The massive door ground fully open, and we stepped out of the dark tunnel and into the bright, midday sun. The spectators, still as excited as ever. My attention locked onto the forest laid out in front of me. I gotta give it to these mages. They outdid themselves. The trees were dense and the air was noticeably warmer than inside the tunnel.
Wow, and here I thought I'd be freezing my ass off the entire tournament.
Sunlight knifed through the canopy, the air thick with that earthy smell. Peeking between the trees, I could make out the clearing and, in the middle, the Central Beacon. It was a wide, circular platform, covered in intricate, pulsing lines of mana. A small stone pillar sat in the center with a glowing glyph on top. Okay, that's what we have to touch. Noted.
Victoria glanced back at me, her eyes lingering for just a second. Like she was asking a silent question. Ready?
I gave her two thumbs up. She drew her blade and moved, her steps steady, sure of her objective.
I watched her go before I turned my attention to the rest of the battlefield. Just to my left, near the arena walls, was our own Anchor Stone, a massive crystal with a pulsing light in its center. Far across the arena, between the trees, I could make out its twin, my target.
Kael had already disappeared, melting into the trees to find his perch.
My turn. I broke right, hugging the curve of the arena wall. The dense treeline along the edge served as the perfect cover for my assault. I began a wide, swift flank straight toward our opponent's Anchor Stone.
Each tree passed with a whoosh, the raucous audience suppressed, the wall a blur. I moved like a seasoned predator, covering half the length of the arena in seconds.
I found a spot atop a massive limb. The perfect vantage point to view the entire field.
Down in the clearing, Victoria was a silver blur. Her slim frame fended off two hulking defenders. She looked fragile. She hit like a tornado. Just like her. Even from my tree, I could hear each and every strike being absorbed. They really are like a fortress.
Flashes of light shot from the canopy. Kael, doing his job. I saw the bolts slam into the defenders' shields, keeping the two brutes from just walking all over Victoria. Good. She can last like this.
My eyes snapped back to my real target. The mage. She was just standing there, head tilted up, watching Kael's light show from the treeline. Smart. I had to admit. She knew he was just support; the real threat was me. So instead of wasting mana on a long-range duel she couldn't win, she just kept building her fortress. Layer after layer of defense.
Gods, it was tempting. The instincts inside me screamed, clawing to be let out. To just dive down and smash those perfect little walls of hers into dust. To end it.
The path looked clear from above. But I held back, forcing myself to wait and analyze. She's not just layering defenses. She's also setting up a trap. She must have noticed I'm missing. I saw flashes of magic circles appear on the ground around her. No idea what they did, but I was sure they were for me.
Charging in now would be a mistake. This woman was too disciplined, too prepared. She wouldn't leave the crystal's side unless she was forced to. I had to topple her teammates' immovable wall.
I shivered in excitement, a wide grin spreading across my face. Fine. If you won't give me an opening, I'll force you to make one.
Time to create some chaos.
I hopped off the branch, not caring if the mage spotted me. My feet hit the ground, my mana flared, and I shot toward the clearing.
The trees flew by me, and all it took was a few steps before I burst through the treeline, straight toward the closest Ironclad. Both men were focused entirely on Victoria and Kael. They never saw me coming.
I swung my sword in a wide horizontal arc, harnessing the chaotic power of my two cores. I didn't want to kill them, so I twisted my sword to strike with the flat of my blade. My sword slammed into the center of his armored back with a deafening GONG.
The force of the undefended blow sent him reeling. He tumbled forward, his stance shattered, and crashed into his partner. Their immovable wall had crumbled into a clumsy pile of steel and confusion.
Victoria didn't waste a moment. Their formation broken, she instantly dashed toward the beacon, not even a glance my way. This was my chance to force the mage out. I pounced on the two defenders, still stumbling back to their feet.
I slammed my shoulder into the first one up, sending him flying further toward the treeline. As I turned, the second one had gotten back on his feet, shield ready. I pivoted on my heel, twisting my body, sword in one hand. He braced as my sword met his shield.
The clash of metals rang through the forest. He grunted, digging his heels in to stop his sliding momentum.
This is it, I thought, the whole battlefield laid out in my mind. Victoria's at the beacon. If she captures it, we get a point. But this wall is designed to just stall her. We can't win a war of attrition. My goal wasn't just to keep them busy. It was to break them. To make them so utterly useless that their mage would have no choice but to leave her fortress and come play with us.
This is what I've decided to do with the freedom Victoria has given me.
I swung out again, the haze around my body growing denser. The defender's arms began to buckle under the weight of my blows.
"What's this?" I taunted, my voice annoyingly sweet. "Vicky said you guys were like a fortress wall. This feels more like a little garden fence."
His eyes widened in shock under his helmet's visor. Too late. With a final, monstrous heave, I tore the shield from his grasp—the sound of scraping metal was almost as satisfying as the stupid look plastered on his face. He was wide open now, completely defenseless. A quick spinning kick to the chest and he went flying, crashing into a nearby tree before slumping to the ground in a clatter of useless armor.
I hadn't even turned to face the other one before the world lit up. A brilliant beam of light erupted from the center of the clearing. Vicky. Right on time. The light shot skyward before splitting in two. One arc slammed down on the enemy's blue Anchor Stone with a deep hum, weakening it. The other washed over our own, bathing it in a protective, shimmering shield. One point to us.
I turned to one of the defenders, the one still struggling to get up from where he'd been thrown against the treeline.
Keep them faltering, I thought, a predatory smirk on my face. And the mage will have to join in.
