Chapter 92

Gideon’s face grew into a frustrated snarl. He had set out to trap me, probably disable me. The result had been far from satisfying for him. Now it was he who was on the back foot.

I stepped around Olaf and struck at Gideon. With Olaf to my right, I had less to defend. With Gideon as my own only target I felt the advantage returned.

I hacked down with CUT, and Gideon countered with an upward chop. Our blades smashed away from each other. Beside me, Olaf churned his feet as he drove Emilia back. He was by far the better shield.

I calculated the situation quickly. I was the better Sword (the elation it brought me to embrace that idea) and Gideon the better Shield. We had these two well in hand. My urgency was the collection of the last Flows we needed to secure my place in the last round.

“Zara! Leona! Claim the orb!” I shouted.

Zara and Leona immediately rushed to the Orb, embedding themselves in it.

Gideon and Emilia were no threat to get past Olaf and me. If anything, there was chance we could do real damage to them.

Gideon flailed as he tried to fire around me, tried to hit Zara or Leona with BEAM. I pulsed SHIELD and blocked the beam with my sword.

Olaf and Emile were playing a game of hammer against hammer. The smashed their huge weapons and monstrous suits against each other. It was a brutal way to fight. But it was more brutal on Emilia. I could see she was beginning to sag as the toll accumulated on her.

I wondered how long it would take the rest of Gideon's team to finish their work with the Orb. Would they go to deposit their Flows, giving us time to finish with out Orb? Or would they be directly upon us?

I didn’t need to think too hard about that. Gideon was the incarnation of aggression. He would have directed his team to go for the high-risk, high-reward play. That meant that we could be facing two more opponents at any moment. And worse, an Axe to hurt me and an Arrow to undo Olaf.

I pushed hard at Gideon. The best chance now was to try and put him and Emilia down hard, and fast.

Gideon had to turn to the defensive. My rain of CUTS was a storm that even his aggression couldn't blow through. It was so obviously difficult for him to fight on the retreat. But it was the only choice I gave him.

Stolen novel; please report.

Have I mentioned the incredible feeling it was to dominate an opponent like this? To be the better of an old bully? I might have mentioned it once or twice. It was no less true for the repition.

It tried to count how long it had been, glancing back to see if Leona and Zara had finished their work. I was being too hopeful, they'd barely begun.

There was an explosion of metal to my right as Olaf smashed Emilia to the ground. Pieces of he armor shattered to pieces with a terrible shriek. Smoke boiled form a hole in her suit.

Olaf could finish her, put her out of the fight with another blow.

Suddenly, Katya was in his face. Like lightning she had struck.

I had to fumble to bring my sword up to block a blindside blow from Felix's axe as he joined the fight.

Felix and Katya glowed with the Flows they still contained. They had come to the fight rather than to deposit their bounty.

All fortunes were reversed now, Olaf and I were both fighting opponents with type advantages. Katya was deadly, her bladed hands slashed over and over at Olaf, getting around his huge shield with ease. Gideon would have every opportunity to stab at me while I focused on avoiding Felix's terrible axe.

"Fall back!" I shouted. "Zara! Leona! Disengage from the orb!"

But detaching from the orb wasn’t an instantaneous process. Zara and Leona were slowed, as though the orb didn't want to release them. Olaf and I needed to hold on a little longer.

I gritted my teeth . Felix was on me again. His axe soared at me from every angle. It was a desperate scramble to parry and step and avoid what it could to my suit.

The type-advantage was terrible to experience. My every parry felt flailingly weak against everything Felix did.

Gideon wasn’t idle either. He surged at me each time I moved from Felix. All he needed to do was interrupt my flow, make me stagger or pause, long enough for the axe to land.

Olaf was under no less pressure. Katya was shredding his armor. His defenses had withstood everything, but against the type-advantage of the Arrow it seemed to crumble like foil. Emilia was slow to re-enter the fight, still shaken from her clash with Olaf.

Felix’s next strike came down with brutal force, and though I managed to deflect it slightly, the power behind it still sent me staggering. His Axe was a storm, each swing making my body feel weaker, slower. Every muscle in my body screamed in protest as I tried to match his sheer strength, but it was hopeless. My superior skill and aptitude didn’t matter here—not against this type advantage. Felix was stronger than me in every way that mattered right now.

Gideon caught me on the leg with a stabbing CUT. I dropped to my knee. The axe dove at me from above. I raised my sword to block, but there was little I could do against Felix's advantage.

Then... Zara.

She appeared out of nowhere. Her axe blazed as it struck Felix's, smashing it aside. Leona was at Olaf's shoulder, and suddenly Katya was stepping back, unwilling to risk taking damage to her vulnerable Arrow suit.

"Fall back!" I shouted.

Gideon's team made no move to pursue. They were laden with Flows, and some must have still remained in the Orb we had abandoned.

The terrible question was, how much remained? How much had we taken?