In a mere blink of an eye, the terribly cluttered mess of bodies rubbing against one another throughout the seemingly endless vertical spiral bridge made of burning white light disappeared. As did the ear splitting uproars of groups angrily arguing back and forth, instead replaced by the distant cooing of unidentifiable wildlife. A prompt filled my vision as my eyes opened.
Planet: Myzur
Era: 1st
God: None
Lives: 1
Mission: Defeat all other Faction Squads associated with the Top 10 finalists of your planet's Placement Tournament.
Fuck. Yes.
My eyes fluttered open taking in the foreign environment around me. The vegetation under foot adopted a myriad of colors, massive patches of purple and red shrubs and tall grass scattering the region covered in colorful tree-sized flowers. In the distance, dozens of massive chunks of land the size of cities floated high in the sky, resembling aerial archipelagos. A rain cloud quickly moved overhead at the rate of pre-integration airplanes, temporarily pouring down onto the strange forest before the sunlight shone back through the clouds.
Glancing about this new world, or simulation of one based on the 'Era' provided in my notifications, I caught a glimmer of metal shining through the brush. Walking at an angle around one of the flower trees, the faint outline of a large muscular figure came into view. I started slowly approaching, not willing to give away my position until I knew who it was. The strange grass below popped with each step, accompanied by the sensation of small soft spheres lying beneath. Lifting my foot and looking under my boot, a small lumpy fruit of some kind was squished onto my tread.
The rapid crunching of the surprisingly reactive tiny fruits crescendoing from behind immediately greenlit releasing the sheathes from my twinblade as I turned to meet my attacker. A man with long dark hair and a well kept beard charged forward with a long thin rapier, wearing rather fine looking silks along his shoulders and golden plated armor from the neck down. His charge was underwhelmingly slow, giving me time to sneak in an Identify while comfortably Water Stepping out of the regal appearing warriors path.
Extending my foot behind me, I hooked my ankle around my attacker's ankle as he passed, ripping up and sweeping him face first onto the ground. The man scrambled to his feet, popping several foreign little fruits in his palms on the way up.
"How DARE you?!" The man hissed, staring deep into my eyes with disgust.
"You attacked me, dipshit. Try again." I shot back, already feeling a sense of entitlement leaking from this guy's whole posture. No one who's survived by merit this long could possibly expect that slow ass attack to work.
"I've made a living correcting insolent rodents like you. Now the gods will see the reign of Artullo The Great will last forevermore! Starting with YOU!" The blatant narcissist bellowed, once again recklessly sprinting full speed at me. Only this time, his feet slid across the multicolored vegetation a couple feet short of me, lunging forward with his rapier.
The edge of my still-connected twinblade slapped the side of his rapier, deflecting Artullo's stab over my shoulder. Stomping on his foot, my inside shoulder slammed into his chest plate causing him to fly to the floor. My blades had just separated walking around the downed pompous prick who attacked me when the sensation of smooth metal smashing into my side sent me flying several feet across the strange forest.
Rolling onto my forearm, my feet quickly found purchase to the forest foliage as I shot back up to face my new opponent. A man standing just under 6 feet in dark heavy armor stood in front of Artullo, a short sword extending from a gap at the top of his shield.
"Why do I feel like you two are friends?" I snickered, brushing some squished vegetation from my robes.
"Don't do that. Let's get this over with." The shielded warrior said, while Artullo rose to his feet behind him.
"You're words, not mine. Don't forget that." I replied, entering the Fluidic Fighters stance with my blades surging with lightning mana between my chains. The warriors began a mow bent approach, keeping his blade trained on my chest.
The red grass ripped under my boot Water Stepping toward the shielded Warrior, showing a leaping stab. The Warrior lurched his blade forward through the gap in his shield, sending his Flow into the arm holding his short sword. My blade's hilt slapped into my attacking hand, triggering Flow Inverse and sending the momentum into a stiff front kick into his shield. The warrior's arm gave out, slamming the shield into his body and knocking him off balance.
Just as I was planting my foot back down to chase the stumbling warrior, Artullo's skinny little rapier came barrelling toward my neck as he lunged forward from behind his defender. My head barely leaned out of its path changing direction back towards Artullo in response. The edge of my blade was about to slice across the golden armored prick's throat when a man holding two swords crashed into the both of us headfirst from our side. His body slammed into my elbow, halting my outward slice and nearly knocking me over.
The dual sword wielder scrambled to his feet, standing in front of Artullo looking frantically at me and somewhere over my shoulder in the direction he'd flown in from.
