Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Antithesis

Chapter 18: Antithesis

 

As the introductions went on, Emilia glanced at her allies, trying to glean any information before their spar. It was Roul’s idea. He wanted to see how they would all adapt to each other. The other team’s advisor— Celeste, agreed with him.

Both the teams had been training for five days, after all. Emilia and Parth, even longer. They had their rings and all of them had gone through information packets that told them what the other artifacts did. It was extra work. Not only did they have to prepare against the monsters inside, but they had to be ready to fight other voyagers as well.

“You won’t be using any weapons on the racks. It’s just you and your artifacts,” said Roul as both the advisors walked towards the observation deck.

That was a major handicap for Emilia’s team. Stefan did not have an offensive artifact. Moreover, it meant that she did not have weapons to take control of and fling at the opponents. 

It was a test to see if they could identify their opponent's artifacts and adjust their tactics on the fly. All teamwork exercises would take place after the spar. So for now, they had to fight with what they had. Her mind went through several options to overcome that handicap, and she already had several ideas. It was a friendly spar, of course. That did not mean that she had to baby them.

Roul’s snide comments to Andrea had clued her to a fact about the person she had been swapped with. He had said something about 'him' being similar to Andrea, only that he punched instead of kicked. That had two clues. One, the person was male. Two, he was a fighter. The emphasis on punching could mean boxing.

She looked at Parth, the person who seemed like the leader of the bunch. He fit the two clues. That must be the person she was swapped with. The guy who introduced himself as Kwame might also fit the bill, but it didn’t seem likely. It was the air that Parth exuded. It was very similar to Andrea.

Further proving the point was how he had honed in on Andrea's taekwondo uniform the moment he came in. It was not just him though. Andrea had done the same and had focused on him the moment he entered. From then on, the two battle maniacs had been sizing up each other nonstop. Even throughout the introductions.

"Andrea, dear. It's rude to stare," said Emilia, trying to break her teammate out of whatever that was.

“You too, Parth. It's like you've never seen a girl before," groused Moira, the blue-haired fairy. Emilia almost groaned as she knew what Andrea would make of that sentence.

“You might be a girl, little girl. I am a grown woman,” bit out Andrea, eyes still not leaving Parth.

Emilia immediately pulled her teammate closer as Stefan apologized to their allies.

“What’s with you? This is not normal,” she hissed in Andrea’s ears.

“I don’t know. I feel antsy. The moment I sensed his mana, the feedback from my boots has been crazy. It’s as if the damn things are itching to be let out,” she responded in a low voice.

"Feel his mana? When did you learn to sense mana?" asked a bewildered Emilia, still in a low volume.

Mana sensing was an advanced concept that none of them were able to do. Apparently, it was a bit easier for the fairies. Even then, not all of them could do it. The other races had to work even harder to learn it. It was a limited skill. Useful, but limited. She knew for a fact that Andrea was not capable of it.

“I don’t know. I don’t feel the others. It’s just him. It’s jarring,” bit out her teammate.

Emilia turned around and looked at the gathering to see a similar scene. Parth and Moira were speaking in hushed tones. Meanwhile, Kwame was trying to engage Stefan in idle talk. She wished him the best of luck in the confines of her mind. Stefan was not a sociable person.

On the other hand, the two advisors were already in the observation box. Roul had a smug smile on his face, which she was sure would set Andrea off. Celeste had a soft smile on her face. Nothing malicious like Roul. It meant that whatever this was, was not harmful. She could say as much from Roul’s expression alone. It was as if he was playing a prank on them.

She turned back towards Andrea, only to see that the girl was glaring daggers at Parth still. Emilia sighed, knowing where this was going.

“So, I can’t convince you to work together?” she asked.

“Sure we can work together. When it breaks down to solo fights though, I want a crack at him. I don’t think these things will settle down otherwise,” Andrea said, pointing at her feet.

“Alright,” said Emilia reluctantly. It was not as bad as she thought. But she knew that if Andrea wanted to fight someone, she would do so without care for tactics. It was not an issue out here, but it would be an issue inside the dungeon.

She wondered whether Roul had done this knowingly, to teach their battle maniac of a teammate a lesson.

“Can we start?” asked Kwame as Emilia dragged her teammate back to the rest of them.

“Yeah. Sorry about that,” said Parth with a sheepish look on his face. He didn’t seem as affected as Andrea. She then noticed how he was clasping at his forearms. She saw a bit of a fiery mark, which sent alarm bells off in her head.

She recognized that mark. It was the mark that the pygilist gauntlets made. The same one that the pygilist clan members inked on themselves. She couldn’t see any other visible markings on the others.

In contrast, their team was quite the opposite. Hers and Stefan's marks were clearly visible on account of them being on their faces. If they had done their homework, her opponents would only be blind to Andrea's artifact.

