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The Gamer Chapter 1791 – The not-so-Small Tournament 12 – Day 2 of the Fights
🕑 Added 2024-11-25 14:45:49 +0000 UTC
“It is really interesting how much faster these things go by when watching them from the outside,” John spoke his thoughts.
In the arena below, Anna and Hyozuma were engaged in close quarters combat. The thief mage had prepared for the confrontation, putting on armour and bringing a pair of daggers. Together, the items made him competitive. Their Stats weren’t so far apart, after all.
Nightingale inspected one of her wings. “In combat, time crawls,” she agreed. “To witness is to watch why it does so.”
Daggers and hands were cutting through the air. Hyozuma used his extended range well, but he could not afford to get blocked by Anna’s hands. The armour had a mitigating factor, but did not block the anti-healer’s effects completely. A couple of successful taps to the wrist and Hyozuma’s hands would be practically useless.
Which was what happened in due time. Anna took several cuts in the process. It hardly mattered. Once the sinews and muscles in the thief mage’s arms had been made to decay, he could no longer hold the daggers. “Bad touch!” Hyozuma kept his cool even in this situation and continued to fight with kicks for a while. It did work initially, the surprise driving Anna back and even sending her flying once.
Hyozuma lost in the end, after dealing considerable damage. The accumulated anti-healing was too much and he surrendered. Undine flowed into the arena to patch them both up. The crowd went wild at it all. The thief mage decided to invite the gothic Asian out on a date once his vocal cords worked again. She accepted. The cheers redoubled.
“Attention, everyone!” John raised his voice once everything had calmed down somewhat. “For the sake of fairness, my first fiancée will not be participating in the next round. Hypercrush will advance to the semi-finals immediately. The next fight will be the Splatterknight versus Justinian.”
The people took the news without any reaction. It had been predictable, so what more should they react with?
The in-between fights entertainment rolled in and John walked into the back of the VIP area. Like the day before, it was scarcely populated as far as his harem went. Rave, Hailey and Lorelei had been there earlier, but all three of them had headed out with Moira to visit some hobby shops. Those four were spending so much time together that John was starting to wonder if he should come up with a harem-ingroup designation for them like he had for the crafting crew, the chaos brigade, and the workaholics.
‘Feels slightly inappropriate with Moira in the mix,’ he reckoned and ran his hand through Sylph’s hair. She and the other elementals were around, although that was also a temporary state of affairs.
“Even if you scratch my ears, you shall not be permitted to come along!” the arcvolt elemental declared. “Misters before sisters… No, wait! Sisters before misters! That way around! And today is girls’ day with all the girls that are elementals, so me and Gnome and Salamander and Undine and Siena – and Stirwin can come too!”
The Celestial Devourer, away from the Guild Hall, had reverted to his second smallest form: a crocodile of about a metre length and mildly elongated limbs. Save for the radiant colours and serrated scales that extended over the lips as a second row of teeth, he could be mistaken for a member of his mundane kind. Except he also had quite dexterous fingers, which he wiggled about happily as he lay on his belly.
Young Chompy was always more excitable than fully grown Stirwin.
“Isn’t that just a day out with the elementals?” John asked.
“Nooooo, it’s a day out with the girls plus Stirwin! Me, Siena, Salamander, Undine, and Gnome – and also Stirwin. Us womanly women and the croc. Five plus one.”
“I get the picture.” John laughed.
Excluding the elementals then left him with Nightingale and Delicia. The alchemist was currently quiet. An unusual state of affairs, caused by the complicated web of orbs and string in front of her. John knew it because it was originally his. It was the kit he had used for the Class Challenge to create a visual representation of the magical matrix of Artificial Spirits and Metracana.
Delicia was now using it for a similar purpose.
“Any progress?” Nightingale asked.
“No!” Delicia barked.
“Shouting at me won’t help you.”
“Yes, it will, it will transfer my frustrations to you, Gale!” The shortstack pulled at some of the string, causing connected plastic and rubber tubes to bend. Something snapped. A tenth of the intricate construction went down in a cascade of parts. “Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!”
Nightingale beheld the alchemist with a bemused smile. Delicia threw herself on the ground and rolled about like a hyperactive steamroller. The elementals vacated the area in that time, leaving the three of them alone there for good. Delicia was still rolling around by the time they were gone. She only stopped when the harpy caught her with one of her clawed feet.
“What are you doing?” the goddess of the night wanted to know.
