Jay, Lyra and Akira huddled on the couch that had swiftly become Jay’s bed over the last week. His back would’ve thanked him if he replaced it, but scoliosis was non-lethal. The coliseum wasn’t. Jay had bigger things to worry about than his spinal health.
“Move over.” Said Vega. She barely gave Jay a chance to move before squishing a fourth person onto the three-person couch.
“I thought you weren’t into all this, “nerd shit”? You didn’t help prep last fight.” Jay said. He was happily surprised to see Vega with them, even if it meant being cramped.
“Yeah well, that’s because I thought you were gonna lose.” Vega barely skipped a beat, even as Jay raised an eyebrow “This one’s more interesting anyway. There’s more stuff on the line. Higher stakes.”
“Oh, so my life being on the line last time wasn’t enough?”
“Nah.”
“Delightful. So how do you get the screen to appear to everyone? Do you jus-”
Before Jay could even ask, the system answered his question for him. As soon as he willed his screen to share, a glassy tint rolled over it and he knew the others could see it too.
“What the hell made you so confident about this guy?” asked Akira. Even though they were safe inside the twins’ house, he kept his sword close by. Refusing to let it out of his sight.
“Nothing in particular. But there was nothing that impressed me either. Most of his opponents seemed scared, but I think if they took the fight to him then they could’ve won.”
“Maybe they were scared for a reason. Play the fight.”
Jay ignored Akira’s venomous tone. There was no need to argue right now, and his friend had good reason to be pissed off.
The first fight he played was between Davad and a man called Mori, Mori fought using a quarterstaff, and had the shortest reach of fighter Davad had fought. It was the best comparison to Jay and therefore the most useful fight to analyse, as well as the most recent.
“Look at this and tell me it isn’t strange.” Jay said as the fight began. “The fight seems normal to start. Davad retreating round the ring, popping shots at Mori. He likes firing off shots in triplets, grabbing three arrows from his quiver at once, and firing them in quick succession. But look at this.”
Jay slowed down the fight. He mentally signalled the “camera” to shift behind Davad’s back, like he’d seen Lyra do last week, and told everyone to look at Mori’s movement.
Davad fired his third arrow. Mori took the opportunity, cutting in and closing the distance by a few metres. Davad brought another arrow to his string. Stopping Mori just outside his range.
“What happened? What am I supposed to look at?” said Vega. Lyra and Akira’s confused faces mirroring her confusion.
“Nothing happened. Now compare that to this.”
Davad almost constantly had his arrow half drawn. Occasionally pulling it back to threaten a strike and create some space. Each time Mori threatened to move in closer, Davad’s bow would flicker and block off the angle. If he shot, Mori was forced to abandon the advance and search for another opening. The same interaction happened again, the second arrow deleting valuable inches of Mori’s gained ground.
“Watch what happens after he fires the third.”
Mori made an aggressive move, going in almost a direct straight line to his opponent. Davad couldn’t resist the opportunity and fired.
Mori immediately rolled to his right. He flicked his head up and prepared to leap forward.
From their perspective, behind Davad’s back, Jay and his friends could clearly see Davad reaching for his quiver. The only difference from the last exchange was how he positioned his bow hand.
Davad flicked his bow left, aiming it directly at his opponent’s chest.
Mori froze.
It was only for a split second, but he completely seized up. Davad gained enough time to grab three more arrows and retreat further from his opponent’s range.
“You see what I mean?” Jay pointed at the screen and paused the fight. “What’s up with that?”
Vega frowned and squinted at the screen. On his other side, Lyra did the exact same thing.
It was Akira who broke the silence, however.
“Could it be his domain?”
Both twins muttered and nodded but kept looking at the screen.
How does a domain do that?
Jay remembered the definition of a domain that Lyra had told him before they visited Pavan Hall, “A manifestation of personal essence”. He knew from the storm sage how impressive they were, but he’d never thought about their use in battle before.