"Stay away from our Prince, you filthy mongrels!" The man growled, showing enough cowardice for me to comfortably look toward what he was glancing at. Derrick came jogging over, wearing a shit-eating grin cheek to cheek.
"Sorry Tom, didn't think he'd let me get that front kick off so cleanly." He said, stopping beside me.
"I bet, go ahead and finish what you started then. The 'Prince' is mine." I said, walking around the two cowards before me and pretending not to see the shielded warrior charging at my peripheral. My arm barely twitched preparing my counter attack when Cassi's new staff smashed into the back of the warrior's helmet as she glided across the forest floor behind him. The warrior stumbled forward again, planting his sword into the patch of purple grass he fell into and turning to face her. Turning back toward Artullo, Derrick lunged toward the dual wielding swordsman with his halberd ready for a slash.
The dual swordsman lifted his blades bracing to block the strike. Derrick instead teleported to the other side of him, landing the edge of his Halberd into the swordsman's back in a puff of violet energy. The swordsman screeched in pain lunging his sword over his shoulder wildly toward Derrick, who teleported a foot to the side. Artullo bolted out from behind them, running away from the fight entirely.
"Handle him." I said to Derrick, before sprinting after Artullo. He hadn't gotten very far, and my insane agility has granted me a full sprint speed I'd previously deemed reserved for trains and sports cars. Even still, Artullo's attempt to flee was cut short before I could reach him as an explosion of red mist erupted out of his skull while he looked back at me. Behind him stood Brigid, her foot still in the air from blasting Artullo's face into a mess of bone and blood.
"Oh, hey there Tommy. Fancy meeting you here." Brigid said, taking a few steps toward me.
"You realize if Korbin wasn't my first opponent you would've been royally fucked, right? You're not that special, blondie." I shot back, readying myself in my fighter's stance.
"Your precious leader was right, you are dangerously stupid." She replied, brandishing two curved short swords from her hips. Just as her feet planted however, a barrage of arrows rained in from above, peppering the red and purple vegetation between us. From the arrows instantly sprouted an entire forest of thick, towering trees, making it impossible to see Brigid.
My head whipped around the very earthly trees spontaneously sprouting all around me as I sprinted back towards Derrick and Cassi. My pace quickly pulled me out ahead of the developing forest behind me as I struggled to locate the source of the high arching arrows creating these trees. An ear piercing slap rang out at my side, my eyes widening seeing an 8 foot wall of water collapsing to the red foliage. A series of red beams blasted through the falling wall of water as I dashed by, recreating the same terrible slap in succession.
Flashes of blue and red light illuminated two unknown fighters around 15 yards at my side, in the same direction those red daggers had blasted my way. I would've turned heel toward that fight if I hadn't seen Cassi now dealing with two fighters at once, both of which using painfully familiar abilities. The same brilliantly skilled warrior that side kicked me across the forest back on earth before these Quarterly's were announced twirled unleashing a flurry of strikes with two thin bladed swords. Beside him was the towering silver skinned giant with multiple shiny chrome weapons floating around him, periodically swooping in to attack Cassi.
Red vegetation ripped free from the soil into the air behind me while sprinting across the strange forest, passing Derrick in melee with a medium armored warrior using a short spear and shield. The spearman's movements were incredibly disciplined, showing himself fully capable of judging Derricks teleporting strikes and blocking them with his shield accordingly. Derrick could handle that guy, Cassi however wasn't being given a fair fight.
My eyes narrowed into the neck of the incredibly skilled warrior actively attacking Cassi with a chrome two handed club from his back. Lightning surged throughout my blades Water Stepping toward the warrior as I neared. My body launched weightlessly forward unleashing the lightly charged Lightning Strike toward the warriors neck. A pressure on my elbow sent my stab slightly off course, piercing cleanly through the skilled warrior attacking Cassi, interrupting his downward slam with his metal studded club.
The bright glimmer of sunlight reflecting from the oblong floating chrome metal that slammed into my arm glimmered floating back around the silver giant, who stared wide eyed at me while backpedaling away. The warrior with multiple differing weapons on his back bashed my head with his elbow, leaving my blade in his shoulder as I recoiled back. My eyes refocused in time to hop out of the range of a sweeping slash from the warriors a newly brandished katana. His body twisted hard, yanking at my blade in hand at the chain. Feeling the Flow out, my legs leaned into its pull sending me dashing toward the warrior. His katana launched back up towards my neck, the edge being slapped away from my blade in hand as a spun around the stabbing strike.
