Chapter 217: Worthy Opponents
Emma made sure to remain perfectly still, even as the floor began to move beneath her. Instead of the teleportation she’d been expecting, the raised segments of the arena were lowering themselves down to ground level, while the surface smoothed out at a forty-five degree angle, creating an impromptu slide towards the middle of the room. She didn’t have a great field of view, but it wasn’t worth the risk of disrupting her stealth just for a sneak peek, not when she lacked any ranged weaponry to really take advantage of what she saw. Not everybody had that problem, as the odd gunshot rang out, though by the sound of it they only managed to hit metal, bouncing off the sloped floor off to who knows where.
Aim probably isn’t great when rolling down a slope, not with the weapons available for this event.
Emma held her crowbar tight, having failed to find anything better through what was a fairly stingy event. It wasn’t bad, strictly speaking, but the absence of magic made it rather lackluster compared to her recent battles.
[Felix didn’t want to go too crazy for what was only a test event. Packet injection issues aside, I expect this format to be the norm going forward as well. He could use more modern weapons, but then the fights don’t last long enough, since modern firepower is a lot better than modern armour without magic to balance things out. Too much magic would defeat the purpose, which is to have an event more reliant on physical attributes; a rare novelty in the Empire.]
Another gunshot rang out, and this time coinciding with a strangled scream and her slip and slide adventure coming to a halt. Emma could only see the final arena through her mini-map, which indicated an area no larger than the typical warehouse interior, finally bringing the aesthetics of the arena down to a realistic size.
Couldn’t hear anything being brought back up, so probably a flat arena for the final round? Felix never did like games of hide and seek.
Emma had been dropped near the centre of the arena, empty save for herself, as everyone else was too busy fighting each other to pay any attention to an empty patch of land. That didn’t mean she was entirely safe, as the odd bullet whizzed by at the beginning, thankfully not hitting her before they were quickly phased out, as people drew too close to each other and switched to the clashing of blades instead. Anybody who made it this far was going to be skilled, and Emma had no idea who was who, so the best she could do was wait for a target of opportunity. Another scream, then two, then three, and still Emma waited, until finally someone’s ankle came just a little too close for comfort.
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Her crowbar didn’t do much damage, not with the limited leverage she had from the floor. That would have been an exercise in futility, so instead Emma used it for a far more practical purpose, tripping her opponent by holding it just behind his boot.
That broke Emma’s stealth, so she was free to turn upward, seeing a stocky man falling comically onto his back next to her, something his opponent immediately capitalised on, spearing him in the forehead.
[Finality: This spear’s tip bypasses non-living targets.]
As the downed man breathed his last, one final announcement rang out across the arena.
“Only five contestants remain! From this point onward, the arena will slowly shrink until the last man standing!”
Emma was reminded of the Manton Effect as she brought her crowbar up alongside her, attempting another low blow that forced her opponent to backpedal. She stepped to the left of his retaliatory stab, since blocking it was impossible; before he proved skilled enough to turn it into a sideswipe, wielding the heavy wooden staff like a bludgeon. Emma caught this follow-up using her crowbar, because the enchantment in place only accepted the metal tip and not the rest of the spear. That didn’t make it easy though, as her opponent had an edge in strength and leverage, forcing her back a step with his two-handed swing. Emma tried to replicate her success against Dione with another throat punch, but her new foe was also used to fighting with his whole body, snapping out a quick kick that made her back off, aborting her attack instead of exchanging injuries.
“Looks like all the weaklings are gone,” Emma laughed, settling back into a one handed grip of her crowbar as they eyed each other up.
Her opponent wasn’t much to look at, wearing a grey floor-length hoodie and a balaclava, rounding it off with a pair of sneakers straight out of a Sports Direct box, but he held his spear with the ease of many long hours of practice. He gave no verbal reply, instead snapping three rapid signs with his free hand, ending on a picture perfect salute.
[Worthy opponents are to be treasured, he says, in Imperial Battle Sign. This one has combat experience beyond just waving his wand around.]
Emma nodded, already prepared for a drawn out battle against a difficult opponent; not the worst thing in the world, except for the fact that this left three combatants unaccounted for, and she couldn’t spare the attention to monitor the wider arena.
“Let’s take this closer to the edge, so we can’t be attacked from behind.”
He tilted his head, before nodding, leaping back fearlessly to land not far from the glowing red barrier that marked the end zone, gradually creeping inward at a glacial pace. Emma didn’t follow him the same way, being too familiar with the end of the Prequel Trilogy to risk an unfriendly welcome, instead approaching at a sedate walk, until they were both face to face once more, ten feet and change apart. They stared at each-other, neither keen to make the first move, until someone else took the choice out of their hands.
“I’ve had enough of this! Burn!”