Trials - Chapter 2

Team Diablo Tournament Roster Round 1

Opponents - Fiddah ‘Ace’ Darpa

Map - Standard Arena

Modifiers - None

Number of Participants - Ten (Nine from Team Diablo; One from Ace’s Team)

Win Condition - Eliminate all members of the other team

Good luck and have fun,

Headmistress Kasmine.

“The first fight in the entire team tournament is ours and it’s against Ace.”

After Kasmine’s speech yesterday, Eric and the others had all received an email detailing their first match in the tournament and, today, they had started planning for the upcoming fight.

“Is it even really that much of a contest?” Jasmine asked. “It’s just Ace against the nine of us. There’s no way he could win, especially given how weak he is.”

“He’s gotten stronger since he started training with my sister. Even then, I don’t think we have anything to be too afraid of. He’s got a lot of strong powers that allow him to adapt to any situation but there’s no way he can withstand a nine-way attack.”

“I’m surprised that Kasmine didn’t have any modifiers added or give Ace the advantage by tailoring the terrain in his favour,” Eric said, leaning back into the sofa.

“Have you never watched the tournament before? Modifiers and the more interesting maps are saved for the later rounds. The Headmistress can’t change those rules to give a student a handicap or else it would invalidate the entire thing.”

“So, we don’t have to worry about those then until the next round?” Kiara asked. “Then, it really will be an easy win.”

“I’m not too sure,” Evony said. “There are seventy-eight Tarot cards in a deck, including the Major and Minor Arcana, and how many of their powers do we know?”

“The Moon is his shield, Death fires bolts of death magic, the Chariot and Knight cards summon gigantic versions of themselves, the Devil creates fireballs, Strength enhances his physical abilities, and-”

“That’s what I mean. We only know so many of his card’s powers and, while Kaida can block the fireballs and Laila can stop the Death bolts, we don’t know what all of his cards can do and, chances are, he’s been saving the strongest of them for a reason.”

“…Maybe he can’t use them yet?” Elthia suggested.

“I can imagine a guy as arrogant as him not thinking of his opponent’s as worthy as to use them on, though,” Connor said. “As much as I’d like to believe that he can’t use all of the Arcana, chances are he can.”

“Even then, he won’t be able to counter an assault from all sides,” Laila stated. “The Moon is the only purely defensive card he has access to and, as long as we constantly attack from two sides, he can only protect one of them.”

“All we need to do then is keep pushing him from multiple angles then!” Ajax cried. “Right, I think that’s all we need to do strategy wise this time.”

“Also, I had a look through the entire rule book last night and came across something interesting of note,” Jasmine interjected. “It says that we can bring and use our own handmade communication devices, so it might be worth someone looking into that for our next match.”

“Hmm, I’ve never made anything like that before, but I can give it a go,” Ajax offered. “It might take a while, so don’t count on having it for the first few fights.”

Jasmine nodded. “With that then, I think that’s all we need to discuss for now.”

“Yeah,” Eric replied. “When we end up going against a full team of opponents, we’ll spend much longer planning for it. However, in order to do that, we need information on who our opponents could be.”

“You want us to go and watch the matches then?” Kaida asked.

“Not just that. We need someone checking the live streams as well so that we don’t miss anything. We won’t be able to catch everything with our own eyes; likewise, the streams won’t be able to cover every angle.”

“And thus, we compensate by monitoring both.” Kiara finished Eric’s train of thought. “Even then, we’ll still miss out on teams who could be our opponents.”

“Even then, it’s worth doing,” Evony said.

“Agreed. For the fight with Ace, we’ll keep the strategy simple,” Eric began. “Connor, Ajax, Laila and I will keep as close to Ace as we can, keeping him locked down in close quarters. The rest of you will have to focus on taking long range attacks whenever you see an opportunity, and when you are absolutely sure that you won’t hit one of us. Elthia will stay at the back to heal and protect the long-ranged attackers.

“Any questions or disagreements?” Everyone shook their heads. “Then, let’s go.”

***

Hello everyone and welcome to the first fight in this year’s Team Tournament presented by myself, Darryl Harrison, and my co-host Joe Harding, the commentators announced through obscenely loud speakers.

This is my tenth year hosting this show and it’s Joe’s first, isn’t it?

Yes, it is, Darryl. I’m very excited to be here.

Fantastic! Now, I know you’re all excited to see the exciting match ahead of us today, the very first one of the year which the Headmistress herself seemed to be quite excited by.

