Chapter 28
Bad Memories, Good Memories
The next twenty minutes were the most conflicted of my entire life.
Every moment the match kept going was another I was stuck, trapped in place as my head screamed at me to move. And yet, it also meant our plan was — at least partially — working. So I grit my metaphorical teeth and focused on the positives.
When Prometheus announced The Gold Regiment as winners, it was only after the time limit went:
"By a score of seven to three, The Bronze Regiment falls in a thrilling match."
The crowd didn't agree. Boos and heckles rolled off them. I wasn't surprised. The only thing monsters hated worse than the 'no killing' rule was no fighting at all.
"Calm yourselves everyone," Prometheus said. "There is a round or – dare I say it – even two left. I'm sure we'll go up from here."
"Not sure where else it could go." I imagined Kurt was narrowing his eyes, trying to stare into our heads. "The Bronze Regiment is up to something."
I wanted to yell at him to shut up before he gave Justin any ideas, and fortunately he did. Both commentators went quiet, catching a break during halftime. The second the magic dissolved from around my body I was at Bianca's side.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Not at all." Bianca gripped her wrist and rolled it in circles. "You never said we'd have to play human statue after we got caught. I'll have a kink in my neck for weeks."
"Sorry to hear it, but that's not what I was asking about."
"Then what?"
"Gee, I don't know, maybe about how somebody tried to kill you?"
Bianca glanced away. "Don't be so dramatic. She was just trying to scare me a little."
"Hah!" The bark of laughter made us jump. I'd completely forgotten the Gold Regiment boy that had been frozen with us. He was stretching to work feeling back into his body and, apparently, listening to us talk.
"If you think Nera was bluffing, then I'm jealous. That means you don't really know her."
I faced the kid. "You know, you're the second person this week to tell me how scary she is. That's impressive consistency."
"If she says she's going to hurt you," the kid said, "that means she's going to hurt you. If she wants to scare you, prepare to be scared. If she comes toward you smiling, run the other way. I'll even give you a tip about her; she's always smiling."
I snorted. "So much for team spirit."
"Hey man, I just tell it like it is. I'm glad she's on my side. But if you think for a second that I like her, toss that out the window." He pulled his arm into a shoulder stretch trying to cover a shudder. "Her favorite hello is a trip down memory lane to the worst moment of your life. "
"Thanks for the heads up," I told him.
"Don't mention it. I'd tell you guys good luck, but that would mean bad luck for me, and I'm not in the habit of wishing ill on myself. "
And with that he walked off.
"He seemed nice," Bianca said.
"Yeah," I agreed. "I might even feel a little bad in a minute when I knock him out."
When we spotted the others I felt one layer of my worries strip away. Po and Vera looked great, if a little sweaty. Victoria looked perfect. Only Emmitt had a big bruise swelling up his cheek. Aurora and John, the other sacrifices, barely had a mark on them.
"It worked?" I asked, trying not to sound surprised.
"Like a charm," Victoria said. "At least, the ones chasing me looked pretty tired."
"They caught me," Emmitt chimed in, leaning forward to display his cheek. "That wasn't fun. But they were really sweating when they did! I tried super hard."
Our regrouping spot was as out of the way as you could get, close enough to the border and the halfway line to stand in the corner and touch both with your hand. Our vase had been left somewhere out of the way in the forest, unguarded.
Between the ones that chased Emmitt and all the others playing bait, nearly the entire Gold Regiment had been led on a wild goose chase. Now it was time to lead them on another.
"Victoria, you're sure that Justin will go on the attack? If he sits back and defends, this will end up as a head-on fight. That'd be pretty much game over."
"He'll attack," Victoria assured me. "The goal isn't beating us, it's beating us with style. He wants to win with the crowd as much as winning the game."
That, I imagined, wouldn't be all that hard. The monsters just outside the barrier were leering at us hard.
"Violence!" shouted a cyclops. "Blood! Carnage! No more running!"
We ignored him. "And everyone has their bottles?"
I got a series of nods.
"In that case-" I gripped Aelia in my fist and pumped it in the air. "-let's go!"
A muted cheer went up. Not too loud; attracting attention here was about the worst thing we could do. A few minutes later when the horn blew we were off, wasting no time.
