by KJ Harlow
Cal raised his axe and spun around, meeting Anton’s vertical strike. He stepped him, pushing the orc back. “Wind Mine allows me to hide my sword strikes in the air, they only hit the enemy when their body crosses the space where it was hidden.” He raised his shield and shoved it into Cal. A slash across the back of his neck, followed by one on his left hamstring then a stab through his armour, through the right side of his chest left the orc in shock.
-42 Damage!
-31 Damage!
- 69 Damage!
Marc bashed Cal away with his shield. He fell onto his back, dazed and bloody. He turned and spat blood out. Kai was lying still on the ground, his lance still in his grip.
“This is the end.” Cal looked back up. Marc stood over him, gleaming sword illuminated by Hyten.
“Earth Wall.” Marc’s sword came screaming down and thudded into a square pillar of dirt that Cal had raised in front of the brigadier. Marc tried with all his might to wrench it out but it was stuck.
“End Round 2!”
The crowd cheered, appreciative of the change in fortunes of the combatants in the ring and the ensuing good show. Cal dispelled Earth Wall, allowing Marc to pull his sword free. He gave him half a smile before he turned around and walked back to his corner.
Cal lay on the ground, staring up into the sky. Clouds scudded across before a young man with freckles dressed in the referee’s neon blue uniform appeared.
“Excuse me, Mister Callahan, did you need a hand returning to your side?”
Cal stared at him and slowly sat up. He opened his satchel, rolled through the compartments and made his selection. He pulled out the health potion glowing with a fluorescent green, uncorked it and gulped it down. He winced as his wounds healed at 100 times the normal speed, closing up and restoring everything to working order.
“No, I’m good thanks.” He walked over to Kai, who was face down in the dirt. 21/256. Damn it, that was a close one. “Hey.” He prodded the werejaguar with his boot. “Hey!”
“We need a plan,” Kai said, his voice muffled by the dirt.
Cal crouched down, pulled out the second and final health potion and put it on the ground. “I’m glad you think so.” He helped Kai turned around, supported his head then made sure the werejaguar swallowed every drop. He had been in worse shape than Cal, sustaining more than a dozen cuts, slashes and stabs. He watched as the skin closed up before his very eyes, leaving blue, spotted fur matted with caking blood behind.
“Round 3, begin!”
Kai got unsteadily to his feet. “What do we do?”
Marc and Anton were making their way directly across to them. Cal started running towards them. “Earth Wall!”
His opponents stopped. A wall shot up 20 feet and started rippling across from their right to left. When they figured out what Cal was trying to do, they started running in the direction the wall was building towards.
“Kai! Get over there and push them back with Fireball!” The werejaguar ripped across the arena, lance held in one hand to his side. Cal’s Earth Wall had almost made it to the other side of the arena, but Marc and Anton were just ahead.
Kai jumped and swiped the Blood Lance straight down, sending a fireball hurtling towards them. Anton stood square to the incoming fireball, striking like baseball batter with his axe, sending it straight back towards the werejaguar before the wall closed in around him and Marc.
Cal stopped in the center of the arena, gazing up at the giant wall he had created. Kai walked up next to him “They can’t attack us if they can’t reach us,” Cal said. “Can you get up to the top of the wall and send some Fireballs down there?”
“Yes.” Kai had an evil glint in his eye, imagining the pain he was about to deliver. The Earth Wall shuddered, chunks of dirt falling out.
“Hurry, this is eating up my mana.”
“Use the mana potion. You can use mine too.” Kai sheathed his lance and bolted off on all fours. He sprinted faster and faster, leaping at the wall once he was a few feet away. He continued sprinting up then once he started falling, he pulled out his lance and drove it into the wall. He flung himself up then, in a crouching position, wrenched his lance out. He stood up, puffing his chest out with a hand on his hip.
“Hurry up!” Cal roared.
A fireball flew up and almost knocked Kai off the wall. A second one came out but this time he was prepared. He swung his lance, the fireball bouncing into the Earth Wall and the side of the arena before it exploded on the ground.
