Quest Academy: Silvers, page 58
When Sal turned around to look at the other teams, he could see Lucia hunched over in pain. Her arms shook and her entire team tried to help her, but there was nothing they could do. The essence exhaustion was likely setting in for her, and it was astounding that she was single-handedly carrying her team through the competition.
Sal couldn’t help but admire her. After another quick glance at the scoreboard, and he justified that it couldn’t hurt to give her one of the recovery drinks from the vendors. He had already fought against her, and the excuse he gave himself was that her performing well against his competitors would only help his overall score.
He accepted that internal logic as he got to his feet and made his way across the stands to where she was sitting. Her team instinctively made way for Sal, and he wasn’t sure whether it was because of the previous battles, or whether they knew that he was friends with Nova.
Lucia could barely turn her head without wincing, but she managed to give him a wink. “Don’t worry, Sal. I just need a breather, and I’ll be fine.”
“Drink this,” Sal instructed as he handed her the metal hip flask. “All of it. It’ll make you feel better.”
His tone was firm, and Lucia didn’t question his motives as she brought it to her lips and took a tentative swig. Her eyes widened, and she practically chugged the remainder of the liquid in one go. Sal was about to tell her that it would take a few minutes for the effects to properly work, but he was stunned to silence as her body started to emit steam.
Lucia cracked her neck and flexed her shoulders as a grin spread across her lips. She stretched her body out before she locked Sal in a grateful embrace.
He was surprised at the sudden show of affection and wasn’t exactly sure how to react.
“I appreciate that, thank you. I’m still going to get even with you for the beating you gave me…so you can look forward to that.”
Her smile was sweet, even if her words weren’t. Sal had no regrets in giving her the recovery tonic and returned to his team in the stands.
They were looking at him as though he were crazy, but Barry nodded appreciatively. “Didn’t think she was your type, but I can see it.” He tilted his head as he appraised Lucia, and Sal just laughed with a shake of his head.
“Just helping a friend. I’m not sure I want to date someone who can literally change their appearance to look like anyone…” Sal thought about that statement before he turned back to Barry with a laugh. “Actually, scratch that. I think I’d be okay with it!”
Blathnaid rolled her eyes, but Jack turned around with a serious expression.
“Don’t forget, Sal—she can turn into a giant too!”
Everyone got a smile out of that, which turned into uncontrollable laughter when Barry created a mock illusion of a giant Lucia flattening a normal-sized Sal.
When everything settled down, Sal turned and looked at the upcoming fights that would be happening in a few minutes. The first one was against Crypto Daniels, the Rank #18. He apparently had a rough start but found his groove throughout the next few fights. He was definitely in contention for the top spots, but Sal saw him as a speed bump on the way to his true destination.
The tenth fight, which would be after Crypto, was with Gerard Kilsee, the Rank #20. Fuck-Face, from the bathrooms on Sal’s first day, and the ringleader of all the taunts from the Combat class. Sal wasn’t a particularly competitive person, but Gerard had managed to rub him the wrong way too many times. He was looking forward to their fight—five Support classes against five Offense classes. All the odds should have been against them, but Sal didn’t care in the slightest. He just wanted to see the look on Gerard’s face when he was defeated.
Chapter 79:
Showtime
Alastair grimaced as he looked down at the schedule in front of him and then at the time. “We spent a bit too long with the Gold cohort, so we can’t hang around here for too long.”
He turned around to the group of guild officials, who were still chatting excitedly to one another. Alastair couldn’t blame them in the slightest because he had witnessed it too. Neuro’s daughter, Erika—the first-year who held the #1 rank in the whole academy—was effortlessly dismantling the Gold cohort teams, one by one. She was, without question, the top prospect for pretty much anyone who watched her. Quest had to intervene and force the scouts to attend other tournament grounds, and Alastair counted himself among the disappointed people. He wanted to stay and watch the rest of her fights.
“Is the next one the Black cohort?” Alastair asked as he entered the stadium with a frown, looking around to see if there was a visual clue.
“Silver.”
The answer came from Anna Sakura, who walked beside their group quietly.
Alastair nearly flinched at the sudden sight of her. He hadn’t noticed her presence. “What are you doing here?” He couldn’t fathom why she was watching a first-year tournament, especially considering that she had been in a dungeon raid just the previous night.
Anna Sakura sighed as she gestured toward the prisms in the center of the stadium ahead. “There’s a guy here I’m supposed to scout for the Assassination module. He’s on Team #20 and has a stealth ability.”
Alastair chuckled as he shrugged. “I thought you’d be here to cheer on our new recruits in the Doom Society.”
For the first time, Anna Sakura’s passive expression changed. She looked at Alastair in confusion, and he pointed at the schedule in front of him.
