Ravens of Eternity

129 Rising Duelist, Pt The Ra’ventrii armor hung in the air above a portable NanoRepair Platform, which glowed a light green as it slowly repaired the armor itself. A swarm of nanites flowed around the armor and slowly stitched and restrengthened it back to perfect working condition.

Next to it was the Ra’ventrii beltknife, which was also floating above its own portable NRP. It too had its own nanite cloud which reshaped, resharpened, and rehoned the edge down to its atomic structure.

Alevos tweaked the settings of the blade’s resharpening on his circular datapad while Eva looked over his shoulder. Similarly, Miko and Szereth pored over the armor’s performance data, and tweaked its responsiveness carefully.

With great fanfare and multiple vocal flourishes, an announcer’s voice resounded throughout the arena.

“And now, what you’ve all been waiting for,” she said, “the cycle’s main duel! Vestarii versus Falthoss!”

“We Drogar sure do love the bloodier fights,” said Alevos. “Come, let’s watch this one closely.”

The four of them set the repairs to automatically complete, then joined the Justicars back at their seats. All were looking forward to this fight, but perhaps not as much as the rest of the spectators.

They erupted in cheering the moment the announcement went out, and barely died down. In fact, it even reached a fever pitch when the central platform rose up, and the two duelists were revealed.

The ten separate rings had previously been realigned and reformed into a single ring. It was roughly 100 meters, and had the central platform right in the middle of it. It was far more space than either needed.

.....

The two Drogar that were facing off against each other were among the largest Eva had ever seen. And the larger of the two was well beyond the norm. According to their fight cards up on the screens above, one was 2.3 meters, and the other 2.6.

She was almost a meter taller than Eva, at least if she drew herself up to full. Regardless, she was the tallest that any of them had ever seen.

“Here we have Duelist Vestarii,” said the announcer, “one of the more prodigious Reborn to grace our arena. She’s climbing her way up, with her eyes on the very top. But for now, she’s challenging the First Seed of the Third Tier!”

Cheers resounded throughout the arena, most of which were Vestarii’s fans. Many held up placards to show their support.

“And speaking of which,” continued the announcer, “we have our Seeded defender, Falthoss! He has stoically been holding his seat for close to one month! What a feat! But this cycle, we’ll find out if he’ll hold it, or fall.”

Almost as many cheers rose up for Falthoss, however there were audible boos just below them.

“Now, betting on these two isss... open!”

Eva watched as each fighter’s odds rose or fell from 1 to 1 rather quickly. People all around the arena placed their bets and changed the odds in realtime. Eventually, Falthoss’ odds reached 19 to 1.

Vestarii on the other hand, had odds of 0.08 to 1.

Eva had never experienced or done any sort of betting in her whole life, and had no clue what was going on, or how the odds were calculated. She presumed it was based on duelist’s performance and statistics. And that it was likely needlessly complex.

Miko on the other hand was a touch perplexed about the whole thing.

“I do not understand,” she said. “According to her odds, most are relatively sure the Reborn will win. And since the outcome is a foregone conclusion, there is no need to speculate at all, right? Is the margin worth the bet?”

“Well, simply, it’s because most of the fights don’t include Reborn,” answered Alevos. “The odds were calculated on the idea of a relatively level playing field where skill determined outcomes. But when the Reborn came on the scene... things got shaken up and we get crazy odds like these.”

“Sounds like they oughta be split into leagues,” said Eva. “One for Drogar, and another for Reborn. Keep them from screwing up all the numbers so easily.”

“Oh, they’re definitely trying that,” said Szereth. “Some of us who invest in athletes have petitioned the Arena Board to do just that. But of course, those who have Reborn athletes in their stables are doing their best to prevent that. Or at least slow it down.”

“In the meantime,” added Alevos, “it’s chaos down here. Sponsors with Reborn athletes are making a killing, even despite those ridiculous margins.”

“How?” asked Eva.

“Usually by selling their athlete’s image,” said Szereth. “Most of their money is made outside of the ring, you know. This is just where they get attention.”

“Betting is now closed for the Fight of the Cycle,” said the announcer. “Close up your ledgers and enjoy the show!”

Chanting and cheers once again took over the arena as the two Drogar faced off against each other. With their long beltknives drawn, their armor gleamed under the spotlights that shone down on them.

Without any hesitation, Falthoss entered a guarded stance, and prepared himself to face his most potent opponent yet.

In contrast, Vestarii’s stance was one of recklessness. In truth, it was nonexistent. She kept her arms low and her steps sluggish. As though she dared him to make the first move, to attack her.

But he wasn’t fooled in the slightest. Instead, he adjusted his stance to solidify his footing and changed his grip to maximize his defense.

Vestarii laughed and taunted her opponent, but no-one could hear what she had said over the cheering. Without warning, she launched forward and charged at him with explosive power.

Sand blew out from where she stood, just from the force of her leap.

She swung out with great speed and aimed her slash across his neck, but he was able to parry it. But just barely.

And even though he had successfully deflected her blade, the force of her blow flung him back nearly a dozen meters away.

With a grunt, he landed on his side rather painfully, and rolled twice before he flipped over and back onto his feet. He raised his blade defensively again, but his arm trembled from the energy of repelling her blow.

He shook the tremors off with a deep shout, and restabilized his blade.

