◆Rank 8◆
The member side of the gymnasium had turned into a full-fledged arena. There was a ring in the center, surrounded by seating on both sides. It even had professional lighting and spotlights hanging above. Jaid mostly wondered where all the workout equipment had gone. The Fiends For Hire had a penchant for hiding things underground, so that probably answered it.
It had been explained to them that there was a forcefield around the ring once a match started to keep projectiles and competitors from flying out towards the spectators. Nachi was already in the ring. From how amped she was, it seemed like she was already experiencing some kind of battle-high when the fighting hadn’t even started yet.
For the first time, the members were all wearing their combat outfits. Jaid was in her gifted outfit from Chorus, altered slightly to add a quick release to the pouch on her back. This let the pouch fall to the ground, unsheathing her sword, since she couldn’t pull it out while it was still attached due to its immense size. The pouch then reeled itself back onto her back.
Nachi’s outfit made a knot in Jaid’s stomach when she saw it. It was so obviously her old CP army gear—just slightly touched up and with a Fiends For Hire logo. The reasoning was obvious, since there was no point in completely moving away from comfortable, effective gear she was used to. Just the style was a prickling reminder of what Jaid was trying to hide.
Roque was Nachi’s first opponent, though he didn’t seem ready for a fight at all. He was of course in a suit, but this suit was different. It had to be the finest looking suit Jaid had ever seen, and easily the most expensive. That was saying something since she had been surrounded by politicians having a perpetual pissing-contest by flaunting their attire.
His sleazy-salesman aesthetic that everyone wanted to avoid was completely gone, and all that remained was a consummate professional who’d hold the attention of everyone around him. The suit was suspect, though. Jaid had to imagine it wasn’t as flimsy as it appeared, since it’d provide virtually no defense. It looked every so slightly too thick, making it safe to assume that there was some kind of protective weave in the lining.
Once Roque joined Nachi in the arena, a noticeable sheen flickered around the ring, from floor to ceiling. It was quite the sizable space for them to fight in, so there was no real reason for anyone to hold back. “Let’s make a deal Nachi. If you let me win, I’ll drown you in liquor from all over the world.” Even now, Roque tried to weasel out of an honest fight.
“Damn, that’s tempting,” Nachi admitted. “But even I have times when I can’t be bought. The thrill of a good fight will always trump everything else. It may come as a surprise, but I actually have pride in my job, and my job is to put you in your place. I’ve heard whispers from some of the failed members that I’ve been too hard on you all thus far. But that was nothing, that was hand-holding.”
“From Rank 8 on, there’s no holding back. In both the tests and the missions. Someone won’t always be there to save you since you’ll be among the strongest in the world. Your own success will be yours and yours alone. If you don’t want to give it your all, if you don’t want to put your life on the line, then hide in Rank 7 like a good little boy for the rest of your life.”
Roque didn’t speak, but he gave his answer. Something appeared above Nachi, something hard to understand at first. It was four metallic rods and they all slammed to the ground around her. The rods started getting wider and suddenly all enclosed on Nachi. What was happening was more obvious now, and Nachi attempted to roll out of the trap.
A robotic hand shot out from one of the rods after her, pulling her back in before the four rods enclosed completely, trapping her in a completely blacked-out cage similar to a sarcophagus. There was mumbling from inside the cage that no one could hear, but followed by a scream so filled with rage, it’d make a bull whimper.
The sound of scraping metal echoed throughout the room, followed by cathartic thuds as lumps of metal hit the ground. “A cute attempt,” Nachi was free, her polearm poised at her side. Jaid couldn’t understand how this was possible. There wouldn’t have been even close to enough room for Nachi to wield her polearm effectively, let alone destroy something so sound. It didn’t matter though, since all that had been accomplished was making her even more riled up.
Nachi charged straight at Roque, a mad grin on her face, but it quickly slid into a pissed grimace when he didn’t move. She plunged the polearm to his throat, and— “I surrender.” Nachi had to slam on her heels to stop herself as Roque threw up his arms in defeat.
The tip of her weapon was merely a fraction of an inch from piercing his skin, but Nachi had managed to kill her momentum in time. She slammed the butt of the polearm to the ground in anger and marched up to Roque until she was just as close as her polearm had been. “What do you mean, you surrender?! If this is a joke, I’m not laughing. If you take back those words right now I’ll only beat you half to death.”
“Nope, that was it,” Roque said coolly. “That was the only play I had. Do you know how expensive that was? How much development that took? If that couldn’t stop you, then I’m outclassed. I’m a man who only bets when I know I can win.”
“Don’t give me that zjik,” Nachi wasn’t so easily convinced. “I know you’ve got more toys stored away. You can put up a real fight, so let’s go! Are you afraid of getting hurt or dying? Don’t bother. We can just have Ahvra fix you up either way.”
“That’s not it,” Roque refuted, somehow not fazed by Nachi staring him dead in the eyes with anger and anticipation. “Yes, I can still fight, but it’s not worth it. You’d slice up anything I threw your way. I’ve built up too much trust with those items to risk losing it so you can fulfill your battle fetish. I’ve lost. It’s done.”
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Nachi turned around and pelted her polearm out of aggravation. It slammed into the barrier and rebounded sadly to the floor. “When you try again, I’m going to stab you in the throat for real.” She paced around for a moment to try to cool herself, but it didn’t seem to help. “Kaizu, get in here!”
A reluctant Kaizu entered the arena. Her hesitation was understandable since this wasn’t her forte. Kaizu specialized in stealth killing, so with all surprise lost, most of her skillset went with it. It’d be interesting to see how she handled a direct confrontation like this. From what Jaid had seen so far, she was competent, but not experienced in actual battles.
