Just like the first night, the arena was pitch black until a spotlight shined down on Rallie at center stage. “This is it, Ladies and Gentlemen, what we’ve all been waiting for. It took just over a week, but you’ve all been very patient. Days of watching humans, Lessers, and Fiends fight it out in this arena.”
“All to answer one question. Who will come out on top? And tonight, we’ll finally have our winner. Through rigorous fights, our competitors have clawed their way to the top of their brackets, all for a chance to prove they’re the best, and to have their wish granted. It’s time for the Grand Finale!”
Six more spotlights illuminated the arena’s edge, highlighting the six groups that had made it to the end: two groups of humans, two groups of Lessers, and two Fiends. “Before we dive right into the match, let’s see how our fighters are feeling. Start off with the Shindig Mafia, how good do you think your chances are?”
“Even better than before!” The leader boasted. “Two Fiends might seem intimidating, but what’s so special about them? One of them can make an army, but we have an army of our own. And the other, he can only take over one person’s body at a time, right? Don’t think we’ll hesitate from shooting one of our own if it assures our victory.”
“The Lessers are barely better than humans, and there’s only a few of them, hardly worth mentioning. I’d say we’d have a problem if the CP worms tried to repeat their trick from last time, but we have nothing to worry about now. Compared to the rest here, our Criminal Scores are nothing. We’d be practically invisible to those damned drones. They underestimate us because we’re humans. But we’ll show everyone what humanity can do!”
“Wow, that’s some confidence if I’ve ever seen it,” Rallie quickly stepped away to get far from the woman’s overwhelming bravado. She then pranced across the stage to the group of soldiers who were standing strong, trying to not let their nerves get the best of them. “And how are you feeling, Squad E? Think we’ll see another come back from behind?”
“I’ll be honest. We feel a bit out of our depth here,” the man answered candidly. “But that doesn’t mean we’ll back down. Fortunately, our team has recovered, so we’re back to our full strength. And even though this is a free-for-all, it feels reassuring that one of our own Fiends will be here on our side.”
“Speaking of team-ups,” Rallie made her way over to the first Lesser pair. “Nachi, do you think there’s going to be a Fiends For Hire alliance going into the battle?”
“Well, I’d say we’d be stupid not to,” the trainer huffed. “Once the competition’s down, we can settle it amongst ourselves. Jaid’s going to be the tough one. But, I’m certain we can take her out together after the weaklings have been eliminated.”
“And how are you doing, Ipucco?” Rallie shifted her mic to the gentleman. “You sustained one of the worst injuries of the competition, but it looks like you’re all put back together. Ready to face the arena again?”
“Well, I have to hand it to our medical team,” Ipucco couldn’t help but make a cheeky pun. “They did a fine job. Due to the adrenaline, I never felt any pain, and they were reattached within a few minutes. So if anything, they just felt briefly numb. I’ve now had a new cane made, and am ready for this monumental fight. It is sure to be one that will go down in history.”
“Splendidly said, good sir,” Rallie moved over to the next Lesser. “Hey there, Gatrim. It’s weird to see you out here by yourself. For those who don’t know, Kaizu withdrew from the finale of her own volition. How are you feeling without your partner by your side?”
“I’m nothing but proud of her,” the man boasted. “She was able to recognize that it had become a problem, and that further participation would only aggravate her condition. It’s a big step in her journey of improvement, and I hope everyone can respect her decision. That said, it will be rough without her, so I’ll just have to put in twice as much effort and win this for the both of us!”
“That’s rather touching to hear,” Rallie feigned shedding a tear. “But now let’s check in with the two biggest powerhouses in this fight. They’ll be the ones to beat for any chance to win. Let’s start off with you, Tize. You’re an observant man. I’ve heard mostly about team-work so far, but there can be only one winner. Do you really think everyone will work together as they’ve said, or do you think we’ll see some betrayal?”
“I imagine the teams will stick together at the start at least,” the soldier nodded along with his words. “But as you said, this isn’t a team competition. There’s only one wish after all. So I wouldn’t be surprised if someone took advantage of a sudden opportunity if one were to arise. I fully trust my fellow members, and plan to work alongside them. But I’ll also be keeping an eye out behind me.”
“Ooo, I guess things aren’t quite as cut and dry as they seem, how exciting.” Rallie then walked across the stage for the last time. “So now let’s hear from our final competitor. Is there anything you want to say to your competition, Jaid? Uhh, Jaid? Jaiiiid?” Rallie snapped her fingers in front of the woman’s face who was off in her own little world. Once she finally had the knight’s attention, she asked, “You seem a bit more out of it than everyone else. Running through the fight in your mind?”