“How do you think his domain does that?” asked Lyra, saving Jay from asking.
“People’s domains usually reflect the essences they use, right? When I focus on magnetism, I can weakly attract or repel whatever’s near me. The shape of a person’s domain is also dependent on that essence too, mine flows out like a magnetic field centred on my body rather than a perfect sphere.”
Jay was thankful for Akira’s explanation since he suspected the twins already knew what he was talking about.
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“What if, since he’s an archer, Davad’s domain acts like an arrow? Instead of radiating out from him, it shoots out in spikes to wherever he targets?”
The group sat in silence, each thinking over what Akira said.
It sounded plausible, although Jay didn’t have the knowledge to confirm. He waited to see how the twins would react before saying anything.
“I can buy that.” Lyra said. “But how does he have such good domain control after what, eight fights? Most people outside the top couple hundred can’t even use their domain in a fight.”
“Maybe he’s just really good at it?” said Vega.
Jay looked at the top ranked fighter. Her conclusion was simple, but that didn’t mean she was wrong.
“That explains his weaknesses in other areas too.” Jay stood up and unpaused the video. He switched the perspective to view the fight through Mori’s eyes. “The reason I thought I could beat Davad, is because I don’t see any particular strength in him. Look. He’s not fast. He’s not clever. He’s not even that accurate. But maybe he’s a specialist in manipulating his domain? If that’s the case, what do I need to do tomorrow to prepare for that?”
Lyra spoke first.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I know you’ve watched all the fights, but let’s run through them all together before making any conclusions. We might spot something you missed. I don’t even think the domain is your biggest issue. You’ve never fought anyone like Davad before, none of your opponent’s even come close to his range. I know you think you’re fast enough, but you need to learn how to fight a ranged opponent before you even think about domains.”
Jay agreed with her point, but he could hear the doubt in her voice. She wasn’t sure he could win.
None of them were.
Jay squeezed his way back onto the couch, switching the fight’s perspective back to Davad. He’d drawn a fourth arrow this time and it didn’t seem like Mori had noticed.
The staff wielder hadn’t learned his lesson from last time, and rushed to close the distance after the third arrow missed.
He froze again.
Except this time, it wasn’t a feint. Davad had an arrow nocked and ready to fire.
Nobody paused or commented on the fight. Each gladiator hunting for anything they might have missed the first time.
They watched Davad’s arrow creep through the air on slow motion before sinking into Mori’s chest. None of them spotted anything else, so they swiftly moved onto the next fight.
----------------------------------------
There wasn’t much more to be learned from the rest of Davad’s fights. Much like his mentor Ezekiel, he’d finished them all quickly and decisively. While there was no extra information within the fights, Jay thought he caught something across them.
“His domain ability, or whatever it is that freezes his opponents, is getting a lot stronger every fight.” Jay said. “Against Mori, he was able to completely freeze him for a few seconds. But if we look at five fights ago, he can barely manage one. We saw him feinting, but they were nowhere near as effective.”
“Yeah, he got better. Everyone does. How does that help?” Akira snapped.
“But everything else hasn’t improved that much at all. If you shuffled the fight order, other than him getting more gear, the only difference between them is his freeze ability improving.”
“He’s disregarding everything else to focus on his domain.” Said Lyra.
“He’s becoming a specialist. A one-trick-pony. I just don’t know why. Surely it would be better to become more well-rounded?”
“He might have no other choice.”
…
The room fell quiet for a moment. This time Jay broke the silence.
“What do you mean?”
“You wouldn’t know, since you never joined an alliance, but they can be quite brutal.” Lyra said. “A lot of their resources for E grade are funnelled into the top prospects, especially nearing the advancement tournament. The lesser prospects still get backed, but nowhere near as much. Maybe he’s using his domain as a crutch to climb up the rankings quicker to leverage more assistance from his alliance?”