“Sal and Divinity are in the Silver cohort. Team #20, you said?” Alastair double-checked as he pointed at the groupings with a grin. “Oh, that’s rough! Sal is scheduled to fight them next. Make sure you cheer for him, okay?”
Anna Sakura leaned over and looked at the teams with a raised eyebrow. When she saw the team compositions, she let out an involuntary sigh. “Five Support classes against five Offense classes? I’ll probably have to hang around to see Team #20 fight against other Offensive and Defensive people to get a good read on their skills. This one won’t be much of a fight.”
Her voice carried a note of finality, and Alastair smiled at her as they finally arrived at the prisms. Just as he was about to move toward the nearest seating area, he noticed that Anna Sakura stared at one of the prisms in shock. Turning to see what she was looking at, Alastair’s jaw dropped in disbelief.
Position
Team Captain
Rank
Team Classes
Wins / Losses
1st
Salvatore Argento
#2
S/S/S/S/S
9-0
2nd
Lucia Hernandez
#4
O/S/S/S/S
8-1
3rd
Jenni Stravos
#17
C/O/D/D/S
7-2
4th
Gerard Kilsee
#20
O/O/O/O/O
7-2
5th
Divinity Khan
#1
C/S/S/S/D
7-2
6th
Whisper Ding
#12
C/D/O/S/S
6-3
7th
Crypto Daniels
#18
O/D/D/C/S
6-3
8th
Victoria Chase
#7
C/S/S/S/D
6-3
Alastair had to do a double take when he looked down at the schedule. “What the hell happened here?” The answer came from behind him.
“Welcome to the party.” Jez grinned from the stands as he raised a hip flask in Alastair’s direction in greeting.
Anna Sakura was still staring at the results. “How is it possible for a Support team to be leading the group?” She tucked a strand of jet-black hair behind her ear as she turned around to Jez with a frown. “Are all the other teams terrible or something?”
Instead of answering, Jez gestured at the row of available seats in front of him. “You need to see it for yourself. Alastair, you should keep an eye on that Whisper girl. She’s something else!”
Anna Sakura didn’t hesitate in the slightest as she moved to take a seat, her dark eyes trained on the prism the entire time, as though she might miss something if she looked away. Alastair exhaled heavily as he moved into a seat beside Jez. The Administration lecturer handed the hip flask to Alastair, but the Tactics lecturer declined with a wave of his hand.
“It’s too early for that.”
Jez chuckled as Sal’s team entered the prism in front of them. “Don’t get your hopes up too much, though. They’ve got solid teamwork and good equipment, which is pretty much the only reason they’ve gotten this far. If that Offense team gets their shit together, they should be able to break the winning streak,” Jez muttered as he leaned forward in his seat in anticipation.
With a passing glance at Anna Sakura, he grinned. “Well done yesterday, by the way. You did great!”
Anna Sakura gave Jez a respectful nod but didn’t say a word.
Alastair frowned as he looked at Sal’s team closely. “Have you seen anything…out of the ordinary? Illusions perhaps?” He watched Barry with curiosity.
Jez laughed. “Nope, they just jump around and the guy with the sword takes people out. Pretty straightforward stuff.”
Alastair laughed, which surprised Jez considerably.
When he looked at Alastair, the Tactics lecturer took the hip flask from him. “Sounds like they’re not using their trump cards yet. This could be interesting!”
Anna Sakura looked over at Alastair but didn’t ask anything. She turned back to watch the two teams, a small smile appearing on her face.
***
Sal turned around to look at his team in the moments before the fight began. Everyone seemed focused and determined. It wasn’t enough to just win this fight; it needed to be an overwhelming victory, and the whole team was on board with the plan. Rather than conserving energy, they were going to go all out from the very beginning.
Because their top ten fights would be counted out of the nineteen, a positive result here would give them ten straight wins. For that reason, Sal had instructed them to disregard their essence conservation. Jack and Blathnaid weren’t going to have much of a marked change in performance, but Anthony and Barry had the potential to create a major impact. Barry gave Sal a knowing wink as he got into a combat stance. On the other side, Anthony was breathing slowly as he stared at the blade in his grip. It was surreal to see him so determined, but oddly reassuring.
On the opposite side of the prism, Gerard spent his time shouting taunts at Sal. His whole team looked at him distastefully, but Gerard didn’t care in the slightest. In his eyes, this was the perfect opportunity to get back at Sal for their first day at the academy. Bolt, Rodrigo, and Archer all looked to be tired from their previous fights, but Gerard was still in relatively good condition.
As the countdown to the fight started, Barry activated his ability, coating both of his arms in glowing green runes. Anthony threw all his power into the Supercharge ability, making the sword burst into a bright light. Sal activated his ability and channeled his essence into the gloves, creating the suit of black armor from before.
