novelraw Chapter 6-11
Chapter 6-11
“My friends! This is DJ Demophon Kerner here on K-RAD LA, the only radio station that brings you the truth! Let’s take care of a little business here, all right?
“Today’s tunes are brought to you by the most action-packed entertainment in the city! That’s right, I’m talking about The Lost Angels Arena, or as I like to call it, The Greatest Bloody Show on Earth!
“When it comes to intense, thrilling combat, there’s nothing like a day at The Arena! And if you want to get right up close and personal, The Arena has a brand-new VIP package with behind-the-scenes access! Get to meet your favorite fighters and score exclusive autographs! Take home photos you’ll never forget!”
(voice drops and speeds up dramatically)
“Rememberthereisachanceofdeathandordismembermentinourexcitingunscriptedliveevents. TheArenaisnotresponsibleforanytraumaandornightmaresresultingfromyourattendence. MustbeeighteenyearsoroldertoenterTheArenawithoutparentalsupervision. Allbetsarefinalandnorefundswillbeissued. AlsoIhateLaywers.”
(voice returns to normal)
“Get your asses out to The Fucking Arena pronto, my loyal listeners! Yours truly will be there spinning up a storm this afternoon! Now pay attention, cause here’s a sneak preview of the hot new anthem, Gladiator!”
- DJ Demophon Kerner, on K-RAD LA, April 14th, System Year 453
Sunday was nerve-wracking. I couldn’t stop thinking about the duel – about all the duels, really – but especially about my fight with Yuri. Not having any idea what kind of one-shots he might use made trying to plan effectively really, really hard.
The worst part was that nothing was starting until 1400, which meant a lot of waiting. After breakfast, I did a sprint, then returned to my room for more practice. I even worked on Slow for a little while, but after my fifth consecutive failure I gave up on that.
At lunch, Wilson found me in the dining hall and told me that Thompson wanted to see me – just me, not the others. When I followed him back to the administration building, I had to sit and wait for five minutes or so before her door opened. Yuri came out and we exchanged glares, but I managed to avoid triggering Intimidation. Once he was gone, Wilson waved me into the inner office, where I found the Head Instructor waiting.
“Sit down, Azure. Officially, I’ve called you in here to lecture you about the rules and order you to remind your team that there will be severe consequences if they break them, just as I did with Yuri. Consider yourself lectured, and do not forget to pass on the warning.
“The real reason I needed to speak with you in private is about Yuri’s dagger. I know why you chose to set the stakes first, even though it might cost you the match. I very much doubt he would dare do anything to corrupt you in front of the entire school, but I understand you not wanting to take any chances.
“I don’t expect him to use the dagger in the arena today, but even if he does, you are not to claim it!”
What?! That’s the whole point of setting the fucking stakes first! Before I could get my mouth working again, she kept going.
“You’ve presented the threat of him losing the dagger to you in the fight. Consider this – he has no idea that you or anyone else has any idea what that dagger is, other than a heirloom. If you were to take the dagger, though, you would eventually find out. If my theory about what’s in there is correct, you would become a major liability to him and to his parents.
“That would make you a potential threat to Konrád Kalmár, one of the most ruthless and powerful men in Lost Angels. You wouldn’t be just a young Delver that annoyed his favorite son, but someone who had potentially very incriminating evidence against him.
“You might be safe here at the Academy, but outside the wall you would easily be targeted and killed. Of course, your entire team would have to die as well, and it would be staged as if you’d been ambushed by a higher-Tier monster or simply disappeared without a trace. Do you understand me?”
I shivered, feeling suddenly even more nervous than I already had been. I nodded to Thompson, then took a few deep breaths to try and calm myself.
Yuri’s family could have my whole team killed?! FUCK! Is he really untouchable? No, he’s not, you fucking killed him once already and you’re going to kick his ass again today!
I wanted to argue with her, but what could I say? It was pretty obvious that Thompson thought this whole thing was bigger and more important than my safety, which really fucking sucked. It was a brutal reminder of where I stood in this Wasted world.
To her, you’re just an orphan girl from Sunland, with no family and no one outside your team to miss you if you die. Yeah, the kids would be devastated, but they couldn’t do anything about it. Even Hazel might not care after the way things ended when you left…
I left Thompson’s office with my stomach churning and had to fight to keep my lunch down. We headed to our dorm as a group and tried our best to relax, and before long it was 1330. We each checked our equipment carefully. I’d decided that I would carry my wand, but not my cutlass.
My new sword was too expensive to risk with the three Level 5 mods on it, and I was still more comfortable with my old shortsword anyway. It was a compromise, but I could live without the wand more easily than the cutlass. Not that I was planning to lose, anyway. We walked out as a group and headed for the fighting pits.
As we approached I saw the crowd of people gathered and my stomach twisted even further. Wasted hells, the whole school really is going to be watching…
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Students parted to let us through, and we discovered that stone benches had appeared around one of the smaller fifty-foot arenas. There was a single stone block about three feet high and wide, set about three feet back from the wall of the pit. Wolf found us as we approached, and guided us to the smaller arena. We found ourselves on one side, staring across the ring at Yuri and his team, with Blur watching over them.
Halfway between us, I saw several other instructors – Zenia, JJ, Sink, and a couple of the ones that worked with the veteran students that I didn’t know. Lydia was standing with them as well as one of the other Healers I hadn’t met yet, and Thompson was in the middle. The whole group of them were standing on what I now realized was just an elevated area for more people to stand and see over anyone in front of them.
