Looks like she prepared something for Yagao.
Jay silently analysed Vega’s opening salvo. Although he was confident in his analysis skills, Lyra had probably watched every single second of Vega’s fights. She’d almost certainly caught something that he hadn’t.
But Jay could tell there’d be no discussion until the fight ended.
Jay had slipped on the cold mask of calculating analysis for this fight. Concentrating purely on the details and technicalities of the fight helped him ignore the stakes. At least for now.
He doubted his friends could say the same.
Akira’s knuckles paled, clenching the handle of his untouched drink. His knee bounced beneath the table. Occasionally, he’d drag a hand down to stop it. But the break never lasted long.
Lyra rhythmically clinked her fingers against the table. She stared squarely at the projection in front of them. From the moment the announcer introduced the three fighters, her neck hadn’t moved. Not even a twitch.
Jay pulled his eyes from his friends and returned to the fight. None of them could help Vega right now, no matter how much they analysed or agonized. She was alone in that arena. And the only way out had two bodies stacked in front of it.
The blitz didn’t work then.
What’re you gonna do next?
The camera shifted to just behind Ezekiel’s shoulders, and Jay saw an enraged Vega snarl beyond the back of the swordsman’s head.
Is tha-
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Vega fired a potshot at the duo, denying Amaya any time to prepare. Ezekiel blocked with his shield-like sword. The metal sang. A ringing chime filled the arena. Reverberations from the impact scattered the dust off the sword.
Vega marched forward; eyes glued to Amaya’s hands. The tedious strategy session had made one thing clear: she couldn’t take her eyes off the puppeteer. Gildan had the skill to defeat Amaya, he just didn’t have the mental strength.
Ezekiel was a simpler problem, but hardly an easier one.
The swordsman charged forward. Sweeping the colossal sword to his right.
Vega had been on the receiving end of far too many of Akira’s swordsmanship rants over the past few months. She’d listened to far less, but enough to get the gist. Ezekiel had sloppy technique, he left himself exposed too much, he choreographed his attacks too much, he took too many risks.
Then why’s he not dead yet?
Vega ducked under the sweeping blade. She pointed at the maul-like sword, unleashing a miniature explosion that altered the swing’s trajectory.
The sword whistled over her head. She slid to her left.
Because of his sword’s freakishly long reach, Ezekiel was still out of range.
Instead of letting the sword’s inertia yank his shoulder from its socket, Ezekiel sidestepped alongside his weapon. Buying himself the time to spin it around and launch another sweeping strike.
Vega hopped back, shifting the angle to keep Amaya in her peripheral vision.
Motherfucker. Do you think I’m stupid?
Amaya had a hand in her satchel, but she hadn’t pulled anything out yet.
She couldn’t pull out a fully formed construct, Vega knew the coliseum didn’t allow that.
What’s she planning?
Vega pulled her focus back onto the swordsman. He was the one applying pressure.
His attacks consistently left openings. There had to be a reason.
You don’t live long fighting like that.
She fired an explosive marble at Ezekiel, sending one towards Amaya as well for good measure.
He sidestepped slightly, barely moving from his position and keeping his sword pointed at her.
Bad idea.
Vega fired another at the swordsman, this time following behind it.
Ezekiel narrowly dodged again, letting the miniature explosive fly over his shoulder.
Bad fucking idea.
The marble exploded mid-air. Searing hot air propelled Ezekiel towards the advancing Vega.
His left leg shot out from beneath him, barely keeping him upright. His sword pointed at Vega, but he had no room to use it.
Vega rushed in, white light escaping the cracks in her right fist. She hurled a looping hook at Ezekiel’s face.
He raised his sword.
Too slow.
Ezekiel’s upper body suddenly lurched downwards, folding in on itself. Vega unfurled her fist. Her fingertips singed her opponent’s falling hair but couldn’t do any damage. She kicked out a leg but Ezekiel’s waist had already jerked away from her, dragging the rest of his body with it.
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He retreated. Half backpedalling, half stumbling just to stay upright as his heels dragged against the gravel.
The fuck was that?
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We should’ve seen this coming.
Jay leaned forward, shifting in his seat as he willed the fight projection slightly closer. From Amaya’s point of view, Jay saw what Vega couldn’t.
A familiar red spiral peeked out from behind Ezekiel’s collar. Identical to the runes Amaya had painted on her Arcane Knights. Moments before Vega connected, a ruby red glow illuminated Ezekiel’s skin. A taut red sting materialised between the two Flaming Tomb gladiators. Linking Ezekiel to Amaya’s orchestrating hands.
When Amaya yanked her arms back, she dragged the swordsman to safety.
By the time Vega glanced between her two opponents, the string had vanished. Fading into invisibility as quickly as it’d flared to life.
The perspective briefly switched to a close-up replay of the exchange during the momentary lull. When Jay focused on Ezekiel’s hands. He saw another spiral rune on each wrist.
“Almost.” said Vega, taunting her opponents while holding her index finger and thumb millimetres apart.
Ezekiel hopped back, creating some separation before he turned to his teammate.
“Yep. Let’s do it Zeke.” said Amaya.
The rubies embedded in her gloves twinkled. The strings attached to each of her knuckles vibrated as she raised both hands.
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Whatever it was, Vega knew Amaya was involved. She knew she had to apply more pressure to both her targets. Once Amaya fell, Ezekiel would crumble soon after.
An explosion beneath Vega’s feet lifted her into the air. Another sent her rocketing towards the puppeteer.
Ezekiel rushed to protect his partner, but his feet couldn’t match Vega’s speed.
He didn’t need them.
Amaya wrenched her outstretched hands to the side. Three infernal strings materialised between her and Ezekiel. Each pulled taut by her movement.
