by Jakob Tanner
The stands in the arena were completely full of screaming citizens and fans.
The camera then cut to a large screen in the middle of the arena.
“The first match is about to be announced,” said the TV commentators. “Who will be the first to fight in this year’s climber academy final exams!?”
Max’s stomach lurched. On the one hand, he wouldn’t mind getting it over with quickly, but he realized there was a certain strategic advantage to going later. You’d be able to better deduce who you were going to fight, and you would also get to see any worthwhile strategies that others were employing during these final bouts.
Everyone in the waiting area watched the screen with bated breath.
A name appeared on the screen in the arena.
Sybil Wesley.
Everyone turned to the girl. She smirked and flicked her hair back.
“Sybil Westley is from the prestigious Westley family, a clan of climbers known for their stunning airbringer abilities,” explained the commentators. “The betting shops give Sybil good odds for going onto win the entire tournament. I wouldn’t want to be the one to face her, certainly not this early on in the tournament. Ah! We’re about to find out who the next contestant is...”
A name appeared on the screen and Max’s stomach lurched.
Casey Everton.
The arena crowd cheered and they could feel vibrations of the roar even below in their waiting room.
Two E-rank climbers walked into the waiting room and said, “Would the contestants follow us, please. Everyone else please stay here.”
Sybil stepped forward.
Casey turned to Max and handed him Toto.
“Will you look after Toto until I’m back?” she asked.
“Of course,” Max said, taking the gerbil and letting it perch on his shoulder. “And good luck!”
Casey nodded nervously, before she went off with the E-rank climbers to battle in the arena.
Max turned back to the TV to watch the match.
After a few minutes, Casey and Sybil walked out of a tunnel in the arena from opposite ends.
A referee with a silver badge to indicate his D-rank status, stood in the middle of the arena.
“The first match of this year’s climber academy final exam is about to begin,” said the commentator. “The tension and excitement can be felt across the arena as the audience quiets down with hushed anticipation.”
Max gulped. Toto shivered on his shoulders, nervous on behalf of his owner. Max gently stroked the gerbil’s fur to calm him down.
“Don’t worry, Toto,” said Max. “Casey will be fine.”
The referee explained the terms of the match which the commentators then went over for everyone watching at home.
“A match is over when a contestant gives up, dies, or the referee rules the match to be over.”
A chuckle emanated from the waiting room.
Max turned and saw it was Cyrus, mocking the commentators.
“Give it a rest,” he said to the TV. “We all know who is going to win. Sybil’s going to end this in seconds.”
“Take that back,” said Max.
Cyrus turned to Max with a scowl on his face. “What? You can’t actually expect a fake-vein to beat a pure-vein, do you? That’s absolutely ludicrous.”
Maybe it was the nervousness for the tournament, but Max felt his heart race and his skin go red as he was filled with anger at Cyrus’ words.
Max hated the way Cyrus spoke with such smug arrogant confidence. The assuredness that his crummy worldview was the correct one was maddening.
Max wanted to trigger his trait, use shadow blink to appear right behind and then elbow him in the back of the head.
He was so angry, he even tried.
But when he triggered his trait nothing happened.
Huh!?
The dozy-tired looking E-ranker in the back spoke up, “Settle down, now. You’ll get your chance to fight eventually.”
Cyrus scowled and crossed his arms.
“Of course, they’d leave us in here with a debuffer,” said the boy.
Debuffer?
Max looked to the climber in the back. So it was him who had stopped him from using his abilities. His trait must have included some kind of passive area of effect move that wouldn’t let climbers use their traits, or it significantly dampened their ability to use it.
Fascinating, thought Max.
He felt his heart slow down a little from its frantic adrenaline rushed pace from moments ago.
Probably better that he didn’t fight Cyrus here and now. He needed to save his energy for the actual official tournament matches.
“No bother about the debuffer,” said Cyrus, smirking at Max. “I’ll just have to wait a little longer to put you in your place then.”
Max felt the urge to smack Cyrus once more, but he quickly calmed down because the fight between Casey and Sybil had begun.
82
Casey stood at the center of the giant arena thinking the same thoughts over and over.
This isn’t good. This isn’t good. This isn’t good.
The crowd cheered around her and Sybil smirked at her the way she always smirked at her. It was a smirk that said, “I’m better than you and both of us know it.”
The worst part was Casey really did feel like Sybil Westley was her worst match-up among the student climber finalists. Sybil was one of the best student climbers in their class and definitely one of the best airbringers in the city, even more talented than some official E-rank and D-rank climbers.
The referee raised his hand and blew a whistle and the fight began.
Sybil wasted no time, immediately rushing towards Casey.
The girl moved with incredible speed, so fast hardly anyone in the audience was able to effectively track her with their eyes. She emerged from her lightning-fast sprint swirling with enough wind to form a small tornado.
