The King of Eternia takes the golden shield leaning next to his chair and straps it to his arm. Richard then pulls his long sword from its scabbard, left leaning against a leg of the table. He sees that Charles is waiting on the ground in front of the platform, tapping his left foot on the ground impatiently with a scowl.
The Non-Player Characters, who were congregating in the Town Square, have backed away from Charles to avoid being accidentally hit in the crossfire in the upcoming duel.
Evan quickly gets the video technician to turn the camera back to the two bosses. “In a surprise, spurious move, the CEO of Virtuous Gaming Co. has decided to challenge the CEO of Eternia Development & Entertainment, Inc. personally to a one-on-one duel. The winner will take the loser’s stake in his company.”
Antoinette is confused by the new development. “What about the Hundred Man Tournament? Will we simply negate the result?” she asks.
Evan shrugs. “We’re entering new territory here. If this CEO duel ends quickly, do we end the event immediately afterwards or keep in running? If the match continues afterward but the winning CEO’s players lose, which result will trump the other?” He lists the possibilities out loud for the audience to ponder along with the host.
“There is also a possibility that the CEO duel does not produce a result prior to the end of the tournament,” Antoinette notes. “In that case, I think it will be up to the duelists to decide whether to continue fighting or not. There are certainly a lot of possible outcomes now, but it really depends on whether the duel can finish prior to the end of the tournament. So I think we need to let the duel play out first, and see if it will change the outcome.”
“Or everything can be settled through mediation. But I guess we’ll find out,” Evan shrugs. “In the meantime, let’s have a split screen showing both the duel and the match,” he suggests to the technicians.
* * *
When Richard enters the center circle in the Town Square, Charles quickly attacks his rival with a jab to the chest.
Richard expertly blocks the blow with his shield, and slashes at Charles’ chest.
Charles turns his staff to his left, and jams the end of his weapon into the sword guard.
Richard hops back. “Not bad,” he says. Actually, the staff almost knocked the sword out of his hand, but Richard isn’t going to admit that publicly.
“My girlfriend is a good training partner,” Charles explains. “Since she insisted on participating in the tournament, I told her she’ll get my permission to enter only if she can beat me. And obviously she did, many times over,” Charles winces at the memories. Testing his opponent, the monk quickly feints a jab at Richard’s face.
Richard blocks the strike with the long sword and tries a shield bash into Charles’ face.
The monk ducks under the shield, and trips the knight with his staff.
Richard’s avatar drops on the ground, but he quickly rolls to his left to avoid getting hit in the face with the staff. He deftly kicks out a foot to the monk’s left knee, which is over-extended for the attack.
Charles’ knee buckles and he loses his balance, falling to the ground too. He blindly rolls to his left, and suddenly finds himself atop Richard! Seeing the man pinned under, the monk tries to strike Richard’s face with a right fist.
However, the knight brings up his shield in time to block the punch, counters with a punch to Charles’ gut.
The punch shifts the avatar back, and Richard uses his “Shield Bash” skill to knock the monk off. BAM!
* * *
Seeing the approaching ninjas, Lucious quickly reshapes the earth into a high, concave wall cutting off Conrad and Laura from the rest of the mountain. The wall leaves the side facing the portal open, however, so that Conrad can fire his arrows to protect the portal.
Wesley takes a glance backward at the wall and turns to face the ninjas again. “Nice move, Lucious,” he compliments.
“Unfortunately, it took out almost all my remaining mana,” the mage replies. “But now it’s five-on-five, so the odds aren’t bad,” Lucious adds as he prepares to enter a melee fight using his magical staff.
“You heard the man,” Wesley says aloud. “Each defender takes one opponent. Time is expiring. If we can protect Laura until the end we will win. Now let’s do it! For Eternia!” he roars and charges to attack the closest Virtuan ninja.
“For Eternia!” the three defenders with him join in unison.”
