Chapter 69: Remember The Name

News Around The World

Umbra: Heroes or Villains?

Camelot, King Arthur, And Excalibur: The Untold History Of Lucius Artorius Castus

These Five Secrets Will Make You Stronger Than Thomas Everett In No Time

Before And After Pictures Of Major Landmarks Around Earth

UN, Canadian, And US Diplomatic Teams Sent To The Major Xothican City Skysign

VVVVVV

Everyone poured out of the Guild to watch the fight that would take place between the third-ranked group and one Human. The snow fall finally stopped, but the sky was still covered in clouds. The ruckus from the Guild had gained the attention of many of the nearby Skysign residents who had gone inside for the night. Some opened their windows to see the events outside. Others had joined the Adventurers around the arena.

Tom stood at one side of the courtyard and the third-rankers stood at the other side. Tom had his khanda sword equipped in his right had. The third-rankers were equipped with all of their gear. They all wore different types of leather armour except for the Knight and the Lone Swordsman. The Knight wore black steel plate armour and a horned helmet. The Lone Swordsman wore fabric clothing with a steel breast plate, shin guards, and gauntlets.

The Barbarian was equipped with a warhammer with a rectangle-shaped head with spikes that came out from one side. It didn't had the telescopic feature that Vivian's warhammer had, but the head was much bigger. The Hunter was armed with a bow made with dark Ent wood.

The Knight held an arrowhead-shaped shield in his right hand and a spiked mace in his left. The Duelist had a straight-edge dagger in each hand. Their leader, the Lone Swordsman, made practice swings with his long sword made from Orichalcum.

Jules, the cat Beastkin clerk, swept off a layer of snow that had had gathered on top of a podium. She angrily grumbled as she did due to her exposed legs in the knee-high snow. Jules held onto her blanket tighter.

The people around the arena courtyard loudly talked. Many of the Adventurers had their food and drinks in their hands. Some of the spectators set up betting pools for the match. Through the yelling, it could be heard that the betting pool was in the gold coins range.

Jules activated the arena through the podium. The stone pillars at each corner of the arena suddenly lit up. Runes glowed in blue light on the sides. Balls of white light appeared above each pillar. These light orbs lit up the area. These lights got more attention from the local population and more civilians showed up.

With the pillars glowing, a transparent blue wall grew from the ground and created a dome over the arena. The barrier became invisible once it fully constructed over the arena.

"I'll go over the rules for the newcomer," Jules announced.

Tom looked in her direction to listen to her instructions.

"Each of you have a special shield around you that represents your resistances, armour, and Health. Just a warning, you will still feel pain. Once your shield vanishes, you will be immediately ejected from the arena. If you leave the arena for any reason, you will lose. A magical barrier has been erected to prevent any magical skills or projectiles from leaving the arena so don't be afraid to go all out. Do any of you have anything to say to one another before the match begins?"

Tom was fascinated by the complexity of the arena for having these abilities. He assumed the only reason why they haven't applied these abilities on the battlefield was because the giant stone pillars were required to focus this complex level of magic.

"You still have a chance to admit your wrong-doing," the Lone Swordsman said to Tom. "And explain how you fooled the orb."

Tom just went into a defensive stance as a response.

"I didn't expect someone with a glass-faced helmet to be smart enough to take the right path."

"This isn't glass," Tom said as he tapped on his helmet. "Transparent aluminum. Very tough."

"You sure you don't want your friends to join in?" the Barbarian asked. "I'd almost feel bad for beating you too fast."

Tom laughed. "I'll admit that each of my companions are stronger than me. But any one of them could easily take you all on. I figure that it would more fair for you if it's just me to take you all on."

"Cocky bastard," the Knight sneered. "We gave you many opportunities to walk away. Don't go and cry once this is all over, boy."

"Are both sides ready, then?" Jules asked.

"We're ready," the Lone Swordsman replied.

"I'm ready," Tom followed.

"Kick their butts!" Reia yelled out.

"Whoo!" Sylmae cheered.