As for her combat outfit, well it was surprisingly simple. She’d wanted to just keep wearing her very skimpy athletic wear, but they’d manage to get her to add a few layers. The tipping point was convincing her that she’d have a harder time sneaking up on people dressed like that, to which she’d begrudgingly agreed.
She was still just wearing that athletic wear, but now had a poncho over it that covered her torso completely when she was standing still or walking idly. Her legs were covered in a full-length skirt that had slits on both sides. Jaid almost scared herself a bit when she likened them to a reaper’s robes from folklore. The comparison was eerie but accurate.
Kaizu went on the attack immediately, red flashing all over her skin as her poncho and skirt fluttered up as she dashed. Nachi readied her stance to block the incoming dagger strikes but it was a feint. Kaizu slid on the ground past Nachi’s legs, wrapping them in her chain as she passed.
A good plan, but Nachi was too quick to react. When Kaizu went to trip her wrapped victim, Nachi slammed her polearm’s shaft into one of the chain’s links and dug the butt into the floor, stopping the momentum. Not only that, Nachi pulled back, ripping the chain out of Kaizu’s hands.
The fight didn’t last much longer after that. Kaizu managed to dodge a few times, but without anything to defend herself with, she eventually took a slash right to her stomach. It was serious enough that the fight had to be stopped, needing immediate medical attention. Nachi pulled out her phone and made a call. Ahvra popped out of thin-air, disoriented and annoyed, but immediately patched Kaizu up once she’d gathered her bearings.
Nachi stared at the blood on her polearm for a moment before wiping it off, pleased with herself. “Let’s keep this winning streak going. Tize!” The former soldier entered the arena next, quite a bit more confident than Kaizu had been. It was well earned with how much fighting he’d seen in his life. Something like this wouldn’t phase him even if it was a tough opponent.
The only real alterations to his standard military-style outfit were heavily padded guards along his arms. It made sense for someone using a shield since the arms would be the only part regularly exposed.
“You’re a real bastard to fight against. You know that?” Nachi was obviously getting aggravated after nothing of note had happened for the first several minutes of the fight. The pair clashed again, her polearm slamming against the impenetrable shield as it had countless times now.
“I can say the same. You’re so damn wily,” Tize returned her vitriol. Nachi backed off, skirting to the edge of the arena. She then charged at full speed, zig-zagging her way back to him, swerving around his endless barrage of shots. One clipped her right hand, forcing her to loosen her grip on her polearm, but it didn’t slow her down.
She slammed the polearm’s tip into the ground, vaulting herself into the air with the momentum. Nachi sent a diving kick straight at Tize’s head, forcing him to raise his shield. She landed on it, resummoning the weapon and jabbing it right into the iridescent forcefield section of the shield.
The handheld barrier lit up in a flurry of sparks, completely obstructing Tize’s vision, but he didn’t lower his shield in fear of a follow-up attack. While he was distracted, Nachi did an impressive backflip off the shield, back to the middle of the arena. She called her polearm and chucked it straight at him while his guard was literally raised.
Since the sparks had stopped blinding him, Tize managed to notice the throw in time and slammed his shield back down. It caught the polearm just before it would have impaled him, and broke the shaft when the shield and ground collided. Nachi would have her weapon back in a moment, but Tize didn’t waste the opportunity. He charged at her in a full rush, slamming his shield into her and forcing her back as he continued to sprint.
Nachi ended up pinned between Tize’s shield and the barrier. He continued to ram his full weight and strength into the shield, squeezing the life out of her, hoping she’d eventually concede. Jaid who’d found herself thoroughly enthralled in the fight was completely lost as she witnessed Nachi’s next actions.
With her still bleeding hand that had been shot earlier, Nachi began rubbing her body and soaking it in blood. Whatever she was planning though, it wasn’t enough. With her other free hand, she managed to resummon her polearm but didn’t attempt to attack Tize with it at all. Instead, Nachi stabbed herself in the chest, just below her collarbone, and blood started to pour down the front of her clothes.
The insanity came to fruition when Nachi was shot out to the side, flying quite a ways due to the immense pressure Tize had been applying. Her plan made complete sense once Jaid looked back at the shield. It was doused in blood, making it extremely slippery and unable to keep anything pinned.
Nachi didn’t waste this chance before Tize could figure out what the zjik had happened. She rushed at him like a wounded wild beast, ramming her polearm through both of his legs and pinning him in place. Tize stumbled over, dropping both of his weapons in pain, clearly unable to keep fighting.
Ahvra, who had decided to stick around as to not be teleported randomly anymore, rushed into the arena to treat Tize’s wounds. Nachi raised her fist to declare her victory, almost falling flat on her ass in the process due to the blood loss. Ahvra patched her up next, but blood loss was one thing that she couldn’t fix, unless they literally scooped up all the blood lying around the arena.
A break was called so Nachi could recover, a Lesser Fiend’s minor-recovery meaning she’d be well enough again in a few hours. A perhaps far-too-eager Crucion ran into the arena after the others left to mop up the blood. Jaid went to the restaurant to have an early lunch during the break but couldn’t enjoy it.
The entire time she was ruminating on ideas of how to handle Nachi. The Fiend had the obvious strength advantage on top of having an accursed superpower. Did any of that matter, though, against such an insane opponent? Nachi was brilliant, but psychotic, and would do anything to win even at the risk of her own life. Jaid had faced many with similar resolve in the past but never when actual lives weren’t on the line.