Ezekiel was thrust backwards, hauled to action by the puppeteer’s strings. They loosened slightly as he neared Amaya, granting him control over his body once more. He raised his weapon in front of him and Vega watched the glowing tattoos on his hands fade back to dull ink. He angled the sword to face Vega, trying to catch the flying gladiator the moment she dropped into his range.
Too bad.
Vega stayed airborne. Another explosion sent her soaring past the living puppet’s head.
She hit the ground a few metres behind Amaya.
Vega threw three marbles at the puppeteer before charging straight after them.
Before her opponents could react, Vega detonated one of her marbles. The explosion fired the other two into the ground. Once they were embedded into the gravel, they too detonated. Kicking up a gigantic plume of dust as they simultaneously blasted the earth.
As much as it pained her to acknowledge, Vega knew she couldn’t win this fight cleanly. Duelling Ezekiel while trying to nullify his partner played exactly to their strengths.
To win that fight, the swordsman didn’t need to beat her. He only had to open the door wide enough for Amaya to strike. Vega couldn’t afford to take that fight.
To win, she had to drag them into the dirt with her.
A simple slugfest wasn’t enough.
To win, she had to become a matchup nightmare.
Falling gravel pelted Vega’s skin the moment she charged into the dust cloud. She stopped instantly, hurling miniature explosive marbles in front of her.
Then she listened.
She closed her eyes and focused solely on the wide net of explosives she’d just cast
SNAP!
There.
Vega darted left, following the explosion’s trail.
She couldn’t see a thing, but neither could her opponents.
Vega trusted her durability. Trading blow for blow in a 2v1 didn’t sound like a great strategy, but an alliance is only as strong as its weakest link. She’d take five hits if it meant landing one good shot on Amaya.
One blow to the duo’s soft underbelly and their strategy would fall apart.
A silhouette emerged from the dust. Vega punched it. Amaya looked up. She was too slow to do anything else. Vega’s right fist smashed into her opponent’s temple.
Or so she thought.
A sheet of ice froze Vega’s knuckles in place, millimetres from Amaya’s face. The ice expanded. It enveloped Vega’s fist before she could react.
An ice blue glow emanated from a diamond necklace resting against Amaya’s chest.
How many artefacts does this bitch have?
Vega tried to free her hand with a small explosion, but more ice kept coming. It encased the dust too, locking Vega’s fist in a murky brown prison, agonizingly close to its target.
A red string materialised, firing off from Amaya’s glove into the hazy distance. Vega heard scuffed gravel far to her right.
Focus!
Vega’s trapped arm glowed red with heat. Meltwater bubbled and hissed, breaking cracks in the ice and escaping as steam.
She could’ve broken free, the icy shackles no longer truly restrained her, but Vega was too close to waste this chance. She remained focused on superheating her fist.
Using all the time she could.
Ezekiel leapt out from the dusty expanse. He swung his colossal sword above him.
He slammed the hunk of metal downwards.
Vega waited.
It drew even closer.
But Vega still waited.
At the last second, when her fist was white hot, she detonated it.
Directly in front of Amaya’s face.
Her hand shot back from the explosion. It launched into the path of Ezekiel’s blunt greatsword.
The giant weapon collided with Vega’s wrist. She felt the metal press into her obsidian skin for less than a second before her explosion’s shockwave scattered the three gladiators.
Vega expected a crack after the solid hunk of metal slammed into her arm. She heard nothing but Amaya’s pained shrieks as she flew backwards out of the dust cloud.
Separation gave Vega a chance to breathe. She twirled her wrist, waiting to hear if it would click, before looking down to assess the damage.
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The fuck is that?
The confusion etched across Vega’s face mirrored Jay’s inside the Celestial Swords.
Red ink rolled around Vega’s forearm, coiling around her wrist like an anaconda before locking itself in place.
Vega squinted at her new tattoo, furiously rubbing it with her other hand.
It wouldn’t budge.
The camera shifted, giving the spectators a better view of the marking.
Lyra gasped, connecting the dots before the rest of the tavern.
Their perspective switched to the Flaming Tomb duo. The camera swivelled around Amaya’s head. Clumps of magical ice still clung to the puppeteer’s face, but her hood had been burned to cinders. The ice began to melt, dripping murky water onto her neck and shoulders.
A gloved hand ripped the blue amulet from her neck, tossing it aside. The diamond looked far smaller than before and melted into a puddle the moment it hit the ground.
The remnants of ice melted with it, revealing the puppet master’s face for the first time.
Her red lipstick had smudged, Vega’s explosion had pushed the pigment onto her left cheek, past a river of scar tissue, and onto a metal plate above it.
Amaya had the mouth and jaw of a human being, and the right side of her face looked relatively normal too. She had a dark brown eye and half a head of wispy black hair above it.
But nobody’s gaze stayed there for long.
The entire left half of Amaya’s head was made of sleek brushed metal. It curved around her skull, and was spotless other than a few slight scorch marks. There was a socket where her left eye would be. Inside it sat a red flaming sphere with a jet black pupil in the centre.
The pupil rapidly darted around the newbie arena, not lingering anywhere for more than a half-second.
It stopped.
Amaya raised her index finger. It followed her flaming eyeball’s line of sight.
Directly towards her opponent.
A glowing red line extended from her finger.
Directly towards her opponent.
Amaya turned towards her partner and smiled. Ezekiel slumped against his sword, which now only had one rune painted on it. He didn’t have a magic necklace to protect him against the blast, so his face had several new scars laced across it.
Still, he too managed a smile.
Both members of the Flaming Tomb Alliance let out a deep, heaving sigh.
Jay thought they almost looked…
Relieved?