by Alex Knight
“What the hell?” Kaiden shot to his feet in shock. “What is he doing?”
“Well, that’s probably not a winning strategy…” the announcer commented. “This is… well, this is certainly a first.”
The wall spat and crackled as electricity poured into Titus. More of it poured into his shield, though.
“He’s using the damage to charge his shield!” Kaiden shouted, the tactic suddenly making sense.
As if on cue, Titus peeled off from the wall and turned to face Nassus. His health had dropped by two percent, then six, then twelve, before he finally pulled away. He’d sacrificed a decent chunk of health, but that was only a small portion of what it would have been had he not blocked most of the wall’s damage with his shield. The shield must have absorbed triple that, maybe more.
Titus held a hand out to Nassus then made a “come at me” gesture.
“You’re real good at attacking when I can’t fight back. But let’s see how you good you are when I’m fully charged.”
Chapter Forty
“I’m not entirely sure what just happened, but I think he used the wall to power himself up. That really is a first, folks. This fight might not be over just yet!” The announcer rambled on, seeming to figure out what was happening as he was describing it. Titus was unfazed, however, already launching into an attack.
“Get over here!”
Ability: Energy Grip
He wrapped a coil of energy around Nassus’ leg, then dragged her over to him. As she slid to a stop, he put his newly gained charge to immediate use.
Ability: Rallying Cry
Ability: Hammer Smash
Ability: Shield of Rage
He rapid-fired the three abilities, and the last two dealt out damage before Nassus was even back on her feet. But get up she did, and made to put distance between them again.
Ability: Shield Slam
Titus slammed his shield into the ground and caught her with the stun. She froze in place and Titus set to work landing headshot after headshot with his hammer strikes. Fewer hit than Kaiden would have liked, but Titus didn’t have the dex of an enhanced warden.
Titus struck over and over again, his blows coordinated and quick, landing like they’d come from an expert. Considering Titus’ real-world experience, that might not have been far from the truth.
The ferocity of the barrage caught Nassus off guard. She looked shaken, her eyes wild and frantic as she dropped to sixty-one percent health. The stun wore off and she scampered away, chest heaving as she fought to collect herself.
“Ouch! I don’t think our champion feels too good after that one.” The audience hissed and booed at that, but there was no denying Titus had struck some relevant blows.
Nassus’ frantic expression calmed a bit, but her eyes were still wild.
“Not feeling so great?” Titus asked.
She growled, then opened her mouth to respond, just as a rope of energy curled around her waist. Titus had seized that moment to strike, the verbal jab he’d delivered nothing more than a distraction.
Titus dragged Nassus right back to continue his assault. This time, she seemed to panic, and instead of retreating, once she was on her feet she attacked without thinking, lashing out with Frenzied Barrage. The opening strikes connected – and Improved Volt Field slapped back a few percent of damage – before Titus abandoned his attack in favor of blocking with his shield. He caught the last two punches of Frenzied Barrage on it and then a wallop of a blow as Nassus activated a new ability with panic in her eyes.
Ability: Pyroclastic Pulverization
A high-damage attack with knockback and damage over time that bypasses armor.
She raised both fists, interlocked above her head, then slammed them down. Titus activated Reflection at the last moment, then took the brunt of the attack. The ground beneath him collapsed inward a bit, as if an explosive amount of force has passed through him and into it. That wasn’t all, though. Something molten and hissing was flowing from Nassus’ fists. Magma, Kaiden realized as the oozing inferno poured around the edges of Titus’ shield and down onto his head and shoulders.
He growled and backed away, health bar flashing as he fought to wipe the magma from his helmet’s visor. Reflection had thrown twenty percent of the damage from Nassus’ ability back at her, but it only worked on damage absorbed by a shield. The damage over time from the magma was only hurting Titus.
