Will looked at his reptilian rival, a feeling of déjà vu competing with excitement inside him.

So. It’s down to just you and me, Jeremy the All Devourer! Will cringed a bit at his own words, but he’d figured that there won’t be any harm done by, as Jeremy said, hamming things up a smidge.

“As it should be, Will the Wombat,” Jeremy answered with a somewhat terrifying grin. “As it should be.”

“What a show, dear spectators!” came Quentin (the Barbarian!)’s words. “Our battle royale has come down to just two final fighters, and they are none other than the rivals, Will the Wombat and Jeremy the All Devourer! I’m certain that both fighters have prepared for this destined rematch, but did Jeremy the All Devourer manage to close the gap between himself and Will the Wombat? Or had the magnificent marsupial pulled further ahead from the legendary lizard? Only time, and the fight in front of us, will tell!”

A bit much, isn’t it? Considering that we’re both almost complete unknowns, and we’ve only fight each other once before.

“It’s about the showmanship, mate. Riling up the crowd and the fighters with rousing words! Putting a fire in your bones! Can’t you feel the excitement?”

Will shrugged, not really feeling it.

“Well, we’ve got a lot of time as rivals. We’ll get you to proper levels of showmanship and banter yet!”

As soon as he finished hissing, Jeremy leapt up and towards Will. The same opening move he’d used in their first duel. Except that instead of trying to freeze Will with Gaze of the Basilisk, the lizard split into three identical looking Jeremys.

Will was already casting Shock Ball. Quickly choosing two of the airborne Jeremys, he fired one bolt on each lizard. The lizards vanished as soon as the bolts hit, leaving the final Jeremy to attack Will. The wombat didn’t have time to dodge, and took a tail flail hit directly on his, fortunately armored, head.

Unphased by the attack, Will immediately started clawing at Jeremy. The lizard had to have some skill to augment his leather armor, since Will’s claws could barely penetrate the light armor. On the other hand, Jeremy’s teeth just skittered harmlessly over Will’s own plate armor. It only took Jeremy a couple of seconds to realize that he was at a distinct disadvantage at close range, and the lizard leapt away from Will.

“Those claws of yours are nasty, mate! Why do wombats even need claws that large?”

I believe they’re meant for digging burrows and tunnels, usually.

“Yeah, I can believe that. Those things could certainly cut through earth, the way they chew through my defenses.”

You’re no slouch yourself, Jeremy. That splitting skill really got me!”

“Yeah, that’s a fun one. Doesn’t help much if I can’t get through your armor though.”

You could always yield the match. There’s less riding on this one than on our previous fight, after all.

“And disappoint our fans? Never!”

Jeremy raised his head up, and then brought it back down, spraying a stream of green liquid at Will. The liquid was too widespread for Will to dodge, and he got a face full of the attack.

Suddenly, Will’s sight turned completely dark, and he couldn’t see anything. In a panic, he brought up his status effects menu.

Status Effects

Blind – 15 seconds

Relieved that the effect was short lived, Will braced himself to the attack he knew must be coming. There was no way to dodge the attack, but he could definitely try to minimize the damage. Spinning around, Will aimed his behind at the direction he’d last seen Jeremy.

Armor or no armor, the wom-butt was the best way Will had to minimize the hit.

Jeremy didn’t disappoint, and a few seconds later Will felt the tail flail slamming into his well-padded behind. The attack felt heavier than the previous tail flail hit, and Will figured Jeremy must have a skill to boost it, and that he’d either chosen not to use it on his first attack, or possibly couldn’t use it and the splitting skill together.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Still blind, Will cast Shock Ball, this time again in burst mode. The lack of any follow up attack was the only indication he had that the knockback effect on his skill worked. Still, there wasn’t much he could do until the blindness wore off.

Thankfully, no other attacks came his way for the next ten seconds, and Will started breathing easier when his sight returned. Jeremy was lying ten meters away from him, slowly getting back up.

“That’s a seriously nasty skill there, old chap. Blasted me away and stunned me at the same time.”

You’re one to talk, with that poison spit of yours.

“Obviously not nasty enough. I was sure that would mark the end of this fight. I really didn’t expect you to take in on your bum though!”

It’s a wombat thing.

“Well, that’s at least better than it being a Will thing, mate.”

