by Alex Knight
“All right, all right. You know the rules,” the announcer said. “This will be a one-on-one contest. Stimpacks can’t be used, and the fight ends when one of you dies and stays dead. Combatants ready?”
Titus drew his hammer in response.
Across from him, Ham Slamwich laughed and hefted her own two-handed axe.
“Begin!” the announcer’s voice boomed across the arena and the crowd burst into a cheering roar.
“Woo! Let’s go, Titus!” Kaiden shouted, trying to sound encouraging.
“You got this, big guy!” Thorne joined in. “No holding back!”
Titus eased back into a fighting stance and flicked his shield on. Its energy field glowed a bright blue as he positioned it in front of him.
His opponent shook out her shoulders and smiled. “Never killed a warden before. This should be fun!”
Titus opened his mouth to respond but Slamwich was already in the air, a puff of dirt flying up from the arena floor as she launched upward.
Ability: Meteoric Launch
Player launches into the air. Landing deals AoE damage and next attack deals additional damage.
Kaiden read the limited info his visor gave him on the attack, then looked back just in time to see Slamwich come crashing down. She swung her axe as she landed and Titus caught it directly on his shield. The energy field flickered, but absorbed the hit, giving Titus charge. At the same time, crackling electricity lashed out from Titus’ armor to nip at Slamwich’s shoulder.
Improved Volt Field, Kaiden knew.
Her health bar took a small hit, but she didn’t seem to notice, still continuing forward with a series of heavy, hard swings aimed at Titus’ head.
He backpedaled, blocking the attacks he could but unable to stop them all. His own health took something of a beating, dropping down to eighty-four percent, but for every attack Slamwich threw at him, Improved Volt Field zapped her back for fifty percent of Titus’ base damage. He wasn’t a DPS class, so that wasn’t much, but it was something.
“And it’s a merciless onslaught from Slam to kick things off!” the announcer said, a bit of excitement creeping into his voice now that the fight was on. “Titus is on the back foot already.”
“Is he, though?” Kaiden asked quietly. “He’s defending, but that’s what’s his class does best. And he’s been getting damage in without even attacking.” Titus was down to eighty-four percent health, lower than his opponent’s ninety percent, but he hadn’t even attacked yet.
“It’s a strategic start,” Thorne said with a nod. “He’s using his opponent’s attacks to hit her back while he builds charge.”
Even as Thorne spoke, Titus retaliated, leading with a Shield Slam – which dealt area-of-effect damage and briefly stunned Slamwich – then following with a Shield of Rage. His shield burned brightly then shot out a burst of energy that caught his stunned opponent dead in the chest for one hundred and fifty percent base damage.
The stun wore off and Slamwich restarted her attack.
Ability: Melt
A powerful strike that bypasses armor and shields.
The blade of her axe lit up, glowing a fierce red. Several globs of what looked to be molten metal trailed behind it as she swung at Titus with a rising strike. He blocked with his shield, but the axe passed through it as if it wasn’t there and cut directly into his health bar.
“Ooh, that looked like it hurt!” the announced shouted.
“What was that?” Zelda cried out as Titus’ health flashed and dropped by a good ten percent. Down to seventy-four percent now.
“Melt bypasses armor and shields,” Kaiden said, cringing as he relayed what his visor had told him.
Improved Volt Field had thrown back some of the damage, but Slam was still at eighty-three percent while Titus was down to seventy-four. Spurred on by the success of Melt, Slamwich pushed her attack, following with several more basic swings of her axe.
Titus blocked them and his shield began to flicker – too full of charge, Kaiden knew. It was near to overloading and turning off. Titus seemed to recognize it as well. He popped off another quick Shield of Rage and then a Hammer Smash.
Ability: Hammer Smash
The warden pounds the ground with their hammer, dealing base damage to enemies in a 5-foot radius.
Area-of-effect damage was fairly insignificant against a single attacker, but if Titus didn’t want his shield to overload he needed to keep using abilities and burning off excess charge. Slam’s health dropped to seventy-nine percent, but that was still a good bit above Titus’.
She’s not even trying to block his attacks, Kaiden realized. She thinks she can hit hard enough to just out-DPS him. And she might be right.
The fight had been moving around the arena, mostly backwards as Titus had given ground under Slam’s assault. The combatants were right up on the edge now, and as Titus swung his hammer around for an attack, it clipped the invisible wall encircling the arena. The thing flared to life in a spray of sparks and an arc of electricity lashed out. Titus shook violently for a moment as it zapped him and his health dropped another four percent.
“The wall’s electrified!” Kaiden said, hearing the dread in his voice. “That’s not good.”
Slam seemed to think otherwise. Her axe began to light up a fiery red again, except this time, the heart of the weapon was glowing, not just the blade.
Ability: Concussive Strike
A forceful strike that travels along the ground for a short distance, dealing direct and knockback damage to any enemy in its path.
“Enjoy the wall, warden boy,” Slam taunted, then drove her axe into the ground. The attack exploded forward, energy shooting in a blazing trail toward Titus. However, without Kaiden’s visor Titus had no way of knowing the details of the incoming attack. He leaned into it.