There was a moment of calm as Titus and Nassus both seemed to recover from the flurry. For the most part, Titus had come out on top. Well, he’d taken a ton of damage – was down to thirty-four percent health now – but he’d also dealt a good bit in return. Nassus was also low with forty-five percent health remaining. Still, Kaiden knew, it was more than a comfy enough lead to clinch a victory. The odds were not in Titus’ favor. Though, blocking Nassus’ last flurry had definitely given him more charge, so at the very least he could continue attacking without having to throw himself into an electrified wall again.
Nassus took in the scene around her and a look of disappointment crept onto her face.
“You’re a tricky punk, I’ll give you that,” she said, but even from the stands Kaiden could hear the uncertainty in her voice. She seemed disappointed Titus had shaken her with his taunts and sudden attacks. Disappointed that she’d panicked and played into his strategy by attacking his shield.
All that considered, maybe there’s a chance for Titus to pull out a win?
“Come on, big guy, you got this!” Kaiden shouted, pumping a fist in the air and cheering him on. Thorne and Zelda rose as well to join him. And, to Kaiden’s amazement, a few others did as well. Previously, most of the cheering had been for Nassus, but it looked like Titus’ clever use of the electrified wall had won some more of the audience over to his side. They joined in now, their voices echoing through the stadium loudly enough that the big man looked up for a moment and smiled. Nassus, on the other hand, let a massive frown stretch across her features. A look of hurt betrayal rose in her features then boiled over into a scowl. The audience had turned on her, or at least, enough of it to mess with her confidence. The scowl broke, and for a moment, Kaiden saw fear in her face.
“Imagining what it’ll feel like when you lose to me?” Titus asked, pressing a verbal advance. “Spoiler alert: not good.”
Nassus swallowed hard, then tried to steel herself. Her supporters in the audience chose that moment to make themselves heard. Their shouts and cheers fought against Titus’ newfound fans, then slowly drowned them out.
The Maximus fans cheered as loud as they could, chanting their champion’s name over and over in a rapid rhythm.
“Nassus! Nassus! Nassus!”
That seemed to steady her a bit, but even Kaiden could see her confidence was gone.
“Nassus! Nassus! Nassus!”
“Kick his assus!” someone shouted from a few rows back.
“That’s right! Let your champion hear you!” the announcer egged the audience on.
But even as the cheers rose louder and louder, Nassus seemed to shake more and more.
She’s afraid of letting them down, Kaiden realized.
Titus couldn’t have cared less about the audience. He’d chosen his strategy and played it well. His opponent was off her mental game. He charged, coming in fast and swinging the whole way. He and Nassus exchanged blows back and forth, trading hit points for hit points. She was higher level, so each of her hits did more damage. Still, her blows were wild and many of them missed. Titus was taking the brunt of the damage, but his focus was laser sharp. He’d been here before, just not in Nova – in the real world. His health ticked away but he kept attacking. More of his blows landed than Nassus’ and he caught several of hers on his shield. By the time his opponent noticed she wasn’t doing as much damage as she wanted the disparity between their health totals had largely evened out. Titus was down to twenty percent but Nassus wasn’t far behind, sitting at twenty-eight percent.
Nassus backed away fro
m the engagement, trying to figure out where she’d gone wrong. Titus didn’t give her much time to think.
He turned and ran.
Nassus’ eyes lit up at the sight of her foe retreating and she couldn’t resist pursuing. She struck out with a Chain Lash, then followed it with Mano A Mano. Her chains shot forward and caught Titus, then dragged her up behind him. She tore into his exposed back with a series of blows.
Then, all at once, Titus looked over his shoulder and smiled.
“Don’t let go,” he said. “Oh, that’s right, you can’t.”
Ability: Shield Charge
Titus shot forward, energy pouring into his legs and blasting him across the arena. Nassus was dragged with him, still attacking his back. A moment later, though, she realized what was happening and tried to disengage, but Mano A Mano kept them locked together.