Speaking of, she could now see why Parth and Andrea had such a reaction to each other. There had been no account of previous Cryllerets or Pygilists being at each other’s throats. Although, she knew that not everything was public information.

Before she could ask Andrea whether the notes left behind by her predecessors mentioned anything of the sort, the buzzer went off loudly.

“Start now,” said Roul’s voice over the speakers.

The next instant, Andrea's armored boots manifested on her feet. She stomped hard on the ground and materialized a large icicle in front of her. With a deft kick, she sent the spear of ice toward Parth.

Emilia wasted no time as her artifact manifested on her head. The Hollow Crown appeared at once, and with it, brought in the extrasensory perception that Emilia had grown to love.

She didn’t need to look at Stefan to know that he had summoned the Inspectacle. She could feel her opponents manifesting their artifacts as well. She was right about Parth.

Spending a nice chunk of mana, she focused on her telekinesis and tried to group her opponents together. She wanted them all to be right on target for Andrea's icicle.

Her artifact allowed her such freedom. She didn't need to worry if her teammate fired attacks prematurely. Or if their attacks were going to miss. She could redirect things easily. Of course, stationary objects were always easy. It was the moving targets and the heavier ones that gave her trouble. Especially those that had mana. Mana that was not her own was disruptive to her telekinesis. She wasn't good enough to control humans, especially those with active mana. But she didn't need to. Hurling force from certain directions was enough to redirect them.

As she watched, Parth sent out a fireball at the icicle.

The opposing elements collided explosively and erected a wall of steam, obscuring both teams from each other's view. Fortunately, Emilia could see with more than her eyes.

She flexed her hand as a metal ball punched through the cloud of steam. At first, she tried to take hold of it and slow it down.

Directly controlling it was difficult, and she understood why. It did not take more than a glance to recognize the artifact. She had read about the Knuckleball. It interested her, as it too was an artifact that used telekinesis. The only difference was that the telekinesis was restricted to fueling its movements alone.

Once again, she used the same tactic as before. She enveloped the area around the metal ball with her ability and tried to hold it in place.

“Andrea, create a quarterstaff. I need more debris too,” she barked out as the Knuckleball pulled away, back to its wielder.

The collision of ice and fire had left half-melted splinters around the area of impact. But that was not enough. 

Andrea stomped on the ground once more as several icicles burst out around them. The icicle that sprouted next to Stefan could pass for a crude quarterstaff. It was brittle and not refined. But for now, it would do. He kicked at the base and freed it from the ground, twirling it around him in one fluid motion.

“Eleven O’clock,” Stefan said right as a card flew in through the smoke.

Emilia had felt it before he said it, and with a flick of her fingers, the card rapidly flew upwards, exploding near the ceiling. The area rattled with the explosion, but the thing held due to the barriers placed around the gym.

“Wall,” Stefan shouted right before a large fireball cleared all the steam and flew at them, using the explosion as a distraction.

Andrea responded at once, and the fireball was met with a wall of ice.

More steam erupted from the point of impact. It was to their advantage though, as Emilia uprooted all the icicles on the ground, along with the splinters from the most recent collision of fire and ice.

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“Together,” said Andrea as she took control of what remained of the wall and exploded it outwards. Towards their opponents.

Emilia counted fifteen icicles and three clusters of debris, as she began rotating them around her team. Within seconds, they were in the eye of a tornado made of pointed ice. Once the sharp tornado picked up speed, she let go of the individual projectiles and clumped them all together. That way, she lost fine control over the individual shrapnel. But it was easier to take hold of an area and keep it moving in a specific direction. It was easier too, as the both of them worked in tandem to keep the tornado going.

She didn’t get to do it for long though, as two breaching attempts took place at once.

One was an explosion, another was a stream of fire.

Without needing prompting, Andrea launched another icicle to counter the fire. Meanwhile, Emilia grit her teeth as she worked to contain the explosion.

Stefan ran towards one of the breach points, looking to engage Moira.

Emilia didn’t have time to help them out though as her eyes widened in surprise. With a flex of mana, she stopped the tornado and swept all the ice she had in her hold right in front of her. The thick curtain of ice was not enough, as the metal ball punched through the ice at dizzying speeds.

If only she was allowed to use the weapons in the arena.

Not bothering to waste her energy on more wishful thinking, she focused on the task at hand. With a good amount of mana and concentration, she was able to stop the Knuckleball before it impacted her.

While her mind was focused on stopping the projectile, a card flew at her. She didn't have to worry though, as it was swatted out of the air by a flying quarterstaff.

"Andrea! More," Stefan yelled as he shot toward Moira at a speed greater than what humans were capable of. It was the norm for his species though.

Emilia immediately concentrated on Parth and gripped his clothes with her telekinesis. She then threw him backwards, giving Andrea room to maneuver.

