“Yeah, that was what I was thinking.” Eye for an Eye was a Defender Battle cry skill that returned 60% of the damage that I took to the attacker for five seconds. It was slightly different than Shield of Justice because I still took damage with Eye for an Eye, and it wasn’t a 100% return, but now that I knew Jin was playing a DaggerDancer, Lawful Seizure wasn’t that useful.
“Replace Flick with Severe Sentence, Champ. It is too redundant with Justice is Calling!”
“Got it,” I said as I took out the ranged throw and switched it with the melee attack.
Severe Sentence was a Defender attack that always did critical double damage. If I used a dagger, it added a bunch of bleeds and snared the opponent, if I used my maul it knocked back the enemy. It was probably the only useful skill on the Defender class for direct damage in duels, but I hadn’t wanted to include it because I was worried that Jin would play an Arcane or Summoner class. If he had picked one of those, then I wouldn’t be able to get near him without the aid of the Flick skill.
“Go to your quiet spot, Champ. I’ve got the words for you. Can you feel the power in your body? Can you understand that the universe is not just around you, but inside of you? It is, Champ. The universe wants you to win. No one can beat you, Champ. You’ve got the mind. You’ve got the body. There is nothing in your way. Do you see yourself winning?”
“I do,” I said to Dini.
“Say it louder, Champ! This place is roaring with your fans. They all want you to win. Can you hear their love, Champ?”
“I do,” I shouted a little louder into the microphone that was positioned on my VR helmet.
The doors opened to the bridge, and I sprinted toward the steep staircase that wrapped around the wide pillar of stone. I ran up the stairs quicker than my first time, and my legs gave me a pleasant sensation of exertion as I reached the top. Jin hadn’t emerged from his side of the stairs again, and I continued my sprint toward his side of the arena.
“He’s hiding on the stairs Champ. Be careful!” Dini warned as I got half way across the hundred foot arena.
I saw Jin’s lizard avatar poke his head above the stairs, and then he hid again. I guessed his strategy was to get me to come down the stairs, where he could use his daggers or short swords to rip me to pieces. The strategy was probably a bit better than his alternatives since Justice is Calling! wouldn’t be able to pull him out from behind cover.
There was no timer on these matches, but I didn’t want to wait for too long. The developers often warned that they had ‘mutations’ that would affect the world after the two-minute mark at random. It could be anything from a shrinking arena to the wind that would push us off the top. They could even change around combat rules so that damage was doubled, or skills recharged twice as fast. Anything that messed with the dynamics of the game skills would probably aid Jin more than me since his DaggerDancer class was heavily leveraged on being able to quickly roll through all of his skills for big bursts of damage.
I held my shield and advanced to the edge of the arena so that I could try and look down the stairs. My opponent was ten feet below me, but he jumped up so that he could see the edge of the top flat part of the arena.
Then he turned into a puff of smoke.
“Watch out Champ!” Dini shouted, but I’d already guessed what was about to happen, and I sidestepped without even looking behind me.
I was just a touch faster than Jin, and he missed his attack on my back. I guessed that he meant to use the single knockdown attack that was available to the DaggerDancer class. It was called O Goshi and would have launched me off of the edge of the arena. Shield of Justice wouldn’t have helped me since it only reflected damage, and neither would have Eye for an Eye.
I reached down to my waist and switched to the maul. Then I spun on my heel and triggered Severe Sentence as I swung the two handed weapon. Jin’s O Goshi attack had caused him to step to the edge of the arena, and my dodge had been perfectly timed. My own blow smashed right into Jin’s scaled back, and his avatar launched into the air as if he was being pulled on a zip line. He tried to twist in mid-flight, but it was too late, and he fell off of the arena.
I stepped to the edge and watched his form break through the clouds below. A few seconds later it faded from the view. I wondered for a second if they would actually log him out of the game, move him back to the prep room, or just let him fall for the half a minute it would take to smash into the distant game world ground beneath us.
“Champ! Champ! You did it!” Dini’s scream of joy brought me back to the arena, and I heard the cries of the crowd penetrate the ear pieces I wore.
I raised my maul into the air and smiled.
“For the tenth year in a row! Leo the Lion has held onto his title!” the announcer screamed.
I felt hands tear at my suit sensors and someone pulled off my visor. Jax, Garf, and Calic helped get me out of my omni station, and the announcer ran over to raise my arm up to the gathered crowd.
“Leeee Ohhhh!”
“Leeee Ohhhh!”
My friends were hugging me now, and I gestured to them with a bow. The crowd knew who Jax and Garf were and I heard their names being screamed out along with mine.
“Leeee Ohhhh!”
I looked across the battle ring and saw Jin step out of the omni station. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he buried his face into the shoulder of one of his trainers. I could understand the young man’s agony. His entire country was watching him, and he had failed.
“Leeee Ohhhh!”
Garf took my other hand and raised it in the air, and Jax grabbed my other from the announcer. The crowd went beyond insane, and it looked as if a mass of fans were pushing aggressively against the two deep wall of armored security.
Now there would be interviews, and more interviews, and after parties, and then more after parties. I probably wouldn’t get to sleep for two days, but maybe that was okay. We had all planned on taking a few weeks off, and our manager had booked us a resort stay on some private island somewhere in the Caribbean.
I tried to force a smile to my face, but I failed. I knew the truth about my career, and it saddened me somewhat. What would I do with the rest of my life? Where would I go? Could I find another purpose?
Jin had been the best in the world, but the battle had been too easy.
Could I find a new challenge?
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
End Notes
The Destroyer excerpt
Lion's Quest excerpt
Eye of the Tiger: A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure (Star Justice Book 1) Page 24