I felt the crushing pressure of the abyss, for an instant, as my ultimate spell etched itself across the perimeter of the arena. It was an extension of my will: A thin, twisting line, bearing upon the entire lengths of the outer lanes. It gnawed into the ground, pulverizing cobblestone paths. It bit down into the enemy golems until they fell and crumbled to pieces, as if a gargantuan and invisible sword had crushed them all.
My work there, in the bottom lane, was done. I began jogging back once more, to rejoin my teammates in the middle lane. When I arrived, Mr. Atlas and Reens were already besieging the enemy inner-middle tower with a squad of ally golems. The tower's base had cracked, and chunks of stone had been knocked loose. Lady the cat huddled at the base, bloodied and desperate, protecting and being protected by the precariously standing tower.
I sprinted at Lady. Soon, I was within the range of the tower, though it kept its attacks on our golems for now.
Mr. Atlas and Reens seemed to understand my intent. They pelted the tower with a barrage of attacks. Fissures shot up the body of the stone edifice; dust and debris rained down.
The cat backed away. It must know the tower wouldn't stand much longer. But it was too late.
I shot the tower with a Frost Missile, chipping off one final block. The tower began to lean as it fired its final shot at an ally golem.
The Frost Missile bounced off the tower and nailed the cat. A veneer of ice froze over its limbs and fur. As its movement faltered, I released the rest of my spells at it in a volley.
The tower fell to the ground with an earth-shaking thud.
「Green team has destroyed a middle tower.」
Next to its rubbles stood me. And at my feet, down the barrel of my railgun, was the cat, injured and collapsed on the ground. Blood and dust caked its fur.
One more hit was all it'd take.
"Ss-sophia," it hissed, its speech even more feral than before. "Stop! We'll sort this out like civilized people."
"Civilized"? You, of all creatures? The audacity.
I conjured a dart of solidified arcana in the barrel of my gun.
"No!" the cat growled. "Think of Saber! She wouldn't want you to finish it like this! So unceremonious! So senseless a murder! Sophia, you can't be satisfied –"
I gritted my teeth and shook my head. And the cat understood, this was it.
"Keep her name out of your mouth," I said.
Bang. A clean shot, straight through the head.
The cat was right. This was unceremonious. Rushed, and without closure. I never had the chance to make her apologize to Saber. But this wasn't about Saber. It was about me. And Atlas. And Reens. We had a game to win.
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「Green team has slain an enemy.」
Atlas and Reens advanced up to me.
"Side lane golems are dead," I reported. "We can press the attack mid."
Reens nodded. "Are…are you alright?" she asked. "You're shaking."
And I was. Had she not told me, I wouldn't have realized.
"Yeah," I stammered. "Let's get this over with."
We breached into the enemy base. Our golems marched with us through the middle lane gate, and there we demolished the enemy's golem fabricator.
「Red team has destroyed a top tower.」
That must've been Anastasia who took down our inner top tower. She was still there, on the opposite side of the map, racing against us.
We advanced to the enemy's base tower, the sole thing guarding their Base Core. And like the towers preceding it, it too fell to our onslaught.
「Green team has destroyed the base tower.」
Their Base Core stood before us. A large, crimson crystal the size of a car. All that remained for us to do was to shatter it. Then, we'd finally win.
Lore appeared behind the Core in a flash of blue light. He must've teleported back with his Ring of Recall.
He looked around. He saw the fallen base tower. He saw us destroying the Base Core. And he must've realized that Anastasia was nowhere in sight. He sighed and smiled.
He sheathed his golden rapier.
"Can't even get a proper goodbye," he said.
We continued our attack on the Base Core, until cracks ruptured along its surface and extended deep down. A pale light leaked out from within, flickering with every blow.
"Goodbye," Reens said to Lore.
"Goodbye, Reens," he replied. "Well played indeed."
The Base Core broke open down the center. A white flash burst out, engulfing us all.
We won.
The light soon faded. When I could see again, the arena around us was gone. No more sun or sky. The three of us – Atlas and Reens and myself – had returned to the dark room, at the bottom of the Bounty Hall tower. Lore was no longer there. The walls of gray and polished stone, featureless and austere, surrounded us.
As did a circle of warriors. They hemmed us in from all sides. There were dozens, if not hundreds of them. Their stares converged upon us, and many had weapons readied in their hands.
We had just usurped their leaders. Now we had to win their loyalty, or die trying.
"Did you kill Anastasia?" asked a swordswoman. She sat near us, upon one of the couches scattered about the room.
"We defeated her," I replied.
The woman rose up, leaning upon her greatsword for support. With her free hand, she brushed aside her waist-length hair. Her steel-blue armor glimmered faintly, reflecting sparse spots of candlelight.
"A shame," she said. "I was going to challenge her."
This was it. I had to make my stand now. I had to seize the prize we risked our lives for, to claim the authority that was now ours. For Atlas, for Reens, for myself. This was our final step.
"Well, we just did," I told her. "And we won. Thus is the blood-law of this guild, that no challenge can be raised against us for the next six months. Let all who disobey be counted traitors!"
The woman clicked her tongue, as though annoyed.
The crowd shrank back. It was then that I realized that the circle of onlookers wasn't centered around our party. It was centered around her.
"First you took out 6E12," the woman grumbled. "And now Anastasia too. How many times will you get in my way, Ice Mage?"
A bead of sweat ran down my chest. I blinked twice to check her HP.
[HP: 11,000/11,000]
The lady cocked her head ever so slightly.
"Sylvie, the Knight of Anomalies," she introduced herself. "You must be Sophia."