Tru Grit’s Fight Pits: First Tourney (Pt. 8): Magic Vs. Science, A Drawn Out Duel

--- Maya Williams ---

The moment the announcer called the fight she had to dive to the side, a magenta fireball tearing through her previous position. A fireball that was just the first in a flurry of them.

(Okay, that is significantly faster than the other fire girl!)

Knowing that she needed to act fast, she glanced towards the elven girl and used her Headset UI to quickly aim and fire off a Burst(Gravity), hoping the sudden weight shift would throw the other teen off.

And it did seem to do something as rather than firing off another fireball, the magic user paused and tilted her head to the side while running a hand through the mildly distorting air.

Which left her open to the shot of sound that Maya blasted her way.

The other girl stumbled back a step, but given the distance wasn’t actually knocked off her feet. Something that allowed her to quickly form a defense against following blasts as a magenta circle filled with complex writing appeared in the air, blocking the waves of sound.

Not that that stopped Maya from pressing forward, because while her attacks might be doing little to no damage she remembered how the assault had still worn down the shield of the psychic she’d fought.

Still she grit her teeth as she got close enough that she could reach out and touch the practitioner’s sparking shield. (Come on. This has to be costing you more power than me…)

Clicking her tongue when her clips ran dry, she reached behind her back and grabbed her Heavy Weight as her Hand Cannons began to reload.

She was close enough to see the elven girl’s eyes go wide even through the shield as Maya swung her hammer. An attack that tore through the shield as if it wasn’t even there and forced the other teen to hop back to avoid being hit.

Before the other teen could get away, Maya followed her swing up with another closer one only for it to crash into what felt like a brick wall.

Her eyes narrowed as she saw the elven girl struggling to hold Maya’s Heavy Weight in place with a tense look and a circle that was significantly smaller than the previous one.

(With how much that circle is sparking this is definitely costing you more power than me.) She grinned, putting as much of her weight as she could into the scrap hammer.

The elven girl’s eyes met hers for a moment before narrowing.

Faster than she could react the Arcane teen shoved her hands to the side, sending both the spell circle and the Heavy Weight away with them, and forcing Maya off balance with the sudden weight shift.

As the Heavy Weight slipped out of her hand she watched the elven girl’s hands flicker through- (Are those Naruto hand signs?)- before pushing them forward and launching Maya off her feet.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Crashing to the ground several meters away she couldn’t help but curse, “Fu-uck!”

A sentiment that doubled when she saw the noticeable dent in her armor. (Shit, that would’ve shattered half my ribcage…)

Her eyes darted towards the elven girl, only to find her opponent missing. (Where?) “Shit! Invisibility!”

She scrambled back onto her feet, eyes darting around the arena for anything that could give away the other girl’s position before she could ambush Maya. (Think. Think. Think! Stealth Protocols! Mine work via manipulating and bending light around me so maybe…)

Working quickly, Maya loaded up a Burst() of Light on her COMP and began adjusting the parameters. Switching things around to focus less on a blinding light and more on creating as large of a Burst as possible and then shifting the light frequency ever so slightly. Uncaring of how these modifications made the program worthless as an actual attack. (Remove buffs then attack!)

The moment the quick-modded program was done she fired it off in the center of the arena, her eyes darting around as a black light washed over everything. An unexpected light variably that she knew her own Stealth Protocols would do nothing to hide her underneath.

Still she didn’t see her opponent anywhere, (which means!)

She dove forward, and spun on the ground to aim her Hand Cannons at the now revealed and wide-eyed elven girl standing with both a hand and a sharp knife raised roughly at neck height.

Not giving the girl a chance Maya fired off twin blasts of Sound, the combined force enough to launch the other teen back and into the fight pit wall. And not trusting that to be enough, she fired off another set of blasts for good measure.

“Fu-u-uck!” The other girl groaned, wrapping an arm around her chest. “You don’t… You don’t need to triple tap!”

“So you’re giving up?” She checked, not lowering her Hand Cannons.

The other girl shifted with a grimace. “Think you cracked a rib.”

“And you almost cracked half of mine.” She pointed out, with a nod towards her chestplate.

The elven girl tilted her head. “Fair.”

Her eyes narrowed, noticing that something was up. “Quit stalling and forfeit or I’ll start blasting again.” (She’s probably trying to heal her rib or something.)

“Fine…” The other girl sighed, her face twisting, before raising the arm around her chest and tapping it on the ground twice.

When the third didn’t come, Maya’s eyes went wide as the elven girl raised her other hand. The one that had been laying on the ground where an arcane symbol could now be seen drawn in the dirt.

She pulled the trigger on her Hand Cannon.

The girl’s hand hit the ground at the same moment.

There was a blast of light, sound, and most importantly pain.

When the worst of it faded she found herself laying on the ground and barely able to pick her head off the ground.

It wasn’t much, but it was enough for her to see the elven girl slumped against the wall, her eyes blinking in a stunned daze.

Unwilling to give the other girl a chance to recover, Maya pressed her hand against the ground to pick herself up and continue the fight.

Or that was the plan before her arm spasmed and she fell back to the ground, everything hurting twice as much after the failed recovery. Enough so that while she could try to get up she wasn’t sure it was worth it.

Especially no when, despite the ringing in her ears and the roar of the crowd, she could still make out the announcer’s voice as he declared that, “In a stunning turn, both our mystical sorceress and our insane M.A.D. have rendered each other unable to continue! An explosive finish that even our finalists are going to have trouble topping!”

“Fuck…” She cursed, laying there. (Well… At least the other girl didn’t win…)