Yes, it seems that she’s eager to see what young Eric Agrim can do with his God Armour, as is the rest of the world.

Ah but, of course, we’re all excited to see what all these young Guardians in training are capable of and we’ll now be quiet for a few minutes and let the Headmistress take over from here. Everyone, please enjoy the match!

The commentators cut their feed and Eric let out a small sigh of relief.

He leant back against the waiting room wall as the rest of his team finished changing into their battle gear.

“Are they always that loud?”

“Last year was worse,” Ajax replied. “You should be grateful that they have that Joe guy up there as opposed to Eddie.”

“Eddie?”

“To give you the gist of it, by the end of the year’s tournaments, people kept booing and groaning whenever he was talking.”

“He was that bad?”

***

Ace pulled his gloves over his fingers and let out a long exhale, his body shaking a little.

“You can do this.”

He stood up and looked at himself in the mirror, cracking a small smile when he saw how awful his face looked.

Ace had never been uneasy before a fight but, now, he was shaking so much that he was embarrassed.

“As strong as the Achlys Twins, huh?” Ace repeated his own foolish words.

No, I can’t be like that!

I’ve come a long way since then.

I’ve practiced more every single day and I’ve been training with Alexis and her team for weeks now. I shouldn’t have picked up any bad habits from fighting them and I’m stronger than I was, far stronger.

I can do this!

If Ace didn’t believe that he could win this fight, then he wouldn’t stand the slightest chance of winning against Eric’s team.

In fact, it’s not just a case of I can do this; it’s that I will do this! I’ll defeat them, advance into the next round and show everyone just how powerful I really am. I know I can do this!

I will become someone special!

***

Hello, everyone here in the stadium and watching at home, Kasmine began speaking softly into the microphone. It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to this year’s tournament and I am grateful that so many of you are tuning in to see what the next generations of the Guardians can do, and I sincerely hope that you and your children can rest assured knowing that you are safe and protected by strong warriors like these.

Everyone, please cheer for them with all of your heart as they fight with their hearts on the line to prove their strength to you!

The entire stadium roared in unison and Kasmine smiled whole-heartedly at the response, nodding a little. Thank you, everyone. Now then, shall we kick off this year’s Team Tournament with a bang? The stadium screamed again. Now, give a loud cheer for our competitors!

As soon as Eric emerged into the gigantic arena, he immediately felt like he would be crushed by the sheer number of people staring at him and cheering as loudly as they could.

The arena itself was about the size of the old main stadiums that used to be used in the Olympic games and every single seat was filled.

There were seventy thousand spectators and hundreds of cameras as well, covering every single possible angle.

I wish I was somewhere quieter, Eric immediately thought when he walked out.

Ace and Eric’s team walked into the central platform of the stadium and waited on their marks, both sides staring intently at one another.

Unlike Eric who was sweating and shaking from his nerves and the audience’s gazes, Ace looked as arrogant as always, grinning smugly at them.

“Someone’s overly confident,” Ajax whispered.

“I thought he had become more modest,” Eric said.

“Old habits die hard, I guess.”

On my mark, the first match of the Team Tournament for the Year 2178 will begin.

3.

2.

1.

Begin!

Ace’s hands went for two decks of cards at his belt and he threw dozens of them into the air.

Connor, Ajax and Eric charged towards him, with Evony and Jasmine running on their flanks and firing at Ace. Jasmine’s bullets were blocked by Ace’s moon and Evony’s arrows were shot out of the air by black bolts. Kaida threw her dragon in front of her, Laila and Elthia, protecting them from Ace’s remaining attacks and Laila jumped into her own shadow.

Ace took out a single card and a large rock pillar emerged from the ground beneath him, sending him ten metres into the air. He then took out two cards in each of his hands and tossed them into the air, sending two chariots and knights towards Eric’s team. A chariot flew towards Eric and smashed into him, crushing him beneath its horse and dragging him for many metres before it was destroyed by Connor’s axe.

One of the knights stormed at Jasmine and she unleashed a hail of bullets on it, destroying it before it could lunge at her. She reloaded her machineguns, slotted them into her armour and took out her rifle, aiming at Ace’s head. She tried to shoot him, but Ace sent more black bolts at her, forcing her to roll out of the way of them.

Two black bolts nearly hit her, but Laila appeared from behind Jasmine and swiped a shadow across them, absorbing the bolts.

