04

The Mage’s Tournament

Day 4 Default 5

KillPrinsX had made it to the stadium after getting herself a Blue Maragarita. She found a nice spot to sit, up close. The stadium was starting to fill up, and it was getting crowded. The banner overhead was promoting a high level Mage’s tournament. Makes sense. Everyone wanted to see what these powerful Mages could do, and learn something themselves. But apart from that, there were all sorts of characters coming from other entrances to watch. The stadium seemed to be connected to different schools from the sides. Ninjas, Samurais, Knights, Racecar Drivers and more filled the stadium. Half of the audience were Mages and Wizards, the other half were anyone else who wanted to watch.

She looked around and amused herself with looking at all the other players coming in until the first match started.

The announcer’s voice spoke over the loudspeakers. “Welcome ladies and gents! Take your seats, and hold on, for this is going to be a spectacular show! A host of sixteen top Mages around the map have come together to hash it out in a life-or-default match of Magic, Elements, and skill. Our first contestant is back from his last quest, holding the most recent titles of Best of Level 15, and Best of Level 25! With an Innate Ability of Mage, and very well rounded skills in all the Elements, this player has already won two life-or-default tournaments! Please give it up for !Geeky?Nerd!007 !!!”

The crowd seemed to love him, they cheered, whistled and stomped the bleachers for a good minute until the next player had joined him in the ring.

The announcer’s voice picked up again. “And battling him in the red corner, a well respected Mage, having a history in the combat of jujitsu, and specializing in a number of Elemental Magics. This player has come home after many grueling map-wide quests, just to play in the big leagues. Welcome the infamous Slashmouth!@#% !!!”

The crowd cheered again, but a round of hisses and boos came through.

The contestants got ready, flexing and twisting their wrists.

“Ready!”

The Mages cast their Buffs, various lights surrounded them for a brief second at a time, the lights of their auras flashing and dissipating. Then their shields went up with a shimmering body shield, dulling down to cast a shimmer at the right angle.

“Fight!”

Slashmouth!@#% was the first to cast. A lightning bolt came from his hand and shot across the dirt arena, striking !Geeky?Nerd!007 right in the chest. He took the hit, but it seemed like he was barely phased.

!Geeky?Nerd!007 retaliated with a wide sweep and a punch of his arms, casting fireballs, and lots of them. He didn’t shoot straight, but they started bouncing around, and off of the walls.

Slashmouth!@#% dodged most of them. But he didn’t see a few that came from the back wall, he barely twitched at the damage, but was getting angry.

Slashmouth!@#% countered with another attack of Water, shooting a jet of H2O like a firehose on steroids. He came closer, trying to get a lock on !Geeky?Nerd!007 and had finally gotten close after chasing him around the stadium. But just before he got hit, !Geeky?Nerd!007’s hand lit up in a bright sparkling yellow. He put his hands up to try to shield the blast, casting a lightning bolt into the stream of water.

The feedback was incredible. Slashmouth!@#% jolted and shook for a few seconds, stunned for another two seconds while !Geeky?Nerd!007 recovered from the initial force of the Water blast.

Then !Geeky?Nerd!007 started a long-cast spell, tier 5 no doubt. The arena started to shake and the earth suddenly flew up around Slashmouth!@#%, piling him with dirt and forcing him underground.

The count started, “Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six!”

But the dirt erupted like a geyser. Out flew Slashmouth!@#% and he didn’t look happy. He came down, hitting the ground and taking a knee like a superhero.

!Geeky?Nerd!007 didn’t wait. He cast another Electric spell, miniature lightning bolts flew back and forth, left and right, hitting his opponent multiple times, he was giving some serious damage. Until Slashmouth!@#% managed to raise his arms and cover himself in a shield of Earth. The lightning had no effect.

Shortly after, Slashmouth!@#% levitated his earthen shield above his head and threw it at his enemy. Magic made it fly like a baseball the size of a fridge, but !Geeky?Nerd!007 wasn’t there, he was behind him and casting another top tier spell. Steam started to rise from his hands and water was building up. He was moving his hands back and forth in front of his torso, summoning a ball of boiling hot water. Once it was three feet in diameter he threw his hands forwards and shot the water at Slashmouth!@#%. He sizzled and cooked, all the blood gore being hidden behind the steam, but just for a moment, until the attack stopped.

Once the steam faded, all you could see was welted red and blistering skin. !Geeky?Nerd!007 didn’t stop there. He stomped his foot and a tower of earth shot up from the ground and catapulted Slashmouth!@#% into the air. !Geeky?Nerd!007 held his arms like he was holding a rifle and shot fireballs at his opponent. The boiled Mage crash landed and got totaled.

The announcer called it, “K! O! Steamed, boiled and toasted with crumbs!”

The crowd cheered and cheered, going ballistic. They tried chanting his name, but but just ended up just screaming some more.

