by Jakob Tanner
“No,” said the other. “They look ready to win.”
56
The following morning, Regulus stood with Hermia at their viewing box in the arena, watching every seat get filled for the final day of the tournament.
“Can you believe it?” said Hermia. “All that preparation has led to today. The final day of the tournament.”
Regulus gulped.
“It really is remarkable,” said Regulus. “To think the two teams who made it to the final round were not even on my radar a few weeks prior to the tournament even beginning and yet here they are, facing off for the ultimate grand prize.”
Hermia handed Regulus his hosting microphone.
“Well, you better get ready to announce,” said Hermia. “You can feel the tension in the air. Everyone is waiting eagerly for this final round.”
Will and Oliver of the Elestrian team sat in the stands of the arena, looking down to the square fighting ring at the center.
They were both holding up cardboard signs with a stick figure of a girl with a happy face. Overtop the cardboard read: “Go, Sarah, Go!”
“Which sign do you think she’ll like better?” asked Will.
“Mine obviously,” said Oliver. “Don’t forget I was the one who went with her to the tournament ball.”
“Yeah—that traumatic event,” said Will, grinning. “Such harsh memories, she’ll want to start over with someone else!”
Oliver went red in the face and stared daggers at his comrade.
“You take that back right now!”
“Shh!” hissed Will. “It looks like the match is starting.”
The murmurs of the crowd died down and the two teams walked out on either side of the square fighting ring.
The two E-rank girls on either team stepped into the fighting square, facing off against each other.
The first match was about to start.
Sarah stared at the dead-eyed girl across the ring from her.
The mercenary team’s E-ranker.
Winifred.
Sarah thought she could see the hazel eyes of the girl poke through the stringy wet hair that she let fall down her face.
The pale girl stood there, doing nothing, waiting to attack.
Sarah gulped.
Someone yelled from the arena, “C’mon fight!”
Someone else added in, “Attack already!”
Sarah clenched her fists.
She knew what she had to do. They had gone over it during the team’s training for the last week.
She couldn’t hesitate now.
She took a deep breath, relaxing herself.
For a brief second, the oppressive audience and arena wasn’t around her. She had laser focus on her target.
Sarah rushed at Winifred.
She readied her fist as she charged, imbuing it with the silver glow of mana.
“Take this!” she yelled.
With her strength stat at 20, which was only one point away from D-rank level strength, this punch should deal a heck of a lot of damage to another E-ranker.
But it would have to land first.
Sarah found herself leaning over Winifred, a punch ready to smack right into the demented-looking girl’s cheek, but her body was suddenly frozen still.
What’s going on?
Flickering between them was a silver floating being. It was an old woman wearing a strange mask. The old woman’s hand gripped itself around Sarah’s wrist with so much strength, it completely stopped her punch from moving forward. The grip had basically paralyzed her entire body.
“What is this?” Sarah stammered, looking at Winifred.
The mercenary team’s E-ranker had barely budged from the beginning of the fight.
She stood there, apathetic and lifeless. It was as if she was almost bored by Sarah’s plight.
Finally, Winifred opened her mouth.
“That’s Old Granny Whitmore,” said Winifred. “She’s been dead over four hundred years. She doesn’t like to see others fight.”
Sarah trembled.
This girl, she thought to herself. She can speak to ghosts!
The crowd around Will and Oliver had continued to grow restless.
Their bloodlust was satiated when Sarah went to strike, but they were even more irritated than before when the punch didn’t land.
To them, it looked like two people were just standing there, talking back and forth to one another.
“This is not a fight!” yelled someone nearby. “Give us our money back!”
“Ignore them,” said Oliver. “You can sense what’s going on, can’t you?”
Will looked at his superior-ranked comrade.
He could sense something was happening, but he couldn’t tell what.
“Focus on Sarah,” said Oliver. “Use your advanced mana perception.”
Will took a deep breath and focused on Sarah.
He gasped when he saw it.
It was only for a flicker of a second, but it made his heart pound against his chest.
“I’m guessing by your face you just saw it?” said Oliver.
“What is that?”
Will could barely put into words what he saw.
It was like a shock horror of nightmares in a blip of a second.
In that second, he saw the silver specter of an old woman clutching onto Sarah’s wrist.
But it was more than that.
One ghost would have made him raise his eyebrows, but it was the sheer volume of spirits surrounding both E-rank girls that freaked him out.
How is Sarah supposed to beat that girl, Will thought to himself, if she has an army of ghosts at her beck and call?
“It’s a very impressive trait,” said Oliver. “I’ve seen one like it before—it’s some kind of spirit whisperer ability.”
“Is there anyway for Sarah to counter it?” Will asked.
