Trials - Chapter 12

On the East Side, we have the clockwork gunslinger who has a unique look, unique fighting style and is a specialist with all modern forms of weaponry; Jasmine Dalena! On the West Side, we have her teammate, an impressive and intelligent tech archer who has an arrow for every possible situation; Evony Alma!

Both girls stared at one another harshly.

For now, they weren’t friends, but enemies.

I want to confront who I am, Evony thought.

I want to change who I am, Jasmine thought.

They both shifted into a combat stance and the crowd’s anticipation was vocalised as a chorus of cheers.

Contestants, begin on my mark.

3.

2.

1.

Fight!

Jasmine deployed her pistols and immediately charged towards Evony, constantly firing at her. Evony ran to her left, pulled an arrow from her quiver and fired it at the ground before her, spawning a small steel wall which she could stand behind. Evony drew another arrow as Jasmine’s gunshots hammered away against the wall. She spun around her cover and fired an arrow, unleashing a hail of mines on where she thought Jasmine was but found her nowhere to be seen.

“The other side!” Evony screamed, quickly drawing another arrow.

She poked her head around the side of the wall, but Jasmine had switched out her pistols for her machineguns and was firing rapidly at Evony, forcing her back. Evony loosed the arrow blindly around the corner; it exploded next to Jasmine, but Jasmine was able to roll to the side of it, narrowly avoiding any major damage. Jasmine continued to fire her machineguns until they were out of ammo, discarded them and took out her shotguns.

She blasted at Evony as the other girl took cover again, leaving a gigantic dent in the side of it. Jasmine was only a few metres away now and she tossed her shotguns towards Evony, startling the girl and she deployed her knives. Evony turned around the cover and fired an arrow which split into a dozen others at Jasmine, but Jasmine slid beneath them on her knees and leapt up, lunging with both blades at Evony.

Evony barely dodged it and jumped backwards, hoping to put some distance between them but Jasmine was easily fast enough to keep up with her. Evony transformed her bow into its melee form and began exchanging blows with Jasmine’s blades, barely able to keep up with and block them.

Even though Evony had spent a good amount of time practicing close quarters combat with both Jasmine and Laila, she was still an amateur whereas Jasmine was a professional.

Jasmine relentless lunges and stabs kept Evony on the defensive, forcing her backwards and making her overly conscious of her footing as well as her melee play. Jasmine purposefully missed a slice at Evony’s neck, faked a tumble and gave Evony a perfect chance to thrust her blade into Jasmine’s side. Evony took the bait and lunged at Jasmine, but Jasmine skilfully spun around the blade, took out Evony’s legs as she was running and Evony fell flat onto the floor, dropping her bow.

Jasmine spun on her heel and quickly descended upon Evony, driving her knee hard into her spine and then quickly stabbing her in the back. The daggers pierced Evony’s heart and spine, killing her almost instantly, and, after less than a minute, Jasmine had won.

Winner, Jasmine Dalena!

The crowd let out an enormous cheer for Jasmine and they cried louder when she offered her hand to Evony, which the other girl took.

“You did well for a rookie,” Jasmine said, smiling.

“Thank you,” Evony replied with a small smile. “But.” Her smile faded as she looked down at her discarded bow. “It seems I still have a long way to go.”

“Hey.” Jasmine put her hand on Evony’s shoulder. “You’ve improved a lot since we first began. I think that it’s pretty impressive that you lasted as long as you did. Be proud.”

“I am, but I guess this is as far as I go, huh?” Evony picked up her bow and smiled again at Jasmine. “Good luck in the rest of the Tournament.”

“Thank you.”

The two left the arena as the crowd cried out and applauded them, although only Jasmine felt a strong sense of pride and achievement.

***

The man slot a magazine into his pistol and smiled at the television as Jasmine Dalena was displayed on the screen, hailed as the victor of the fight.

T couldn’t help but smile when he saw her face after all of this time and he couldn’t help but imagine the kind of face she’d make when she saw him.

“It really is her,” He purred.

***

Evony washed her face and let out a heavy sigh, gently placing her head against the mirror.

“I wasn’t good enough,” She whispered.

After the fight had ended, Evony had quickly excused herself to the bathroom to clean up and because she wanted to be alone for a time. Her loss against Jasmine was another clear reminder that, despite all the hard work and effort that she had put into her training, it still wasn’t enough. She sighed again and her eyes naturally drifted down to the bracer on her left arm, causing her to involuntarily frown.

How much further can I go on my own?

***

“Called it!” Alexa screamed, leaping out of her chair in joy.

