Phantom - Chapter 03

After the incident with T ended up involving and hospitalising members of Eric’s team, the final fight of the Team Tournament was pushed back to the very end of the month.

While it took a while for Kasmine and Teeq to reorganise and plan everything, they managed it and, now, waiting in the wings to be called were Eric and his team, geared up and anxious to get started.

Like the first round of fights in the Tournament, the final was to be held in a plain white arena without any special modifiers or terrain in order to ensure that both sides had a fair chance of victory. Over the course of the Tournament, Eric had been closely watching Dead Eye and his team because he had always considered them a large threat to his team and so he and his team knew their abilities very well.

First, there was Dead Eye, their leader who excelled at long ranged combat. Even with less than a second to take aim, he could land a shot wherever he wanted to and, because he was always a safe distance from the action, he could always calmly analysis the situation and give clear orders to the rest of his team.

Then, there were the two which Eric had fought beside; Khan and Fayre. Fayre’s tattoos were very strong both in offense and defence, making them very adaptable to any given situation and they seemed to have no weaknesses. Khan was a God Armour User like Eric, although Eric had no idea what kind of God Weapon he used. Regardless, in theory, it was powerless against Eric’s Oblivion so he wasn’t too worried about what it was.

Eric had seen Paladin’s abilities first hand in the Tournament and he was confident that Ajax could handle him, so he wasn’t someone Eric considered a major threat. Then, there was Shizu Tsubame, a Ninja who used throwing knives, an enchanted Katana and what Laila had identified as a Kusarigama, a weapon with a sickle and a heavy iron weight connected with a steel chain. Like Laila, she could teleport as well, which made her incredibly dangerous. Mystical was the only Mage on Dead Eye’s team and she was an Air Mage who would fly to the sky and dominate the situation from above.

Put lightly, she was extremely dangerous.

Finally, there were the three remaining members of Dead Eye’s team, a trio of Mech pilots who complimented one another perfectly; Alpha, Beta and Gamma. Alpha was a bulky brawler type of mech with powerful fists; Beta was a long ranged type with a powerful plasma rifle; Gamma was their support based mech with super strong shielding technology that he could deploy to pin in opponents or to protect his allies.

The three of them always worked together in battle and not a single one of them had been defeated throughout the entire tournament.

Eric couldn’t help but be impressed at how well Dead Eye had constructed his team.

Every single one of them had a clear, defined role within any given battle situation and all of their abilities complimented one another extremely well, leaving very few openings that Eric’s team could exploit.

Even more impressive, Dead Eye’s team had knocked out Alexis’s team in the round before and they had beaten them in just under five minutes.

Dead Eye had always been confident in his team and their ability to work together, and Eric had seen first-hand why.

It was finally Eric’s team’s time to fight against Dead Eye and they were all doing their last minute equipment and strategy checks in the waiting rooms.

Eric’s mind, however, was elsewhere, focused on a funny feeling that was rising in his chest.

“Don’t frown so much; it’ll ruin your cute face,” Kiara teased, planting herself beside him. “Nervous?”

“A little, I guess,” Eric replied. “It’s just…” He sighed and slowly looked at each of his teammates, a sad smile on his face. “It’s a strange feeling.”

“How so?”

“…It’s only really hit me that it hasn’t even been a year since we all first came to Ferris, but it feels like I’ve been here my entire life. I don’t know how to describe this feeling other than strange.”

“Isn’t that a natural reaction, given everything we’ve been through?” She asked, sliding closer to Eric. “It hasn’t even been a month since we were all at the hospital but it feels like years ago, right?”

“Yeah,” Eric whispered.

“Does that scare you?”

Eric nodded. “Do you think…we’ll ever get used to feeling like this?”

“I don’t think anyone ever does, but.” Kiara put her head on Eric’s shoulder and smiled “I think it will all work out as long as we’re all together.” Eric stifled a laugh which made Kiara frown. “What?”

“No, it’s just I didn’t expect that kind of line from you of all people,” Eric confessed, laughing.

