Avalon Rebirth (15 page)

She glanced back at the fight happening out on the sands. Darin had joined Taji, and both pressed their attack against the remaining two members of Swift Angel. So far so good. Now, for the archer.

The arrow disappeared out of view when she turned back to her original target. Had it missed? Hit? At this distance it was impossible to tell, and there was no point in asking Erika to confirm it either way. It was just a stupid point of pride, some way to assure herself that she still had the ability to contribute. After spending so long as a destruction magic user her support abilities seemed tame by comparison.

“Hah, that takes care of him,” Erika said over telepathy a moment later. “Thanks Leah. He was so occupied with the arrow he didn't even see me coming.”

“No problem. You hear that guys?”

She looked back toward the other fight to see the axe wielder fall, cut down by a strike from Darin. Leah couldn't make out the last survivor's face from this distance, but she imagined he had a look of terror right about now. And likely unbeknownst to him, he was all alone.

“Let's finish this,” Darin ordered.

“Give me space so I can fire Bind,” Leah said. She nocked her arrow and cast the spell, then drew back the bowstring and took aim.

They had a four-on-one advantage, but Leah wasn't in the mood to take any chances. Neither were any of the others, most likely, and she wanted to leave an impression on anyone watching. If their next opponents were scouting the match they were going to know that Raven's Call was playing for keeps this time. If the could intimidate their foes before they even stepped into the arena, they'd gladly take that advantage.

She let the arrow fly and watched it streak into the enemy's armor. Ropes grew out of the shaft and wrapped around his body, then reached down toward the ground. They didn't stick in the sand, but they caused a tangled mess. He stumbled.

And that was the end for him. Darin and Taji didn't even allow him to get up before they piled onto him. Two brutal seconds later and it was all over.

The stage disappeared, but Leah paid little heed to the cheering crowd in the stands as the arena materialized around her. It was too soon to savor a victory. One down, two to go.

D
arin watched
the battle unfold on the screen, trying to gather any information he could on their prospective opponents. He already knew they'd be facing Lightning Strike in the next round, but the match was tomorrow and they had already prepared. Their opponents were skilled, the third seeded team in the tournament, in fact, but they weren't unbeatable by any stretch of the imagination. As long as they fought together played smart Raven's Call should come out on top.

It was the finals that worried him the most, especially because they were guaranteed to get into a confrontation with Iron Titan at some point. From the look of things Leo and Jon kept their usual character builds, a dual-wielding rogue and a heavily armored tank, respectively. They looked to be the most dangerous, but Darin knew very well they weren't the only threat. The other two members of the team probably weren't scrubs, and underestimating them could come back to bite them.

The first member, the red haired archer, seemed straightforward enough. She stood on a good vantage point in the middle of the arena firing off arrows laced with destruction spells. That seemed normal, but Darin wasn't so sure.

“See anything unusual?” he asked Leah.

“Well, she knows what she's doing. She's not just casting spells and firing them off randomly. There's a trick to that.”

“How so?” Erika asked curiously.

“Well, different spells are used for different things. Most people treat Fire blast and Force arrow the same way, but they have different effects. Fire Blast is more effective against something in the heavy undergrowth, for instance. It burns everything away. And you can use Force arrow to destroy harder targets like stones to flush them out.”

“Pay attention to how Leo fights,” Darin told her. “I know you use different weapons, but the way he uses manipulation magic might help you to come up with some new techniques. Or you'll at least be able to refine the ones you have.”

“Got it.”

He turned his attention back to the fourth member of Iron Titan, an all-rounder with medium armor and a longsword, wielding support magic. Apparently that was his replacement, though Darin didn't know what to think of him. He seemed unremarkable, just another player with decent skills, but that might be enough. Not everyone had to be a standout on a team. Sometimes good, solid hands were enough to let the aces go to work.

He had been like that once. Darin had never been subpar, but Leah and Leo were always the standouts in Silver Star, and Jon was no slouch himself. At the beginning Darin had felt like fourth best on the team, but that only motivated him to work harder to get better. Gradually he had come into his own, honing both his combat and casting skills. Now he was capable of fighting as an all-rounder as well, taking on any role he needed to play.