I raised my sword over the bumbling Ironclad. Time to put him to sleep. The rules said no killing blows, and I don't wanna be a murderer. I prepared to give him a good smack, using my sword like a club.
Easy.
But my sword never fell.
My senses blared, and I glanced up just in time to see a chunk of rock the size of my head hurtling, aimed right for my beautiful face.
No time to dodge, instinct took over. I aborted my swing and brought my sword up to block, the oversized blade a makeshift defense.
There was a grating CRACK as the stone met steel. The rock didn't just stop; it exploded into a shower of dust and gravel. As my vision cleared, I glared toward the sender.
She left her post in a panic. She had one hand pressed to the earth, another chunk of rock rising from the ground. Her eyes met mine; even from this distance, I could see the blazing fury.
Finally got her attention.
Before she could send that second attack toward my face, a bolt of lightning, much more powerful than the ones used on the defenders, ripped across the forest. It zapped the ground right in front of the mage's feet, blasting a small crater where she stood moments before.
She was forced to leap back, her concentration broken. The forming earth spell crumbled. Kael had my back.
I risked a quick peek toward the center of the clearing. Victoria was in a defensive stance, hovering near the beacon, waiting to capture it a second time.
The entire battle clicked into place in my mind. The mage's focus was now on me. Kael was covering me. Victoria was ready to secure our points. All I had to do was wait for the mage to leave an opening and keep the two Ironclads busy. Our paths to victory were open.
The mage was fuming at Kael's interruption; she didn't try to form a new rock. Instead, she slammed both palms onto the forest floor.
A deep rumble shook the earth. A moment later, a wave of stone spikes erupted, tearing through the forest straight toward the clearing.
"Luna, move!" Victoria shouted, abandoning her defensive position near the beacon.
I didn't need her to tell me. I leaped toward the edge of the clearing, taking a new position among the trees.
From my hiding spot, I saw the field had completely changed. The clearing was split, a wall of jagged stones separating it. The mage stood, panting, her attention bouncing between the newly separated battlefields.
In the aftermath, my first thoughts were panic. Shit. She cut me off from Victoria and the beacon. Those two guys are over there with her too. I was alone.
But then... I realized.
She hadn't just cut me off from my team. She had cut her defenders off from her. It was just me, her, and the big glowing crystal.
You fucked up.
I shouted, hoping my team could hear me over the wall. "Vicky! Keep them there!"
My voice echoed through the forest. On the other side of the wall, I heard a muffled but clear, "Understood!" Victoria trusted me; she would hold them.
The mage's head snapped to me with an alarmed expression. She had heard me, too. She knew I wasn't trapped. I was hunting.
My eyes flicked down to the ground near their base. The magical circles she'd laid out were still shimmering, a web of deadly traps. A direct charge on the ground was still suicide.
But who said anything about the ground?
My gaze lifted to the sturdy trees all around me, tracing a path straight to her position. I gave her one last look before leaping into the canopy.
The branches became my new footholds. I moved with precision, leaping from one thick limb to the next, the webbing of traps littered the ground below.
She spotted my acrobatics and her panic shifted, abandoning her support of the clearing, focusing all on me. She began to cast spell after spell—rocks, spikes, even a few ice spells, came my way.
I didn't stop. I twisted and tumbled, spells whistling past me. I used the trunk of one tree to kick off in another direction, shards of ice exploding on the bark. She was throwing everything she had at me, but it was all in vain, flustered and sloppy. In this chaos, her desperation made her predictable.
Seconds later, I was there. Just above her and the glowing Anchor Stone.
She looked up and faltered, the magic circle at her hand shattered. Her eyes were wide with the realization that her frantic barrage had only sped up her own defeat. She was exhausted, her mana clearly running empty.
In a last, desperate act, she threw all of her remaining energy into a final defense. One last layer of ice began to spread on top of the already erected walls and barriers.
Too late for that.
I dropped down, catching myself on a lower thick branch with one arm. I swung my body, planting my feet against the solid trunk. I coiled, drawing maximum output from my cores.
I win.
I darted forward.
The tree behind me exploded, showering the ground with splinters as I launched myself. I flew through the air like an arrow—the second time today—my sword leading like the arrowhead."
I crashed through the earthen wall, the last-ditch spell having failed to fully encase it. A microsecond later I crashed through the transparent ice barrier.
My blade finally met the glowing blue crystal. There wasn't a clang or thud; instead there was a high-pitched screech as my sword cleaved straight through it—still weakened from the earlier beacon capture.
The two halves of the crystal slid apart and crashed to the ground, their blue light winking out. Dead. A satisfying silence fell over the forest.
Then, the sound-suppressing barrier must have dropped, because the announcer's excitement resounded through the trees.
"Anchor stone destroyed! The winner, Aegis Academy!"
The swell of the audience returned, a surge of noise rattling the trees.
I pushed myself up from my crouch, sweeping my messy white hair out of my face. Can't look like a mess for the victory shot. I looked up at the magical screens hanging high above. And there I was. On every single one. A perfect shot of me, standing in the wreckage, sword in hand.
Now, where was that orb? My gaze scanned the nearby trees until I found it. A little silver scrying orb, hovering silently. My own private audience.
I couldn't help myself. I propped my sword onto my shoulder with one hand, put the other on my hip, tilted my head, smiled ear to ear, and gave the scrying orb my most dazzling, innocent wink.
I could practically feel Victoria's groan of utter mortification from across the clearing. Kael was probably dying of laughter in a tree somewhere.
I didn't care. All these people were watching. It was my time to shine.