He's Up Against A Wall?

Kody was gripping his left leg in pain. His face was contorted in agony as he sweated bullets while waiting for the medic to arrive. By the time Daniel rushed over to his friend, his other teammates were already gathered around him. The medic finally arrived and instructed Daniel and the others to give Kody some space. Everyone held their breaths as the medic examined him.

“I can’t say with one hundred certainty, but he has appeared to have fractured his leg,” revealed the medic.

Daniel and the others sucked in their breath at the reveal. He thought back to everything leading up to this incident: the Ravens’ Thunderer had received the ball and nimbly shook off Dan; the Thunderer then proceeded to cast a spell to shoot the ball; Kody rushed over to provide help for Dan and tried to contest the Thunderer’s shot…and then it happened. But Kody didn’t cast a spell to contest the Thunderer. Instead, the Stormer used physical force by throwing his own body against the opponent. ‘But that can’t be,’ asserted Daniel. He then thought that the only possible reason for this was Kody probably underestimated the correct timing for casting a spell. ‘Yeah, that must be it,’ Daniel told himself.

If the referees were to discover that Kody used physical force to contest a shot, he would’ve been penalized with a foul. Suffering an injury and then to have a foul dealt on top of that—that’s just bad luck. However, it appeared that the situation did not warrant any such call. Daniel glanced over at the referee and saw him looking at a crystal ball that replayed the entire play. A stretcher was called and Kody was taken off the court. The referee didn’t make any announcements after the Stars' Stormer left, which made Daniel breathe a sigh of relief.

“What are we gonna do now?” asked Jack worriedly.

“Jerry, you’re going to have to go in,” said the coach.

“What, really?” came Jerry in surprise.

“If not you, then who else, idiot?” said Toby, lightly smacking Jerry behind the head.

“Then it’s decided. Max, I’m counting on you to explain to him his role,” said the coach.

Daniel simply nodded his head in response.

The whistle was blown and the game resumed. It was now the second half. The scores were: Stars – 34 and Ravens – 52.

As soon the ball was put into play, Daniel sensed another change happening with the opposing team. The Ravens brought up the ball and the Stars fought back with a man-to-man defense. The Ravens’ Stormer received the ball and Daniel prepared himself to block whatever shot the enemy was about to unleash. The Stormer glared at Daniel and he immediately backed down. The Stormer then took his shot and made the halo.

Daniel had never seen intense eyes like those before. They were the eyes of a hardened warrior, a bloodthirsty berserker, a furious gladiator…whatever eyes they were, they belonged to something beyond human understanding. And the aura they projected—Daniel had never felt that much fear before in his life; it would give even the most terrifying of horror films he had ever watched a run for their money. Daniel didn’t know why he did what he did; the only thought going through his mind at that time was the instinct to survive.

The Stars in-bounded the ball to begin their possession. Daniel brought the ball up-court and prepared to take a shot. His eyes met with the Ravens’ Stormer’s and he casted the spell too early, causing the ball to fly over the halo. Once again, he felt an indescribable fear that forced him to back down if he wanted to survive.

“That Stormer’s dangerous,” Daniel told his teammates as they got into position to prepare for defense.

This time, instead of Daniel, the Ravens’ Stormer was matched against Jerry. Daniel looked through the corner of his eyes in their direction and saw the Stormer glare at Jerry. Jerry backed down with a terrified expression, allowing the Stormer to score off of him. ‘Again,’ thought Daniel with a scowl.

When it came time for the Stars to possess the ball, Daniel passed it to Dan on the inside to score. Dan shot the ball with ‘Stormcloud’, but not before meeting the Ravens’ Stormer’s eye with a glance. Dan released the ball too early and missed the halo by a fraction of an inch.

‘He can do that without even directly defending against the player?!’ exclaimed Daniel in disbelief.

The ball switched possessions and the Stars hurriedly prepared their defense. The Ravens’ Stormer received the ball and brought it up-court, stopping right in front of the arc. This time, Daniel tightened up his defense to put more pressure on the Stormer. However, the Stormer seemed to have been expecting this and passed the ball to an open teammate.

With the ball in hand, the Ravens’ Igniter took position to shoot it. Toby refused to allow his mark to score and prepared himself to jump and cast a defensive spell. When the Igniter finally jumped to cast a spell, Toby followed. Before his feet completely left the ground, however, he found his eyes drawn to those belonging to the Ravens’ Stormer. Toby suddenly felt his feet grow heavy and he was forced to back away. The Igniter scored.

