Chapter 37: Three on Three

Before any of them could move, the old man stepped forward, one foot stomping down on the floor. Light green aura spread from his foot, a spiderweb of lines that raced across the floor toward them. Tom jumped aside, summoning his lightning, while Henry tried to move and didn't quite escape in time.

The aura lines leapt from the floor, snapping around his leg and binding him in place. Since they didn't appear harmful, Rick decided not to dodge: the beginning of the match was the best time to take his opponent's measure.

When the aura snaked around his legs it burned a little, but it wasn't an attack. Instead he struggled against the lines of power, testing how well they bound him in place. Meanwhile, the old man's teammates wasted no time attacking, as if they'd planned this. Perhaps they did, spending their time coordinating instead of arguing.

While Rick tested his strength against the aura bonds, everyone else began to attack. The enemy aura user began hurling spheres at them, but Tom made all of them explode early with a few bolts of lightning. Meanwhile, the woman with the bat leapt at Henry, who barely managed to activate his demonic shell in time. He rocked backward from the first blow, cracks beginning to form in the shell, but then struck back and the two of them began fighting toe-to-toe.

Taking a deep breath, Rick leapt upward, tearing free from the enemy aura. It hadn't been all that strong in the end, though if it caught him unawares it could hinder him at a critical moment. So long as he kept moving, he didn't think the old man's aura would be a problem.

But the aura user targeting him would be. Since he was suspended in midair, he was the obvious target, and several explosive spheres hurtled in his direction.

Fortunately, he'd chosen Bunyan's Step for exactly this purpose. It propelled him through the air, past the spheres before they could explode. The aura user had only a moment to look shocked before Rick rammed into him shoulder-first.

His opponent staggered back into the chain link fence and bounced off toward him. Rick tried to meet him with an elbow to the face, but the man sent his aura bursting in all directions, providing a cushion that pushed Rick back.

Not by very much. He'd expected to have been thrown back or stunned, yet Rick felt fine - he'd experienced much worse than this. While his opponent looked on in shock, he reached through the man's aura to grab him by the neck, then slam him to the ground.

Though he'd planned to hit him while he was down, the old man was advancing on them and he was extending a lot of tendrils along the ground. Even if they were individually weak, if that many grabbed him, it could be difficult to break out. Not willing to risk getting trapped on the enemy's side of the arena, Rick leapt back across.

That didn't mean retreating, though. He struck at the bat wielder from behind, and though she sensed his attack and pulled her weapon back to block it, the blow staggered her.

She lashed out with her spiked club and he managed to block the blow, but he regretted it - one of the spikes tore through his sleeve and drew a line of blood across his arm. Clearly, she'd been increasing her offensive abilities considerably. It looked like she'd dealt so many blows to Henry that he couldn't even take advantage of her back being turned.

A moment later lightning crashed down where she stood. Somehow she leapt back to her allies, so it only served to blind all of them. Rick stumbled through the blindness, grabbing Henry's shoulder under his crumbling armor.

"Get it together, man. They'll come again soon."

"Yeah, yeah..." Henry shook his head sharply and restored the yellow shell of aura, but he didn't look well. Had some of her blows gotten through?

Both sides took a moment to recover, but the rest wouldn't last long. In the brief pause, Rick realized how much the crowds were cheering. It seemed that the six of them had advanced enough for their fight to be interesting to watch, even if it wasn't exactly a heavyweight bout. Perhaps that was why the multi-tier event started with the featherweight class.

Then there was no more time for idle thoughts, because the other side was attacking. Surprisingly, the old man began, not with the aura tendrils but with aura bursts. They were weak and slow compared to his ally's sphere attacks, so Rick just dodged to the side.

Henry let out a roar and charged directly at them. His demonic shell looked impressive, but charging into fire was a bad move. Rick was too surprised to provide support, so aura tendrils soon began snapping up around Henry's legs.

Though Henry broke through them, he wasn't so lucky when the aura user attacked. Sphere after sphere slammed into his armor, increasing the cracks through it. Henry got off a wild blow that knocked the old man backward, but his armor was taking heavy damage and the woman with the spiked club was getting ready for a counterattack.