* * *
“Just sit tight,” Conrad says while keeping his eye on the portal. He didn't expect Lucious to blow his mana to create a wall of earth around Laura, because now this means the mage has to engage in hand-to-hand combat. And Lucious abhors melee combat as much as any magician in the game. Gotta hand it to the shorty for putting the mission ahead of personal idiosyncrasies, Conrad thinks.
“Right, like there’s anywhere else for me to go, except down,” Laura rolls her eyes at the obvious.
Unfortunately, the archer is running low on arrows, so he has to conserve them unless Virtuans find a way to break through the wall and enter the portal. In the meantime, the duo has the perfect spot to watch Heimdall fight the players trying to break down the wall.
Chapter 71 – Final Shots
“Ladies and gents, we have only twenty minutes remaining in this Hundred Man Tournament! Let’s summarize what is happening right now,” Evan says.
“On the ground at the passage way, we have Virtuans trying to break down the Wall of Bones enclosing the Portal to Eternia,” Antoinette replies. “The two factions representing Virtuous Gaming were originally fighting each other until the wall appeared, and apparently formed a quick truce afterwards. However, it seems that the attacks from the players aren’t doing much damage against the wall. And don’t look now, but Heimdall is slowly approaching the Virtuans’ position at the portal.”
“And up above them, on the mountain top we have five individual, one-on-one melee fights,” Evan notes. "Wesley is leading a bunch of Eternian spell casters against five Virtuan ninjas. This looks to be interesting match ups all around."
“Last but not least, right here in the Town Square, we have the heads of Virtuous Gaming and Eternia Development & Entertainment fighting in a duel,” Antoinette adds.
“Well, that summarizes all the current action in the field. Please continue to watch this live stream. I can’t wait to find out who wins this crazy match!” Evan says before the camera returns to show a three part screen.
* * *
“What the heck is wrong with my sword? I am doing only one point of damage per hit!” Quentin Blade Dancer complains.
“We can file an official complaint afterwards,” Divine John replies while hitting the wall with his mace.
WHACK! “My horse is getting tired of kicking the wall,” Burton says.
“Heads up! Heimdall is coming!” Rogeta Pathfinder cries out as she starts shooting her arrows at the man.
“Hey you with the horse! Continue hitting the wall. The Wall of Bones requires continuous mana upkeep, and the necromancer above us is bound to run out of mana sooner or later. When that happens, you will dive through the portal and end this event. In the meantime, the rest of us here will take on Heimdall and delay him,” the priest orders.
Gentatsu nods to confirm the order; it is as good as any that the second in command of The Returned can come up with. “Do what the man said.”
“What about the bet between our leaders?” Krystal asks. She belongs to Marcus’ The Returned alliance.
“It was a personal bet between Virgil and Marcus on which faction will enter the portal first. Since both bettors are knocked out of the game, and our weapons can’t hurt each other for whatever reason, a truce between the two sides is our only option. Otherwise, we mercenaries won’t get paid beyond our meager advances if Charles loses control of his company. And you folks in The Returned won’t be in much better shape either since you were booted from the game originally and it is doubtful that WoE will rescind th
e player bans and let you back in,” Divine John explains.
“As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. The Returned’s goal is to win the tournament; that will be our revenge against the company running The World of Eternia for booting us out. To realize that objective means working together with Easy Money,” Gentatsu adds.
"Hello Virtuans!" Heimdall booms out in a loud voice. "Lovely weather we're having today, no?" he muses aloud. The fearsome man turns his head from left to right, and notices something strange. "I thought you guys were fighting each other, weren't you? A group of horsemen trampled over the guys on the road, while I was fighting that pesky ranger. But now I see everyone working together, and leaving the horseman kicking the wall unharassed. What gives?" he asks.
"Nothing for us to discuss with you stinking Eternians," Quentin replies with false bravado.
"It was just some internal matters," Divine John adds politely.
"Curiosity killed the cat," Rogeta says and unleashes an arrow at the warrior's chest.
PING! Heimdall looks at the arrow lying on the ground. "You wanna know what annoys me the most in World of Eternia? It is rude people, like you folks here. I was just having a peaceful parley with you guys because I was feeling generous."