A hollow thump echoed from the warrior's skull as my elbow blasted into his temple. Grasping my blade in his shoulder quickly with my free hand, the warrior's body lurched back assisting in ripping my weapon free. A misshapen spherical shadow quickly appeared at the corner of my eye, Water Stepping backwards and narrowly avoiding another blob of chrome metal hurtling through the air at me.
This fucking giant AGAIN.
Cassi's bo staff smashed into the highly skilled warrior's skull from behind, interrupting his overhanded slam attack with two glimmering chrome axes. Content with leaving her to deal with his bullshit for a bit, my attention refocused onto the pesky silver giant. Wind whirled through my ears dashing away diagonally from the barrage of metals contorting through the air, periodically flying toward me as I sprinted for the giant. A group of metals clumped together at the giant's foot, slowly creating a chrome wall.
Not willing to play another cat and mouse game like I had dealing with the earth mage that defended King Nathanial, my arms quickly supercharged with Lightning mana, surging through my blades and dispersing at their ends slapping together. A jagged bolt of lightning streaked through the air, blasting into the silver giant's bare chest causing him to convulse violently for a full second.
The silver giant struggled clamoring to his feet, tripping over the array of strange red and purple vegetation reaching and tangling from the ground. Spotting a giant flower behind the giant, my grappling fired from my forearm. The hook pierced into the massive flower's thick stem, sending a spray of blue liquid from it. The silver giant continued stumbling forward, his legs subtly tangling in my hooks wire. Sprinting behind him and willing the hook to reel in, a half second later my body lurched forward from the sudden force pulling me toward the flower. Digging my feet into the floor, the wire suddenly gave, ripping free from the flower's stem and latching onto the silver giant's ankle.
The momentum generated from the grapple yanking my body forward transferred into the giant's ankle, ripping his foot out from under him, sending the giant flipping onto his head. My feet bounced off the floor in two large bounds, leaping above the prone giant and blasting two Lightning Strikes into his chest and neck. The giant gargled on his own blood as I ripped my blade free, the dispersal of mana ripping a hole in his chest and throat. Two more quickly stabs and twists into his body finally brought the familiar *ding* of the death notification.
As I stood up and turned to rejoin Cassi however, the fallen silver giants' open wounds began spewing thousands of blood droplets into the air, forming a cloud that flew past my face and into the red gloved hand of Brigids wavy haired companion, Serena.
"Mm-mm, how yummy. You're just too good to me, Sparky." Serena hollered from 10 yards away, blowing me a kiss. Sprinting towards her to avoid letting her attack first, my path was almost instantly cut off by two blood dripping great swords slamming into the red foliage at my feet. Not having the space to fully stop, my knee launched into the air slamming into the horned helmet of Brigids oversized heavily armored companion, Vinny. His head barely jolted up, grasping my leg in the pit of his elbows as I flew by.
The sheer force exerted as Vinny tossed me over head flung me aloft, my feet slamming into the side of an exotic giant flower's purple stem before dropping back to the ground. Vinny sprinted towards me at a surprisingly quick speed, maintaining a notably disciplined fighter's stance with each step. A grin emerged across my face.
"Hell yeah, COME ON." I yelled in elation, dodging under Vinny's horizontal slash toward my head and shuffling around his back. Vinny quickly spun around slashing both his massive long swords. My foot smashed into both his forearms activating Flow Strike, providing just enough force to halt his strikes in their tracks. Vinny's armored elbow flew up towards my face, forcing me to slide back rather than counter attack as I'd intended. The devilish horned monster of a man continued pressing forward relentlessly, his longswords cutting across the air sending gusts of wind blowing onto my face evading his attacks.
A series of paper thin strings suddenly appeared wrapping around Vinny's chest from behind. All at once, the string squeezed against Vinny's chest, slowly cutting though his thick metal armor. Vinny's horned head whipped back behind him trying to locate his new attacker, giving me a window to land a series of Flow Strikes at Vinny's gaps for movement in his armor. The massive man bellowed angrily in pain, rearing a long sword for another sweeping slash at me. Bright white energy rocketed from his chest into his arm, culminating in a flair of white light at Vinny's wrist. The longsword along with his hand flew over my shoulder, barely visible through the flash of Flow clashing from Flow Sever slicing it clean from his wrist.
