Chapter 88: Paperwork Sounds Like Ass
“So how much of that is true?” Nara chattered over breakfast the next day, “Royal families and arranged marriages and all that.”
“Don’t look at me,” Encio said, “I’m not actually a noble. My grandfather is an honorary noble. Adventurers that make it big don’t typically accept titles of nobility.”
“There’s no need for it,” said Aliyah bluntly, “Nothing is more convincing than a diamond ranker.”
“We should be asking the real prince in the group,” said Eufemia.
“I’m not a prince,” Sen denied, fruitlessly. He sighed, running a hand through his hair, neat even in the morning; Sen was nothing if not thorough. “In other nations than the Shian Union, arranged marriages are typical. It happens here, but its rather uncommon. The Fenhu is well-known for their stance against it.”
“A government’s legitimacy is their ability to protect their population. Earning the support of a powerful family, such a family known for their ability to construct wide-area array protections, is important to maintaining power.”
“The Great Families…” He paused, looking at Eufemia waiting for her to quip. She seemed curious herself, or just more interested in drinking her spiked juice. “The Great Families of the Shian Union are unusual due to their large number of family members. Family members marry freely and have children freely.”
“What he means is that the families have a wide net. A lot of different family members are able to work and specialize in different fields. It isn’t so much as they’re the ruling family as the greatest percentage of the population share the bloodline, ever so distantly as it is.” Encio explained.
“Like the Mongols.”
The what, Eufemia mouthed, but she knew it was futile.
“Well now I understand what you’re getting at,” John mused.
“I don’t know what the Mongolians were-,”
“-Who,” Nara corrected.
“…Who the Mongols were, but I will assume the comparison is apt, which is perhaps more credit than I should give,” Sen said impassively. “You see only a slice of the most prominent members of the family here in Sanshi, where the main families sends their children. If you go to the Arlang territory, even your ordinary fruit seller on the side of the street there can be an Arlang.”
“Or a Lang, a Langar, an Arlan, a Ralan…” Aliyah listed off variations of the Arlang name. “When people marry in the Shian Union, the last name is usually combined with the partner’s last name, or a new name is chosen all together.”
“Except for prominent families, where the partner marrying into the family adopts the last name of the family in question,” Encio added. “My father, Valer, married into the family.”
“And the child usually inherits the newly created last name,” continued Aliyah, powering on. “If a partner has multiple spouses, then the children inherent the combination of names from their genetic parents. Although sometimes the parents don’t change their last names at all, but the child is granted a combined last name anyway—”
Aliyah rambled away, listing the cultural intricacies of marriage in the Shian Union. Nara was interested, she really was (it was a whole ‘nother culture after all), but it felt like her body was reforming a brain just so it could give herself a headache.
“…Wow.” Nara said, not unimpressed but also overwhelmed from the information overload. “Conceptually, I like that better but—”
“But I’m already dreading the paperwork,” John said.
Nara groaned. “No wonder they’re so good at it here.”
*****
“You want a rematch.” Sen said to Vallis, whose team sat across from Sen’s in in a large outdoor pavilion on the Academy grounds. The teams were milling about, unconcerned with whatever their team representatives were going on about. Not everyone could be so relentlessly competitive as Sen and Vallis. Gento was close, and Encio had more than a few moments, but Sen was always willing to take up a challenge.
“A rematch, and we get to choose the arena. It’s only fair we get the battlefield advantage this time.”
Sen smirked, a rare display of the competitiveness he kept beneath his still veneer, “I thought you wanted challenge? I don’t mind offering the losers a handicap.”
“Challenge? You’re just afraid of getting smashed in a true test of wills.” Vallis shot back, a combative grin widening on her face as well. Front up, Arlang.”
“Look forward to defeat, Nisei.”
“Wouldn’t miss yours for the world.”
The rest of the two teams shared glances, unable to match their energy.
“Fuck,” someone muttered. “Another match?”
“I’m too old for this,” John said, rolling his shoulders, joints cracking despite his rejuvenation, as if emotional wear translated into his body.
“You’re really not that old here John.” Aliyah said plainly, “How old is your grandfather again, Encio?”