"I put money on you, Tom!" Vivian bellowed. "Make me rich!"

"On my say, the match will begin!" Jules announced. "Three... Two... One... Go!"

"I'll take you down in one attack!" the Barbarian roared as he charged forward past his companions.

The Barbarian swung his warhammer upwards to prep for a downwards slam. He launched into the air and bellowed as he swung his hammer down towards the still motionless Tom. In an instance, Tom's hand appeared above him as he caught the hammer by the head. The Barbarian's attack was stopped and the force of the air carried by it caused the snow around Tom's feet to fly up.

"Wh-What the-?" the Barbarian muttered as his feet touched the ground.

The hammer continued to press downwards. Tom held the weapon in place with little effort. He then swung the hammer and lifted the Barbarian off of his feet. Tom slammed the Barbarian into the ground.

The Barbarian grunted from the sudden impact. The sword in Tom's hand vanished back into his Inventory. Tom released his hold on the hammer and kicked the Barbarian into the air. He followed up by a series of punches to his torso. Tom then slammed both of his fists into the Barbarian's chest and sent him flying past his companions. He went out of the barrier and rolled across the ground. The Orc Barbarian clenched his chest and rolled around while he groaned in pain.

The Orc's party looked at him and then back at Tom. A brief smirk came across him face before he said, "I'd suggest coming at me all at once."

"Bastard!" the Knight screamed. "Shield Wall!"

The Knight's shield glowed with runes. He charged forward with the Lone Swordsman, Hunter, and Duelist behind him.

"Invisibility!" both the Hunter and Duelist yelled.

The two Dwarves turned invisible but their imprints in the snow remained. Tom saw two empty trenches move to the sides.

"A-Are you actually kidding me?" Tom muttered in surprise at the Dwarves unawareness of their snow imprints.

Their strategy have been sound on most terrains. Have the Knight as the distraction while the Hunter and Duelist flank from the sides with the Lone Swordsman to unleash a finishing blow. With the snow on the ground, Tom could see through their plans and figured out a counter right away.

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Tom unleashed a Fireball at the ground in front of the Knight. The explosion stopped the Knight's advance. The Lone Swordsman caught the Knight from behind to help keep his balance. In the confusion, Tom charged towards the Duelist.

"What?!" the Duelist yelled in surprise.

"I can still see you!" Tom said as he punched him in the face.

Tom took out his sword and slashed at both of his hands to make him drop his daggers. An arrow flew by Tom's side to remind him of the Hunter. Tom quickly placed his sword away and grabbed the Duelist by the collar. He spun around and used the Duelist as a shield against the arrows.

The Duelist grunted every time an arrow hit him.

"Stop with the arrows, you moron!" he yelled.

"Sonuva!" the Hunter growled as Tom tackled into him with the Duelist.

Tom unleashed a Lightning Strike directly in the Hunter's face making him go blind at the same time from the bright light. The Duelist fell to the ground and Tom jumped back. He pulled out his sword again and charged a Fireball into it. Tom cried out as he swung his sword and launched a Surge Strike at the two.

The attack blew the two opponents through the magical barrier and nearly caused them to land into the spectators. Tom turned to the last two opponents, the Knight and Lone Swordsman.

"Bastard is fast!" the Knight said to the Swordsman.

The Swordsman kept a hand on the Knight's shoulder to keep him as a defensive wall.

"He's a Magic Blade," the Swordsman said. "Use Anti-Magic Shield for us to get in close."

"Anti-Magic Shield!"

New glyphs appeared on the shield. The Knight and Swordsman moved forward again. Curious at the new skill, Tom decided to test out how durable it is. He launched a Lightning Strike at the shield. The attack did make the shield jerk back slightly, the majority of the magic was dispelled by the glyphs.

'That's pretty cool,' Tom thought. 'Time for a new strategy.'

Tom fired off a Fireball towards the Knight. As he did with the Lightning Strike, the Knight raised his shield to block his face and body. Tom used his Nonchalant skill to pick up a hand-full of snow at the same time as he launched his Fireball.

