Chapter 29: Caged Aura Sphere

As Rick and H fought back and forth across the training room, Rick reflected on how well he was doing. He didn't actually expect to win, but he felt... competent. After so long struggling to pull together his new portfolio, it was an amazing feeling.

Fighting hand to hand, he could mostly keep up with his mentor, and if any blows slipped through, his defensive cores shrugged them off. When H launched aura bolts or embers from the sides or behind, he could feel them like flies tickling in the back of his brain. Each time ranged attacks approached him, they were sucked into the last of his crystal spheres. Though he was often overpowered by his mentor, he naturally drew on his demonic bond and managed to hold his ground.

When at last they parted, H gave him a reluctant nod. "That wasn't embarrassing. You've come a long way."

"Thanks." Rick could feel the improvement in himself, but wanted to check his portfolio to see the difference in hard numbers.

[Name: Rick Hunter

Ether Tier: 11th

Ether Score: 489

Lucrim Generation: 91,000

Enhanced Generation: 164,350

Current Lucrim: 12,900]

[Rick Hunter's Lucrima Portfolio

Foundation: 3800 (Lv VI)

Dark Blood Kettle: 17,900 (Lv IV)

Triune Golden Spheres: 73,350

- Defensive Sphere: 26,250

- Absorption Sphere: 22,600

- Sensory Sphere: 24,500

Offensive Lucore: 14,350 (Lv VIII)

Defensive Lucore: 38,700 (Lv IX)

Bunyan's Step: 16,250 (Lv IX)

Demonic Fusion (Katenka): 24,500 (Stage I)

Graham's Stake: 30,150 (Lv IV)

Economic Bond (Bftgage & Ythsil): 2000 (Stage II)

Total Lucrim: 147,650

Enhanced Total: 221,000]

If someone looked at his generation rate from the outside, they might conclude that he had over 200,000 lucrim, which was insane. Rick had made the app separate out the values of the Triune Golden Spheres and the demonic bond so that he could still see his base generation rate. It continued to slow as it got closer to six figures, which he'd heard was a major hurdle. Now he could understand why fighters valued alternative methods like the spheres or bonds.

The difference between himself now and the fighter he'd been several years ago was huge. An ordinary Birthrighter with lazy training and a generation rate of 100,000 lucrim would no longer be an overwhelming threat to him. Of course, he'd moved on to more dangerous opponents, so at times it felt like he'd made no progress at all.

That thought made him frown and look to H. "How far have I come, on the scale of the Showdown? I can win a few minor events, but I'm obviously no celebrity."

"Your momentum is good, but your current position isn't." H pulled out a cigarette and lit it slowly while he spoke. "There are a lot of people in the junior Showdown who could beat you, it's just that you haven't gone up against them yet. Obviously the senior Showdown is out of your league, much less those who are truly at the top of the world. But you're on an upward trajectory, unlike those who will clearly plateau long before that."

"What happens to those who do?"

"Some become the elites of a specific tier. Others retire and try to get a job training others. After all, those who train wouldn't work with others if they could fight at the highest level themselves."

It sounded self-deprecating, but Rick didn't believe it. There was too much of a vicious edge to H, both his personality and his skills. So Rick only smiled and said, "And how does this all compare to those who fight with their lives on the line?"

"Good question." H stared at him without expression for a time, his cigarette burning away at an unnaturally swift rate. Eventually he turned away. "Get ready for your match tomorrow. This one will require everything you have."

Despite the rising tension, Rick slept well that night. Maybe elite athletes worried about their records, but he was happy so long as he was growing and also getting paid. Yes, it would be good to do well in the fight and get a seal, but the recognition meant nothing to him. A loss could actually be more valuable, if it allowed his defensive core to grow.

In the morning, Rick was up early and ready. H gave him a sour nod and then guided them to an armored limousine that took them directly to the Showdown arena.

While most of the arenas Rick had fought in looked like modern sports stadiums because they also served that purpose, the Siberian arena was nothing like that. It was a menacing circle of dark stone several stories high, used for nothing but combat events. There were large stands, but in the events so far, they'd mostly been filled by grim-eyed fighters, not true audiences.

When they passed through into the fighter areas beneath the stands, Rick noticed that things were a little different this time. He still saw the usual fighters and other representatives, but he could hear a crowd. A crowd that had already been drinking, from the sound of it. Profit might not be as important in Siberia, but tonight was clearly the one that mattered for honor or whatever standard they used.

"There's only one Caged Aura Sphere event and I don't have the sphere generation technology, so unfortunately your only preparation will be video." As soon as they entered their room, which was completely bare, H turned to him and began pulling something up on his tablet. "The event should be well-suited to your current level of skill, but you need to make sure there are no surprise disqualifications due to the arena."

Not sure what that meant, Rick took the tablet and watched the video of past matches. The competitors fought within a large sphere of nearly clear aura, attempting to knock one another out of the sphere. Though the bottom of the sphere touched the ground, there was nearly nothing to stand on - which meant that getting pushed in any direction could disqualify a person.

He'd expected the competitors to be holding themselves in place with Lucores, but watching past matches quickly revealed that the sphere itself was the trick. The aura seemed to react a bit like a floor, but a weak one. Fighters could land on any part of it and stick there, or even run along the sides, but if they struck it at speed, they broke through and were disqualified.

After reviewing the past matches queued up for him, Rick realized that H was right. Not understanding how the sphere worked might cause a few problems, but it wasn't the center of the event. Simply a staging ground for the battle within.

Rick set it aside and meditated until it was time for his event. It felt like almost no time at all before H was kicking him in the side and grunting at the screen. Taking a deep breath, Rick rose to his feet and headed out toward the arena.