Oliver shook his head.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “Sarah has a lot of work cut out for her if she wants to beat Winifred. Sarah’s stats are clearly top notch for an E-ranker—did you see how fast she approached Winifred? However, her trait is much more suited to go up against a more conventionally offensive ability. Someone such as Winifred with a more psychological-based ability makes Sarah’s trait a lot less useful.”
Damn, Will thought to himself. C’mon, Sarah, hang in there!
The ghost woman’s grip began to send a chill up Sarah’s arm.
The horrible cold feeling enveloped her body.
“What’s happening to me?” she cried.
All around her were more ghost spirits.
Many of them were dead children. Souls lost to the cruelty and violence of the tower.
“Join us,” said the chorus of dead spirit children.
Sarah couldn’t help but think of all the orphans she helped take care of at the group home. She knew how hard their lives had been.
It hurt her to see the sight of all these spirit children who may have been relegated to an even worse fate than the children she’d looked after.
“No,” she gasped.
It took her an incredible amount of strength just to get the words out now that the old grandma’s ghost spirit energy had completely enveloped her.
But as soon as she spoke, Sarah was flying across the arena.
She crashed into the stone floor right near the edge.
“Stay down,” said Winifred, coldly. “If you don’t get up, they’ll count it as a knockout. Save yourself the trouble. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Sarah felt the world going black around her.
Is this really it? Did I lose without even landing a single hit?
Max and the rest of the team watched the match with severe intensity.
Max’s knee-jerk reaction when Sarah went flying across the fighting ring was to go and help her, but Harold held him back.
“This is her fight,” said Harold. “Not yours.”
Max gulped.
Winifred’s trait w
as overpowering Sarah. Harold had explained that the mercenary team’s E-ranker could control ghosts to fight for her.
He didn’t see how Sarah could beat an army of ghosts.
In that moment, he didn’t care about winning the tournament or anything like that; he just wanted his friend to survive this match okay.
There was something truly demented about the mercenary team; they all had some strange monstrous power and a desire to harm and kill. He didn’t want this psychopathic girl—who looked straight out of a horror film—to murder his childhood friend.
He looked at Sarah who lay motionless at the side of the fighting arena.
Please get up, Max thought to himself. Please don’t be dead.
Regulus’ voice boomed across the arena as he counted up to ten to declare a knockout.
“Five...”
“Six...”
“Seven...”
And then the whole arena gasped.
Trembling, Sarah began to pick herself up.
She wobbled as she stood, but raised her fists in a fighting stance.
It was amazing.
His childhood friend wasn’t going to give up without a fight.
All the spirits cried out around Sarah, telling her to stay down.
Now, standing on her feet, Sarah shook her head.
“I refuse,” she shouted.
She’d faced far greater horrors in her lifetime than these spectral remnants. She knew what real fear was and these ghosts only inspired a half-baked superficial form of fear compared to what she had experienced growing up.
“Why do you keep trying?” hissed Winifred from across the ring. “Why do you hope? The dead children of the tower grant me power. No one cared about them. No one cares about anyone!”
Sarah shook her head, violently, tears flying in every direction.
“I care!” cried Sarah.
Sarah took a step towards Winifred.
The ghost children surrounded Sarah. They began pulling at her, leaving marks in her skin, pulling at her flesh.
“You’ll never reach me,” shouted Winifred. “You couldn’t even land a punch.”
Sarah ignored her and kept moving closer and closer to Winifred.
“I understand you now,” said Sarah as she trudged forward as all the ghosts held her back. “I understand your pain. To be surrounded by these grieving mourning souls; it’s not that different from growing up in an orphanage with only other sad lonely children’s whimpers and moans offered as a lullaby before bed.”
Winifred’s shoulders jumped in fright at Sarah’s words.
“You don’t know me,” Winifred screamed. “You don’t know anything about me!”
Sarah just kept moving forward.
She was five steps from reaching Winifred.
The ghosts were getting more aggressive. Their pulls and tugs were no longer sending a cold hollow feeling throughout her, but were literally tugging at Sarah’s flesh and skin.
Both of her arms were ripped bloody and torn.
Four more steps.
A huge gash formed in her back.
Three more steps.
A chunk of her calf was ripped away.
Two more steps.
Blood and open flesh wounds dripped from her body as she reached Winifred.
The ghostly girl—the E-ranker on the mercenary’s team—winced as she expected Sarah to land a punch on her.
But Sarah didn’t think twice about what she did next.
Here it comes, Winifred thought to herself.
A knockout blow.
Her ghosts couldn’t hold the human E-ranker back.
She winced, readying herself for the punch.
WOOSH!
Winifred felt the breeze rush by.
What’s happening?
The human girl didn’t punch her.
Didn’t hit her at all.
All the human girl did was wrap her arms around Winifred and hug her.
