Trials - Chapter 3

It was the seventh day of the tournament at Ferris and Alexis’s team were in the middle of their second match.

They were fighting in a rural neighbourhood in a country town and Alexis was going up against one of the more formidable first year teams: the Hunter Team lead by Herne Heolstor.

Herne always wore around him pitch black armour which looked like it had been forged from trees, with an unsettling black mist constantly floating over it. He was an archer who utilised black arrows and a forest generation ability, both of which he used to spread his ‘corruption’.

If one of Herne’s arrows hit you, poison from the arrow slowly spread across your body, killing you and then allowing him to expand his forest out to it.

Whenever he initially generated his forest, it was always twenty metres long and twenty metres wide, and it would start to slowly expand with every passing second, hiding him perfectly within its impenetrable darkness of ebony trees and leaves.

Because he was an incredibly skilled archer and could hide himself perfectly inside a forest, he had earnt the title of the Ultimate Hunter in the student body.

People had tried to follow his arrows back to him and get to him that way but, the moment the arrow had been loosed from his bow, Herne would move to a different spot in the forest and most non-magic attacks didn’t penetrate his forest.

He was the one person that Alexis was terrified to face and the one she wanted to leave for last.

Alexis ran across the rooftops, jumping from building to building, generating as much speed as she could whilst she avoided the enemy mech’s laser rifle.

“Stay still, dammit!” The pilot screamed as she kept firing at Alexis who dodged every single shot.

“If it’s all the same, I’d rather not,” Alexis called back, grinning.

She sprung off the rooftop and aimed her machineguns at the mech, unleashing a hail of armour piercing bullets upon her. The mech pilot screamed and covered her face with her machine’s arm, while still trying to fire her gun at Alexis.

“It’s useless!” Alexis cried.

She sliced through the arm holding the rifle and it dropped lifelessly onto the ground. Alexis leapt over the girl’s fist she threw, landed beside the girl and unleashed the rest of her armour piercing rounds at the pilot.

The mech collapsed onto its knees, before falling forwards, nearly crushing Alexis who jumped away from it.

Hunter Team; five players remaining.

“Five against six, huh?” Kilian mused through Alexis’s headpiece. “Seems like we might be able to do this, after all.”

“Herne’s still up and we still don’t have a plan for him,” Alexis reminded him, reloading her guns. “And I’m all out of my armour piercing rounds. You got any ideas on how to beat him?”

“Sera and Sura are trying to land a shot on him, but they can’t pinpoint his location in the forest. If I can get over to there, I should be able to track him.”

“Got it. Radio Sura and Sera and tell them to hold on until you and I get there.”

“Roger that.”

***

Sat up in the bell tower of the church in the town, Kilian was looking down on the entire battlefield, surveying everything and relaying critical information to his team. Even if he was blind, his powers granted him the ability to act as a powerful mobile radar for his team.

From birth, Kilian had the ability to manipulate the sounds he produced and the sounds those around him created, enhancing it or reducing it to the point of being able to remove it completely. Further, Kilian had synaesthesia which allowed him to see emotions and sounds as colours, granting him a unique edge in a fight.

Using his powers, Kilian could pinpoint the exact location of someone to within a decimetre and he could also remove the sounds his teammates made. His role was entirely a support role with no combat potential whatsoever.

“Sura, Sera; stay alive. Alexis and I are on our way.”

“What are you guys going to do?” Sera demanded.

“I can’t see through Herne’s corruption from where I am but, if I get closer, I should be able to see him and Alexis will be fast enough to strike him before he can move.”

“Understood. We’ll try, but don’t expect too much.”

Kilian smiled a little and picked up his cane, surveying the state of the battlefield.

“I have a feeling we’re about to start losing again.”

***

Sura and Sera hadn’t landed a single hit on Herne.

No matter what they threw at him, his forest absorbed or reflected their attacks.

Sura was wearing a full body exoskeleton suit with several different firearms and projectiles strapped to its back, ready for her to pull off and use in an instant. Sera, on the other hand, was dressed in a completely black suit and top hat with a white mannequin mask covering his face. His weapon was a bladed cane which could transform into a whip in a moment’s notice, allowing him to use it as both a sword and a long reaching weapon.