"Generous? You?" Quentin scoffs at the notion.
"Yes indeed, because the outcome of this match is obvious. You lost. Time will expire, and you will not be able to break through the Wall of Bones," Heimdall says while getting down on one knee to retrieve the arrow on the ground. "I was going to allow you all to remain on the battle field until the last seconds tick down to zero. But now, I feel like booting you all out of this game." He crushes the arrow in his hand and slowly gets up. Heimdall points the tip of his halberd at the group. "It's time to die," Heimdall says and activates his "Spinning Blade" skill. It offers less damage than Whirling Spin, but allows greater movement and longer duration.
Gentatsu tries to block the fast spinning halberd with his samurai katana and wakizashi, but his blades quickly snap under the tremendous force of the spin generated by Heimdall's skill. The avatar is cut in half before the player can hop back to safety.
Divine John sees the effect of the halberd's blade on Gentatsu, and uses his unnatural speed to dive onto the ground, and move away from the dangerous weapon.
Rogeta fires multiple shots at Heimdall, but every single arrow gets deflected by the warrior's armor because the shots are doing no damage. Suddenly an arrow punches through her skull, and her avatar drops dead as a stone.
Seeing that the pesky archer is already dead, Heimdall quickly guides his halberd toward the horse rider and cuts the horseman from behind before the enemy can react. Finally, the duration of the skill runs out, leaving just two Virtuans standing in front of the portal.
Tchk! Another arrow punches through Divine John's skull. Feuk! And a final arrow takes out Quentin.
Heimdall takes his helmet off, looks up, and salutes Conrad. The warlord isn’t going to admonish the sniper for stealing Heimdall’s kills; for this event let player etiquette be damned. If the damage bug expires before the fighter can take the two Virtuans down, then Heimdall would be the one going down. After all, the man has not received a single healing spell in the entire event, and even his enormous health bar is down to just ten percent of normal.
The sniper returns the salute to the warlord, oblivious to the sin he just committed. As far as Conrad is concerned, their match is over. Now it’s up to Wesley and his band of unlikely fighters to stall for the remaining dozen minutes or so left in the tournament.
Chapter 72 – Family Feud
Once the two sisters are settled in a corner by themselves, Diana starts to talk. “How long have you been spying on us?” she asks.
“Why would I want to spy on you?” Priscilla asks innocently.
The priestess disregards the innocent act. “I’ve always wondered why you are so interested in my plans with Lucious. In the back of my mind, I actually thought you had the hots for him,” she says.
The ninja laughs aloud. “You thought I was actually attracted to that midget? Please,” Priscilla dismisses the disgusting notion. “I like men who are masculine and tall, not a tightly wound, height-challenged guy like your boyfriend. My boyfriend is a successful business man who runs his own company; your little guy is probably running around getting coffee for his boss in the morning,” she smirks.
Again, the sister refuses to take the obvious bait and lose her temper. “But you were always nearby, trying to listen in on my conversations with Lucious,” Diana thinks aloud, in a clear and calm tone of voice. “If you weren’t interested in him, then why would you do that?” she asks.
The sister remains tip-lipped, but offers a mischievous grin.
Diana narrows her eyes again as she finally put two-and-two together. “It was all work related, wasn’t it? Since Lucious and I are player consultants with Eternia Development & Entertainment, Inc., you thought you might be able to get some nuggets of information regarding stuff that we may be beta testing for EDE. I bet you even installed secret surveillance software on my computer! Is this true?” she growls.
“I needed to do it, because my boss asked me to,” the sister admits. “My company has been going through tough times due to the ultra-competitive nature of the casual gaming market, and my boyfriend needed fresh new ideas to put to market. He was desperate and I just couldn’t say no to him,” Priscilla explains with a shrug.
“So you betrayed me for love? How wonderful,” Diana mocks her sister.
“You are not in a position to judge me,” Priscilla retorts. “You don’t know how nasty the real world is out there. You have been in academia for most of your adult life. You have yet to step foot in the ruthless business world. So don’t act all high and mighty when you’re just a know-nothing.”
