Rei nodded. Warren nodded. Neither of them had looked away from the other the entire time they’d closed in on their starting circles.
For that reason, they didn’t see Reese’s NOED flare before the field began to change beneath them.
Rei knew the zone almost the moment the projection started up, noting first the spreading blue overhead, then the grass rising up under their feet. Compared to a lot of other fields it was a simple hologram, and so he and Warren were standing in a yawning, open plain of endless green long before they reached the apex of the 10-foot climb. Above them the sky could have been a calm ocean, an infinite azure ceiling obscured only by scattered patches of clouds as a warm breeze danced around them, setting the short grass to shifting this way and that about their ankles. In the distance there was nothing, the vastness of the zone surreal in its expanse, like the open plain extended beyond the flat horizon, absent even the curvature of a planet. For Rei’s part, he couldn’t have been more pleased with their lot of fields.
With no obstacles or obstructions to be found within the 30-yard diameter of the fighting area, no one would be able to complain about tricks and schemes.
“Field: Grassland.”
The Arena’s announcement of the obvious was amusing to Rei, for some reason, and he had to hold back a laugh. He was feeling good. It wasn’t great, actually. He had to keep it together. Warren was likely to open with either a roundhouse or a cross-jab at his leading shoulder. He had to keep it together, to focus.
But the scowl that only got uglier and uglier across the girl’s face across from him gave Rei no reason to really want to stop grinning.
“Cadet Reidon Ward versus Cadet Camilla Warren. Combatants… Call.”
“Call,” Rei said, hearing the word echoed by the girl. In a heartbeat Shido was about his arms and legs, the new mirroring of claws shining bright in the projected sunlight. On the other side of the field he didn’t miss Warren cast a nervous gaze at his most recent evolution, one she’d only seen twice now in combat training. In comparison, her own punch daggers—grey over green with orange vysetrium—looked bulky and crude, down even to the thicker plating about her legs. Unable to help himself, Rei bounced up and down on his toes a couple of times, taunting the girl with one last smile, then settled into a ready stance with hands up.
He was feeling good.
“Combatants… Fight.”
For the first time since Shido had been assigned to him, Rei met his opponent in the middle of the field. He wasn’t outpaced, this time, wasn’t outmatched for agility. Even if he was marked two ranks higher than Warren, Rei knew his specs would overall be lower. Despite this, his D8 Speed turned out to be a match for her, because it was with the wind of their passing rippling through the grass behind them that the two hurtled towards each other, neither closing an inch faster. Rei felt his D6 Cognition light up his neuroline even as he rocketed forward. They were going too fast for the kick. Warren would open with the punch.
There.
The swing came as expected, the brief flash of red across Rei’s frame an unnecessary warning. He saw Warren’s right arm draw back in careful time with her gait, measured to impact with the greatest momentum possible. He saw the lithe muscles of her shoulders contract in preparation.
What he didn’t see, however, was the swing itself, because Rei was already ducking low by the time it came, shifting his direction ever so slightly with a push leftward, so that he passed by Warren—under the arm—rather than colliding into her. As he did, he let the momentum of his run carry the claws of both his fists through the Brawler’s undefended right side, exposed for only the blink it took to make the opening strike. He was surprised when he felt the resistance through his left hand when steel sliced through ribs just under the Warren’s armpit, every inch of the black metal ripping into what he knew with astonishment had to be lung.
It was his right, though, that truly shocked him. His right, cutting lower to cleave into her hip, deep enough to sever the femoral artery where it rested along the inside of where the femur met pelvis.
The silence that settled across Rei as he came to a stumbling halt several yards beyond Warren was strange. There was a pause, a stunned moment in which the two of them stood with their backs to each other, both unmoving.
Then the Brawler’s knees thudded to the ground, and she collapsed face-first into the grass.
“Fatal Damage Accrued. Winner: Reidon Ward.”