“He’s one hundred eighty three years old,” he said distractedly, playing card games with one of Vallis’ teammates, Kiris, who, while quiet, had a surprisingly high ability to concentrate.
“That’s pretty young for a diamond ranker,” Aliyah remarked.
“And do you see how spry he is John? You’re embarrassing yourself again,” Eufemia said, “I hope you don’t act old around the real elderly.”
“He’s a diamond ranker,” John said. “I think he can hardly count as old.”
“Ever,” Nara agreed.
“And you’re acting like an old man despite looking like you’re in your early fourties.” Eufemia scoffed, “It’s appalling.”
“Is Vallis always like this?” Nara said, asking Vallis’ team members. Kiris, the shy elf healer, seemed to shy away from her gaze, which caused Nara to pout.
“Stop. You’ve traumatized her,” Encio said. “I’m trying to play a game here, and I don’t want your distraction.”
“I thought you want to win.”
“Not like this.”
“I don’t get you, sometimes.”
“Anyway, it was Sen’s plan. That’s hardly my fault. Surely that reflects on him, not me.”
“Hmm,” Encio hemmed, humor lacing his tone, “It reflects on both of you. Sen’s capacity for brutality and your ability to carry it out.”
“Harsh. I don’t think I deserve that.”
“It’s a compliment, isn’t it?” Gento said guilelessly. He was going through a routine of stretches absent of anything better to do.
“You were angry!”
“Sure. But it was fun!”
“I’m more surprised Sen isn’t like this more often,” Jaina cut in, another of Vallis’ teammates.
“He’s different normally?”
“He can be very persistent, enthusiastic, energetic. Overbearing, even. He’s probably reining it back.”
“He is very good at controlling himself,” said Aliyah, “but I think he could learn to let loose sooner. Sen’s is a bit afraid of scaring others away.”
“Someone here is a bit of a flight risk,” John said.
“Hey. I—”
“Don’t say ‘you resent that’ because it’s true,” Eufemia countered.
The two groups waited for the pre-match banter between Sen and Vallis to die down before they headed to the mirage chamber in the Academy. Vallis had already reserved a time slot, knowing Sen would accept. The schedule of reservations was posted publicly in various locations in the academy, and updated with the same copying magic the Adventure Society used.
Only Vallis’ name was on the reservation, but it was enough to attract a crowd of spectators within the mirage chamber. When the students realized it was a team battle, rumors spread through the Academy at 5G speeds. A revenge match! Would valiant Vallis be able to take back glorious victory from the famed battle tactician, Sen?
Sen’s true strength was his tactical mind. It was odd, Nara thought, that his abilities didn’t seem to reflect this aspect of him (although she noted abilities couldn’t cover all aspects of a person’s nature, as her own abilities didn’t express all of her either). Encio’s abilities were powerful but had their own inherent deception (what sort of ranged damage dealer uses a sword? Tricky bastard), and Eufemia’s abilities expressed her adaptability and guile.
After witnessing his performance against Vallis in the first match, Nara realized a simpler ability set let him think tactically during a fight, dedicating less of his brainpower to his own abilities and their timings and more on his surroundings and teammates. His abilities still suited him; He was high impact, hard to kill, and relatively mobile. If he was ever identified as the battlefield coordinator, the enemy wouldn’t be able to focus him and take him down. If they tried, that was probably part of the plan, too.
By the time the arena had cleared out for the two teams to use, students were waiting in anticipation in the viewing rooms and in the stands.
“If we win Arlang, you’re treating us to dinner at Nolan’s.”
“He doesn’t feed you for free?”
“We’re just bringing him business, plain and simple. As a teammate should.”
“If we win, you’re paying for us.”
“…This isn’t really much of a bet, is it,” Eufemia said, supremely unimpressed. “It’s just food.”
“It’s the best kind of bet.” Nara said, with the opposite of Eufemia’s attitude. “Either way it goes it’s a win to me.”
“Glutton,” Chrome said, materializing beside her.
“Says who? And you materialized just to say that to me?”
The battlefield Vallis chose was a plain and large circular arena, with stone walls reaching up towards the open air.