The scores for both teams were now: Stars – 40 and Ravens – 71.

A timeout was called. Daniel and his teammates couldn’t believe what they were seeing. They were being completely and utterly annihilated by the Ravens. No matter what they did to even the playing field even if for a moment, the Ravens continued to counter back by unveiling nigh-unstoppable strategies that were more than enough for the Stars to handle. First, it was the unexpected lineup rotation; and now, it was the Ravens’ Stormer. For whatever reason, the players all knew that the Stormer was the sole reason behind this unforeseen unfortunate circumstance. They all felt as if the Stormer was the only true enemy on the court, challenging all of them all at once and crushing them one at a time.

“It was like coming face-to-face with a demon,” muttered Jerry.

“Those eyes weren’t human,” added Toby with a twitch.

Dan was shaking by himself on the bench with the eyes of someone who had come face-to-face with death and was lucky to have survived that encounter.

“Could it be?” Lira asked the coach.

The coach said nothing except for a grunt.

‘What are they talking about?’ wondered Daniel with his eyes focused on the Ravens’ Stormer. The player’s screen opened and Daniel carefully examined it with scrutinizing eyes. He initially didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but after doing one final scan from top to bottom, he finally arrived at his answer. Next to the player’s name were parenthesis containing a piece of data he had initially skipped over. “War God’s Blessing – Berserker Dragon Eyes,” read Daniel. “Wait, ‘War God’s Blessing’?” he muttered to himself. Suddenly, he remembered back to the letter from Nazmith. The god had warned him at the end of the letter about individuals with divine blessings. “Oi, oi, oi, you got to be kidding, right?” said Daniel frustratingly. He had unknowingly said it all out loud because his teammates’ eyes were on him.

“What are you yelling about now?” came Lira annoyedly.

Daniel didn’t care much now for discreetness and asked loudly, “What are divine blessings?”

“Hah? Are you dumb or something?” snapped Lira.

“Hey, I have amnesia, remember?” snapped back Daniel like a little kid. He even pouted his lips.

Lira wasn’t going to have it today. The team was already losing bad enough as it is and she desperately didn’t need another headache. She rolled up her sleeves and was about to sock Daniel in the face when the coach stopped her with a clearing of his throat.

“A divine blessing is just like how it sounds. They are blessings granted to individuals when they are born. Each blessing is different. However, by observing what blessing an individual has, we can deduce which god it was that gave them that blessing. It is said that a god will only grant blessings to individuals they have chosen to be carriers of a great destiny. That individual will therefore share a deep bond with that god. Some say that divine blessings are special gifts that also symbolize one’s closeness to the divine. Others say that they are more of a curse and as a result, they cannot live normal lives. But whether they are gifts or curses is up to the individual.” As the coach explained all of this, he sat straight like a mountain and spoke with a serious tone unlike anything Daniel had ever heard from him before.

“Have you ever heard of the divine blessing ‘Berserker Dragon Eyes’?” asked Daniel.

“A blessing from the war god Mazara,” answered the coach. “Are you saying that Stormer possesses them?” he asked Daniel.

“Yes,” confirmed Daniel.

“Well, that’s troublesome,” sighed the coach. “The divine blessing ‘Berserker Dragon Eyes’ is a highly coveted blessing by the military and other similar organizations. Put simply, it allows one to completely dismantle the opponent with a single glare. The glare will break down the target mentally, psychologically, spiritually, and physically for as long as the exchange of eyes between the possessor and the target occurs. Those who have fallen victim to this blessing have spoken of it as ‘seeing into the eyes of a demon’ or ‘being greeted by death’.”

Daniel remembered back to how his teammates described their experience. ‘They’re petrified beyond repair,’ he told himself with a grimace. He believed that maybe he have finally reached his peak as a professional athlete. What else could he do against an unstoppable opponent like this? ‘If only there was a way to get in the way of those eyes!’ he told himself in agony. Just when all seemed lost, a small something from his past life flashed in his mind. His eyes immediately flung open. “Could we…?” he wondered to himself.

He closed his eyes once more and forced the memory out. This memory could very well be what he needed at this moment. “With this, we could probably hold our own against the Stormer,” he said to himself more confidently. “The only problem now is how to get back all those points.” He once more closed his eyes and formed a plan in his head. When it all finally clicked, he immediately said, “I have a plan!”