Once the fight started, all of them were up in their seats. The moment the first batch of Ghasts were released, mayhem descended and the screams of the crowd drowned out everything.
The scions jumped into action, two casters releasing a series of detonations in the air above the field, knocking the freed Ghasts from the skies.
Lisa bolted forward, a heavy blade at her side, as her Aura bled off her like a heat shimmer, exciting the air around her. Jeffrey ran to meet her, their Aura’s clashing, his was almost the polar opposite of hers, stilling the very space around him.
While they fought, the man who was always by Lisa's side acted. Focusing on the second release of Ghasts he attacked. A projectile came into being next to him, made of what looked like rotting sludge. When it hit the Ghasts, it exploded outward in a rain of corrosive liquid, dropping the entire wave at once.
The third and final team moved as one, in an attempt to beat the others to the punch.
Corpses, and more importantly flags, lay scattered in the center of the field. Not one Ghast had survived more than a few seconds of freedom as of yet.
Small groups of three, broke off from the other two sides, in an attempt to be the first to get there. Before they were even close, one of the Scions chucked what looked like a glass marble into the center. There was a sudden release of gas and a white cloud expanded outward. As the fog moved, it grew to cover the whole battlefield, clinging to the ground, obscuring everything below the waist. The movement kicked up mist and intermittently hid the contestants from view before settling down once more.
The mist itself seemed to refract light in a kaleidoscope of colors, causing the watcher's eyes to water. What was interesting, was that it only seemed to hinder NAS and the other team. Both of their people stopped as if dizzy. One of NAS’s casters tried using air magic to send the fog away, but that just seemed to make it thicker around him, covering him completely.
The Scions that had arrived near the center used the time to remove the third group from the field, and it was a slaughter. Figuratively, but only just, as the three Scions almost wiped out the other team on their own.
The next wave of Ghasts was released and they dashed out of the smokescreen only to be hunted down but the remaining Scions.
This must be the trump card Terry spoke about.
Mark could just make out Patrica running towards the center and dropping to her knees in prayer. Her hands clasped gently in worship. Radiance collected around her in a building storm.
Jeremy burst out of the cloud, making his way straight for her. But, Lisa appeared from the fog to stand in his way, only mildly affected by the cloud. Her weapon was glowing red hot, making it look like metal ready to be worked on the anvil.
Their blades clashed multiple times in a second, metal on metal ringing out. Jeremy tried to push past her, his fighting style neat with very little wasted moment, but Lisa was pure aggression. She saw through all of his feints and held him there until Patrica finished whatever she was doing.
The light had built to an incredible degree, then all at once, like the morning sun burning off the cold of the night before, a powerful light erupted from her, tearing through the screen of mist and pushing it back in its entirety.
With the fog gone, NAS regrouped, and Jeremy had to retreat from Lisa, in favor of grabbing one of the flags.
The third team was out, unable to continue due to a lack of members.
That’s when the battle truly started. The Scions were powerful, but NAS’s fighting skills dwarfed theirs, and without their advantage, they were slipping. Jeremy was the only one able to hold his own against Lisa, as the two engaged they almost seemed evenly matched, but Mark could see Jeremy was relying heavily on his Aura. This meant that for now, they were neck and neck, but soon enough he'd run out of energy. Unfortunately, Mark didn’t get to see a resolution to their fight, because the last batch of Ghasts were released, and seconds later the timer sounded.
NAS had taken this round, even with the interruptions, with 24 flags for a total of 84 points. The Scions only managed to grab 15, while the remaining team had only grabbed 4 before being eliminated.
The whole match had lasted at most a couple of minutes. Mark could tell every member down there was incredibly strong, and he couldn’t help but want to fight them. The interesting thing was the type of game they had chosen to play. A battle would have been much more efficient in proving who was the better fighter, but a capture-the-flag style battle, brought in a whole nother level of strategy. Either way, it looked like NAS had taken this round.
Someone then announced over the loudspeakers.
“Well, it looks like that's it, everybody. Let's have a warm round of applause for the New Age Society. For those keeping count, our finalists are currently tied at one-to-one. Join us next week, to witness a tiebreaker that will have you on the edge of your seats- Or if you think you have what it takes to throw a spanner in the works, perhaps the next winners could be among you. Sign-ups will close in thirty minutes, followed by the commencement of the first round of the battle royale.”
