by J. Cee
“So our usual tricks to analyze them won’t work?”
“Maybe, maybe not. Combat at higher ranks is much different from combat at lower ranks. That’s also part of the reason I want you to see Zeudah fight later today.”
“And the other part? To terrify me?”
Aeri raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think you need more of that. No, it’s to inspire you. To show you what you can be.”
Ceph wasn’t expecting that. He had to admit Aeri was an excellent teacher. Even then, he had a hard time imagining himself ever rivaling a Pit Champion. Aeri’s expression was serious, though. She had meant it!
Sighing, Ceph gestured to the equipment. “How are we dividing this?”
The sword was the one they had discussed trading earlier. The boots and ring were new, however.
The boots granted the skill Rush, which, according to Aeri, would cost ten spirit and increase the user’s movement speed tenfold for two seconds. The skill could be reused after a one minute cooldown. They hadn’t tested the boots yet, but Ceph trusted Aeri’s Lore skill.
Aeri had also tried on the ring and explained that it increased her spirit pool by ten points. Not only would this allow more casting, but it would increase the effectiveness of Soulstrikes and Interference Shields, which scaled with the maximum spirit pool. It wasn’t much of a boost, but at their rank, every bit helped.
“Let me see your attributes,” Aeri said.
Ceph activated his Corpus skill and turned his inner left forearm toward her. He was now rank sixty-five, with 192 blood and 68 spirit, while still at zero harmony.
“What about you?” Ceph asked.
“Rank seventy-five, with 60 blood, 160 spirit, and 200% harmony,” Aeri replied without checking her arm.
“Wow, isn’t that a bit low for blood?”
“Yes, but I make up for it with an extra large spirit pool. With my high harmony, I can use skills more often. If I gain enough ranks, my regeneration will be high enough to keep an Interference Shield up all the time.”
“Yeah, but isn’t it risky?”
“Risky and rewarding. A large spirit pool shines at higher ranks, where skills cost more but provide even more in return.”
Maybe someone like Aeri would trade blood for spirit, but Ceph couldn’t see himself doing the same. “Back to the equipment. What’s the plan?”
“We’ll see if we can trade the sword for anything useful. If not, I’ll take it to give me two weapon options.”
“Sure. What about the boots and ring? If we have matches at the same time, we won’t be able to share equipment between us.”
“I think you should have the ring. It’s a simple boost that doesn’t require practice.”
“Meaning that you’ll take the boots because they’re hard to use.”
“I didn’t say that, but yes, that does seem like the right idea.”
Ceph trusted Aeri’s judgment. He took the silver ring and put it on his right hand’s index finger. “Can I wear a ring on every finger?”
“You can only wear one ring on each hand. If you have two rings on the same hand, they interfere with each other.”
He had a disadvantage, then, with only one hand. That wasn’t a surprise, but he was still disappointed. “Can I change rings during a fight?”
“Absolutely. It takes time and attention, though, which means more practice. You don’t want to fumble a valuable piece of equipment during a fight.”
Ceph knew that Aeri wasn’t simply referring to his handicap. Part of the reason for his easy victories was that he had trained to keep track of every detail during a match. That meant juggling multiple mental and physical actions at the same time.
His opponents tended to focus on a single action at a time, which put them at a great disadvantage. Even something as simple as sheathing a weapon to maintain spirit regeneration was easily forgotten in the heat of battle.
“That leaves the boots.” Ceph tossed them to Aeri.
The tall boots looked too large, but as Aeri put them on, their texture rippled. They changed size to match her feet and legs.
Ceph stared. “Those are amazing.”
“I do make them look good, don’t I?”
“That’s not what I meant. I mean yes, but no. Argh.” Ceph stood. “Should we look for the trading house?”
Aeri laughed as she stood next to Ceph. She flicked the extra sword with her foot, catching it as it flipped up.
“Let’s go.”