The two teams awoke standing on opposite sides of the arena. There wasn’t any time to think or act, but Sen’s team did have the crutch of Nara’s Party Guide.
The team immediately tried to split, but iron chains sprung up from the ground to trap each member in place—Hugh’s abilities. With ample vision and clear targets, Hugh’s control abilities would finally have their moment to shine.
Only Encio and Nara managed to avoid the chains, Nara with Phase Shift, and Encio with his Between the Raindrops ability.
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Ability: [Between the Raindrops]
Essence: Swift
Special Ability (movement)
Cost: High mana-per-second and high stamina-per-second
Cooldown: None
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Effect (Iron): Increased reflexes and spatial awareness.
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In some ways, Between the Raindrops was a cheaper and lesser version of personal time acceleration. It had no cooldown and also no isolating time effect, so it was perfect for making snappy attacks and hair-line dodges.
Out in the open and at the beginning of a fight, Nara was at her weakest. Attempting to attack Valli’s team at this time was foolish. Nara focused on what she could do, immediately turning to cut apart the chains on Eufemia and John, who were closes to her. Encio did the same with Aliyah. Sen had broken the chains on his own, his increased physical strength allowing him to smash them with his heavy staff.
“Plan?” Eufemia asked through voice chat.
“When they’re close use that ability. A unified front is more advantageous to them than it is for us. Then, whoever is within reach, concentrate on that member.”
Nara swapped to bow form, taking swift pot shots at the approaching bull rush that was Vallis’ team. It wasn’t that she had no plan, but that their strength was in a melee brawl. Jaina was their only ranged attacker, although Hugh had some abilities that could be used at range.
Once Team Vallis was within range, Eufemia used her ability.
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Ability: [Unexpected Allies]
Awakening Stone: Charlatan
Spell (illusion, dimension, teleport)
Incantation: “Outcome in flux. Allies manifest.”
Cost: Very high mana
Cooldown: 10 minutes
Effect (Iron): You and your allies take on illusionary forms of nearby enemies, but your allies can still recognize one another. All allies and enemies in the area are randomly switch-teleported.
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It was one of the abilities Eufemia had awakened after the trial.
Unexpected Allies was an ability that was highly situational. With most monster fights, the team had more than enough time to set up their positions: Randomizing them was usually counterproductive. Against Vallis’ team that had already formed up while Sen’s team was falling behind, the ability finally had its chance to take center stage.
The two groups were randomly switched, Sen’s team taking on the forms of enemies. This illusion would fade shortly, but it was a prime opportunity for Eufemia to slip away in the chaos.
Lucky for Vallis’ team, their healer had not ended up isolated, avoiding a repeat of their last match. However, Jaina had been swapped to Encio’s position which had been distant from both team. Encio was most dangerous at range, and he had immediately taken distance.
In a flash, Encio rearranged himself into a safe position, gathering his energy for a Vorpal Slash. Heads snapped towards him; the gathering power of the slash wasn’t fast or discrete, one of its many disadvantages. Hugh reacted, raising a barrier of magically conjured iron from the ground at Jaina’s back. Encio released the Vorpal Slash early, saving himself mana and allowing it to crash harmlessly against the iron barrier, shearing the metal but not cutting through.
What Aliyah did next sent a thrill of confusion and anticipation through Vallis.
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Ability: [Juxtapose]
Essence: Adept
Special Ability
Cost: High mana
Cooldown: 1 minute
Effect (Iron): Swap the location of two allies and/or enemies. You must be able to see both subjects of the spell. If an ally resists or otherwise prevents the effect, this ability is negated but the cooldown is reduced to 30 seconds.
-----
She had swapped the location of the Jaina protected by an iron wall…and another Jaina, that had been within Vallis’ team after the resulting chaos of the switch teleport.
Another one of Team Sen’s surprising advantages were the great number of illusory familiars on their side. Encio’s familiar Ardor couldn’t transform into anyone but himself, but it added to the chaos. Eufemia’s familiar Runa could transform into anyone.
The illusory disguises from Unexpected Allies had already faded, but three Jainas had emerged from the chaos.
“That wasn’t Jaina!” Vallis shouted, “But she’s there now!”
