Summer Games ( VI )

Rhea, Year 817 of Avia, Day 228; 19:40

Icarum took another feather out of his sleeve and grasped it tightly. It glowed brightly before dematerializing and turning into a small hornet that danced on the palm of his hand.

“Go,” Icarum commanded. The hornet zipped through the air, circling around him from five meters away.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“It’s a murder hornet. One sting and you’ll be paralyzed.”

“Thankfully,” Icarum motioned towards a section of the audience dressed in white suits carrying first-aid kits, “it seems that there are doctors nearby.”

“The stuff you summon,” Karine started, “they retain their abilities from before they die?”

“Well, it depends on how clean the kill is. If the animal has been rotting away for days, the version I summon will be much weaker.”

“How many animals have you killed?” Karine asked suspiciously.

Icarum raised his hands in defense. “Only four or five, and they’re all critters, I promise, like insects or rabbits. The rest of them I found already dead.”

“Whatever.” Karine flew forward and started patrolling the area.

“You stay here with the jar and I’ll deal with anyone who approaches. We’ll use your hornet as a last-resort kind of thing.”

Icarum nodded in agreement.

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19:41

“To your right!” Asterum shouted.

Noah narrowly dodged a strong gust of wind with his hand clasped around his glass jar. He and Asterum had only managed to collect a few dozen butterflies before the Eagle had started targeting them.

He figured that the Eagle would give up trying to attack them after a few attempts, but his failure only seemed to motivate him further. The Eagle refused to back away before finishing them off.

Asterum fired beams of light from the corners of his wings, hitting the Eagle square in the chest. His wind assaults stopped momentarily as he tried to recover. With a scowl on his face, the Eagle rushed toward Noah, flapping his wings three times to gain speed.

“I’ve silenced his spirit,” Asterum shouted. “He can’t use magic for the next ten seconds.”

Noah smirked. A major part of the Eagle’s power was physical enhancement. Without it, even Noah could win in a fight.

He took a deep breath and tucked his glass jar deep into his jumpsuit’s pocket.

“Celeritas,” Noah muttered, activating an ability that he coined Swift Tempo.

In the blink of an eye, Noah burst forward, zipping over the Eagle with his legs pulled inwards. Before Eagle could turn around, Noah punched him in the back, causing reverberations across his feathers.

Noah then dived downward underneath the Eagle, landing one punch on his left heel and another on his right thigh.

In the ten-second window he was given, Noah was able to deal significant damage to the seemingly invincible Eagle. The Eagle had sustained three large bruises on his body, and he was visibly weakened by Noah’s quick attacks.

But as his magic returned, the Eagle wasted no time grimacing in pain. He twirled around intensely, creating a small whirlwind that increased in momentum with every rotation. With one wingbeat, he sent it soaring towards Noah.

Noah immediately knew that this attack was on a different level than the bursts of wind that he had dodged earlier. It was faster, more forceful, and harder to dodge; the revolving onslaught aimed at Noah pulled him in as it got closer.

Asterum sent another wave of light beams at the Eagle, but he was much more prepared this time. He easily evaded them by darting leftwards, then returned fire with a shot of wind that nailed Asterum to the stadium wall.

Even with his enhanced speed, Noah knew that getting caught up in the Eagle’s attack was inevitable. Without a better choice, he made a risky decision to throw his glass jar up into the air with all his strength.

If the Eagle had not been focused on pinning down Asterum, he probably would’ve been able to catch the jar mid-air and destroy it. But since he was distracted, the jar remained in the air until the whirlwind had dissipated.

Noah dived downwards to catch the falling jar, barely making it before it touched the ground.

Ilina flew over to the Eagle with a blue orb sitting in the palm of her hand.

“Having trouble, Lance?”

Lance shook his head. “I’m about done here.”

“Why don’t you let me take care of this? There are a few Macaws over there that make it hard to use my ability.”

“Fine,” he retorted.

Lance glared angrily at Noah before leaving.

“Sorry about that,” Ilina remarked. “He doesn’t like to leave things unfinished.”

With his Swift Tempo starting to reach its time limit, Noah smiled innocently up at Ilina.

“Since we’re both from the same rebel faction, you could maybe give us a break?”

It didn’t look like Ilina could hear him. Blue, glowing eyes that gleamed like sapphires replaced Ilina’s natural black ones. Her arms were positioned in an odd “L” shape, with a flash of light orbiting her so fast that you couldn’t see its shape.

Asterum flew towards Noah covered in dust with tattered wings. Upon hitting the stadium wall, a pile of dirt had fallen on top of his face.

“You look terrible,” Noah whispered.

“Thanks,” Asterum replied. “You don’t look much better.”

Noah and Asterum prepared for battle as they kept their eyes focused on Ilina. Although she was flying in the air, it seemed as if she was darting from side to side on invisible ground. Her fighting form looked more like a dance than an offensive weapon. There was only one word to describe her: elegant.

But their seconds of admiration turned out to be their greatest mistake. Before Asterum could fire any beams of light to stop her, Ilina had closed the distance between them. With one strong wingbeat, she twirled in the air, crashing into Asterum like a bullet.

Noah stood still, confused. He thought that he would’ve been the target since he was carrying the glass jar.

Right, Noah realized. He was fighting the Eagle when he put the jar in his pocket. Ilina had no clue which one of them was holding it.

