An internal note from the The Emerald Sword, Mercenary Group of the 8th Wave

A: You agreed to let the boss go?

B: Why not? He's got power, he knows how to handle himself, and he'll kick that Qual'Fan's ass around without killing him.

A: I mean you're not wrong but damn ... is the client really paying enough for that kind of service?

The light fades away and I rub my eyes, looking around me while ignoring the dark spots that dance across my vision. It takes a few seconds but I’m able to get a decent picture of where I’ve been taken.

Instead of some manufactured setting like the urban area of the last round, this time I seem to have been placed down in the middle of what appears to be a giant arena. Long benches spread around me for hundreds upon hundreds of feet, building upon each other in ever-expanding layers that rise beyond where I can see.

Vicious, angry looking beings scream down at me from their seats. Their words are completely drowned out in the cacophony of sound, but it doesn’t take an expert to understand the meaning behind them; these people want blood and they want it now. I look around at the thousands upon thousands of gathered watchers and I can’t help but feel disgusted. Is this truly all that can unite the people of Genesis? Is battle the only thing that can truly bridge the divide between races?

Disgusted with them, I turn my back and ignore the boos that seem to follow. In a way, I feel better. These are the type of people that I cannot stand, and I would rather have them hate me. If even a single one of them enjoys this less because of my decision, I would end this fight happy.

Of course, that isn’t the reason that I’m here. Floating gently through the air a few hundred feet above me, I see Linus looking around and waving at all the spectators. It’s obvious that he has done this before; each little wave, innocuous wink, and pointing finger in recognition is done in absolute perfection. Like a maestro at the conductor’s podium, he works the crowds up into a feverish pitch in only a few moments.

He begins to speak and his voice booms from all directions, carrying itself to every ear in the arena. Gesturing with comic intensity, he says, “Well, they may be one of the last to fight but they certainly aren’t the weakest. Patrons of the Iron Arena, I give you … the Primus Battle of Earth!” His hand flies out and points towards me.

Spotlights flare into existence and weave around the flat arena floor before landing upon me and Astrid. For the first time since our transport, I’m able to see her. Roughly 300 hundred feet away, she glares up at the spectators and even flips one of them the middle finger, making me chuckle slightly. We may not agree on everything, but I can’t say I don’t like her. She is realistic, has a sense of humor, and, if my Combat Rank isn’t mistaken, has the power to actually defend Earth.

I think I would better serve Earth, but Astrid is an extremely close second.

“Remember Patrons, as always, we do not give away any information of the Candidates before the match begins. This protects them, should they decide to keep anything hidden.” He winks. “It also helps keep the betting more fun.”

He drifts down towards us until he’s floating just a foot above the arena floor. Looking over at me, and glancing towards Astrid, he whispers, “Look, I want a good fight here. Make it last more than five minutes and I’ll throw in something for the winner. Under? You get nothing. Let’s keep it good, all right?”

Before either of us can answer, he flies back up above and yells, “And now, for your viewing entertainment, the Primus Battle of the planet Earth!”

Two loud explosions sound off above us as the spotlights disappear and the stage around us is cast into near complete darkness. The sounds of the blood thirsty patrons disappear and the thing I can hear is the steady flow of my own breathing as I sink into Effortless Presence.

Astrid’s voice cuts through the darkness in front of me, sounding slightly echo-like, “Cael, I’m giving you one last chance to surrender. I’m someone who only fights when I’m trying to kill someone, and I would prefer you didn’t die today.”

I kneel on the ground and use Sound Mana to move my voice so that it appears to originate nearly twenty feet to my right. “Sorry Astrid, I’m not willing to quit that easily.”

As soon as I finish speaking, a monstrous burst of lightning rips through the space that the voice originated from. The light cast from the strike illuminates the battlefield and I see Astrid holding her spear above her head, as thin streaks of lightning flaring up and down it. Her eyes seem to glow with an electric vibrancy and they meet mine as she leaps forward and begins sprinting towards me.

The darkness settles back onto the stage and I slam my hand down upon the floor. A quick burst of Earth Mana causes four separate pillars of stone to rise up. The first appears in front of me, flanked by two identical pillars ten feet away on either side. A fourth, and final pillar, appears twenty feet behind me. Ignoring all of them, I sprint to the side and begin releasing floods of Sound Mana, using the principles of echolocation to understand my surroundings.

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The miniscule pieces of Sound Mana return with an interesting picture. Charging ahead despite the darkness, Astrid rushes toward my last known location as I dash to the far right. Unfortunately, I’m only able to pinpoint her location as a void within the mental image. All the Sound Mana that comes into contact with her seem to instantly combust.

Despite this visual handicap, I’m able to see her, visually, as she leaps into the air and brings her spear down on where she had seen me. Or, to put it more accurately, bring it down upon the pillar that I had risen right in front of that area. With a massive blast of lightning and green energy, her spearhead collides with the pillar and breaks it, shattered stone instantly crushed into a fine dust that sifts through the air.

