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“Resurrect!” Vector comes to with a start, coughing and sputtering. His vision slowly comes into focus, and then the memories come crashing in. He tries to shake it off, but the effort just makes him queasy. “Take it easy,” Alice says, “You were almost gone, there.” She helps him to sit up and then lean back against one of the walls in the maintenance tunnel. He takes a few deep breaths.
“What happened,” he asks as soon as he has the words.
“Best I can tell? Some void-touched motherfucker is on the warpath, and Phyr’s fighting him up top. We gotta get you ship-shape, because it is not going well.”
“Wait,” Vector says, clutching his head, “Void-touched?”
Alice glares for a second at the inevitable sidetrack, but decides that he needs some time to recover from literal death, so why not? “Yeah, happens when you’re balls-deep into void magic. Hasn’t been one for centuries. Judging by the spells he’s slinging, he took void-heart, which hides him from my Sight and infuses his body with void energy. Think Etherwing, Mana Armor, and Etherblade, all in one - except he can’t turn it off. That’s where you come in.”
“Wait, what spells does he have,” Vector asks. “I heard him use Bind, then I think he beat me half to death and used Choke.”
“Yeah, he did the same thing to me, and I just played dead. I don’t think he realized I’m a zombie? But yes, those spells are serious business. I’m pretty sure he also has Guise, and that’s how he got me away without causing a ruckus.”
“What’s his character sheet look like?”
“I just said that I can’t See him, and that means I can’t get at his sheet,” Alice says in frustration.
“Wait, I’m sorry. Rearrange Attributes.” Vector pumps his Informedness up to 15, to Alice’s mild horror, then clutches his head in agony as he takes 20 damage plus a nosebleed.
“Jesus, take it easy!” Alice pulls a tissue out of her clutch purse and puts it to Vector’s nose. “While we’re on the topic, don’t jack yourself up too much in that suit - your muscles could crush your organs, trapped inside the Kevlar.”
“No, I - I know that, now,” Vector stammers. “I know… I know a lot. So you say he’s a void-heart? With Bind, Choke, Guise… looks like he’s sticking with the void theme to avoid your Sight, so I bet Erasure is how he’s been making those towns disappear.”
“Yeah, I figured that out,” Alice says, “But I was under his Guise and just kinda doop-de-doo about it.”
“Jesus, to scale an Erasure up that big, he’d have to be, what? Level 18, or 21? That’s with middling Ardency, I guess he could be higher or lower.”
“OK, I know you just went Galaxy Brain,” Alice says, placing both hands on his shoulders, “But you gotta focus right now. You need to grab some very specific spells-”
“Oh, I see,” Vector says, staring off. “Spells are also an attribute, then? Ah, and so are features. So I can just swap ‘em out at will? OK, what are you suggesting? Should I focus on ether-knight? Paladin?”
“Try stream-binder,” she says hopefully.
“Ooh, good call. Yeah, this’ll work.”
Vector and Alice return topside to full stands but an empty field. They look around and see that every spectator is staring up in rapt silence, but just before they can follow their gaze, there’s a gasp from the crowd and a resounding THUMP! as Phyr comes crashing down to the center of the arena. A heartbeat later, Scourge is on top of him in a low crouch, driving Usher straight through Phyr’s chest and pinning him to the ground. He stands, grinning wickedly. His rags are mostly gone, revealing Thorn’s distinctive spellbreaker armor.
Vector grimaces as he recognizes the foe before him, then he sets his stance and says, “Ward of Light!” Surprise flits over Scourge’s face as Vector is shrouded in a pale grey aura, then he keeps casting: “Etherblade. Etherwing. Fortify.” Feathery wings, translucent and nearly white, spread from his back as his quarterstaff sets ablaze with grey flames.
Scourge streaks through the air and catches Vector in a flying tackle, driving him back into the stadium’s interior. Alice winces as she realizes that, while Ward of Light will protect him against any direct damage from Scourge, he can still be slammed into concrete. There are sounds of a scuffle from within, and seconds later, the pair streak back out - but this time, Vector is driving.
Alice leaves him to it and turns her attention to Phyr. He’s on pity HP, and fading fast - raising Vector and topping them up took a lot out of her, but she pumps the rest of her mana into a Great Heal. Being a non-damaging spell, it goes right through the arena’s magical Wall, and Phyr takes a deep breath as he is healed nearly to full. He’s still not going anywhere - have you tried pulling a sword out of your chest? It’s not as easy as it looks in the movies - and Alice focuses back on Vector.