Jonathan's ears perked up at the announcement.
“Yo, T, what's that all about?”
Terry was up and stretching as if preparing.
“That’s the second reason we’re here today. The competition is open to everyone. From here on out, people can form their teams and if they can get through all the qualifying rounds then they can join the final battle. The third team was not from any of the three major factions but still managed to fight their way to the top, not that helped them really…”
It turned out that other than organizing these things, the guild never actually competed. Instead, they organized the competition to give others a chance to appear on stage and throw a little uncertainty into the mix.
Jonathan's head whipped around to look at the rest of them with puppy-dog eyes. Mark could see what he wanted, and to be quite frank he was keen on the idea, he wanted chance to experience different fighting styles.
Sam looked a little more thoughtful though.
“How many people do we need? How many rounds are there in total?”
Bonnie answered that one.
“You can have up to ten people with you, but the minimum number is three. We are meeting up with the rest of our team whenever they decide to show. Oh, and there are three rounds in total. Today’s round you just have to be one of the last one hundred teams to stay on the platform”
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Sam glanced at Daphne and she just nodded.
“Fine, it will be a good opportunity to get up some exposure, plus we get to see other magics”
Jonathan pumped his fist subtly.
Terry grinned at them all.
“So you guys wanna compete? I think it's a good idea. The rumors are that you guys are strong, and I’d like to see it for myself”
A competitive smirk played on Terry’s lips which just seemed to fuel the fire under Jonathan.
“We were just heading to registration, we’ll lead you there,” Bonnie said as she got up from her seat.
Mark wolfed down the rest of his food and followed after them. They got to a booth set up under the stands and signed up right away. They just had to provide their team name/faction name, along with their fighters, and pay 10 Sp to join. Ning Wei wanted to join them out on the field and seeing as none of them had any problems with that, she joined as their healer. Mark was pleased he'd guessed right about her 'class' as it proved something to him. High-level Aura and Mana users were practically beacons with how they gave off energy, but because of how Prana worked, it was nearly undetectable unless you had physical contact with the person or they were supporting it with another energy. However, this also meant that a lack of obvious energy was a sign in itself that they were a healer.
They were just finishing up when the guy taking down their information saw Terry, his eyes widened in worry.
As if expecting this, Terry said.
“Don’t worry I’ve got it under control this time”
While the man didn’t look reassured, he also didn’t stop Terry from signing up.
Sam asked what that was about, but Terry just grinned evilly and said it was a secret.
“Is there a prize for winning?” Mark asked Bonnie.
“Yeah, It's usually a lump sum of Sp, but most people that have the chance to win, only care about the fame it will bring them.”
Mark could see what she meant. The strongest people would usually be a part of one of the major factions and they didn’t care about the prize money. Only spreading their name. Those who were in it for the money wouldn’t necessarily be strong enough to climb to the top. Mark did hear that the top three of the last round skipped straight to the semi-finals, but other teams from their faction could still try and work for the last spot.
After that, they started to make their way out onto the field. The space had quickly become full of people. A good portion of the crowd had just climbed down into the ring directly.
Somewhere along the line, the field had been risen about five feet into the air. All forms of flight magic and techniques were prohibited during the match and would result in disqualification. If one got sent out of bounds or knocked unconscious, they lost. The fighting ring would progressively shrink down as the battle went on.
Walking out onto the field Mark took a look around and saw tons of people, all getting ready and preparing for what had the makings of a truly large all-out brawl.
It was at this point Mark spotted a familiar face entering from outside the arena. Henry, along with Felix and six others from his team, were wandering through the crowds in search of someone. When they spotted them, Henry's face flickered from surprise to that of a satisfied smirk, as they made their way over. The last time Mark had seen Henry was on the bridge, after that, he had heard the guy had taken his faction and joined up with NAS. Mark no longer had ill feelings toward the guy, they had saved one another a couple of times on the way over here, but that didn't mean they were friends.
When they were almost to them Mark called out their approach to the group. He didn't however, expect Bonnie and Terry to step forward to meet them.
"Guys this is the rest of our team," Terry said as he made introductions.
