Chapter 88: Synthesis
Bernie hissed, and I saw Lena glaring at my screen.
“Don’t switch off your camera,” she said. “It’s just about to get good.”
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
Frankly, I was pretty sure I did. Matt had pushed Erin almost back against the Yukon, and while she still managed to deflect most of his strikes, I couldn’t think of the last time she’d launched one of her own.
“Remember,” Lena said, “she hasn’t used the good stuff yet.”
“It’s not like you’ve had the chance to practice with Fire,” I said.
“Yeah.” She squeezed Bernie. “But it’s the best.”
The way Lena looked at things, I understood how she could think so. It wasn’t just her preference for her own Reactant, the one that her avatar had shown off long before she got it, the one which she’d found in her Realm and which was repped by her Daimon.
It was that Erin was clearly losing.
In the kind of stories Lena read, that didn’t mean you were about to go from losing to having lost. It meant a dramatic reversal lay just around the corner. Even in games, she preferred ones where you got a limit break type effect at low HP.
I didn’t think Third Eye was that kind of game.
Erin managed to deflect two attacks in a row, something she’d barely managed in the last minute, and the time she bought herself let her flick her finger across her phone screen.
Matt’s next thrust pinned her shield to the slush, because she’d abandoned it. He cupped both fingers and two lances of Iron shot at Erin. She sidestepped one and took the other in the stomach with a grunt.
A slab of Stone manifested in the air, hot enough the snow they’d kicked up sizzled when it got near it. Erin pushed herself forward and the Stone went before her, held a steady distance away.
Matt’s eyebrows raised and he backpedaled, but that was all he had to do. Erin looked more tired than him, and without using either Earth or Air, all she could do was run in his direction.
He snapped his fingers again, both hands, and this time Erin didn’t even dodge once. Both blows struck her legs and she stumbled, her slab of Stone slamming into the slush and kicking up a haze of steam.
It blocked sight between them for just a second, even out of Third Eye. From where we stood, however, the rest of the team and I could see Erin’s hand shift.
A pillar of Stone, its tip hot enough it was starting to lose definition, ripped through the steam and sizzled into Matt’s chest.
He cried out, though whether from surprise or pain, I couldn’t say. Either way, he stumbled backwards.
Erin picked herself up. “Are you okay, Mr. Green?”
Matt flicked his both fingers and knocked her down again.
Donica sighed. Lena shook her head.
Matt rubbed his chest where she’d managed to land the blow. Through Third Eye, it looked like his jerkin had been blackened. Outside of it, there was a smudge on his jacket.
Clearly, though, the attack hadn’t put him down.
“A glancing blow, and just projected with Earth, not moved with Air, and still, that took almost fifty off me. Fire really is perfect for attacking.”
“At least we’re learning something,” Erin said.
“A considerable amount, I hope,” Matt said.
He waited for her to rise.
She did. She rubbed her legs.
He frowned. “Are you physically injured?”
“I keep falling down when it feels like I’m getting hit,” Erin said. “It hurts for just a second, then it stops. It doesn’t seem like I can actually get injured as long as I have any HP left.”
“At some point we need to do a serious study of what happens when you lose your last HP,” Matt said. “I keep defaulting to low damage attacks when it looks like my opponent is spent, but if the last hit won’t really injure them no matter how strong it is, I can make this whole process much more efficient.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“I’m not especially inclined to help you study that,” Erin said.
“No?” He raised an eyebrow. “You want to find out because somebody didn’t study it, and put their opponent in the hospital?”
Erin gulped.
Matt smacked her again.
“Ow!” Erin rubbed her side. “In the middle of a conversation?”
“The pen is mightier than the sword, Erin,” Matt said. “And unless you were lying on your server, you must be almost out of HP.”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“In that case –” Matt snapped his palms flat, dismissing his control over his Iron, and reached into the pocket where he kept his phone.
All of us tensed.
Erin’s stone formed into a crude hand and slammed into Matt, still burning hot.
“Fuck!” he snarled.
Lena clapped. “Nice one.”
Erin pushed her hand forward and Matt staggered back.
