71.
Chill My Bones
"The exhibition matches have ended," Trunculo announced.
"It's hard to believe that just this morning we had 4000 different fighters,
each of them with their own weapons, their own reasons for fighting, and their own
entertaining ways to fail for our amusement! Now, only eight fighters remain!
While one of them will rise to the top and claim the clock as their own...think
about the other seven, who've come this far just to lose it all! Who’s gonna
win? Who’s gonna lose? The only choice you have is to stay and watch!"
As Vance returned to the southwestern room, he was surprised to see Eden
sitting in one of the two chairs combing her hair.
"What the..." Vance groaned, looking at the empty Regeneration
Tank. "How did you get out?!"
"I woke up, so I just let myself out." Eden rolled her eyes.
"You looked less surprised when you were getting your butt kicked out there,"
she said with a smirk.
"You watched my fight?"
"Of course!" Eden shouted. "Vance, was that really your
father out there? What's going on?!"
"I don't know," Vance shook his head. "But it's not like
we can do anything about it until the tournament's over. We should just focus
on winning for now."
Eden moved over to the window. "Your family just keeps popping up...just
who was your mom, Vance?"
"Who knows. My brain hurts," Vance sighed as he glanced at
the bracket screen. "Next up is Averyl vs. Caleb. I hope Caleb forfeits. At
the rate this is going, it might be you or me versus Averyl in the finals. I doubt
Cliff will be in fighting condition, either."
"I know." Eden looked down in relief. "I really hope he’s
okay..."
"He'll be fine," Vance said after a moment of hesitation. "Come
on, Eden. Think of everything we’ve been through. There's no way he'd just up
and die like that. Trust me."
"Okay," Eden said, as Vance sat down in a seat next to her. "I
trust you."
*************
"In a few moments..." Trunculo's ominous voice returned, "the
first battle of the quarter-finals shall begin! Make sure you're in your seats
soon, or you'll miss the pulse-pounding beginning!"
In the stands, Edward was still frantic. "Is there any way to get down
there? I have to go find my son!"
"Sit down," Dr. Phileas ordered curtly. "I shall have no
more of your carrying-on, Edward. Please, silence yourself."
"But..."
"Oh, you'd never be able to get down there anyway," Dr. Phileas
explained. "The stands are completely cut off from the rest of the arena."
"We'll just have to wait," Frank sighed, as he turned and elbowed
Edward. "There's only a few more battles left, anyway."
"Vance could be dead by then!" Edward cried.
"If you love your son so much," Phileas said with sly grin. "Then
can't you have a little more faith in him?"
In response, Edward stared woefully down at the arena platform.
*************
"Let's bring out our next fighters!" Trunculo shouted.
"We’ll start with the first two winners of the exhibition rounds – the former
being that tall, dark gentleman that set our show off with a bang: Averyl!"
The crowd cheered as the shadowy man strolled across the grass, once again
disguised in his statuesque mask and pitch black eyes.
Trunculo went on. "Averyl's opponent for this round will be that
wily, trident-carrying powerhouse who proved his strength to us in the second
battle...Caleb Harper!"
With his trident resting on his shoulders, Caleb moved carefully up to
the arena. The confident smile that he had shown the world remained on his face,
but deep down, he was terrified.
I got lucky in my first round – my opponent had been someone who loved
to talk. Even against that guy, I'd barely been able to keep from shivering. And
now we don't even know if Cliff is alive or dead. We came to this tournament so
psyched up, ready to crush the competition without breaking a sweat...what were
we thinking? The Dark Zodiacs are insane!
Averyl smiled devilishly and tip-toed forward, fingers tingling excitedly
at his sides. "Let's enjoy this..." he said innocently. "It may
be the last true fun I have for a while..."
"Okay, you guys have eyeballed each other long enough!"
Trunculo called out. "Aaand, fight!"
Caleb immediately sprinted to the right, just barely evading the barrage
of shining blades that exploded out from Averyl's body. Averyl easily shifted
his aim and kept the vice-captain running across the platform, blades following
him like a swarm of hornets.
