60.
Knights X Assassins
Still in the central hub that Eden and Cliff had long since escaped
from, Vance kicked his way in front of a man wearing spiked knuckles.
It seemed as if the crowd had grown much larger compared to before.
There were now people everywhere, and no matter how much he moved forward, no
exit appeared – just more goons.
Vance focused psynergy into his legs and hopped into the air, trying to
get a better view over the crowd. Far down at the other end of the room, he saw
people rushing into a blood-splattered hallway.
As he landed, Vance had to duck to avoid a swing from a nearby axe.
Then he felt a sharp pain and spiraled forward, carried by the force of a psynergized
fist. The young Albavitrean went crashing into two other people, but quickly tried
to regain his footing by climbing over them.
"Ow!" an older woman growled. "What do you think you're
doing?!"
"Getting the hell out of here!" Vance shouted, then quickly
hopped away.
Eventually, he made it through and beyond the grisly hallway. As he exited,
he spotted Cliff’s duster at the edge of a nearby wall. By the time he reached
Cliff and Eden, he was completely out of breath.
"Hey," he huffed.
"Vance!" Eden shouted. "There you are! Where did you go?"
"What were you thinking?!" Cliff screamed. "Do you know
how lucky you are? The first round's going to end in a few minutes!"
"I know, I know," Vance said. "But I saw Winslow."
"Winslow?!" Cliff shouted. "He's here too?"
"What do you mean?" Vance turned his head sharply. "Did
you see another Zodiac?"
"We met Averyl," Eden replied. "He...helped us get ahead."
"What?" Vance raised an eyebrow. "He’s actually in the
tournament?"
"We’re not sure why," Cliff said, "but either way, we owe
him one."
Vance groaned, then turned his head to look around. "So, anyway,
this the goal, right?"
The circular room looked the same as any other, with metal walls and
connections to other passageways. At the other end were two large metal shutters
with a neon EXIT sign above them. In some areas of the room, groups of participants
had gathered up to try and defend themselves until the time passed. There were
many, but Vance could tell that an ever greater number of people had been left
behind.
In the center of the dome sat a pile of dead bodies, no doubt the remains
of those who had fallen victim to the rage of competitors who’d finished the
maze early and were looking for a little more action. It was a sad sight, and
Vance couldn't help but turn his eyes away.
"I can't believe this," Vance said as he looked back to his
allies. "I'll be honest, I didn't think the tournament was going to be
this crazy."
"Something's wrong," Cliff shook his head. "I’ve never
heard of anything this bad."
"There's a hell of a lot more people here than sixteen," Vance
said warily. "What are they going to make us do now?"
"I'm not sure I want to know." Eden shuddered.
Frantically, Cliff stood up and waved his hands. "Hey, look! It's
the other three vice-captains. They made it! I was getting worried since I hadn't
seen them at all after the registration. Hey, Amyr! Caleb! Sabine! Over here!"
Vance and Eden craned their necks and spotted the vice-captains waving
back at Cliff.
"Vice-Captain Walden." A tall, broad-chested man with toasted
golden skin and white robes moved up and gripped Cliff's hand firmly. "You
made it through safely. Congratulations."
Cliff smiled. "It's just a relief to see that you're all
safe."
"For now, at least," spat a tall, slender woman with a short
green bob, in an accent that sounded Eastern European to Vance. "If anyone
needs their throat slit, it's the person who put this all together."
"And I'm sure you'd be willing to do the honors!" said a lanky
man with long ice blue hair. "Good to see you're still in one piece, Cliffy.
And I see you’ve got some bodyguards."
"Yes, I suppose I’d better formally introduce you," Cliff said
proudly. "This is Vance Darcouver and Eden Gardener, our two newest additions
to the 4th division of Dimensional Knights. Both of them are
extremely skilled in the art of psynergy, and were brave enough to come along with
me to the tournament."
"Hey." Vance nodded.
"Nice to meet you all," Eden said with a smile.
"I am Vice-Captain Amyr Jaq of the 1st division."
The bronze-skinned man bowed his head. "It's an honor to finally meet both
of you in person."
"And I'm Caleb Harper – VC of the 2nd," the icy-haired
man said. Underneath a blue cloak, Caleb wore a bodysuit composed of shimmering
scales that looked as if they belonged to some ancient beast. Strapped to his
back was a curved golden trident.
"Vice-Captain Sabine Cune of the 3rd division," the
young woman said bluntly. Sabine wore a simple yellow one-piece with black
leggings. Strapped to a jeweled belt around her waist was a rapier in a large sheath
that had vents and a motor.
Vance studied their auras. Amyr's felt spicy, Caleb's felt cold, and Sabine's
felt shiny and delicate. It seemed like Amyr’s was the strongest, but none of
their auras felt as dense as Cliff's.
Vance raised an eyebrow and looked back to his ally. Maybe I haven't
been giving this guy enough credit...
As the room filled up with tired survivors, Caleb and Sabine entertained
the group with various topics of discussion, ranging from Cliff's embarrassing
mishaps of the past to Sabine's sharp-tongued gripes about the tournament.
Not too far away sat Saffron, gazing around the room with bored eyes.
Standing beside him was Mephistoclessia, still as usual. Winslow had just recently
joined them, and glared at the rest of the crowd with anxiousness.
"He's right over there," Winslow whispered. "And the Daughter
is sitting right next to him. We could nail them all right now!"
"You're an idiot," Mephistoclessia rasped. "Fine, go ahead
and attack them. I'll sit back here and watch you die."
