The crowd roared, cheering for their favorites as the two teams drew their weapons and readied their spells
San Verado held a hand up signaling his team to wait as he walked to the center of the grassy field his sword extended out towards Illaria beconing her to come closer. Illaria grinned, he was going to be her target no matter what. She mirrored him, holding her hand up, urging her allies to wait as she moved to the center of the field. Hushed whispers ran like a current through the crowd. Illaria gave a curt bow to San Verado, who returned the gesture. The pair began to circle one another, their blade teasing at each others defenses. In all of the matches in this tournament, no pair of swordsman had been as adept as the two of them.
Sharp thrusts of the rapier matched with expert paries from the wakizashi. “Your form is good, but how do you deal with improvisation?” He asked as he angled his blade to bounce the sunlight from his mirror polished silver blades at her eyes before flowing into a new thrust. She twisted her blade and slapped it against his in the nick of time. Her footwork faltered slightly as he came down on her relentlessly. The crowds cheers were reaching a crescendo as the world around the pair of swordsmen was suddenly isolated. A deep fog roiled around them and the center of the grass field, winds whipped around them billowing their cloaks and hair, it was as if they stood within the eye of a storm.
“Cheap tricks,” Illaria said as she spat at the ground before launching at him once more.
“AUGH, BAIT NO SEE ILLARIA” he shouted as he leveled his musket down the line searching for any target.
“Worry about yourself for a moment Bait,” Mavec shouted as he grabbed the spear from his back and brandished it towards the sky. “Sorcerers SUCK!” He bellowed as he advanced forward.
A glass canister rocketed at Bait. Alvec intercepted slamming his shield into the object. As the glass shattered a torrent of flames washed over Alvec. He smiled wide as he faced the sickly alchemist with long black hair from the Son’s of Marora. “This ones mine,” Alvec whispered to Bait before dashing forward, flames still fluttering over his charcoal hair.
“K, Bait shoot others.” He said before squeezing the trigger aiming at the big man with the ax. Alvec closed distance with the alchemist stopping just shy of him as he squeezed his right fist around a lump of coal, forcing his magic to flex over it. A quick flash of light and a near blistering heat seared against Alvec’s palm as he focused the energy outwards. The lump of goal was transmuted into diamond, and the force of the blast propelled hundreds of tiny shards forward into the alchemist. Several of his glass vials shattered as the slivers of impossibly hard stone slammed against simple glass.
The man recoiled and pulled more supplies from behind his back; mixing up a concoction before slugging it at Alvec. The vial missed its target, but shattered just a few feet away, a concussive shockwave echoed out from it. It pushed Alvec back slightly, and worse yet, returned the favor to Alvec. For the second time in recent memory his vials of acid and alchemist fire exploded in unison, destroying the bandolier and singing his shirt leaving a hole you could see his bare chest through.Gasps ran through the crowd at the spectacle, which quickly turned to a series of loud cheers as they realized that Alvec himself actually hadn’t been hurt by the several small blasts.
Meanwhile Naya, Echo, Bait, and Mavec made their way around the fog bank to face off with the rest of the sons of Marora. They quickly encountered the bard, sorcerer, and a tall man wearing furs and wielding a giant axe. Naya and Echo closed the distance on the two woman in what felt like a blink, skirting just out of the mans reach. He swung at both as they rushed past him, the blade whirling harmlessly around them. Fang and blade both found their mark as the pair flanked the Sorcerous who had been talking so much shit just yesterday.
Within the eye of the storm Illaria and San Verado continued their fight. Illaria couldn’t help but feel that they were more evenly matched than she be liking to admit. The man fought with both ferocity and cunning. Unlike her, he was open to using dirty tricks. He reached into a pouch with his free hand and between an exchange of swords he tossed a fistfull of black powder into her face. She closed her eyes for but a moment and his blade slipped past hers biting into her chest. She returned the favor driving her blade into him as well, but it was too little too late. He drew a pistol, pressed it to her stomach and pulled the trigger once more. A flash of pain and the world went dark as Illaria fell to the ground. San Verado laughed as he stood above her victoriously.
Mavec cursed his luck. Alvec could take a hit of lightning, but he wasn’t about to hit both Naya and Echo. Even if he did want to blast that damn Sorcerer. He shifted his aim towards the bard letting the blue arc of lightning surge out of his outstretched arm at her. It struck her square, but like in the fight with the Red Banner, it seemed not to do as much damage as he had hoped. His lips twitch in annoyance as he issued Piccora forward. She could at least nip at the womans ankles if nothing else.
The small metal rabbit crossed the field in blink as she hopped and dashed in. Her metal fangs found their mark sinking lightly into the womans leg and drawing blood. “Take that!” Mavec yelled. The sorceress pinned between the Wolf and Naya still tried to cast, in spite of the threat of steal and fang. She pointed her hands towards the storm of fog and wind. Moments later, two San Verado’s emerged from it both brandishing their swords. They made a b-line for Bait. Their swords both connected and Bait couldn’t tell which one was real, it had happened so quickly. He rolled backwards with the attacks and brought his musket to bare against San Verado.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The man wearing the furs and wielding the axe towered over Mavec and drove the weapon hard into his side, sending the boy tumbling. He let out a hearty laugh, as if this fight were nothing but childs play to him. A wave of sound which reverberated in his very bones washed over him. It was a melancholy tune which made Mavec feel as if someone had just smothered him in a cold wet blanket.