Caleb fled, while Averyl outstretched his right arm and materialized
another stream of blades from his fingers. They cut into the path ahead of Caleb
and instantly trapped him.
"Averyl's playing around with him," Vance sighed, then moved
over to the Regeneration Tank. "I can’t watch this. I'm going to get into the
tank while I still have a chance."
Eden was silent as she watched the battle, knowing exactly what it
meant for her if their fellow Knight lost this round.
"Looks like Caleb's stuck in a game of cat and mouse, everyone!"
Trunculo announced. "And unfortunately for him, he ain't the feline!"
As the gap between the two streams grew thinner, Caleb bit his lip in
frustration and ran inward. Averyl flung his left arm out and shot a spiked ball
at the vice-captain, which he easily deflected with the help of his trident.
Once he was within close range of Averyl, Caleb coated his weapon in psynergy
and thrust it forward. Averyl's right arm ceased its stream of blades and snapped
to the trident, slipping his purple aura through Caleb's with ease. With a backwards
lurch, Averyl fastened his hand around the weapon and yanked Caleb off balance,
then shot out another group of blades from his chest.
He's stronger than me... Caleb realized as he stumbled. The only way I'll be able to get out
of this alive is if I outsmart him.
Tthe blades closed in, so Caleb lifted his trident up and aimed it forward.
A wide stream of icy mist exploded outwards, freezing the blades and dropping
them to the platform.
Chuckling, Averyl stood his ground and let yet another stream of blades
fly out from his body, each from a different point on his torso. Caleb's body already
felt fatigued, but he was ready to withstand the onslaught. The vice-captain
dodged the blades with rapid succession, expertly twisting his body this way and
that to evade every single one of the knives.
That's it, just stay there... Caleb calmed his mind. There's a small gap between every seventh blade,
and then they continue...there's a pattern to his attacks!
After a few seconds, Caleb was able to predict where each blade was aiming,
and before he knew it, he could evade them all as if it was nothing.
*************
"Would you look at that!" Dr. Phileas marveled from the stands.
"See, gentlemen? This is psynergy...this is the beauty of
fighting! Far removed from a common fistfight or violent scuffle, when psynergy
is properly utilized by those who have mastered its powers, it becomes something
that transcends all other forms of entertainment! Two men taxing their bodies to
the limit in order to compete against one another – this is what psynergy was made
for. True art!"
Frank furrowed his brow as he gazed at the doctor. "Art that can kill
someone?"
"Many art forms have such a power," Dr. Phileas replied with a
smile. "For example, the art of surgery."
Caleb closed his eyes, moving fluidly around each blade that Averyl tossed
his way. Then, after the seventh blade in another group flew by, he prepared to
leap forward and close the distance.
Averyl grinned as the eighth blade he’d hidden behind the seventh went
ripping through Caleb's psynergy barrier and into his chest. Overcome by shock
rather than pain, Caleb's body staggered, and he was quickly pierced by over
ten other blades.
"Good job in figuring out the pattern," Averyl whispered as
he approached the skewered Knight. "I suppose I'm guilty in that I play with
my prey too much."
Caleb felt a wave of despair rush over him as he struggled to keep his
body standing.
Averyl removed one more five-foot knife from his cloak and aimed it
carefully at Caleb's head. "Say goodbye. You've
*************
lost!" Azuka declared, slamming her sword down on to Bruce's shoulders
once more. Splattered with blood, the Tiger kept his shaky legs up, concentrating
all of his remaining psynergy into his fists.
Azuka's hair was also darkened with blood, and her hakama was in
tatters. Even though she had conquered the Tiger's flames, it hadn't seemed to
deter the man in the least. The Dark Zodiac had insisted on continuing the
brawl, and refused to stay down no matter how many times she dropped him.
"You’ve lost! Why are you still trying to fight me?!" Azuka
shouted.
"Isn't it obvious?" Bruce growled. "I was sent out here
to take care of you. I can't leave until I do that. And besides, I told you
already...I hate traitors."
