Rise of the Living Forge

Olive was more nervous than she cared to admit. The crowd roared all around her and the members of Phoenix Circle as the three of them made their way back out on to the arena floor. It hadn’t been all that long since the melee rounds had ended, though she’d had more than enough time to recover what little energy she’d spent.

She just hadn’t been expecting to be called up in the literal first normal round of the tournament. And against the Kererus Coalition, no less. Olive could feel sweat prickling against her palms and her heart pounding furiously in her chest.

“Nerves again?” Elias guessed as the three of them arrived upon the arena and came to a stop a few paces away from the edge.

“Yeah,” Olive said. “This is just a whole lot more attention focused on me than I’m used to. It’s really unnerving. I don’t think I’m built for tournaments like this. Dungeons are way better.”

“We actually rather like the attention,” Elias said with a sheepish chuckle. “It makes me feel alive, you know? And Maeve has always been a performer. I wish she could perform to the full extent of her abilities… but I don’t think that’ll ever be happening in the Kingdom of Lian.”

Olive nearly asked why before she remembered that Maeve wasn’t a human. She was a monster. Even though the three of them had spent so much time together practicing for the tournament, that fact continued to slip from Olive’s mind.

It was getting harder and harder for her to even keep a distinction between monster and human so much as enemy and ally. Maeve didn’t speak, but aside from that, she acted just like anyone else did.

The same was true for Lillia. She’d have included Madiv in that assessment as well, but truth be told, the vampire was definitely a bit odd. Olive was pretty sure that had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he was a vampire and more to do with the fact that he himself was just weird.

The Adventurer’s Guild really slipped one over all of us, didn’t they? I just wish I knew why. I don’t get what the purpose of any of this is… but I suppose that doesn’t matter right now.

Olive’s grip tightened around her sword and she let out a short breath, focusing on the blade in her hands and letting her other worries slip into the back of her mind. She couldn’t afford to be distracted for something like this.

The tournament was about more than her. It was about more than advertising Arwin’s abilities — though that was a very important part of it. It was about more than even proving their guild was strong. They had to win this tournament to save Elias’ life.

Unlife, I guess. Whatever it is. We can’t afford to fail. But Elias and Maeve have done this more times than I can count. They’re going to be fine under the pressure. I’m the one that needs to do my part. A lot of our strategy is built around me. I can’t let them down.

“Don’t forget about the potential thing that might happen during any of our fights,” Olive reminded Maeve and Elias. “You know. The—”

“We remember,” Elias said. The bandages covering his face creased as he smiled. “Don’t you worry. Just give us warning the moment it does. We’ll pick up the slack or stay out of the way. Whichever it happens to be.”

“Thanks,” Olive said.

Across the stone arena, another group of three stepped up. All three of them were lithe and wore dark leather rather than metal armor. Masks covered their faces and every inch of their skin was wrapped with black cloth. They definitely looked like they were going to be going for agility over defensiveness.

“Look like assassins,” Elias observed over the distant roar of the crowd. “They’ll probably target Maeve first. Focus defending her over attacking them. Assassins are strongest in the first exchange of blows. They’re not well suited to tournaments. Having one is fine, but a whole group of them is odd. Keep an eye out for some special trickery or similar bullshit.”

“They made it through the melees,” Olive pointed out. “They definitely aren’t slouches. And they aren’t just assassins. I’ve seen them before. These are members of the Falling Blade. Expect them to be very coordinated.”

“Noted,” Elias said. “If we play things slow and smart, they should be at a significant disadvantage. Just remember that assassins aren’t trained to showboat. They’re trained to kill.”

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Olive’s grip tightened on her sword as she raised it before her and set her stance. “I’m more than aware. The rules of the tournament say that killing is discouraged. Not forbidden. I haven’t forgotten that.”

“Exactly. They might go for a kill right off the bat.”

“I wasn’t talking about them,” Olive said.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Kraven boomed, his words ripping through the arena like thunderclap. “I think we’ve given our teams enough time to sit around waiting to get started, don’t you?”

The crowd roared in response — or perhaps they were just roaring. It was hard to tell if there was any correlation to Kraven’s words and their reaction to them. People just seemed to like making noise.

