---------LEGEND---------
PLAYER/USERNAME
Grace/Lasair
Xia/Genevieve
-------------------------------
“Akk!!”
Xia instinctively raised her sword to intercept her opponent's wakizashi; she was surprised at her reaction speed and the movement she had made by twisting her torso to execute the block, even though being fast and being fast enough didn't necessarily mean the same thing. She was hit and moaned in surprise through pursed lips as she took a step back.
[Genevieve]
[Level 37 – HP: 87%]
“You blocked it, I didn't expect that,” Nosis's cold and calm expression melted and an enthusiastic smile appeared that made his eyes shine, “maybe eliminating you won't be so boring!”
“You seem very confident. Let's try to solve this issue,” Xia replied, showing off all her bravado.
Nosis didn't respond to the provocation and resumed attacking, stopped an instant before landing one of his blows by the lightning-fast arrival of Lasair, who intervened with a strike aimed at his head and which forced him to abort his attack and take half a step to the side to avoid damage. It was an unequal battle in terms of numbers, Xia and Lasair were tested fighters by now with a lot of experience in working together and he was alone, yet he fared rather well, managing to keep his distance and prevent the two girls from flanking him while being more than a trouble to them.
This of course didn't mean that the numerical advantage wasn't working on Xia and Lasair's side as they were managing to inflict more damage on him than he was doing on them. The boy was agile, very agile, More than once, Xia was convinced that she had landed a successful strike only to realize that her opponent had an agility and ability to move that was not logically possible for a human being.
Nosis ducked just in time to make Lasair's sword whistle above his head and then reached forward, delivering a powerful kick to Xia's stomach, so hard that it sent her tumbling back a meter causing her to fall to the ground and hit with her back against a tree.
[Genevieve]
[Level 37 – HP: 65%]
“Now you can't run away anymore,” Nosis said with a smile, pouncing on her when she wasn't in a position to properly defend herself.
“Not on my watch!” Lasair exclaimed with a determination that didn't belong to her. Lasair stood in the way, defending her ally on the ground, forcing Nosis to interrupt his assault once again to avoid a retaliatory attack against him.
[Lasair]
[Level 37 – HP: 67%]
[Nosis]
[Level 45 – HP: 52%]
"Are you ok?" Lasair asked Xia with a quick and worried tone and look, she had probably temporarily forgotten that in the virtual world there was no risk of actually getting hurt, "this guy is quite good..."
“I'm fine,” Xia reassured her as she stood up, “we need to find a way to get rid of him quickly.”
[Davina: um, girls?]
[Xia: yeah?]
[Davina: we managed to kill two of them but the third one just killed me and AlexFae was under 10% of her HP]
[Lasair: and how is the last opponent on your side doing?]
[AlexFae: he still has 27% of his HP left, I don't think she'll be able to get him to zero.]
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Xia turned her gaze towards Lasair and hesitated for a single moment, “go help AlexFae, I'll deal with this one.”
“As if I'd let you do that,” Nosis declared.
The opposing player tried to take advantage of Xia's team's moment of internal communication to unleash a series of deadly strikes on Lasair, who he considered to be the more dangerous of the two. His two wakizashi bounced off a [Mystic Shield] created by Xia before they could deal any real damage to her teammate.
“I'll be your opponent! I said I would put you in your place, and I will!” Xia exclaimed with her free hand still extended to hold the big circlular shield of green light.
Lasair nodded to Xia and used [Daring Dash] to quickly move away from the battle area, Nosis attempted to chase her with his [Shadow's Step], but Xia abandoned defense to land aggressive strikes that forced her opponent to interrupt the casting of his spell. Xia continued to attack until Lasair was so far away among the foliage and ruins of the castle gardens that she could no longer be seen or quickly reached.
“It means I'll get rid of you and then I'll hunt down your friend,” Nosis concluded matter-of-factly with a shrug.