All eight of us would loop around to the back of the other half, as deep in enemy territory as we could get. If everything went to plan we'd get there without being spotted, and go for their vase all at once. By the time the Gold Regiment's attackers charged back they would've run the length of the arena two more times on top of the running from earlier, all before they even arrived at the fight.
The arena was way bigger than I realized. By the time the dome wall began to curve we'd been moving for what felt like ten minutes. Not that you could tell from the environment. Someone with a greener thumb than mine might've called it beautiful, but I was a Manhattan kid at my core, even if I hadn't been back for years. Pine trees and the scent of moist earth only left me bored.
When we finally stopped the first thing we did was slice healthy branches off all the trees around us. Then, with that done, I held up my hand, and Emmitt and John slipped away.
Their job was to find the enemy vase… Or John's was, since he was probably the least likely person on the planet to get noticed doing it. Emmitt's job was to lead him back to us once they were done. I didn't fully understand it, but Emmitt insisted he could pick out where we were from anywhere, so long as we diced up the plant life a little.
While we waited the crowd was really going crazy. Behind us some had taken to pounding on the barrier, which thankfully proved it was made of sturdier stuff than monster fists. Meanwhile Prometheus, who'd done an admirable job of not giving us away, tried to settle the crowd.
"Patience, good monsters. If you cannot wait for your desert it will never taste as sweet."
His metaphors were wasted. Mention of food only made them angrier.
They wouldn't be whining much longer. After a wait Emmitt and John reappeared, giving me a nod. We set off as a group, homing in on The Gold Regiment's vase.
Three guards. That was how many Justin had left in a triangle formation. He wasn't one of them, and neither was Nera. The kid I'd captured last round was, which made me a little sad. Out of all of them, he was the only one I'd feel a bit bad about beating up.
We hit them like a wave. They might've been skilled but we outnumbered them two to one, and we had the element of surprise. They were captured before they understood what was happening.
"What a daring tactic!" Prometheus exclaimed. "The entire Bronze Regiment has swarmed to enemy territory. In a flash they've captured three opponents and the vase!"
"Exciting," said Kurt. "But how'd they find the vase so quickly? Some sort of trick?"
"Who knows," said Prometheus in a way that made me think that he did, for one. "What is important is that we now have a real battle on our hands. How will Justin respond?"
"Even I know that one," said Kurt. "He'll fight back."
The crowd roared. Literally, in a lot of cases.
Standing there waiting it was like every noise got ten times louder. Our own heavy breathing, Prometheus rambling statistics from past matches, the creak of tree limbs- every last one made me jump as if it were Justin bursting out after my throat.
Maybe it was ironic, then, that when the attack came the first noise was from one of us. Out of nowhere Po, positioned on the far right of our semicircle, screamed and fell.
"NOOOOO!" He gripped his head, curling into a ball. "I'll pull it out! I'll do it quick so just stay still and just-"
That was as far as he got. Nera, standing over him with her arm out from grabbing his wrist, tapped him with her sword and froze him in the fetal position.
"How boring," she said. "He yelled the same stuff last time. I really hate dumb people with just one nightmare."
I charged her, but Justin and another boy appeared blocking my path. Another went for Victoria, and the final one leapt at Emmitt and Bianca. That left Vera and John against Nera, who giggled when she saw them coming.
"Maybe you guys will be more fun!"
I growled. I had no intention of leaving Nera to anyone else, but I didn't have a choice. I recognized the guy attacking me. I never got his name, but I knew his face as one of Justin's go-to bodyguards. He was easily over six foot and swung his hefty ax with Percy-splattering speed.
Big guy would come first, forcing me to duck away every time. There was no parrying an ax that must've weighed a bazillion pounds. Justin would strike right when I'd dodged, at times I couldn't easily get away. Then, to make matters worse, I had to worry about not leading them to the others. The last thing I wanted was to dodge that ax and leave Victoria or Bianca unaware in its path.
I might've been worried if we hadn't expected this. We always knew a straight fight would be bad for us. That was why we focused on coming up with tricks.
For one thing, they were both tired. I could see it in the sheen of sweat down their necks. But making them run wasn't all we had up our sleeve.