“Did you get them?”
Kai was too busy sending fireballs of his own down into the hole to answer. He gripped his lance like a golf club, swinging left and right and skipping sideways to avoid the occasional counterattacking fireball.
Keeping one hand up, he flipped through his satchel, found the mana potion and downed it just as the Earth Wall was starting to crumble. Time to finish this. He pushed the Earth Wall towards the arena wall, giving Marc and Anton less and less room to wriggle.
“Hold on.” Kai planted his lance into the top of the Earth Wall. “They have got both of their hands up.”
Wait… they surrender?
“Are you sure?” Cal asked. Such a big Earth Wall was draining his mana really quickly.
Kai leapt off the Earth Wall, doing a double reverse somersault in the air before finishing in a crouching position. He ignored the delighted cheers of the crowd and looked at Cal. “Dispel the craft.”
Gladly. Cal exhaled and dropped his hand. The Earth Wall came down, collapsing back into the ground. All he could see was dust. Moments later, Marc and Anton emerged, their weapons sheathed and their arms in the air. They were blackened in several areas, parts of their skin raw and exposed from the relentless barrage of fireballs.
“Marc and Anton have surrendered!” The announcer shouted. “Kai and Cal are the victors!”
Whooping and cheering erupted around the arena. Cal put his axe back in its holster and walked up to Marc. He had a look of resignation on his face, but he was also smiling. “I didn’t expect you to use the environment to your advantage like that.”
“You were the one giving me advice for the entire fight,” Cal laughed. Anton extended a hand out to him. Cal looked at it then up to him and accepted the gesture.
“What can I say?” Marc said with a shrug. “The thing I like more than fighting itself is meeting other intelligent fighters.”
21
Round 3
20,156th Cycle
6-Karst
“Hellooooo Master Callahan!” Cal opened his eyes and blinked several times. Katrina had come into his room and started cleaning and dusting. “Congratulations on last moonshift. I trust you had a good rest.”
Cal sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Where’s Natasha?”
Katrina turned around, her dark-red, shoulder-length hair swishing around. For a split second, C’s face ghostly pale face appeared. “Natasha? I’m not sure. I haven’t seen her since the last moonshift before your second round battle.”
Cal frowned. “What do you maids do after firstmeal?”
Katrina cocked her head. “What do you mean?”
“Like, you’re cleaning now. But after you’re done, do you stay in the manor? Do you cook?”
Katrina put a slender, pale finger on her chin and looked up. “It depends. If we have more guests, we may have to spend time with them. Otherwise, we have chore rosters.”
“What sort of chores do you do?” Cal swung his legs out of the bed and started getting dressed.
“Hmm… cooking, cleaning, running errands…”
Cal glanced out the window. “Was it Natasha’s turn to run errands yesterday?” He stared at Katrina and she shrank back. He had become so comfortable with his orc skin that he forgot how easy it was to intimidate people. “Sorry, it’s just…”
“She’s been telling us about you.”
Cal stood up straight and took half a step back. “What has she been saying?”
The succubus looked
uncomfortable. “Apologies Master Cal. She’s very dear to me. The things she tells me are in confidence.”
Cal exhaled, looking out the window. Karst seemed brighter than usual, its red light streaming into the room now. “That’s OK. Just… could you tell her that I was looking for her?” Katrina nodded and stepped aside to let Cal leave the room.
“You confuse her,” she said. Cal froze mid-step. He wanted to swivel around, go back and ask what she meant by that. Instead, he completed his step and took another and another until he was out in the dining hall.
“Well if it isn’t the other half of the Brigade Bakers!” Javal strode up to Cal and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I know I said it last moonshift, but that was some fantastic improvisation out there!”
Cal gave the mayor a weak smile and sat down across from Kai. “When did you get back last night?”
“Late. The maids were already preparing the early meal.” Kai yawned and rested his hands on his arms.