Tom balled the snow and threw it a few seconds after the Fireball. With the fire gone, the Knight lowered his shield only to receive a snowball through his grated helmet face.

"Ah, fuck!" the Knight cried out.

Some of the snow got through the grates and blinded the Knight. The Knight, out of instinct, dropped his shield and mace to take his helmet off so he could clean his face.

"What are you doing, you idiot?!" the Swordsman yelled.

"I can't see!"

Taking the opportunity, Tom charged forward and grabbed the Knight's shield. He then held the shield with both hands and slammed it down on the Knight's head. As the Knight fell to the ground, Tom fired a Fireball towards the Swordsman. The Swordsman jumped backwards into the air to avoid the attack.

Tom grabbed the Knight by his right wrist and ankle and twirled around.

"And away you go!" he said as he released him.

The Knight flew out of the magic barrier and landed within the crowd.

"You think you can defeat all of us just by throwing us all out?!" the Swordsman yelled.

"Well, it has worked for eighty percent of your team so far," Tom said.

"Fight me like a man," he roared as he got into a combat stance.

Tom rolled his eyes sighed. He decided to humour the man and took his sword out of his Inventory. Tom raised his left hand and gestured for him to come at him. The Swordsman charged forward with his sword to his side. Tom casually walked forward and then went into a jog.

The Swordsman roared as he swung his blade. Tom blocked the attack to the side. The Swordsman pulled back the blade and attacked from a different angle. Tom again blocked the attack to his opponent's frustration.

"Swift Strikes!"

The Swordsman's attacks suddenly became fast which made Tom put in more effort to block his attacks. The attacks became so fast that, to the low-level observers of the match, the Swordsman's arms were a blur. Despite his speed of attacks, Tom was still able to block them without backing up by an inch.

"Having trouble breaking through my attacks, Human?" the Swordsman said with a sneer. "So long as I have this Orichalcum sword, no one can beat me."

Tom and the Swordsman clashed blades and held them against each other. The clouds above started to part which revealed many holes to the night sky. One hole allowed one of Xearth's moons to shine through. The moon light shone upon Tom and the Swordsman which caused Tom's sword to glow blue. The glow was bright enough that it was still visible even with the arena lights shining in the area. The glow of the sword made everyone gasp in awe.

"M-Mythril!" the Swordsman gasped.

"Look man, having a good sword is great and all," Tom said. "But it's no substitute for your skills and abilities."

Tom then pushed the Swordsman back. He ran forward after him and slashed at his side as he ran by him. The Swordsman cried out in pain from the attack. Tom tilted himself towards the ground to quickly turn himself around. He attack his other side as he dashed by.

Tom charged a Lightning Strike into his sword and turned around. He swung his sword to unleash a massive Surge Strike at the Swordsman.

It was in that moment the Swordsman realized that the Human was playing them the whole match. He was a warrior who did everything he could to decrease the amount of time a battle took. Even without the constraints of the arena, this Human would have easily crushed them with his own abilities.

The Human wasn't a liar. The Swordsman smiled in acceptance as the attack engulfed him. While the shield around him decreased the pain to acceptable levels, it still hurt. The Swordsman fell to the ground in defeat. His body was then quickly and smoothly ejected from the Arena. The Surge Strike hit the magical barrier of the arena and then dissipated. The shield around the Swordsman flared and then blinked out.

The Swordsman laughed. "It was your match, Human! Well done!"

Tom placed his sword into his Inventory and walked over to him. Tom held out his hand to him. The Swordsman stared at it for a moment before he grabbed it to get himself off of the ground.

"I am Davileon Aseil," the Swordsman said. "I'm sorry for accusing you of being a fraud. You are a true warrior. That was a great match."

"Thomas Everett," Tom replied as they shook hands. "It was fun."

The crowd around the arena burst into cheer over the match. A sly look came across Vivian's face. She then started chanting.

"Tah-Mas! Tah-Mas! Tah-Mas!"

