Transcendence?

***Sphere of Sous***

***Jazira***

*Bam!*

“~Headshot! Mwahahaha!~”

I love this rifle!

The feeling of handling it is great!

One shot and the opponent is dealt with!

“~This weapon is marvellous! Nyhahahahaha!~”

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

The world turns black and we are back in the arena. “Aw! That was too fast! They didn't even try to evade! I was even using the weapon at its lowest setting.” Advertisements

Lidith growls. “The recent fights were too anticlimactic! We just stood back and watched Jazira executing them!”

Celestial kicks a pebble on the ground. “You are right! This isn't funny. Why don't you try to change the settings? I want to see what happens at full power!”

Ascathon shakes his head. “I strongly advise against that. It looks like Jazira's mind can't handle the full power of the weapon.”

Huh? What is he talking about? “My mind can't handle it?”

Ascathon sighs. “The weapon uses the caster's mana and his mind to generate the necessary spells and curses. The more power you use, the more you strain your mind. Aren't you feeling wonderful while using it? That's the sign of a beginning mental breakdown. The weapon reserves certain areas of your brain while stimulating others.”

I grab the rifle tighter. “It's interfering with my brain!? What happens if I have a breakdown?”

Lidith gasps. “Why are you giving such a dangerous tool to her? She can't become more simple minded than she already is! Her personality is strange enough right now!”

“Hey!” I protest! I am not simple minded!

“Don't worry. A mental breakdown will only cause her to fall unconscious. I tried it already myself. She shouldn't do it anyway. An unconscious team member would cause us to lose points.” Ascathon says.

Lidith gnaws at her nail. “I am more worried that the judges would forbid us from using the weapon!! We are breaking the tournament with it. Up until now the tournament was like a boxing fight between the participants. There weren't any rules needed because nobody had a real weapon. It's like we went to a martial arts tournament and brought a gun with us!”

Celestial nods. “I thought about the same thing. But nobody said anything. Even the commentator is just rambling his random thoughts.”

Ascathon pulls a sheet of paper from his pocket. “We should concentrate on our last two fights. There is just a minor difference in points between Aneth's group and ours. We are slightly ahead though. If we manage a draw, we win.”

“I am amazed that they managed to keep up with us. Jazira's rifle decided all matches for us until now. We got a perfect score every time.” Celestial puffs her cheeks up.

Lidith's expression turns sour. “They have Nergal the Mind on their team. His sniping skills are on par with Jazira. They must've paid him very well to get him onto their team.”

“Paid?” I ask amazed.

Lidith nods. “Of course. They aren't exactly friends with other gods. So they must have bribed the other members of their team to fill the empty slots.”

I take the sheet of paper from Ascathon and look at it. We went over the enemy team composition several times.

There is Aneth the Vile, who has good close combat skills and devastating area of effect spells. And it looks like he can really accelerate the growth of his body. We watched all of his matches and every time he got a little bigger. Right now his body should be that of a teenager.

Charon the Dead is relying on his curses while hiding behind strong barriers. All he does is watch his opponents slowly wither away.

Wynne the Green turns the battlefield into a zoo of magical enhanced plants. All of them pose a real danger to gods because they are fuelled by her mana. She herself is trying to avoid combat while hiding inside her creations.

Manalie the Big is the bunny girl who was with them earlier. The stupid guy who gave her this title should be flogged! Apparently one of their mercenaries. She is relying on her combat aura like Celestial. But in addition she has some strange spells to summon weapons of different elements.

The big thin guy with dark skin and a bald head was another mercenary of theirs. His name is Sergain the Worried. His speciality seem to be barrier spells. They are no joke because he is able to protect himself and seal his opponents in them. It's the perfect skill for crowd control.

Zacharias the Swift is a dagger user who seems to rely on speed. He hasn't much offensive or defensive abilities besides stabbing people from behind. Seems like they just recruited him because they didn't find anyone else.

Nergal the Mind is a user of telekinesis and the reason for their victories. Whether it's accelerating a pebble to punch a hole through his opponent's barrier, or crushing them outright. Nergal is able to do it. He may be the most dangerous fellow of their entire party.

Ascathon breaks the silence. “I think you should turn the power output to the maximum and snipe Nergal at the start of the game.”

Lidith frowns and waves at my rifle. “Didn't you just say that she'll take herself out by doing that?”

Ascathon nods. “That's true. But it would be a good trade. Jazira's sniping abilities aren't restricted to her person. Maybe we manage to pick up her weapon. If Nergal is gone, our enemies have lost their most dangerous asset.”

“We would still be outnumbered.” Celestial points out.

“There is no chance of fighting them if they still have their sniper. Maybe you are right. Probably Nergal will go for Jazira too. They'll surely seek to take out our most dangerous asset first.” Lidith takes a sip from her juice.

I scratch at my cheek. “So it's either him or me?”

A faint distortion of the space around us relocates our group to the arena.

“Oh, I wish they would warn us at least.” Lidith drops her glass with juice to the ground.

The commentator starts his speech while we wait and stare at the group across from us. At the end of the speech the familiar white bubble encloses us. There is still no word between us. Just silent staring.

