by Gage Lee
Eric moved far faster than the constructs could react. In the blink of an eye, he’d darted across the central circle, snatched the red ball off the ground with one hand, and leaped over the first row of opponents with a single bound. Jinsei coursed through the channels in his legs, giving him the supernatural speed to dodge between the clumsy arms of the next rank of defenders. Eric raced for the nearest goal with the ball held tight against his body by his left arm and right hand.
“They certainly aren’t very fast,” Clem said. “Pretty organized, though.”
The constructs were too slow to catch Eric, and they knew it. Instead of chasing after him, the first two ranks of constructs had swept out to the sides to meet the goalies that rushed forward on the flanks. That maneuver effectively cut Eric off from the two outermost holes and clogged his path to the central goal with constructs.
If Eric had been any slower, that maneuver might have stopped him.
He dropped to the ground in mid-stride and slid across the clay, kicking up a cloud of dust that momentarily obscured him from enemies and allies alike. The maneuver let him slide through the wide stance of one of the goalies. Eric popped up behind the construct, sprinted ahead, and slammed the ball into the hole in the arena’s wall.
“He shoots!” Eric shouted. He performed a flashy backflip and jogged back toward the center of the arena. “He scores!”
“Point for the Blue Team,” a neutral voice announced.
The blue zero on our side of the scoreboard instantly changed to the number one, and the innermost white circle turned black. A loud bell rang, and an angry buzzer sounded at the exact same moment.
“What was that all about?” Hagar asked. “A buzzer and a bell for a goal?”
My thoughts raced. The voice had given us the victory conditions for the challenge in a very specific order.
Protect your goals.
Establish dominance.
Three points wins the game.
“Eric, don’t score anymore!” I shouted.
“What are you talking about?” He’d already lined up outside the circle, as had the constructs, and it had already flashed red.
Yellow.
Green.
Eric leaped into the circle and snatched the ball off the ground before our opponents could touch it.
“Keep the ball away from them while I figure this out,” I shouted.
“Whatever you say.” Eric laughed. “I can run circles around these losers all day.”
As if to demonstrate just how easy that would be, Eric performed a jinsei-fueled leap, bounced off the top of one of the defenders, and then backflipped away before the construct could react.
“Scoring a goal is the last thing the voice said.” I thought aloud. “And establish dominance was the first thing. What does that mean?”
“We already look pretty dominant to me,” Hagar shouted. “Eric’s running circles around the constructs. If the rest of us got involved, it’d be a slaughter.”
“There has to be more to the challenge,” Clem shouted. She chewed on the inside of her lip for a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t know, Jace. This doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Eric was quick on his feet and had easily avoided the defenders so far. Their coordination was starting to pay off, though. They used their superior numbers to form a double-walled defense. Eric could leap over one row, but that would put him right in the faces of the second rank of opponents. Meanwhile, the goalies had slid up the sides of the arena to flank Eric.
“What’s the plan?” Eric called out to me. “I can still get past these losers to dunk another goal.”
“Not yet,” I said. “We’re missing something.”
“I’m going to be missing the ball if I don’t do something soon,” Eric said. “They’re getting tricky.”
This whole challenge was tricky. I reviewed the instructions we’d been given, hoping for a clue.
Establish dominance. Scoring a goal without so much as a touch from the defenders hadn’t accomplished that. How else could we prove we were dominant over the constructs?
Then it hit me.
“It’s the challenge of swords!” I shouted. “Take them apart with your fusion blades!”
“That makes sense,” Clem said. “The answer was right there in front of us the whole time!”
It was, and that infuriated me. If any of the other competitors had been smarter than me, they could take the lead early and we’d spend the rest of the challenges trying to catch up. That was a horrible way to start the Gauntlet. I’d wanted to come out hard, grab the lead, and then hang onto it while the other teams chased us.
