We stood in the arena, the black cylinders brought out again, merging with the Sword Suit and flowing to each of the nine of us that remained. I stood again in the suit, feeling at home with my senses alive, mourning the fact that I would have to take it off again at the end of the day's competition. It was addictive, the sense of power, the way it fed my senses. The world seemed half-formed without the vision, scent, and sounds it provided. It made reality more real.

I hungered most of all for the mysteries within it, the abilities I could unlock, the pathways to knowledge that it seemed only this armor could provide. A thought away were endless menus, many of them lists of skills and measures of my growing affinity with the suit. Many more, though, hinted at records, histories, and mysteries of the Griid. If I could only win the suit, I would have an eternity to explore and learn.

Mario paced before us, outlining the rules of the day's competition. "Today will be a melee. We will test your ability to move, to assess, to make decisions in chaos. You will all do battle en masse. There will be no circle this time. You fail the round when you hit the ground. There will be three rounds. When five have fallen in the first round, it will conclude. The surviving four will begin another round. The failures of the first round will have a melee of their own. The two poorest contenders from the five-way match of pathetic losers will face off, and the loser of that tête-à-tête will be ejected. But, to motivate you, to entertain these vapid nobles who insist on observing these sacred proceedings, we have an incentive. The last two standing from the match between the four who survive the first round will face each other as well, and the winner of that round will gain immunity for the next day.”

There was a collective gasp from my classmates. I marveled, thinking of what it would do for my standing, for my father's desire to renegotiate his gambles, if I not only survived but gained immunity, guaranteeing myself a place in the competition for two more days!

Mario continued, "But we don't want to disadvantage the winner. A day of immunity could also mean a day less of experience with the suit, slowing the development of the best of you. Considering how pathetic even the victor would be, given you sorry excuses, that would do our city no good. During their day of immunity, while the rest of you waste our time trying to convince the Oracle that you are worthy of becoming a Griidlord, the victor will be allowed to simply practice in the suit—a day of meditation, exploration, and desperately needed growth."

My head swam at the idea. A whole day with the suit, a day to gain levels in attributes, to add attributes. As that seemed to be my only skill, acquiring attributes faster than the others, if I could somehow find a way to win today, my chances could never be better than if I had a whole day with the suit.

The lords in attendance seemed excited. This would be a good show, if nothing else. I didn’t enjoy the presence of these men. Most of them saw me as exceeding my station just by being here. But, this would also be the last day that the public would be excluded from the contest. I wondered if I would come to miss this small audience of bigoted assholes once the arena was filled with excited spectators.

Mario's voice rang out again, "Take your positions. The melee begins on my mark."

We spread out across the arena. We seemed to find our own spaces, no one directed us. Lauren came to stand by my right. Katya took her place to my left. I had no illusion that we were in any form of allegiance.

I flexed my hands. I enjoyed the feeling of power that pulsed in my arms as I did so.

Mario raised his arm, and the arena fell silent.

Mario's devious eyes locked onto me as he made an announcement. "Having spoken with the Bishop, it has been decided that no combatants are to employ the beam today. Doing so will result in immediate disqualification."

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My jaw fell. He was targeting me; I was the only one present who could wield the beam. Everyone knew it was my one great advantage. Mario kept his eyes entirely locked on me as he explained in a faux reasonable tone, "It was felt by the Bishop that combatants employing the beam could take too much advantage from the chaos of the melee, picking off worthy combatants so they wouldn't need to face them in later rounds. But that could deviously deprive the Oracle of the best candidates." Mario flashed me a smile.

I steeled myself. Even as he had been outlining the rules of the contest, I had been making plans to employ the beam, hoping to remove Lance at the earliest opportunity. Mario raised the hand holding the cloth, dropping it as he had done before. The battle began.

Lance burst into action, engaging Arthur in sword-to-sword combat. The time he had spent in the suit yesterday had increased his comfort massively. Lance moved with grace and confidence, his blows extremely powerful. Arthur flailed, struggling to keep up, parrying clumsily against Lance's precise and forceful strikes. Lance's movements were fluid, almost effortless, his attacks unrelenting.

I held my sword high, looking around. No one had moved to engage me yet. I saw no need to risk combat immediately; this round would end when five were defeated. I took in the scene. Katya and Lauren were engaged in a stunning dance of blades clashing, each attempting to remove a skilled competitor from later rounds. Their movements were a blur of speed and precision, each strike met with an equally skilled parry.

Gideon and Emilia were dueling, Emilia easily outmatched. Gideon fought with a rage that would surely exhaust him, his attacks brutal and relentless. Zara and Leona were fighting, evenly matched, but from my vantage, the poorest pair of fighters left in the competition, with the obvious possible exception of myself.

Lance smashed Arthur to the ground with a powerful blow, racing to get involved in Zara and Leona's fight. Mario shouted, "Arthur, to the sideline!" Arthur wearily dragged himself from the melee, defeated.

Still, no one engaged me, and I gladly hung back, sword raised, spending the precious time in the suit flexing my skills, trying to raise my attribute points. I watched as Lance imposed himself on Zara and Leona, they quickly realizing that he could dispatch them quickly if they remained divided. I furrowed my brow. Lance was smart, or so I thought; an unlucky move could still see him defeated despite his vast and growing skill. And now he had set both of them against him. What was he playing at?

Gideon finally sent Emilia flying through the air with a tremendous kinetic energy explosion from his sword. He stopped, gasping for air as she hit the ground, rolling and tumbling, screaming in pain as she fell awkwardly. Mario called her name, and she limped to the sideline. My eyes darted to Lauren and Katya, evenly matched, neither gaining a clear advantage over the other. Then back to Lance. He was nearly too much for the other two to handle, but not quite. I thought he had made a mistake, they aligned all their skills against him, and I bubbled with glee at the prospect of seeing him fall, maybe even gloating at him about the error he had made in his overconfidence.

Then my jaw dropped.

Lance's blade pulsed with energy, glowing as though on fire as he swung his sword. The force was something we had yet to experience. The sheer power of his swing, the sword blazing, easily knocked Leona's sword aside, continuing in the swing like a comet. It smashed into her, sending her reeling to the ground, smoke erupting from the impact. Everyone was stunned. I understood then what I had just seen, what he had been doing. He had been raising his own attribute points. He must have seen that he was close to hitting 1.0 on CUT and had taken the opportunity to practice and flex the skill until he had finally achieved it. I felt a terrible dread at the thought of competing against him now that he had gained the CUT attribute.

Even as I watched, his blade blazed again. He turned towards Zara with more hunger. We were all just meat to him now. His next strike was just as savage. The sword hummed with power, and in an instant,, he sent Zara crashing to the dust. Smoke and dirt erupted from the impact, and she lay on the ground, stunned and defeated.

Mario shouted, "Zara, Leona, to the sidelines!" The two women, dazed and baffled, got to their feet and moved aside..

The remaining contestants glanced nervously at Lance. He had always been the major threat here. But that threat was magnified now. The sheer power of his CUT attribute was enough to make one of us titanic by comparison to the others. The fact that it was he who wielded only deepened the concerned expressions.

All eyes turned to Lauren and Katya. I was hanging back, Gideon and Lance each stood gasping, sucking wind. Four competitors were down, the next to fall would end the round and be relegated to the losers contest. For now it semed inevitable that the next to go down would be either Katya or Lauren.