It didn’t seem to matter to the announcer, who took the deafening sound as approval.

“Well then. Let’s get right to it!” Kraven yelled, clapping his hands together. The platform he stood on zipped above the arena at dangerous speeds, completing a full circle above them as he stretched his arms out wide. “Round 1, The Menagerie versus The Kererus Coalition, begins now! The last group standing on the arena claims victory! Get to it, adventurers!”

“It’ll be fast,” Elias said. “We’ll want to decide the fight in the first exchange of blows. Remember. Cover Maeve. Strike back when they try to retreat.”

Olive nodded. She didn’t have any more attention to waste on speaking. Her gaze was completely focused on the trio of assassins on the arena across from her. She kept her sword at the ready, taking up Maeve’s right flank while Elias covered the left.

The assassins burst into motion, sprinting across the battlefield. Their hands were clenched as if they each held something round within them. Olive’s eyes narrowed. She recognized those.

“They’ve got bombs that will make a bright flash of light when they get nearby,” Olive warned. “Don’t’ get caught off guard.”

Maeve’s fingers strummed through the air and a comforting note echoed out. It wrapped around Olive like a warm blanket. She didn’t get a chance to ask what kind of buff Maeve had just applied.

No more than a second after the last word had left Olive’s mouth, the assassins hurled the items in their hands.

There were three brilliant flashes — but for some reason, the light was muted. Olive squinted to keep it from blinding her, but instead of an explosion of white swallowing her vision, there was only a dim pop.

All three of the assassins lunged as one. They drew slender blades from somewhere on their wrapped bodies and thrust them for Maeve, each coming from a different angle. The attack was blindingly fast and clearly practiced.

If Olive had actually been blinded, it would have been nearly impossible to stop it from going off. Even a moment of distraction would have been enough for them to kill Maeve — and there was no doubt that they were aiming for exactly that.

Their swords were headed straight for her vital points. They were treating this like an assassination mission, not a tournament.

But Olive wasn’t blinded. She was barely even startled.

Her sword sliced up through the air, slamming up into one of the blades and ripping it from the assassin’s grip. She didn’t stop moving as she drove her shoulder into his chest, cracking the bones of his ribcage with a loud crunch and continuing her swing up into another assassin’s blade.

The second weapon spun free with a ringing clang. Elias’ crossed daggers met the third sword, blocking it from its mark just inches before it could reach Maeve’s heart.

A flicker of shock passed through the eyes — the only uncovered part of the assassin before her. They hadn’t been expecting their attack to be thwarted so decisively. There was no doubt in Olive’s mind that they’d disengage and attempt to attack again from a different angle, continuing the process until they managed to kill Maeve.

Her arms moved before her mind had even finished processing all of that information. Magic poured through her body and raced down her hands into the blade held tightly in her grip.

[Hundredfold Sword] was devastatingly effective at carving through just about anything in its path, but the ability had another use. The immense force she could put into the sword could also let her change its direction far faster than any normal strike could ever hope to move.

She brought her sword, which was well above her shoulder after knocking the second sword away from Maeve, straight back down in a blur of silvered metal.

Olive swung it straight into the side of the assassin’s neck.

There was an instant of silence, where even the roar of the crowd faded into a dull buzz in the distance. All that remained was Olive and the assassin standing before her.

The look of shock in their eyes was the last thing they ever felt.

There was a wet thud as the assassin’s head rolled back, severed at the neck, and fell to the floor of the arena at Olive’s feet. Their body followed after it, collapsing in a heap.

A droplet of blood rolled down the edge of Olive’s blade and dripped to the ground. Her eyes were as sharp as the blade in her grip. No healers would be saving the body before her. There was no life left within it. It was just a corpse.

The other two assassins leapt back, staring at Olive in disbelief. Whether it was because she’d killed one or of their allies or if it was because their attack had failed, she didn’t know.

She didn’t care.

“If you come prepared to kill…” Olive raised her sword before her. She couldn’t help but notice that her nerves had settled down. All that remained was determination. Her team was relying on her. She wouldn’t fail them — no matter who stood in their way. “Then you come prepared to die.”

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