“I’ll hang onto the ball until you have your swords ready.” Eric leaped over one of our opponents, pivoted nimbly on one heel, and then darted around their flank to pull them back toward their own goal. The constructs, still focused on stopping the ball from reaching their goal, turned their backs on the rest of us to chase after Eric.
“Just a few more seconds,” Clem and Hagar said almost simultaneously.
Meanwhile, I held my ground and started the long, arduous process of summoning my weapon. With my core damaged, I had to gather aspects and jinsei slowly, a little at a time. I was confident my friends could deal with the constructs without my aid and frustrated that they couldn’t rely on me in a pinch.
“On my way!” Abi shouted as he raced past us, his heavy, two-handed fusion sword clasped tightly in both hands, its blade cocked back to rest on his shoulder. Abi was nowhere near as fast as Eric, but I still wouldn’t want to be on the business end of a chopping blow from him.
“I’m right on your tail.” Clem’s fusion blade appeared in her hands a moment after Abi passed her. Her weapon had a short, slender blade with a two-handed hilt, one sharp edge, and a chisel tip. She held the weapon in one hand, low and away from her body, as she chased after our friend. Though she was the weakest fighter on our team, I was sure Clem’s techniques would still be more than a match for the constructs.
“No sword for you?” Hagar asked. “Leaving all the hard work for the rest of us?”
“I thought I’d give you a chance to do some work before I saved the day,” I said. “You’re the upperclassman. Go show them how it’s done.”
“Maybe I’ll do that,” Hagar said thoughtfully. Her long, slender weapon had a gentle curve that ended in a razor-sharp tip. She handled the blade with an almost careless ease, sweeping its tip through a series of figure eights as she stalked downfield toward our enemies. Her aura bristled with violence and blood aspects like a crimson corona around her. Experience had shown me that Hagar was a fearsome combatant. The constructs would be no match for her.
Especially since they were all still chasing after Eric. He led them around in a looping circle that brought them back to Abi and the others at midfield. Our opponents didn’t seem to notice that the game had changed. They kept trying to set up traps for Eric, who jumped over them, and were completely unprepared to defend themselves when my team struck.
Abi was the first to attack. Though he had no offensive techniques, he was strong enough that his heavy blade was a serious threat even without techniques to improve its power. He stepped into his swing and swept his blade through one of the legs of a squat second-rank construct as it charged after Eric. The heavy fusion sword ripped the leg clean away from the thing’s body. Sparks of sacred energy splashed out of the severed limb, and the construct lost its balance and fell hard onto the clay surface of the arena.
“Nice shot!” Eric shouted as he led the constructs away from their fallen companion. “This will be a piece—”
One of the flanking goalies had rushed to intercept Eric on his blind side. Its broad hands lengthened into a pair of wickedly sharp long swords. The blades’ faceted edges were coated with a brilliant layer of sacred energy that would add to their cutting strength.
I shouted a warning, but knew it was far too little, far too late.
Eric had been so confident in his ability to evade t
he constructs that he hadn’t raised a single defensive technique.
He paid for his pride with blood.
The goalie’s blade sliced through Eric’s side just above his hip. The blow slashed through my friend’s robes and split his flesh down to the muscle. Blood splashed from the wound, and the goalie drew his weapon back for a brutal follow-up attack.
Eric had only survived because of his speed and training. He’d turned away from the construct’s slashing blow the instant I’d shouted my warning. That had been too slow to save him from an ugly flesh wound, but it had been fast enough to spare his internal organs and major blood vessels.
With a shout of pain and anger, Eric whipped the ball in his right hand at his attacker’s legs. The rubber ball wasn’t heavy enough to do any real damage. The sheer force behind it, though, staggered Eric’s enemy and gave him the space he needed to retreat and summon his fusion blade.
I winced at the way my friend staggered back from his foe. Abdominal wounds were nasty, and that gash would limit Eric’s mobility.