I focus on Nergal. He is the only guy who wasn't present when they made their declaration of war. Nergal has long black hair and yellowish skin. Two black angel wings are at his back and something like a totem is in his hand.

When the white sphere around us dissipates I act and raise the rifle, pointing it at Nergal. He does the same, pointing his totem at me!

Sergain jumps in front of Nergal and raises his shield. Layer upon layer of barriers start to appear between us.

I press the trigger!

***Sphere of Sous***

***Celestial***

I jump aside as Jazira takes her shot at Nergal. Nothing happens, except for a fist sized hole appearing in Sergain's chest. His barriers shattered like glass. Nergal's head blasts apart like it was hit by a sledgehammer.

An apocalyptic explosion appears in the far distance behind them and a shockwave of air pressure and fire throws everyone to the ground.

Jazira is blown away like a puppet who had her strings cut. Due to her unconsciousness, she didn't even try to protect herself. But I can't pay any further attention to her and rush at my opponents.

I release even more power to withstand the radical changes in my environment. I didn't even have time to appreciate the strange blue vegetation, which surrounded us just moments ago. Everything turned to ash. Roots explode from the ground and try to grab me, but I jump and release the stored up power in my fist at Wynne.

My attack forces the enemy team to disperse and a huge crater appears at their previous position. Something stabs into my back, but is stopped by my armour and my battle aura.

I turn in mid air and bring my left leg down on whoever attacked me. Zacharias gets his head out of the way just in time. He stabs at my chest, but I grab at the warhammer on my back and release my battle aura to the limit.

The hammer comes down at Zacharias like a mythical weapon from legends, wiping his dagger away and impacting on his shoulder. A single spark of pure mana lashes out at Zacharias and my opponent is sent down to the ground, impacting like a bullet. A cloud of dust and pebbles is sent to the sky.

But my victory is short lived. One of the roots grabs me and before I know it, I am encased in a tight network of plants.

***Sphere of Sous***

***Lidith***

I try to go directly for Aneth. But the battlefield dissolves into pure chaos! Spells are flying left and right while Wynne's nature magic adds to the chaos.

Suddenly Charon is in front of me, ready to cast a curse on me. He thrusts his hand at me and I feel myself weakening. It feels like my life is being sucked away. Barriers encase him. I don't pay any heed to it and throw one of my swords at him, hitting him directly in the chest. The crystal sword went through his barrier like it wasn't there. Ascathon explained that the crystal weapons are fed and strengthened by mana.

It seems logical that something which was created by mana shouldn't be a hindrance to a weapon which feeds on it.

Charon is still looking in amazement at the sword in his chest when I take his head with my second sword!

At that moment Aneth appears in front of me and the last thing I see is a fist appearing in my vision.

***Sphere of Sous***

***Aneth***

Another one down! I wish had time to torture them slowly, but our hired guns weren't as useful as I hoped! It turned into a killing field right at the beginning. Neither group held back!

Ascathon should be the last of them. But he disappeared into his own shadow right at the beginning of the fight! He didn't even try to aide his companions. “Wynne? Where are you?” Damn, These roots are everywhere! And the life force is interfering with my senses. I wish she wouldn't rely on this annoying spell!

She created a forest of roots around us within mere moments! The roots reach a height of about fifty metres and give off a dangerous atmosphere.

The faint sound of someone whistling an ominous melody reaches my ears and I look up to find Ascathon standing on one of the taller roots, looking down at me.

He has a long staff in his left hand. It's one of those accursed crystal weapons! In his right, he is spinning Wynne's head! Holding it at her long blonde hair!

***Sphere of Sous***

***Ascathon***

I stop my melody and drop the head in front of Aneth's feet. Then I jump down and approach him to draw his attention. “I went for the troublesome person first. Looks like you and I are the only ones left. I think you know what that means. I just have to kill both of us and my team wins. You had more people in your group, so we'll get some bonus points.”

“Hahahaha! Didn't you just admit that I won? I just have to kill you and my team is ahead in points! You are no match for me in a fair fight.” He steps towards me, over Wynne's head.

I grin and pull the remote trigger out of my pocket. “The boring thing about this part of the tournament is that it's not a real fight. In a real fight you would care more for your own survival. And who says that this is a fair fight?”

Aneth's eyes widen as he looks down at Wynne's head, which just chirped. It was the sound of the mana grenade inside it acknowledging the received signal.

“~My win.~”

I press the trigger.

***Sphere of Sous***

***Jazira***

“Chrrrr... Hrr... chrrr...” I yawn and open my eyes. Clouds of ash and dust are in the red sky above me. Hmm. Strange. Wasn't it violet earlier? Though I didn't have much time to take a look at my surroundings.

Oh that's right! The fight! I sit up and look around. The nice blue vegetation is gone! I am in a charred wasteland with no signs of life. “What's going on? Did I miss the fight!?” Advertisements

I kick an annoying boulder from my left foot. It looks like I am in an expanse of rubble.

I get to my feet, only to land back on my ass, as a flash of pure white lights the horizon and a shockwave throws me backwards.

“~Owie! Right onto the tailbone!~”

I wriggle in pain as the world around me turns black.

.