Mark paused for a moment as the pieces fell into place, Mark didn't know why he hadn't made the connection sooner.
The fact that both groups didn't say anything for a few seconds caused Terry to pause. Bonnie looked confused, glancing between the two groups and a slow realization spread over her face as she probably worked out the time frame of their arrival.
Henry was the first to speak.
"Well, it's strangely good to see you guys, but if you are competing, well... I can't say I'm not excited"
Right away Mark could hear the difference in his tone. When Mark first met the guy, he was aggressive and impulsive. After the injuries he'd suffered, his pride had taken a hit, but now NAS must be doing him some good because he seemed more in control. Perhaps people couldn't change in such a short time, but if any situation was going to do it, it was this one.
Jonathan nodded to him and said.
"No, you are right, it's good to see you all. But if you think this will be easy then good luck."
Henry smiled gleefully.
"Oh, don't worry I know who I'm dealing with, and you will have a fight on your hands"
Terry, ever-oblivious, looked around.
"Wait, you guys know each other?"
A siren began to count down, breaking them from their little world.
Felix was the one to answer Terry.
"I'll explain it to you in a sec T, good luck out there you guys. See you on the battlefield...again"
Henry just kept ginning to himself as he ushered Bonnie and Terry away. Mark watched them go, this fight just became a lot harder. By now both of them knew the other's weaknesses, so it was a toss-up as to how this would play out. Mark tried to keep track of them, but the moving crowd swallowed them up.
The siren continued to sound out all around them, weapons were readied and spells began to form.
Sam looked around at their competition and then tuned to their small group.
“Alright, Mark link us up. Daphne, you are our defensive line, Ning Wei you’ll focus on keeping Daphne up. Mark and I will protect you, and Jon… have fun.”
Jonathan would act as their offense line, while Daphne would guard the three of them from other Aura users. In turn, Ning would act as their healer in the meantime.
They would be hit from all sides, with unknown attacks so they had to be adjustable. Mark wanted to to keep his healer status under wraps, so he would focus on using his Force magic.
Mark cast [Telepathic link], moments before a siren went off, announcing the start of the fight.
Sam started big, pulling down a large collum of air and dumping it onto the surrounding field. It came down, knocking the nearest unprepared competitors off their feet.
They had chosen to stand near the edge, and because of this, a good number of people went flying off the sides without even getting a chance to react.
This cleared a space out for them to work.
Mark kept his construct reined in until it was needed.
The people around them responded quickly by charging in at their team. Jonathan ran forward with a grin on his face, meeting the charge head-on.
He didn’t have his blade drawn, instead, he grappled onto anyone that got too close and chucked them out of the ring as if they weighed nothing.
Of course, their opening maneuver drew a lot of attention and teams came from all sides in retaliation, Daphne soon had to step in.
She maintained a close distance from them and systematically dealt with everyone that came at her. Blocking and countering at a constant pace, pulling others into her tempo. A few got past, but she made sure they could handle the amounts coming at them.
A man arrived right in front of Mark with his fist readied and Mark reacted with two [Force bolts], which the guy punched out of the air. The resulting explosion of force sent him flying back the way he came.
Another person came from behind Mark, surprising him. He reacted by pulsing [Telekinesis] with a little too much Mana, creating a pushing force. The guy went rocketing out of the ring. Mark flinched as he drew a crater in the grass beyond, but when Mark saw him getting back up, looking pissed, he relaxed.
Sam was relying on bursts of hot and cold air to knock her opponents out of bounds.
Mark looked around and realized that they needed to get to the center as soon as they could.
He sent this down the link and Sam responded by creating a fire and ice in each of her hands and slamming them together. A cloud of steam burst out from her clenched hands and into the space around them. She was using the Scions strategy.
Their team rushed to make use of the opening. Attempting to lose the crowd's ire, they retreated toward the center of the platform.
Only engaging the teams that came directly at them, Mark turned to watch their surroundings, the first ring had not even dropped yet, and a good number of the weaker teams were already gone. Magic and skills he had never seen before were on display here. Bolts of Aura, swirlings of Dust magic, tornados made of insects, partial bestial transformations, A perfect mirror-like box zooming around the space, and so much more.
Then amongst all the noise and disorder. Someone started singing.