Clem leaped through the air and landed beside Eric. The rest of the opposing team was mere yards away, blades bared and ready to hack and slash. There was no way Clem could hope to fight all nine of the remaining constructs, even with Eric’s help. Abi and Hagar weren’t close enough to pitch in. They’d never reach the fray in time.
My breath caught in my throat. I was about to see two of my friends get carved into bloody chunks.
Clem planted her heel and whipped a spinning wheel kick toward the constructs that had been chasing Eric. Sacred energy pulsed through the channels of her leg, strengthening it and accelerating the blow. The attack was fierce and lightning fast.
It also missed every one of the attacking constructs.
The creatures didn’t miss a step. Their charge carried them forward. They’d be on top of Clem in the next heartbeat.
Clem’s outstretched leg whirled around in a flat arc. Her momentum turned her away from the constructs, exposing her back to their blades. Weapons plunged toward her defenseless body.
Eric shouted a warning and raised his weapon to defend Clem. It was a noble, futile gesture. His injury made him too slow to reach his ally.
Clem’s spin brought her around to face her enemies again. A construct’s weapon sliced through the sleeve of her robes and carved a shallow line through the skin beneath. Clem let out a ferocious kiai and didn’t flinch as a weapon opened a bloody wound across her cheek.
I didn’t want to see this, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
One of the front-line constructs lunged at Clem. Its arm had become a spear, and it thrust the weapon straight at Clem’s heart. Time slowed to show me the blade’s tip creasing Clem’s robes.
Jinsei exploded out of Clem’s extended foot in an arc of silver power. The sacred energy slammed into the charging constructs with a thunderclap that bowled them all over. The constructs rolled across the clay, their arms and legs tangled together. Their sharp weapons hacked up the ground as they tumbled away from Clem, and clouds of red dust obscured our enemies from view.
“Move!” Eric shouted, and he rolled away just in time to avoid another attack from the rogue goalie who’d come in behind him and Clem. The heavy blade smashed into the arena’s floor and kicked up shards of clay.
Hagar and Abi approached the other constructs, uncertain of how to proceed. Hagar’s quick, nimble strikes were great against flesh and blood opponents. Against crystalline constructs, though, she couldn’t draw blood or put her more powerful techniques into play. Abi, on the other hand, was an awesome defender with little in the way of offense. Neither of them was in any danger of being wounded by the constructs. They also didn’t stand much chance of bringing down any of our enemies.
While my friends had practiced alongside me with Professor Song and Elder Brand, I’d paid very close attention to the techniques they utilized. I’d known all along that I would be the weakest link on the battlefield. I’d planned to be useful in other ways.
Now it was time to put that plan into action.
“Hagar, Arachnid’s Aura!” I shouted. “Abi, Boundary of Serpents!”
I was relieved when they both activated their techniques without question. Hagar’s aura exploded with webs of red blood aspect that snared her opponents’ arms and legs in sticky tangles. While it wasn’t an offensive technique by any stretch of the imagination, it did thoroughly immobilize three of the constructs close to Hagar.
Abi’s serpent technique created an arc of writhing sacred energy that drove three more of our opponents backward. They were instantly snared in Hagar’s aura. In the blink of an eye, my friends had immobilized six of our enemies.
Neither of my allies needed to be told what to do next. Their fusion blades hacked at the crystalline bodies caught in Hagar’s web. Abi’s blows smashed through crystalline limbs and torsos, sending chips of the defenders flying in every direction. Hagar’s precise strikes plunged her narrow blade into armpits, knees, and elbows to pop the constructs’ limbs loose at their joints. Their combined attacks soon had three of the tangled constructs down, and I was confident they’d peel the other three apart just as quickly.
The remaining constructs had swarmed around Eric and Clem. That fight wasn’t going nearly so well for my team.
The wound in Eric’s side sapped his strength and forced him into a defensive stance. His fusion blade wavered in and out of existence, and the fiery striking techniques he favored were of no use against the hardened bodies of our enemies. Clem, though still at full strength, wasn’t a warrior. Her techniques were meant for mobility and deception, not aggressive attacks. The pair of them held their ground, but they needed help.