It turned out that the trading house was one of the larger wooden buildings next to the campgrounds. They didn’t have anything of similar value to a basic longsword, so Aeri held onto it. During the day, official matches only involved high-ranked Everborn. No one wanted to bet on inexperienced fighters, so lower ranked Everborn like Ceph and Aeri didn’t have a chance to participate. Aeri was more interested in training, though.
“The match with Zeudah isn’t until later in the afternoon,” Aeri said. “We should train while we’re waiting. The question is where to train.”
“Can’t we use the empty fields by the campgrounds?” Ceph asked.
“Too many eyes. We don’t want to draw attention. We also don’t want to reveal all of our tactics.”
“Where can we find private training grounds?”
Aeri grinned.
“Oh no,” Ceph said. “You aren’t thinking what I think you’re thinking?”
“You did notice that his gigantic tent was empty?”
Ceph didn’t like where the conversation was going. The problem was that Aeri tended to be stubborn about her ideas.
“Isn’t Zeudah busy getting ready for his own fight?”
Aeri had a faraway look in her eyes. “We should stay close to him. Something’s going to happen.”
“What?” With a start, Ceph scanned his surroundings for signs of danger. When he noticed Aeri remaining calm, he understood what she meant. “Your threads.”
Aeri nodded. “His thread… blurs. I have a suspicion that has to do with the stranger I’ve been talking about.”
“Jexaka, the Everborn guard said. Doesn’t that mean we should, I don’t know, stay away?”
“We need answers. The only way to get them is to go forward.”
Ceph shook his head. He followed Aeri to the looming black tent belonging to Zeudah. The female guard from earlier wasn’t there, but one of the other Everborn guards gave them a slight nod of recognition.
“We’re here to see Zeudah again,” Aeri said.
“Wait.” The guard went inside the tent. He came back out again after a short time. “He’s ready.”
Zeudah was again sitting cross-legged on the ground. Ceph looked around and saw that nothing else had changed. To one side were the same chests, presumably holding equipment or other valuables. The rest of the interior was spacious but empty.
“You realize I have to face my challengers in a few hours?” Zeudah asked.
Aeri’s slack face looked bored. “So? Nothing new for a Pit Champion.”
A faint smile colored the edges of his lips. “You’re right, being a Champion is tedious. What about yourselves? I heard you two had a few matches last night.”
Ceph frowned. Was the Pit Champion watching them?
“We did,” Aeri said.
“What brings you here today, then?” Zeudah asked.
“We’d like to borrow your tent for training,” Aeri said.
The Pit Champion stared at the two of them without a word, a stern crease above his brows.
“It was all her idea—” Ceph began.
Zeudah broke into a hearty laugh. “You walk up to the Pit Champion hours before his match and ask to borrow his tent. I don’t know if you’re brave or reckless, but I like that.”
“So is that a yes?” Aeri asked. Ceph grimaced. Was she ever afraid?
“Go ahead. This might be more amusing than my upcoming fight. Show me.” He gestured toward the open floor space.
Ceph and Aeri walked over to the cente
r of the tent.
“This is creepy with him watching,” Ceph whispered.
“Forget about him. Focus. I want to test the boots and show you some tactics. Then, you can try them.” Aeri walked ten meters away from Ceph, measuring her paces carefully.
“The basic use of Rush is to close the distance rapidly for an attack.”
Aeri activated her Rush skill. In an instant, Aeri was next to Ceph with her sword drawn for a strike. Ceph jumped in surprise. That was much faster than he had expected.
His eyes strayed to Aeri’s sword as she re-sheathed it, jealous of her smooth motions. He had practiced with his own sword and sheath countless times until he knew its exact weight and shape by heart. Aeri’s unpracticed motions with a brand new weapon were already more fluid than his own.
“Ceph, pay attention. Rush can also be used defensively.” Aeri waited thirty seconds for the skill’s harmony-enhanced cooldown. “Suppose I just sent a Soulstrike at you from close range.” Aeri mimed casting a Soulstrike at Ceph. “Before you can retaliate, I can retreat instantly.” Aeri activated her Rush skill and zipped ten meters away.