The martial artist stomped on the ground once more, and several polearm-shaped ice constructs formed around her.

“Capitalize. I’ll deliver,” ordered Emilia as she plucked all the staves and flew them over to Stefan. She speared them on the ground in a line, spaced properly in front of him.

He hadn’t stopped running, and with each step, he plucked his newfound ammo out of the ground and threw it like a javelin towards Moira as he closed the distance. Emilia knew that with the aid of his artifact, he wouldn’t miss even one throw. Alas, she had other things to worry about, as Kwame had used this time to wind back the Knuckleball as far as he could.

“Tch,” Emilia bit out as the metal ball tried to punch through her once more at an insane speed. She didn’t have much time to stop it, so she took to the air instead, narrowly dodging the projectile.

It sped up even more towards the far end of the room and came to a stop. She figured that it would come back at her, trying to catch her from behind.

So, she pushed with all her might and flew towards Kwame. If he wanted to hit her, he would have to do it himself.

Her situational awareness told her that Andrea and Parth were engaged in a melee battle. Ice versus fire. Kicks versus punches. Taekwondo versus boxing. They were matched in physical skill. The differentiator of that fight hinged on the elements and raw power. Andrea seemed to be running low on steam due to all the ice she had created, whereas Parth was fresh.

The area around the two of them was a mess. Ice and fire lay waste to the ground around them.

On the other hand, she could feel Moira frantically using some barriers to shield away from Stefan’s assault. It was futile though, as the Inspectacle told him exactly what she was doing, and where he needed to hit to hurt.

All this barely took a second for her to process.

She was already upon Kwame, and the Knuckleball was close on her heels. It had doubled its speed twice and was about to do so once more.

As if she would let that happen.

This time, she had been tracking it from the very beginning. So, she exerted her will on the sphere and the air around it. She didn’t need to stop it. She needed to break it out of its path. And beak it out of its path, she did. 

That didn’t rob it of its speed, and it still shot towards her. But it was broken out of its straight line, denying it the ability to double its speed immediately.

With a deft movement, she strafed sideways, avoiding the thing entirely. She watched with amusement as Kwame's eyes went wide, and he had to stop the ball abruptly before it smashed into him.

"Switch," she heard Stefan shout, as Moira used her fairy advantage and took to the air on her wings. He had run out of javelins to throw. Yet, it looked like he had done enough damage.

She didn’t need to be told twice, as she changed trajectory and shot towards Moira. It looked like Stefan had already gotten a few hits in. She would need to capitalize on it.

They should have done this in the first place. Stefan’s artifact would allow him to track and predict the Knuckleball effectively. More so than she could. Her artifact could easily help her swat the cards Moira used.

It was good that it was a training exercise. This was an easy mistake to fix. They needed to do better in live combat. As the leader, it was her duty to guide her team properly.

She resolved to do better as she kept her distance from Moira, redirecting the cards back to the owner. Alas, the Arbitrary Dealer was clever enough and disengaged the cards that got rebounded.

Emilia grinned as she and her opponent circled each other in the air. She didn’t want to turn out like her battle maniac of a friend. She did understand the feeling though. This was an exhilarating experience.

At that moment, an explosion of fire captured everyone’s attention as Emilia cursed under her breath.

"The best-laid plans of mice and men…" she muttered as she sensed what was happening.

A massive gout of flame barreled towards Stefan. Kwame had already gripped the metal ball and hung on it as it carried him away from the oncoming fire. Emilia knew that Andrea could not help, as she was stuck inside a ring of fire. She looked like she was spent, so Emilia had to count her out.

No matter. She flexed her will upon the world and tried to swat the flames away. Stefan was faster than everyone here and did his best to jump out of the way.

Despite everyone’s efforts, a tongue of flame still licked at him and caught purchase on his clothes.

Emilia clamped down and pushed the air away from him. She wasn’t an aerokinetic, to create a vacuum. All she could do was expel whatever was around him for a short duration.

It worked partially, and Stefan capitalized on the lack of air and beat the dwindling flames out of existence.

Moira in the meantime had tried to throw several cards at Emilia. Alas, Emilia could multitask. Swatting cards aside was child's play.

At the same time, Parth had shot out, closing the distance between him and Stefan.

Before they could come to blows though, the alarm rang loudly, startling everyone.

“And time’s up,” said Roul’s smug voice over the speakers.

Emilia sighed, knowing that nobody was going to be happy with his interference. It was the right call though. They didn’t need to ramp up this close to their expedition and get injured. This was not a Deathmatch. Regardless of the logic, it still left a bitter taste in her mouth.

A victory would have been good. At the same time, these were her allies. She had wanted to test them. She had done that. If not for her hard counter to Moira, and to some extent, Kwame, they would have been a menace.

She didn’t find them wanting.

 

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