“Thanks,” Jasmine said as Laila fell into her shadow.

Connor and Ajax reached Ace’s pillar and destroyed it, upsetting Ace’s balance. He threw another tower card in front of him, spun in the air so that his feet hit the top of it, and the tower catapulted him through the air, dozens of metres away from Connor and Ajax. He deployed his moon beneath him and used it to break his fall, landing awkwardly on the ground.

Jasmine and Evony both fired at him but he moved his moon in front of him, deflecting the blows. He then threw a deck of cards into the air, unleashing a volley of fireballs at every member of Eric’s team.

“I won’t let you!” Kaida cried and her dragon roared behind her.

It flew over her and zoomed into Ace’s fireballs, absorbing the impacts and it soared over to Ace, breathing fire. Ace narrowed his eyes, drew two cards and two claymores appeared in his hands. He spun to the side of the dragon’s head and sliced it from the rest of its body, destroying it.

Ace planted the blades into the ground and applied a card to the back of his neck, causing his veins to pulse as power flowed through his veins, making him to smile. He withdrew the blades from the ground and threw them at the fast-approaching Ajax and Connor.

Connor was hit square in the chest and rolled backwards, but Ajax swiped the sword out of the air with his spear, sending it flying off to one side. Laila appeared from Ajax’s shadow and the two of them ran side by side at Ace. Jasmine and Evony began to fire at him again and Ace threw three towers in front of him, blocking their attacks but obscuring his vision.

Ajax smashed shoulder first through the towers and threw his spear at Ace, cutting his shoulder. Ace hissed and threw a pack of Death cards at Ajax, sending fifty black bolts at him. Laila leapt out of Ajax’s shadow and wrapped them in her shadows, protecting them from the attacks.

Ace, however, had wanted her to do that.

While Laila protected them, they weren’t able to see what he was doing and he had summoned three chariots which rammed into them. Laila narrowly avoided it by falling into her own shadow, but Ajax was crushed by the horses and dragged across the ground. He howled in pain and Kaida sent her dragon to slice through them, only just saving Ajax’s life.

“Ajax, switch and get healed!” Eric ordered, running past him.

“Roger that,” Ajax groggily replied.

Elthia ran over to him and Ajax removed his armour, allowing Elthia to get to his wounds.

If I could fly, this would be much easier, Eric thought, cursing his own weakness.

Ace used another tower and climbed into the air, avoiding Laila’s slashes. Evony knocked three explosive arrows against her bow and fired at the tower, cracking it in half and it began to collapse. Ace lost his footing and spawned another tower behind him.

However, he couldn’t push his feet against it.

Before it smashed into his back, his moon appeared behind him and Ace launched across the field, over Eric’s head to where Kaida, Ajax and Elthia were. Ace spun in the air and threw a pack of Devil cards at Ajax, unleashing a volley of fireballs at him.

Elthia let out a small scream but threw her arms in front of them, summoning a line of glowing green trees and vines before them. The balls cracked against the barricade and almost broke it, causing Elthia to scream in agony. She collapsed onto one knee and Kaida ran around the barricade at Ace.

She summoned her dragon and it slammed into Ace’s side, sending him tumbling on the ground for many metres. He got up onto one knee and his moon appeared behind him to block Jasmine’s shots. Ace pulled out another Strength card and placed it on his chest, causing him to double over and he coughed blood up violently.

His skin cracked open and some of his blood vessels burst open, causing blood to slowly drip down his skin.

Just a bit more! He screamed in his head.

Laila emerged behind Ace in his shadow and spun around the moon, aiming to slice at his throat.

However, as she cut his skin, he disappeared.

“Where’d he go?” Kaida demanded, conjuring her dragon again.

She spun around on the spot and a bolt of black energy smashed into her face, turning her into shards of glass.

Team Diablo; eight players remaining.

“I must admit, the Fool card is probably my favourite,” Ace mused, smiling arrogantly at Laila.

Ace sent more fireballs at Laila, but she fell into her shadow and appeared behind Ace, stabbing at his back. Ace had expected her to attack from behind and had jumped forward, but the blade caught the edge of his skin, cutting him fairly deep.

He screamed in pain and threw an entire deck of Death cards at her.

Laila, however, didn’t move out of their way.

The beams hit her and did nothing.

“You’re making mistakes about your own abilities,” she told him, teleporting into his shadow again. “Death Magic is useless when used against a Necromancer.”