I yanked my bottle off my belt, slicing off the top in a single motion. Then I aimed it at the big dude's face and squeezed.
Water fired out like a cannon as I willed it to speed up. The results were a power washing of the guy's eyeballs. He yelped in a pitch higher than I thought he could manage and I struck, eliminating him in one attack.
Justin's eyes narrowed. Either the surprise attack annoyed him, or his own peepers were feeling some second-hand ache. No teamwork, no help, no distractions. We circled each other, neither willing to make the first move.
In the end I went with shock factor. Abandoning my sword I let Anthea take shape, lunging with the spear.
Justin was ready. Having seen it before he parried easily, following up with a horizontal slash. I hopped quickly out of the way.
Back to circling.
"You sure you can afford to stall?" I asked. "Your friends are outnumbered back there. I wonder how long until they lose."
I was hoping to agitate him. Instead he chuckled.
"That's the problem with you, Jackson. You think too simple. It's no wonder you lose sight of the big picture."
Just then, two things happened.
First, Prometheus started shouting.
"The Gold Regiment has smashed the Bronze Regiment's vase! That's right folks, The Gold Regiment is back to eight!"
My eyes widened, and I kicked myself. How hadn't I noticed it earlier? With the three from the start and the four that attacked us, only seven of the Gold Regiment were here. Justin had left one behind to find our vase, and they'd come through. I rushed for the others.
Justin had just leapt in my way shouting, "Not so fast!" when the second thing happened.
Vera screamed.
I'd never heard the quiet girl raise her voice, and this was as loud as it could go. My throat felt raw just hearing it. Through the trees I spied Nera cackling and dodging swings from John, dancing around Vera's downed form.
Most of the water from my bottle had been absorbed by the ground, but I summoned what was left to splatter across Justin's neck. The slight distraction gave me an edge to push past him.
Things didn't look good. Big guy and the original guards had rejoined the fight. Emmitt had been captured, and Victoria looked like she was about to follow. Bianca would've too, but every time someone went for her Nera glared at them so hard they backed off.
Justin was hot on my heels, wedging me into a Gold Regiment sandwich. It was a hopeless situation, but in that moment I hardly noticed. The only thing on my mind was hitting Nera. Hard.
I never got the chance. Before I got close somebody spoke.
"What in the world is happening here?"
The voice reminded me of one of those room service bells, soft and tinkling. It caressed my ears like a fluffy pillow. Just the sound of it let all the adrenaline out of my system. I could tell before I even spotted her, standing with crystal eyes wide open, who it was.
Aurora was awake.
"I understand that a lot goes over my head," she said, looking around, "but this is still really strange. What even causes something like this?"
There was an undertone to how she carried herself that had even the Gold Regiment stopping to stare. Mostly. One rushed the girl, apparently deciding that Bronze Regiment meant Bronze Regiment.
Aurora looked at him. There wasn't anything more to it, just a moment of eye contact. The rushing boy crumpled mid-step, snoring before his face smacked the ground.
"Much better." Aurora giggled. "Naughty boys take naps. Behave better if you wake up."
The fact that she said "if" not "when" made me thank every deity I was on terms with that she was on our side.
Aurora was glancing around, drinking everything in with the greedy eyes of someone that spent ninety-nine percent of her life with them closed. Once or twice she paused to comment ("Oh, Victoria's here! Hello!" or "Is the sky golden now?) while she bounced in place.
"You're awake," Justin said. "You're never awake. Why are you awake?"
Aurora turned to him with a smile. "Not a clue. Something got through to me like an alarm. Not many things can manage that, so I'm simply enjoying the opportuni-"
She cut off. She had spotted Vera.
It was impossible to describe what in her face changed, all I can tell you is the effect. One minute she looked cheerful, almost euphoric. The next it all clouded over. Her eyes went deadly, like icicles sharpened to points.
"Who did this?" she asked softly.
When nobody answered she looked everyone over, one by one. When she came to me she paused.
"You," she said. "You were fighting her before. Was it you?"
It was difficult to answer, but I dug my nails into my palm and shook my head.
"Why should I believe you?"
"Because the person who did isn't keeping it a secret. She's right over there."