“What the heck is she doing?” balked Casey. Toto’s face was also filled with concern.
“I agree with that sentiment entirely,” said Blake, taking a drag of his cigarette.
“Maybe she’s trying to make Winifred take damage from her own ghost attacks?” asked Max, slightly perplexed by the fight happening in front of them.
“You’re all wrong,” said Harold, keeping his arms crossed.
They all looked at him in disbelief.
What’s the old man going on about?
“She is learning a valuable lesson that any climber worth their salt needs to learn,” said Harold. “She knows she can’t beat Winifred’s army of ghosts. She’s accepted that. Now, she is simply creating a victory within her defeat. Take heed. This is how one fights with honor.”
Winifred stood there completely confused as Sarah kept hugging her, locking her into an embrace.
Winifred was overwhelmed.
What is this touch?
What is this warmth?
What is this intimacy?
Winifred could feel Sarah’s chest breathe in and out, could hear the beating of the human girl’s heart.
“What are you doing,” Winifred hissed. “I’m going to destroy you now. Throw you out of bounds. You won’t recover in time like you did before.”
Then Winifred’s eyes bulged with shock from what Sarah said next.
“I know,” Sarah sighed. “But before you do, I wanted you to know, I care. Even for you.”
Those were Sarah’s last words right before Winifred commanded her scythe spirit to stab Sarah in the back and send the girl flying across the arena.
Sarah didn’t even feel the thump when her body crashed into the gravel ground outside of the ring.
She could barely hear the announcer count to ten.
She gently turned her head and looked back at the arena.
Winifred stood where she had began the very fight, having not moved an inch.
But part of Sarah hoped that even if she hadn’t moved physically, she’d changed the mercenary girl somewhat.
She knew that Winifred had changed her.
Sarah saw Winifred’s hazel eyes furtively glance through her stringy wet strands of hair to watch her.
“Thank you,” Sarah said with her last bit of energy. “You may have won, but you showed me that I’ll never give up helping those who need it. I’ll never give up proving to those poor souls who think that no one cares about them—that I do.”
57
Max and the rest of the team watched on as Winifred was declared the winner of the first match.
A group of Caesarians came out to carry Sarah away on a stretcher, but by the time they’d reached her, her regenerative healing trait had done the job for them.
She walked back slowly towards Max and the rest of the team.
“I’m sorry you guys,” she said. “I let you down.”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Casey. “I’d have trouble taking down a demented army of ghosts to. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we’re more than impressed.”
They all gave her a pat on the back and a quiet cheer.
“You fought well,” said Harold.
There wasn’t much time to relax or go over the previous match as preparations were being made to start the next one straightaway.
Max went over the numbers.
Sarah’s loss means that the mercenary team were in the lead. The first to three victories would be declared the victors of the tournament.
They weren’t down for the count, but if they lost the next round it meant they would have to win every single round after that.
Better to have some wiggle-room, Max pondered.
“Don’t worry about me you guys,” said Casey, jumping up and down energetically while shadow boxing. “I got this.”
She then gently took Toto off her shoulder and planted him in the same spot on Max’s shoulder.
“Max will watch you while I fight. Is that alright, Toto?”
The lit
tle gerbil squeaked with assent.
“Go make us proud,” said Harold.
Casey nodded. She walked with determination into the fighting square to start the next match.
Kai smirked as he watched the human girl walk into the fighting area.
The girl didn’t look like much.
She had brown hair, green eyes, and was wearing a mini skirt and hoodie. Her D-rank badge pinned to it.
Just my luck, he grinned to himself. I get to face off against a dopey girl. She’s not even dressed for the fight. This will be a piece of cake.
After Winifred’s win, their team just needed to win two more times and then they’d be the winners of the tournament.
But even better was the knowledge that their plan could then truly commence.
Kai stepped onto the fighting square and stared down his opponent.
“Let the match begin!” shouted the announcer.
Kai didn’t waste any time and triggered his waterbringer trait.
The perspiration in the air formed into a solid liquid right in front of Kai and quickly amassed into a gigantic tidal wave, looming over the human girl.
One devastating wave, Kai grinned to himself. Should be enough to knock this girl out.
Casey faced the looming tidal wave towering over her.
She could hear gasps of amazement across the audience, but her face looked apathetic and bored.
“Is this supposed to impress me?” she said.
She whipped out both her hands and triggered her airbringer trait.
A huge tornado appeared in front of her and smashed right into the incoming tidal wave.
The two moves cancelled each other out.
A portion of the audience was splashed with the water that Casey had deflected.
Her opponent, Kai, scowled at her from across the arena.
“Is that all you got?” she smiled.
Kai clenched his fists.
He hated this girl.
She was mocking him. Humiliating him in front of all these people.