Titus Shield Charged directly into the electrical wall. Sparks flew as both he and Nassus were electrified. Their health dropped in rapid bursts – roughly four percent per second – and thanks to Mano A Mano, and Titus’ unwillingness to move, neither was able to pull away from the wall.
Titus dropped to ten percent health. Nassus to twenty-four.
Then Titus to six, Nassus to twenty.
“He’s going to die!” Zelda said.
And then a thought hit Kaiden and he broke out into a smile.
“He is going to die, but I think that’s part of the plan.”
“What?” Zelda asked, but Thorne was smirking now. She’d figured it out too.
Titus dropped to two percent health and Nassus to sixteen. And then, a second later, another burst of electricity flowed through them both. Nassus’ health was shocked down to twelve percent, and Titus down to zero. His health bar was entirely empty. He collapsed to the ground, dead.
Nassus pulled herself off the wall to massive cheers from the audience. The look on her face said she was thoroughly confused, but she had, apparently, won. The crowd went wild. And then an ability activated. The one Kaiden had been expecting.
Ability: Saving Grace
If a target within 100 feet has been reduced to 0% health in the last 5 seconds, they return to 50% health instead and are given 10 charge.
Cost: All of your remaining charge and 50% of max health if targeting an ally. If targeting yourself, all of your charge but no health and you resurrect with only 5% health and 10 charge.
Cooldown: 6 hours
Energy flared around Titus’ corpse and then he was lifted into the air, as if scooped up by the hand of some invisible giant. The force turned him upright, and as his feet settled back to the ground, he opened his eyes. His health bar flashed, then filled back to five percent.
The crowd stopped cheering at the sight. Nassus noticed the change and turned around just in time for Titus’ Energy Grip to catch around her waist. He pulled hard and she was thrown toward him.
At the last moment, though, he stepped aside and she flew right into the electrified wall. Her health took a four percent hit. She seemed to react on instinct – startled by the sudden reversal – and struck out at Titus with a Chain Lash. He blocked it on his shield as the wall shocked Nassus down to eight percent, but she wasn’t held in place by Mano A Mano this time, so she was free to move off of the wall. Or, at least, she was until Titus attacked.
Ability: Shield Slam
Titus lunged forward and slammed his shield into the ground at the edge of the wall. The stun washed over Nassus and froze her in place for two seconds. Sparks flew and the wall did its work.
Four percent health left.
Zero percent health left.
Nassus’ eyes rolled up into her head, then she collapsed forward stiff as a board and faceplanted into the charred soil of the arena.
Stunned silence followed.
Chapter Forty-One
“Titus!” Kaiden hissed again, elbowing the big man excitedly. “You did it, man! You freakin’ did it!”
He’d been healed by the medic directly after the match, then they’d all been whisked off for their reward: a meeting with PlayaSlaya. They were surrounded by Maximus guild members now and being led up a sloping ramp on the exterior of the stadium. A handrail was all that separated the ramp from the billowing clouds of the planet’s atmosphere, and as they rose higher up the side of the stadium, more of Maximus’ guild base was visible. Clusters upon clusters of floating domes, all linked together by skybridges and swaying into the horizon.
The guild members flanking them were trying to look focused, but even distracted with his excitement Kaiden couldn’t fail to notice them sneaking glances at Titus. They were impressed. Everyone was. What he’d done shouldn’t have been possible, but he’d done it. With strategy and ferocity and a brilliance that’d caught everyone by surprise.
Considering the present company, it didn’t seem in good form to jump up and down shouting about Titus’ win, but still, Kaiden could hardly contain himself.
“Dude! You did it!” he said again, grabbing him by the shoulders and giving him a shake.
“I did, didn’t I?” Titus said, smirking and letting himself be shaken.
“You did it!”
“I did it!”
“You—”
“Yes, yes, we know. He did it,” Zelda said, stepping between them. “Titus, you kicked ass and it was awesome. We’re all immensely proud of you. But can we please focus on what comes next?”