I pointed to Nera. The Gold Regiment girl had frozen like the rest of us, but for her it seemed different. She was eying Aurora like a piece of meat. She grinned and waved her sword.
"It was me! I did it. But let's not talk about that, it's boring."
"No," said Aurora. "Let's."
She raised her hand and everyone bar Nera from the Gold Regiment dropped.
"First," Aurora said, "you are going to tell me exactly what you did to her."
"That's easy." Nera took a step forward, dropping her sword to buy time. "I just gave her a tap and showed her a little something."
"Showed her what?"
"Who knows? It was up to her, really. Whatever nightmare haunts her most. Whatever memory is likeliest to drive her mad. It could be the death of a loved one, or a frightening chase with a monster. Just because I bring it out doesn't mean I control it, dummy."
"I am going to ruin you," Aurora declared.
Nera giggled. "Except I don't think that you are."
Her hand darted to her belt and I yelled, "Look out!"
Aurora's hand shot up to knock out Nera the same way she had her teammates, or maybe something worse. If Nera's eyes closed here, I had serious doubts they would ever open again. But as quick as Aurora started she froze.
A knife, the one Nera had just drawn, was pressed against the back of Vera's neck. Vera's body stiffened as the competition's magic marked her eliminated, but I didn't relax. Nera had already shown how much she cared for little things like 'rules' and 'murder'.
"What'cha gonna do? Put me to sleep?" Nera giggled. "Do it. Make it so I never wake up, and watch this knife sink into your friend's spine. I won't need to lift a finger for that nightmare to stick with you."
Behind me Bianca notched an arrow, but her hands were shaking. She didn't have a clear shot. Prometheus, who had been narrating the entire back and forth, had gone conspicuously quiet. I guessed until Nera followed through on her threat, nobody felt the need to stop the match.
I'd always known there was a chance of somebody dying, but this wasn't how I pictured it happening. Not a heat of the moment mistake, but a calculated strategy.
Aurora had dug her teeth into her lip, her hand still half-raised. She was fading. I could see drowsiness making her body sway.
"What do you think you'll get out of this?" I asked Nera. "Say you follow through. You heard Justin, you'll be killed."
Nera shrugged. "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Besides, Justin's a worrywart. I won't be dying either way."
"But why go so far?"
She stared at me. Maybe it was a trick of the magic lighting, but her body seemed to flicker- half white like bone, half pitch-black.
"Why not? My life was ruined a long time ago. Compared to my pain, is anything I've done really so bad? So they get to see a little nightmare. Boohoo. I've been living mine for seventeen years."
The point of her knife was beginning to tremble against Vera's skin.
"Alright, alright." I held my hands up. "Why don't you tell us what's wrong? If it's something doable, I might even be able to help."
Nera blinked. Then she laughed. "Well, maybe you could help out, but you really don't look the type to know your way around worker's union benefits and seduction."
"Workers union benefits and… Seduction?"
She flapped her free hand. Aurora and I flinched as the motion sent a wobble through the knife. "Like I said, you really don't look the type. I think I'll take my chances dragging others down to my level."
Without warning she snagged her sword from the ground and hurled it at Aurora like a runaway helicopter rotor. Aurora ducked just in time, but Nera didn't wait around. She darted away into the shadows the instant the daughter of Morpheus was distracted, disappearing like a fish returning to the water.
An arrow whizzed by, embedding in the tree Nera had just escaped behind. Bianca cursed. "I missed! She got away."
I wanted to chase her. Really I did. But when I realized Aurora hadn't gotten up again, I held back.
"She's breathing," Victoria declared, crouching with two fingers to Aurora's neck. "Just sleeping deeply. She pushed herself too hard."
There was a moment of deafening silence, John, Victoria, Bianca and I all frozen trying to catch up with everything that had happened. That was when I made the final call not to chase Nera. What if she circled back while I was stumbling around in the dark and got the drop on someone else? Revenge could wait if it meant risking my friends.
"Was that normal?" Bianca asked softly. "That girl just threatened to kill Vera. Why is this match still going?"
"Good question," I said.
"It's because we don't matter." Victoria's voice was quiet as she guided Aurora into a comfier position. "They treat us alright, but at the end of the day we're no different from clever monsters. But monsters reform, and we don't. Not that they care."