“Uhh, no, nothing like that,” Jaid denied. “I uhh, was just thinking about how to properly phrase my wish. I wouldn’t put it past the Fiends For Hire to twist my words if there was some sort of loophole.”
“Oh now there’s a good point!” Rallie chuckled. “And it's something the rest of our competitors may want to think about as well. The Drazahs will give you exactly what you wish for. Exactly. You better hope that it’s something you actually want.”
“Now then…” Rallie made her way to the edge of the stage. “Let’s not delay things any longer. Get ready everyone. And for the last time, let the match begin!”
A bit of nothing happened for a few seconds, the competitors staring each other down, wondering who would make the first move. To the surprise of many, it was Jaid. She walked boldly towards the center of the arena, stopping about halfway. The knight then held her sword vertically in front of her face and shouted, “Soldier of ruin!”
The arena rumbled, everyone struggling to stay on their feet as the colossus sprouted. Those near the giant’s feet were forced to scramble for dear life, and the towering woman became so big that a few humans, both in the mafia and the CP alike, were knocked out of the arena just by her presence.
Giant Jaid swung her sword, sweeping it across the stage, ramming the flat of her blade into the crowd of Shindig Mafia. It took out a good chunk, hurling them out of the arena. Those that managed to dodge, regrouped and began opening fire. “She’s just a bigger target, shoot her down!”
But their gunfire had virtually no effect. Jaid’s armor and clothing had been well enhanced by Dura. Their bullets wouldn’t even come close to breaking through, and she could leave the paralysis rounds sticking to her for hours before they did any damage, assuming they hadn’t run out of juice by then. And since the woman was so tall, her exposed face was well out of their range. Even their rocket launchers and specialized weapons only left scorch marks.
As the Shindig Mafia continued their doomed assault, and the titan prepared her next attack, CP Squad E rallied around Jaid’s feet, using it as cover while they joined their superior in attacking the criminals.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Across the arena, the largely ignored members of the Fiends For Hire met up and quickly ran through some strategies. But it seemed at least one person’s eyes were on them. Tize suddenly leapt in front of the other three, slamming down his shield. Not a second too soon as the bolt of lightning sparked against it, the electricity wrapping around their group before dispersing.
The For Hire’s eyes wandered up to the giant’s shoulder where the original had taken up post to fire her railgun at them from above. “Alright, let’s get out of her range and go after her minions,” Nachi took charge. “Tize on me. Ipucco, give us covering fire and see if you can distract that perched coward. Gatrim, let me hitch a ride over there and we’ll catch them by surprise.”
『Synchronization Rate: 64%』 Tize became a set of punk-styled headphones around Nachi’s ears. They let her pick any song she liked with just a thought. And if there was a specific beat she wanted, and that song didn’t exist, the headphones would generate something new just for her.
The host started testing out a few different tracks, trying to capture the rhythm. Once she found her ideal choice, she jumped slightly. Gatrim grabbed her, wrapping his arm around her waist before dashing forward, zooming across the arena in the blink of an eye. The pair reappeared right under Jaid’s legs and they got to work.
Ipucco—left behind—did as asked and returned fire at his fellow sniper, using a new cane that had been freshly produced by Nathym with expedited delivery. Jaid was forced to collapse onto the giant’s shoulders to dodge the bullet, unable to leave her spot given her tethered connection to her clone. But it was a good hiding place, one she wouldn’t poke her head up from for a bit, allowing Ipucco to refocus his attention to Squad E.
The gentleman gunned down a soldier that was trying to sneak up on Nachi from behind, not that it would have worked. She had taken the main focus of the CP’s attacks, deflecting them all while Gatrim and Ipucco worked at picking them off one by one.
As each soldier fell in quick succession, they were teleported out of the arena, lest they be squashed by the monstrous woman who would compare them to ants. Displayed around the arena were screens with each team and their roster. As the participants were defeated, their faces were blacked out, and both human teams were falling to darkness rapidly.
One of the CP soldiers tried to deploy the Criminal Hunter, the only real threat to the Fiends and Lessers. But Gatrim managed to intervene, stabbing his rapier through the casing, destroying all the drones with one strike.
From there, defeating the rest of Squad E was trivial. Nachi knew a lot of them personally, and had trained them herself, so she knew their tactics better than anyone. And those that she didn’t, she had them so swept up in her rhythm that they were practically dancing themselves.
When the final soldier fell, so too did the last member of the Shindig Mafia. The Soldier of Ruin had made a clean sweep and decimated them all.
~Unfulfilled Wishes~
Shindig Mafia: Ownership of every casino in Shindig.