"You saying I can't take them?" Winslow shouted. "Huh?!"
"Nay." Saffron spoke. "Thou art no match for four vice-captains
and their two strongest students. Now sit and quiet thyself, Rooster. Scarce is
thy psynergy."
"Scarce? Hah!" Winslow laughed. "I barely had to use any
taking care of those weaklings back there!"
Saffron didn’t bother to respond.
"Hmph." Winslow frowned, then turned away from the both of them
just in time to come face-to-face with Averyl.
"Hello, Winslow." Averyl smiled. Drops of blood decorated the
bottom of his chin. "Did you have fun?"
"Uh, yeah..." Winslow gulped.
"Good." Averyl licked his lips, then glided past the young
man and whispered something to Saffron and Mephistoclessia.
"Aaaaaaaaand that marks the end of the second preliminary round!"
Trunculo Yaves' voice boomed through the chamber, as aesotech gates began to
slide down and cut off the other hallways. "Congratulations to our 833
contestants who managed to make the cut!"
"833?!" Vance shouted. "What happened to the other
3,000?"
His eyes drifted across the room to the far wall, where he saw Mephistoclessia,
Saffron, Winslow, and Averyl. The Monkey stared back at Vance with glee.
"Now, for the second round..." Trunculo began.
"Wait!" a crawling, injured straggler yelled from beyond one
of the doors. "Don't close the doors! Wait! I can make it!"
The ragged man struggled to squeeze his way through the thick gate as it
shut. "Stop! I'm half-in!" he screamed, using his arms to support
himself as he dragged his mangled legs. "I'm half-in, I said! What are ya
gonna do, kill me?!"
*************
"Ouch...make that 833 and ¼!" Trunculo's voice boomed throughout
the arena, as the holographic screens displayed a slow-motion replay of the æsotech
doors squishing the man's body like a grape. "Well, his fault for trying to
sneak in after time ran out! I tried to warn him! Now, on to the rest of the festivities!
In the past round, we saw approximately 139 clean decapitations, 63 single stab
kills..."
"This is disgusting!" Edward turned his face to Frank in horror.
"Why isn't anyone stopping this?!"
Dr. Phileas turned his to face his guest. "Isn't it interesting?
Tools of wisdom like literature, philosophy, and mathematics will hold men's interests
for a short time...but throughout history, there has been nothing that captivates
an audience like violent entertainment."
"You have a point there." Frank frowned. "It’s a
vicarious thrill, and the more you watch it, the more desensitized you become."
"....30 pairs of missing arms, and 15 burned corpses!" Trunculo
announced. "I dunno about you folks, but I'd call that a successful first
round!"
*************
"Great job to everyone! Now, on to the third round!" Trunculo
continued.
Within the committee room, Azuka and the other captains stared out at the
holographic screens in horror.
"What's going on here?" Ravi confronted the committee
members. "The tournament's never been like this before! Who gave you authorization
to allow cold-blooded murder?!"
"Murder?" One of the old men scoffed. "This is entertainment!
The tournament's been losing its hype. It needed to be edgier! By loosening the
rules a bit, we're going to make it the biggest event of the year!"
"This is madness," Ravi turned to address her allies.
"There's no way the Church could have signed off this. We have to stop it at
once."
"I agree." Maximilian stepped forward. "Escort us to the
control room at once, you inhuman ingrates!"
"What?!" the thistle-haired committee member backed up
defensively. "How dare you? What gives you the right to talk to us this
way?!"
Kamo stepped up to try and calm them down, leaving Azuka alone at the
far end of the room. As the argument escalated, she remained silent, staring intently
at the three figures of Vance, Eden and Cliff that were barely visible in one corner
of a screen.
*************
Trunculo's voice went on. "The room our competitors stand in right
now is actually the a long shaft that contains fifty two-person elevators! Said
elevators are covered by a special psynergy-imbued glass that explodes upon
contact with another type of psynergy – so don't try to break in! The only way
to undo the lock is by catching one of the fifty keys that are going to drop from
this ceiling in about...oh, I'd say ten seconds!"
Bruce snickered as he listened to Trunculo's instructions on the roof
of the observation tower. "Damn, they're pretty twisted."
"On your mark, Bruce," Rose muttered.
"Right." Bruce looked down to the crowd. Their eyes were
glued to the screen as it flashed different angles of the competitors and the elevators
at the top of the room. "This is it. Let's move in and make those captains
wish they’d stayed home."
With that, Bruce, Rose, Cecilia, and Zhang Guo leapt off the edge of the
roof. As they neared the committee room, an enormous fireball exploded from Bruce's
mouth and shattered its windows.
"Hey there!" Bruce cackled as he swooped in through the
flames. "Funny running into you here."
"The Zodiacs!" Captain Trujillo shouted. "Everyone spread
out and protect the civilians!"
"Look at 'em run. I love it," Bruce said, as he watched the
four captains scramble around the room. Most of the committee members were
huddled under the large table in the center, whimpering in fear.
"Kill them!" one committee member screeched and curled up
into a fetal position.
"Just get out from under there! It's dangerous!" Kamo reached
out a hand, only to have it kicked away.
"Get rid of them at once! Then maybe I'll come out!"
Kamo groaned. "Fine, roast yourselves! What do I care?!"
Azuka dashed toward the open end of the room. Her fist was tightened firmly
around the hilt of her sword, and her gazed was fixed on Bruce.
The Tiger returned the glare. "Time to finish what we started, girl."
Next: Elevator Action