Unwilling to let the lizard keep the initiative, Will chose to charge at Jeremy. The lizard split into three identical copies, each one leaping away in a different direction. All three, however, were slowed by Will’s aspect, and the wombat managed to hit two of the copies in mid slow-motion jump.

Both of the copies vanished, leaving the third to speed up to a more normal velocity and land safely away.

How do I always miss the real one? Will grumbled, turning to face Jeremy again.

“That’s how it works, old chap. I don’t know how it does it, but as long as there is more than one, the one you hit will always be the fake.”

Nice. Can’t be cheap to use though.

Not waiting for a response, Will charged again. He was running out of mana, and figured Jeremy was more or less in the same boat, between the poison spit, the splitting skill, and anything else he’d used in the earlier battle. On the other hand, Will was doing fairly good on stamina, and only really needed it if he wanted Unstoppable Force to activate.

Jeremy jumped and split again, and once again Will managed to catch two images and disperse them, while the real lizard got away.

“That slowing skill is getting real old, real fast, mate”

Says the guy with the paralyzing gaze.

Will charged again, refusing to give Jeremy the chance to take the initiative again. Jeremy jumped again, but this time without splitting. He still managed to avoid most of Will’s charge, but the wombat’s armored shoulder smacked his leg, causing him to tumble and fumble the landing.

Will didn’t waste the opportunity, and managed to slash Jeremy with his claws before the lizard jumped away again.

No splitting, and it looks like your shield skill isn’t working. Out of mana, perhaps?

“Or maybe that’s just what I want you to think!” Jeremy snapped back with a wily smile. Will, however, wasn’t buying it. That single claw swipe had to have hurt.

So Will charged again. Jeremy must have known he wouldn’t be able to dodge, and so tried to counter with his tail flail instead.

Tried and failed, since the flail was as slowed down by Will’s aspect as his attempts to dodge. Will slammed directly into the lizard, bowling him over, and immediately started savaging his opponent.

A few seconds later, Jeremy vanished to safety, and Will stood up, alone in the arena.

“And the winner is Will the Wombat! What a fantastic battle, folks! And what a duel to finish it up!”

Victory!

You’ve won another arena fight, and are now officially part of the West Arena Bronze Tier!

Keep fighting to increase your tier and win more rewards!

Rewards:

90 XP

50 Bronze Arena Tokens

Will trudged back into his entrance arch, exhausted by the battle and coming down from what had to be the biggest adrenaline high he’d ever experienced. Back in his waiting room, Will took a look at his upgraded Arena skill.

Skill Shard: Arena

Tier: unique

Type: special

Cost: NA

Gives benefits according to the user’s rank in each of the four arenas.

Does not take up a skill slot

East Arena Bronze Tier: lesser increase to accuracy when facing precisely one opponent.

West Arena Bronze Tier: lesser increase to accuracy when facing more than one opponent.

The roar of the sun, the sand beneath your feet, the glint of your opponent’s eyes!

Doesn’t that just make it an increase to accuracy at all times? Doesn’t matter, I guess. It’ll probably be a useful boost. Now, let’s see if there’s anything I want and can afford on the shop.

With a total of sixty arena tokens, Will could suddenly afford a much larger range of options.

Hmm. A basic skill costs fifty tokens. I can afford one of those, but I’m at eight out of ten, which means I probably don’t want anything that won't synergize. They do have copies of the resource pool skills, and I’ll want those to combine back to one, eventually.

And they have something called “Fur Proficiency”, which is a beast type shard that can give me some extra defense. If that one merges with Claw Proficiency, it might be a good choice. But if it needs something else first, then I’m stuck without enough slots to merge the resource pool skills.

On the other hand, they have aspects for a hundred tokens each. And if I remember correctly, that should be cheaper, relatively, than buying them from an enchanter. And I have a lot more open slots for those than I have for skills.

Or, I can afford a common grade armor for my backside. But my backside is already fairly well armored, just from being a wombat.

No, I think the best value here is to save up for an aspect.

By that point, a healer had entered the room, and was waiting patiently for Will to finish up. The wombat closed up the shop window, and went over to be healed.

An hour later, a fully healed and somewhat rested wombat went to the rest room, intending to move on to the next Space.