Safe Zone, The Emperor’s Ascent - 3:55 PM

  By the time everything was said and done, I had spent nearly 40,000 points to make the safe zone as comfortable as possible while providing everything a person could need. There was a marketplace set up with stalls as well as the impersonal kiosks where someone could throw items up for grabs without the face to face aspect. Food stands were set up for those who wouldn’t want to eat the monsters that Callie cooked up and for those who wanted some more traditional arena food for when fights were happening.

  I had also set up a rather large area for blacksmiths and other crafters. Just because Ash and Bethany had a place on the train to make things didn’t mean everyone else had their own, and this would be a good spot for people to rotate and get things done.

  Of course, those belonging to one of New York’s prestigious guilds could pay a modest fee in order to replicate their accommodations from the outside. As it stood, the Angel Express was already here thanks to the contract Sara made with Baltastasia, so that didn’t cost us anything extra. For those who didn’t want to pay or just didn’t belong, I had increased the comfort levels of the original rooms. What would have been quite spartan as far as bedrooms went were now equivalent to a midscale hotel room.

  Necessary? No, but I understood the power comfortable lodging had on people. Especially when it came with enhanced healing capabilities. Plus, it wasn’t completely altruistic; I was going to make those points back.

  Finally, there were two new boards near the exit as well as a large television. The first was for messages or announcements that could be left for anyone. They weren’t private by any means but that wouldn’t matter. The people would use it to schedule matches in the arena, meet up with friends who weren’t a part of their faction, and, of course, partake in the time honored tradition of trash talking others.

  The second board showed where each of the factions was in the challenge. In the two hours since we arrived, only Ross had completed Aries’ boss room. He hadn’t given me much more than a nod before immediately heading to his faction’s base, but that was fine. We had beaten him fair and square and I knew he had a competitive streak in him. He’d get over it.

  Finally, there was the television in front of the Sol Ligatus door. It was turned off right now, but it would allow people here in the safe zone to watch our challenges. Some might be worried about others using that to get an edge up on us, but that was something I was actually hoping for. Other teams watching us would catch up safely at a faster pace, and if they kept us moving forward then I was happy.

  Gemini, Aquarius, Pisces, Taurus, and Leo were all fighting the boss already, and I was waiting to see who would make it up next. The others were ones who spent a lot more time in the gathering room like Cancer, though Callie’s team made good progress once they left.

  A part of me hoped it was Gemini who emerged first since Trevor was, apparently, going to be my first spar, but I didn’t mind it when a pair of large, growling animals emerged from a doorway flanking a stern looking man. They stared me down, and I smiled back.

  “Arthur Sutherland!” I greeted, standing up and pulling my lawn chair into my inventory. “Welcome to the safe zone.”

  The Pack Leader gave me a cursory glance before looking around the area. He was wearing a mix of army tactical gear and leather hide armor with fur. It was surprisingly tasteful, though it was dashed by the red barbed whip on his belt. He rested his hand on it as if ready for battle, and the way he looked at the room made it clear that he was.

  The animals stopped growling as I addressed their master. One was a metallic blue dog that looked like it had just stepped out of some anime. There was no fur, only battle-scuffed metal plating, and it tilted its head as it understood my words. This was his Evolution Hound, going down the path of the robot.

  His second companion was an oversized raccoon with a thick, club-like tail covered in sharp hairs. All of its fur was dangerous, actually, and could act somewhat similar to a porcupine at a moment’s notice. It looked at me with wide eyes before deciding I wasn’t a threat and leaned against his master. Arthur stepped away, but that didn’t stop the Thistlecoon from trying again.

  “We can’t move on, so everyone go and rest up,” he ordered, raising his hand and gesturing towards the Leo safe zone. Arthur ignored the relieved grumbles of the people as they moved along. Many of them were injured, but not direly so, though they were missing a few from their number. “You’re the tourist. Were you the first one here, or was it Ross?”