Scourge has managed to disengage, and Vector’s spells have him on the run - but Scourge is the more experienced fighter, and Vector is new to this skillset, putting them on about even footing. They clash again and again, Scourge getting in a solid throw here and there, Vector landing a punishing blow more rarely but to greater effect. Then Scourge dashes in once more, and Vector braces for impact - but nothing happens. Standing right behind the half-giant, he powers down and slams a fist into Vector’s kidney.
The attack stuns Vector with equal parts pain and surprise, then Thorn sweeps his legs out from under him before rising again for an elbow drop that lands good and hard. Then he casts Etherblade on his fists and lays into Vector with a relentless chain of swift strikes that keep him reeling. Phyr watches all this with strained attention from the ground, trying to figure out how to extricate himself from his predicament, and shouts to Vector, “Dude! He can’t fly any more!” The movement of his chest tears fresh wounds inside, and he jerks in pain, making it even worse. By some miracle, nothing vital has been damaged, but some ribs are still sliced clean through and several major blood vessels are in serious danger as his bones grind against the flat of the blade.
But Vector hears him, then draws into a defensive posture to get his bearings, and flies straight up. Thorn scowls after him, then turns his attention back to Phyr as Vector sets to healing himself up in the sky. Phyr chuckles softly, trying not to move around the sword sticking through him as Nathanael stalks menacingly in his direction.
“Something funny,” he asks the fallen god.
Phyr contains his laughter and says, “Remember last time? After you killed my best friend?”
“I am your best friend,” Nathanael says grimly as he reaches for Usher.
“No,” Phyr says firmly, “Just the shitty parts.” Then he winces and shouts, “Mana Blast,” casting it directly on Thorn and pumping everything he has into it - his full mana pool, as he’s been recharging in the sunlight this whole time.
Thorn gets off a Spellfeast - it’s a shorter spell to cast, and he certainly does remember last time - but the pressure wave still throws him into the air. Then the blast reflects back off the arena’s Walls, and Thorn takes damage from the whiplash as he’s thrown back down into the smoking crater where the field used to be, taking damage a second time as he lands roughly on the scorched earth.
Freed from the ground, Phyr recovers mid-air - he took serious damage, but his Mana Armor and Kevlar suit absorbed the worst of it - and works the sword out of his chest with great pain and effort. By the time he holds it properly, Thorn has recovered; but so has Vector, and now it’s two on one.
Vector swoops in, and Thorn casts Dispel, removing all his buffs and sending him tumbling into the dirt. Phyr rushes him, but a quick Push sends him flying back and knocks Usher out of his hand. Thorn powers back up into Scourge, and charges into Vector while he is still getting to his feet. A solid body check knocks him right back down, then Scourge casts Lash and lays into Vector in much the same manner that a piece of human garbage might beat a dog. As Vector squirms and screams in agony, Scourge gives himself over to blind rage -
- and forgets, for just a moment, about Phyr. Blinding pain, sickening speed, and a thunderous crash fill his world in the space of a heartbeat as Phyr plows him directly into one of the arena’s ad-riddled concrete backstops.
Dale and Deirdre both took up martial arts in the second grade. They sparred with each other on the very first day they hung out unsupervised. They kept up the hobby among their circle of friends, and two truths thusly emerged: Deirdre, long and lanky, was the superior striker, able to place fists and feet with precision and speed; but Dale, short and stocky, was the greater grappler, and won every fight where he could close the gap.
Scourge reaches a hand up, trying to breathe - and Phyr slams him down on the ground, knocking the wind straight out of him. Before he can recover, Phyr is on him again - for all the time he has spent in pursuit, Scourge has been plotting; but Phyr has been practicing. Practicing restraint. Practicing control. Practicing the short game.
Also, Phyr is now six inches taller than Scourge is used to.
Blow by blow, hold by hold, Phyr beats the ever-loving Hell out of Scourge. “You,” he says. “Fucking,” he hisses. “Bastard,” he shouts. He lifts Scourge clean overhead, then bodyslams him into the ruined earth. “YOU KILLED MY FRIEND!”
Scourge raises a hand, open in surrender, and says, “I am your-”
“NO!” WHAM! A double-fisted haymaker slams right down into Scourge’s spine. Phyr follows up with a choke-hold before Scourge can recover. He gasps and grasps, clawing at the dirt, striving frantically to escape Phyr’s deathgrip.
“Yes,” Scourge wheezes desperately. “I… am…”
“No,” Phyr says flatly. “You don’t get to pull all that shit, and then just take it back now.” He tightens his arm around Scourge's neck, and pulls his head back painfully into a submission hold. Then he focuses intently for a moment, adjusts his grip, and swiftly twists Scourge's neck to one side. He is a doctor, after all - a doctor of chiropractic medicine - and he knows precisely what degree of spinal subluxation will completely disable a body without killing it.
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