Central Peace Squad E: For the nation of Fiendish to join the Central Peace.
《Kada: Wow, I can’t believe all the humans were wiped out so fast. It’s kinda sad.》
《Xard: Their odds were stacked against them from the beginning. All of them fighting together would have been their only chance to overcome the Fiends. But the dividing lines between the groups never would have allowed that to happen, so it was a doomed prospect.》
《Phon: Well at least my job’s mostly done with all the weaklings cleaned out. Now I can sit back and enjoy the real fight.》
《Drim: And it’s come down to the Fiends For Hire versus Jaid. Somehow, I always knew it would end up this way. It seems like we’re always destined to fight.》
“Let’s topple this big girl!” Nachi smirked, already hyped from her resounding victory, but eager for more.
“Tize, unsync with her,” Gatrim requested. “Nachi, go face her head on. We’ll bring her down. I’ve got just the thing we need.” The Refuge did as requested, hopping off of The Trainer’s head and returning back to his human form.
“Heh, sounds fun,” Nachi took her directive a bit literally and stared up at the giant’s face. She then leapt up at Jaid’s leg, slamming her polearm into the armor. Because of the strength of the metal, there was no way she could ever pierce through it. So instead, she wedged the tip of her weapon into the joints and then used the leverage to propel herself higher.
While Nachi scaled the titan, Ipucco kept to his original duty, keeping the regular-sized Jaid pinned down on the giant’s soldier. He also started shooting at the huge woman’s hands, trying to dissuade them, since they’d started clawing towards Nachi like she was an annoying bug crawling on her. The shots didn’t actually hurt Giant Jaid at all, but they also helped hide Nachi’s location with their force and sound.
Once The Trainer made it to the top, she hopped onto the shoulder opposite of Jaid. The giant whirled her face, seeking out her foe—a huge mistake. Nachi slashed her polearm, gashing across the behemoth’s face, from just above her brow, down through her lips.
The titan reeled in pain, as did the original on her shoulder. It wasn’t enough to force Jaid to recall her Soldier of Ruin, but it was enough to get them to drop their guard.
“Now!” Tize yelled from down below, slamming his shield into the chain Gatrim had wrapped around the giant’s legs—Kaizu’s chain that he had brought with him in her honor. Gatrim popped up behind The Refuge and dashed into his back, pushing the two of them forward with immense strength and speed, pulling the chain taught.
The giant tripped and tumbled. One hand was still on her face, trying to ease the pain, but the other held her sword, and she used it to catch herself. The slab of metal pierced deep into the arena floor, preventing the colossus from toppling entirely. She wasn’t on the ground, and hadn’t slipped out of the arena, but she had been brought to both knees.
And that was just enough for Ipucco to line up a shot. He fired at the behemoth’s face, the small crack between the fingers that were shielding her. It hit Giant Jaid right between the eyes with a single paralysis round.
Then the very next second, the clone vanished, and the original was sent careening towards the ground, paralyzed. Nachi fell too, but Tize was there to catch her, quickly setting her back on the ground. All four members then turned their attention to the spot where Jaid had made her rough landing. But before any of them could make a follow-up attack, she moved.
The Knight pried herself to her feet, her whole body wobbling as she used her sword to stabilize herself. She then shouted, “Itsy’s not the only one who’s been building her resistance to this zjik!”
Gatrim grabbed the two next to him and dashed across the arena, regrouping with Ipucco so they could team up against whatever The Paladin would throw at them next.
Tize was out in front, protecting them with his shield. But then The Reliable Refuge suddenly whirled around on the spot and fired three shots. His teammates collapsed at his feet, paralyzed. Tize then spun his shield, bashing them all away, knocking them out of the arena.
《Kada: What the mawhging what?! Don’t tell me you’ve turned traitor too, Tize! Who’d you sell out too, huh?!》
《Xard: No, I don’t think it’s anything like that. Seems our soldier has never been able to fully relinquish his pride.》
《Phon: Ohoho, things just got a lot more interesting.》
《Drim: Ugh, damn it Tize. Guess you could never let it go.》
“Sorry everyone,” Tize immediately apologized, but then he turned back around to face his enemy who had just finished recuperating herself. “But this is a fight I’ve wanted since the day we met. And I won’t let any of you stand in the way!”
~Unfulfilled Wishes~
Nachi: Forced one-on-one dates with every woman in the Fiends For Hire where they must pretend they’re interested the entire time
Ipucco: Access to every restricted historical archive around the world, including those owned by Drim Drazah, and any destroyed by his hand to be recreated from his memory.
Gatrim: For the Foilepe household to be officially stripped of its nobility.