"Then why are you fighting for them?" Bianca asked. "Just leave. Or, I don't know, find a new boss or something."
Victoria tilted her head. "And go where? Demigods don't survive on their own. We have two options, the titans or the gods. At Least the titans care a little that we exist, even if it's just because we're useful." She stood up and squared her shoulders. "Now's not the time though. We can chat all you want later. Right now, we make sure we win this, and then we kick Gold Regiment asses for a second time."
Eliminating the sleeping Gold Regiment was as easy as giving a couple taps with our weapons. That left just Nera and whoever had captured our vase, an 8:2 advantage once we'd smashed the Gold Regiment vase.
Both Po and Vera were messes when they came to. Pale, shaken, breathing hard. I wasn't going to ask what they'd seen, but I didn't have to to know it had stuck with them while they were paralyzed.
"And there it is," Prometheus said when the horn finally ended the second round. "The Bronze Regiment takes one back! We're going to a final round."
"That was impressive," Kurt said. "They executed their plan well and overwhelmed their opponents. Aurora completely changed the game."
"Can she do it again?" Prometheus asked.
The answer was no, and we all knew it. To win the next round we would have to fight for it.
Before we could slip away the Gold Regiment woke up around us. Most of them groaned and pressed hands to their faces. Justin wasn't one of them. He locked onto us the moment he arrived back from slumber land.
"Don't think you've won," he said. "You got lucky, but it won't happen again. I am going to crush you."
None of us answered, except for Bianca of all people who stuck her tongue out at him.
"What?" she asked once we'd left. "He deserved it, trying to act tough while lying on the ground."
"I just didn't expect you to care so much."
She looked away, focusing on the ground in front of us. "Yeah, well, maybe just a little."
Compared to the last break, this one felt incredibly long. Probably because most of it was spent waiting. This round there would be no sacrifice-and-bait strategies or detailed flanking routes. Honestly, we'd had doubts we'd even make it this far, but now that we were here Justin would be taking things absolutely seriously. Too late to keep exploiting overconfidence.
There was just one trick left. We placed the seven uncapped water bottles we still had in a circle and waited. When the horn signaled the start of the final round, we waited. When the crowd roared their heads off, we waited. Until we could hear the Gold Regiment rushing toward us, flashes of swords showing through the trees, we waited, and then it was my turn.
It wasn't like in the past where I was bringing an entire creek down on everything in sight. All I had was a hundred something ounces of water to drop eight alert demigods… or come as close as I could.
One of Justin's bodyguards exploded from a bush. I emptied a bottle to form a watery bullet, but my aim was off. I only clipped the kid's ear. A second bullet caught him on the Adam's apple and he fell coughing.
Two more fell on us from different sides, engaging Po and John. I hit one in the ear and Po used the distraction to take him down. The other saw what was happening and was ready. It took four shots before I blinded her.
I grimaced. One shot left. The last five opponents came now, all as one group.
Po fell almost instantly, still out of it from his brush with Nera. Emmitt joined him right after when Justin disarmed him in two swings. I spent the last water bottle in a hail-mary shot at Justin. He ducked it, and from that moment everything was a straight fight.
Victoria met Justin in a swarm of slashes. The two went back and forth, trading hits that would do real damage if even a single one landed.
"Go down, second place!" Justin shouted.
Victoria swung back harder.
There was only one person I was aiming for. Her name started with 'N' and she had a face that had gone too long un-punched.
Nera was darting between bodies like some sort of vengeful ferret. Whenever she got close to a Bronze Regiment fighter she would throw out a hand or stab her sword, trying to knock them out with visions or cuts. She hadn't succeeded yet, but she was coming closer.
Proving my point, she snuck behind John and lunged for the back of his neck, fingers getting closer and closer...
Right until hit her at a full sprint and sent her tumbling across the ground.
"You alright?" I asked.
"For now," John said, and he ducked off to lead his opponent away.
Unfortunately, my bodycheck hadn't done any lasting damage. Nera was back to her feet, sizing me up.
"Haven't tasted your terror yet." She licked her lips. "What'll it be, I wonder."
I raised Anthea. "You won't get the chance to find out."
I didn't need any freaky powers to tell me what the worst moment of my life was.