That might be the case with the fourth member of Iron Titan. He might be unremarkable now, but being around other skilled players would push him to get better. Darin thought it was fairly likely that he'd improve greatly as time passed. Or maybe not. Maybe Leo and Jon had just picked someone so they could get into this tournament. In any case, Raven's Call couldn't discount him. They'd have eight other players to contend with as well.

He watched with great interest as Iron Titan's archer flushed one of their opponents out with a Force arrow, right into Leo's path. His former comrade charged in with flash step and scored a pair of critical hits to the neck. His hapless victim fell and then disappeared in a cloud of dust.

“Must suck to be them,” Chad commented from the next row. “Must have sucked for Swift Angel too. You get an automatic bid into the tournament and get to face off against the worst team possible.”

“That's how the breaks fall, I guess,” Darin shrugged.

“And at least they were guaranteed decent winnings,” Taji pointed out.

“I wouldn't call them decent, but I see your point. Everyone wants to take the championship,” Chad said. “Not just for the money, but for the potential to jump up to C-rank.”

“I guess if you want to be the best you have to beat the best. Or something like that,” Taji shrugged. “I know that's a bit cliché, but...”

Leslie laughed. “A bit harsh too. You'll fit right in. If you're not prepared to fight all-out and take on all comers you don't have a place in the tournaments.”

“So it's about taking it seriously?”

“Eh, I wouldn't quite say that. Or I'd define that a little better, actually. Of course you need to take it seriously, but there's no point in playing to win over all else. We're here to provide entertainment. That's why we get paid. Because people watch this, and sponsors are willing to fork over the cash to shill their stuff.”

“Doesn't that just mean we're being a business?”

“You're not being very clear,” Evan said to Leslie.

“Well fine, why don't you explain it better,” she said, sticking out her tongue.

“I think I will. We're here to put on a show. We'd like to win, of course, but people don't want to watch something they think is boring. So they want to see the best teams compete, where the outcome is in doubt. That's more exciting.”

“And seeing lower seeds come out of nowhere to win the tournament is always exciting as well,” Winona said.

“That's another thing. People like underdogs. People like to watch drama unfold. So they hate it when teams go out of their way to prevent that from happening.”

“I didn't hear many complaints about us letting the clock run out in the qualifiers,” Erika said.

“Well that's to be expected. It normally happens anyhow, so no one's surprised. We got to see a ton of action at the beginning, so that helps too. But like your last match, if you just killed three of the enemy team and ran away to let the timer run out they'd hate you for it.”

“Wouldn't it just have been easier to kill him four-on-one?” Taji asked. “Instead of running away, I mean.”

“OK, bad example. But still, you get my point?”

“Yeah.”

Darin looked back at the screen as the others continued to converse, studying everything he could spot. Jon had one foe completely entrapped, using a combination of Stone Skin and Challenge Call to make it impossible for them to go elsewhere. With the Challenge Call spell active the victim had to attack the user, or they would suffer a huge attack penalty, making their damage almost negligible. Not that it was much better fighting a tank, because Stone Skin and heavy armor could absorb any blow.

And that left his other three teammates free to take on the remaining two enemies. Leo and the other attacker went after one, backing him into a corner and then cutting him down without any mercy. It was hard enough to take on one rogue by himself, and with another attacker it was nearly impossible.

Iron Titan's archer shot another arrow, this one laced with the Crush spell. Darin watched in amazement as the shaft flew straight and true, hitting its target square in the center of his armor. A moment later the spell squashed him like a piece of overripe fruit. If it had been a real person blood would be flying everywhere, but the dust cloud still made for an impressive sight.

That left the final opponent with a four-on-one disadvantage, and Darin knew very well he wasn't going to be able to overcome that obstacle. If he was lucky he might get a kill as he went down swinging, but the match was over. Now it was just a matter of formalities.

He looked over at the screen showing the bracket. “Crimson Flame against Ice Guardian. That should be interesting.”

“Fire beats ice,” Erika said.

“Except when ice is the first seed,” Chad said. “Still, they're pretty interesting. This is one of the few times three of the qualifiers made it into the quarterfinal round. Or semifinals, actually.”

“Unusual for them to have an all female team too,” Winona said.

“And they scored pretty highly. I wouldn't underestimate them just because they're new,” Leah said. “Either way, that's going to be a tough opponent in the finals no matter what.”