“I’m trying to figure out why this mutagen spontaneously combusts!” Delicia gestured towards her model. After Nightingale released her, the alchemist crawled back over and started piecing it all back together. “I don’t get it. There’s nothing in it that should lead to it being flammable nor to it developing such heat on its own.”
John still did not have the faintest clue about alchemy. The complicated weave of elements represented by differently coloured parts was just nonsense to his eyes. He had enough of a clue about mundane chemistry and reality to see the basic makings of a molecule in there. Layered on top was all of the arcane knowledge of the supernatural. Alchemy was one third cooking, one third esoteric knowledge and one third precision spellcasting.
“Please do not experiment with anything that can explode in your face.”
“Psh, Gale, please,” Delicia grinned widely, “you know I already did it.”
The harpy put the curve of her wing against her forehead. “You are immortal now, but I would still prefer it if you took care of yourself.”
“Awwww, the goddess is worried about me, that’s so cute!” Delicia declared and laughed mockingly.
Left eyelid twitching, Nightingale stomped towards the couch and threw herself on top of Delicia. The alchemist squawked in surprise. Her model toppled over and would have broken had John not caught it. Neither of the haremettes even noticed that he was carrying it to a safe corner of the table. They were too busy wrestling like only best friends could. In everyday life, Nightingale was the very image of the graceful lady. In this very moment, she had Delicia’s naked heel on her cheek.
“You can never win!” Delicia declared.
“Shut up, shortie!”
“Oh, you wanna go there, flattie?”
John left them to their playfight. Their relationship far preceded them being haremettes, although them being his haremettes had certainly expanded it from being best friends to being bed friends as well.
John left them to their devices and returned to the front of the VIP area. The Splatterknight and Justinian were already standing across each other. Rather than his gun, the man in power armour had brought a massive sword, vibrating with arcane energy. A potent piece of enchantment that he must have kept hidden for good reason.
‘Perhaps that will be difference enough to teach Justinian a lesson,’ John thought.
“You fashion yourself a servant of the ‘President’?” Justinian asked and pointed his energy sword at the Splatterknight. “Speak, knight, so that I may know the depth of your depravity.”
“You judge me already.” The voice of the man inside the armour echoed from the speakers in his helmet. “With a severity that I, perhaps, deserve to be judged. Before John Newman took over the East Coast, I was an enforcer for a different President. I ensured that people would pay their taxes like some kind of thug in uniform. Abraham sacrificed himself… and I was forgiven for my selfishness.”
“You just exchanged one horrid master for another!”
The Splatterknight shook his head. “You do not understand. Are you just too recent an arrival? When the Gamer took over, he forced the rust off the gears of this continent. He made it worthwhile not just to subsist and exploit but to build and innovate.”
“Your blatant propaganda will not convince me, false knight!” Justinian readied himself. “I will free this land from tyranny. All will know not the boot of the tyrant that feeds the strong but the freedom of light and justice!”
The star fell between them. In one second, the enemies bridged the distance between them and clashed with enough force to send a ripple outwards. Immediately, Justinian pulled back. He glowed with holy power, ready to use his superior speed to deliver a singular strike.
The strike connected with the Splatterknight’s armour and came to a stop.
Clenching his arm against his chest, the massive man got the sword stuck where it was. As that was his main hand, that immobilized his sword as well. The armament was only an instrument to deliver his might at greater range, however.
Justinian was not prepared for the clenched fist. It slammed into the side of his face, sending him to the floor. The force of the impact ripped his skin open. Still, the ‘Righteousness’ ability of the higher-levelled combatant kept him active. He caught himself on one arm and jumped away. As he did, the sword disappeared from its lodged position. In a flash, it manifested again in the right hand of the blond combatant.
Raising his sword high, the Splatterknight brought the massive instrument down in a straightforward swing. An energy wave, half skill and half enchantment, slashed across the divide between them. Justinian met it head on, blocking it with the broad of his gleaming blade. With a valiant cry, he dispersed the power.
Only to be faced with the leaping Splatterknight.
Justinian rapidly adjusted, prepared for the swing. He was not prepared for the pommel. The bottom of the sword’s grip slammed into the smaller man’s shoulder. A painful yet not immediately decisive injury, especially not on the offhand.
“JUSTICE SHALL PREVAIL!” Justinian roared. His blade surged in radiance and size, as he went for the counter slash. The Splatterknight reacted swiftly, taking a half step back. A line was carved across his chest plate, but did not go any deeper.
