A rattling croak came from the bed next to him, and Sam almost jumped out of his bed. He looked over to see a human shaped wad of bandages glaring at him.
“You… you son of a bitch, Arbiter! You ruined my body!”
Sam realized that it was Rodney Kane.
“Ah, how the mighty have fallen, eh? Why don’t you check the leaderboards now, Number 2? Or should I say, Number 3?” Sam wasn't actually sure if he had passed the man on the leaderboards, but the screech of rage that Rodney let out a moment later told him everything that he needed to know. Sam laughed and went back to watching the show. The next fight was starting, and Sam’s heart skipped a beat as he saw who was fighting.
Lao walked purposefully up onto the arena sands, next to Andrew Munro. The man walked shakily and his limbs seemed disjointed in some way. Sam shivered. It was like watching one of those exorcism movies. The way that he moved was almost exactly the same. As the two men squared off, Andrew laughed, in a strange, almost metallic way. It sounded like his voice was echoing through layers of metal, and Sam could have sworn that he saw a flash of silver in one of his eyes. Lao tilted his head, inspecting Munro.
“You are unnatural, something that should not be here. What happened to you, Andrew?” Lao asked. The only reply that he received was a hiss. Sam was wondering the same thing himself, and hopefully this fight would show him what was going on with the man.
As the match began, Munro summoned a large knife to his hand, and his unearthly metallic armor spread across his body, turning him into a chrome colored mannequin. He threw the knife and pushed towards it with his hands, aiming at a large knob of metal on the end. The knife accelerated and turned into a blur as it moved towards Lao.
The older man squinted at the weapon and leaped to the side at the last moment. That had been the right move, as the knife twisted desperately at the last minute in an attempt to catch him. If he had moved earlier, then it would have been able to strike him. Instead, he reached out and grabbed at the knife, but it dissolved into a cloud of silvery mist that rushed back towards Munro.
The man cackled and ran forwards, creating gauntlets of layered metal on his fists. Large spikes formed on the ends of them, and as he neared Lao, he punched out with it. The spikes shot off towards the other man, and he raised his hand, creating a shield of energy in front of him. As the spikes hit home, ghostly copies of them raced back the other way, heading towards Andrew. They glanced off his armor, leaving small dents. This caused the man to pause and look at Lao again. That had not been a move that he, nor anyone else for that matter, had seen before. It must have been something that Lao had created recently.
“Reciprocity is an interesting thing. It can be used for both good and bad purposes, only depending on who uses it.”
This cryptic comment solidified the image that Sam had in his head of what that technique had been. The man had used his Dao to create an equal and opposite reaction with Andrew’s attack, literally paying him back for what he had done. That was a form of reciprocity that was markedly different from what it was normally seen as.
Sam smiled at the resourcefulness of the man, and was glad that he had cultivated a deep friendship with him. No matter the outcome of the tournament, he would have gained two strong and stalwart allies in his crusade. Sam envisioned the future, and a vague image of him and his closest allies laying siege to Tantalos’ headquarters, wherever they were. This entire thing, growing stronger and progressing, while under the control of Tantalos, made him feel like a rat running in a cage, rather than the freedom that he should have felt. The next hundred years may well be the last that he ever had, so he resolved to make them count, not only in the vain hope of salvation, but also to spit in the face of Tantalos one last time before he died. The worst thing was that the gray bastard probably wouldn't even remember this universe after a while, having moved on to new hunting grounds.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
He watched the battle as he contemplated his future, inwardly cheering every time that Lao landed a hit. The older man was surprisingly enough, fighting on an almost equal playing field with Munro, despite the gulf in levels between them. His Dao was making all the difference in this match, and as it was quite a powerful one, he was using to to great effect. Each of his fists were covered in a layer of blue light, which had an interesting effect when it struck Munro. The man was struck by multiple attacks in the span of one, his body jerking as invisible fists came from all directions. It looked as if Lao was creating a feedback loop with his concept, amplifying the effects of his attacks by creating a cycle of reciprocity with the universe every time that he landed one. It was an ingenious move, and one that seemed to be taking a toll on Lao’s body. Every time that one of his punches landed, he jerked a little bit, as if he was feeling the effects too. The universe would not just allow a complete violation of causality after all.
It was much less damage than Munro was taking, but Lao was quite fragile in comparison to the man, having invested heavily into his mental stats. Munro on the other hand was more like a juggernaut, especially due to his armor. However, he lacked the certain weight of character and presence that people like Rodney Kane, the Overlord and even Sam possessed. It was as if his build was not intended for fighting, but it could easily be repurposed for that. The man was a mystery, and one that Sam fully intended to solve. He could potentially cause problems later on, especially if he continued to fight alongside Rodney Kane.
Sam, despite his Dao’s relation to justice, briefly felt an urge to kill Rodney as he lay in the bed next to him. He quickly quashed the notion, knowing that it would be an evil act, no matter what the other man had done, but the scary thing was that before that reason came to mind, another came as well. He did not want to be punished by the System for his transgressions. That fact made him wonder just how all encompassing the Dao was. If it was truly an incarnation of his path, then why did it not control his every thought and move? He shook his head, and continued to watch the match. He had time to ponder these existential truths later on, for now he wanted to get a profile of the fighters’ new abilities. He would possibly have to fight these men later on, depending on how the tournament progressed. Sam was not looking forward to the prospect of fighting Lao, but he knew that if it was necessary, for the sake of their collective future, he would do it.
After a few minutes of Lao pounding Munro with his fists, Sam noticed something disturbing. Each time that the man’s fist connected, a tiny flash of light sparked off the suit of armor, and then vanished. A small amount of power sunk into the armor, being stored there for a later purpose. As Lao prepared to punch again, Munro raised his arms and banished his armor from most of his body, condensing it into a crystalline piece of metal that was directly in the path of Lao’s fist. The older man’s eyes widened, but he lacked the strength to halt his blow and it connected.
There was a flare of bright light, and an expanding dome of kinetic power exploded out of the impact zone, tossing Lao across the arena and into the wall. Munro staggered out of the cloud of smoke, a few cuts on his body but otherwise alright. Lao on the other hand was not in such good condition. The fist that had connected with the man’s armor was completely shattered, and the skin around it had been vaporized. Lao’s face was creased with pain, even more creased than normal, and he shakily got to his feet, cradling his arm. Lao raised his fist, and small streams of energy wafted down from the stands, and out of Sam’s body. He noticed that a good deal more was coming from him than any other individual, showing that this was another use of the man’s Dao.
His hand started to knit back together, but the energy cut off after the bleeding had stopped, leaving Lao with a useless stump.Munro walked forwards, his face oddly blank, and drew a sword out of the air, imbuing it with a silvery energy. The blade glowed brightly as he swung it, and where it passed through, small blades of metal formed before streaking towards Lao.
He raised his good arm and summoned a Dao shield, causing most of the attacks to glance off. However, one of them made its way through, cracking the blue shield. Lao let out a cry as his command over his Dao was severed, and the knife sank into his chest. With one last expulsion of Dao, Lao pointed his hand at Munro, causing the man to double over in pain as a phantom knife dug into his chest. Then Lao vanished, having lost the fight.