The three immediately realized the Jaina in their midst must be Eufemia or her familiar. Aliyah had separated Jaina, but Eufemia was now in extreme danger. One of the other Jainas transformed into John.
That was the Echo Spirit familiar. But why had it broken the illusion? Vallis own question was soon answered when it switched teleported with John, sending John closer to Eufemia.
Vallis shot forward, seizing the chance to eliminate the healer on Sen’s team. She knew that this was not all there was to his plan, but if she hesitated, that reaction may also be within Sen’s expectations. Her last defeat was partially due to her slow decision making, but was she rushing too much now?
“You’re so gods damn infuriating, you know that Sen!” She yelled an insult, but her face was grinning.
With the entire enemy team converging on the two, John used one of his trump cards, Dawn of Creation.
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Ability: [Dawn of Creation]
Awakening stone: Creation
Special Ability (dimension, cleansing)
Cost: Extreme mana
Cooldown: 6 hours
Effect (Iron): Take allies into a dimensional space briefly. Allies are fully cleansed of all afflictions. This circumvents all effects that prevent cleansing. Allies cannot suffer damage or gain additional afflictions in this space.
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The ability didn’t have large enough effective range to take the rest of the team members, but John only wanted it to briefly protect himself and Eufemia. They winked from existence, dimensionally isolated.
Jaina, after breaking free from Aliyah’s Binding Light threads, sprinted back towards her team, only to suffer a sudden bout of nausea and vertigo.
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Ability: [Dimension Flux]
Conjuration (dimension)
Cost: Moderate mana, low mana-per-second
Cooldown: None
Effect (Iron): Wildly distort space in a small area, disorienting anything that passes through. Denies the area as a teleportation egress point. Only once instance of this ability can exist simultaneously.
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Dimension Flux was Encio’s only control-oriented ability. It was expensive to move around and required continual mana expenditure once conjured. For his ability set that focused on destroying targets quickly and at a safe distance (“safe distance? I’m offended.”), it was one that rarely demonstrated its full potential, especially against monsters.
Against Essence Users, this ability finally wrought the nausea of twisted space on unsuspecting victims. Jaina leapt backwards, immediately extricating herself from the region of warped space.
All Encio needed was a glimpse of Jaina; His God-Sundering Slash ripped forward, boosted by John’s Bolster. As a backline bow user, Jaina had but a few defensive abilities (not unlike Encio), but she did have one. A ragged floating disk of ice manifested in front of her, icicle spikes ready to shoot out if it was attacked. It was a physical obstruction made of magic, but it still counted as a physical obstruction to Encio’s ability (where barriers of mana counted as magical obstructions.)
“If you had enough time to react, you should have dodged,” Encio said.
I couldn’t have dodged it, she thought resentfully, glaring at Encio and her incoming demise for a fraction of a second. Hugh’s shield wall backfired, blocking off her escape, and Encio’s nauseating dimensional warping further restricted her options. She should have thrown herself into it to escape his slash, but the nauseating effect, although non-damaging, had triggered her evolutionary lizard-brain avoidance and subconsciously prevented her from doing so. Her realization was too late.
Healers like John actually had a wide array of protective abilities, which made Jaina the least defensive member of Vallis’ team. Her body was bisected by the near-instantaneous Vorpal Slash that bypassed the metal wall of Hugh and her own ice disk.
Dawn of Creation had been blown when both John and Eufemia had expended almost no resources. Once it ended, the two would be in hot water.
Instead of waiting for the two to come out, Vallis and her team immediately abandoned the idea of attacking John, turning on a dime to face Nara. She stared like a deer in headlights, even as she was already moving.
“Ah shit, me?”
Suddenly, Nolan cast one of his few spells.
“I offer up all of my mana to nature. In turn, take from my enemy what I have given up.”
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Ability: [Bounty’s Sacrifice]
Spell (curse)
Incantation: “I offer up all of my mana to nature. In turn, take from my enemy what I have given up.”
Cost: All mana
Cooldown: 6 hours
Effect (Iron): Sacrifice all of your mana to drain away all of the mana of a target. Resistance of the target reduces the mana drained. You do not receive the drained mana.