“Yeah, I know nothing about backstabbing people. Perhaps you can give me some lessons, after your lose this tournament. Enough of these chit chat. I want to beat the stuffing out of you before time expires,” Diana grumbles as she smacks the steel ball of her mace against her left palm.
“Yes, it’s time to show the world what a big cry baby you are,” Priscilla agrees as she adopts a stance. Armed with steel claws over the back of her hands, the ninja leans her left arm out while keeping her right hand over her chest.
Suddenly, Diana makes a dash straight for her sister. “Hiiiiyahhhh!” she screams as the priestess holds the mace over her head with both hands, and tries to bash Priscilla in the head.
The ninja offers a leg kick to her assailant’s mid-section, forcing the priestess backwards. “My turn,” Priscilla says and quickly dashes forward. She jabs at Diana’s chest with the left claws, but the priestess blocks the blow with her mace. The ninja follows with a strike to the face, but Diana throws her head back to avoid the claws.
The priestess allows the momentum to drop her body to the ground, and blindly kicks out her feet.
Having extended her body forward for the strike to Diana's face, the ninja is caught off guard by the sudden kick to her abdomen, and flies backward.
Seizing the opportunity, Diana quickly removes the bola from her belt hook, and throws it at her sister’s chest. The bola hits the target head on, and the momentum causes the weighted balls on the ends of the rope to swing around Priscilla’s arms, wrapping them to her ribs.
The ninja tries to run away, but the priestess tackles her legs. “Oh no you don’t!” Diana yells. The priestess straddles her sister. “Good night!” Diana says before bashing Priscilla’s head with the steel mace.
With the dreaded “Game Over” flashing on her view screen, Priscilla rips the virtual reality helmet off. “Damn it!” the defeated sister slaps her thighs.
Chapter 73 – Tricky Opponent
Wesley keeps his focus on the enemy before him. Before the knight could get within range of his long sword, the ninja tosses three sets of throwing knives in rapid succession. Wesley reacts quickly to block them with his sh
ield and protect his head.
The opponent uses the opportunity to throw a smoke bomb and hides by activating the ninja class skill, “Concealment.”
Seeing the smoke around him, Wesley quickly moves away from his position, just in case the ninja tries to throw more knives at the warrior. Once the smoke is clear, he is not surprised to see that the ninja is nowhere to be seen. I didn't expect to be playing hide-and-seek today, Wesley thinks with amusement. The ex-Marine starts to move around, seeking signs of his hidden opponent. There are a number of trees and large rocks that the ninja could be hiding behind, and perhaps even on the ground with some ninja concealment skill being used.
As the cavalier walks around the landscape, he suddenly hears a scraping sound from behind. Wesley quickly gets down on one knee and raises his shield. Buuooommm! The strike aimed at his head is followed by a low kick aimed right below his left armpit. BAM! The kick hits Wesley squarely, and the force knocks him off-balance. The player takes a glance at his avatar's health bar, and sees a five percent drop. Ouch!
The seasoned warrior allows the momentum to carry his avatar and quickly rolls to his right, narrowly avoiding another strike. Wesley continues rolling on the ground, to put some distance between his avatar and his attacker. I only need to keep my opponent occupied for the remainder of this tournament, the cavalier reminds himself.
The strikes continue in rapid succession; the attacker hits nothing but dirt.
Finally, Wesley swings his long sword wildly in the air, forcing his opponent to back off to avoid being cut. He uses the brief respite from the fight to return his avatar to its feet. Wesley looks at his opponent, and sees that the ninja is now using two Tonfa sticks. "Lucky me, I get to fight a martial artist," he cracks.
The ninja twirls the sticks under his forearms, to show his proficiency with the weapons, and start bouncing lightly on his toes. Suddenly, the ninja takes two quick steps forward and thrusts the right Tonfa stick at the knight's face.
World of Eternia: The Complete Collection Page 42