Lyra’s reasoning made sense. It aligned with his experience at the Flaming Tomb Alliance too.
Jay wondered how he could use that to his advantage, but it was hard to formulate a plan without properly knowing how Davad’s domain worked. Regardless of what Lyra thought, Jay believed he had the speed to close the distance. He didn’t think Davad’s range would be a problem for his stormforged body, but the domain attack was a massive unknown hanging over his head. There was no way to prepare for it unless he found a good training partner at the pits tomorrow.
It was never good to rely on somebody else in a fight. Jay had learned that lesson after his anti-gorilla plan completely backfired. But what else could he do? It was out of his hands, and that meant there was no use stressing about it. He just had to focus on everything he could do.
Jay stifled a yawn. This morning he’d been fighting ghosts in an underwater cave, now his next fight was in less than two days.
What happened to eight-week fight camps huh?
Vega didn’t bother stifling her yawn, she stood up and walked to her room.
“That’s enough nerd shit for me. Have fun watching the same five minutes of fighting over and over and over again!”
She slammed her door shut, before reopening it just a crack.
“You better be up early tomorrow, Jay. Or I’ll wake you up.”
Vega’s bedroom door muffled her cackles of laughter. Jay didn’t even want to think about what Vega’s alarm clock service would look like.
“You should probably get to sleep.” Lyra said. “You’ll need it for the pits tomorrow.”
Part of Jay was excited to see what the pits were like. The number one sparring spot for E grade was bound to be somewhat interesting. Another part of him was nervous, but Jay kept that part firmly supressed.
“What are you two doing tomorrow?” He asked.
“I’m seeing Agatha in the morning. I might be free in the afternoon, I might not. If I have time, I’ll come and see you in the pits. But don’t count on it.” Lyra said, making her way back to her room.
“I’m going to Scholar’s to do some research on archers’ domains. Domains are a very short-range weapon at our level. Even most of D grade can’t fully integrate them into their combat style, but there might be a study of them somewhere.” Akira also got up to leave. “I’ll swing by Hawker’s after to try and find something interesting for you. Anything you’re looking for?”
“Save your money. I’ll pool it after I win to buy something big.”
The air dropped.
It grew heavier with each step Akira took.
An inescapable quiet clutched the room. Nails of silence dug into Jay as he was rooted on the spot. Completely unable to move.
Akira walked directly towards him.
“This isn’t a FUCKING game, Jay!”
Akira grabbed onto his scabbard and held his sword out with shaking hands.
“You come back, fresh from your special storm sage training, with these fancy new arms and suddenly you think your God’s gift to the coliseum? Maybe you’re right! Maybe you’re unstoppable! But you can’t just waltz over to someone 300 ranks above you and bet my sword on the fight. My sword. MY FUCKING SWORD. What the fuck man?”
Jay stood still. He couldn’t move even if he wanted to. He kept his mouth shut and looked Akira in the eyes.
“Look. I’m sorry. I don’t want to get mad, but it’s hard man. It’s fucking hard when you’re acting like that. I’m offering you some help, and you’re turning your fucking nose up at it. What the fuck! If you want to fuck about for a week and die in the coliseum, that’s fine. It’s your fucking life. Don’t drag other people down with you. You bet my sword without even asking me? Really?”
You agreed to it. Jay thought.
He didn’t dare say it.
“I don’t know if you’re taking this seriously. You probably are. But please just fucking act like it.”
Akira walked off before Jay could even reply. He violently slammed the door, venting his frustration on the poor hinges.
Lyra looked back at Jay. Speechless. Jay didn’t make her say anything.
“I kinda deserved that. I get where he’s coming from.” Jay bit down on his jaw. “I’m winning this fight Lyra. There’s nothing Davad can do to stop me.”
Lyra had a good poker face. Her entire body was literally made of stone. But in that moment, Jay could see right through her. A part of him sank as he saw her true thoughts.
She didn’t believe him.