The two of them had been fighting Herne for some time and were struggling to avoid his attacks as his forest continued to grow and grow.

Sera lashed his whip encased in fire at the forest, but it bounced off a tree, doing no damage whatsoever. A black arrow flew at him but Sera side stepped it, narrowly avoiding it. Sura pulled a rocket launcher from her back, aimed at the heart of the forest and fired, but a large black hand made of ebony tree branches emerged from the forest, intercepting the missile.

“What?” Sura blurted out as the hand zoomed towards her.

She jumped out of its way and it left a large crater where she had been standing.

“Alexis, this guy can send giant wooden hands out of his woods as well,” Sura said through her radio, dropping her rocket launcher and taking out an assault rifle.

“Roger that. How are you guys holding up?”

She heard Sera scream and she saw a black hand grab him, pulling him into the forest.

Alexis’s Team; five players remaining.

“Fairly well,” Sura mused as an arrow flew towards her face.

She ducked beneath it and opened fire at the forest, tracing the arrow back to its source but none of her shots managed to hit Herne. Sura hissed and reloaded her rifle, before running across the street, firing at him and seeking new cover.

A large hand stretched in front of her, blocking her path and an arrow landed in her back.

“Shit!”

The corruption from the arrow began to spread across her suit and it seeped through onto her skin. She felt her skin split and her blood boil.

“If I’m going down, I’m taking you with me!” Sura cried, unleashing all of her remaining ammo at Herne.

An arrow soared into her forehead and Sura shattered.

Alexis’s Team; four players remaining.

***

Alexis ducked behind a house as hundreds of pebbles were launched at her at the speed of a bullet. Given how the barrage seemed like it was never ending, Alexis ran out of her cover and leapt through a window into a nearby house, cutting herself on the glass. She took cover beneath the window and waited to see if the barrage would stop.

She felt the ground beneath the house shake and Alexis burst through the back door onto the grass outside, just before the house was lifted high into the air. The geomancer then threw the house at Alexis, but she slid underneath it and charged at him. The geomancer clicked his tongue, thrust his palm at her and more pebbles were launched her way.

Alexis raised her arms to protect her face, with the majority of the pebbles bouncing off her armour. She bit her lip hard as some of the pebbles hit her skin, but Alexis didn’t stop her charge.

The geomancer threw his open palm to the sky and a pillar arose from the ground beneath him, lifting him high into the air. Alexis aimed her guns at him and opened fire, but he ducked down onto the surface of the tower, avoiding her bullets. Alexis’s machine guns clicked and she leapt onto a nearby rooftop and ran along it as quickly as she could.

After building a good amount of speed, Alexis jumped off the rooftop and smashed into the rock pillar, feet first, creating a good-sized dent in it. She let out a short scream as pain rushed across her legs, and Alexis leapt back onto the ground.

The pillar, however, didn’t collapse.

She grunted and took cover, reloading her machineguns with magazines from her belt. Then, she went around the corner, ready to destroy the tower but an army of pebbles forced her into retreat, several of them implanting in her arm.

“Kilian, I could do with some backup!”

“You’ve already got it.”

A ball of black energy rammed through the pillar, causing it to collapse and the geomancer landed roughly on the ground on his shoulder. The geomancer screamed and thrust his hand down a side street, just as a tidal wave of sewer water rammed into him, dragging him down the street.

“Jikai. Ashar.”

“Kilian told us to head to you immediately and I see why,” Ashar mused.

“Are you okay?” Jikai asked as Alexis jogged over to them.

“I’m fine. Can you guys handle this for me?”

Jikai was wearing a brown cloak with a white scarf tied around his head, and he wore a single piece of cloth over his privates, showing off his impressively chiselled body. He had blue lines tattooed on his arms over his veins which glowed blue whenever he used his magic.

Ashar on the other hand was wearing a smart white suit, had blonde hair and red eyes, and he had opened his mouth wide enough to show off his fangs.

