The single point on the scoreboard next to my name felt like a mountain. It was real. I had done it.
The silence in the arena was a weapon. It pressed in on all sides. Jax slowly got to his feet. The look of shock on his face was gone. Now, there was just rage. A pure, black, murderous rage. He wasn't looking at me like a rival anymore. He was looking at me like something he needed to break.
"Lucky shot, zero," he snarled, his voice low and guttural.
The coach's whistle blew, sharp and impatient. The ball reset at the center of the court.
The duel restarted.
If I thought Jax was fast before, I was wrong. Now, he was a storm. He came at me with a fury I had never seen, his movements filled with a desperate, angry power. He wasn't just trying to score. He was trying to hurt me.
Shots came, not one at a time, but in pairs. A high blast followed by a low sweep. A direct shot followed by a ricochet off the wall. He wasn't just throwing power; he was using it to control the space, to box me in. It was a smarter, more brutal strategy.
I fell back on my plan. Defense. Survive. Earn MP.
My body moved, twisting and dodging. My system was my only guide. Ping. [Perfect Block Executed. Chain: 1. +1 MP]
But Jax was relentless. He wasn't giving me space to breathe, no time to find my rhythm. He fired a shot not at me, but at the floor right in front of me. The energy splashed upwards, forcing me to leap back.
It was a clumsy move. Inefficient. And it broke my chain.
Jax saw the opening. In that split second of my recovery, a searing orange bolt flew from his palm. I tried to bring my shield up, but I was too slow. It slammed into my thigh.
Pain, hot and sharp, exploded up my leg. My Aether Gear absorbed most of the blow, preventing a neutralizing hit, but the force of it sent me spinning.
The crowd gasped. Some of them cheered.
While I was fighting to get my balance, Jax scooped up the ball and fired an easy, contemptuous shot into my goal.
The scoreboard shifted. KAI: 1JAX: 1
The natural order, it seemed, had been restored. The zero was a zero again.
Jax didn't let up. The moment the ball reset, he was on me. He had tasted blood. He knew I was hurt. He pressed the attack on my injured leg, forcing me to favor my other side. My movements became more predictable.
I was on the defensive, completely. My world was a blur of orange energy blasts and the constant hum of my own shield trying to hold up. The MP was trickling in, but it was slow. I couldn't build a chain. A dodge here, a block there. One point at a time. It wasn't enough.
He saw another opening. He faked a shot to my left, and like a fool, I fell for it. As I moved to block, he fired a real shot to my right. It was a simple, effective play. The kind I should have seen coming.
The ball slammed into the goal right past my ear.
KAI: 1JAX: 2
Match point. For him.
"It's over, zero!" Jax shouted, a triumphant smirk returning to his face. "That was your one lucky shot. Now you're done."
It looked like he was right. I was exhausted. My leg throbbed. My stamina was dangerously low. My MP was only at 45. It felt hopeless. The mountain I had built with my one point had crumbled into dust.
Coach Valerius was watching, his arms crossed. His face was a stone mask. This was what he expected. The flash of talent, followed by the inevitable collapse. The car with no engine, finally running out of gas.
The ball reset. This was it. The last point.
Jax took his time. He wanted to savor this. He gathered his energy, a huge, crackling ball of orange light forming in his hand. He was winding up for the Jax Hammer. He wasn't just going to score. He was going to neutralize me. End the match with an exclamation point.
I watched him. My mind was racing. I couldn't dodge forever. I couldn't block a shot that big. My Power Shot was too weak.
What could I do?
I looked at my MP. 45 points. Not enough. I needed more. I needed a bigger weapon.
I looked at my skill list. > Power Shot (Basic) - LVL 1 (28% Proficiency)
Then I saw it. An option I hadn't noticed before, right below the skill description. A small, greyed-out button. [Boost]
My mind raced. Could I use my MP to temporarily boost the skill? To make my pop gun into a cannon, just for one shot?
There was no time to ask the system. Jax was ready to fire. It was now or never.
As he began his forward swing, I made my decision. I poured everything I had into the system.
Boost the Power Shot!
[Boost Skill Execution: 'Power Shot (Basic)'? This will expend MP to temporarily amplify a skill's output. Efficiency is low. Cost per amplification level is high.]
Do it!
[Select Boost Level. Available MP: 45] > Level 1 Boost (Cost: 10 MP) > Level 2 Boost (Cost: 30 MP) > Level 3 Boost (Cost: 60 MP) [Insufficient MP]
I didn't have enough for the max boost. But Level 2… it would cost 30 of my precious points. It would leave me with almost nothing. It was a desperate gamble.
Jax roared and unleashed his shot.
"It's over!"
The massive orange fireball flew towards me.
Level 2 Boost! NOW!
[Boost Confirmed. -30 MP. Warning: High Stamina Drain Detected.]
At the exact same moment, I moved. I didn't dodge. I didn't block. I mirrored his stance, but with the perfect, flawless form from the system's blueprint.
I unleashed my own Power Shot (Basic).
A beam of concentrated blue light shot from my hand. It wasn't the whisper from before. Boosted by my MP, it was a sharp, focused, angry lance of energy. It was still smaller than Jax's shot, but it was pure. It was stable.
The two shots met in the dead center of the arena.
BOOM!
The impact was deafening. Jax's big, sloppy orange explosion engulfed my little blue beam. For a second, it looked like my shot was swallowed whole.
But my shot was focused. It was efficient.
Like a needle through a balloon, my blue beam pierced right through the heart of the chaotic orange fireball. The orange energy dissipated into harmless sparks. My shot, though weakened, continued on its path.
Jax's jaw dropped. He had no time to react.
My boosted shot slammed into his chest.
It wasn't enough power to trigger a neutralization, but the focused impact sent him flying backward, the wind knocked out of him. He landed hard against the back wall of the court.
The Aetherball, now neutral, fell from the dissipating explosion and hung in the air.
My legs screamed in protest. The stamina drain was intense. I felt like I was going to collapse. But I forced myself to move. I lunged, my body a single screaming ache.
I got to the ball first.
Jax was still scrambling to his feet, dazed and confused.
I didn't have the energy for another Power Shot. I just pushed the ball, a simple, clumsy shove towards the empty goal.
It floated slowly, end over end. And went in.
The goal chimed. The scoreboard changed.
KAI: 2JAX: 2
I did it. I tied the score.
I stood there, panting, my vision swimming. My stamina was gone. My MP was almost zero. I had nothing left.
Jax was on his feet now, his eyes burning with a hatred so intense it was almost a physical force.
The ball reset at the center of the court.
It was the final point. First to the ball. We were both drained. This wasn't about skill anymore. It was about who wanted it more.
The coach raised his whistle to his lips.