Chapter 280: Gladiator Tournament Begins
> “Ladies and Gentlemen, gamers and watchers,” A VGN Broadcaster began speaking proudly as he stood in his studio, behind him a wide shot of the gladiator arena within Tarolas. “Dwarves, Elves, Lizardfolk, demihumans, and humans alike have all gathered in masses to witness this monumental event.” He motioned to the screen more clearly, “Representatives from all of the strongest guilds, biggest streamers, and every island have come together to compete, with the unified goal of putting a stop to the Sword of Hatred’s reign of terror…”
As the caster continued to babble on, Nicholas waved his fingers to take it off of his screen. He was sitting inside his own office simulation with dozens of livestream feeds on display ahead of him, while his ear implant was glowing green.
“How’re we looking?” He asked into his implant, talking to Mike on the other side of his call.
> “All hands on deck. System engineers and maintenance are on standby in case anything goes wrong, with this many players on one island with so much attention, it’s gonna be rough but we should manage.” Mike replied confidently.
“Good,” Nicholas replied, then took a deep breath as he eyed a numbered graph on the top right most screen of his multiple displays. The number showed the collective viewership of all live stream broadcasts coming from The Shattered World Online, and below that number was how many concurrent users were logged in. Both numbers were staggeringly high, and had ‘New Record!’ in a small font next to them. “Good…” He mumbled a second time to himself, much more worriedly.
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Aegis, Lina, Darkshot, Rakkan, Hae-won, and Pyri stepped out of a large pair of wooden doors reinforced with iron. The doors lead into the gladiator arena, where loud cheers were still roaring along with Yumily’s performance, which she was quickly wrapping up.
“Thank you all for coming and your warm welcome. Remember, we mustn’t spread hatred! I’ll continue to sing along as the tournament goes on to keep the spirits up, but it’s time now for me to introduce all of the competitors participating in the tournament, as the opening ceremony for the 39th monthly Gladiator tournament is about to begin!” Yumily called out with enthusiasm, her demeanor having completely shifted from how it was just minutes ago.
Aegis didn’t pay much mind to what Yumily was doing, though, and instead turned to Hae-won as she followed behind the group.
“Where’s Ysil?”
“She’s flying around the skies up there, like you told me to tell her to do.” Hae-won replied matter-of-factly.
“Okay, good.” Aegis nodded. “Incase that other dragon comes back, we’re going to need her help.”
“You really think that abyss dragon’s gonna come back?” Darkshot asked him worriedly. “Winning a 5v5 is hard enough as it is…”
“Once a match starts, nothing can enter or exit the arena, so we don’t need to worry about something like that.” Lina explained.
“It’s not our match I’m worried about.” Aegis replied as the group continued to walk slowly forward. To his left and right, other doors into the arena had opened, and the other teams of 5 competitors were all walking out towards the center just as Aegis’ group was. “We don’t know what Avatar of Hatred abilities he unlocked when he killed the Great Prophet of Zeus, so we need to do our best to disable his power. Him having the dragon start burning down the city while we’re fighting would make that difficult.”
“Oh, yeah. Right, good point.” Darkshot nodded while Darkwing cooed in agreement from atop his shoulder.
“Well, you guys just need to focus on putting on a good performance, and I’ll handle our public image. I was born for stuff like this.” Hae-won smirked ear-to-ear as she walked proudly behind the five. “By the time this tournament is over, you’ll definitely be the number one streamer.”
As she said this, Aegis turned to look at her, and she responded with a wink which Aegis couldn’t help but smile slightly at.
“Only if we stop Seraxus, though.”
“Whaddya mean? You’re gonna stop him, right? You’ve got a plan, don’t you?” Hae-won raised her eyebrows at him. Aegis responded not by words, but by looking away from her and taking a deep anxious breath. “Right?!” Hae-won said louder, but still got no response.
“Our biggest challenge is going to be holding back hatred for him.” Aegis said while turning to look at Rakkan, and Rakkan immediately knew what Aegis meant.
“Imma try.” Rakkan nodded back.
“Don’t worry, whatever happens, we’re going to get through it together, okay?” Pyri tried to reassure them all. “Tournaments, under normal circumstances, are actually really fun. Structured PvP with even teams brings out some really exciting and interesting tactics and playstyles, usually consisting of strange skill combinations and interactions that you would’ve never thought of before.” She said cheerfully as they stopped walking forward due to a blue wall appearing in front of them, then surrounding them in a box of blue light signifying they’d arrived at their position in the arena for the opening ceremony. “It’s just a shame how much of a problem that sword is. Turns all the fun into mounting pressure.” Pyri shrugged as if it was not as big of a deal as she implied it to be.
“Our first competitor, hailing from the Island of Puagas - the previous winner of all tournaments in recent history…” Yumily’s voice rose up louder, to quiet down the sounds of the audience's chatter and cheers. It worked quickly, so that very soon it was only her that was making audible noise within the large arena. “Seraxus.” Yumily announced with very clearly forced enthusiasm.