!Geeky?Nerd!007 bowed, was given a Blue Martini, courtesy of the Mana Bar, and went back to the lockers.

A few more players went up against each other, seven more matches to be exact, until !Geeky?Nerd!007 battled again.

“The semi-finals of this high level Mage’s life or default tournament is beginning now! Back in the ring, title holder !Geeky?Nerd!007 battles the exceptional Mage, 64FirePants. Players come out!”

The two stepped out into opposite corners.

“Ready!”

Buffs and shields went up.

“Fight!”

It started hot as both players shot a beam of Fire. !Geeky?Nerd!007 changed his spell to a Dark Beam. The spell collided but continued for another second while the Dark energy was gaining on 64FirePants. Now it was a battle of whose mana would last.

64FirePants saw he was losing and dove to the right, shielding with a plane of Light magic. He took cover and summoned a beast. The Fire Dog came from midair, starting from a small flame and growing into a canine the size of a bear, but not made of meat, just flames. !Geeky?Nerd!007 changed his target to the creature and disintegrated it after a second.

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64FirePants was already casting a new spell, building it up, he summoned pillars of fire, they moved and crashed down on !Geeky?Nerd!007. He dodged and blinked from one spot to the other, but finally had taken a hit. He lay flat on the ground while another two pillars crashed down on him. He lay there for a second before managing to get up. He stood and cast a cloud of frost, it enveloped him and grew bigger, becoming a five, ten, fifteen foot cloud of impenetrable frost.

64FirePants had already conjured another Fire Beast and now was shooting flames at the center of the frost.

His cover is what gave him the time. !Geeky?Nerd!007 Summoned his own Creature of Water and sent it to attack the Fire Creature.

He still wasn’t found, and the frost was slowly turning to steam.

He cast a Dark spell, a pitch black hole opened in the ground, and started moving towards 64FirePants. The hole chased him around the arena and managed to get beneath him. It cost mana keeping that hole open and moving. !Geeky?Nerd!007 knew he was running low on Mana, but pushed through, finally managing to take a bite. It did considerable damage, making 64FirePants fall and take a knee, sucking life from him and giving him sleep problems.

!Geeky?Nerd!007 siphoned some of that HP and MP from the black hole to himself, and conjured another spell. He still didn’t have much Mana left, but knew that 64FirePants didn’t either. He summoned a block of ice and held it above his opponent’s head, arms out and concentrating hard.

64FirePants was beginning to get up, realizing the hole had vanished and his nightmares gone.

!Geeky?Nerd!007 dropped the block of ice. 64FirePants didn’t have a clue, and was knocked out and sizzling under the ice.

“Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!”

The count continued, but it was a battle to the default. !Geeky?Nerd!007 watched the steam rise and the puddle forming underneath the player. He cast one last spell.

A lightning bolt came from above and finished 64FirePants.

“K! O!” The announcer’s voice boomed over the loudspeakers. “If that wasn’t a close one, I don’t know what is.”

The crowed cheered and got their fulfillment of magical assailment.

Again !Geeky?Nerd!007 bowed and took his margarita to wait it out for the next battle.

There were three more matches of fights just as good.

“Now for the finals! An astounding magician, unrivaled in death magic, second to none in Dark, truly a wizard of Light, and a conjurer of Life. Welcome back DemonGod6!”

A wizard appeared in the far end of the stadium, holding his hands up and prompting the crowd.

“And the unforgettable, two time champion, feared and loved, hated and worshipped, !Geeky?Nerd!007!”

He came and bowed, similarly prompting the crowd.

“Ready!”

Shield and buffs.

“Fight!”

They fired at the same time. !Geeky?Nerd!007 threw a ginormous fireball while DemonGod6 fired a beam of black magic. The shots connected and !Geeky?Nerd!007 charged to the left. As he stepped, pillars of earth took him upwards.

DemonGod6 swung his beam and shut it off, changing attack to defense. A cloud of darkness surrounded him, obscuring most everything in his vicinity. The last thing you could see of him was DemonGod6 casting another spell.

!Geeky?Nerd!007 stood on his pillar twenty feet up and watched, deciding on his next move. It didn’t take long, he knew the only thing he couldn’t do was nothing. He summoned a wave of water into the black cloud and started shooting lightning bolts. The black cloud quickly dissipated.

DemonGod6 was standing and staring up angrily at !Geeky?Nerd!007, and next to him a Demonic Soul circled in the air. He commanded to soul to attack, but !Geeky?Nerd!007 summoned his own Soul, one of Light. His Angel fought the Demon, keeping those preoccupied for now.

While !Geeky?Nerd!007 was distracted DemonGod6 fired more shots of Dark magic.

!Geeky?Nerd!007 had nowhere to go, but to jump. And he did so, flying through the air on a conjured slipstream, and heading straight for DemonGod6!