She cackled and swung for my neck. The edges of her standard issue sword had been chipped and shattered until they were serrated. It was a sword designed bleed, which gave me extra incentive to duck on time.
The hand that reached up for my face when I did almost got me. Her fingertips swiped centimeters from my nose before I pulled back.
Nera might've been the most dangerous opponent I'd ever faced. Not only was she good with her sword, every part of her was a weapon. It didn't matter if she poked my ear or brushed our ankles, one touch and my consciousness would be dumped back to a rainy Manhattan alley.
If she had a weakness it was her temper. The longer I evaded the more she rushed things. Her grin was swapped first for a focused line, then for a scowl.
"Suffer already!" she shouted.
"No thanks," I said, and dodged again.
She was getting easier to avoid, but the openings weren't big enough to safely take her out. I needed to get her distracted, something to get her off her game…
"What was that you were saying earlier? Seduction?"
"Shut up and fight," she grunted.
"But I'm curious. Whatever it is 'ruining your life' can't be all that serious if seduction's the solution."
Even the fact I was trying to get a rise from her didn't prepare me for the venom that crossed her face.
"I will eviscerate you," she said. "Mutilate you. Slice you into bits and feed you to the birds. You will never understand what it feels like to want only one thing from life, knowing that you'll never get it because of one insufferable asshole."
It was working. Nera was getting more and more erratic. A tiny bit more and I would have the opening I was after. But time was running out. Vera had fallen. Our numbers were shrinking.
"One asshole, huh? Who're we talking about, Justin for not letting you kill people? A waiter that forgot your order?"
"Hades!" Nera howled. "If it weren't for him I could be happy. But no, he has to go working my mom twenty four seven, every day of the year. Do you have any idea how hard it was for her to get away to make me? How many thousands of years it'll be before she'll be able to do it again?"
I'd expected something a bit more serious than mommy issues for her to have such a screwed up life, so much so that I nearly missed the opening I'd been angling for. Nearly.
She swung too hard, keeping her shoulder too straight. When her blade didn't make contact it threw her off balance. I slammed her unprotected back so hard with the flat of my sword, the slap hurt my ears.
She didn't cry out as she fell. She kept hold of her sword, too, not that it did her any good. Before she could catch her bearings my sword was leveled at her chest.
"A little brother." It was like the hit had slapped all the fire out of her. "That's all I wanted. A cute sibling to spoil."
"That's a really dumb reason to be so crazy," I told her. "You should feel bad."
I poked her with my sword.
Nothing happened. She swung back and I was forced to dive away or lose the ankle I still had.
It didn't make any sense. I definitely eliminated her just now, but no magic kicked in. She should've been doing a plank impression. Instead she rolled to her feet as fit as ever, except for a slight wince from her back.
"Another of the Bronze Regiment falls! John is disarmed, taking their numbers down to three. "
I wanted to shout to Prometheus, telling him to pay attention. The game was broken! But if he'd noticed Nera's mysterious recovery, he was ignoring it.
Victoria had been hanging on against Justin, but now that she had to deal with a second opponent it was going downhill. Bianca was just about dodging the two that were after her. If I had to guess, it was because neither of them were trying their hardest. They knew as well as I did that Nera had her eyes on the girl, and they weren't about to put themselves in the way of that.
Our biggest problem was the number advantage. Screaming about the game glitching didn't seem like it would do anything except make me feel better, so the numbers were what I focused on first.
Rather than waiting around for Nera to attack me again, I turned and ran. She must not have expected it. It took a minute for her to react before she gave a shout and chased after me.
I led her straight for Victoria and the two attacking her. Justin saw me coming and tried too late to warn his teammate. Before the guy could turn around I was on him, snagging his wrist with my metal hand.
My prosthetic was only a little stronger than a regular arm. Fun fact, though: a hand gripping you as hard as it can is a lot more painful when the fingers are bronze instead of flesh.
The guy yelped and tried to pull back, but he couldn't get away. I pulled him down behind me, straight into Nera's path.
Rather than trip on him or slow down to jump over, Nera put her boot straight on the guy's face and pushed off, slamming his head into the ground hard enough to send him seeing stars.