Despite all that had happened, though, cheers still erupted from the stands for him, surprising Aegis.
“WE HATE YOU SERAXUS!”
“YEAH, GO DIE! Hahaha!” The audience members shouted hateful comments, but in jest. Some roared at them with anger, others with pure sarcasm.
“Ahaha!” Seraxus laughed loudly as he spun around to look at them. “Thanks guys, thanks. I appreciate all the hatred. No need to force yourselves, though, I know you all actually love me. I’ll get all the hatred I need from these clowns.” Seraxus motioned towards the other 15 teams standing around the arena, all in their respective blue boxes of light.
“Hailing from Lanusk, one of two teams to represent the guild The Vindicators, they are competing in the gladiator tournament for the very first time. Please give a warm welcome for Starcry!” Yumily cheered as she motioned to a beautiful, tall female demi-human with pointed orange fox ears protruding out of her long black hair. She stood wearing Vindicator garbs, as did the 4 team members that stood behind her. Once she heard her name, she smiled and politely bowed as the stands erupted in cheers, revealing just how many vindicators and their fans were in the audience.
“That’s the Vindicator’s second string team, right?” Darkshot asked to confirm.
“Yes, that’s not Feng’s group. They are also on the other side of the bracket, though.” Lina replied as she pointed upwards to a very hard to see, angled transparent display floating above the center of the arena. The display was made in a way for audience members to easily view it from the stands, thus forcing Aegis and the others to crane their necks to look at it properly.
As the cheers died down and Yumily continued down the line in her announcements, Aegis checked the bracket more closely once again. He’d already looked at it carefully during the flight from Kalmoore to Tarolas, but having their first match being so immediate made him want to remind himself which opponents they’d potentially need to look out for.
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“We’re on the right side of the bracket with 8 other teams. First we face the German guild, Schadenfreude. You said you know them, right?” Aegis turned to Rakkan.
“Yeah. It’s been awhile though. I don’t know what it'll be like to face them, but I know that their leader Mikael won’t have his advanced class yet, since he needs to beat Seraxus for it.”
“Maybe he’ll just forfeit so we can do that for him?” Darkshot suggested.
“Doubt it.” Rakkan replied quickly. “They’re the only ones in this tournament that I can guarantee are as serious about stopping Seraxus as we are. And they don’t get to this final round of the tournament every month for nothing - they’re really good at PvP.”
“Great…” Pyri rubbed her hands together excitedly. “Best of 5 format, right?”
“Right.” Lina nodded back at her, catching some of her excitement while Aegis turned to his left and saw Mikael, Mightymira, Jeremax and two other Schadenfreude members standing there, staring back at them with emotionless faces.
As this exchange happened, Yumily continued to go around the arena introducing more teams one at a time.
“If we beat them…” Aegis broke eye contact to look back up at the bracket, “We’ll face the winner of the matches between Skar’s team, and Eerie’s team.” Aegis pointed at the neighboring match to theirs on the bracket. Once he had, he started looking around the arena to spot these two teams. First, he’d spotted Eerie’s team wearing white tabards with a deep violet ghost on the front of it.
“Eerie’s team is good. They are also regulars. I’ve watched them before. They’ve fought Seraxus twice already in previous tournaments.” Lina explained.
“Do you watch these tournaments?” Aegis asked to confirm.
“Mhm.” Lina nodded.
“You don’t?” Darkshot asked him, but then remembered who he was talking to. “They’re pretty fun, outside of Seraxus’ matches which are always one-sided.” Darkshot shrugged.
“Skar’s a newcomer, though. One of the big VGN streamers in the top 25, from the Jungle island.”
“We’ll need to watch their match closely, then, so we’re ready for them once we get past our first round.” Aegis said, and the others nodded along while all turning to look at Skar’s team, standing opposite to Aegis’ in the arena with Yumily’s stage between them, somewhat obscuring their view.
“After that, if all goes well, our semifinals are most likely going to be them.” Hae-won joined in,pointing at Synopse’s team as they were just now being introduced by Yumily. “I don’t think anyone else on our side of the bracket will stop them, so it’ll be up to you guys. And if you beat Synopse, you’ll be in the finals, most likely against either Seraxus, or perhaps Feng, or Starcry, if they somehow manage to take out Seraxus.”
“If the vindicators on the other side of the bracket take out Seraxus before the finals, we’ve got no reason to be here… really…” Aegis shrugged as he looked at the standings once more. “Fighting two artifact weapon wielders back to back is gonna suck though.”
“Uhm. We might want to try to win the whole tournament, even if Seraxus loses early…” Lina replied to him while fidgeting with her interface.
“Why?”
“Look…” She quickly shared what she was looking at with the others. “The prize for winning first place lets you choose from a few rewards for your group. One of the prizes, which Seraxus has never taken, is that…” Lina pointed the itemcard out from a list that was hanging in front of the group, shared to all of them through the party interface.