Xia didn't answer him, instead she mentally prepared herself for the fight... the accumulation of points? Forgotten, at that point the winning team would have been the last one standing.
The moment Lasair was no longer there, the situation turned in Nosis' favor: Xia began to lose HP much faster than him despite her attempts to overwhelm him; she couldn't understand how it was possible, her opponent was moving in a way that was almost impossible for a human body without damaging tendons, muscles and bones. Xia tried to do the same, to move in a way that shouldn't have been possible for a normal person.
And she succeeded.
In a way that she wasn't able to realize, she somehow managed to move in a way that didn't even seem possible to her, with the dodge she had accomplished she should have at least torn some tendon or muscle, but no, she had managed to simply move out from the trajectory of Nosis' wakizashi without harming herself.
Maybe because she didn't have any skeleton or muscles at the time?
“So you are capable of dissociating?” Nosis asked in a tone that was almost a statement rather than a question.
"What?"
“Some players have the ability to dissociate from their real bodies to the point that they are able to do things with their avatars that otherwise would not be possible,” Nosis took an aggressive stance again, raising his blades, “but I'm here to win, not to give lessons."
First he says things and then he doesn't explain them!
The two fighters resumed their battle, Xia had had a glimmer of insight from what she had done and what Nosis had hinted at and this seemed to rebalance the tide of their fight until they found themselves both at less than 10%. of their HP still available to them. There was only room for one blow, only one would have decided the winner of their duel. Xia and Nosis studied each other, her spells were too slow to be used during hand-to-hand combat and Nosis couldn't risk using one of his own since his opponent had already managed to interrupt him once.
The two fighters studied each other in silence, completely concentrated.
They then launched their attacks aiming at their respective heads.
[Nosis]
[Level 45 – HP: 0%]
[Genevieve]
[Level 37 – HP: 0%]
[YOU DIED]
One loading screen later, Xia appeared in the lobby-lounge with Davina, AlexFae, Nosis and two of the opposing team members, the winner had not yet been declared but judging by Nosis's grim and angry expression it was clear that he didn't believe in the chances of victory of the last remaining player of his team.
“It's all in Lasair's hands,” Davina said with a worried expression, “will she make it?”
AlexFae pursed her lips, “only time will tell. Who knows, maybe now they will start chasing each other to accumulate points from the areas? There's still that possibility."
“Lasair with a sword in her hand is quite direct, I don't think she will start chasing the last opponent from one area to another,” Xia objected, “we will find out the winner within the next few seconds.”
Nosis clenched his fists at his sides and gritted his teeth, his companions were much more positive than him, this unfortunately meant that their disappointment was much greater when in the end their companion appeared five seconds before Lasair, following the announcer's statement that the Nova Scotia Angels had won.
The quartet's victory, however, was interrupted by a furious Nosis, “damn it! You bunch of incompetents!” He thundered at his teammates, shaking a fist at them, “you were three against two, how did you lose this big anyway??”
“We… we did our best,” one of the three players tried to object, keeping his head bowed and speaking in a low voice.
“Their team is really strong,” another commented, maintaining the same subdued tone.
“Hey,” Xia interjected, “look, you were defeated too,” she pointed out to Nosis.
This brought the angry Nosis's attention to her. “you… damn bitch!” He shouted, raising his tone and took a step closer to her, “do you know... do you know what you did??? I needed that money to buy the Cocoon model!!”
Nosis didn't have time to take a second step when the presenter without warning pointed a finger at him: where a moment before the elvreth Shadowood was, now there was only emptiness. “the unsportsmanlike behavior of the user Nosis was judged well beyond the lines and the fundamental game rules of the LotA team. For this reason, the account of the user Nosis has been blocked for five days, so that he has the opportunity to reflect on his disrespectful conduct towards his fellow players." Having said that, the host smiled at Xia and the others, “congratulations to the Nova Scotia Angels, who win and advanced to the semi-finals.”
What a day.