Chapter 53

The stage was set. Only my orb remained to be delivered.

Within moments of my disengaging, things broke down badly. As soon as I moved away towards my pot, Lance hit a stroke of luck. It had to be luck; I couldn't credit him with arranging what happened on purpose. He parried an attack from Lauren by striking her CUT with his.

The mess that ensued was chaotic. He struck Lauren hard as she swung with her own CUT. Her swing went wild, catching Katya on the side. The blow surprised the princess, there was nothing she could to defend against it. They both went down in a tangle. Almost immediately they were rising again, but what passed next, passed in moments.

It wouldn't be the last unlikely twist of the next moments. All that remained between Lance and me was Gideon. His once ally served his oath proud and stepped in to clash with Lance. Lance had the boon of time with the suit on the previous day, his powers had grown immensely. Gideon, however, had no attributes to match. Yet, he had always been a ferocious fighter, and he managed to slow Lance.

As they clashed, I raced for my pot. Lance's plan had failed, and I could see he blamed me. His determination to interrupt my score burned hotter in his stance than anything he had shown when trying to stop the others. He had come within a hair's breadth of becoming the Griidlord this day. His gambit had worked, but now, things would be harder for him. The others, his peers, would suspect him. The head start he had gained over us would start to diminish. He blamed me, hated me. Even as I reached the pot, my hand outstretched, Lance had his second stroke of luck.

If nothing else, he still had the opportunity to remove me from the competition, to have his revenge, to ruin my hopes, to remove possibly his greatest threat. He fired his BEAM. I cannot believe he scored the hit without the touch of fortune. I'm probably selling him short not to account some of the accuracy to his natural skill, but there was no way he could have hit the shot five times out of ten, probably not five times out of a hundred. Despite my SHIELD flaring to protect me, his shot struck my hand, the hand carrying the orb, and it was enough to send the orb flying from my grasp, bouncing off the wall, back to him.

At the same time, he had smashed Gideon aside with his awesome CUT and stepped up, snatching my orb, my very last chance to remain in the competition, from the air. He stalked to his pot, looking down at me, measuring me. My sword had flown from my hand, and I was too far away; there was nothing I could do. He stood with his hand hovering over the opening of his pot, looking at me.

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Lauren and Katya stood frozen. The action had moved too far from them. Lance held us all to ransom. If they budged it was clear he would just drop the orb.

"You might think I suffered a loss today, Shopkeeper, but it's nothing of the sort. True enough, I could have achieved more, events certainly seemed to be conspiring for me to end the Choosing today and walk away as the new Sword of Boston. But so what? So I need to play this game for one more day. It doesn't matter. I showed today that it takes all of you, not to beat me, but to survive me. And now I get to eliminate you, one less to get in my way. Honestly, Shopkeeper, how much pleasure do you think this brings me? If I could only have achieved one thing today, then this is it."

There was a long moment of tension as Lance and I locked gazes through our visors. My game was over. I had done my best, achieved far more than it had seemed I would at the start, but still, a bitter feeling lingered. I had grown so much for nothing. Even worse was the idea of never feeling the suit on me again, feeling the power, the sensory inputs, the sense of being what I was supposed to be. The rest of my life would truly be spent wondering about what might have been, dreaming of another existence where I had been a Griidlord.

Lance's fingers loosed on the orb.

And then there was a second armored hand clasping his, closing his hand back around the orb, not allowing it to fall into Lance's pot. Lance spun, shocked. Gideon stood there, their faces inches apart. Lance made to swing his sword, but they were too close together. Gideon stood inside the arc, and the swords couldn't come to play.

Wrestling with Gideon, Lance snarled, "What are you doing? He's a peasant. You said it yourself: common blood has no place in a Griidsuit."

Gideon pushed back against Lance, and I started to realize something. Lance had gained attributes yesterday, but not in proportion. His CUT and BEAM were devastating, and maybe he had more that I hadn't seen, but as they wrestled, whether it be through natural physicality or mastery of the suit, Gideon was physically stronger.

Gideon hissed, "I swore an oath, Lance, and the commoner did too. He fulfilled his side."

Lance snarled, "A commoner has no honor to lose. An oath means nothing from him."

Gideon bore his grip down on Lance's hand. Lance squirmed, wriggled, his grip loosening.

Gideon barked, "This one has honor."

Then he punched Lance with the fist of his sword hand, right in the face. Most of the blow landed on the lower part of Lance's face, the part that was uncovered by the Griidsuit. Under the force of the impact—a punch from Gideon at the best of times was probably a devastating experience—but his fist propelled by the strength and speed of the suit, I saw blood and teeth fly through the air. Lance's head snapped back, his knees going weak. He curled on the floor, not dead, but teetering at the border of consciousness.

Gideon looked at me and nodded. I nodded back. Gideon walked slowly to my pot and dropped my orb in for me.

Mario's voice sounded across the arena, "MATCH!" and the crowd roared.