  “Me and my guild made it about two hours ago, and he made it an hour and a half ago,” I answered. “You’re the third so far.”

  The stern look on Arthur’s face turned to a frown as he nodded. He appeared to be done with this conversation because he turned to go join his faction.

  “Damnit! We lost to that bastard?”

  Smiling, I turned to the staircase where Gemini was coming up. Trevor led the way, his metal bat slung over his shoulder, but he casually threw it into his inventory after swiping away the message he received.

  “Some people are just naturally slower than others,” Arthur retorted, stopping but not bothering to turn around. “Maybe if you stopped wasting so much time yapping, you’d have gotten here faster.

  “Oh, go eat a whole bag of dicks, you tool!” Trevor yelled, taking a few steps forward.

  “Hey! I’ve been waiting for you, man,” I said, raising a hand.

  The Slugger Savant looked at me, surprise on his face as if he had just noticed me. “Anthony!” Trevor greeted, his whole tone shifting as he approached. He offered me his hand and, when I took it, he pulled me into a one armed hug. Now that we had fought together, I was firmly in the ride or die camp with him, and that was an attitude that I really enjoyed. “I don’t see the rest of your little party, so that means you beat this asshole, right?”

  “Sure did,” I answered as we took a step back. I could feel annoyance bristling through Arthur’s aura, but didn’t say anything as he began walking away. “We came at it hard to get here first. Patron’s orders.”

  Trevor smirked and lowered his voice as he jutted his chin in Arthur’s direction. “Dude barely won—and I do mean barely—in our competitive room and started looking down on us, talking all high and mighty. I’d love to get another swing at him.”

  “Hey, Trev,” one of the women in his group said, causing him to turn around.

  “Yeah? What’s up?”

  “We’re going to go check out our rooms and everything.”

  “Oh, shit, yeah. My bad,” he said with a laugh. “Don’t wait on my account. I’ll catch up.”

  As his team started heading towards their area, I jerked my head back towards the center of the safe zone. “If you can convince him to get you a rematch, we have an arena,” I told him. “From the sounds of it, Gemini wants you and I to spar. I’m not in the best of conditions right now, but I can still scrap.”

  “Yeah,” Trevor said, snapping his fingers. “Gemini told me that Baltastasia tried to kill you by throwing something stupid like an awakened raid boss or something your way. That’s crazy, bro. From the sounds of it, you’re lucky to be alive.”

  I grinned. “I am a very lucky individual, yeah. But I’m down to spar whenever you are and you can see for yourself. We can have the arena’s inaugural match if you want.”

  “Absolutely,” he replied immediately. “But give me, like, half an hour to sit down and have a meal. I’m starved and my body is screaming. You know?”

  “Completely understandable,” I said, nodding as I snapped open my menu. A countdown starting at 45 minutes appeared on the televisions over the arena. “I’ll give you a little extra. Take your time.”

  Trevor opened his mouth to say something, but was distracted by a text box. He let out a nervous chuckle. “Come on, Gems, can’t even give me a quest to win?” he asked the sky, swiping it away.

  “Mind telling me what it was?” I asked, genuinely curious.

  “Ten Gs if I last a minute,” he answered. “You’ll be merciful, yeah? That’s a lot of points.”

  <<<>>>

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  [[Notice]]

  The Patron [Gemini] would appreciate it if you weren’t merciful in your training.

  <<<>>>

  I shook my head. “Sorry, man. I just received a message from Gemini, and it’s not looking good for you.”

  Trevor’s face fell, and I did my best to hide my smile. I did feel a little bad for him, at least.

  The arena was halfway packed as the timer ticked down. Aquarius, Pisces, and Taurus had all arrived before the match was to officially start. Virgo, too, whose Saint Commandant leader made short work of their Devil Ram. It seemed as though every faction had a ten man limit for the boss room, so the Patron Aries didn’t have to change much when it came to difficulty for the two factions that didn’t have more people.