“Clem, Lightning Serpents!” I shouted. “Inferno Field, Eric!”
Clem’s technique lived up to its namesake. Serpents of electricity burst from her aura and lashed out at the constructs around her. The attacks sprayed sparks into the faces of her enemies and zapped their bodies with blistering jolts of electric power. The serpents didn’t do much damage, but they did make a lot of noise and temporarily confused our foes. Eric followed that up with a wave of flame from his aura that washed over his enemies in a crackling field of fire that drove them back a few more steps. That gave my friends a little breathing room.
It didn’t tilt the battle any further in our favor, though.
“Jace!” Hagar shouted. “This isn’t working.”
The pieces and parts from the constructs that Hagar and Abi had taken apart had reassembled themselves into a bigger, meaner construct. The new threat had neatly absorbed the mass of its fallen brothers and fused them all together with threads of jinsei. The giant towered over us, its footsteps rattling the arena’s floor. Though it was clumsy and slow, the construct was unbelievably strong. It had already plucked one of its allies out of Hagar’s webs and nearly had another free.
Well, that wasn’t very fair.
I had to figure out what other piece I was missing from this challenge before the rest of the constructs combined with it to form an even bigger giant that could crush us like bugs under its feet.
Think, I ordered myself.
“Pull back to me,” I shouted. “We’re stronger together.”
Eric and Clem staggered toward me. She held one of his arms across her shoulders to support him, and he leaned against her so heavily I was afraid his weight would knock Clem over before they reached me. His face was pale, and the left side of his robes were stained with a sticky sheet of his blood. We needed to finish this, soon.
“They’re too strong,” Clem said. “I can barely put a dent in them.”
“I can’t manifest my sword.” Eric winced as he drew a breath and irritated the wound in his side.
“Take this.” I handed Eric one of my jinsei serums. “Get your wounds stitched up and start cycling.”
“We can hold them off, we just can’t finish them,” Hagar growled as she and Abi regrouped with the rest of us.
More of the constructs had added their bodies to the giant. Five had become one, and the others marched along its flanks. The enemy advanced at an even, unhurried pace. They’d be on us very soon. Even if we retreated, we had no more than a few minutes before they’d surround us.
“The challenge was designed for a team of five,” I said. “The four of you won’t be able to beat the constructs. I have to contribute to the fight.”
“You can’t summon a sword,” Clem said.
“No, but there’s something else I can do.” I dug a vial of corrupted toxin aspects out of the pouch on my belt. This was a bad idea, but we were out of options. “As soon as I mark the big guy, go at it with all you’ve got.”
The constructs were twenty feet away. They marched toward us at a steady pace, careful not to rush into a trap. They were in no hurry to engage.
“We’ll hold the line until you and Eric are ready,” Abi said. “No one’s getting past me.”
He planted himself ahead of our team and activated his defensive technique. A wall of power appeared in front of him, and his aura glowed deep red. Hagar stood on Abi’s left, Clem on his right. All three of them held their weapons in a defensive position, and I hoped they’d be able to withstand the assault headed our way.
“How are you doing?” I asked Eric.
“Been better.” He showed me his bloodstained hand and peeled back his robes to expose the ugly gash in his side. “The jinsei’s doing its work, but I’ll need a few more minutes before I’m back on my feet.”
The largest enemy crashed into Abi’s barrier like an avalanche. It hammered at the jinsei barrier with fists the size of wrecking balls. The first blow rocked Abi back on his heels. Cracks zigzagged across the shield’s surface after the second punch, and Abi cried out in pain when the third blow knocked a chunk from the top of the barrier.
The other constructs tried to force their way around the sides of Abi’s defense. Hagar’s webbed aura snared two of them, and Clem knocked the other three sprawling onto the clay with a tempest kick. My friends cycled their breathing to recharge their cores, but they couldn’t hold the constructs at bay indefinitely.