Darin looked back at the screen. Iron Titan had wasted no time in swarming their opponent, and the end was near. A rain of vicious blows cut down the last survivor, and the match ended.

“And that's it, ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer said. “Iron Titan advances to the second round of the tournament to face the winner of the next match.”

“Want to watch any more?” Leah asked.

Darin sighed. “Not really. I'd like to fight. But I don't think there's anything more we can do to prepare for the fight. Lightning Strike is a fairly standard team.”

“There's that,” Chad said. “Leave it to you guys to switch things up. Now they have to study up on combinations and you don't.”

“Why'd you decide not to go with destruction magic?” Leslie asked.

“It was something different? And I got the idea from somewhere,” Leah told her.

“Not going to share it?”

“Nope. Friendship only goes so far. Though I'm sure you can figure it out.”

“Huh. And I was going to wish you luck in the next match. Guess you don't need it.”

Maybe not, Darin thought. They just needed to remember their plan and stick to it. The enemy wasn't going to be a pushover, but Raven's Call could handle them. They had already dealt with some fairly tough match-ups.

But those weren't going to be anything compared to what awaited them in the finals. As much as Darin knew he shouldn't be looking too far ahead, the prospect wouldn't leave his mind.

* * *

“
A
ny idea
what they're going to pick?” Erika asked as they walked down the tunnel to the arena floor.

Darin shook his head. “Could be anything. I'm guessing forest, or river, but that might just be me thinking too much. We'll see.”

He could hear the noise from the crowd start to pick up the further they walked, and felt an odd feeling in his gut. At least he couldn't throw up inside a virtual reality, or he didn't think it was possible.

Two matches had already completed. Lion's Roar, the fourth seed, had made their way into the final, as had Iron Titan. That left two spots open, and Raven's Call had to claim one of them.

It wasn't just about winning the tournament, moving up to C-rank or making sure they received the greatest amount of winnings possible. Those were important, of course, but Darin felt something more. He wanted to make sure that his old comrades didn't get the chance to win. If push came to shove he would rather one of the other teams take the tournament. At this point he didn't think he could stomach the prospect of the two traitors standing on top of the podium, basking in the glory while his team sat below them.

His team had to win. They had to win this match if only to make sure they could stop Iron Titan. He knew very well that it was an obsession, but at this moment he didn't care. Darin still wanted to make Jon and Leo pay for stabbing them in the back.

He barely acknowledged the other team as they entered the arena. Just another obstacle standing in the way of victory. They'd crush them, the same as they had crushed everyone else that got in their way during this tournament. Raven's Call wasn't going to play around, not when they had to win.

“Let's do this right,” Leah said. “Focus on forming up when we get into the stage, and then let's get to work.”

Darin nodded, content to let her take the lead this time. He could have done it if needed, but right now his feelings consumed him. He looked around at the crowd, wondering if Iron Titan was watching. Were they hoping that Raven's Call fell in this match, or did they not care? He thought they'd want to take on all comers, but that was based on his old impressions of them. Darin didn't know what to think of them now.

The sound of the announcer's voice broke into his thoughts.

“Teams, prepare to enter the stage!”

Darin took a deep breath to steady his nerves. Now wasn't the time to think about anyone else, not the past or future either. He had a fight in front of him, and he needed to focus on the here and now, on every moment in front of him.

The arena disappeared into a black void, and then he felt water splash beneath his feet. Darin looked around as a waterfall and steep banks materialized around him.

The river stage, just as he predicted. Good enough. Darin grabbed his halberd and walked along the river, feeling the water slosh around his feet. He opened up his map scroll and took a glance to find the rest of his team. Erika was closest to him, and he was headed in the right direction.

Walking along an open space might seem suicidal, but Darin calculated it was worth the risk. The river banks were elevated, making him a perfect target for any archers lurking about. At least in the river bed he was protected from arrows, unless the archer scaled the banks themselves.

And if anyone else tried to attack him here he could use the water to his advantage. He had Sky Walk, allowing him to rise out of the encumbrance around his legs. His enemies might not be so fortunate, and even a bit of water could slow their movements.

“Erika, you see my marker?” he asked over telepathy.

“I saw it. I'm moving toward you.”