In past events, he'd been able to ignore the roar of the crowds. The stadiums had been bigger than the time he'd participated in the multi-tier tournament, but it was much the same. But that day, the crowds were chanting and even singing. When he looked into the audience, he saw many groups of grim fighters, some of them looking less than human due to demonic fusions.

Though he tried to pull his gaze back down to the aura sphere glimmering in the center of the arena, Rick's attention was caught by a small group opposite him. Little different from the other groups of sponsors, yet...

Alger stood among them, his hands laced atop his cane. For once he wasn't wearing absurd colors, simply a black coat with blue linings. It made him menacing, though in a slightly generic way... but the manic grin on his face was visible even from the distance.

"Someone you know?" Katenka spoke softly from over one shoulder.

Not wanting to look crazy, Rick merely shook his head slightly and kept moving forward.

"Focus. I'll do what I can, but this is mostly on you."

With that, she faded away, but it had been enough. Rick kept his gaze down, instead examining all the other contestants approaching the sphere. Most he didn't recognize, but Raggest was on the opposite side. The younger man looked utterly focused, as if he wasn't even aware of the audience around them.

An official stepped up beside the aura sphere and raised a finger just beside it. "The Caged Aura Sphere will now begin. As soon as the sphere is lit, warriors may enter. Any remaining on the ground when the sphere is completed will be disqualified. The match will continue until only one warrior is within or in contact with the sphere. Begin!"

The woman's finger tapped the side of the aura sphere and it burned brighter with the infusion of energy. Several fighters launched themselves into the sphere immediately, one getting hit in the face with a burst of white light from Raggest, who fired instead of entering. Clever, but it wouldn't last long, because the rush of aura was now sweeping over the floor to disqualify any who lingered.

Rick leapt just before it reached him. As he flew through the air, for a moment he was sure that he would bounce off the aura and fall, disqualified in utter humiliation. But not only did he push through the barrier without much trouble, no one attacked him when he entered.

With space to breathe, Rick experimented with the oddly sticky aura. Even though he was against a nearly vertical wall, his shoe had traction and he could stick his hand in the aura and hold himself in place easily. This wasn't so bad. He summoned the Triune Golden Spheres around himself and got ready.

Almost immediately, the golden gleam attracted the attention of a woman near the top of the sphere. She had her legs hooked into the aura so she could hang upside-down, using both hands to rain destruction on all the other competitors.

Rick had no choice but to leap aside to avoid the bursts of aura, which sent him sailing through the center of the sphere. Other fighters tried to target him as he moved... yet he could feel them. He didn't need to think about it, he just felt something moving toward his back. In mid-air Rick used a Bunyan's Step to change his direction, throwing himself to the side of the sphere again.

As soon as he finished, there was a fist flying for his face. Rick jerked his head back, tumbling down the side of the sphere and barely righting himself. He should have known that no one at this level of competition would be surprised by his swift movement, so they'd already calculated his trajectory and moved to intercept him.

With another fighter swooping down toward him, Rick used another Bunyan's Step to escape. Once again, he had someone attacking him almost as soon as the movement had stopped. If not for all his footwork training, he would almost certainly have been knocked straight through the side of the sphere and disqualified. He realized that they could easily predict his movements because he would always stop against the sphere.

On his third leap, Rick stretched his sensory Lucore to its maximum. He appeared on the side of the aura sphere with a foot flying toward his head, but this time he expected it.

Rick grabbed the kick and swung the person directly through the side of the sphere. The man broke through the aura, desperately scrabbling to get a grip on him, and shot out into the arena. As far as Rick was concerned, that meant he no longer existed. All that mattered was the world contained within the sphere, which was still filled with warriors.

Eliminating one of the people targeting him had earned Rick a bit of breathing room, since they knew that he wasn't an easy target. He took the time to examine the rest of the fight, but it was a chaotic brawl. Too many of the other fighters had flight or agility Lucores, leaving his Bunyan's Step feeling a little rudimentary. Throwing himself into the middle of that fight would be a mistake.

But there was one person remaining stationary: the woman at the top of the sphere. A fighter attempted to creep up the side toward her, only for her to turn at the last second, an arc of aura bursts hammering him into the side of the sphere. He barely managed to cling to it instead of being knocked through, but had to fall back. Clearly she was prepared for a frontal assault.

Smiling, Rick readied his ranged defense Lucore and prepared to leap. He threw himself directly at the woman and she naturally met him with a series of bursts that would have hammered him straight back down. But at the last second Rick drew all of the bursts into the crystal sphere within him.

For a split second he saw the shock on her face, then his knee slammed into her chin. She smashed back through the top of the aura sphere, briefly flailing in the air before coming back down.

Though she landed on top of the sphere, furious and only slightly injured, red aura began to cling to her. She'd been out of contact with the aura sphere and was thus disqualified. Cursing in Russian, she jumped off the side and fell away.

Realizing he was a target at the top of the sphere, Rick leapt through three different Bunyan's Steps around the sides of the sphere, just to escape anyone pursuing him. Clinging to the side of the sphere was easy, but it was also risky, since a good blow might knock him out regardless of his defensive cores. He crept closer to the bottom where it met the ground, trying to find another target.

Someone flashed in front of him and Rick caught a glimpse of fists covered in flames. He dodged the first strike, but his attacker was coming with a rapid flurry of blows and eventually he could only block, bracing his aura against the flames.

Suddenly Rick was hurtling backward through the air. He realized that he had been tricked: the flames were a distraction, hiding the true nature of the attack. It hadn't attempted to harm him, simply push him with a great deal of force so he was disqualified.

He felt his back hit the aura sphere and break into the cold air.