"I'm going to help him." Naeth announces before suddenly taking off into a dash and out from the walls' protection. He's quick, but he does not get far at all under the King's keen eyes. A fireball hits the ground right in front of him and cuts his advance short in an instant. Naeth ends up falling onto his back from the impact. While hustling back up onto his feet, he turns his head in time to see several more fire projectiles closing in on him. With no other choice, he turns around and heads back to take cover behind the walls again. Managing to avoid getting hit by any of the spells as he does. It becomes apparent that the King is keeping a close eye on the four of them. And as the other four members of the opposing team continue their onslaught of spells at Galivinth, refusing to even make a move toward their castle's towers, it dawns upon Naeth what's going on. Even Galelith and Tonithy can see it from the seats.
"How interesting... I don't think I've seen this kind of ill sportsmanship before. Not on such a deliberate scale like this." Tonithy comments with a skeptical expression upon his face. Beside him, Galelith comes to take a seat nearby. Watching with a noticeable frown.
"Hnn..." The latter reframes from making any sort of comment and just observes as the match goes on. There was simply nothing he could do within this very moment, thus he had to endure watching his only child suffer such aggression. Uncomfortably so. His right brow twitches in irritation at the sight.
"I should have known this was a possibility... I should have kept a closer eye on him!" Naeth shouts as his frustration grows by the passing seconds.
"I... I don't think any of us expected something like this to happen. Are they truly so enraged by his mere presence that they'd stoop to such a thing?" Qoreman rhetorically questions as he looks upon the scene with disgust.
"We have to do something, Naeth. They're going to such extreme lengths just to hurt him..." Raice comments.
"I know, Raice. I know. I just have to think for a moment..." He responds while bawling his hands into fists as a scowl settles upon his features. After a moment of thinking, a risky idea finally comes to mind.
"I need one of you to blast me over to him with a wind spell." He announces.
"What? But what if-" Qoreman attempts to question the idea, but Naeth sharply cuts in.
"Now is not the time to debate ideas. I just need you to trust me and do as I say."
"Are you really sure about this?" Qoreman asks while arching a brow.
"I am. Make sure it's a tier-3 incantation, as well. The sooner I'm over there, the sooner I can do something about this." Naeth explains.
"...Alright, then. I'll be the one to do it."
"Fine by me. The second I start running out, I want you to cast it immediately." Naeth tells him before taking up stance. preparing to kick off into another sprint.
"Be careful, Naeth." Raice tells him.
"I'll be just fine. I'm moving out now." And with that said, Naeth takes off and again toward Galivinth. Just as the King spots his attempt and is about to rain down more fireballs, Qoreman casts a spell of his own first.
"Win-di-oh!" As Qoreman speaks the incantation, he thrusts his right palm outward at Naeth's back and sends a powerful gust of wind at his companion.
As soon as Naeth hears the first syllable of Qoreman's spell, he takes a lunge jump just in time to be sent soaring far and high across the field. He bends his knees as he nears the other side and eyes an individual from the other team that he's inevitably going to collide into. Then it happens. He sends that person flying with a devastating drop-kick and bouncing off the wall with a gruesome thud. After having his momentum brought to a halt and safely dropping onto the snowy ground, Naeth leaps up onto his feet again by pushing himself up from the ground. Quickly moving to Galivinth, who was curled on his side in the fetal position, Naeth casts another earth spell to create a wall in front of them.
"Are you okay?" Naeth asks while moving toward his relative and places a hand upon the teen's shoulder.
"AAAUGH! Dude, stop. Stop!" Galivinth exclaims in agony, resulting in the other swiftly retracting his hand in concern.
"Are you in a lot of pain?"
"Yes! God... I... I think my arm is broken." Galivinth answers, panting as pain courses throughout his body.
"I can't move it.. it hurts and I can't move it, man!" He groans out, panicking at the realization.
"Damn it...Just try not to move and hang on, alright? The referee should be-" Before Naeth can finish that thought, a buzzard sounds throughout the coliseum.
"What's that sound?" Galivinth asks.
"The half-time alarm. Twelve minutes have passed." Naeth answers.
"Thank God...I don't think I can play anymore."
"Neither do I. I don't imagine there's much you can do with a broken arm." Naeth rationalizes as the others run over to them. After sharing the details of Galivinth's injury, Qoreman and Naeth carefully help the teen up onto his feet before they all travel back to their castle as a group. Once inside and Galivinth stands on his own, the team discuss their predicament at hand.
