Kapitel 58: Friendly Match
"Dani wants me to remind you that this demand of yours will be costly, Game Master," Agatha said as she leaned over to where I sat. "Putting on a live show on such short notice always is…"
"It's not my demand, Agatha… I just don't want Morgana nagging me on this again…" Leo reasoned. "Are the NPCs ready to start?"
Agatha nodded. "On your order."
"The order's given," Leo grinned.
On one of the screens floating in front of them, the one with the Evil Eye focused on the audience in the upper seats of the arena, a hobgoblin female stomped her foot hard on the floor. She did this twice. Then she clapped on the third beat. Afterward, she repeated the process until it was picked up by another well-placed NPC about twenty seats away from her.
Stomp, stomp, and clap! Stomp, stomp, and clap! Stomp, stomp, and clap!
More NPCs hidden among the audience began to follow suit which then encouraged players to join in. Soon, thousands of people were stomping and clapping in unison to a beat that was instantly familiar to anyone who lived in the mortal plane.
And as Ath3na and Lyghtning entered together hand-in-hand, the crowd began to sing, "We will, we will rock you! Rock you! We will, we will rock you! Rock you!"
"Um, it's really catchy, this tune," Bront son of Brontes commented while he too stomped and clapped in time with the beat.
As he was a cyclops, each of his stomps made Leo's chair rattle. Each clap set Leo's teeth on edge. Still, he didn't tell Bront to cut it out for he too was caught up in the music that was regularly played in mortal sporting matches.
"I believe this song was made by the rock band, Queen," Agatha noted.
"I'm surprised you know the name," Leo chuckled.
"A true writer finds inspiration in many things," Agatha explained. "The mortal world's pop-culture, particularly the seventies and eighties eras, are a treasure trove of inspiration I indulge in on occasion."
"I know what you mean," Leo nodded in agreement. "I'm a big John Hughes fan myself."
"Pretty in Pink or Sixteen Candles?" Agatha asked curiously.
"Neither," Leo replied over the noise of Bront's clapping. "I'm more of a Weird Science and Breakfast Club kind of guy."
"Good choices," Agatha nodded approvingly.
Leo laughed a long and hearty laugh because he didn't expect to be discussing the hits of the eighties with a two-hundred-year-old hag from the first level of the underworld. It was a nice reprieve from all the blood and gore.
"We're quite lucky these two combatants requested to enter the arena together. It removes the need for another song and dance number," Agatha noted.
"And it brings an interesting emotional weight to the upcoming fight," Leo added.
"Yes, there is that, too," Agatha agreed. "A friendly match between two comrades-in-arms… It's a hot-blooded affair that's ripe for our exploitation."
"It helps that they're both pretty, too," Leo chimed in.
"There's that as well," Agatha guffawed. "You mortals and your love for physical appearances…"
"Um, the match is about to begin…" Bront son of Brontes pointed out to his two snickering companions.
"Alright, places, my little evil-eyed pretties," Agatha spoke into her receiver. "Let's make sure we get all the good shots."
The screens floating in the air blinked one by one to let the production team know that they were ready.
"Five, four, three, two… action," Agatha whispered.
All focus turned on the three middle screens that showed off three different perspectives, one side showing Ath3na's face, another showing Lyghtning's face, and the last one had a birds-eye-view of the ring. Yet despite these three vantage points, the Evil Eyes barely caught it — Lyghtning's opening move which had been nearly too fast to track.
To Leo's eyes, it was like she'd propelled forward in a flash and was instantly in front of Ath3na. Lyghtning's twin blades sang through the air and right into Ath3na's chest, which to no one's surprise, had become intangible all of a sudden.
"Um, even my QA testers have a hard time switching from intangible to tangible…" Bront commented. "But she makes it look so easy…"
"She's put in a lot of practice," Leo answered. "Possibly even more than your testers, Bront."
The next exchange of blades was a blur to watch with both women switching from offense to defense in the time it took to snap one's fingers. It was almost like they were dancing together in that ring, twirling around each other with arms extended in what was essentially a waltz of death.
And all Donatella and Morgue could do was call out the name of who was currently on the offensive. "Ath3na… Lyghtning… Ath3na! Lyghtning!"
"We should add some future bass to this fight's stream later," Leo recommended.
"I was thinking upbeat rock music would play better, Game Master," Agatha countered.
"More Queen?" Leo asked.
"Fallout Boy," Agatha answered.
Leo bobbed his head up and down while he thought about it. "Yeah… that'll work nicely."
"Um, Ath3na's down, boss," Bront noted.
That was a bit of an exaggeration. Ath3na had merely stumbled, and from the sweat coating her face, Leo guessed her fatigue was finally catching up to her.
Of course, her misstep caused their frenzied dance to end, and Lyghtning wasn't one to miss out on this opportunity no matter how close the two of them were.
"Ravaging Blades!" she yelled.
Yet despite her earlier stumble, Ath3na managed to go intangible in time to avoid the sweeping arcs of Lyghtning's blades.
"Activate Eviscerate!" Lyghtning ordered.
"Bront," Leo called. "Put the ability's status window up on the screen so our viewers will see it too."
Bront typed in a few commands on his administrator's window. Seconds later, a notification window popped up on the surface of the screen to the far left of the group.