“You did well against him, but leave this to us,” Ashar told her, smiling arrogantly at her.

“Herne is an enemy that only you can handle, after all. Leave the small fry to us,” Jikai added, smiling softly at her.

“Thank you, guys. I’ll leave him to you then.”

As Alexis dashed off, the two boys looked at one another and sighed.

“Even though we said that.” Jikai looked at the furious and wet geomancer, whose aura had rapidly expanded since they had last looked. “I wonder if we’ll manage.”

Ashar grunted and arrogantly and pushed Jikai behind him. “I can handle him, easily.”

The geomancer roared and the ground around them cracked wide open, with over fifty large rocks floating around him, spinning in a circle and gaining momentum.

“Want some backup?” Jikai chuckled.

***

Taban hid behind a nearby house and an arrow smashed against the wall next to him.

“Shit!” He cursed, reloading his rifle.

Taban, like Sura, wore an exoskeleton suit of his own design, except his had been in the process of remodelling when the tournament match was set to begin, and thus it was missing the armour for his chest and head.

Normally, Taban would have been able to sit in his wheelchair in his lab, working all day to enhance his suit with all new kinds of weapons and gadgets but, sadly, the fight meant he couldn’t. His suit was filled with all sorts of modern weaponry and it hoovered off the ground on boosters rather than using legs.

During the fight, Taban had taken on and defeated an enemy gunslinger and, knowing that Sera and Sura could do with backup, he had rushed over to support them, only to find them dead and leaving him to fight Herne by himself.

“How the hell am I meant to take down their ace by myself?” He shouted, firing a railgun shot from his wrist at the forest.

It did nothing and two black arrows flew at him, which he barely avoided.

“Oi! That could’ve hurt someone!” He cried, firing his machinegun loaded with anti-material rounds at the forest.

A black hand threw itself at him and Taban shrieked like a little girl, jumping onto his stomach to narrowly avoid its fingers.

“Backup! Backup!” Taban yelled through his radio.

“I’m almost there, hold on!” Alexis called back.

“Great. Well, I’ll be dead soon, so, no need to rush or anything!”

He spun around the corner and sent missiles from launchers on his back at Herne but not a single one of them broke through the forest.

“Now that’s just cheating!”

A black hand flew at him but he swerved out of its way, only for a black arrow to fly at him, destroying his power core in an instant.

Without it and his wheelchair, Taban was left defenceless.

“Dick move, Herne!”

Another black arrow flew at him and was going to hit him right between the eyes.

At the last possible second, Alexis landed beside Taban, scooped him into her arms and leapt with all of her might onto a nearby rooftop, ripping him from his exoskeleton just before Herne’s arrow could kill him.

“You’re late!”

“You’re asking to be dropped,” Alexis told him as they landed and then she did just that. She cursed when she saw the black arrow in his heel.

Taban looked at her, then the arrow and sighed. “So much for that rescue attempt.”

“I swear to God, if millions of people weren’t watching this, I’d hit you.”

“How considerate of you.”

The two grinned at each other as Alexis took cover.

“Kilian, where are you?” She whispered.

“A few streets from him and I can already see the corruption. How’s Taban?”

“Absolutely useless.”

“Oi!”

“Same as always then. Understood. Alex, see if you can’t distract him for me.”

“I can but, if he hits me with one of those arrows or grabs me, it’s all over.”

“I have faith that you can distract him for a minute or two without getting hit.”

Alexis winced and looked over at Taban; the corruption had already spread to his stomach and his other leg.

“If I get hit once, it’s over so you might want to think of a plan B,” Alexis grumbled.

She took a few deep breaths, steeled herself and ran at Herne.

The hunter didn’t miss her actions and a black hand shot at her, which she spun around. An arrow flew at her mid spin and Alexis slid beneath it, almost slipping off the rooftop on her knees. She spun on the spot, got up onto her feet and ran down the edge of the roof as a new hand chased her.

At least I’ve got his attention.