"It would seem a straightforward approach won't do us any good here. We'll need to be at least a little crafty in our attempts from here on out. We also can't afford to be pinned down like that again." Qoreman reasons.
"No, we most certainly cannot. They didn't bother with the towers, very likely because Galivinth was out on the field with us, but they'll definitely win if they decide to actually play for the objective when we swap him out."
"Auugh.. Jeeze, this hurts so bad..." Galivinth murmurs after feeling a sharp pain shoot through his shoulder from just slightly adjusting his posture. This draws the attentive attention of both Raice and Qoreman, who approach to help ease his pain. Raice helps make a sling out of the hoody Galivinth was wearing under his protective Conquest Bout coat, while Qoreman mindfully places his hands upon the teen's injured shoulder and uses sorcery to numb the pain.
"Alright, does that help at all?" Qoreman asks as he removes his hands. Curiously and cautiously, Galivinth slightly turns his torso left to right, then leans forward and back.
"Yeah, that really helps. I can feel a little pain, but it's much easier to move now. What exactly did you do to me?"
"I used sorcery to carefully turn a very small amount of your blood into a substance meant for numbing parts of the body." Qoreman answers.
"What, like novacaine?"
"Yes, something very similar to that."
"Pardon my interruption, but I've been tasked with bringing a stipulation from the king to your attention." A voice from the doorway makes itself heard and draws the attention of everyone inside. Turning toward the source, they see it's the referee himself addressing them.
"And... what is this stipulation, if I may ask?" Naeth questions with a skeptical look.
"A simple one, honestly. Your team is prohibited from swapping out the player Galivinth from the field." Comes the man's deadpan answer.
"What!?" Naeth shoots a look of utter disbelief.
"But my arm is broken! I'm supposed to play without the use of my right arm!?" Galivinth asks while gesturing toward his injury.
"Ah, that does sound troublesome, actually. I suppose it couldn't hurt to get the king's opinion of this factor." The ref reasons before reaching into the pocket to bring out and hold a hand-sized glass ball within his palm. Before everyone's eyes, that monochrome sphere begins blinking violet while giving off a faint whirring sound. Seconds into it, the ball turns and stays a solid violet color as a projection screen forms and hovers above it. On it is the face of none other than the young highness himself.
"Apologies for the disturbance, your majesty, but it would seem the individual you spoke of, Galivinth, has suffered an injury during the match. Should I--"
"That matters not one little bit to me, quite frankly. My demand shall still stand." The king abruptly chimes in.
"But he can't use his arm. Surely it's not unreasonable to set him aside and allow a replacement to take his place?" Naeth argues.
"I. Do. Not. Care." The king retorts nonchalantly.
"This is not a typical match and you very well know this. You all are aware of this. A wager is on the line and it directly involves the outsider. Now, if the idea of continuing this match is too much of a burden, then there's always the option of giving up. Would you like to forfeit the match?"
"Sire--" Naeth attempts to say something further, but he's promptly cut off.
"Silence and remain with your tongue held. I want to hear the answer from the outsider himself. Do you wish to yield and abandon the match, abomination?" The king asks. After a short moment of staring with a wary expression, the teen does eventually answer. Not before he lets out a heavy sigh, though.
"No... I don't forfeit. I'll play." Galivinth responds dryly.
"Good! I'm glad we were able to come to an understanding." And with that said, the king cuts off the communication link and allows the sphere in the referee's hand to return to its original monochrome state.
"Well, I'll be going now." The ref informs before placing the item back into his pocket as he turns to leave.
"The match will resume shortly, by the way." He adds on his way out.
"...I'm sorry, cousin Galivinth. It looks as if you'll have to endure for a little longer." Naeth expresses his sympathy toward his relative.
"It's.. it's fine. I get it... I'm not supposed to be here, and this is me having to pay the price for being somewhere I probably shouldn't have ever been. I'm sure most of the population here feels slighted at my presence, but it's too late to walk away now. I still have a chance to fix all of this by winning, though. Whining and moaning won't make it any easier." Galivinth responds, knowing full well that feeling sorry for himself wasn't going to provide any sort of solution.
"Well said. Then with that in mind, let's go over a strategy. We need to hit them effectively and swiftly." Naeth announces. It's then that Galivinth takes a moment to observe the mage cannon on his arm, more specifically the next spell sphere in waiting. From his observation, he notices that the next three at tier-2 water spells. At first, it doesn't seem like much, but then he recalls Naeth's affinity for fire magic.