Before she could, Tom clapped his hands together, releasing a lightning shockwave just in front of Henry. It knocked all their opponents back and drove the old man to the ground, but Henry also staggered back. He didn't look well at all, yellow veins standing out on his face.

By that time Rick had moved to support him, trying to intercept the woman with the spiked club. She redirected to attack him with a clumsy swing. He easily deflected it... and realized it was a feint.

As soon as he lost his momentum to deflect her swing, she sprinted directly at Henry. Tom launched a bolt of lightning at her, yet she spun aside to dodge it and came back around just in front of Henry. He let out another cry, flooding more power into his shell and swinging down.

Her blow shattered through the shell around his fist and kept going, smashing through his helm as well. As pieces of solidified aura rained throughout the ecstatic crowd, Henry crashed back to the ground, his shell crumbling.

Rick darted in, grabbed him, and rushed out with another Bunyan's Step. He was still nearly struck by the aura user's spheres and more tendrils, since it looked like the old man was back up. Dammit, then both sides still had three fighters.

When he got back across the arena with Henry, however, he realized that even odds might be over-optimistic. Henry looked horrible and his lucrima portfolio felt utterly drained. It felt as though... no, hopefully not. While Tom kept the enemy at bay, Rick tried to slap him back awake.

"Stay with us, Henry!"

"...nothing left." He shook his head. "I drew all the bonds to the maximum... they won't give me any more... damn demons..."

From the corner of his eye, Rick saw a sphere of aura moving toward him, passing Tom's lightning defenses. If he grabbed Henry he just might be able to make it... but Rick realized that his coworker was down for the count. He leapt away on his own just before the sphere hit.

The explosion sent Henry sliding across the arena to the fence, where he lay still. That meant it was three to two, so they-

Out of nowhere the woman with the club was swinging at him. Relying on his defenses, Rick managed to fend her off, but each of her blows was heavy. Now that she was in range she could wear him down, so unless Tom...

At that moment Tom released a bolt of electricity at her back. Yet she again moved with impressive agility, ducking beneath it so that the bolt hit Rick's chest.

Where it had always been intended to go. Rick channeled the current through his body and slammed his knee up into the woman's chin.

The explosive force sent her stumbling backward, dropping her club. It was impressive that she didn't fall, but she was stunned long enough for Rick to close in and deliver several quick jabs that dropped her. Good, perhaps the most dangerous of the enemy was down. Without her, the ranged attackers...

Rick wavered on his feet, suddenly overwhelmed by a surge of nausea. He pushed past it, looked toward their opponents, but the room was spinning more. Was the effect of the suppressant Granny Whitney had given him wearing off?

Somehow he missed the tendrils creeping across the ground until they gripped his leg. He tore free from them easily, yet instead of dodging away, he ended up staggering and nearly falling. His stomach was churning and it felt as though he might vomit at any minute, but that was nothing compared to the disruptions flowing through his lucrim. What was wrong with him?

Intellectually he knew that the aura user would be targeting him soon, but he felt as though he was moving in slow motion. A sphere slammed into his chest and he couldn't stop himself from falling. Even his defensive core seemed to be spluttering, refusing to work properly.

Another sphere flitted toward him, but at that moment Tom smashed down into the ground, releasing a wave of lightning that annihilated the sphere and drove their opponents away. But when he turned back, his expression was deeply concerned.

"Rick? Are you still in this?"

"I... I'm not sure..." Struggling to make the arena stop spinning around him, Rick gripped the floor and tried to push himself up. "Something's wrong. I'll be done soon, then it's up to you."

"What?"

There was no time to explain, though. Rick stumbled out toward their opponents, barely able to see. Whatever was happening, it was getting worse. If he wanted to have any more impact on the battle, it needed to be right that moment.

Of course, his clumsy stumble made him an easy target. As both opponents focused on him, Rick forced his way through all the chaos in his head with raw willpower to use a single core: Bunyan's step.

As he activated it, he threw himself sideways. His body collided with both opponents, sending them all tumbling like bowling pins. It hurt like hell, especially since his defensive core was still faltering. Though his vision was growing dark, Rick saw bolts rain down on their opponent, dealing serious damage since they were off guard. They wouldn't recover from that.

Another victory that left him half-dead. As he passed out, Rick hoped it wasn't becoming a habit.