  I stood at the bottom, hugging the Staff of Raphael as I leaned against it. Everyone from Sol Ligatus except for Ashley was here, and the same woman who had spoken to Trevor earlier was discussing tea with Bethany. Mercury was translating, as usual.

  The others looked a little bored, though. They knew how this was going to go, and had already queued up for some random matches. Jamie and Jeff were absolutely going to be camping this spot out as best they could once they were forced to wait for the next constellation to open up.

  A crowd from Gemini started coming into the pit, taking seats as close as they could to the arena, and Trevor followed them. It looked like almost the entire faction showed up in support of their leader. He shook hands and bumped fists on the way down, outwardly he was very sure of himself.

  His aura, however, was shaken. I figured his Patron might have finally told him exactly what I went through.

  Regardless, he met me in the middle of the arena with a handshake. “Man, I’m looking forward to this but I haven’t had butterflies like this since I was playing ball in high school.”

  I offered him a lopsided smile. “Yeah, I hear you,” I said before leaning in and whispering. “But, hey, if you’re not comfortable, we can call this off. I hate to say it, but you’re kind of about to become an example. I’m about to come down on you, and hard. I usually fight groups for a reason.”

  “Don’t count me out just yet,” he snorted, rolling his shoulders as he stretched. “Gems warned me, sure, but they also said you’re going to help afterwards. Doesn’t matter if I win or lose so long as I get better, right? I’m going to last that minute and, hey, I might even surprise you.”

  “So long as you keep that attitude afterwards, Trevor, then we’re good,” I replied. “I’d hate to lose a good friend.”

  “Nah. I had it beaten into me a long time ago that losing isn’t the end, it just highlights what you need to work on.” Trevor reached up and scratched the back of his head. “Unless it’s to gloating assholes like Arthur. Can’t stand that guy.”

  “Wise words,” I said with a chuckle. “If you’re good, then I’ll send the request once we’re back in our starting positions.”

  “Good luck, have fun,” he replied, holding out his fist again. I bumped it, and we went our separate ways.

  <<<>>>

  [[Duel Request]]

  You are attempting to issue a challenge to Avatar [Trevor Price].

  Win condition: First player to cause the other to drop below 0 hit points or surrender will achieve victory.

  Additional rules: All hit points and resources will be restored, and cooldowns are reset for the duration of the match. Pain will be dulled to 50%.

  Are you sure you want to issue this challenge?

  Yes

  No

  <<<>>>

  What I wasn’t warned about was my ongoing soul damage. Hit points and resources were restored, yes, but they weren’t going to go back to normal. Regardless, I hit Yes, and he immediately accepted.

  Trevor pulled out his metal bat and took a few practice swings as I pulled in my awareness aura, but not before searching the crowd. Aquarius’ and Taurus’ avatars, Cecil Haskell and Jill Rawley, were both at the top of the arena, separate but still watching. Ross was even up there, arms crossed as he decided to grace us with his presence.

  <<<>>>

  [[Duel!]]

  The duel may now commence!

  <<<>>>

  Three baseball bats appeared around Trevor the moment the screen appeared in front of me, and the arena started to dim as black flames appeared. The telltale chill of death didn’t touch me, but my opponent shivered as his stats dropped by 10%. As if that wasn’t enough, he was immediately put on the back foot.

  I continued to lean on the Staff of Raphael as I watched. The Constructed bats struck one after the other, giving Trevor time to block them before getting faster. They moved with him, his aura making it easy to tell where he was planning to go. He really did wear his intentions on his sleeve.

  Despite the sudden onslaught, he started taking steps towards me. “Really!?” he yelled. “After all that, you’re just going to try to beat me with sticks!?”

  Letting the Constructs disappear, he stumbled as he tried to block a blow that was no longer coming. Trevor looked at me incredulously, and I raised my hand to gesture for him to come and get me.