His health bar flashed as Concussive Strike bashed into him, but he wasn’t knocked back.
“Loving this new passive,” Titus said, looking up at his opponent.
“What’s this?” the announcer asked, seemingly puzzled. A few audience members leaned forward, their interest growing.
Slam also seemed confused by the ineffectiveness of her attack. She didn’t get to think on it long, however, as Titus lunged forward.
Ability: Shield Slam
The warden slams their shield into the ground, stunning enemies in a 5ft radius for 2 seconds.
Titus jammed his shield into the ground in front of her and a blast emanated outward. It swept over Slam, dealing no damage, but locking her in place with its stun effect.
“My turn,” Titus said. He took the chance to circle around behind her before popping his next ability.
Ability: Improved Shield Charge
Rooted in place thanks to Shield Slam, Slamwich had no chance to dodge as energy surged around Titus’ legs and he burst forward. Her health drained to seventy-three percent as Titus charged into her back, but the initial damage was the least of her worries. Titus kept her on the front of his shield as he continued the charge – forcing her face-first into the wall he’d just accidentally touched moments before. It sparked to life again as Titus drove her straight into it with an audible boom.
“That’s gonna hurt!” the announcer shouted, and the Maximus guild members in the audience jeered, apparently not happy with the development. Slam cried out, electricity flowing through her. The wall drained her health by the second, dealing far more damage than Titus could. Tank classes weren’t built for that, after all. Nonetheless, Titus had filled up his charge bar from tanking the onslaught earlier and was far from done.
“Rule number one of fighting a warden,” Titus said. “Try not to give them charge.”
Ability: Rallying Cry
All party members within 50 feet gain a 20% boost to base stats for 30 seconds.
Titus had no party members, but the ability affected him well enough. The increase to his base damage became apparent as he swung hammer strike after hammer strike at Slam. Each one hit
hard, taking chunks out of her health. The wall helped as well, still spraying sparks as it electrocuted her. Her health plummeted. By the time she was able to regain her senses and pull herself off the wall she was down to thirty-seven percent health.
“Ha! There you go, big guy!” Kaiden cheered. He’d taken a definitive lead in the damage race with his wall trick. Now all he had to do was finish strong. Keep trading damage for damage.
“You’re tough, I’ll give you that,” Slamwich snarled. “But not tough enough!”
Ability: Fiery End
A high-damage attack. On a successful hit, the target is set on fire.
Slam wound up for a big swing, axe head spitting embers like a fire threatening to burst to life, but Titus seemed unfazed.
This is about the time that I would dodge away, Kaiden thought.
Titus scored another hammer strike, then Slam’s massive axe burst full-on into a roaring inferno. “Been a fun fight, but it’s time to end it,” she said and swung the flaming axe.
“I agree,” Titus said.
Ability: Reflection
Reflects 20% of damage absorbed by the warden’s shield back against the attacker for 10 seconds.
He raised his shield and blocked Fiery End. Flames exploded outward, charring and burning the turf around, but most of the damage never reached Titus. His shield tanked it, then began to waver and shake, clearly on the verge of overloading from Slamwich’s powerful attack. The flames from the attack caught on Titus’ armor and began eating away at it, dealing burning damage each second.
Reflection bounced twenty percent of the damage back at Slam and set her health bar to flashing. Improved Volt Field zapped her for half of Titus’ base damage and her life total settled at twenty-nine percent.
The exchange left Titus’ health in the red, all the way down to forty-five percent, and it was dropping by the second thanks to the flames. Still, Slam had a lot of work to do to make up the disparity from being thrown into the wall. Titus’ shield was near overloaded. She recognized that and charged in again.
But Titus knew what he was doing.
Ability: Improved Barrier
You stand still and become the epicenter of a large barrier to defend your allies, increasing in size depending on how much charge you use. During this time your shield does not absorb additional charge. 10% of all damage blocked during this time converts into a protective force-field around you once ability ends. Unable to use if your shield is already overloaded.
He fired off the ability and the barrier swelled around him. He kept pumping charge into it until it was big enough to encompass him and Slamwich. And then, all at once, he canceled the ability and the barrier fell away.
He’s dumping charge! Kaiden realized. Using any ability he can to burn off charge and keep his shield from overloading. Nice!
Slamwich huffed at that, pausing for a moment to take in the situation. She was facing a shield warden with a still-active shield and all the charge he could want. Sure, Titus was on fire – the flames had eaten away at him, dropping his health to thirty-nine percent – but Slamwich was even lower on health.
“Guess it’s just a damage race then, eh?” Titus said, then lashed out with a hammer strike. The blow connected, knocking three percent off of Slamwich’s health
She took that hit, then two more, health down to nineteen percent, before she used Meteoric Launch again – this time to retreat. She launched into the air and did her best to put distance between herself and Titus.
All the while, the flames on him chewed through his armor.
She’s trying to let the damage over time finish him off, Kaiden realized.
Titus was down to thirty-three percent. He wasn’t waiting around for Slamwich’s plan to play out, though. She landed from the Meteoric Launch to find an energy lasso wrapping around her torso. Titus yanked and she was dragged back to him.