Alexis back flipped over the hand and Herne fired another arrow at her, but she spun her body to avoid it and landed perfectly onto the rooftop, crouched. She got back up, ran along the roof and jumped over to another one, firing her guns wildly at the forest, desperate for a hit.

However, none of them hit the hunter.

Herne fired three arrows at Alexis and she shot at them, hoping to intercept them, but the arrow’s flight wasn’t impacted even slightly.

She cursed and dodged the arrows and back flipped over the hand which reached for her, landing awkwardly on her knees, bruising them. Alexis fought through the pain and continued running from rooftop to rooftop, narrowly avoiding every single one of Herne’s attacks but, as the fight went on, he began to figure out how to read her moves and his arrows and hands got closer with every single attack.

Come on, Kilian!

“Okay, I’ve found him!” Kilian yelled. “You see the chimney on the rooftop directly north of the forest? He’s right in line with that!”

Alexis glanced over her shoulder and saw where Kilian was referring to and grinned.

She ran towards the chimney, gaining as much speed as she could and jumped at it feet first. She bent her knees against it as it cracked from the impact and she sprung straight off of it into the air.

Herne fired at her again, just like Alexis had wanted, and she activated her trump card.

Fire spat from her greaves and her speed increased mid-air, as she swung around the arrow and continued heading straight for Herne’s location. Her speed kept increasing and increasing and she zoomed through the forest and, with a slice of her blade, Alexis cut down Herne with her blades.

Hunter Team; two members remaining.

Alexis landed gracefully on the other side of the forest and turned off the engines in her greaves. She turned around to see Herne’s forest disappearing on its own and smiled.

“Taban really did make them easy to use,” Alexis mused, looking at the engines in her legs which quickly retreated back into her armour.

“I think a thank you is in order,” Taban said over the radio.

“I saved you, so we’re even. Kilian, let’s go.”

“Roger that.”

“Oi! Don’t leave me here! What am I meant to do now?”

“Sit back and watch the show.”

“This is discrimination!” Taban let out a defeated sigh and laid down on the rooftop. “This is bullshit.”

***

“That was amazing!”

“How did she find him in there?”

“Do you think that they could win?”

Ajax laughed loudly and stuck out his chest proudly. “See how amazing my little sister is.”

“Yes, yes, we know how great she is,” Dead Eye said in a deadpan tone.

“Can you guys imagine how annoying it’d be if we heard about how amazing she was every time she did anything?” Evony asked, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, imagine that,” Eric agreed and Laila nodded.

“It’s not just your sister, but her entire team are good,” Ace noted, rubbing his chin. “I didn’t know that she had those boosters in her legs.”

“They’re a recent addition she made after sparring with you,” Ajax explained. “She wanted to be able to have greater manoeuvrability while in motion.”

The six of them were watching the fight from the arena seats, surrounded by a massive crowd who screamed and yelled whenever anything even vaguely exciting happened.

The way she moved in the air…it was almost like how Bunny moved, Eric thought, frowning a little.

There is nothing wrong with learning techniques from your enemies, an evil voice said in his mind.

Eric jumped a little. Don’t suddenly talk to me in my head, Lucifer. Where have you been?

I’ve been busy.

…Right. Still, would it hurt you to talk to me a little more?

Well, you haven’t been talking with me as much lately.

I didn’t know that you would act like a needy girlfriend if I didn’t speak to you every day.

Lucifer laughed and Eric cracked a small smile.

When you next evolve your powers, then we’ll speak again. Until then, I’ll enjoy watching this tournament.

Okay.

“Man, I wish I hadn’t been knocked out so early,” Ace said. “I would’ve loved to fight her in a proper tournament match.”

“Then don’t suck so much,” Ajax taunted.

“When Alexis’s team go through to the next round, my team might be their opponent,” Dead Eye said.

“Scared?” Evony asked with a sly smile.

“No. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Well, I have to admit that I’d quite like to have a go fighting them as well.”

“The only thing I’d be concerned about is whether or not we could take down Alexis.” Eric folded his arms. “I wonder how fast she can go.”