--------
The fight had started hard and fast; the type of battle which was a weakness of Nara’s. Nara had nothing except the inherent resistances offered by her Recovery attribute to dampen the effect.
“Oh, now I’m proper fucked.”
She felt a pounding headache as she immediately and abruptly entered mana deprivation. She stumbled, gasping as she thumped to one knee, briefly vulnerable, but no ranged attacks killed her through her weakness. Thank the gods (or Sen, maybe she should just pray to Sen), that Jaina was the first one slain.
John caught her depleted mana on the Guide interface, and immediately cast Mana Tide, attempting to help her recover as much mana as possible. It was another high cooldown ability wasted on just a few targets, Nara and Encio, but needs must.
The passive mana generated from Integrity and the effect of her robe boosting mana generation effects prevented her from passing out entirely as she felt mana stream back in. She gasped a lungful, sucking in what felt like both air and mana, and felt her vision clear as her reserves struggled up from nothing to a bare minimum.
A single use of Phase Shift would push her even further into mana deprivation, potentially knocking her out entirely. The tools left to her were node teleport and Dream’s Wake. Thanks to Nolan wiping away all of her mana, Integrity had accumulated quickly, but it wouldn’t be enough to use Phase Shift, even then.
Node teleport was her next best move.
Vallis anticipated this, unleashing the power of the ability she had been channeling for a while.
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Ability: [Area Shockwave]
Essence: Gathering
Special Ability
Cost: Very high mana and stamina
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Effect (Iron): Gather mana, then unleash a spherical resonating- and disruptive-force damage shockwave that originates from the user’s position. The range of the shockwave is increased with gathering time. This ability does not damage allies.
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The wave rolled out, popping some of Nara’s nodes like cells like bubble wrap and causing most of the members of Sen’s team be launched backwards from the force wave. But without Jaina, Nara’s farthest nodes were safe. Crucially, her role had been to destroy Nara’s nodes. Without Jaina, Nara had a chance to escape.
She scooted to the far end of the arena, sill woozy, which kept her safe but took her out of the fight, only able to contribute with weak bow shots until her mana sufficiently recovered.
With Nara removed from the fight for a short while, Team Vallis focused on Eufemia. She wasn’t the most important target, but the most accessible one, along with John.
Sen teleported in, forming a front of three against Team Vallis’ four. Gento had split off to engage Aliyah, preventing her from using her damage spells in close combat. Such a simplistic battlefield was Aliyah’s weakness, who thrived on utilizing her teammates or cover to deliver damage from a safe distance.
She tried her best with her basic staff arts, parrying as many blows as she could. Proximity alone to Gento’s flaming fur was enough to continually burn her, blistering her exposed skin and warming her cloth robes. Under his powerful fists enhanced by the Leonid’s inherently swift and mighty physique, Aliyah was felled as well. In a one versus one fight against a brawler, an iron rank spellcaster like Aliyah simply did not have the tools to effectively retaliate.
However, her spells remained. Knowing that her defeat was inevitable, Aliyah focused on applying as many advantageous spells for her team before she was finished off. She had managed to redistribute a bit of mana to her teammates in that time, resupplying Encio. She had burned through her mana, firing off all her spells at Gento, placing enhanced Rune Traps, casting bindings, and conjuring traps.
Kiris had been weaving her own mana recovery spells for Nolan, who had emptied himself out to empty Nara, and the rest of her team. With her Water Essence and Mystic Confluence, she possessed more mana recovery abilities than John did, who was more focused on damage mitigation, buffing, and healing.
Vallis had not chosen an arena with water in the fight, since the battle would have ended before it even began. Sen was right, she wanted a challenge, not a one-sided beatdown.
Nolan was back in play, having recovered his own mana with Kiris’ abilities and his own mana recovery effects, He focused more on offense with Kiris still protected. Sen deflected blows left and right with his staff, forming a defensive front for John and Eufemia.
They protected his back, unloading shots of Solar Judgement on those that approached. It was a battle of healing, which neither side won. John had more potent healing, but Vallis’ side had more members inflicting damage.
But John’s singular shields were effective against Vallis large and powerful, but slower strikes.