I was preparing myself mentally to step forward when Thompson’s voice cracked out, amplified by some kind of Spell or enchanted item.
“Quiet! We are ready to begin. First, I will demonstrate the starting and ending signal.” A sharp crack thundered through the air, making me twitch slightly. “Fighters will be punished for starting before or continuing after the signal. Next reminder – there is no audience participation!
“You can cheer or jeer as you wish, but no assistance in the form of Spells, Skills, or Comms is permitted. Each contestant will leave their Squad and join mine prior to the fight, and I will also send the start and end signals over the Comms to make sure there is no mistake about the fighters hearing them.
“Finally, another reminder to those watching – this is no posh dueling club in the city with thousands of eagles of enchantments protecting the audience! Your protection is your own barrier and armor, and while fighters are prohibited from intentionally targeting anyone other than their opponent, you may get hit! If your barrier goes down it is your responsibility to step back until it recharges!
“Now, since this is the first fight of the semester, are there any questions?!”
No one dared speak up. The entire audience – well over a hundred students and instructors, along with some people who I recognized who worked in the cafeteria or bar, and even some that I thought were guards – was silent, tense with anticipation.
“Excellent! The first duel of the day pits the challenger Trainee Kelley against Recruit Jayce! Fighters, enter the arena!”
What?! I thought I would be up first… oh shit, is she going in reverse order? I’ll have to wait until the very end to fight… FUCK! I want to get this over with!
All I could do was cheer along with my teammates and a decent chunk of the students as Wolf led Jayce down the narrow stairs and indicated where they should stand. Then he took out a dueling collar and fastened it around their neck.
Unlike the training collar, the dueling version was a single strip of red leather. It only protected the head, leaving the body completely exposed except for your own defences. Once Jayce and Polina were situated, Blur and Wolf climbed out of the pit.
That collar looks like a band of blood from this distance… I shuddered slightly at the mental image, then distracted myself by reviewing the rules. No intentional shots to the head, just like in sparring, obviously.
The other main restriction was that you had to start with any weapons sheathed and Class Weapons in your Inventory. That prevented anyone with a Skill that charged up an attack from preparing it before the fight started and getting off a cheap shot right at the beginning.
I got the notification that Jayce left the Squad just before Thompson asked each fighter in turn to confirm they were ready and had left their Squads. I noticed that Polina’s voice sounded a bit odd, as if she wasn’t used to talking, which I guess was fair. I’d never known anyone who couldn’t hear before, and I felt a twinge of sympathy for the other fighter before reminding myself that she was siding with Yuri and trying to hurt my friend.
“This match will be decided by the first to land three hits after penetrating their opponent’s barrier! Fighters, ready!”
crack!
The starting signal ripped through the air and the crowd exploded with noise as both Mages summoned their weapons. Jayce held their scepter in their metal hand, with their shield on their flesh arm, while Polina held a beautiful dark wood staff with both hands. Then the fight burst into motion and all I could do was cheer my friend on.
I thought Jayce would have a significant advantage with their shield, but Polina’s Force Bolts smashed into it with tremendous impact. Using a staff increased Spell damage compared to a smaller scepter or wand, and the power of Polina’s Spells was impressive.
Jayce landed two clean hits before the other Mage’s barrier broke in a flare of light. For a moment I was sure the fight was about to end. Then the Force Mage retaliated with a much larger, more powerful Force Bolt that drove Jayce back several steps and cracked their wooden shield down the center.
In the small arena, the Spells covered the distance between the fighters so quickly there was almost no chance to dodge. Jayce hit again and again, easily tracking Polina’s movement, only for her Sonic Bolts to shatter on a defensive enchantment like the one Yuri had used in my room.
Polina needed a few moments to recover from the use of whatever Skill she’d activated, but when she cast again she blew Jayce’s damaged shield apart into a cloud of splinters and I saw the flare of my friend’s barrier as it absorbed the rest of the blow.
The noise of the crowd cheering was so loud I could barely hear the whomp sound of the cyborg’s Spells as they abandoned subtlety and charged diagonally towards the other Mage. I recognized that they were copying the tactic I’d used against them in our evaluation match, but unfortunately they didn’t have either my agility or Quick Step.
Polina didn’t flinch, instead pulling off a brutal counter. She kicked sharply at the sand in front of her, sending a spray of it into the air as she brought her staff down to point at the flying dirt.
A Force Wall appeared, four feet on a side, the sheet of power hurtling through the air, too wide to dodge. It smashed into Jayce and shattered whatever was left of their barrier before knocking the cyborg flat on their ass. My friend was stunned for a moment, then frantically rolled to the side, trying to dodge the next Spell that they knew was coming.
They failed, and the impact tore the scepter from their hand and sent it flying across the sand. A moment later, another Force Bolt hammered into their flesh side. As they curled up in pain the crack of the signal tore through the air and the fight was over. Lydia jumped down into the ring to tend to Jayce as my mind whirled.
Fuck, she was quick! She had to change her modifier to cast that Force Wall at the same time as she kicked up the sand! How the fuck did she do that!?
I was very impressed. I’d discovered when practicing with my wand that Force Wall didn’t work exactly the way I thought it would. I’d assumed it would create a stationary barrier of some kind, but Force wanted to move. Earth Wall had to be cast off of something made of dirt, rock, or any form of earth, and it turned out Force Wall could only be cast off of something already in motion.
I didn’t know if it was a Skill or just skill that helped her react so quickly… Either way, between her additional shielding and surprise wall-to-the-face technique, my team had lost the first fight of the day. I hoped it would be the last.
Force Mage Polina, at the range