Name: Soul Dust
Type: Crafting Material / Spell Reagent
Option 1: Improves Mana Regeneration
Option 2: Increases Magic Resistance
Option 3: Grants the wielder the passive ability [Soul Vision]
Quality: 75%
“Soul vision? What’s that?” Aegis asked curiously as he read the item card.
“Dunno, it’s not in the database.” Rakkan quickly answered as he’d run a search for it through his interface.
“Interesting…” Aegis pondered.
“But, you wouldn’t use it to craft, would you? That’s the reagent you need to revive NPCs.” Darkshot asked him curiously.
“Yeah… maybe. I was hoping to find a more readily available method to obtain the dust, but if it can only be earned like this, I might have to plan more carefully on how to use it.”
“Right.” Darkshot nodded in agreement.
“Guys, stop talking, pay attention…” Hae-won nudged them all violently and pointed up to Yumily, who was now looking over at them.
“And finally, hailing from my new home Island of Kalmoore,” Yumily smiled at Aegis’ group as she drew the attention of the entire audience towards them. Aegis and the others quickly did their best to straighten their backs and look presentable - save for Darkshot who suddenly knocked an arrow and crouched, pulling his hood up and aiming his arrow towards the audience.
“The hell are you doing?” Aegis whispered to him.
“Looking badass, obviously.” Darkshot replied, causing Lina and Pyri to giggle at him while Rakkan rolled his eyes.
“You look like an idiot.” Aegis sighed.
“I disagree, I'm a badass.” Darkshot replied confidently as he started shifting where he was pointing his arrow slowly, and Darkwing cooed excitedly from his shoulder.
“Aegis, the Harbinger of Light, and his party members Lina, Pyri, Darkshot and Rakkan!” Yumily cheered, and her cheer was followed by a joyous roar from the audience in the stands. Much to Aegis surprise, it was unquestionably the loudest cheer that the audience had mustered up until this point, dwarfing that of what Feng, Seraxus and Synopse got. This caused Makaroth and his fellow guild members, who sat silently in the stands, to glare down in Aegis’ direction. Their silence had no effect on how welcoming the crowd was to the Harbinger of Light, however.
“Oh this is gonna be great. They already love us.” Hae-won squealed with joy, only audible to Aegis and his group.
“And with that, we will begin with our first match of the tournament. All competitors, please return to your waiting arenas inside the arena where you will be able to view the current ongoing matches, until it is your turn to compete.” Yumily explained, turning her attention from Aegis’ group and back towards the audience. “The first teams competing, please remain in the arena as your match will begin shortly. Remember that the arena will reset to its original state at the beginning of every round, so don’t worry about holding back! And everyone in the audience, you’ll be perfectly safe - nothing can enter or exit the arena once a match has begun.” Yumily reassured them.
“That’s us, time to go.” Aegis shrugged as he turned to start heading back towards the door that they’d come from.
“Okay. Good luck guys. I’ll be broadcasting your matches live from the stands, using my very expensive staff. Put on a good show, and I’ll be your ultimate hype-woman. Got it?” Hae-won said, padding them all on the backs as they walked past her.
“Just don’t say anything weird, alright?” Aegis asked her worriedly.
“Psh. Me? Weird? Come on. Have more faith in your broadcaster! You know me!”
“That’s exactly why he said it.” Pyri gave her a look.
“Ehehe…” Hae-won grinned deviously. With these final words, they walked too far away to be able to speak without screaming, due to the loud cheers and chatter of the audience. One by one, each team left the arena, and Yumily’s group headed out as well as a blue wave of magical energy rolled over her stage and removed it completely from the battle field.
As Aegis’ party stepped through the door, it shut behind them with a loud bang leaving them in a darkened corridor lit only by dim torches that were bolted to the gray stone brick walls. The last glimpse they’d seen inside the arena was that of Hae-won struggling to climb up the walls of the arena to get up into the audience stands with the other on-lookers.
Aegis led the party down the corridor until it opened up into a small, square chamber decorated with multiple weapon racks, banners of various guilds within Tarolas, and several benches in the center. On one wall, though, were three video feeds from inside the arena, allowing it to be viewed from three separate angles. Aegis looked at them to ascertain that these displays were not of any livestream but something the game provided for contestants in waiting rooms.
“If it’s like this always, we’re pretty lucky that we’re going last. It lets us watch all of our opponents beforehand.” Aegis commented.
“It kinda wasn’t luck. We’re at the end of the bracket because we're the last to win our final preliminary. Sometimes, people time their preliminary match victories to control where in the bracket they get placed, so that they can dodge Seraxus and get to the finals.” Rakkan explained.
“Oh, that’s smart. That makes sense.” Pyri nodded as he explained, and their entire party moved to sit on benches and look toward the three screens on display.
“That also explains why Seraxus was in the first slot and is competing first,” Darkshot said as he pointed out the two teams of competitors who’d remained in the arena.
“Seraxus versus Starcry, the second string Vindicators.” Aegis clarified.