A swell of cheers rose up for his stoic defense, and Vestarii herself held back her attack to applaud her opponent. It didn’t last very long, however, as she immediately charged him once again.

Instead of simply getting struck like last time, Falthoss counter-charged and swung his blade forward at the same time she did. They met in the middle, edge-first, then launched into a furious back and forth with their strikes.

Falthoss parried one of her blows and immediately swung a counter slash at her neck. However, Vestarii evaded just so the tip whizzed by, then pressed her attack with a vicious thrust. He slapped it away, ducked down, then performed a forward lunging slash.

His blade slipped through her defenses and etched a deep scratch across her chest. But it didn’t penetrate beyond the armor.

The crowd cheered as they watched him fend her off expertly. Those who bet on him hoped he had the skills to overcome the Reborn. Ultimately, however, everyone knew it was simply a pipe dream.

Vestarii brushed at her armor, over where Falthoss had scratched it. Then she launched into a wide lateral cross-slash, which he was able to parry in time.

The two of them continued their duel as the crowd roared around them. And though Falthoss pushed himself to his absolute limit, it was clear there was no way he could keep up. As he parried and attacked and evaded and feinted, he began to lag behind further and further.

His guard began to falter with each moment.

His parries became weaker.

His footwork was sloppier.

His breaths harder.

Meanwhile, Vestarii still had great form and was in full control of the fight. She was hardly out of breath, and kept herself at an even tempo.

Eva was on the absolute edge of her seat throughout the entire fight. Her eyes were glued to Vestarii, and she watched her with great interest.

“What do you think, hm?” asked Alevos. “You think the male has a chance to win against that Reborn?”

“What? Oh, hell no,” said Eva. “He’s got zero chance, if I’m being honest. He’s on his last legs while she’s clearly having fun. And as far as I can tell, she’s just like Raijin and I in certain respects. Like her breathing patterns, and how much energy she’s expending versus how much she’s recharging.”

“I agree,” added Miko. “She retains an edge over her opponent in exacting degrees, similar to how we hold an edge to normal humans.”

Szereth looked at the both of them oddly – they were talking about themselves as though they were mechanical, or ran on code.

“What do you mean ‘on par’?” he asked. “You’re humans, not Drogar. I’m not saying you’re inferior or whatever, but from a physiological standpoint, we are the hardier species.”

“Dunno how to explain it,” said Eva. “Just think of us like Reborn Humans. Just like your Reborn Drogar, we came outta the ether and ended up in this galaxy.”

Szereth stared at the two of them with his mouth agape. Sure, he had seen their feats with his own eyes, and they were far greater than anything he had seen any other human do. The fact that he had even seen Eva surpass normal Drogar in a few ways had nagged at him.

Perhaps he just didn’t want to believe something like that was possible. In the end, he had to relent.

Szereth slumped into his seat as realization fully dawned on him.

“Well, that just makes gods-damned sense, doesn’t it?” he said. “Ancestors from every species coming back from time to haunt the living.”

“There goes captain grumpy again,” said Alevos. “Don’t you realize that you’re currently the only sponsor who has a Reborn human in their roster? And that the odds are greatly in our favor instead of against?”

Szereth perked up as the words sunk down into him. At the same time, Alevos turned towards Eva, and asked with complete earnestness in his tone.

“Do you think you could beat a Reborn Drogar?”

She glanced at Vestarii down below, and noted her speed and power. Then she turned back towards Alevos and shot him a grin.

“Let’s talk about contracts,” she said.

~

The crowd outside cheered once again as the two Drogar locked their blades together, right at their hilts. Falthoss pushed against the Reborn with all his might, but was shoved away with a grunt.

He stumbled backwards with uncertain steps – his energy had just about emptied out. His muscles felt weary, and his heart beat like a drum. His chest heaved in and out as his lungs gasped for more air.

Meanwhile, Vestarii lowered her guard and strutted left and right while she waited for her opponent to recover. After a while, she grew tired of waiting, and prodded him with a few gestures, as though she was telling him – come at me.

He nodded in understanding. It was do or die. He inhaled deeply and gathered himself up for one final push. One final try. He needed to put everything he had on the line, or there was no tomorrow.

He roared into the air, then ran at her at full speed. When he got closer, he reared back his blade arm, and swung at her with powerful and precise strikes. And with unrelenting determination, he dug into her defenses with all his might.

Vestarii was pushed back by his furious storm of blows, and found herself evading and parrying each of his strikes with decisive skill. And though his attacks were fierce, her balance remained solid, and her footwork was unmarred.

She found his tempo and captured it for herself. And the moment his rage and strength hit its peak, she made her move.

He swung down hard on her, but she turned his blade away with preternatural skill, and blew his defenses wide open. She gracefully drew her blade back and slashed across his chest with incredible speed.

Unlike his scratch from earlier, hers dug deep into his armor, past the scales and the bone, and cut his heart right through the middle.

Thick trails of blood followed her blade out of his gaping chest wound, which was soon followed by a torrent of it.

Falthoss fell to his kness in agony as his own life spilled out in front of him, and coated his armor in a deep crimson.

Cheers erupted all around as the First Seed of the Third Tier died in pure agony. And even as his blood turned cold, unending chants of ‘Reborn Forever’ echoed throughout the coliseum.

.....