"Nera!" Justin shouted. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Shut up Justin!" she shouted back. "Don't get in my way!"
I veered off, Nera still hot in pursuit, and made for Bianca.
"Look at that!" Prometheus's voice echoed around me. "Taking advantage of a moment of terrible chemistry, Victoria has captured an opponent. The numbers difference shrinks from two to one!"
"They could really do this," Kurt said. I couldn't decide if I felt smug or indignant at how shocked he sounded by it.
The demigods going after Bianca looked like siblings, a boy and a girl with the same golden hair one shade lighter than the barrier dome. They worked well together, forcing Bianca around as she dodged and ducked and swung clumsily back with her knife.
They were more aware than the last guy, because I wasn't able to get the drop on them. As soon as I got close the boy peeled off to meet me, leaving his sister to handle Bianca.
I tried to duck around him but he wasn't having it. Maybe he'd seen what Nera did to the last 'teammate' that got in her way. He moved with me, forcing me to stop.
Breathe in… breathe out. I focused completely on the two on either side of me. Two versus one wasn't ideal, but I'd beaten worse odds.
Nera went to hack my stomach. I leaned back. Blondie went in for an overhead strike. I slid it off my metal forearm. They both swung from opposite sides, one going high the other going low. I leapt back, landing on my toes and rushing in again before they could take advantage.
We fell into a rhythm. Their chemistry wasn't bad, considering one of them's idea of teamwork was using her friend as a springboard. I chalked that up to Blondie. He seemed to have a knack for understanding Nera's style and changing up his own to complement it.
But, like with every improvised team, they were far from perfect. Both of them were right handed. Their favorite offense was to swing at my left side, to the extent they'd trip over each other aiming for the same thing.
When it happened a third time I decided it was a pattern not a coincidence. So, the next time I attacked, I gave them something to aim at.
I lunged and grabbed Blondie's collar with my left arm.
I could practically see the gears turning behind his blue eyes. He started to pull away, then stopped and let me grab hold. From there he wasted no time grabbing my wrist, holding my arm in place.
With my arm trapped and my sword stuck on the opposite side of my body, my left side was completely open. Nera didn't need a second invitation. She darted past her companion, greedily aiming at the exposed spot she'd been unconsciously targeting anyway, just like I knew she would.
I'm no math guy. Wasn't, even before I dropped out in the second grade. Which is to say, I couldn't tell you how small the window was to get this right, just that it was microscopic.
From the opposite side of my body I aimed Anfisa's point at Nera. Then I wrapped my pinky around and gave the tip of the hilt a tap.
Immediately, with a quiet whirring of gears, the sword narrowed and lengthened. The suddenly-appearing spear shaft rocketed across my chest, slipped just under my arm, and knocked Nera's sword from her unsuspecting hands.
The move was so surprising that Blondie's grip loosened. I pulled free, spun, and hit both of them across the stomach the same way Andi did to me at my first test.
Unlike my monstrous former-teacher, I couldn't send them flying. Not both of them anyway. Nera rolled backwards to lighten the impact, leaving her sword behind. Blondie keeled over where he stood and I tapped his back. Unlike earlier with Nera, the magic kicked in immediately.
It was only then, as some of the adrenaline bled away, that I realized I was grinning. I might've even let out a giggle or two. Moves weren't the only thing Andi had left me with.
Maybe that rush distracted me. Or I might have just been exhausted from the long night of fighting. Either way, I realized far too late what Nera was up to.
She hadn't just rolled to get away from me, she'd done it to get closer to someone else. And now, with me stuck too far away to do a thing, she sprung up… right next to Bianca.
Bianca was too busy dodging Blondie #2 to even see it coming. Nera pinched her ear like a scolding grandma.
For one long second, I hoped it would fail again. It happened once. Why not twice?
Bianca screamed.
She dropped her knife. Her hands shot up- one in front of her face as if trying to block off heavy winds, the other stretching for something beneath her. Her tanned skin went white. She didn't say a word but she didn't have to. The pain was clear across her face.
Nera cackled. "I am good. Look at that for terror!"
Bianca's knees buckled. Her head struggled up.
"Oh?" Nera leaned down. "Trying to say something?"
Bianca's arms shot out, grabbing Nera and holding her at eye level."