  A feral grin split his lips as he ran, closing the distance quickly. Raising his bat over his head, it grew until it was several times my size. I watched as he brought it down on me, but I wasn’t about to take it. Raising the Staff of Raphael, I gave his weapon a little nudge at just the right spot.

  The sound of metal striking stone was accompanied by a pillar of dust as the bat made a crater appear in the ground. His strength was monstrous, but his skills were unrefined. A little training was going to go a long way for him.

  He stared at the ground as if shocked that his strike had been redirected. The look on his face was priceless, but he was quick to recover. Trevor went for my leg, and I moved the staff again. His bat arched around me as I backed up, flowing exactly where I wanted it to go while making him swing wide.

  With his back turned to me, I struck him twice in quick succession with both ends of my staff. He staggered forward, not from how hard I hit him but because I had, in fact, hit him. His Strength was at least twice what mine was, so I knew I wasn’t going to beat him in a straight contest of brawn.

  Growling, he looked at me before stepping back into attack range. His lack of finesse was on full display here, and I parried again before hitting his knee. Trevor winced, but didn’t fall down.

  I saw his aura surge as he wound up for one of his big moves, the one that made him spin, and I Constructed an item next to his chest.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” I said. Something in my tone stopped him, or perhaps he simply recognized the item I had made.

  If he had started his spin to win skill, the sawblade pressing against him would have made short work of his hit points before the damage immunity kicked in. So he struck the Construct instead, and pain went through my head as the thin item broke. He came at me again.

  Trevor’s problem was his lack of training, and that was it. His style made it obvious that he had gotten into some tussles in his life but that wasn’t the same thing. He had power and speed, and knew how to move his body to eke out as much force as possible. Now, he just needed skill.

  I continued to dodge and parry as I identified his weak points and where to start. There was no doubt in my head that he could be fighting at a much higher level than he was. Not only had I seen it before in a previous timeline, but he was still Gemini’s avatar for a reason. He had a lot of potential.

  So when I counted down to ten seconds left, I struck him in the arm with the intent to put the Mark of Rot on him. His stats fell another 5%, leading to a noticeable decrease in his Dexterity. Trevor winced, and then his eyes widened.

  I fully committed to offense. The Staff of Raphael spun and twirled, always moving with intent. When one side parried his bat, the other side struck him in the leg, arm, or head. He took a step back as if I were pushing him before he placed both hands on his weapon and attempted to block from a bunting position.

  I switched to thrusts, striking him a few times in the chest. He tried to lower his bat to block, which I allowed by striking his stomach next. Then he realized that if I started striking even lower then he was going to have something else to worry about. He thrust his weapon at me desperately, and I put up my Shield. The bunt was weak, but I still took a couple of steps back as I spun my staff.

  Taking a big step forward, I raised my weapon and Constructed a hammerhead on top of it. He tried to raise his bat, but a Force Field appeared above it, causing him to look down in panic at the near invisible obstruction. That’s when I Dropped the Staff of Raphael and the hammer I had placed on it.

  The resulting crack as I hit him dead on in the head echoed through the arena. He rocketed towards the ground skull-first, crumpling as he lost his hit points and collapsed.

  It might have been just a second over Gemini’s time limit, but I wasn’t about to check the clock.

  <<<>>>

  [[Duel!]]

  Congratulations! You have won the duel against Avatar [Trevor Price].

  Your record is currently 1-0-0.

  <<<>>>

  One moment he was down, but the next he hopped back onto his feet. The crowd had a weird energy to them with the victory going to the tourist. Not that it mattered, however; Trevor only cared about one thing.

  “The fuck was all that?” he asked, reaching up to rub his head where I had hit him. “It’s like you knew everything I was about to do! I know I ain’t bad at fighting, so what was that?”

  I smiled as the crowd, aside from the Gemini faction, cheered, and gestured for Trevor to follow me. “Just skill, my friend. Now, let’s talk about your stance to start, yeah?”