Hugh locked down the three members, chaining them in position with his iron chains. They could repeatedly destroy them, but it was another thing slowing them down, consuming their energy, and pressuring them.
The scales seemed firmly tipped in Vallis’ favor, but Eufemia excelled in flipping the scales.
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Ability: [Blessing of Relentlessness]
Awakening Stone: Time
Special Ability (recovery)
Cost: Extreme mana
Cooldown: 24 hours
Effect (Iron): Reset all cooldowns of a single ally of bronze-rank or below.
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This time, Eufemia reset John, allowing him access to his supreme defensive ability, Dawn of Creation, as well as resetting the cooldown of his all important Mana Tide spell. Nolan’s high-effect and short-duration personal buffs meant that Encio’s trump cards didn’t one-shot, especially if they could see him coming a mile away.
Kiris prepared to cast her own large spell, Primordial Ocean Manifestation. There was no natural water around her, but even in close range the effects of the spell would be devastating, and a large majority of Sen’s team was grouped together right this instant.
However, once again, Eufemia revealed who it was that had their hands firmly on the scales of battle.
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Ability: [Prodigious Sorcerer]
Awakening Stone: Magus
Special Ability
Cost: Variable
Cooldown: Variable
Effect (Iron): Gain the ability to use a known spell of a target. This may make your version of the spell higher or lower rank than the original, including losing or gaining additional effects from higher ranks. This ability has the same cost and cooldown as the original spell. Ability chosen cannot be changed until the ability is off cooldown. Chosen ability is available until changed.
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Eufemia had copied Nolan’s spell, Bounty’s Sacrifice. In tandem, John cast Hero’s Moment on Eufemia, boosting all of her attributes and resistances by a large amount.
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Ability: [Hero’s Moment]
Essence: Immortal
Awakening Stone: Potent
Spell
Cost: Extreme mana
Cooldown: 1 hour
Effect (Iron): Bestow a powerful boon on an ally, increasing all attributes and resistances by a significant amount. They receive damage reduction, their maximum mana and stamina are increased and they gain ongoing mana and stamina recovery. They ignore the effects of rank-disparity. When this effect ends, they are temporarily debilitated, suffering the inverse of all previous effects.
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Either way, after using Bounty’s Sacrifice, Eufemia would be out of the fight. Eufemia needed the edge to get through Kiris, who as a healer likely had a high recovery attribute, which increased her resistance.
“I offer up all of my mana to nature. In turn, take from my enemy what I have given up.”
“The primordial ocean, the origin of evolution, the essence of life. I bring it forth from within my being, in which…”
The incantation for Bounty’s Sacrifice was far shorter than Kiris’ (annoyingly so, Nara thought), granting Eufemia the winning edge in casting speed. She completed it first, draining off all the mana she had just recovered but also draining Kiris in the process.
With no mana to cast it or any of her healing or recovery abilities, Primordial Ocean Manifestation was stopped in its tracks, fizzling out. Kiris suffered the rough aftereffects of such a massive and immediate loss of mana (especially since her maximums were higher than Nara’s own), also dropping to her feet and gasping to air like she was grasping the merry-go-round of her mind to stop it from spinning.
Sen’s team had once again managed to disable the healer, which meant that fight was theirs. Nolan could play his sub-healer role, but Aliyah’s spells gave the group their needed edge to clinch victory, even if Eufemia had also been finished off once she had expended all of her mana and suffered the aftereffects of Hero’s Moment.
Sen’s team was reduced to four members and Vallis’ team to five, but John was primed with a full array of expensive healing and recovery abilities to cast once again. The fight was also nearing its later half, and Nara’s recovery boons had stacked up enough to boost her resilience enough to help, even if her afflictions had not yet taken hold. With only sparse cleansing from Nolan, they began to grow. The fight was finished before they mattered. Before she mattered, really.
Vallis and Gento managed to take down Sen with a their combined might unleashing burst damage, her heavy sword smashing him into the already cracked tile of the arena floor.
Encio was low on mana, already having blown his Immortality just to recover mana and stamina. Still, he assisted Nara and John, and the three cleaned up Vallis, Hugh, and Gento who were similarly on their last legs without a healer to sustain them.