by Alex Knight
“Beat the crap out of my opponent?” Titus said, still chuckling as he turned his attention to his now-repaired armor and replenished health.
“Okay, enough chit chat. Mind on the next fight,” Kaiden said, looking over to Titus’ next opponent. “What the heck is a ‘gravity slinger?’” he asked as his visor gave him info on the challenger.
Supermassive
Class: Gravity Slinger
Faction: Unaffiliated
Level: 52
Quick Facts: Gravity slingers specialize in the manipulation of gravity to create powerful ranged attacks. But don’t let that fool you; their melee attacks, though few, can be used to devastating ends.
The man was dressed in a suit of power armor made of… well, it looked to be rocks. Except, he wasn’t exactly wearing them, and they weren’t formed into any cohesive suit. The rocks, all different shapes and sizes, floated in the air, inches away from his body but close enough that they’d likely block incoming attacks. There weren’t enough to cover all of him, only his chest really. But they seemed to slip around him, bobbing ever so slightly as they rotated around in a slow circle as if flowing in some sort of invisible current.
He’s manipulating gravity to keep the rocks there, I guess? Must be an ability. So how does he fight? My visor seemed to suggest ranged attacks, but there was some mention of melee attacks as well?
“I don’t know much about this class,” Kaiden confessed as he relayed the info from his visor.
“Sounds like I want to stay away from his melee attacks. Fight him like he’s a ranged class, I guess?”
“That’d be my guess, but that armor of his is strange. It looks heavier than I’d expect from any ranged class. I don’t know what to tell you here. This might take some feeling out.”
“And that’s the fight, folks!” the announcer’s voice echoed through the tunnel.
The officials gestured and Supermassive moved toward the arena.
“I’ll figure it out,” Titus said, then followed his opponent.
“What’s this guy gonna do? Throw rocks at Titus?” Thorne asked. The idea seemed laughable right up until the fight began.
“And we’re off!” the announcer shouted.
Supermassive charged forward with a sound like a tidal wave of stones clattering and tumbling over one another. A sprinting avalanche.
Titus raised his hammer to strike, then seemed to think better of it. He retreated, but Supermassive was far faster. Titus was forced to duck behind his shield as the attack came in.
So much for avoiding his melee attack, Kaiden thought, wincing as his visor read out the gravity slinger’s opening attack.
Ability: Mass x Acceleration
A high-damage melee attack that deals damage based on the user’s level and dexterity.
Supermassive punched forward with a fist, but as Kaiden saw, it wasn’t just his fist. The previously invisible currents around the gravity slinger briefly became visible as faintly glowing lines spinning around him. Spinning, or orbiting? Kaiden thought. Then, all at once, the lines changed direction, swarming toward Supermassive’s reared fist. The rocks followed and in the blink of an eye his fist was coated in them – the hand of a stone giant punching forward at Titus.
The blow slammed into his shield and a shockwave exploded outward from the impact. Dust and dirt and even several loose stones were blasted away, flying through the air. Gale-force winds swept over Titus, and were it not for Intransigence, Kaiden had no doubt the big man would have been launched directly into the electrified wall behind him. He held firm, though. Unfortunately, his shield didn’t. It flickered once and went out.
“Overloaded? From a single blow?” Zelda asked, shock plastered across her face.
“That’s not good…” Thorne added unhelpfully. “This guy’s gotta be a glass cannon if he can hit like that.”
Titus was still standing, though. Given, his health had taken a beating; even through the shield it’d dropped to seventy-two percent.
“That attack dealt twenty-eight percent damage through his shield!” Kaiden shouted, not believing what he was seeing. “That’s insane! That would one-hit kill if unblocked.”
“He’d better not get hit by it again, then,” Thorne said. “It has to be a once-per-combat ability, or at least have a ridiculously long cooldown, right?”
Improved Volt Field had dealt damage to Supermassive because he’d attacked with a melee attack, and as Kaiden looked, he realized it’d dealt far more damage than it normally did. That, or gravity slingers had far less health than most classes. He was already down to ninety percent.
Titus can whoop this guy if he can land a few hits.
“Whoa, look at that,” Zelda said, pointing toward Supermassive. The arm he’d punched with was hanging limp at his side in what appeared to be some sort of visual cooldown cue. Titus must have spotted it as well. He lunged forward and pressed the attack.
The upside to an overloaded shield – if there ever was one – was a full charge bar. All of Titus’ abilities were theoretically open to him. The problem was, any that required a shield couldn’t be used, which, for a shield warden, happened to be most of them. Nonetheless, the charge was enough to start dealing some damage back. Titus used Rallying Cry then lashed out with several hammer strikes. The first of the strikes connected and tore a whopping twenty-six percent of Supermassive’s health away.
The gravity slinger retreated, and fast. As he did, the rocks that had been around his fist returned to their original orbit around his torso.
Titus tried to keep pace with Supermassive, swinging wildly. A blow connected solidly with his opponent’s shoulder. The orbiting rock armor absorbed the hit, but as Kaiden looked closer, he could see the spot that had been hit was damaged. The rock there had a spiderweb of cracks running through it. Titus swung again and Supermassive sidestepped so the blow landed on a different piece of armor. That one cracked as well.