"You have no right to talk about treachery!" Azuka retorted.
"You're a traitor to your own race! To all of mankind!"
"I'm not human," Bruce said, closing a bloodied fist.
"And I've never thought of myself as one, ever since the day I was born.
As soon as I came out of those test tubes, they told me what I was: a monster!"
Bruce rammed his fist into the pavement and sent a rippling shockwave
across the ground toward Azuka. The attack was weak and slow, nothing compared to
the tremors that Bruce had sent out when he and Azuka had begun in the morning.
The Knight felt no sorrow for the killer as she closed in on him and thrust her
sword into his gut.
Bruce let out a bellow of pain and crumpled over. This time, Azuka placed
one of her sandals on his back and held him down.
"You've lost," she spat. "And I'm not letting you get up
again."
Then, Azuka trembled as a powerful surge of psynergy rippled through
her mind. She spun around to face a glowing beacon on the horizon. It didn't take
long for Bruce to notice, and soon he too gazed up at their visitor.
Ravi Katjagaarda descended, encased in the impenetrable aura of pure
golden light that had protected her from the vacuum's explosion. As she approached
them, her enormous, illuminated wings blocked out the evening sky and brightened
the ground.
"Azuka. I see you’ve finished up as well."
"Ravi?!" Azuka gasped. "What happened to you? Your
face...it looks like a..."
"Yes." Ravi looked up to the third eye that had appeared on her
forehead. "I have achieved a state of enlightenment. I am now an Angel of
Dharma."
"But your psynergy..." Azuka marveled. "I can't sense
it. Are you masking it?"
"I'm operating on a different kind of psynergy now," Ravi
explained. "Something...different. I pushed my body to its utter limit, expecting
nothing but death to follow – and I would have gladly embraced it, for it would
mean the salvation of an entire universe. Yet for some godly reason, I continue
to breathe. I don't know how long this will last, but..." she turned abruptly
to face Bruce. "It should be more than enough to finish the rest of them
off."
"Where's Cecilia?!" Bruce screamed at the newcomer. "What
did you do to her?!"
"She perished by her own hand," Ravi explained calmly.
"I could have saved her, had she not insisted on taking the entire city
with her."
"Goddamn you!" A mixture of rage and sorrow poured out from
Bruce as he roared. Tears spilled down his face, as memories of the only woman
he could have possibly called a mother shot through his mind. He slammed his debilitated
fists onto the pavement over and over again, cursing his own
*************
weakness. Caleb stood skewered on his feet as his opponent carefully
aimed a blade at his head. In only a few minutes, he had completely lost his
match.
I'm not like Amyr, Sabine, or Cliff...they all have a strong determination
that pushes them forward, whether it’s due to a sense of justice or guilt. From
the very start, Cliff was prepared to sacrifice himself in order to defeat Mephistoclessia...it’s
incredible, but I’ve never had that drive. I can’t risk my life for an ideal.
I try to act carefree and shrug things off like Captain Kamo...but deep
down, I don't have the confidence or bravery he does. I have nothing. I've lived
a mediocre life, and I have a mediocre ability, which I can't even use that well
without the channeling trident that Mixam built for me. I’m weak...and the worst
part is, I’m also a coward.
Averyl’s fingers twitched, and Caleb flinched in response.
"Let's see." Averyl put a finger to his lips. "Where should
I put this one?"
Caleb grunted and swung his trident up with one last desperate burst of
psynergy. Averyl let the blade fly, and Caleb tried to dodge. It landed neatly between
his clavicle and the top of his shoulder, filling his mind with pain.
With tears in his eyes, Caleb let out a bellow and extended both ends
of his trident. The weapon's tip shot into the arena platform while the end extended,
lifting him high above the arena. Averyl casually watched the skewered man rise,
whistling appropriately. Soon, the trident stopped extending, and then Caleb let
himself fall.
"Well folks, it looks like Caleb is finally giving it his all with
one last attack!" Trunculo called out. "What will Averyl do to counter
this one?!"