Before she has the chance to recover, I conjure a ball of pure Plasma in my hand, wrap it in a heavy coating of Motion Mana, and let it fly towards her. The ball whips out of my hand and almost instantly hits her directly in the shoulder. The impact sends her flying off into the darkness and I can hear a muffled scream as she hits the ground.

I begin running to the right of my now position, effectively skirting around her, as I mentally thank whoever designed this particular challenge. Fighting in the darkness may be difficult but it is significantly easier for someone who can use echolocation. In fact, this may be the only format of battle where I am at an advantage.

As if a cruel joke, in that exact moment the stage floods with light and I see Astrid get up off the ground and glare towards me. The plasma appears to have burned through a portion of her armor and I can see the exposed muscle in her shoulder, a few wisps of smoke trailing upwards from it. Despite the injury, she rotates her shoulder with only a slight wince and grips her spear. Stalking towards me, she calls out, “That was a cheap shot.”

I snort back, watching her slowly approach. “And the lightning strike as I finished talking wasn’t?”

She tilts her head and nods. “Touché. You know I’m sorry that I have to kill you. Unless you’re willing to surrender right now, this is going to be over quickly.”

Seeing my lack of a reaction, she raises her spear into the sky and shouts a single word in an incomprehensible language. An enormously thick blue blast of energy shoots down from the sky and seems to completely envelop her. It pulsates with a strange, almost arrogant feeling and continues for a few seconds. Unfortunately, it is just outside the range of my Field, so I’m unable to tell whether or not this energy is Mana.

Of course, even if I did know that information, I wouldn’t be able to give it much thought as the energy beam contracts into a small pinprick and then disappears. In its place is Astrid but her appearance has changed drastically. While the spear that she wielded has remained the same, her entire body is now covered in a shimmering, gleaming armor that seems to reflect the light back into my eyes. A helm of blue-metal, ribbed with white veins, covers her head, though wisps of blonde hair can be seen beneath. Wings of white energy unfold behind her in a ten-foot wingspan. A single flap of the wings brings her into the air and she looks down upon me like a vengeful god confronted with a heathen.

“Cael, you have angered the Allfather and incurred the wrath of the Valkyrie. Surrender now or make your peace with death.”

A few things click within my mind as I comprehend her words. The Allfather who’s voice I heard within my head must have been the same entity that granted her this armor. Now, whether or not that entity is the Norse deity Odin, the Allfather, is a separate debate entirely. Before I have the chance to ask her, Astrid brings her spear down and points it toward me.

“You have chosen death. Make your peace as you are taken to Hel.”

I see a flash of motion and I’m able to infuse just enough Mana into my body so that I can lunge to the side, rolling and tumbling out of the way. A wayward glance shows me that she threw her spear but that’s all I’m able to perceive.

As I get back onto my feet, she seems to have crossed the 50-foot distance to her spear and has already recovered it. Any doubt I had in my mind is erased; that armor does more than protect her, it is obviously enhancing her Attributes. The small chance I had in this fight is lessened even further.

She turns to me and the two wings flap, causing a torrent of air to rush out from behind her as she flies toward me. I fall onto the ground and pour out Earth Mana, commanding the ground around me to rise up in a wall of thin spikes, each one reaching twenty feet. They won’t be able to stop her for long but she’ll only have two options to get to me: fly above them or batter through them. Both of them buy me time.

My mind races through the possibilities of what I can do to survive. A quick glance shows her reaching the wall of spikes and her arm rears back to destroy them. I’ve managed to by myself a moment or two.

My most powerful offensive Skill is Plasma Manipulation, which was helpful against her previous armor but might not be enough to break through her new and improved defensive capabilities. Perhaps I could … I’m unable to finish the thought as I’m forced to let out a gale of wind and rob it of the motion to launch myself over the wall and away from her, tumbling to the ground as I do so.

Now another 50 feet away from her, I spin on a single foot and widen my eyes as a bolt of immense lightning flies toward me. It’s too late to dodge out of the way and so I commit myself to the idea I hadn’t been able to entirely flesh out.

Closing my eyes and relying entirely on my Field, I feel the lightning pierce through my field. To my surprise, and glee, it isn’t any sort of divine lightning that is unrecognizable. No, it is the same plasma and electricity combination that I use in all of my strikes.

With a massive burst of Mana, I pull the lightning in towards my self and then arc it around my body and back towards Astrid. A few stray tendrils manage to spread off and hit my conductive body makes the damage negligible.

Astrid, however, is completely taken aback as I manipulate her own attack and is hit directly in the helm. A burst of light and force erupts outwards and I see the helm go flying off into the distance.

A wry smile breaks out on my face. My chances may still be poor but I may have just given myself a shot.