Naya let out a frustrated scream, not unlike a howl as the music washed over her. She refused to give into the magic woven into the music. Instead, she let her anger fuel her as she became a tempest of steel, her blades connecting repeatedly with the Sorceress. Echo grabbed hold of the woman and pulled her to the ground where she struggled to right herself. She could tell the Sorceress wasn’t doing all that well. Dark bruises that reminded her of plums blossomed where Echo’s teeth had been, and where her swords had raked across the womans exposed skin. The pitiful effort with which she fought to escape Echo’s grasp was another sign that she was nearly spent.
Bait have no choice but to run. San Verado’s tricky and positioned themselves in such a way that Bait couldn’t simply step back without taking an attack from one or the other. One of them was fake, but Bait couldn’t tell which. Both seem like same smug asshole. Bait ran as far as his little legs could take him toward Alvec. Alvec smart, he know which real San Verado.
Alvec wiped his chest clean, flinging the last bits of acid and fire from his skin and onto the grass. He maintained his distance and borrowed a spell from Mavec’s repertoire. He reached his hand out in front of him, not unlike lining up a shot with a bow, the only difference being that the arrow was more blue lightning which arched from his fingertips and slammed into the Alchemist before him. The jolt was enough that the man fell in a heap on the grass. Alvec wasted little time, turning around to find Bait sprinting his way, two San Verado’s quick on his heels. Great, the illusions weren’t so easy to disbelieve as he had hoped they would be, even with the medicinal tea.
“WHICH ONE DE REAL ONE?” Bait shouted as he kept charing towards Alvec.
“How should I know?” Alvec asked back as he raised his buckler to defend himself. San Verado was an expert swordsman if he’d managed to take Illaria down. Alvec could only pray he was fast enough to keep up. The two of them continued their charge towards Bait, overtaking him again they swung at him once more. A flash of annoyance crossed their face as their blades met an unexpected distortion of force which shifted their steal off to the side, missing Bait by centimeters.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the fog the woman who was the son of Marora’s sorcerer began to cast a spell. She was prone on her back and the words sounded more like a prayer than an incantaion. Mavec recognized the words right away, invisibility. “Don’t let her finish that chant!” He shouted to Naya. She wasted no time driving both blades into her. With a sharp gasp the woman faded into unconsciousness. Suddenly it was very clear which of the San Verado’s was in fact the real man, as the duplicate froze perfectly still in the last position their sorceress had left it in.
The tone of the music shifted suddenly to a more rousing beat and the man in the furs left Mavec where he was, instead rushing towards Naya. He swung hard and even with two swords attempting to block the blade she found herself batted backward as well as the ax delivered a crushing blow to her abdomen. She was pretty sure the strike would have disembowled her if not for the wards protecting them from death. Echo rushed the man snapping his fangs at the man and trying to grab the ax and twist it out of the mans hands.
Mavec ignored the man for now, their bard needed to be taken care of. He moved in close, knowing now that the bard at least was warded from electric damage. Alvec had been right to put a few new spells in his book. He pulled out the requisite lump of coal and clutched it in his hands, arcane energy fusing red hot into it. With a sound like shattering glass the newly formed diamond sprayed out of his hand and into her. The violin was shredded, and she looked far worse for ware. Mavec was confident it wouldn’t be more than one more spell to take her down. The fight between the barbarian and Naya and Echo also wouldn’t be long. While the man was unreasonably powerful, it was a death by a thousand cuts situation. For every one strike he landed on Naya, her and her wolf were scoring three. Eventually, the man went down as Mavec had predicted. Naya and Echo looked like shit, but that couldn’t be helped. They’d get patched up shortly. Mavec let loose one more spray of diamond shards and the bard was down for the count as well. He walked over to the Sorcerer and stabbed the spear into the ground beside her.
San Verado continued his assault on Bait, but it was no longer the same fight it had been but moments ago. Alvec was aiding the Goblin, trading in to take blows that Bait wasn’t going to be able to dodge, all while he slowly moved away from San Verado peppering him with shots each time he skirted just outside the range of the man’s swords. “DIS FOR ILLARIA” He shouted before placing a bullet square to the mans forehead. His eyes rolled back into his skull as he fell to the ground.
After taking a moment to compose himself Alvec dashed into the fog to find Illaria. She was laid out, as he knew she must be. He puled out the healing wand, noting how empty it was beginning to feel. The magic had been thoroughly spent from it. It wouldn’t be long before they’d need to buy a new one... or secure some help from a real cleric. The wand tip lit up white and she shot up angerly.
“That bastard cheated.” She moaned, scowling in his general direction. “Seeing as you're waking me up and not a cleric, we won, didn’t we?”
“We sure did. Now, come on, let's get you to a proper healer,” he said as he positioned himself under her arm. “Naya, can I get a hand?” Alvec asked. He barely blinked, and Naya was opposite him, helping Illaria limp over to the actual trained clerics. In just a few moments, the trio were being attended. There weren’t any familiar faces in the crowd of clerics attending them. It took a few minutes for them all of the group to receive the healing they needed.