“Hey, even I can say stuff like this,” She protested, lightly prodding his cheek, but her smile returned. “Feel a bit better?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Kiara.”

“You’re very welcome.”

“Um, love birds, are you done over there?” Connor asked, grinning at them.

“Ah, yes,” Eric yelled, leaping off the bench, his cheeks flushed.

“Don’t stand up that quickly without warning!” Kiara yelled, floating into the air.

Attention competitors, you have one minute until the match begins, The intercom said. Please make your final preparations and proceed into the arena.

“Right, team gather around!” Connor ordered, calling them into a circle.

“Why?” Jasmine asked.

“Don’t you think that our leader should say something at a time like this?” He smiled at Eric. “Right, Leader?”

“Uh, right,” Eric stammered as everyone’s eyes turned to him. “Um, well…” Eric took a long, deep breath, and then smiled, before saying, “Let’s go win this.”

They all smiled back at him.

“Hell yeah!” Ajax cried.

***

Good evening everyone! Kasmine screamed through the microphone. How are you all doing today? The crowd answered with a loud roar and applause. Excellent! Now, it’s finally come that time of year again for the battle that you’ve all been waiting for; it’s the Final Fight of the Team Tournament! The crowd cheered again. This year, for the first time in seventeen years, both of our finalists are first year teams and both of whom we have seen overcome powerful opponent after powerful opponent.

On the East Side, led by the gunslinger who made it to the final sixteen of the Single’s Tournament and who has led his team to victory nine times in a row, it’s Kellan ‘Dead Eye’ Bowen’s Team! The crowd cheered as Dead Eye and his team entered into the arena, all in their combat gear, and all but Dead Eye himself waving back to the crowd. On the West Side, led by the God Armour user Lucifer himself and with team members who made it to the final sixteen, it’s Eric Agrim and his Diablo Team! The cheers continued on strong as Eric and the others stepped onto the stage.

Whereas Eric was awkwardly waving back, others like Ajax and Kiara were waving enthusiastically at the crowd; Laila, however, didn’t even seem to acknowledge them.

When both teams had stepped into the arena, Teeq’s virtual reality engulfed them which was identical to the real world location.

Kasmine sighed gently into the microphone. I miss the days when you guys would all name your teams yourselves. Nowadays, unless a fan name picks up a lot of steam like Team Diablo, it’s just ‘Someone’s Team’. No creativity, honestly. Teeq tapped her on the shoulder, catching her attention and Kasmine leant away from the microphone. After a brief conversation, Kasmine coughed into the microphone and continued. Right. No more tangents. Got it.

It’s been a very exciting Tournament this year and we’re all excited to see who will come out on top out of these two powerful teams, but, no matter who wins, I don’t think anyone will be leaving here today dissatisfied. Not you watching this at home or in the arena, and most certainly not you eighteen in this fight. Even if you don’t win today, you should leave here with your head held high and feeling proud of yourself. It’s a great achievement to make it this far, greater still given how you’re still in your first year, so do not be upset if you lose.

Now, with that all that out of the way, She smiled, tore the microphone from its placement and yelled, Fight!

“Beta,” Dead Eye said.

Beta swerved around Kellan and immediately unleashed a quick volley of blasts at Eric and his team.

Elthia quickly raised a barrier to block the shots and, on que, Eric and his team split up and went around the barrier.

Ajax, Kiara and Kaida ran around the left side of the barrier, Connor and Evony on the right; Laila dropped into her own shadow and appeared in the shadow of one of Beta’s shots.

“Drop it!” Eric ordered as he ran towards the barrier.

Elthia dropped it for a second; then, once Eric was through, she raised it again as Beta continued to shoot at her. Eric fired a solid red beam at Beta which the Mech handily dodged, retreating back towards Alpha and Gamma. Khan charged towards Eric, his blade drawn back, and he sliced at Eric. Eric summoned Oblivion into his right hand and blocked the blow, then pushed back against Khan, sending him skidding backwards a few metres.