"I think I may have an idea... Or rather, a contribution to forming one." Galivinth informs the others.
Several minutes pass and the group was given a 1-minute heads up that the second round was going to be starting soon. On their way out of the castle, Galivinth requests Raice's aid in peeling out the trigger remote of his Mage Canon so that he at least has a way to use it with a single hand. Afterwards, the group takes their place in front of their trio of towers and await an official signal. Before long, another 10-second countdown begins.
"BEGIN!" The referee's voice shouts through some unseen microphone once the counting finishes. Almost like before, the group rushes for the center of the field. They arrive first, and once there, they set up a defensive blockade. Rayson and Qoreman are the ones to cast the earth spell this time and summon twin stone walls that stand 1 meter apart. Galivinth, Raice, and Rayson take cover behind the left while Naeth and Qoreman shield themselves behind the one on the right. With little to no delay, a myriad of spells begin flying and hitting the covers, gradually chipping away at them.
"Alright, let's do it." A scowl of determination makes itself at home upon Galivinth's face as he raises his good arm, ready to execute his idea.
"Ready when you are." Naeth responds while giving a nod of acknowledgement, preparing both of his hands yet again to cast fireball spells. With Galivinth taking the lead, the two step out into the center opening one after the other and fire in near unity. With the push of his remote, Galivinth launches a sphere forward while Naeth discharges one of his fire spells to chase after it. In a seamless instant, the two elements intertwine and contrast to create a spreading blanket of steam that begins obscuring both team's view of one another.
"Again." Galivinth commands and the two repeat the process again.
"One more!" And yet again, they execute the same action. Now, that steam is growing massive and is on the verge of covering the enemy team's entire side. The barrage of spells comes to an end in that moment, as well.
"Now's our chance." Qoreman announces before the group splits into parties and advances forward at opposite sides to avoid confusion on their end.
Through the fog, the sound of snow crunching beneath a pair of quick footsteps attracts the attention of an enemy on Naeth and Raice's side. The individual shoots a lightning spell off into the general direction of the noise is coming from, but little does that person know that the light illuminating from his casting gives Naeth and Raice more than enough warning to evade it. His position is also giving away. In just mere seconds, without warning, Naeth leaps into sight. His left shin and foot possessing a faint buzz of electricity as he comes in spinning with a flying roundhouse kick.
"Ligh-Tono!" Naeth exclaims just as his kick lands across his opponent's jaw, both the impact of his blow and the tier-2 lightning spell he casts sends his target rocketing into the distance and smashing right through a tree, eventually landing near the king who stands just outside of the fog.
The next to go on the attack was Raice further up ahead. As soon as she spots a member of the other team, she preps a tier-1 lightning spell within her left arm while shoulder-tackling her unsuspecting target into a nearby tree.
"Ligh-to!" She roars and follows up with a gut punch that knocks the wind out of her target just before her spell sends a shock through their entire body. Not quite done, she jumps back on the balls of her feet to get a bit of room and prep a spell around her left foot. She grits her teeth and lunges forward with a thrusting kick to the face, shattering the tree and sending the individual flying skyward with tier-3 wind spell. That person ends up landing right on top of their team's castle.
Meanwhile Galivinth and Rayson are less hands-on with their methods of attacks. Working together while matching pace, the pair tag the other two members of the enemy team with combination spells. The first being water and lightning, then air and fire knocks the next one down. The five of them take advantage of critically knocking the king's team off balance and go on to make one more push to finish the job. Naeth, who cuts off from Raice and heads down the middle, emerges from the fog right before the king. His hands bearing an aura of amber, signaling he was planning on shooting off another dual of fire spells. However, before he can actually get either of them out, the king swiftly makes a gesture of pointing down and forces Naeth's magic bearing hands to drag and pin him down to the ground.
"What...Tch! What is this!?" Naeth shouts while struggling to pull himself up from his crouching position. In vain, it seems. His hands just wouldn't budge at all.
"I can control magic even before you throw it out." The king explains with a grin. Meanwhile, his teammate that was laying nearby groans and finally begins rising to their feet.
"Though this little tactic may be a tad clever, it's still not enough to-" Before the smug cryonean royalty could finish that thought, two spells come flying out of the mist and send his recovering teammate slamming against one of the towers on their side.