"I said, fuck you."
For just a second, Bianca's brown eyes flashed black. After that, things got confusing. Every shadow in a ten meter radius was sucked toward Nera as if she were a super magnet. The girl disappeared into a sphere of black that no amount of magic lighting could penetrate.
It didn't last long. After five seconds the orb was showing cracks. After ten it had dissolved, tendrils streaming off like solid-black snakes and slithering into nothing.
When the center was exposed Nera was on her knees. She looked comatose with her eyes open, her jaw gaping. Goosebumps coated her arms and neck. Bianca released her shoulders and she toppled sideways.
Speaking of toppling over, Bianca looked about three-quarters of the way there herself. She sat down hard, but had just enough energy to take her fallen knife and jab it into Nera's shoulder. I noticed she didn't worry about breaking the skin, but Nera didn't react- to the cut, or to the Prisoner marker that appeared above her.
I caught Blondie #2 eying Bianca's back and glared. She caught my look and her eyes went from her brother, to Nera, then back. She gulped and threw her weapon aside, holding up her hands.
"What was that?" Kurt asked. "I've never seen anything like it."
"I rather wish you still hadn't," Prometheus said.
"Excuse me sir?"
"Don't trouble yourself over it, though I do find myself asking you to finish the commentary on your own. You can handle that, can't you?"
"Sir—"
"Excellent. So sorry for the inconvenience."
Prometheus' voice disappeared with a soft click. If there was even a physical booth somewhere, I got the feeling Prometheus had just pushed back his seat and flicked out of existence.
"Uh, well, ladies and gentleman— I mean, we're right at the end of it now," Kurt stuttered as he adjusted to his new role. "The Gold Regiment is down Justin himself. It isn't looking good for him."
Justin and Victoria were dusty, sweaty, and caked in enough little cuts to look like walking Neosporin advertisements. Compared to the start of the round they'd slowed to a crawl. Neither of them could find the intensity they'd been lashing out with earlier, although that wasn't stopping both from trying.
Honestly, I was a little shocked how well Victoria was doing. I always knew she was better in a fight than the others. But she had held on for ten straight minutes against the 'best' regiments 'best' swordsman. Now it was my turn to help her finish him off.
I couldn't tell you the details after I jumped into the fight, for two reasons. One, it wasn't long. Two minutes, tops, probably a little shorter. And the second reason: I was enjoying myself way too much slapping Justin around.
What I can tell you about in perfect detail is the end. We had maneuvered to either side of him, and he knew he could only block one of us. The realization washed over his face like dirty sewage. All that haughtiness mixed with sudden panic, as if what was happening was only just hitting him.
"No!" he screamed.
We struck, and he made his decision. He blocked my spear, parrying it with shaking hands.
And Victoria's sword sliced through his collar, flat against his neck.
It was a shame he was the last one caught, because his outraged face would've looked great frozen for a lot longer than the three seconds until the horn sounded. Not that I needed any longer to memorize the sight and tuck it away in my happy memories drawer.
It was incredible to hear the monsters roar like they hadn't been threatening to turn us into snacks just thirty minutes earlier. Short-term memories, maybe. Or they were just distracted for now, and would go back to hating and hankering for our guts in a bit. Either way, if you weren't looking, it felt kinda good, hearing the roaring approval and pretending it wasn't coming from fanged, human-consuming creatures.
Victoria and I shared a look. Then we dropped, laughing, and let the thrill of victory and aching muscles wash over us while the monsters' cheers moved toward a actual words:
"Bronze Regiment! Bronze Regiment! Bronze Regiment!"
(-)
Yay, climax! The impromptu arc is wrapping/wrapped up, and now we get to the first of the three (or four, haven't 100% decided) major arcs. Without saying too much, the major arcs are my attempts at mimicking the book formats from cannon, so I'm excited to start the first.
You also may be getting something of a barrage of chapters here for a minute. I came down with COVID last week, which is only slightly unfortunate because my symptoms were mild. Now, though, I have energy back and a continuing stream of still-positive tests, which translates to a whole lot of free time. I cranked out an entire chapter today, just need to edit it into readability. If I keep up that sort of rate (no promises) then it might be a two-chapters-a-week type of winter break.