His hands glowed yellow as he came down, first firing beams of Light magic and following up with a punch. The Light magic came through his fist and connected with a dazzle and a deep chime. DemonGod6 was knocked off of his feet and flew back.

!Geeky?Nerd!007 fired shots of water, splashing and soaking DemonGod. Then more lightning. And just to keep him down, roots came from the ground and encapsulated DemonGod6 face up in the dirt.

!Geeky?Nerd!007 kept up his array of attacks, each hit doing more and more damage.

DemonGod was knocked out, but finally came to. He quickly realized he was stuck. Between hits he wriggled around, but there wasn’t much he could in the way of getting out, so he attempted to cast a spell laying down.

Wisps of death magic rose from the ground and latched onto !Geeky?Nerd!007‘s feet, climbing and reaching for his soul.

He visibly lost awareness but kept himself standing, slowly and painfully reaching down with shining hands. His magic warded off the wisps of Death until he could run out of their reach.

DemonGod6 managed to breakout of his trap and fired more balls of Death and Dark magic.

They were both suffering now!

!Geeky?Nerd!007 Was running low on Mana.

DemonGod6 had a health that was a few good hits from bottoming out.

DemonGod6 reinstated his body shield.

!Geeky?Nerd!007 tried his best at getting distance and regenerating Mana. No doubt he’ll regen fast, but time was of the essence here.

DemonGod6 waved his arms up, darkness rose from the ground. He swung his arms forward and the darkness flooded towards !Geeky?Nerd!007.

He saw it coming but tried his best to conserve his Mana. He put a chunk into his body shield, focusing on Life magic, and let the rest of the damage take HP. At least he still had HP.

The darkness faded and !Geeky?Nerd!007 was on the ground, slowly recovering but nonetheless, recovering.

DemonGod6 took the time to summon more wisps of Demonic Souls and sent the three to attack.

!Geeky?Nerd!007 was ready now. He sent bolts of Light magic to each and killed them instantly in a puff of pure energy.

DemonGod6 had more coming. Dark holes formed in the ground in front of him. They multiplied, while one stayed beneath himself. He stood like a body possessed, arms hanging out, head lulling down.

The holes moved towards !Geeky?Nerd!007 and circled him, coming in faster and faster. This was an odd spell, nothing he’d seen before, he didn’t know what might happen, but he did what he could to take himself out of their reach.

A pillar of earth rose from under his feet and he was twenty feet up again.

The circles closed in and centered under the pillar.

What would happen next, !Geeky?Nerd!007 could only guess, but he jumped once more, flying across the stadium.

He didn’t look back, but what the audience saw shook them. A ginormous pillar of darkness shot upward and into the sky.

All the while !Geeky?Nerd!007 headed straight for DemonGod6, his HP recovering, but not much more than half.

The hands of !Geeky?Nerd!007 pushed forwards and DemonGod6 was swept off his feet, tumbling on the ground. He followed up with more shots of Fire magic, he had to stay to the lower tiered magic now that his MP was on the verge again. But so was DemonGod6’s.

Fire balls hit, one for one, as DemonGod6 lay on the ground.

!Geeky?Nerd!007 kept up with the fireballs, dealing damage, but straining to finish his opponent. His hope for a dramatic ending was fading. Just end it!

DemonGod6 couldn’t get up, but he kept his Mana flowing into his shield, hoping to keep the damage low. It worked, making him able to stand.

Now they stood face to face, ten feet apart, shields up, mana low. They scowled at each other and spat words that no one but themselves could hear.

There were no draws in this tournament. It was life or default, no matter how much Mana they had left.

Again they cast at the same time. !Geeky?Nerd!007 cast more Fireballs while DemonGod6 cast his of darkness.

Now it was down to cast and evade, and they did. One running and firing, the other evading and casting.

They had both taken hits, but kept casting and trying to lose ground to each other.

They had backed up finally, fully across the stadium.

Their casting stopped and they both knew each other needed a cooldown. But the staring continued. The intellectual process of finding the next spell to cast continued. They were at a draw, but the match continued.

Long and silent seconds passed.

Slowly they both put their hands to their chest and formed balls of elemental magic energy.

DemonGod6 conjured a swirling ball of darkness.

!Geeky?Nerd!007 held two balls of crackling electricity.

DemonGod6 fired, it flew straight and fast. But !Geeky?Nerd!007 dived and fired just that split second later.

His first hit missed as DemonGod6 evaded, but the second connected!

DemonGod6 shook as the electricity hit and he fell to the ground, !Geeky?Nerd!007 fired more lightning bolts, flying across the stadium and they connected, each and every one until…

“K! O!”

The crowed erupted. Confetti flew into the sky. Champion’s music played in the speakers.

“We. Have. A. Winner!!!”

!Geeky?Nerd!007 gracefully, yet exhausted, bowed, turned, and bowed again before taking his margarita and trophy and heading back into the lockers.