From a different angle of the fog, several more spells emerge. Though this time, the target was the tower on the right. After the tower takes significant damage, the King divides his attention between keeping Naeth pinned in place and watching out for more spells. However, the next onslaught is a flurry. Seven in total come out of the mist with the intent of hitting the left and right towers. He manages to deflect the four heading for the right side, but couldn't quite stop the left side from taking damage. It doesn't end there, either. Another half a dozen come flying in and bring about the same results. Due to how much punishment it takes on, the battered tower on the left inevitably crumples upon itself, and with it leaves one half of the barriers that were preventing entry. Very much to the King's annoyance.
"Heh. It's just about over. You have no choice but to relinquish your hold on me, or you'll risk losing." Naeth smugly informs. He wasn't wrong, either. Galivinth and Rayson come running out of the mist, heading for the opening they just created. Seeing this, the King decides then and there to use Naeth's own accumulated magic to fling him all the way back to the opposite side of the field, then immediately turn towards the two approaching his team's castle. With merely a gesture, he brings up a stone wall in front of them, one wide enough to prevent them from simply going around it.
"Ah, great... Now what?" Galivinth scoffs, though there was little time to worry about the new obstacle in their way. A sudden bolt of lightning comes down from above and hits the ground near the two, causing snow to erupt into the air. The two look up to see the culprit behind it was someone atop of the castle, and also seeing the individual was preparing to cast another spell.
"Look out!" Rayson shouts, shoving Galivinth out of the way of an incoming fireball from another enemy team member. In an instant, Galivinth and Rayson exchange their targets. Rayson, who preps his own tier-3 lightning spell while jumping out of the way of a tier-2 bolt, finds a precise time to deliver a counterattack and send his mark flying back further with a swift spell. Meanwhile, Galiving aims his mage cannon and fires a tier-2 fireball spell at the target on ground level with them. Luckily, the individual was still trying to get their footing while rising to stand, and the spell hit spot on.
"Alright, looks like you're going up and over, then." Rayson informs as he hustles over toward the stone wall blocking their path and takes a kneeling position.
"Me?" Galivinth questions while arching a brow.
"Well, it's not like you're going to be giving anyone a boost any time soon. Now hurry, we don't have unlimited time on our hands." Rayson insists while beckoning the teen over to him. During this, Qoreman and Raice occupy the king's attention by alternating between one of them going on offense while the other evades the King's attacks. This recycling dance goes on for a bit longer, just until the king hears a thud behind him. Stealing a peek over his shoulders, he sees that it's Galivinth who's now on the other side of the wall.
You've got to be kidding me!" The king exclaims and puts an abrupt end to his exchange with Qoreman and Raice with a single swipe of his hand, that summons a powerful gust of wind that carries the two off to the side. The king then stomps a foot in front of the other and turns the ground beneath him into a wave of snow and concrete to ride it around.
Rayson quickly and wisely moves out of the way as the king approaches, though someone else intervenes instead.
"No you don't!" Naeth shouts in the middle of lunging toward the young king, spearing him with a tackle right off that tall wave and onto the snowy ground.
"The match is set and won!" The referee announces the very moment Galivinth steps inside the enemy team's castle doorway. Following the call, the force field around the arena dissolves, as well as the ones on the field. Not only that, but there was finally a reaction from the crowd. A resounding round of applause and incoherent chatter, that both honestly feels rather aloof in nature.
"Darn it... I can't believe I lost." The king murmurs as he sits, then pushes himself up back onto his feet before dusting the snow off his attire. Naeth does the same.
"I wasn't so sure we were going to win that. I suppose when one is left with no other favorable option, determination will find a way." Naeth muses with a grin. Soon, Galivinth departs from the castle and approaches Naeth and the king. The others of his team also join them.
"Well, looks like you've won, human. Lucky you." The king comments in a mocking tone.
"And so, a deal is a deal. You shall be granted citizenship and the privilege of being able to ask me for a single favor."
"Thanks. It... definitely wasn't easy and it sure did hurt a lot, but I'm glad we pulled through and won in the end." Galivinth response.
"Yes, it was quite amusing. I genuinely had fun, too. Now, since our business has concluded here, I shall be going now. I've important business to attend to, unfortunately." The king shares and then begins to head off and take his leave. Though, he does pause for a moment to look back and give his final parting words.
"Be sure to stay out of trouble, abomination. I dread the earful I'm going to get from my council committee and I don't need more of a reason to regret this day. May your short life be an enjoyable one." And with that, the young king continues on his way. The group basks in the moment as a breeze brushes by. Then Galivinth gives his thoughts on what they just went through.
"Hey, Naeth..."
"Yes, cousin?"
"...Your king is kind of a f@##&t."
END.