“Told you she’d win,” Eric said, extending his hand to Darnel.

“Damn,” Darnel hissed, taking out a ten pound note and handing it to Eric. “I thought for sure that Evony would win.”

“Even then, why did you go double or nothing on it?” Kaida asked in disbelief.

“…Because I thought I would win some extra money from Eric…”

“You’re pettier than I imagined,” Laila interjected.

“Really? You didn’t think Darnel was petty?” Eric asked, folding his arms.

“I did, just not this petty.”

“Trust me, he’s petty about literally everything and anything,” Alexa chimed in. “Also.” She held out her fist to Eric. “We called it.”

“Hell yeah we did.” Eric bumped his fist against hers.

“So, who did you guys put down for the next round?” Alexa inquired.

“Ajax,” everyone one replied in unison.

“Um, why?”

“Well, I mean…he’s our friend?” Darnel said.

“Why did you say that as a question?”

“I picked him because I think Ajax could win,” Eric stated.

“Likewise,” Laila followed up.

“Um, I’ll be honest. I picked Ajax because I literally had no idea who the other guy was,” Kaida admitted.

“So, that’s what Darnel did too then?” Alexa said.

“Basically, yeah,” Darnel confessed. “What about you, Alexa?”

“I picked Messorem because I voted for who I thought was the underdog.”

“Did you see what he could do then?” Eric asked.

“Actually, I tried to find him during the elimination round, but I couldn’t find him,” Alexa said.

“Hiding to conceal his abilities?” Laila wondered.

“Probably. Regardless, I know that I put him down as the one to win but I’m cheering for Ajax.”

“I hope Ajax wins,” Eric whispered.

Ajax and Messorem entered into the arena and the crowd went wild.

“Well, we’ll soon see, I guess,” Kaida said.

“Care to bet again?” Darnel quizzed Eric.

“Mate, stop while you’re ahead,” Alexa told him, shutting him down.

***

From the East Side, we have the Spartan in a mech suit who, rather appropriately, comes to us from Greece and is even named after the legendary hero Ajax, we have Mr Coincidence himself; Ajax Amory!

“What the hell kind of introduction was that?” Ajax whimpered.

From the West Side, we have the boy shrouded in mystery, capable of destroying anything and everything in his path, it’s the one, the only, and I mean this quite literally; Messorem Armand!

Is it me, or we were just made fun off during our introductions? Ajax thought.

During the Elimination Round, Ajax had tried to fight as much as possible to help get a greater understanding of his competition before he got into the final sixteen, but he had never seen Messorem during the round, meaning he had no idea what he was capable off.

With only a few moments left until their match begun, Ajax had precious few seconds to analysis his opponent and get a feel for what they were like.

Messorem was wearing all black clothes, most notable of which were his leather gloves and thick boots, both of which were engraved with strange red magical runes that Ajax had never seen before. He had waving white hair which went over his right eye and kept the left side of his face on display, including his ear which was filled with piercings.

Ajax couldn’t help but think that he looked like a villain, especially with the tattoo on his neck of a skeleton covered in decaying flesh sticking out of from his shirt collar.

Messorem caught Ajax staring at him and growled at him, causing Ajax to shriek quietly.

Contestants, on my mark, begin!

3.

2.

1.

Fight!

Rather than deploy the weapon he was best with, his spear, Ajax first deployed his sword and shield, and charged full speed at Messorem.

He needed to find out more about his opponent’s abilities, even if he took a lot of damage to do so. If he didn’t, he would be at a massive disadvantage during the fight and he wouldn’t know how best to counter his opponent’s moves. However, if he took too much damage as well, then that would also be a massive disadvantage, meaning Ajax had to balance his information gathering with his own wellbeing which was a difficult and risky strategy.

Ajax sliced at Messorem, but he spun to the side of it and leapt backwards away from Ajax’s follow up slash. Ajax lunged at him and Messorem dodged it again, this time spinning backwards and he shifted his body out of the way of Ajax’s next attack. Messorem then grabbed Ajax’s left wrist and the runes on his gloves lit up.

Ajax howled in pain and then, to his horror, he saw the armour trapped in Messorem’s grip begin to rot and decay.

He’s going for the bracelet!

If Ajax’s bracelet stopped working, then he wouldn’t be able to deploy any other weapons than what he already had.

Ajax summoned his spear in his right hand and thrust it into Messorem’s shoulder, forcing him back and releasing his grip on the bracelet. Ajax forcefully ripped his spear free, making Messorem yell madly in pain, and both boys ran a few metres away from one another, carefully watching the other’s moves.

