My body was heavy. My head was dull, and my thoughts were slow. All of it had carried over from my fight against Sharon. Yes, I had won, but my body was failing on me. Leon told me over and over again to pull out and throw in the towel, but here I was standing in the ring. I didn’t need to go this far to see my plan come to fruition. I knew that.
And yet…this opponent was the one man I was not going to run from.
Wolf grinned. “Don’t expect me to pull any punches, Noel.”
“Look at you talking big when you’re such a small fry. You’ll be done in seconds.”
“I am going to enjoy cutting you down to size.”
He and I stared each other down.
“Next up we have the Block A semifinals! Our first match pits Incantor Noel against Gladiator Wolf! We got a hot tip: it seems these two Seekers have a history! Who’s going to take victory in this battle of rivals?! Let the match begin!”
The bell rang and I did just as I’d promised, whipping out my silver flame to end the match quickly. Before I could take the shot, however, something caught me off guard.
“An objection?!”
Wolf’s cornerman, Lycia, had raised her hand. It was the sign a cornerman gave when they believed an opponent was cheating—an action that all cornermen were permitted to take. Problem was, objections could only be made before and after a match. Lycia raising her hand here at the start of the match would have no effect. Even then, I wasn’t cheating. I couldn’t work out what was going on, and that was when Lycia turned away from the ring.
“Aah!” she exclaimed. “Feels so good to stretch out these tired muscles!”
Her bold-faced lie shocked me. She had totally raised her hand in objection. Had she realized it was pointless and tried to pass it off as something else? My gears were still spinning when Leon’s voice cut through my thoughts.
“Noel! Watch out!”
I snapped back to reality, my gaze flicking from Lycia to Wolf. Well, more accurately, I redirected the extra vision I had thanks to my Link skill. Wolf had both of his swords out and was rushing in to attack.
Lycia’s actions were only meant to distract me. Consequently, my reactions were temporarily delayed. Still, I wasn’t so slow that I couldn’t dodge Wolf’s incoming attack…or so I thought.
Wolf did the unthinkable.
“What the—?!”
Two swords flew straight at me. He had thrown his own weapons! Nonetheless, I could still weave out of danger. I initially thought Wolf had put himself at a disadvantage by losing his weapons, but as I calculated the arc of his swords, I realized that I’d messed up—dodging the blades still put me off balance.
His blades flew out like boomerangs from left and right, and both would collide as they hit me. Evading the swords was simple, but it left me unable to avoid Wolf’s follow-up attack. I could see his movements through Link. Usually, I would engage my precognition to avoid both the swords and Wolf’s attack, but because of Lycia’s distraction, I hadn’t been able to use my precognition in time. I had also relied on it far too heavily in my last two matches, which dulled my decision-making skills.
When I finally did engage my precognition, it showed me the consequences of my mistake. I saw myself dodging the swords only to be caught off balance as Wolf’s fist collided with my face. I could see it coming, but there was no time for me to avoid it—and then future and present collided.
Wolf roared as his fist flew into my face. Stars filled my eyes. My consciousness pulsed from the damage, and just staying on my feet proved challenging. I didn’t even have a chance to use the techniques I’d used to conquer my last two opponents. Wolf had planned this—his strategy right from the get-go was to put me in this situation.
His punches rained down on me. I managed to keep my hands up in a guard, but it would only be a matter of time before I was knocked unconscious. All the while, the Megalith was accumulating damage.
Am I going to lose in such a pitiful way? Me?!
I wouldn’t allow it.
“You dare underestimate me?!”
I barked the words as I put everything I had into a headbutt. My skull smashed straight into Wolf’s nose, stopping his barrage of strikes. I immediately launched into a straight kick, aimed right for Wolf’s guts.
Wolf sputtered and grimaced with pain as he flew backward. I tried to keep up the pressure, but I was too far gone—my legs wouldn’t move. I took deep breaths, sending much-needed oxygen to my brain while I focused on regaining control of my body.
“Pretty neat trick for a guy like you,” I spat, smirking. “I have to hand it to you: you’ll do what you have to for a win.”
“Shut your trap. You’re only talking because you want to buy time to recover.”
“Look who’s talking. You’re doing the same thing.”
Unlike me, Wolf didn’t have a means of lessening his pain. I was the more badly injured of the two of us, but now that my head was clear, I could move first.
“Let’s get back to it, shall we” I said, taking a step forward.
And then it happened.
“You coward! Is that how bad you want to win?! Have you no shame?!”
The crowd had erupted into a shower of abuse. It rained like it might never end, falling upon Wolf and his cornerman, Lycia.
“Shitty elf! You’re as dirty as your race!”
“Fight fair, cowards!”
“Last time I support Mirage Triad!”
“This match should be no contest!”
“Someone disqualify those cheaters!”
“Go home, you wimps! I don’t even want to look at you!”
Fifty thousand voices coalesced into a chant of “go home,” and the two were set to do as they were told. At first, I couldn’t understand it. I was always using underhanded methods to get my way, so it took me a little time to comprehend what was going on. From the crowd’s point of view, Wolf and Lycia’s actions occupied a gray zone in the rules.
“Everyone is telling the Mirage Triad members to go home! And I have to admit, Wolf’s surprise attack might indeed run contrary to the rules!” said Luna, turning to Finocchio for answers. “Big sis, your thoughts?”
Finocchio chose his words carefully. “I do think it was meant to provoke a misunderstanding.”
“So will Wolf really find himself disqualified?”
“Well, it would seem the crowd certainly favors that idea…” Finocchio’s eyes wandered to the ring, where they met mine. He was letting me make the call.
I’d already made up my mind. The two members of the Mirage Triad knew they might sully their reputations, but they had set their sights on defeating me anyway. There was no ill will in their actions. Rather, I thought them commendable. I chuckled to myself, then raised my voice to address the crowd.
“Ladies and gentlemen! A moment, if I may!”
The sounds of the crowd slowly died down until all that could be heard were occasional whispers and murmurs.
“As a Seeker competing in the Seven Star Cup, and as one of the tournament’s organizers, I ask that you forgive Wolf and his cornerman for this particular match!”
An excited clamor rose up in the audience, but I spoke up before they got out of hand.
“Yes, what Wolf did in this match is, as far as the rules are concerned, not allowed. Disqualifying him would be easy. However, this tournament is not purely a competition to decide winners and losers—it is also to show you what our Seeker competitors are capable of. Tactics and strategies that would be deemed cheating or cowardly in a one-on-one match are just smarts when it comes to hunting beasts and therefore of value to everyone. For this reason, I deem that Wolf acted based on core Seeker ideologies.”
I could see that I’d persuaded most of the spectators. Some still had their heads tilted in puzzlement, but if an organizer deemed it so, there was little else that could be done.
“For the sake of fair play, such behavior will not be permitted after this match. I ask only that you make a compromise for us this one time. I ask this because Wolf is among my rivals, and I don’t want anything getting in our way.”
The crowd was abuzz at my open declaration of rivalry.
“Noel…” Wolf muttered, moved.
“The crowds love a good story,” I said. “Nothing will interrupt us now.”
Break time was over. I chucked my silver flame out of the ring and motioned to Wolf with a hand.
“Bring it, Wolf. Time to know your place.”
“Then you’d better be ready for me!”
Neither of us had our weapons. We would prove our strength to one another with our fists and our fists alone. That was the kind of fight this was.