Zeudah had been watching them. “Is that it?” he called.
Aeri ignored him. “There are other uses, too. You can combine offense and defense, for example.” Aeri carefully counted her paces until she was five meters away from Ceph. “I’m going to hit you with a Steelstrike, so you may want a shield.”
Ceph nodded. “Tell me when.”
“I’ll go as soon as the shield’s up.”
Ceph cast a Deflection Shield and readied himself for Aeri’s attack. She was standing in a resting pose one moment. The next moment, she was a blur streaking past Ceph. He turned around to see Aeri five meters behind him with her sword still in its sheath. Then, he looked at himself. His Deflection Shield was gone.
Zeudah grunted. “Not bad for a rank seventy-five.”
How did he know Aeri’s rank? Ceph didn’t remember telling Zeudah.
“Do you know what happened?” Aeri asked Ceph, drawing his attention back.
“Huh?” Ceph hadn’t seen Aeri move, but he could guess what she did. “You sprinted into range, drew your sword, attacked, resheathed, and continued sprinting away.”
“Simple, right? Except you won’t see most fighters do that. Know why that is?”
Ceph shook his head. “What’s the catch?”
“How long does a Steelstrike take to activate?”
Ceph knew the answer, but so what? What was Aeri trying to explain? He would activate the Steelstrike while approaching the enemy… his eyes lit up as he understood what Aeri had done. “No way.”
Aeri looked pleased. “Tell me.”
“A Steelstrike takes half a second to activate, but what matters is the end when the attack strikes. If you’re moving that fast, you have a very narrow window where you’re in range to strike the enemy. Too early or too late, and you’re out of range. I’d guess your windows is maybe an eighth of a second or less.”
Ceph scratched his head. “Wait a minute. Did you start your Steelstrike before moving?”
“Exactly, with one mistake. With my harmony, I have extra fast movement, not to mention a quarter second activation. That gives me even less room for error making everything line up.”
“Wow!” Ceph didn’t think most fighters could coordinate an attack in the middle of a speed burst like Aeri had demonstrated. There was no way that he could.
“If you master this maneuver, you can attack from the safety of distance while delivering close range damage.”
“Even with a Soulstrike.”
“Right. Here’s another offensive tactic. The speed bump.” Aeri walked about seven meters away from Ceph. “I’m not going to hit with a real attack, but I will hit you. Get ready.”
“Like shield?”
“Brace yourself.”
Ceph wasn’t sure what was about to happen. Aeri activated her skill one more time. This time she didn’t stop in front of Ceph. She barreled into him shoulder first. Ceph somersaulted backwards and ended up several meters behind his original position, sprawled on the ground.
Zeudah clapped. “A good sucker punch never gets old.”
Ceph gave him an irritated look. Aeri came over to help Ceph to his feet. “What’s the purpose of this move?” she asked.
“If you move faster, you hit harder when you run into something. This lets you create extra space right after an attack. It’s not as elegant as the other way, but it’s easier.”
“Not only space. You create time. Think you could aim a Soulstrike while tumbling backwards?”
Ceph saw her point. He tried to visualize himself performing the move. This one was doable.
“I’ll show you a few more offensive tactics. Then, you can practice defending against them.”
“Defending?”
“Now that we have these boots, we can practice handling accelerated speed attacks from both sides. Offense and defense.”
They spent the next two hours training. Ceph was amazed at how much one piece of equipment could alter the nature of fighting. His training with Soulstrikes and shields barely scratched the surface of Everborn combat. How many common skills were there? What kind of preparation did he need to deal with them? Acquiring new skills as soon as possible was even more important than he realized.
When Ceph asked Aeri about the overwhelming amount of training, her answer surprised him.
“That’s true. The complexity of fights at higher ranks means that you can’t possibly train for every situation. At lower ranks, fights are mechanical and calculated. Fights at higher ranks rely more on intuition and improvisation. Like I mentioned before, the nature of combat changes as you gain ranks.”