Syl, Tala, Amber, and Reia all joined in on the chant. Soon more people joined in on the chant. The name spread across the crowd until the whole area was chanting the name.

"Tah-Mas! Tah-Mas! Tah-Mas!"

"Drinks on me tonight!" Tom yelled out to everyone.

Another round of cheers came from the crowd. Tom saw the other members of Aseil's team on the sidelines with a look of respect on their faces. He gave them a nod. Tom's own companions rushed over to him and enveloped him in a group hug.

"You were awesome!" Reia said.

"You did so well," Tala said.

"You really understood the Guild culture," Vivian said. "The drinks were a nice touch. You won over a lot of people through that gesture alone."

Jules approached the group and said, "the Guild Master wishes to speak with you all."

"Oh, thank you," Sylmae said to her. "We'll go to her at once."

"Oh, one thing," Tom said. He pulled out four gold coins and handed them to Jules. "This should cover drinks for the night. Thank you for overseeing this match. Especially in this crummy weather. The left over money can go to the workers of the Guild as tip."

"Oh, ah, thank you," Jules sputtered out. She clenched the coins within her hands. "I'll make sure it goes to everyone."

Jules ran off back into the Guild.

"We shouldn't keep the GM waiting while you flirt, Thomas," Vivian said.

"I wasn't-"

"Come on, lover boy," Amber giggled.

The girls dragged Tom into the Guild to the applause and whistles of the occupants. They guided him up the stairs and towards the office of the GM. On the door was a shiny bronze name plate.

Skysign Guild Master

Nike Lazael

Tom knocked on the door a couple times.

"Come in," she said.

They entered the office. The GM's office, similar to the Governor's office, had a desk with a window behind it. Bookcases covered the right wall and drawers covered the left wall. In the center of the office was a coffee table with a couch in front of it and two chairs to the sides.

"Please take a seat," Nike said.

Nike was a Naga woman dressed in a business suit like her clerk girls. Judging by the lines around her eyes, she was in her late forties to early fifties. Her skin was dark purple and her crimson hair was tied into a bun. Through Identify, Tom saw that she was a level fifty-eight Paladin. Paladin was the next job a Knight can get once they reached level fifty.

Despite her current position as a master of a Guild branch, Tom could tell that this woman could ruin anyone's day who would dare cross her. Her face was serene but intense. As Tom's group sat on the chairs, Nike walked around her desk with the Proofs in hand. She sat down across from them.

"I suppose congratulations are in order for that match you had with the Silver Wolves," she said. "They are one of the strongest groups we have at this Guild. They can be pig-headed at times, but they are decent people. An additional thanks for paying for everyone's drinks. The revenue we bring in here helps provide additional support to our Adventurers."

Nike placed the two skulls on the table.

"We verified these two Proofs of Death. They are the real deal. Even without our devices, I knew... I've seen Mordiggian once in my life. Back when I was a young soldier during the last war. I still have nightmares about that day. It was like Death itself was on the battlefield. I lost many good friends to him. To see that abomination reduced to this..." She chuckled as she gestured towards the skull. "It really takes a burden off my soul. But to also see the skull of one of Hastur's spawn... makes feel me a joy that a thousand mugs of mead could never bring me. I get the feeling I don't need to warn you what it means for you when you killed these two."

"We know," Sylmae replied. "We've had the Governor and the Blacksmith Jux tell us as much."

"I figured as much." Nike took in a breath and sighed. "You know, I've heard whispers of your kind, Everett."

"Have you?" Tom said.

"Even beyond the last two weeks. It was fairly sudden, but our information network came across a word that the Demons suddenly started referencing. Repeating. Human. We didn't know what a Human was. Were they a country? A new resistance group? I wasn't expecting a different race. Where is your race from? Misakeh?"

Tom checked his watch and noticed that they still had time in the day.

"If you have the time, I can tell you the whole story," he said.

"Please do, Mister Everett," Nike said.

"This week in Tales of Interest," Vi jokingly said under her breath.