“Hit the same spot!” Kaiden shouted, but his voice was lost among the crowd as others jeered at Titus’ seeming success. The big man was quick on the uptake, though. He’d noticed the damage to his opponent’s armor and his next attack landed in the same spot as the first.
This time, the rock there shattered completely, falling away in a rain of pebbles, and Supermassive’s health bar flashed and dropped to sixty-four percent.
“Gah!” he cried, then scowled.
Ability: Conservation of Mass (passive)
Broken armor lashes out at the attacker, then begins reforming.
Like Volt Field, Kaiden thought as the ability activated. A rain of shards of shattered rock armor flew up from the ground and at Titus’ face. They clinked off his helmet, dealing only one percent damage but clearly obscuring his vision for a moment. He grunted and swatted at them. The pebbles were flung away, then turned and rushed back toward Supermassive. They returned to the place they’d originally been above his shoulder, but instead of forming into a solid rock again, they remained as dozens of little pieces.
The pebbles’ distraction had been enough for Supermassive to slip out of Titus’ range, and thanks to what Kaiden imagined was a pretty high dexterity stat, he wasn’t having much trouble staying there. Titus trudged after him, hammer swinging non-stop, but Supermassive was just a step quicker. As long as there was room to move, he could stay out of reach. The arm he’d used to punch with earlier was still hanging limp. Apparently Mass x Acceleration had quite a cooldown on it, which made sense considering how powerful it was.
Ability: Kinetic Velocity
A ranged attack that deals moderate damage.
Supermassive slung his still-functioning left arm at Titus and a chunk of rock split away and hurtled forward. Titus leaned to the side but was too slow to avoid the blow. It caught him in the chest plate and shattered with a thud so forceful Kaiden could feel it in his own chest. Titus’ health dropped to sixty-three percent. The now broken pieces of rock flew back to Supermassive’s arm and remained there as anoth
er cloud of pebbles.
Supermassive shifted his armor and the pebbles moved away, then were replaced with a fresh piece of rock armor. Then he used Kinetic Velocity again.
“He’s sacrificing armor for damage!” Kaiden realized.
With no shield, Titus had no option but to try to dodge the attack. His low dexterity made that a grim prospect, and sure enough, the blow struck again.
Down to fifty-three percent health.
“That Volt Field ability of yours is annoying,” Supermassive said. “It only hits back on melee attacks, though, and the good news for me is I have plenty of range.” He smiled, then attacked again with another Kinetic Velocity.
Titus can’t take this beating forever. He needs to get in close and hit back. Put some of that charge to use!
Now in the red at forty-four percent health, Titus seemed to have the same idea. His shield came off cooldown and flicked back on. Titus wasn’t focused on it, though.
“You have plenty of ranged attacks?” he growled and reared back his hammer. “Then I guess I need to keep you close.”
Ability: Energy Grip
Titus struck forward and a lasso of energy burst from his hammer and wrapped around Supermassive’s leg. Titus pulled and his opponent was yanked toward him and dragged along the ground.
“No more running now,” Titus said then attacked with several hammer strikes. Rallying Cry’s effect had worn off but the big man was aiming for the exposed spots where Supermassive’s rock armor was already shattered. The first blow was glancing and didn’t deal full damage, the second missed, but the third connected full-on. All told, Supermassive lost thirty-four percent heath. The gravity slinger was squishy, and his rock armor was becoming less and less effective as he used more of it for Kinetic Velocity.
Supermassive climbed to his feet, health now reduced to thirty-one percent. Roughly even, considering Titus was at forty-four percent himself.
Ability: Shattered Shot
Sacrifices a small amount of armor to distract the opponent.
Kaiden’s visor read out details of the attack as a small piece of Supermassive’s armor broke free. Just like before with Conservation of Mass, the floating pebbles swarmed Titus’ face. They dealt another three percent damage and bought a much-needed moment for the gravity slinger to retreat outside of Titus’ reach. His right arm was still limp – apparently Mass x Acceleration had a very long cooldown – and his armor was shattered in several areas.
“Based on how he’s fighting, and how much damage Titus is dealing with each attack, this guy is like a ranged class with one really powerful melee attack,” Zelda said, analytical as always. But it seemed like she was right. As Supermassive and Titus continued their fight, the former constantly retreated, buying time to continue spamming his Kinetic Velocity ranged attack.
Titus went for another Energy Grip, but Supermassive dodged it this time – relying on his high dexterity stat, no doubt. Still, there was only so much arena to dance around in, and as Kaiden now noticed, Titus had been intentionally chasing his opponent into a corner.
“Nowhere to run now,” he said, closing in on his slippery opponent.
“On the contrary,” Supermassive said.
Ability: Render Inert
Uses armor to immobilize an opponent.
Several rocks pulled away from his armor and flew toward Titus. They were low, though; off target. Or—no, they were right on target, Kaiden realized as they slammed into Titus’ feet and piled up around them. The big man tried to step forward but his feet were rooted to the ground. Supermassive took advantage of the moment to slip by just out of reach and get himself back into the openness of the center of the arena. Once there, he loaded up for another attack.