“That’s not very responsible, cub,” Javal said, putting his hands on his hips. “You’re in the penultimate round. The opponents are only going to get more difficult from here.” Gentle snoring came from the younger werejaguar and Javal shook his head.
“Javal, have you seen Natasha?”
“What was that? Oh Tash?” He cradled his elbow with one hand and rested his chin in the other. “Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen her since last moonshift.”
“She was meant to be running errands, right?”
“I don’t know Cal, the maids manage their own roster.” Javal eyed Cal, a sly smile appearing on his face. “Sounds like someone’s got an appetite for a particular she-demon.”
“I was meant to take her out on a date last moonshift.” There was a perplexed look on Javal’s face. “Err, I’m trying to court her.”
“I know what dating is,” Javal scoffed. “It’s just that succubi don’t date.”
Yeah that’s what she said as well. “I wasn’t forcing her to. It’s just that I chose to fight in last moonshift’s round of the tournament instead of taking her out and I think I upset her.”
Javal put his hands on his hips and laughed. “You don’t have to worry about her. Succubi may be gentle and silky-soft in bed, but I assure you, they are tougher than a stonecritter, mentally and physically.”
Cal looked at Javal, not convinced. “Anyway, I wanted to pass on what I knew about your next opponents.” His jovial expression darkened. “It’s one of Fetter’s Karst-forsaken soldiers and their eryn.”
“They have made it all the way to the semi-final as well?” Cal asked. Javal nodded gravely.
“Why didn’t you just bar them from the competition at the beginning?” Kai asked, his voice muffled through his arms.
“I had no good reason to,” Javal growled. “Only because the king made an attempt on my life, doesn’t mean that I extend my ill will towards his soldiers.”
Cal crossed his arms. “What’s the soldier’s name?”
Javal consulted a piece of parchment. “Hector. Eryn’s name is Laish.”
“Karst’s backside!” Kai sprang up, the chair scuttling to the ground. “That scum and his treek are in the competition?
“Kai, we do not use that sort of language in Bracewell,” Javal thundered.
Kai turned his suddenly awake eyes, blazing with wrath to his grand uncle. “They killed Zkar.”
Javal looked over the piece of parchment at him. “Are you certain?” Kai nodded, bearing his teeth.
“Does he know that we’re his opponents?” Cal asked.
“He’ll find out sooner or later.” Visions of the battle at Rawdriad flashed before his eyes: broken werejaguar bodies strewn on roofs, houses ripped in two and Hector’s last words before Cal had beheaded him… it seemed like eons ago.
“He’s from Earth too. He’ll respawn if he dies.”
Javal regarded the orc. “I hope you don’t have murder on the mind, Cal.”
“That fiend deserves to die over and over, each time more painful than the last,” Kai seethed.
“Cal and Kai,” Javal said, crossing his arms. “Are you considering taking the life of a competitor? Because if you are, I will be forced to disqualify you.”
“Fetter tried to kill you, Grand Uncle!” Kai roared.
“We promise not to kill Hector or Laish,” Cal looked across to his comrade. “Right, Kai?”
Kai met his steady gaze. He stormed off through the hall, startling a squeaking Katrina halfway.
“I’m glad at least one of you has a clear mind.”
“My promise is on the condition that neither make another attempt on your life. If they do, I will not hesitate in taking theirs.”
Before Javal had a chance to protest, Cal strode to the door and went outside.
Gong!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
You have been allocated 30 points. Use these to improve your base statistics.
Skill Up!
You have gained one (1) level for your Skill Earth Wall! Mana Usage -2%/sec.
Support Up!
You and Kai of Rawdriad Forest are now Support Level B!
You have unlocked Fusion Attacks!
Music to my ears. The last notification was particularly exciting. The way that Marc and Anton had spoken about Fusion Attacks made it sound like it was a forbidden power. He made a mental note to go and find them after the tournament was over. Hopefully they didn’t have hard feelings about losing their match up.