[[ABILITY: EVISCERATE] [TYPE: PASSIVE] each successive strike adds to the Blade Savant's critical hit chance. After every successful critical attack, the chain resets.]
Lyghtning continued to send attack after attack at her friend's body despite her intangibility. This may have seemed like a wasted effort to the audience, but Leo, and probably Ath3na, could see the genius in Lyghtning's plan.
Ath3na's body may be intangible, but that doesn't mean Lyghtning's attacks were missing. In fact, Leo remembered that Ath3na still received a minuscule portion of all damage. This meant that Lyghtning was continually increasing her critical chance despite Ath3na's defense.
"Can we zoom in on their faces," Leo asked. "I want to hear what they're talking about."
"Of course, Game Master," Agatha answered. She leaned into her receiver. "Evil Eye three, get in closer please… and increase your hearing strength while you're at it."
The top-view Evil Eye drew closer to the two combatants as requested.
"If I win, you think Argonaut will flirt with me before our match like he did with you?" Lyghtning laughed.
Ath3na, her face strained, replied with, "He wasn't flirting with me, Lyghting… he was expressing genuine concern with my — issues…"
"Sure, let's call it that," Lyghtning laughed while slicing into Ath3na's intangible form. "God knows we both need a little… issuing."
Leo shook his head at hearing this unexpected girl talk. This was not the hot-blooded kind of banter he expected from such fierce competitors.
"Let's edit this stuff out later," Leo suggested.
"Certainly," Agatha agreed. "I can have two hobgoblin females banter about how excited they are two spill each other's guts across the arena… Anything's better than this."
Their discussion was interrupted by the sound of Donatella's voice as she announced to the crowd that Ath3na's form was wavering.
"Looks like her two minutes are up," Morgue agreed. "Things are about to get exciting now!"
Ath3na pulled back. It was the first time she'd done it since the match began.
Lyghtning charged forward, the blades of her shortswords glowing with ill intent. She waited for Ath3na's back foot to touch the ground before finally launching her attack.
"Deathstroke!" Lyghtning yelled as her shortswords pierced into Ath3na's form.
"Ath3na's been struck… no, wait," Donatella said in confusion. "Did she just go intangible at the last second?"
"Oh, my, I believe you're right," Morgue agreed. "It looks like she duped us all…"
This was true, Leo thought. Ath3na made everyone think her Spectral Cloak had run out just to lure Lyghtning into committing to her attack. To what end, Leo wondered. But then he saw how Ath3na held Red Death like a baseball bat, and he knew she was readying to swing.
"Giant's Swing!" Ath3na yelled.
She swung her halberd forward with all her might, and although Lyghtning managed to raise her shortswords up in time defend herself with, the force of Ath3na's swing sent her flying backward like an infield grounder past second base.
Lyghtning rolled to a stop a good distance away. She was crouched close to the obsidian floor. Blood dripped out of her nose.
"Damn, you got me there, Ath3—"
She leaped out of the way of a red blast of energy that had just zoomed toward her — and it looked very familiar to Leo. It had the same color as the Decapitator's optic blast.
Leo could see the pain flash across Lyghtning's face. His eyes traveled down to her hand, and the sight of the newly bruised finger confirmed that she'd just used her [BLADE SONG] to dodge Ath3na's attack.
"That hand's about to be useless for the day," he realized.
"I believe Ath3na's using Red Death's second unique ability, the Cyclop's Blast," Donatella announced.
"A spell like that at her level would consume nearly all her soul energy," Morgue added. "Not to mention the penalty from using giant's swing… I expect one of Ath3na's arms is at breaking point."
While Morgana explained this to the audience, an ethereal chain shot out of the space that the red blast had previously traveled, making it unnoticeable to everyone but the three watchers in the control room.
"Um, Ath3na really is a good tactician… no way Lyghtning will see it coming after that flash of red distracted her," Bront guessed.
And he was right. Lyghtning failed to see the threat that had been hidden by the first attack. The tip of Ath3na's [WRAITH CHAIN] stabbed into her chest and drew her forward into the path of Ath3na who was already running toward Lyghtning.
"What is she playing at?" Agatha wondered.
Leo, who'd played enough Super Smash Bros, knew exactly what was about to happen. The speed at which Lyghtning was traveling toward her would ensure Ath3na's next attack would have much more impact.
"Giant Swing!" Ath3na yelled a second time.
It was basically a home run. Lyghtning was smacked out of the ring and Donatella declared Ath3na the victor.
However, while Lyghtning stood back up after she'd landed near the arena's far wall and then screamed her frustration into the air, Ath3na was a silent victor.
Ath3na's body wavered. She stumbled, her eyes suddenly closing. Then, to the surprise of everyone but Leo and probably Morgana, Ath3na fell to the ground unconscious.
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
GD_Cruz
GD_Cruz Greetings, fellow reapers!
I really, really wanted to publish two chapters tonight but there's a small get-together at my house and I have to play host... :( So this long chapter is all I can manage for now. :D
That said, did you guys like that ending? Was it clear what happened to Ath3na? :p
Like the story so far? Don't forget to vote!!! :D
Geschenke
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erhalten Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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Rangliste 
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Stein