“Ever since you unlocked your God Weapon I’ve wanted to fight you,” Khan said, swinging his blade in front of him a few times. He pointed the tip towards Eric. “I even asked the others not to interfere in our fight.”

“Thanks for that,” Eric replied, running at Khan.

Eric sliced his blade at Khan, but Khan side stepped it before swiping at Eric’s neck with his own sword. Eric blocked the attack with his gauntlet and then swept his blade at Khan’s feet. Khan jumped backwards to avoid the attack and blocked Eric’s follow-up slash and pushed the blade to the side. Khan then lunged and stabbed at Eric’s chest. Eric blocked the attack, pushed Khan’s sword upwards and then sliced at his chest, breaking through Khan’s Armour.

Khan’s blade slipped through his fingers as blood dripped from the wound across his chest.

“Damn,” He whispered with a sad smile. “It’s your win, Eric.”

“Thank you,” Eric replied, before stabbing Khan through the heart.

Dead Eye’s Team, eight players remaining.

A dozen lightning bolts rained down around Eric which he barely dodged.

He looked to the sky and saw Mystical floating two hundred metres above him surrounded by a raging storm. Mystical glared at him, clouds forming next to her head, and two more bolts flew at Eric. His wings expanded from his back and Eric flew out of the way of the strikes and high into the sky, heading straight towards Mystical.

Mystical, the Headmistress, the audience and the rest of the participants were surprised.

It was the first time that Eric had ever taken flight and it immediately drew all attention to him.

As long as Eric could fly to where Mystical was, he could defeat her.

Mystical clicked her tongue and thrust her palms towards Eric, unleashing a volley of lightning bolts at him. Eric flew between and around them awkwardly, narrowly avoiding them and struggling to keep his speed up.

Even though he had spent every night since his first training session with Sapphire practicing spawning and moving his wings, Eric had never flown before and it was a miracle that he remained as unharmed as he did.

Mystical scowled, her aura increasing in intensity, and she pushed both of her palms together, sending twenty bolts towards Eric, all of which smashed into his chest.

However, they had only knocked him back through the air, not done any real damage.

It seems we have nothing to worry about, Lucifer noted. Although. The storm around them raged on and continued to increase in size. I cannot say the same about the others.

Agreed, Eric replied, flying back towards Mystical.

While her attack were useless against him at the moment, he couldn’t get close to her and deal a decisive blow and, as the storm was getting stronger with every passing moment, the situation could turn deadly very quickly for both Eric and the rest of his team.

***

The two girls had teleported, clashed blades and moved backwards and forwards countless times in the space of a minute.

Not only were they both skilled with blades, not only could they both teleport around the battlefield to confuse their opponents and exploit their weaknesses, but they could also read one another far too well and neither of them had gained any ground on the other.

Shizu vanished, then reappeared directly in front of Laila, her katana aimed at Laila’s neck.

Laila partially fell into her own shadow, narrowly avoiding the blade and swung her own knife at Shizu. Shizu blocked the slash with the hilt of her katana and pushed Laila back. The ninja then brought her katana back and slashed at Laila; Laila raised her free hand in front of her, creating a small cloth of black magic and the katana went through it. The tip of the sword snapped off, leaving Shizu with a jagged wreck.

Laila sliced at her, but Shizu teleported ten metres back, sheathed the remainder of her blade, and drew the kusarigama from her belt, the chain in her left hand, and she began to spin over her head.

Laila carefully watched the swinging ball, waiting for the moment to strike and cut it free from the chain, when it disappeared before her very eyes.

She blinked and felt something tightly wrap itself around her right arm, forcing her arm to be perfectly straight and applying great pressure to her bones.

She teleported it?

Shizu pulled hard on the chain, crushing the metal links into Laila’s arm and she dropped her dagger. With her opponent disarmed, Shizu ran and then teleported to Laila, the kusarigama poised to slice open Laila’s stomach.