Cal spread his points out across his stats then had a look through the final version before he saved changes:
NAME: Callahan Rogers
AGE: 29 (Earth)
CLASS: Orc Fighter
LVL: 26
HP: 278/278
MP: 373/373
AFF: Earth (x1)
STR: 57+9%+50%
DEF: 57+5%
AGL: 62+11%
INT: 65+3%
ABILITY: Examine, Verdant Whisper
SKILL:
Earth Wall – Level 9 – Next Level in 74%
Earthquake – Level 7 – Next Level in 65%
WEAPON: Axe – Level D – Next Level in 51%
He then flipped across to his support screen:
Support
Kai: Level B – Next Level in 98%
Gram: Level C – Next Level in 70%
“Cal.”
Cal collapsed his screens. “Yo.” Kai emerged out of the tunnel and joined Cal in the arena waiting room.
“I can’t promise that I won’t kill them. Not someone who murders innocent people and serves under someone who tried to kill my Grand Uncle.”
“That’s fine. It’s Javal who doesn’t want people to be murdered in the arena, not me.” Kai said nothing. “Look, this is the reason we stayed behind, remember? We wanted to keep an eye on him. If it turns out that Hector and Laish are here to finish off what Fetter started, then what better place to be than right in front of them, weapon in hand?”
The werejaguar was nodding slowly. “I already told him that I’d kill them if they attacked him.” Kai looked at him. “Thank you, Cal.” Cal couldn’t help but smile at the sudden gratitude. Had to be the new support level talking.
“Come on, let’s kick ass.”
“When they told me it was an orc and a werejaguar we would be facing, I thought, ‘couldn’t be… how many orc/werejaguar combinations are there?’” Hector flexed his neck left then right. Laish stared at Cal, nasal helmet hiding any flicker of life or emotion in her eyes.
“Our reputation precedes us.” Cal drew his weapon.
“Nice axe,” Hector said. “Good to see you’re levelling up too.” Hector smirked.
“That hooded maiden, C. You know her, right?” The smirk flew off his face in a blink. “Guess who offered me a way to exit ValorVale?”
“Y-you…”
“Combatants, back to your sides please.” Cal and Kai turned around and walked back to
the wall of the arena.
“‘C’?”
“I’ll tell you more later.” Hector made no effort to hide his annoyance. Even from this distance, Cal could see him taking out his anger at Laish.
How much stronger had they become since the last time they fought? Cal Examined his opponents:
NAME: Hector Cameron
CLASS: Dresham Knight
LVL: 24
HP: 250/250
MP: 221/221
NAME: Laish
CLASS: Eryn Defender
LVL: 34
HP: 321/321
MP: 423/423
“Hector’s the weaker link,” Kai said, jumping up and down on the spot. “Let’s target him.”
“That’s the trap, though: he’ll act as bait and Laish will attack us. You saw the wind craft she cast on Gresshia.”
“Then we just have to find a way to take away her strength.”
“Round 1, start!”
“Stay away from the eryn. I mean it, Kai. Don’t just rush in.”
The werejaguar gritted his teeth but thankfully didn’t rush off. Cal started walking toward them through the middle of the ring. She definitely wasn’t going to fall for the Earthquake trap again.
Laish suddenly flew up, her dark silhouette against Karst. Cal’s heart jumped up into his throat before he remembered that using the moons to magnify attack power wasn’t an option in the competition.
Her wings expanded to double the width then she started flapping them one wing at a time towards Cal and Kai. Concentrated bursts of wind spun out, ripping through the air.
“Earth Wall!” Cal erected a wall just as Laish’s mini-tornado came within striking distance. There was dull, grinding noise as Laish’s attack penetrated Cal’s defences. The orc took a step back but was sucked into the micro-hurricane. It spun him around and spat him back out into the arena wall. On his hands and knees, he immediately threw up the contents of his first meal.
-35 Damage!
You are dazed!
+30% chance of hurting yourself in confusion!
“Cal!” Kai had come to his side, pointing his Blood Lance at Laish. She threw another gust with her wing straight at them.