As he fell, Caleb closed his eyes and focused his psynergy. It’s over.
Amyr, Sabine, Cliff...will you ever be able to forgive me for this?
A chilling, ice blue aura emanated from Caleb's hands. He slid them
across his body, encasing himself in a block of ice – transforming himself into
a hardened human spear plummeting toward his target.
Averyl pulled out a blade and sliced outwards, expecting to cleave the man
in two. Then, his eyebrow curved up in surprise as his blade fizzled out halfway
through the ice. What had appeared as a single layer of ice was actually two – in
between, Caleb had hidden a protective layer of his own psynergy.
As Averyl’s blade was canceled out, Caleb’s barrier shattered, and the
force of the blow sent the vice-captain's frozen body skidding back across the
platform. While Averyl processed exactly what had happened, Caleb's body slid
off the platform and fell out of bounds.
Averyl's lips parted in a tiny expression of surprise. The 12th Zodiac
tiptoed over to Caleb's frozen body and stared down in stunned silence. That
silence twisted into an irritated frown, and Averyl pulled yet another blade out
from his robes.
"Wait!" Trunculo shouted. "Cameras! Zoom in on this!
Caleb's body has been turned to ice, and that ice has clearly touched the grass
area outside of the arena, which we all know is an out-of-bounds zone! If you
attack this defeated man now, you'll be disqualified from the tournament, Averyl!"
Averyl turned his head around and peered at Trunculo with black eyes. "But
you let all those other people die..."
"What can I say, man?!" Trunculo shrugged. "Even we have
our rules!"
"How unfair," Averyl muttered with a pouty frown. "I was
looking forward to this, too..." He shot one last glare to Trunculo, then
slowly crept off the stage.
"Phew!" Trunculo wiped sweat from his forehead as he regained
his wits. "My life almost flashed before my eyes there! Well, folks, it looks
like Caleb has lost this round, although he sure did it with style! He knew that
if that last attack failed, he'd be Averyl's next shish kebab, so he planned to
make a quick escape! Don't fear, we'll thaw him out and fix him up at once!"
The crowd cheered as the medics carried Caleb's body out from the arena.
"That goddamn coward!" Sabine shouted from the waiting room. "I
bet he was planning to run from the start. You can never count on him when anything
matters!"
Amyr let out a dooming sigh. "This isn’t looking good. There are still
three Zodiacs left, and only one of us."
"Amyr," Sabine said firmly. "Even with the Regeneration
Tank, you’re not going to be able to handle all of them on your own. You need to
remember that."
"Sabine." Amyr placed serene hands on the woman's shoulder.
"What's done is done. We must focus on the present now."
"Alrighty!" Trunculo continued. "I'd be happy to lead us
into the second round of the quarter-finals right now, but unfortunately, there
won't be one! Cliff Walden is still in critical condition, and while it looks
as if he'll pull through, he has no choice but to forfeit! That makes his opponent,
Eden Gardener, the default winner! Although he sadly can't join us for the rest
of the festivities, at least Cliff can rest easy knowing that his monumental
battle against Mephistoclessia will not be forgotten! Please, another round of
applause for the courageous Cliff Walden!"
The crowd clapped as replay shots of Cliff's bloody struggle were displayed
on the holographic screens. Hearing that Cliff would be alright, Sabine and Amyr
let out sighs of relief.
Trunculo cleared his throat. "Now then, let's proceed with the action,
shall we? It's time for quarter-final round number three: the many-handed Amyr Jaq
versus the handsome Saffron Morrigan!"
As Trunculo called his name, Amyr took his arms from Sabine and walked silently
out of the room. The small woman watched him walk away with uneasy eyes.
"Amyr," Sabine called out. "Please promise me you'll come
back."
"I will," Amyr said. "I won’t lose this one."
With that, the first division vice-captain stepped outside and made his
way to the arena. Across the platform, Saffron Morrigan awaited his foe with an
eager grin.
"Captain Ravi..." Amyr whispered. "Lend me your strength."
Next: Divergence of Power