“The fastest that I’ve ever seen her go is over eighty miles per hour,” Ajax chimed in. “Although, just now with the boosters, I think she went over a hundred.”

“That fast?” Ace blurted out.

“Why are you asking about her speed?” Evony asked.

“I was wondering if, at those sorts of speeds, she would be able to pierce my Armour,” Eric said.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Laila told him. “Even at your current level, Alexis wouldn’t be able to break through a God Armour.”

“I would listen to her, if I were you,” a calm and polite voice said.

Eric and the others turned around and found a boy standing proudly behind them, carrying himself in a way which made him seem like he was royalty.

He had a soft yet dark skin colour, black hair that had been combed and styled to make it appear as sophisticated as possible, and pale blue eyes. The boy was dressed in a smart white shirt, the top button of which was undone and the bottom of it was untucked from his black trousers, a gold pendant with a jewelled skull sat around his neck, rubies in its eye sockets.

“Who are you?” Ajax asked.

“Oh, excuse my poor manners.” The boy bowed, then raised his head to smile at them. “I am the leader of a team; my name is Osiris.”

Dead Eye frowned. “Osiris?”.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lucifer.”

“I’d prefer Eric, if you don’t mind,” Eric said, forcing an awkward laugh. “What’s your real name, Osiris?”

“My real name? My real name is Hital Sofian, but I would rather that you called me by Osiris, Lord Lucifer.”

“Firstly, my name is Eric. Second, Lord?”

Osiris laughed gently. “It seems that my joke was not to your liking. I am very sorry.”

“It’s fine, just…don’t do it again. So, was there something that you needed me for, Osiris?”

“Nothing in particular. I was just curious if you remembered the man I sent to recruit you for my team; I wanted to know the reason why you turned down my offer.”

“Your man?”

“Short, about five foot tall. Brown hair, scruffy looking. Caucasian,” Osiris said but Eric’s face was completely blank.

“I’m sorry, but a lot of people-”

“It is fine, I understand completely. Perhaps I was too hopeful that you would return my offer amongst such an ocean of invitations. I had hoped though that you would like to join a team of other God Armours.”

“So, he really is the leader of the God team?” Dead Eye asked.

“God team?” Ace repeated.

“There were thirteen God Armour users that entered into our year, nine of which joined a single team.”

“Thirteen? Isn’t that a lot?” Ajax burst out.

Osiris grinned and bowed a little. “Once again, allow me to introduce myself. I am Hital ‘Osiris’ Sofian, leader of the God team, and I will be your opponent during the next match. A pleasure to meet you, Eric Agrim.”

“Seriously?”

Evony pulled out her smartphone, went into her emails and, sure enough, whilst they had been watching Alexis’s fight, their new tournament fight details had been sent.

“The God Team, huh?” She whispered, wincing.

Laila stared into Osiris’s eyes. “Inspecting the competition?”

“No, I was merely here to introduce myself. I had some spare Time on my hands and it was merely Fate which led me to you.” He grinned and bowed again. “Well then, until our fight, Eric Agrim.”

He swiftly turned on his heel and confidently strolled away.

“What was that last bit about?” Ajax asked.

“Intelligence,” Laila said. “He gave us the names of his teammates.”

“I thought he had,” Eric agreed. “Time and Fate, huh?”

“Even if you know the names of his Gods of Time and Fate, will that actually help you at all with the fight?” Ace wondered.

“Probably not,” Evony answered.

“If I were you two, I wouldn’t bother worrying about it,” Dead Eye told them. “He gave you vague ideas of what his guys could do and wanted you to overthink it.”

“How can you be so-?” Ajax began to ask.

“Because it’s what I would do. Give you something that you can think about, over focus on it, and have you focus on that, rather than planning like you usually would. In battle, information is key and Osiris wants to manipulate what you know, hence why he told you the titles, not names, of his Gods.”

“In other words, we just need to prepare a strategy like we usually do,” Eric said and Dead Eye nodded. “In that case, Evony, Laila, let’s plan as normal.”

“Okay,” they said.

A few minutes later, Alexis’s team had won the fight and were through to the next round.