Vinny roared in pain, his booming scream sounding akin to an angry Tiger as he stumbled back holding his forearm where his hand once was. Behind him stood a woman, ten shiny strings extending from her fingers around Vinny's body. Just as she shot me a wink, a jet of red liquid blasted into her side, launching her careening off the red grass several feet away. The strings released their hold on Vinny as she bounced away.
Turning back, Serena was strutting up to Vinny, aiming her open palm at the stump where his used to be. Vinny suddenly dropped to his knees, writhing in agony as a long red blade extended out from his forearm. Serena's shoulders visibly slumped after finishing Vinny's agonizing blood blade before jogging away into the Flower forest. Vinny slowly rose to his feet, waving his new weapon hand around for a second. Feeling a hint of exhaustion bubbling deep in my gut, I quickly grabbed a common rarity Potion of Mana Regeneration from my Locket of Minor Holding and chugged it down.
"Come on big man, surely you can do better than that, right?" I yelled, dashing toward Vinny hoping to dispose of him quickly while Serena was gone. Fire exploded from the eye holes in Vinny's horned mask as he slashed across his body with his new blood blade, his strike moving even faster than before. The long sword in his hand flew toward my collarbone, forcing me to push forward into Vinny's chest to smother his attack. Vinny's arm wrapped around my back, gripping tightly attempting to bear hug me. Before I could begin wriggling free, a wide blade pierced through Vinny's throat, nearly stabbing through my robes.
Vinny released his vices on me, turning his back just to have the blade ripped across his neck. Behind him stood the same incredibly tall member of Aerin's squad, holding a long curved blade buried deep in Vinny's neck. With a stomp and smack of his blade, Aerin's medium armored ally slicing his blade clean through Vinny's neck, causing him to slump onto the red grass.
*Ding*
"You are with Korbin?" The man asked, pointing his long curved sword at me.
"I am." I replied. The warrior nodded, then ran past me toward the battle waging behind us. I tracked his sprint confused, until I noticed the sheer influx of people fighting in one concentrated area. Arrows and red daggers flew through the air, accompanied by intermittent pops from Brigid's explosive strikes actively blasting through a woman with two daggers and a bloodstained bronze armored warriors chest. The woman's head exploded into a puff of red mist, while the large soldier's chest piece shattered sending metallic shrapnel through the air. I started my full sprint toward the overpowered blonde when Korbin's voice rang out over the violence.
"HEEYY?!" Korbin bellowed, holding the corpse of a robed mage in his hand, surprisingly earning the attention of everyone else as well.
"I know only one faction can win this thing, but can we all agree this bitch is a fucking problem?!" Korbin continued, pointing directly at Brigid. The spear and shield wielding warrior stepped forth first to reply.
"We are all a problem here, Korbin. You most of all as far as I'm concerned." He sneered, his tone carrying an odd level of resentment for someone we'd never met.
"Since I don't recognize you from the tournament's top 10 I'm going to assume you somehow must not have heard, she won the tournament. Anyone else agree that I'm the biggest threat here?" Korbin asked, looking over the dozens of bodies slowly creeping away from each other and toward their groups. Aerin's voice echoed from the back.
"The Winds Of Oshu stand against Brigid!" Aerin's group raised their weapons in response.
"The Chosen of Anutir and her own stand against Brigid." The trident wielding woman named Veronica that Korbin had fought in the final 5 fight at the tournament hollered out.
"We most definitely wish nothing but death upon Brigid and her filthy witch loving Devil of a Patron." A man in red robes holding a staff covered in crimson runes sneered as well. 4 women lifted their bows and daggers in the air, as well as the string spindling woman who lifted her hands. One of them with a bow spoke out for the group.
"The Chosen of Kirasu and her sisters stand against Brigid." She said, immediately knocking and firing a series of arrows at Brigid from 20 feet away. Brigid flipped back onto her hands, launching herself through the air while kicking the incoming arrows away. The arrows exploded into massive trees, some laying sideways on the red and purple forest floor. Aerin leapt up into the sky, cutting across the air nearly instantly while Derrick and Cassi pushed ahead toward Brigid alongside a woman in red and black robes and large cowl.
The spear and shielded warrior who officially sided with Brigid tossed his spear at Veronica, only for his weapon to be slapped out of the air by a wall of water crashing into its path. The highly skilled warrior with too many weapons bounced between the fiery punches and spinning kicks from a woman in grey and red light armor, and Aerin's largest teammate swinging deceivingly quick slashes from his long two handed curved sword. Looking over at Korbin, his open palm hovered over his head, slowly creating a growing ball of fire. His eyes glanced over to mine as we both traded devious grins.
This is going to feel damn good.