She clambered to her feet and lashed out with her axe. Titus simply stepped into the attack. Slamwich seemed taken aback as he tanked the damage, then wrapped her in a bear hug.
“Wait, what’s this?” the announcer said, also taken aback by the strategy. Kaiden didn’t blame him – right up until he remembered their earlier fight on Odditor’s planet. Particularly the part where a flaming hominoid had wrapped Titus in a similar hug.
The still-burning flames from Slamwich’s earlier Fiery End spread from Titus’ armor back to their creator. Both players took damage from the fire, but with Titus holding such a large health lead – twenty-seven to nineteen, now – time was against Slamwich.
“Damn it,” she said with a frown as the flames snapped and spat. She heaved Titus off, clearly having the higher strength stat, and slashed with her axe, but Titus attacked as well. They traded blows back and forth, cutting chunks from each other’s health. Titus’ lead was too big, though, and as a tank he could take more hits than his DPS-based opponent.
“Hey, good fight. Though in future you might want to remember that shield wardens are one of the highest HP classes in the game,” Titus said with a calm, almost friendly tone, then landed a hammer strike on Slamwich’s head that wiped out the rest of her health. Her eyes rolled up and she crumpled to the ground.
There was silence for a moment, everyone seeming to try and process exactly what had happened.
“And there it is, folks! A surprise turnaround!”
“Yeah!” Kaiden shouted, jumping to his feet and cheering. Zelda and Thorne did the same, but they were the only ones in the arena to do so. The Maximus guild members who’d been watching broke out in a flurry of boos and shouted insults.
Titus ignored it all, though, instead slapping at the flames still nipping at his armor.
“Uh, a little help here?” he called, looking around. “Fight’s over, right? Someone have a bucket of water or something?”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“Titus, dude! That was awesome!” Kaiden said, sprinting forward. The big man was sitting in the shelter of one of the arena’s entrance tunnels, having been ushered out of the arena as the next fighters had been led in. The next fight was already underway, cheers and blasts of light evident in the background.
Titus looked up as Kaiden approached. There was an intensity in his eyes, fierce and single-minded. Like he was still in the fight, and was measuring Kaiden up and figuring out how to take him down.
“You okay, big guy?”
Titus blinked and the look was gone.
“Kai,” he said with a nod and a small smile. “Got her pretty good, didn’t I?”
“You totally baited her in, then used her own attacks – not to mention the environment – against her,” Kaiden agreed, replaying every moment of the fight.
“Had to get creative,” Titus said with a shrug. “Shielders don’t deal that much damage.”
“Well, you dealt enough to advance. I’d say that’s plenty.”
“You’re back on after this fight,” a voice said. A medic, Kaiden saw as the man approached. He looked to be in a hurry and wasn’t paying full attention to either of them.
“Here, heal up. Then when they call for you, don’t waste any time.”
He popped an ability and the air around Titus began to glow green. Particles formed and rushed toward him. They globbed onto his armor like some sort of plasma, and everywhere they touched, damage began to repair itself.
“That’s the stuff,” Titus said, leaning back and sighing. A moment later he looked at Kaiden. “Dude, we need a healer in the group.”
“Don’t I know it. We have the medbay on the Verit–” He stopped, hesitating to use the ship’s real name in public. “On the Andronicus, but that doesn’t really help us in combat.”
“Next time we get arrested and sent to jail, remind me to find a friend to play healer before we decide to break out, yeah?”
Kaiden chuckled at that.
“Yeah, sounds good.”
A particularly loud explosion from the ongoing fight caught Kaiden’s attention and h
e looked toward the arena for a moment, then pulled himself back to Titus.
“They wouldn’t let us all come down and see you, so Zelda and Thorne sent me ahead. Gave me some advice to pass along for the next fight.”
“Is it ‘don’t die?’”
“Well, we’d have hoped that part was obvious.” Kaiden punched him in the shoulder. “No, but seriously. Your last opponent didn’t seem familiar with the shield warden class. That’s why you were able to bait her in like that. We don’t think you’re going to get so lucky next time. Zelda says if your opponent wasn’t watching, their friends definitely were.” Kaiden looked back to the entrance to the tunnel where Thorne and Zelda were waiting, just on the other side of two security guards.
“I know, I know,” he said with a nod. “It’s like boxing. You can’t always go in with the same strategy. People catch on.”
“Keep things fresh. Exactly. And Thorne said, well…” Kaiden paused. “Thorne just said to beat the crap out of whoever it is you face next.”
Titus laughed at that. A good, long belly laugh, and Kaiden couldn’t help but smile. He hadn’t found Thorne’s advice particularly helpful, but maybe now it made sense. Titus wasn’t new to Nova, and even outside the game he knew how to fight. He didn’t need everyone clogging his mind with their worries and plans before the next round. What he needed was to be relaxed and focused. Probably Thorne understood that. Probably this had been her way of conveying it.
Another explosion from the arena and the announcer shouted excitedly. Apparently, the fight was drawing to a close.
