The crowd was still buzzing from Sabrina's fight as Rubert retreated behind the square's outer fence, Samuel followed him. They ran into the event's staff, who told them they had nearly two hours before their next match. Most teams would've used the time to eat, maybe rest.
Not them. Rubert and Samuel had agreed to take inventory on their spells and their opponent's before their next match, but as they were about to do it, someone approached them
"Hey, could you show us that spell one more time? what does it do?"
Rubert didn't reply. Instead, he just kept walking as far as he could, and Samuel followed closely.
They ducked behind the old courthouse, far from the buzz of the town square. The stone alley was quiet, shaded, and just wide enough to stretch out their legs and breathe without distraction. Rubert leaned against the wall as Samuel sat on the ground, legs crossed, already scrolling through his spell inventory.
"Do you always hide from your fans?" Samuel asked, half-grinning as he pulled a small chocolate bar from his pocket.
"Only when people start asking questions I don't want to answer," Rubert replied, pulling up his loadout. "Also—these people are vultures. Give 'em half a spell name and it's on six guides before sundown."
Samuel took a loud bite. "So you're saying you're the mysterious type."
"I'm saying some spells are better kept close to the chest."
A pause.
"…But you're gonna show me anyway, right?"
Rubert sighed. The kid was persistent—and after that last fight, he'd earned some trust.
"Fine," Rubert said, scrolling through his loadout. "I'll skip Krivaa since you already saw it. But I've got three others."
He tapped open each one, slowly.
"Rashaata," he began. "Chaos magic, Pure damage, but slow to charge. The longer you hold it, the more powerful it gets. Great for sniping if the field's calm—useless if you're getting pressured."
Samuel leaned in, fascinated.
"Any other downside?"
Rubert nodded, then continued
"It drains mana exponentially. You screw up the release timing, you waste half your bar and hit a shield."
He swiped to the next.
"This one's called Astra - Sharnga. Warbow spell, Hindu Archetype. Grants the 'Divine Avatar' state for thirty seconds— it summons armor, a bow, and gives you five arrows that punch through most magic defenses. You can't use spells while it's active, but the armor blocks spells passively by draining mana instead."
Samuel's eyes widened. "So you're basically a walking tank-sniper hybrid?"
Rubert nodded. "For thirty seconds, yeah. But here's the kicker—there's a cost if you activate it without meeting all the 'criteria.' The game doesn't say what those are exactly, just that if you don't meet them, the spell hits you with a penalty once it ends. You can lose mana, magical defense, get blindness—sometimes all three, maybe something else I've missed".
"So what if you do meet the criteria?"
"Then you keep the effect for the rest of the match. Infinite arrows, and the armor blocks as long as you have mana."
"Whoa," Samuel said, eyes gleaming. "That's busted."
Rubert smirked. "If you can pull it off."
He tapped to the last one. The glyph shimmered ominously.
"And this is Heka - Isfet," he said. "Chaos summon, Egyptian Gods archetype, Calls down an avatar of chaos in the form of a snake summon called Isfet. It doesn't care who summoned it, it's an enemy to everyone in the field. It attacks by copying spells cast in the last few seconds and fires them at random targets. Both friend and foe."
Samuel frowned.
"That's a bit insane. Who would want to spend mana to summon that?"
"Well, here's the rub: it has no mana cost, and you can nudge it," Rubert said, eyes narrowing. "It reacts strongly to Order magic. If the enemy spams it, the chaos avatar targets them more often."
Samuel blinked. "Order magic… wait." He opened his own list. "I have something called Heka - Ma'at. I thought it was just a support spell."
Rubert raised an eyebrow. "That's the counter, and the exception for the anti-order effect... Ma'at is "Order incarnate". It cancels Isfet's effect entirely. Also resets health and mana between all players in the field and splits it equally. It does the same to all status effects too so it balances out any fight. It's great to use this if we're losing, though the casting time is a bit too big"
Samuel sat back, chewing on his chocolate a bit before asking
"Do you know if this has any effect if we use it while on the same team? Can you search for it on forums? Maybe there's something there?"
Rubert replies
"I didn't find anything when I searched before, and there is nothing on their official descriptions, but maybe there is something.
