Standing, Nora turned to look directly into Kelton Jarn's eyes. His eyes had a deep brown color and an almost limitless depth. Every one of his weapons was fastened to his weapon belt or slung safely over his shoulders. His left hand was casually clasped around his helmet, which hung loosely at his side. His medium-length black hair was shielded from his eyes by a plain red bandana. His lips formed a faint, self-assured smile. Nora was suddenly acutely aware of her own mismatched, scavenged gear and eclectic combination of weapons as she looked at him, standing proudly in his exquisitely crafted House armor. Nora Rahmyn, a scion of the greatest fighting House in the world, would soon have the unique honor of facing him in a duel.
Kelton's right hand went out. Nora accepted it with a firm forearm clasp in the customary fighter's salute. The gesture was returned by him.
"Luck," Nora said earnestly.
"And to you," Kelton answered in a steady, even voice. His short red cloak trailed slightly behind him as he turned and walked toward his assigned entrance gate. As she made her last preparations, Nora watched him leave with a faint smile on her lips. She thought Wodar was right. We really do have a connection. Nora picked up her helmet, tightened her weapon belt one last time, slung the bandolier containing her katana over her shoulder, and made her way to her own gate.
"Seventeen is three minutes away. "Everyone involved needs to be at the doors," the automated voice said once more. After putting on her helmet, Nora performed a last diagnostic check on all of the sensor readouts that were visible on her internal Heads-Up Display. Every system reported operating within typical bounds. Her improved sensors detected the weak signals of the players leaving the field from the previous game, even through the sturdy steel gate. A startlingly realistic composite image of her surroundings was produced by the system's seamless integration of data from all of its different pickups, including motion, thermal, electromagnetic, and audio. She panned her sensor view to the opposite gate, where Kelton would emerge, using tiny finger movements picked up by gyroscopes in her gloves.
The heavy gate slid silently open as the indicator light above her entrance flashed green. On one side of the central terrain features, Nora strode out onto the arena floor and headed for her assigned starting position. Although direct line of sight was currently obscured by the large rocky hill that dominated the center of the arena, she could see her opponent mirroring her actions on the opposite side through her sensor feed.
Direct messages from the arena control station flashed across the internal HUDs of both fighters. The match was started with a single command:
START
Nora checked her tactical display right away. Kelton's right hand was gripping a smaller throwing axe, while his left was holding his large battle axe ready. Choosing a flanking approach over a direct confrontation, Nora launched herself into a run, angling left. After a minute, she was huddled behind a big rock, her crossbow ready, loaded, and strung. Using her sensors to track Kelton's movements, she noticed his pattern of swiftly moving from one piece of cover to another with the obvious goal of denying her any simple chance to take a ranged shot. With patience, Nora continued to stare at the sensor display. Before moving, she waited until Kelton had moved about 25 meters past her position.
Nora leaped up as Kelton ducked behind another rock outcrop, quickly gaining his position with the scope built into her crossbow and aiming for his upper back. She smoothly pressed the trigger with the necessary eight pounds of pressure. Fast and true flew the specially designed acid-tipped bolt. Nora was already drawing her katana and slinging the crossbow over her shoulder before she even verified the hit.
Kelton didn't anticipate the shot. He was hit exactly eight centimeters below his left shoulder blade by Nora's bolt. The hardened bolt tip sank five centimeters into the muscle underneath, and the strong acid on the tip instantly started to burn through his chainmail. Kelton let out a sharp cry and staggered uncontrollably forward, but he gritted his teeth and turned around, quickly identifying the attack's direction.
With a heavy pistol now securely grasped in her right hand and her katana ready in her left, Nora was already on the attack, quickly covering the twenty meters separating them.
Kelton's instincts, sharpened by years of unrelenting training, were the only reason he acted. In a flash, his right arm drew back and snapped forward, launching the throwing axe toward Nora's head and sending it flying end-over-end on a lethal trajectory. Anticipating such a retort, Nora skillfully slashed her katana in midair to deflect the spinning axe, sending it spiraling harmlessly to the ground a few meters away. Kelton prepared to confront her charge with force, planting his feet firmly in a wide, balanced stance. Nora delivered a strong vertical chop with her katana. Kelton used the thick haft of his battle axe to block the blow. Because Nora had put too much weight into the attack, she lost her balance and staggered past Kelton, dropping her pistol as she did so. But she bounced back fast, regaining her balance and turning back to him. She moved forward once more, her blade a whirlwind of motion as she swung a fast succession of thrusts and slashes while holding tight to the hilt of her katana with both hands.
At first, Kelton found it difficult to keep up with her flurry's sheer speed, but he soon adjusted as his Jarn training kicked in. In order to preserve distance and prevent Nora's faster blade from finding a gap, he gave ground gradually and retreated on purpose. After a deliberate twenty-second retreat, he abruptly took another step back, making room, and then swung his huge battle axe around with a fierce, determined swing. The blow was caught by Nora's katana, but it was swept aside by Kelton's resonance-enhanced axe's overwhelming weight and force. Her left arm made a firm contact with Kelton's axe blade. After the recent rule change, he also fitted his weapon with resonance technology. The vibrating axe edge sank deeply into Nora's arm armor, creating a large notch and causing blood to flow.