Immediately, the two opponents transitioned into a clash of blades. Justinian was faster, the Splatterknight was stronger, if only barely, and yet it was the latter that kept outmanoeuvring his enemy. Again and again the Splatterknight managed to create a little opening, bruising and cutting his opponent.
“Oh? He’s doing pretty well!” Delicia commented. The shortstack maid and the night goddess had ended their playfight and decided to join him in watching the fight. “I had expected the ‘holier than thou’ blondie to have folded him by this point.”
“Their level difference isn’t that high and the Splatterknight is clearly the more skilled fighter,” John answered.
“Unfortunately,” Nightingale sat down next to her man, “skill alone does not rule the Abyss.”
The Splatterknight delivered a devastating punch in that moment. His fist slammed into the stomach of his opponent, ramming him against and then into the wall. Stone caved and bent as if a meteorite had just made an impact in the horizontal. Not giving his enemy a chance to breathe, he readied his sword for a final blow.
“I SHALL NOT FALL!”
A blast of white-gold energy flung the Splatterknight back. Golden eyes glowing with incredible power, blood streaming over his face, Justinian charged after as a ray of light. Swiftly, the Splatterknight raised his sword in defence. Not swift enough. His armour took the impact and shattered in place of the rib cage it was protecting. It bought the massive man enough time to dodge out of the path.
Breathing heavily, Justinian pointed the tip of his sword at the Splatterknight again. “I can sense your wicked intent,” the self-righteous pain in John’s side declared. “People like you can never be allowed victory! I shall not allow it!”
John watched live as Justinian’s level ticked up from 329 to 386. “Bullshit Latebloomers,” he whispered sarcastically. “Of course he grows more powerful in the face of adversity.”
The difference in power was insurmountable now. The Splatterknight threw himself into the fray, likely hoping that Justinian’s power boost was a temporary thing. Not working with reliable intel like John did was an issue, especially in the heat of battle. The sword of the augmented human was knocked aside with precision timing.
It wasn’t that Justinian had suddenly become more skilled, merely that their Stat differences had widened to the point that the window of opportunity for Justinian was that much wider. “The unfairness of life,” John lamented and watched as the Splatterknight fought to the last.
At least, Justinian had enough actual righteousness in his body to stay his blade when the outcome was evident. The Splatterknight surrendered and managed to leave the room on wobbly legs.
“The root of the issue shall be eliminated soon enough!” the bloody paladin declared and pointed at John.
John pinched the bridge of his nose. There was some applause for Justinian, all of it reluctant. Justifiably, people were at awe at his power but he would be more popular if he didn’t run around exclaiming things like that. New popularity polls weren’t in yet, but John got a feeling this incident would make him more popular if anything. Sanctimonious pricks typically galvanized people for the other side.
Having a ‘holier than thou’ attitude only worked if it came along with a genuine and working strategy to raise living standards. John had come in and acted better than the local guilds by insisting that slavery was incredibly immoral and that violence should not be the ultimate authority. If that had collapsed the entirety of the economy, people would have been angry about him to this day. Alas, his moral projects had come alongside various benefits.
Justinian offered none of that. The word economy hadn’t even left his mouth. Even if it did, John doubted he would be able to formulate anything on the scale of the Guild Hall. To the public eye, Justinian must have looked like a petulant child at best and a sanctimonious crusader against the man that assured the new living standard at worst.
Before the Gamer had to personally intervene, Justinian cleared the field.
After another break, that only left one more fight for that day: Ankleshanker vs Haek. Size-shifter and druid took the field.
John did not like Ankleshanker’s chances in this. Their level difference was 60 and the druid had multiple sized creatures he could rely on. That was, however, an underestimation of the goblin’s craftiness.
Combat began with the falling star and soon transitioned into absolute chaos. Ankleshanker switched between sizes at a rapid pace. It put an enormous tax on his body, it became obvious quickly, yet he continued to do so while wave after wave of summoned animal was thrown at him. When he was large, Haek threw bears and moose at the goblin. When he was small, eagles and ferrets chased the greenskin instead. Both actions were reactive.
And reaction was rarely better than action.
Ankleshanker dictated the pace of the fight with his size, stabbing enemies left and right as he switched between various heights. It was artful to behold. A power that was so simple on paper used to extend his reach and minimize his vulnerable area. It wasn’t a victory by raw power – in fact, it was a victory against raw power. Haek himself turned into some kind of half-bear, joining the fray when his mana ran low. Ankleshanker won by severing the druid’s tendons.
The crowd went wild when the sweat-soaked goblin raised his fist in victory.
‘The people love an underdog,’ the Gamer thought.