Laila spun around her, tripped her slightly and created a thin black blade from her own shadow to slice through the kusarigama’s chains. They broke and fell effortlessly off her arm, freeing it, and Laila rolled forward, picking up her dagger and stabbed at Shizu’s back. Shizu vanished from before Laila’s eyes and appeared behind her, two kunai in her hands, and stabbed at her back. Laila spun on her heel and raised a black barrier before her, blocking the stabs and then sent a black slice from her hand at Shizu, forcing her to teleport back.

Shizu threw the two kunai at Laila before vanishing and reappearing on her left, a tanto in her left hand, and she lunged at Laila’s lung. Laila tried to dodge it but the blade lightly grazed her skin. She fell into her shadow, reappeared beneath Shizu’s legs and stabbed her through the lower back.

Shizu didn’t even flinch as the blade penetrated her flesh nor as she teleported away again. Laila stayed close to the ground and Shizu followed suit, both armed with short blades and both primed to strike.

Just as Shizu vanished from Laila’s sight, Laila fell into her shadow, essentially swapping their positions. Shizu teleported backwards and stabbed behind her at Laila, but Laila dodged the blow and sliced the girl’s thigh. Shizu teleported the moment she was stabbed and plunged her dagger into Laila’s chest, narrowly missing her lung.

Shizu withdrew her blade and vanished as Laila spun around and sliced again, but their blades clashed once again. Laila disarmed Shizu and went for the kill, but Shizu bent backwards, avoiding it and kicked Laila, knocking her off balance. Shizu used that brief moment to redraw her katana and thrust it at Laila’s heart. Laila hadn’t recovered from her kick and Shizu knew that, even with her teleporting abilities, Laila wouldn’t be quick enough to avoid the attack.

Shizu thrust her dagger into Laila’s heart and felt a burning sensation in her own chest.

She coughed blood and slowly looked down and saw that her own blade had gone through her chest, not Laila’s. Shizu looked at Laila’s heart and saw it; the small black portal which Laila had created right before Shizu had stabbed her.

Laila had teleported Shizu’s stab to her own heart.

Shizu couldn’t help but smile at Laila’s fine act of deception.

Dead Eye’s Team; seven players remaining.

After Shizu disappeared, Laila slumped forward and began to pant heavily.

She had used her teleportation far too much far too early in the match and was already beginning to run on fumes. The wound in her chest wasn’t unbearable painful, but she was bleeding a lot from it. Had she not tried her risky idea of baiting Shizu into attacking her, she would’ve lost the fight.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to recover enough energy in time to help in the fight, She thought, her eyes carefully following her friend’s fights. Even if it’s only just a little bit of my strength, I can at least still use it to help.

***

Alpha ran towards Connor as Beta fired another round of shots at him.

Connor threw his palm towards Beta, chains flying from it, and went to intercept the bolts in mid-air. However, as soon as the chains had been sent, a blue barrier had been raised before his hand, blocking the chains. As soon as the bolts were about to hit it, the barrier vanished and they smashed into Connor, sending him spinning backwards.

Alpha reached Connor, his fist drawn back, and threw a powerful punch at him. Connor raised his arm to block the blow but it still sent him flying across the ground and into another blue barrier. His back smashed against it hard and he crumpled onto the floor as Beta continued to fire at him. Connor groaned as he stood back up and blocked Alpha’s next punch, but Beta’s shots landed, smashing against his Armour.

Even though Connor was losing the battle, he was getting stronger after every single attack. His axe kept taking in and storing energy and it would soon be strong enough to break Gamma’s barriers when released.

Beta fired at Connor again but, this time, Connor ducked beneath the bolts and then quickly leapt up to parry the next flurry of punches from Alpha with his axe. Connor ducked beneath one of Alpha’s fists, drew his axe back and swung at Alpha’s neck, hoping to cut the mech’s head off; however, a blue barrier appeared once again before it and Connor’s axe bounced off it.

Alpha snickered, the barrier dropped, and he kicked Connor hard in the stomach, launching him dozens of metres backwards. He rolled across the ground and Beta lined up his rifle with Connor’s head. He fired but, at the last minute, a green woodland barrier rose before Connor and stopped the shots.

The barrier dropped and Elthia was standing before Connor, a stern look on her face.