The field was already fading as Rei turned to stare at the twitching form of his fallen opponent. Despite this, not a single sound could be heard, not a clap or a cheer or even a jeer. Rei started to drop, the earth beneath his feet dematerializing all of seconds after the fight had begun, his graceful lowering to the ground eerie in the quiet. Only after he’d touched down on the projection plating did he jolt to his senses a bit, the clink of his heels against the steel waking him to his disbelief.
He turned, slowly, to look south and up, needing no time at all to find the two figures gaping at him from the stands, both having taken to their feet and rushed forward from their front-row seats to lean over the guardrail of the lower walkway.
And then Viv, still in her combat suit, smiled so wide her face looked like it could have split in two only a second before screaming at the top of her lungs.
“HELL YEAH, REI!”
The sound rolled through the empty Arena like a storm, waking the other score or so of first years from their astonishment in one fell swoop. Almost together nearly every student scattered about the stands started cheering, the sparseness of their number made up for by the enthusiasm of their applause. Rei saw Sense positively jumping up and down in excitement from higher in the seating, with Kay at his side standing more politely, but nonetheless yelling with her hands around her mouth. He saw Emily Gisham punching the air, and even Jack Benaly, alone in an upper corner of the section, clapping from his seat. Only Selleck and his friends weren’t moving, glowering down at him and Warren both.
And then, slowly, he met Aria’s eyes.
She was staring at him like he was something simultaneously mesmerizing and terrifying, like she wasn’t sure what to make of what she’d just seen. That was fine by him, because of everyone standing in that Arena Rei was pretty positive he was the one who was the most at a loss, unable to comprehend what was going on. Aria’s eyes, though, grounded him, shook him with their crystalline green.
Finally, he managed to mouth up to her.
What happened?
All he got in answer was a slow, uncertain shake of her head.
“Cadet Arada, control yourself!” came the snarling voice of Major Reese, and at last Rei returned to himself completely. Quickly he turned around, the metal of Shido’s heels barely keeping purchase on the smooth plating, but he ignored the precarious footing in favor of staring up at the projection disk that still hovered some 4 or 5 yards above his head. The major wasn’t looking at him, however. Indeed, he seemed distinctly intent on looking anywhere but directly at Rei, his ire currently transfixed on Viv. “Return to your seat! The rest of you as well!” His eyes lifted to scan the other first years, causing the commotion to cut off abruptly at Rei’s back.
“Oh they’re only cheering for our victor!” John Markus seemed to have finally found his voice, and for the first time all afternoon sounded genuinely enthusiastic in his commentary. “What a win! Congratulations, Cadet Ward! That may have been our quickest match of the tournament yet!”
Rei was so dumbfounded by this that he could only nod, his gaze falling down to where Camilla Warren was struggling to get to her feet, her right arm and leg both looking like they were still recovering from the neural interruption. He didn’t understand. Couldn’t comprehend. Had she thrown the match? Had she tossed in the towel before the fight had begun?
But no. No way. The rage on the Brawler’s face as she finally managed to stand—if unsteadily—spoke of anything but resigned defeat. She looked incensed, her Devi
ce still around her limbs as they shook.
“Again!” she growled, teeth bared at Rei. “Take me on again! That was a cheap trick!”
Rei—still at a loss for words even if he hadn’t been thrown by this ludicrous proposition—only stared at her in confusion.
“What’s this?” Markus asked energetically. “Cadet Warren has challenged the victor to another fight! Well we can’t have that, arbiter, can we?”
In answer there was a silence, and Rei looked up again. This time he found Reese had swallowed his irritation enough to look him in the eye, one cheek twitching in what could only have been anger. The quiet hung for several uncomfortable seconds.
“Again!” Warren demanded once more, starting to advance on Rei, her left side looking to have finally recovered its function. “In a straight fight, I would have—!”
“Enough, cadet.”
The major’s voice was a low, dangerous growl, reverberating through the Arena like a thunderstorm. Glancing up, Rei saw that Reese’s gaze hadn’t left him, but his face was dark, still and resigned.