Aeri pointed to Zeudah with her chin, who had since left them alone to return to his meditation or whatever it was he did. “Top fighters like him are as much artists as a musician or painter. Speaking of which, let’s get going. His match starts in an hour, and we want to get a good spot to watch.”
Ceph and Aeri said farewell to Zeudah, who didn’t reply. They left his tent and made their way to the central pit, which would feature the day’s main match. Although it was still early, a crowd had already formed in anticipation.
Aeri found a less crowded spot near the lip of the gladiator pit. “We’ll watch from over there.”
Ceph and Aeri made their way to claim the spot. While waiting for the match to begin, Ceph noticed more green and yellow auras than usual among the crowd. The day’s match had drawn Everborn of all ranks as spectators. He also noticed an extra long line in front of the betting office in the distance.
When it was time for the match to begin, the combatants leapt into the fighting arena from opposite sides. Ceph and many of the onlookers gasped in surprise. The match was one versus three.
On one side of the pit was Zeudah, still dressed in his strange dark uniform with swirling textures that hurt Ceph’s eyes. On the other side were three combatants. There was a giant almost twice as tall as anyone else. Giants weren’t common in this part of the world, and many in the crowd whispered while pointing at him. The giant wore chainmail along with leather boots and gloves. A pair of large axes strapped to his waist, each the size of a person, marked him as a melee specialist. A bright green gem hung from his neck.
Ceph had never seen a giant before, but he wasn’t impressed. Would size even matter in an Everborn fight? Was a giant simply a bigger target?
“No, size doesn’t matter that much,” Aeri said when Ceph questioned her. “You might gain a bit of reach with your weapons, but raw strength isn’t different between Everborn of different sizes.”
Next to the giant was a small figure wrapped from head to toe in black fabric. Ceph couldn’t make out the gender or any equipment besides a single dagger that the mysterious challenger held. Yellow eyes glowed from behind the figure’s mask.
“What about that one?” Ceph asked.
“I’m not sure,” Aeri said. “Likel
y some kind of evasion and speed-based fighter.”
The final challenger was a man of medium height. He had a shield in one hand and a sword in the other. Neither piece of equipment looked special. What was different was the man himself. His entire body was coated with some kind of living metal. It was as if a statue had come to life.
Aeri answered Ceph’s question before he asked it. “Some kind of alchemical skill, although I haven’t heard of a skill that grants that sort of transformation.”
The most pressing question was still on Ceph’s mind. “I thought this was a duel. Is he going to fight all three at once?”
“I don’t know, either.”
“Is that allowed?”
“As long as the fighters all agree. Maybe Zeudah is bored. Or arrogant.”
The crowd’s murmurs grew even louder as the combatants drew themselves into ready positions. The giant held an ax in each hand. The assassin crouched low several meters next to him on the right. On the giant’s left stood the metallic man.
“Looks like it’s three against one,” Ceph said.
Was Zeudah that confident? Ceph had only glimpsed the Pit Champion’s strength. Just how powerful was he? Zeudah had a relaxed or almost lazy expression as he stood on his side of the pit across from the newcomers.
“Let’s get this over with,” Zeudah called to the official in charge of the match.
There was a sudden cry from the edge of the pit opposite Ceph, followed by angry shouting. Ceph couldn’t see what was happening. He turned to Aeri, but her crimson eyes were wide open in shock. Ceph watched Aeri’s surprise turn into anger, then determination. What was it?
Ceph looked again across the pit. As the crowd shrank away from the source of the disturbance, a figure wearing familiar white robes emerged. Ceph gasped. From across the pit, the Word stared straight at him.
Chapter 17
Memories of Ceph’s torture resurfaced, this time without his permission or control. He heard the eerie voice, felt the cold cruel hands on his body. No, he had to get away. He had to. Ceph gave his head a violent shake to recover his senses.
“Aeri, come on. We’ll lose him in the crowd.” Ceph stepped away from the edge of the fighting pit.