Sybil’s leg spun until her foot landed right into Casey’s head, sending her flying backwards across the arena, crashing into the walls of the battlefield.
BOOM!
The audience gasped at the sheer amount of power displayed by Sybil.
The speed, force, and power of the blow was enough to send Casey flying across the arena. It was Sybil Wesley’s famed whirlwind kick attack.
Beyond being a talented airbringer, Sybil Westley combined her skills of wind manipulation with a secondary talent: martial arts. With these two talents synthesized together, Sybil was able to deal incredibly powerful and damaging physical attacks at an awe-inspiring speed.
Sybil brushed dirt off her shoulder as she stared at the cracked arena wall where she’d sent Casey flying towards.
“An incredible opening move from Sybil Westley! Is this it for young Casey Everton!? Many would struggle to get up from a blow as devastating as the one Sybil landed.”
Casey’s back ached with pain.
A sharp feeling coursed through her entire body, making it hard to breathe or even think properly.
“Sybil! Sybil! Sybil!” chanted the crowd.
Casey relaxed some of the mana she’d sent to her back right before she smashed into the wall. If she hadn’t done that, she’d probably be unconscious right now.
Part of her even wished she was unconscious. The pain coursing through her body was very intense and she wanted it to stop.
She lay on the ground of the arena as dirt and debris swirled around her.
She used her remaining strength to roll onto her stomach.
She then reached out with her hands.
C’mon Casey, just push yourself up and get back into the fight.
“What do you think you’re doing, fake-vein?” spat Sybil. “I thought you’d be smart enough to stop after one hit.”
Casey ignored her.
Her arms trembled as she struggled to push herself back up.
“Airbringer may be an uncommon trait,” said Sybil. “But there are still a handful of us, so much so, an
airbringer must make their trait their own. They must take a technique that others have and make it their own, make it unique. That is what the Westley family has done for generations. Since I was a little kid I was taught the ways of the wind, of manipulating the air around us. What can you do, fake-vein? Merely make the wind blow in the opposite direction. You’re a disgrace to all airbringers, which is no surprise, since you are a fake-vein. So stay down, don’t force me to kill you.”
All the student climbers in the waiting room were stunned, eyes glued to the TV.
Toto cried out for Casey.
“It’s exactly what I said moments ago,” said Cyrus, smugly. “Sybil is a trained airbringer from the Westley family. There’s no way a fake-vein would be able to keep up with her.”
Max clenched his fists as he watched the television screen. He was still rooting for Casey, but he was shocked by Sybil’s incredible strength. She was a powerful martial arts fighter who manipulated the wind to add speed and power to already deadly attacks.
On the screen, he saw Sybil stand smugly in the center of the arena barely a centimeter off the general area where they’d started. Meanwhile, Casey was trembling on the ground far from where the fight had begun.
Casey was on the ground and looked to be struggling to get up.
“Casey Everton has impressed us here in the commentator booth for still being conscious after that deadly display from Sybil Westley. However, Casey is struggling to get up. Will she continue to fight or are we about to witness her forfeiting the match?”
She won’t forfeit, thought Max. She can’t.
He thought back to that time when they’d first partnered up in the endless forest.
“I want to become a climber because there’ s a treasure on the upper floors that I’m determined to find.”
Max remembered the fire in her eyes back then.
She must have imbued mana in the channel running along her back and spine which kept Sybil’s blow from completely knocking her out.
She wouldn’t have done that if she was going to give up easily.
She knew being conscious for the pain she was about to endure was going to really hurt. If she was willing to consciously take in all that pain, then she wasn’t going to give up.
C’mon Casey, thought Max. Get up already!
Casey’s arms trembled and ached as she tried to push herself back to her feet.
She was in too much pain. It was sapping her of all her energy.
She’d start to lift herself off the ground and then a piercing ripple of agony would course through her back and she’d find her head in the dirt right where she’d started moments ago.
The arena audience was chanting Sybil’s name like she’d already won.
Maybe Sybil was right, she thought to herself. It’s not like her parents knew what to do with her once they found out she had a trait. That she’d maybe become a climber. They couldn’t even afford the basic supplies someone like her would need.
But they had believed in her. Not everyone had.
The group of kids who she thought she was going to grow up with turned their back on her. She was no longer one of them once she had unlocked her profile and trait, but she didn’t feel like she fit in with the climber society of the tower-zone either.
Early on she had realized she needed to forge her own path.
Was this really the end of that path? Losing when she’d gotten so close.
Screw that!
She wasn’t going to quit that easily.
Casey’s body ached but she slowly pushed herself off the ground, gritting her teeth as she fought through the pain.
She got on her knees and then with a slight wobble she was back on her feet.
The whole arena gasped.
Casey had just defied what had been expected of her. To lie down and take defeat. Accept the hierarchy of fake-veins and pure-veins and all that hogwash.