Warren whirled. “Sir! You had to see it! It had to be a trick! In a straight fight—!”
“ENOUGH!” Reese snarled, and Rei wasn’t sure if he’d imagined the projection plating under his feet vibrating. “To imply this fight wasn’t ‘straight’ is to imply that I am incapable of moderating something as basic as a match between two first year Users! You’ve had your chance. Grasslands. Nothing in sight for miles. Cadet Ward beat you—” for the first time, the major betrayed just the slightest hint of annoyance as he spoke the words “—and did so fairly in full meeting with combat regulations. You are disqualified from this tournament as per the understood parameters, and you will take your leave of the field before you cause either of us further embarrassment.”
Warren looked stricken, her whole body going rigid at the reprimand. Once more the Arena was silent, every eye in the stadium on the two of them. Rei couldn’t have been sure, watching her from behind, but he thought the Brawler might have been ready to say more, might have been willing to risk greater ire to insist again on a second fight.
In the end, however, she looked to think better of it, seeming to cave in on herself as she hesitated, then turned—deliberately not looking at Rei—to walk slowly off the field with a blank look on her face, heels clinking against the plating.
She’d just reached the edge of the perimeter when a form blurred into being before her, taking the shape of Michael Bretz standing with his hands behind his back.
“Your Device, Warren,” he said in a warning tone, glaring from beneath his cap. He was dressed in his regulars, the black-and-gold uniform snug about his broad frame. “You’ll recall it before stepping out of bounds.”
The girl blinked at the sight of her sub-instructor, then nodded. With a mumbled word her CAD retracted from her limbs, and she was allowed to pass the chief warrant officer with no further exchange, though he did watch her go by with a disappointed frown marring his handsome features.
After she was well on her way to the west exit from the Arena floor, Bretz looked back around to Rei.
“You too, Ward. Recall, and clear the field for the next match.”
“Y-Yes, sir,” Rei stammered, still in shock. He’d won? He’d won? All right, maybe that particular fact wasn’t a complete surprise, but for it to have happened so quickly…
“Recall,” he muttered, and Shido returned to its bands in a blur, dropping him down so that the coolness of the projection plating sent a shiver through his feet and up his back. At once he turned and hurried across the silver boundary, making for the east tunnels with his head bowed, not even paying attention as Marcus—returned to his unenthusiastic drone now that the entertainment had ended—announced the next combatants.
Taking the ramp down, he turned left and made it to the professionals locker room at double pace. Stepping into the darker chamber, he felt the red-and-black of the place settle on him, and he allowed himself a few deep breaths, leaning against the door of as it slid shut at his back. For a while he just stood there, quieting himself in the somber glow of crystalline lights overhead and the bubbling of the tank set into the back wall.
What had happened…?
His first clue, oddly enough, came not in the form of any new information, but rather in the lack of it. After more than a minute had gone by without a hint of his NOED coming to life, Rei was just short of sure Shido wasn’t going to be presenting any notification of improved specs. That was… surreal, in a way. The CAD hardly lit up for him after bouts with Aria or Viv or Catcher anymore, but every major fight he’d ever been in had been followed up by some notice of upgrade, as well as most of the minor ones aside from class sparring. For Shido not to inform him of any change after a sanction match—not to mention one against a User with specs likely several ranks higher than his on average…
Had it been the speed of the fight? Had it been the rapidity with which it had started and ended?
No, Rei thought, knowing himself correct. Not exactly.
It was because Warren hadn’t been a challenge.
That was what Shido was telling him, in its silence. That was the message he suspected he was meant to understand. For all his concern, for all his fear, it turned out Aria had been right.
Rei had had the match from the start, and from a much larger margin than he could have believed.
Oddly, the image of Lena Jiang’s face, resigned to playing dirty for her win, swam across Rei’s mind, and he suddenly wondered if he hadn’t yet again been selling himself short on just where in the curve of the Galens first years he stood, spec ranks be damned.