Worried that Messorem’s attack had succeeded, Ajax tried to deploy another spear from his armoury, but he couldn’t deploy another weapon.

The bracelet had been damaged and Ajax was no longer able to deploy any more weapons, leaving him with his sword, arm mounted shield and a single spear.

This…might be difficult.

“Dissolving magic, huh?” Ajax mumbled.

Messorem smiled devilishly back. “Correct.”

Ajax snorted. “What a disgusting ability.”

Messorem glowered at Ajax and charged a him.

Messorem threw the sole of his boot at Ajax, but Ajax bent away from it, then bashed the foot away with his shield. He slashed at Messorem’s shoulder, but the boy caught it with his hand, cutting his flesh but the blade began to dissolve. Ajax kicked him away and retreated a few feet but Messorem pursued him. He threw two punches at Ajax’s head, both of which he dodged, and then swept his foot at his legs, hoping to trip Ajax up. Ajax leapt over it, kneed Messorem in the face and sliced at his chest. The tip of the blade lightly grazed his flesh as Messorem leapt away from the blade, hissing as it cut through his clothes and flesh.

Ajax looked at his sword and saw that it was cracked, hot metal liquid dripping from the middle of the blade. It would probably break if he swung it too hard, or if Messorem caught it again for even a second.

“I won’t forgive you,” Messorem cursed, staring daggers at him. “Don’t you dare call my tattoos disgusting!”

“Tattoos?” Ajax repeated. “It’s not your gloves that…”

Then, it dawned on Ajax why Messorem had lashed out like he had when Ajax had called the power disgusting.

He hadn’t made the gloves so that he could dissolve things by touching them; he had been born with the ability to do so.

“Your gloves…they blocked it, right?” Ajax asked, lowering his weapons. Messorem nodded. “Your boots, too?” He nodded again.

“Most people with tattoos can turn them on or off, right?” Messorem asked. “I…can’t.” He looked at his hands and curled them into fists. “Without these on my hands, I’d dissolve everything I touch, the same with my feet.”

“I see. I’m sorry that I called them dis-”

“You weren’t wrong, though.”

“Huh?”

“It is a disgusting power.” Messorem grunted and smiled sadly. “Most people look at me and see what I can do and say things like ‘You’re like a villain’, or ‘Wow, what a terrifying ability’. Even then.” He looked deep into Ajax’s eyes. “Even then I want to be a Guardian, even if it is a horrible ability.”

Ajax smiled at him. “I see. I’m sorry that I said what I did and I think it’s admirable what you’re doing, but.” Ajax raised his weapons again and ran at him. “I will still defeat you and advance!”

Messorem smiled back. “I won’t let you!”

Ajax thrust his sword at Messorem, but Messorem bent around the side of it, and then kicked the sole of his boot into Ajax’s side, the runes glowing. The armour cracked and dissolved beneath it but only for a moment as Ajax staggered from the kick away from him. Messorem follow up with a swipe at Ajax’s legs, but Ajax spun away from it and sliced at Messorem. Messorem caught the blade in his hand, the edge cutting into his palm, but the blade snapped in half from his power, leaving Ajax with only his spear and shield.

Messorem kicked Ajax in the chest, breaking another part of his armour and followed up with a few punches. Ajax swerved around the first two, then blocked the next three with his shield, causing it to take a lot of damage, and then grabbed Messorem’s arm on the sixth punch. He smashed the arm into his knee, breaking it and causing Messorem to howl in pain. Messorem kicked at Ajax but Ajax retreated away from him. He then ripped the shield off his arm and threw it at Messorem who barely sidestepped it. As he did, Ajax followed up by throwing his spear at where Messorem was heading to and it impaled him in the stomach, piercing all the way out of his back.

Messorem screamed louder in pain and quickly placed his hands on the spear’s shaft, trying to dissolve it before Ajax was in range to punch him. He just about managed to snap the spear in half as Ajax threw his first punch which pummelled his cheek, dazing Messorem. Ajax then uppercut his jaw, breaking it, and then elbowed him in the neck, followed by a punch to the other cheek, smashing Messorem’s teeth. Ajax took out his legs with a single sweep, leapt on top of him, grabbed a piece of his spear and stabbed it into Messorem’s skull, killing him.

Winner; Ajax Amory!

The crowd cheer for them as Messorem stood back up with Ajax’s help. The two looked into each other’s eyes and then shook hands, making the crowd scream even louder.

“Don’t give up your dream of becoming a Guardian,” Ajax said. “No matter what anyone else says.”

Messorem smiled. “Of course!”