Chapter 89

We stood before our fort, waiting for the signal to start.

The voice spoke to me during the pause. I had such reservations about it. Joel and Danefer had each spoken warnings of it. But they had been mad. And the voice had never failed to help me. Part of me wondered if I was making a mistake in listening to it. But I wanted to win. I wanted the suit. It would be too foolish of me to ignore it.

The voice said, "I can tell you who to fear. I can tell you who to target. I can feel them, all of them. Most of it won't surprise you."

Go on then, I thought to it.

It said, "Lauren's got a tasty lump of grey matter between her ears, but that over-confident lump put her in an Arrow suit. She was only ever meant to be Sword, I think, but the Arrow is the last thing she should have been given. She'll be a weak point for them."

"The princess should worry you. She's dastardly good and she might be better in the Arrow suit than she would have been in a Sword suit. The others are a mixed bag. Arthur is a good choice for a SHIELD, so be wary of that one. His dear old papa wears the SHIELD for Boston right now. Arthur's no chip off the old block, but there's still an affinity there."

I listened and noted. It could hurt me nothing to hear what the voice had to offer. It all made sense to me anyway.

I would do anything to win the suit. It had started as a duty to honor my family, to please my father. But now it was for me, it was about me. The future beyond the end of The Choosing was murky and unknown. I didn't know what I would want for life when the event was over. But I knew I wanted that future to be lived in the suit.

The others were here to win a Flow for each of their houses. That would be motive enough for anyone. It was a fortune even, to a noble. It should drive even those who disdained the idea of fighting with, or fighting for, a commoner. They didn’t need to love me; they just needed to see the potential of what we could achieve together.

Across the arena, the other teams stood arrayed and waiting as well. All eyes pointed to Mario, watching the flag in his hand.

Mario waited. By the Oracle, would he ever tire of attention? It was surprising when he finally released the flag.

As the flag fell, the floor of the arena parted at two locations. There was a groan of machinery as the dust of the floor sifted through the openings that appeared. The orbs began to rise. I wondered what they really were. They couldn't be real orbs from The Falling.

My team was the first to move. I had decided what we would do before the orbs even appeared. In unison, we dashed toward the orb nearest Lance's position.

We had no experience in formations, none of this did. In the field, true Griidlords gave so much attention to how they arranged themselves, always trying to set type advantages in place, trying to avoid the wrong matchups. A good leader could arrange for his Axe to assault the other's Sword, and his Shield to tackle the opponent's axe. His Arrow would engage the enemy Shield and he himself would destroy the enemy Arrow. For reasons beyond explaining, the suits matched in that manner were amplified against each other. Of course, the other team sought to achieve the same outcome.

This was the game we were all about to play.

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Lance's team had moved for the closer orb as well. But we had a headstart. We'd had no hesitation, our action had been planned. We left our backs exposed to Gideon's side of the field, putting all of our forces in action toward the orb nearest Lance.

As Lance's team approached, Olaf and I peeled off from our group and moved to intercept them. Leona and Zara continued to the orb.

If Gideon's team decided to come for us now, we would be easily finished. But, as I had anticipated, his team surged toward the easy score of the uncontested orb.

Worse for Lance, he had assumed his ally would join him. I think he had expected to make a pincer. The result was his team was clustered, intending to make up one side of the pincer. It would allow for me and Olaf to corale them more easily.

But what wasn't going to be easy was what came next.

Olaf and I moved into position, blocking the path to the orb.

It was no accident that I had paired myself with Olaf. The choice was deliberate. With a Shield and a Sword together, we had the ability to maneuver ourselves in such a way as to negate the class advantages of our opponents. Olaf could intercept their Axe, I could intercept their Arrow. We didn't need to crush them, only hold them back long enough for Leona and Zara to gather the Flows.

And we had another advantage... Me.

I unleashed BEAM. I had been flexing it continually, and as I fired, the 1.8 on my HUD became a 1.9. It wasn't a level-up, but it brought me damn close to gaining the next tier of power in the attribute.

My shot forced Lauren to dive aside. Her suit was the most vulnerable, it could withstand the least damage. Lance fired at the larger target of Olaf. But to his surprise, and my delight, the Shield suit just absorbed the blow to very little effect.

Something about the experience seemed to awaken Olaf. He had been hesitant up until now. But receiving the heavy blow of the BEAM and barely seeming to feel it changed something in him. He stood a little straighter. He looked down at his suit. I think he was starting to like it.

Lance hesitated. Already things were wrong for him. Olaf was positioned where he could tackle Theo, the Axe, if he moved to me. Lauren was pinned. I had the better BEAM, and my team was already drawing flows from the orb.

Then Arthur came at me like a battering ram. He just charged, the heavy suit trading at me. I fired BEAM and hit him. It had more effect on him than it had had on Olaf, but it didn't stop him either. He was swiftly on top of me. He used the shield in his hands in the manner that Shield suits did, bludgeoning with the face of the shield, stabbing with its angled edges. I wasn't under pressure, exactly. I was much much better than him. That became evident as I parried him and easily moved around him. But he was Shield, it would take a hammering to bring him down. It was the time I couldn't spare.

His shield was a wall of violence, filling my vision each time he thrust at me. But it was slow compared with the Sword. And my levels made his look infantile.

Arthur tried to press me, to drive me back and contain me. I could his teammates rushing to take advantage of my engagement.

But I was better now. My days as the runt of the litter were over. I stepped back a particularly ambitious lunge and swung at him with CUT, bringing my sword under the extended shield. Kinteric violence erupted where my sword me his middle and a moment later he was sprawling.

By the Oracle that had felt good.

Lance's BEAM was again in the air, sizzling past my head.

I dodged Lance's beam and returned fire of my own. I turned to see what had happened while I dealt with Arthur. I was worried.

But Olaf was already on them. With a roar, Olaf struck Theo. Already Olaf had the advantage of type in the engagement. But he also had a stunning affinity for the Shield suit. Theo's axe thundered again and again into Olaf's shield, blue explosions of light springing from the contact. Olaf kept pressing, battering Theo's axe aside as he kept charging. Theo was suddenly backpedaling, finding no footing to use his weapon effectively.

Olaf's shield pulsed with an explosion of energy that reminded me of BEAM. The massive shockwave lifted Theo's body and sent him flying.

Lance, seeing his teammate falter, had turned to help. But Olaf was already on him. There was no type advantage between the two. Lance was a favorite among us. But Olaf so surprised him with his aggression and ability, that Lance was suddenly and unbelievably on the defensive.

The thought crossed my mind… What if we disabled Lance’s team, and left them unable to fight…