The hiss of compressed air startled Rei, then, and he jumped away from the locker room door just in time to keep from being pulled along with it as the heavy steel slid open. On the other side of the entryway, Aria and Viv both stood, breathing so heavily they might have run a mile flat out.
“Found you!” Viv shrieked, leaping on Rei to wrap her arms about his neck in excitement. “You son of bitch! You son of a bitch!”
Despite his recent growth, Viv was still a solid 4 inches taller than him, and a little heavier. Rei was knocked backwards by her enthusiastic hug, and fortunately caught himself on the edge of one of the seating area couches before he actually toppled over.
“H-hey!” he exclaimed, surprised, returning the embrace automatically and looking at Aria over Viv’s shoulders. “How did you guys find me?”
“Aria,” Viv answered at once, pulling away to hold him at arm’s length, taking him in top to bottom. “We ran to the SB2 locker room, but when we only found Warren there we came back upstairs. Aria was the one who figured out where you’d be.”
“You make it sound like rocket science,” Aria herself interrupted with a raised eyebrow. “Pretty sure all I said was ‘closest locker room not where Warren was’.”
Rei chuckled. “Yeah, that’s about right. Figured it was probably a good idea the two of us didn’t risk butting heads. And that was before that fight.”
“And what a fight!” Viv squealed, bouncing up and down so that her brown curls—as always in perfect, inexplicable order—leapt about on her shoulders. “Holy hell, Rei! Marcus was right! That was the fastest win of any match so far! We looked it up!”
This news only sent Rei reeling again, and he allowed himself to sit down on the back of the couch, staring at the ground in disbelief.
“I… I don’t get it,” he said after a moment. “It shouldn’t have been that easy. There’s no way it was that easy…”
“It was.”
It was Aria who said it, stepping closer to stand before him with her arms crossed. Of the three of them she was the only one in regulars, and a few strands of her red hair had fallen out of her braid in the run to spill about her face from under her cap. If she noticed she couldn’t be bothered, however, staring him down as she was.
“It was, Rei,” she repeated when he said noth
ing. “I get it. Whatever your CAD-Rank says, she was supposed to be better, stronger.”
“She was,” Rei insisted. “No, she is. My average is closer to a D5. She was an 8. That discrepancy—”
“Means jack if you fight better.” It was Viv’s turn, and she cut him off with a much more sober expression than she’d born a moment before. “What do you think happened with Jiang, Rei? I told you last week: you almost had her, and she was part of the summer group. But you didn’t almost have her because you were stronger, or faster. You almost had her because you were better.”
“And Warren is nothing compared to Jiang,” Aria agreed with a nod. “Face it, Rei. You earned this win.”
Rei looked between the pair of them for a moment, struck by the ferocious air the two girls cut like this, both looming well over a foot taller than him, seated as he was.
“You guys are scary when you’re serious, you know that?”
Viv smirked. “If you think this is serious, you must not have been paying attention when we’ve been on the same squad-format team.”
“Oh, I paid attention.” Rei gave a mock shiver, earning himself a small laugh from Aria.
Her face was set again almost at once.
“Rei. You had it. From the start. Do you get that now?”
His one shot at changing the subject having failed, Rei took a breath, considering their words. Was it so simple? Was it as easy as that? Was he just that much better that Camilla Warren?
No. No, it was more complicated than that. Had his opening counterattack failed, Rei would probably have been in a much more precarious position. In a way, Warren herself had been right. In a truly straight fight and on a field like that Grasslands variation, he would have been at a much greater disadvantage than the Volcanic Slopes had granted him against Jiang. That had been part of the plan, though, right? Part of the reason he’d spent every spare moment not sleeping or eating or on the field training with the others and studying Warren’s technique. He had known she was going to open that way, and had been ready for it.
Iron Prince: A Progression Sci-Fi Epic (Warformed: Stormweaver Book 1) Page 80