“I hate this,” Erin shouted. “I hate that it’s like this. I hate that it’s about fighting. I hate that it’s about fighting you! If you’re going to make it about this, then I have to –”
Her voice trailed off.
Her eyes dropped.
She said, “Oh.”
Her hand had plunged into a sphere of liquid metal. It turned solid, and though I figured she felt only a fraction of the weight, she had to drop her phone to try and prop her arm up.
Her Stone fell away from Matt.
He coughed and brushed himself off. “Good game.”
Erin’s shoulders slumped. More than they already were, I mean. “I didn’t even lose HP for that. I’ve still got twenty seven left.”
“Then by all means, pick up your phone and strike back. Of course, I don’t even have to keep that selected to prevent you from actually manipulating whatever you manifest.”
“You’re right. I know.” She sighed. “Good game.”
He adjusted his hand and the metal sloughed away from Erin’s.
His other hand emerged from his jacket. The watch gleamed in it. “Here.”
“You’re just going to give it to me after all? You’re not even going to take your XP?”
“If I didn’t give you the watch,” he asked, “would your team really stop exploring this site?”
“I don’t know.” Erin looked at us.
“Yeah, no,” Lena said. “I mean, if anything, Matt should have to beat all of us. Isn’t that the whole point of grouping up versus trying to go solo?”
“Absolutely right,” Matt said. “Like I said at the beginning. If it actually came down to me against all of you, I’d never have stood a chance. The only way the outcome would even be in question is if I took on just one of you.”
“Oh,” Erin whispered. “I’m sorry everyone. I haven’t put in a very good showing.”
“Hardly,” Matt said. “You kept up with me for a long time, despite it being contrary to your temperament and preferences.”
“You were holding back.”
“Of course. I expect to have plenty of other matches against all of you before we’re done with this game. It would be stupid of me to show everything I can do.” His voice softened. “It would be even stupider to take your last HP when you’re supporting people who are going into a dangerous situation.”
“If you’re not holding the watch hostage against winning,” I asked, “what was the point of this? Nobody got XP. Nobody changed their minds about what they like. Nobody even changed what they were going to do.”
“Erin demonstrated that she was serious about her course,” Matt said, “and that, whether she likes PVP or not, she’s practiced hard. I know some of what you can do from watching your videos. And it sounds like you have triple Fire, Lena?”
Lena hesitated, then nodded. “I’m not super stoked about you eavesdropping while we’re in there, mind you.”
Matt shrugged. “I prefer to think of it as providing support in my own way.”
He tossed the watch. Erin snatched it out of the air.
“Your reflexes are better than mine,” he said. “You’ve got an additional Reactant you never even pulled out over the course of that match. And while I’ve taken most of your HP pool, I know your MP runs deep.”
“Meaning what?” she asked. “That you think we’re ready?”
He spread his hands. “None of us have any idea what ‘ready’ means in this context. I think you’re approaching this seriously enough that, if it’s how you want to play, I’ll back you up.”
Her head tilted. “Does that mean you’ll stop invading?”
“It means,” Matt said, “I’ll stay and join your support team tonight. What happens after that is outside the remit of one match to decide. Especially one you didn’t win.”
“Don’t you think it’s kind of absurd,” Erin asked, “to say that I’d have to beat you in a PVP match to convince you to stop playing PVP?”
He chuckled. “I guess I’ll have to keep invading, then.”
She flashed a tired smile. She padded over and handed the pocket watch to Donica.
“Do you mind if I stick around?” Matt asked.
“Oh, no, of course not,” Erin said. She blinked and looked around. “Unless...?”
“We would be happy for the company,” Miguel said. “The team that’s actually going in doesn’t get a vote, I’m afraid, only the two of us who will be sharing the Yukon with you.”
“Support is all fine and well,” Donica said. “If you’re so worried, though, Matt, why don’t you come in with us?”
“Two reasons,” he said.
She waited.
He held up one finger. “First, I still think it’s stupid to go in there. I’ll help you get in and out safely, but that’s a different matter from risking my own neck.”
Donica’s eye twitched.
“That’s fair,” I said. “What’s the second reason?”
He rolled his shoulders and flashed a sheepish grin. “Erin almost got me. Like hell I’m going in there with only twenty four HP.”