Most of these spell descriptions come from players. Half the stuff we know isn't official—it's community-verified, theorycrafted. So if there's an undocumented effect in our combo…"
"We test it ourselves," Samuel finished, eyes bright.
Rubert grinned. "Exactly."
Samuel laughed, thumbing through his list.
"Now for my second and last Named spell… I think you need to understand this one a bit more since I didn't really have the chance to do it before our fight" Samuel says, while showing his spell icon to Rubert.
"Skjaldmær - The Shieldmaiden" Rubert replied, his eyes intently staring at the icon.
"Yes. I got Skjaldmær on my first raid. I didn't even know what the spell did—I just went back home and followed a forum guide that said 'If I had it, this would be my build' and I just went with it "
Rubert chuckled. "I've been chasing that spell for months."
Samuel scratched his head sheepishly. "Guess I'm just lucky then. Though I recently found myself wanting a Krivaa summon too!"
Samuel paused a bit, then asked
"Do you know what it does then?"
"Converts incoming damage into a shield value right after activation, then protects you using this value as its own health and attack."
Samuel nods, then complements the explanation Rubert gave.
"Yes. I also found that it's better used against powerful spells so that the value of its protection gets enhanced, since you can't be damaged while it lives. Action spells like Total Shell Explosion can damage the enemy based on shield values, so keeping it high is a recipe for a one-shot spell. Though I wasn't sure I would be able to pull it off in our last fight unless I had your protection, so thanks again!"
Rubert smiled in reply, then continued to discuss about spells.
They spent the next hour trading spells, figuring out pairings and failsafes. Smoke spells, summons, barriers. Rubert had a few action spells to back up his named ones—ones that paired well with buffs or battlefield control. Samuel, in contrast, had more flexible reactions and utility to back up his shieldmaiden—defense glyphs, shield bashes, and a few experimental counters he'd pieced together from builds online. He had
"Ten spells each," Rubert muttered. "That's our limit. So we bring our best spells and their backups, and we test the synergy. If something doesn't work, we ditch it".
They practiced deep into the last hour, away from the eyes of competitors. Only once did Rubert pause—his eyes flicking to a shadow moving near the alley's edge.
Eventually, they made their way back to the arena. The square had grown even louder, buzzing with energy. This was it: the final bracket for the day.
The crowd roared louder as the content creator couple took the field. Rubert spotted them instantly. They were chatting with a third person—another duelist, shorter and rushed.
"Probably one of their viewers is begging to join their party." Samuel said
The staff noticed the person, approaching the trio to ask him to leave. As he left, he glanced at Rubert before scamping off of the field.
Rubert turned his attention to the battlefield. The arena had changed—wider, more vertical sections, crates and platforms scattered for cover. The final matches had expanded rules: eight-minute time limit, more room, higher stakes.
He and Samuel stepped into the arena. Samuel was bouncing on his feet, spell wheel already spinning.
The bell hadn't even rung yet when Rubert noticed something happening at the enemy side, again.
The woman across from them—smiling, smug—was pulling out her phone. Probably prepping some short video. The staff quickly waved her down, telling her to stop.
After a small comotion, the staff left the field one last time.
Nervous, but prepared, Rubert and Samuel looked forward toward their opponents.
The bell rang.
Rubert reacted first—"Smokescreen!"—and a dense fog blanketed the field. Samuel followed up with an earth wall.
Rubert nodded. They were recreating the setup of their last enemies and combining it with Sabrina's approach for double coverage. He started the Krivaa summon in the middle of the smokescreen. After it was done, he started commanding Samuel "Get ready to—"
Hiss.
Rubert's eyes widened. That sound—he recognized it a bit too well.
"Crap—block UP!" he shouted, but it was too late.
Samuel's spell faltered. The wall cracked, crumbling before it could set. A faint, gray shimmer struck his chest—Nullbind.
The debuff glowed against his AR overlay.
"Suthramak," Rubert whispered, horrified. "I didn't think they had it."
As the smoke cleared slightly, Rubert saw the woman—smiling. Behind her, hovering above the field, was a familiar figure.
A Grey Krivaa Eidolon.
"How?" Rubert thought to himself, his hopes of winning getting dimmer as he realized the list was wrong - they had more spells than he anticipated, even the same Krivaa summon as Sabrina.
The man beside her raised his hand, already preparing a spell.
They were in trouble.