said you should enjoy your victory, it’s going to be our only one.”
“You’re just going to give up?” She started pacing again. “I didn’t take you for a quitter.”
“It’s not about quitting or giving up.” Conryu rubbed his eyes and sighed. How to explain so she’d understand? “It’s about preparing yourself mentally for what’s about to happen. When I fought in martial arts tournaments there were always three or four contestants I knew I couldn’t beat. I didn’t fight any less hard against them, but I also didn’t get mad when I lost. I learned from those losses and when the next tournament came around I took what I learned and did better until I eventually beat them.”
“That’s fine, but this is my last Grand Brawl. I don’t get to improve and return next year for another try. This is it. I have to win now or not at all.”
He had no argument for that. For him the golem club was a fun distraction; for Sonja it was much more important, almost an obsession. That didn’t change the essential facts of the situation. Their opponent was simply better designed and more powerful. Sonja’s desires and his strategies couldn’t change that.
Fifteen minutes later they were back on the platform ready to watch the black snake demolish some more golems. He wondered if it would prove as dominant against multiple opponents as it had against a single foe. There was no way the lobster and knight wouldn’t team up against the powerful serpent.
All three golems entered and the battle began. The lobster went right and the knight left so the snake couldn’t hit more than one with its dispelling mist at a time. Whichever it attacked, the other would counter with a hopefully critical blow.
Team Black Viper didn’t wait for its opponents to get set. The snake rushed at the knight, evading a heavy blow from its war hammer. In an instant it had the knight coiled up from its legs to its shoulders. The heavy golem went crashing to the sand.
The lobster darted in, claws open and ready.
The serpent was prepared. The moment it got close the snake’s head popped up and it breathed black mist at the approaching golem.
It wasn’t a surprise attack this time and the lobster dodged most of it. One claw was caught in the edge of the mist and fell limp to its side. Conryu tried to study the magic, but it dissipated too quickly. They should have made it so the magic stuck and spread over the construct it hit, stripping the magic as it went. That’s what he would have done if he’d known how.
Down below the lobster tried circling around behind the snake, but its head rotated a full circle, allowing the enemy golem no avenue of approach. The snake’s coils flexed as the knight tried to force its way free. The black golem was too strong and the knight had no leverage. It wasn’t going anywhere without help.
“We should have gone with a snake,” Sonja muttered.
“I hate snakes.” Crystal shuddered and looked away from the arena.
The lobster made a move toward the viper and black mist rushed from its mouth. The move was a feint and the golem retreated without further damage.
The black snake’s mouth remained open and the mist continued to pour out. Soon it covered both the serpent and the knight along with the entire arena floor.
Across the amphitheater one of the Black Viper Team screamed and collapsed. Another followed a moment later.
Something flashed in the light. A member of the viper team had a dagger and was using it on her teammates.
A third wizard went down. They were a third of the way across the stadium, no way he could reach them in time to do anything.
A roar from the arena floor drew Conryu’s attention back to the sand. Black mist had filled a third of the battlefield. The mist swirled and formed into a snake ten times the size of the golem. The lobster and knight lay unmoving on the sand.
Dean Blane hurled lightning at the serpent and some of the other teachers and older students joined in. They might as well have shot spitballs at it for all the good their spells did. Every blast fizzled the moment it touched the snake’s scales. It reminded Conryu of when his attackers tried to use magic on Cerberus.
Maria fluttered to the ground a few hundred yards away from the arena along with a handful of other first-year students who were flying with teachers. Conryu relaxed the moment he knew she was safe, or at least as safe as it was possible to be with a giant demon snake rampaging through the arena.
The demon serpent’s tail smashed into the wall near the news crew, sending them sprawling to t
he ground. It seemed incidental to the creature as it totally ignored them.
Across the way the deranged wizard continued to stab her way through her teammates.
Sonja grabbed his arm. “What do we do?”
Conryu’s gaze shifted from the tiny wizard clutching his sleeve to the giant serpent that ignored every spell thrown at it. He doubted there was anything they could do. That said, he had to try.
“Can you get me down there?”
All four girls stared at him as if he’d lost his mind, a perfectly natural response considering what he’d just asked.
“We can’t leave those two to be eaten.”
“We could make a stone slide.” Crystal studied the arena between them and the huddled news crew. “I’ll twist it so you land right beside them.”
“Perfect.” He turned to Sonja. “Move Blinky to the entrance and use his heat blast on the serpent.”
“Why would that work any better than a spell?” Sonja was shaking so bad he feared she might faint.
“It won’t, but if that thing looks my way a blast might distract it. I’ll be counting on you.”
She squeezed his arm tighter. “Don’t do it. You don’t even like that reporter.”
“You got me there. But it’s a big distance between not liking someone and being willing to let them die. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything crazy. We just need to get them out of the arena.”
Crystal tugged on his robe. “Slide’s ready.”
Indeed it was. A shiny halfpipe twisted its way down to the arena floor. The serpent was distracted by fifteen flying wizards blasting it with everything from fire to lightning to ice pellets. They all had the exact same effect: nothing.
It was now or never. He hopped onto the slide.
If he hadn’t been terrified that at any moment the big black snake an arm’s length away would notice him Conryu might have enjoyed zipping down the smooth slide. It reminded him of the one at the park he used to visit when he was a kid. He and Maria would spend all day climbing up and sliding down.
Deep crimson eyes, each as big as his head, turned Conryu’s way. He tumbled off the slide a moment before its tail smashed the stone construct to gravel. The sand broke his fall. Using his momentum he rolled to his feet and ran toward the huddled newspeople.
The Awakening Page 12