“You fool,” said Sybil. “I gave you a chance to escape brutal pain, but I guess fake-veins really are dumber than the rest of us. Prepare to enter a realm of torture unlike anything you’ve ever experienced.”
Casey wiped blood off her lip and grinned with new determination.
“Bring it on,” she said back.
83
Sakura put her hands on the glass window, overlooking the match.
Casey—Max’s friend—had just got up after taking a devastating hit from the Westley girl.
“So, the girl got up in the end,” said Samuel. “How interesting.”
Sakura bristled at his words. He knew better than to speak vile obscenities about fake-veins and pure-veins in front of her and the climber president, but that was exactly what he was thinking.
The man was obviously rooting for Sybil Westley to win; no, she thought, rooting would suggest he thought Sybil’s victory wasn’t already the inevitable outcome.
The arrogance pissed her off. It was all the same with these old prestigious families and their rare traits. They thought they were so much better than the rest of them.
Sakura quickly glanced at the door to the private room they were in.
The other branch commanders still hadn’t shown up. Samuel was the only one who answered when she had tried phoning them.
Where were they?
What’s going on?
Sakura had a bad feeling but she didn’t know why.
She looked down at the bruised and battered girl in the arena below.
C’mon Casey, she thought. I believe in you.
Everyone in the student climber waiting area was glued to the TV screen.
All the students took a step closer to the TV or if they were sitting down leaned a bit further to make sure they were witnessing everything there was to see.
“So it looks like the young Casey Everton is not down for the fight just yet. How will she fight back against the swift Sybil Westley? Does the young girl have any tricks of her own up her sleeve? We’ll just have to watch to find out!”
Max watched with renewed hope and excitement for his friend. She had got up from the blow. She was still in this fight.
He petted Toto who was also perked up and watching the fight on the screen.
“What a fool!” shouted Cyrus at the TV. “Sybil is now going to injure her for life, if not outright kill her.”
Max shuddered and petted Toto.
C’mon Casey, he thought to himself. Tell me you have a strategy here.
Casey stood on her feet, still a little shaky.
She lifted her fists up, taking on a fighting stance.
“Don’t blame me later,” said Sybil. “I offered you mercy and you spat it back in my face.”
“Remember those words,” Casey shouted back. “When you’re begging me to stop the pain.”
You just have to survive Sybil’s next attack, Casey said to herself. Survive the next blow and you have a fighting chance.
Sybil rushed at her with lightning speed once more. Wind swirled all around her as she sprinted, picking up more and more speed.
Sybil moved so fast she disappeared again into a small tornado gust of wind.
BOOM!
The audience went into a hushed silence, terrified yet eager to see the results of Sybil’s newest deadly attack.
Smoke, dirt, and wind spiraled in the center of the arena.
“I can’t see anything,” shouted Sakura.
“I don’t think you’re going to want to see behind that smoke,” said Samuel. “It won’t be pretty that’s for sure.”
Max and the others looked on the TV screen capturing the spiraling dirt and debris.
The smoke slowly cleared.
“No way!”
“I don’t believe it!”
A figure emerged from the smoke.
It was Casey.
She was still standing.
84
Casey stood in the arena, undamaged from Sybil’s most recent attack.
Sybil was behind her in a cratered area of cracked gr
ound where her attack had landed.
The powerful girl span around and shouted at Casey. “How did you do that fake-vein?”
Casey smirked.
There was no doubt in Casey’s mind that Sybil could manipulate the wind to a far greater degree than she could. That said, because Casey was also an airbringer, she was able to control the wind just enough that she could counteract and deflate the power and speed of Sybil’s move. Not entirely, but enough so that Sybil wouldn’t notice and that Casey would still be able to dodge the attack.
Sybil scowled at her.
Casey shrugged and stuck out her tongue.
“Better luck next time,” she teased.
“Very well done,” said the climber president. “Young Casey used the wind to deflate Ms. Wesley’s attack.”
They all murmured in agreement.
“An impressive counter indeed,” said Samuel with slight irritation in his voice.
“I guess proof that those from non-traditional climber backgrounds being weaker than those from climber families is a bunch of bogus nonsense,” said Sakura, crossing her arms smugly at Samuel.
The man’s face went red and he kept his eyes focused on the match.
What are you up to, Samuel? thought Sakura. Why are you and I the only branch commanders here right now?
Sybil brushed dirt off her clothes and readied herself for another attack.
“Nice trick,” she said. “But I won’t fall for it again. You’re not getting out of this alive, fake-vein! Just accept it. I’m a Westley and you’re a nobody!”
The words sliced through Casey’s mind.
Her eyes widened as memories rushed through her.
You’re a nobody...
A few weeks after the fountain ceremony, when ten-year-old Casey had discovered she had a profile and a trait, her and her family had been invited to a special event hosted by the climber’s guild.
It was an outdoor barbecue for unranked climbers and their families to come and meet one another.