With haste, Nora retreated, examining the wound and sensing the warm trickle of blood beneath her underwear. Kelton gave her hardly two seconds to regroup before gaining the upper hand and moving deliberately forward, his axe poised for another blow. When Nora saw him move, she quickly pulled a flashbang grenade from her belt with her right hand, ignoring the pain in her arm. Pulling the pin, she threw it precisely at Kelton's feet. Even though Kelton hadn't seen the tactical grenade coming, his reflexes were excellent, and he managed to turn away just in time to protect his eyes from the grenade's glaring flash. But there was no escaping the deafening concussion blast.
Nora was aware that she was running out of valuable time before Kelton recovered. She made good use of them, pulling back even more as she emptied her last pistol at Kelton's momentarily confused body. Kelton could feel the bullets hitting his armor as his senses returned. One round found a tiny opening in the plating above his right knee as he was turning back to face Nora. Fortunately, the bullet did not strike ligaments or bone, but it did tear through muscle tissue. The impact knocked Kelton to his knees, but he fought his way back up before Nora could get close.
With her sword still firmly grasped in her left hand, his opponent slapped a new magazine into her pistol, which she now held firmly in her right. Kelton's left hand darted to the small of his back and drew his own pistol as he repositioned his axe grip, choking up closer to the head for improved one-handed control. Before Nora could fully register his action, he had it out and firing. As the eight rounds Kelton fired zipped past her position, she dove to the left and scurried for cover behind a nearby rock. He holstered his pistol as he rushed in the direction of the boulder she was hiding behind. Still crouching, Nora caught her breath. Blindly, Kelton swung around the corner, hoping to hit his invisible target. Had Nora been upright, his mighty axe blow would have struck her right in the chest, probably shattering a few ribs. Rather, it struck the solid rock directly above her head, gashing the stone three centimeters deep. Astonished by the close call, but taking advantage of the brief opportunity, Nora swung her katana low, catching Kelton in the ankles and sending him tumbling heavily to the ground. As he fell, he let go of his battle axe.
In an attempt to pin him and force a submission, Nora immediately jumped onto his back. She tried to wrench both of his arms behind his back by grabbing one of them. However, Kelton responded immediately despite his fall. Nora fell off him onto the ground next to him as he rolled violently. Now that both of their main weapons were strewn about, the battle abruptly turned into a desperate wrestling match. Kelton quickly took control, pinning Nora face down on the ground and using his free hand to draw a large knife from his belt sheath while painfully twisting one of her arms behind her back. Despite Nora's intense struggle, she was unable to escape Kelton's iron grip. Despite the violence that had preceded it, the inevitable words were finally spoken calmly.
"Do you surrender?"
Losing was the last thing Nora ever wanted, so she thrashed once more, but she was unable to move any of her limbs more than a few centimeters. Kelton's knife edge drew closer to her bare throat with each desperate flinch. She struggled in vain for a few seconds before realizing the truth of her situation. There was no hope. She was defeated.
The single word, "Yes," required a tremendous amount of willpower on her part.
Sheathing his knife and releasing her arm instantly, Kelton rose to his feet with ease. Thunderous cheers erupted from the stands, but neither fighter picked them up. In order to record the customary post-match conversation between the fighters, the hovering camera drones rushed closer, vying for position. After a prolonged period of intense eye contact, neither Kelton nor Nora moved after taking off their helmets. In a silent expression of respect for one another, they then raised their right hands almost simultaneously and met in the middle to clasp forearms, maintaining the grip a little longer than was strictly required.
"Well fought," said Kelton earnestly.
Nora shot back, maintaining a wry smile in spite of her loss. "I should be telling you that," she said.
With a low moan and a visible wince, Kelton grabbed the crossbow bolt behind his back and yanked it violently from his flesh as Nora watched. Drops of his own blood trickled down the shaft as he held the blood-stained bolt up and examined it closely.
Glancing back at Nora, he said, "May I keep this?" She gave a nod of agreement. With another fleeting smile, Kelton slipped the bolt into his now-empty pistol holster. He spun around and started systematically gathering his abandoned axe and throwing it. The spent bullet casings were left on the arena floor for the maintenance workers to pick up later, and Nora followed suit, taking out her katana and pistols. As she collected her weapons, her injured arm ached, but she chose to ignore it. She would be like new after an hour or two in the infirmary's regeneration tank.
Nora thought back on the game as she made her way off the field to the locker rooms, mentally reliving significant moments and assessing her strengths and weaknesses. Only then did she realize, somewhat astonished, that she was not feeling the bitter annoyance that usually follows a defeat. Rather, she experienced an odd sense of joy, as though she had triumphed. I just fought a Jarn, one of the greatest warriors in the world, and I did pretty good. gave him a serious battle. It was a reassuring thought. That isn't really a reason for disappointment. As she went through the archway that led back into the depths of the arena complex, she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the cheers of the grateful audience.