Nothing Wasted
Deals damage based on percentage of broken armor.
Titus raised his shield to block the attack as all of the pebbles orbiting Supermassive launched forward in a piercing lance of debris.
The attack washed against Titus’ shield, but no damage got through.
“There we go!” Kaiden cheered. Several others in the audience booed.
The root effect from Render Inert wore off – the rocks at Titus’ feet flying up to rejoin Supermassive’s armor – and Titus was free.
He lowered his shield and smirked.
“With my shield back, I can do this all day.”
“Guess it’s time to end this, then.”
Ability: Gravity Well
A crowd-control ability that creates a strong gravity field around an object within forty feet.
Kaiden’s vision fed him information on the ability and he felt himself frown, not understanding what was happening. Why use a crowd-control ability on just one opponent?
A moment later, though, Kaiden swallowed hard as he realized what was happening.
A lightless pinpoint of black void had appeared directly above Titus’ head, so close it was almost touching him. Immediately, dust and dirt began to rise into the air. It rushed toward the dot, then gathered around it in a violent swirl. It wasn’t another second before heavier debris began to inch in closer. The orb grew and seemingly strengthened. As it did, the larger debris stopped sliding along the ground and launched into the air instead. Titus was lifted as well, legs kicking as the ability held him aloft. Supermassive wasn’t trying to move Titus around the arena; he was trying to move the arena to Titus.
Titus’ eyes went wide, then he curled into a ball as a chunk of broken wall the size of his torso nearly decapitated him. It missed by an inch or so, but from all around the arena, debris was zooming in now. Only Supermassive seemed unaffected by the ability.
Titus wasn’t done, though.
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.
Cooldown: 10 minutes.
Titus made a small barrier this time, just big enough to protect himself. Conserving charge, probably.
Energy glowed around him, inches away from his body, and the flying debris slammed into it. Where it hit, the barrier flashed, but held steady. An entire stone wall smashed into the barrier, then a trail of rebar, and next some shattered armor from a contestant who’d been defeated earlier. All of it slammed into Titus’ Improved Barrier. But the barrier held, and after several seconds, Gravity Well ended and the debris – and Titus – all collapsed to the ground.
The big man rose and dusted himself off.
“You almost had me there.”
Titus ended Improved Barrier and a small personal force field formed around him. It has health equal to ten percent of the damage the barrier blocked, Kaiden thought, recalling the secondary clause on the ability.
Supermassive growled in response to Titus’ advance. At the same time, light bloomed around his right arm and it came back to life, hanging limp no longer. He looked down at it, then smiled up at Titus.
Mass x Acceleration is off cooldown!
Supermassive attacked with renewed intensity, hurling stones with Kinetic Velocity and pausing only to dodge Titus’ attempted Energy Grip every time it came off cooldown.
“He’s trying to overload Titus’ shield again,” Kaiden said, watching the assault. “Trying to open the door for a lethal Mass x Acceleration attack.”
The crowd was cheering now, sensing the end was near. Titus was hard to see in the middle of a cloud of dirt and dust as he blocked a seemingly endless barrage of hurled stones. His personal force field went down, but his shield was holding. It was going to overload sooner or later, though.
Apparently, sooner was the answer. After one last attack, the shield flicked off.
“I thought it’d last longer than that,” Thorne said, frowning. “It should have�
��”
But Supermassive saw it and knew the kill was near. Mass x Acceleration had dealt twenty-eight percent damage through Titus’ shield earlier. How much was it going to do when he didn’t have a shield at all? Kaiden didn’t have an answer beyond ‘too much.’
Ability: Mass x Acceleration
Supermassive lunged forward, his right arm reared back. The rocks around his body – those that hadn’t been destroyed in Titus’ attacks – rushed to form up around his fist.
Titus backed up, then looked side to side as if searching for some way to escape. But his dexterity stat was undoubtedly far lower than his opponent’s and speed wasn’t exactly the forte of shield wardens. There was nowhere to run.
Supermassive was two strides away now, committed to the attack. Committed to ending the duel. He closed the remaining distance and threw his punch.
Titus spun to face him, staring down his death, and... smiled? If Supermassive noticed it, he didn’t react. Couldn’t. He had already thrown his punch and in the blink of an eye it would obliterate Titus.
Blue light flashed to life as Titus turned his shield back on.
The realization hit Kaiden all at once. The shield hadn’t been overloaded; Titus had just turned it off. He’d baited his opponent into this attack!
Titus had just enough time to fire off an ability before Mass x Acceleration hit him.
Ability: Karmic Reprisal
Your shield glows brightly, infused with charge. You may expend X% of max charge to reduce damage from a single attack by that percentage. Additionally, your next attack deals base damage plus additional damage equal to the amount this ability negated.
Cooldown: 3 minutes.
Supermassive’s punch slammed into Titus’ shield. Another shockwave exploded outwards and Titus’ shield overloaded, but this time he only took a few percent damage.