“Thanks for the save,” Connor grunted as he stood back up and swung his axe onto his shoulders. “However, you should probably fall-”

“No,” Elthia replied, clenching her fists. “I’ll help.”

While surprised, Connor smiled and stood beside her. “Roger that.”

Alpha ran towards the pair of them as Beta fired again and Gamma deployed a barrier behind Connor and Elthia, preventing them from running away. Elthia ran straight towards Alpha as Connor’s chains flew to intercept Beta’s shots.

Alpha roared and threw his fists at her but Elthia brought her hand low to the ground and then rapidly threw it into the air, raising a solid emerald tree before her, blocking the blow. Alpha screamed in pain as the impact from his attack reverberated into his own body and he felt his anger rising in his chest.

He threw his other fist as Elthia’s barrier disappeared, but she swept her arm in front of her, raising a thin green woodland barrier which absorbed the blow, but then shattered into nothingness. Alpha punched at her again and again but, every time he did, Elthia blocked each blow. Alpha roared once more and increased the number of punches that he threw, flying a dozen of them at her in seconds and Elthia struggled to keep up.

She reduced the size of her barriers and brought them up as soon as the next one vanished, but Alpha kept changing where he was punching. One moment it was at her face, then at her legs, then at her arm, and then at her stomach.

Elthia could barely keep up and they both knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it up forever.

Another of Elthia’s barriers shattered and she let out a small scream, stumbling backwards.

“Got ya!” Alpha shouted, throwing one final fist.

“Alpha, behind you!” Beta screamed.

A blue barrier spawned across the back of his suit; however, it was too late.

Connor’s axe smashed against the barrier and he unleashed some of its stored energy, giving the attack enough power to break through the barrier, through Alpha’s armour and into his flesh. Alpha screamed madly in pain and collapsed onto his knees, before shattering into glass.

Dead Eye’s Team, six players remaining.

“Nice work,” Connor said.

“Thank you,” Elthia replied with a small, but confident, smile.

“Now then.” Connor swung his axe around and pointed it towards Beta and Gamma. “Shall we finish them off?”

***

Even though both Evony and Jasmine were fighting Dead Eye, they were the ones losing the firefight.

Whenever Evony went to fire an arrow, Dead Eye’s aim snapped over to her and shot at her either piercing her skin or knocking the arrow onto the ground. Jasmine had tried to fire her machine guns at Dead Eye, but he had shot twice and disabled both of them in an instant.

Jasmine deployed her pistols and fired at him, but Dead Eye easily sniped them out of her hands, destroying them. Evony pulled out two arrows from her quiver and tossed one over to Jasmine, before stabbing the arrow into the ground, spawning a wall before her. Jasmine quickly did the same thing and the two girls stayed crouched behind them as Dead Eye continued to fire at them.

“Any ideas?” Jasmine yelled as a bullet smashed into the metal plating right beside her ear.

Evony frowned. “One. Distract him for me!”

“Okay!”

Jasmine took out her rifle and rolled out from behind the cover and shot at Dead Eye three times. Dead Eye narrowly avoided the bullets and one scraped his arm before he shot twice back at Jasmine, one shattering her rifle and the other piercing her stomach. Jasmine vomited blood and collapsed onto her knees as Evony loosed an arrow at Dead Eye.

Dead Eye went to shoot it out of the air but it split into a dozen small homing arrow heads which all flew at him. Dead Eye scowled, took out his pistol and quickly shot all of them out of the air, giving Evony the opening that she needed. She ran towards him, a new arrow knocked against her bow, and fired once more.

The arrow soared towards Dead Eye and split up into a hundred small mines which would cover Dead Eye in a blanket with no hope of escape or survival.

“You really like that arrow, don’t you?” Dead Eye taunted, pulling out a small grey sphere from a satchel along his belt.

He threw it into the minefield and it sent out a small electronic pulse, disabling the mines which then dropped lifelessly onto the ground.

“An explosive is only useful if it’s able to detonate,” Dead Eye said, shooting twice at Evony.