Her blade bounced off his shield and Jasmine landed a shot in his shoulder, making Ace howl madly. He planted a tower card beneath him and he flew into the air as Jasmine continued to fire at him.

“Damn it.”

His arm was losing all feeling; soon, it would be useless.

Laila formed a blade from her shadows and cut the pillar at the base, causing it to shake and throw Ace off the top of it. He spun in mid-air and threw chariots out in every single direction, one of which hit Laila and slammed her into the ground, turning her into glass.

Team Diablo; seven players remaining.

Evony swerved through the chariots and fired a homing arrow at Ace which flew towards his heart. Ace raised his moon to intercept it but Jasmine started shooting him from behind, forcing him to shift it to his back. Panicked, Ace threw up a knight card and it absorbed the blow.

Ace landed roughly on the ground and coughed up blood.

His Strength cards made him stronger, but they damaged his body heavily whenever he used one.

Using two at the same time ran the risk of killing himself.

Ace threw two decks of Knight cards into the air, before surrounding himself in eight towers.

“He’s trying to recover!” Evony called.

“Connor, now!” Eric yelled.

“Roger that!”

He and Eric charged through the knights as Ajax, Jasmine and Evony took out the ones in their way, and Connor threw his axe with all of his might into the towers, destroying them all from the impact.

Connor then stopped running, grabbed Eric by the back of his Armour and threw him at Ace, his above wrist blades deployed.

Ace looked up just in time to see Eric slice through his chest before he shattered into glass.

Ace Team; no players remaining.

Team Diablo; wins!

***

“Damn, I thought there for a minute I could do it as well. Well, if I had really tried, I imagine I could have.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say,” Connor said.

“I have to admit though, Ace did put up a great fight,” Evony told him. “I’m impressed that you managed to take out Laila and Kaida in that situation.”

“Yeah, that was nicely done,” Kaida added and Laila nodded in agreement.

“Like I said, easy,” Ace replied.

“Hey, is it alright if I punch him in the face?” Kiara asked.

“Um, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Eric laughed a little. “Honestly, I did think you did great, Ace. You really are strong.”

Ace’s eyes widened a little, but he quickly closed them and smiled. “I wouldn’t have gotten this far without Alexis’s help, so I need to make sure I properly thank her after this.”

“I think her team’s up tomorrow morning, right?” Kaida asked.

“Yeah, first match of the day,” Ajax replied. “We’re all going to go cheer her on if you want to join us, Ace.”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass. I’ve already asked Mrs Yuuko if I can train with her tomorrow when I have-had, sorry, a gap in my tournament schedule.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come along?” Elthia asked gently, making an adorable face which Ace turned away from, refusing to let himself get baited into it.

“Sorry, but I’ve got to go now.” He turned to Eric and held up his fist to him. “Good luck, Eric.”

Eric smiled, put his fist against Ace’s. “Thanks.”

Ace took his leave with a wave.

“He’s gotten better,” Connor mused.

“It’s amazing how much he’s changed since he met my sister,” Ajax added.

“He’s totally in love with her, right?”

“No doubt about it,” Eric agreed.

“Wait, seriously?” Ajax blurted out.

“Ah, I guess an idiot wouldn’t have picked up on that,” Connor said.

“Seems that way.”

“Oi!”

***

Ace had walked calmly to the lakeside; then, once he knew he was alone, he smashed his fist into a tree as hard as he could.

“Damn it!” He screamed, hitting his fist into the wood again. “Damn it!” And again. “Damn it…”

Shakingly, he looked down at his hand. The glove was completely torn and covered in red blotches, his skin had cut and bled in multiple places, and he was sure that he might have broken or badly damaged one or more of his fingers.

“Why?” He whispered, resting his head against the tree, tears slowly trickling down his cheeks. “Why couldn’t I do it?”

From the bottom of his heart, Ace had believed that he could have defeated all of Eric’s team and proven his strength to the world, showing them that he was strong, that he was special and proving that he didn’t need a parental figure in his life.

All of that, though, had fallen apart in minutes.

Most would’ve been proud to take down two members of a team of nine by themselves, but Ace hadn’t wanted to do that.

He wanted to take them all down.

He wanted to win.

“Again…” He whimpered with a sniff, closing his eyes. “Why…?” He slid down the tree onto the dirt and wept into his knees. “Why?”