“She’s right,” Thorne said from a pace behind. “That win is going to go viral. Biggest upset Maximus has seen in a long time. It was excellent. But none of this means anything if we can’t…” She switched to private comms. “Can’t convince PlayaSlaya to help us. We need to divulge enough information about the database to convince him to support us, that our plan to attack Warden HQ is viable, but not so much information that we’d be screwed if he sells us out to the Party.”
“There’s no way to do this without taking a risk,” Kaiden said, swallowing his excitement and instead focusing on the bitter taste accompanying the thought of what was to come. “None of us know this guy, so we’re going to have to feel him out on the fly. But our plan is solid, and thanks to Titus, we look like we know what we’re doing. We’ll convince him to work with us. And we have the sample file Zelda uploaded, after all.”
“We’re here,” the lead Maximus guild member said as the ramp came to an end at the very top of the stadium. A private skybox had been set up, complete with plush chairs, a buffet – not that you actually needed to eat or drink in Nova – and an assortment of magnifying lenses to better show the action happening down in the arena below. Draped across one of the chairs as if he hadn’t a care in the world was a player in full heavy armor. He had blond hair, though it was tinged with green as if it’d been recently dyed, and he’d foregone a helmet in favor of a flat-brimmed baseball cap worn backwards. Kaiden focused on him, though he already had a good guess who it was.
PlayaSlaya
Class: Cybernetic Knight
Faction: Maximus (leader)
Level: 60
“Yo! The man of the hour,” PlayaSlaya said with a casual nod. “That was an ass-kicking if ever I’ve seen one.” He slapped his thigh and laughed. “Ooh man, I’m not gonna let Nassus live that one down. She’s been killing it down there for weeks, but there’s always a bigger fish. Even if their level doesn’t show it.” He rose and strode over to Titus, then reached out for a bro hug. Titus seemed to react on instinct and clasped hands, then went in for the one-armed hug.
“That’s what’s up,” PlayaSlaya said as he pulled away. “Titus, right?”
The big man nodded.
“That was a hell of a show, Titus. We’ll need to get you some more levels, obviously, but once you’re ready, man, I can’t wait to get you into the mix. Can’t wait to have a go myself,” he said, looking the big man up and down with a smirk. He shook his head. “That could be a fun fight.”
“With all due respect,” Titus said, careful with his words, “I don’t wan
t to join Maximus. You guys are... cool... and all, but I’m a bit busy right now.”
“Busy?” PlayaSlaya frowned as if the word was new to him. “Dude, you won the tournament! The lower branch, admittedly – the real fights start in the level fifty-six to sixty tourny – but still. Since you’re a champion, I can offer you immediate membership in Maximus and an officer position. That’s huge, man. What are you busy with that’s better than that?”
All right, here’s your chance, big guy, Kaiden thought. Honestly, he wanted to step up himself and handle this. But it was Titus who’d won the tournament and earned this meeting. PlayaSlaya had come to meet with Titus, not his friends who’d tagged along and watched the whole tournament from the sidelines. It’s fine. Titus has got this. He knows what to do. We just have to be careful about how much we say. This is a delicate topic, so we’ll introduce it slowly. Don’t want to just blurt out our plan to take down—
“I’ve been busy tracking down a database of government crimes and plan on using it to topple the Party,” Titus said simply.
Ah. Uh. Well, that’s one way to do it.
A stunned silence followed in which a series of emotions played out across PlayaSlaya’s face. He frowned at first, then his eyes narrowed with suspicion only to be replaced a second later by what looked to be shocked disbelief. Then, a frown again.
He waved dismissively at his guards.
“Get gone.”
And they did, moving without hesitation and disappearing back down the ramp so that only Kaiden, Titus, Zelda, and Thorne were left atop the stadium with the guild leader.
And one other. Kaiden hadn’t noticed him at first; had taken him for just a guard. He was a dour-looking guy, with black hair and a pale face set in what seemed a perpetually sad expression. Kaiden’s visor pulled up information on him.