The first snapped her bow in half and the second broke through the centre of her quiver.

Evony bit her lip and heard glass shatter behind her.

Team Diablo, eight players remaining.

“Jasmine,” She whispered.

Evony let out a low sigh and reached for the bracer along her left arm, slowly undoing the string which held it in place.

“What are you doing?” Dead Eye asked, lowering and reloading his rifle. “Don’t tell me you don’t have a contingency plan in case you lose your bow?”

“I do have one,” Evony replied as she untied the last string, wincing as she did. “It’s just I didn’t want to use it.”

The bracer dropped onto the floor and Dead Eye’s eye widened when he saw what lay beneath it.

A jagged scar which was glowing gold.

She smiled sadly as her body became enveloped in a golden aura. “Honestly, how blessed can one person’s starting line be in life?”

Her aura exploded and, an instant later, she was covered in her God Armour.

It was an elegantly crafted set of gold armour and she held a long, curved bow lay in her right hand with a thin, white bow string. Unexpectedly for her weapon however, Evony had no quiver on her back.

“A trump card, huh?” Dead Eye mused, dropping his rifle. “I would never have imagined that Eric’s team would have three God Armours on it.”

“I didn’t want to have to use this,” Evony admitted, drawing back on the bow which formed a golden arrow made of energy on it. “However, since it’s come to it, I have no choice.”

“You wanted to see how far you could come without having to use it?”

“Yes. I had to use it during our last fight as well, even if it was only for the final shot, but I still didn’t like it. However.” She aimed the bow at his heart. “We’ve come this far and we’re not going to lose now!”

She fired the arrow but, as she did, a grey coloured aura surrounded Dead Eye’s body and exploded around him, originating from his left arm. The arrow smashed into the ground and unleashed a golden explosion where he had been standing, but there was no trace of Dead Eye whatsoever and there hadn’t been an announcement about his team losing a member either.

“My thoughts exactly,” A mechanical, but familiar, voice said from above her.

Evony looked up and saw someone flying above where Dead Eye had been standing wearing a metallic armour.

Its boots had navy flames flickering out of the heels; the arms had two crossbows embedded into it above the wrists and there was a compressed jetpack sitting blue flames on its back. Two gigantic, azure eyes on its helmet which were staring at her, twisting and turning as they looked upon her.

As soon as Evony had seen it, she realised the terrifying truth.

“You have a God Armour as well?” Evony yelled in disbelief.

“Correct,” Dead Eye replied, slowly lowering himself closer to the ground. “Artemis, the God of the Hunt; repurposed.”

Dead Eye thrust his arms towards her and fired a hail of blue bolts from both of his crossbows. Evony was barely able to dodge the shots as the bolts had travelled as quickly as a bullet. She drew back on her bow and fired an arrow at Dead Eye; it broke apart on his shoulder and didn’t even dent the Armour.

Dead Eye flew higher up into the air and continued firing down at Evony, forcing her to keep running around as the bolts barely missed her. Dead Eye stopped firing his crossbows, before transforming his left crossbow into a full long bow. He drew back on it, waited a moment and loosed it, sending nine blue arrows at Evony. Evony drew back on her bow and fired at the arrows as quickly as she could but, right before they collided, Dead Eye’s arrows swerved around Evony’s and continued heading towards her.

Evony slid beneath them, but the arrows spun around in the air and smashed into her back, sending her tumbling across the ground as the other arrows pierced her body.

I guess it’s appropriate for the God of the Hunt to have such a Weapon, She thought, shaking and slowly getting back up onto her feet.

Even after just exchanging a few blows, Evony knew that she didn’t stand a chance against Dead Eye.

Not only was his Armour more evolved than hers, but he had spent a lot of time practicing using it as well, unlike her. When Evony had first been given the Apollo Armour by her great grandfather, Evony had wanted to refuse it, but her mother had insisted that she take it and thus she had.

Dead Eye had fully mastered and evolved his God Armour; Evony hadn’t.

And that meant that she didn’t stand a chance of winning.