This could work to our advantage.

Ilina launched attack after attack onto Asterum, hitting him with a flurry of kicks. The blue light that orbited her slowed down, molding into the shape of a ball. It crashed into Asterum’s jumpsuit with the force of a boulder.

Asterum coughed up blood and was nearing exhaustion. It took all his energy to flap his wings occasionally and hover above the ground.

Noah maintained his distance, observing Ilina’s actions. He felt a twinge of guilt for not coming to Asterum’s aid, but he knew that as he was now, he was in no position to help. He could barely raise his hands after taking the burnt of Eagle’s whirlwind. He had managed to protect his wings and his back from Eagle’s attack, but the rest of his upper body was in no condition to fight.

As Noah watched Ilina fight, he noticed that her actions seemed… robotic? There were clear attack patterns, and the blue orb only formed after a kick, as if there was something that signaled it. The change in Ilina’s personality was also very strange. She didn’t seem like someone who would beat up an opponent who didn’t have any fighting spirit left in them, and it was odd that she didn’t answer Noah when he jokingly asked her to give them a break.

In fact, it looked like Ilina wasn’t acting consciously. Noah had learned from Master Gala that strong powers always came with strong conditions; perhaps the condition for activating Ilina’s power was that she wouldn’t have any control over it while she used it.

Suddenly, the blue light in Ilina’s eyes faded away, and her facial expression confirmed Noah’s theory. She stared straight at Asterum, clearly surprised that she was responsible for his bruises and the blood gushing out of his nose.

This is our chance. Just as he did before, Noah threw his glass jar high up into the air, but due to his weaker arms, it didn’t go up as high as he wanted it to.

He locked eyes at Asterum, who received the memo immediately.

“If you’re looking for the glass, it’s over here,” Noah shouted and pointed at his jumpsuit.

Noah figured that Ilina could issue broad, vague commands before she activated her power, and that it would last for a certain amount of time. Her command was probably something like “break the jar using whatever means necessary,” and without knowing exactly who had the jar, she attacked Asterum, who happened to be a little bit closer.

Once again, Ilina made an L shape with her hands and turned her eyes bright blue. The moment he confirmed that she had activated her power, he turned around and bolted away, flying as fast as he could. Ilina swiftly followed, catching up to him little by little.

Meanwhile, Asterum pushed himself forward to catch the glass jar that Noah had thrown up into the air. They were lucky that Ilina had chased Noah so quickly without looking at her surroundings. A second later and she might’ve seen the glass fall and Asterum wouldn’t have enough time to catch it.

Noah flew past dozens of other teams, making it to the edge of the stadium. Ilina followed with her hands outstretched. Using his Swift Tempo, Noah easily dodged all of Ilina’s kicks, bouncing from side to side. Unlike his fight with the Eagle, it was impossible for Noah to land any hits on Ilina. Whenever he got close, the blue flash of light would swipe in front of Noah’s hand, forcing him to pull back his punch at the last minute.

If Eagle is breaking all of the other team’s jars, Noah thought, all I need to do is stall.

Minute after minute passed without either Noah or Ilina making any progress in their fight. It was a stalemate of evasion and missed attacks. But in this battle of attrition, Ilina was starting to have the advantage. Noah was already exhausted from his fight with Eagle, and he didn’t have nearly as much fighting experience that Ilina had.

He couldn’t maintain his Swift Tempo forever, either, and his movements were becoming increasingly sluggish. By the tenth minute of their fight, Ilina had landed her first kick onto Noah’s stomach, pushing him towards the wall. Noah raised his hands to defend himself, but it was too late.

After noticing Noah’s slow response, Ilina followed up her kick with another one, this time onto his side. She then flew forward and grabbed him by the jumpsuit, shaking him violently.

It looked like Ilina had given more specific instructions to her subconscious self this time; rather than attacking indiscriminately, her focus seemed to be on Noah’s glass jar.

But Noah refused to back down so easily. Since Ilina was so close, it was his chance to land a punch without being thwarted by the blue ball orbiting her. He performed an uppercut onto Ilina’s chin, causing her to leap backwards.

She wasted no time in approaching again, this time with a right roundhouse kick. Noah brought his elbow up to his ear to block it, but he knew that it probably wouldn’t be enough. He could hear her foot cutting through the wind as it travelled up to his head, and he prepared to wince in pain upon impact.

But the kick stopped midair. Ilina had returned to her senses.

Huh? Did her ability run out of time or something?

It didn’t seem to be the case. Ilina smirked and turned around without saying a single word. She flew off across the stadium to look for other teams to hunt.

Did she give up?

Noah’s optimism quickly turned into shock. In the distance, Asterum lay on the grass-filled floor clutching a glass jar tightly. The Eagle circled above him with a cut on his face, presumably from his fight with Asterum.

Even in his condition, Asteurm was able to land a hit on the Eagle. He felt a mix of regret, sadness, and relief now that his games were over, but he also felt pride. He and Asterum were able to stand up to the decorated Eagle and Swan, who both made it to the top eight in their first Summer Games.

He was completely defeated, but his fight was much closer than he expected it to be.

Noah landed on the ground next to Asterum and placed him on his back. While the rest of the teams still fought in the air, he silently shuffled to the edge of the stadium, looking for a doctor to heal their wounds.