When Sal turned to look at Anthony, he saw that the sword tentacles had covered his entire torso, creating a writhing suit of red armor. The blade itself was glowing a vicious red, and sparks of black energy seemed to course through the metal in anticipation of a fight. Sal knew that it was being pushed to its absolute limits as the color was different from when they had trained, and he desperately wanted to Appraise it. There was no time for that, though. The fight had begun.
“Overwhelm!” Sal shouted, causing each of his team to jump into action.
Jack and Blathnaid used the speed of their leaper boots to burst forward with their shields raised protectively. They needed to keep it up to avoid any sudden attacks as they closed the distance. Bolt and Archer were both ranged, with Rodrigo lacking a lot of mobility. Rogue was one they needed to keep an eye on with his stealth-based ability, as he’d likely ambush someone during the fight.
For that reason, Sal ideally wanted Rogue to be taken out first.
Barry weaved his hands around in an intricate pattern and his face was a picture of concentration and effort. He gritted his teeth and brought his ability under control before unleashing it on their opponents.
“How much do you want to bet that they’ll shit themselves?” Barry whispered as he summoned all the illusions from his mind, into the prism. For theatric effect, he roared out, “My summoned minions! Go forth and crush our opponents!”
Gerard and his team were completely stunned at the sudden appearance of an armored angel.
Sal recognized the features immediately and knew that this was a variant of Divinity from the illusions Barry had created the night before. Rather than showing her face this time, Barry had created a fully concealed battle-angel in a suit of metal armor. In her hand was a similar sword to the one Anthony was wielding.
As if that wasn’t enough, the next figure to materialize was a black-armored silhouette that caused Sal to inhale sharply. Seeing the Commander variant on screen had been scary enough, but to have one materialize in front of them was all the more terrifying. Just like the footage they had seen, the black armor was physically smoking as the Commander raised a sword and shield in a threatening manner.
Barry’s grin grew wider as he launched his hands forward, causing absolute mayhem to unfold. The attack pattern from Jenni Stravos, that used explosions with the click of a finger, started to appear around the battlefield.
Gerard stood frozen in fear as he watched the arena light up in a series of explosions. The flying angel was swooping toward him while the Commander rushed toward Bolt. His team looked at him for a moment, waiting for the instructions that never came. A close explosion obscured their vision of the battlefield but was quickly dissipated by a vicious kick that connected with the side of Rodrigo’s head.
Blathnaid landed gracefully and leaped forward again, launching her knee directly at Archer, who only barely managed to evade. Blathnaid’s hand swung backward to the crumpled form of Rodrigo, where she activated her pulse gauntlet. The blast knocked him unconscious and propelled her out of harm’s way. A bolt of lightning shot past the area she had just occupied in the air.
Gerard whirled around to Bolt and screamed at him to focus his attacks on the Commander in black armor. He looked around in a panic, raising his hands to give more orders, but faltering each time. He backed away from his team while he pointed to where Barry stood at the back of the group. “Rogue, take that one out!”
With a burst of smoke, Rogue appeared behind Barry and launched a vicious attack at his neck…attempting to take him down in a single hit. Before his hand could get close, a blue barrier appeared and nullified the attack completely. Barry smirked as his right hand whipped around with a snap of his fingers. An explosion of light caused Rogue to stumble backward in shock; when his eyes readjusted, Barry was nowhere to be seen. Instead, he was faced with a red knight, who pointed a red blade directly at Rogue’s head.
Anthony’s voice sounded out from the helm. “I’m your opponent.”
Rogue grinned at the sudden turn of events as he activated his ability. In a burst of smoke, Rogue was behind the suit of armor and launching an attack at every exposed area he could find. The red sword flashed out menacingly and slapped his hand away. Without thinking, Rogue pulled two daggers from his boots and threw himself into the rhythm. A flurry of attacks was deflected instantaneously and rather than being discouraged, Rogue burst out laughing. He used his Shadow Step ability to move around the red knight, but no matter what he tried, his attacks were countered.
Rogue grinned as he slid backward and spat at the ground. “There has to be a limit to your power! I’ll find it!” With that, he burst forward into an even faster set of attacks that would put Divinity to shame.
The red blade countered everything with ease, even going so far as to let off a blast of energy when Rogue got too close. Anthony looked like he was on autopilot, with the sword doing most of the work for him. He had to keep the bloodlust of the sword at bay at all costs, causing him to pull back on some of the more vicious swings that it attempted.
Sal inspected the battlefield and was delighted to see that Blathnaid had managed to take out Rodrigo with a flying kick, and she was holding her own against Archer. Jack was struggling to hit Bolt, but the lightning user was fully preoccupied with the Commander illusion and hadn’t yet noticed that it wasn’t real. Rogue was in a one-on-one battle with Anthony that looked insane.
All that remained was Gerard, who stood with his back to the prism wall. He looked like he was in complete shock with the turn of events.
Sal threw even more power into his gear as he stared at Gerard with a grin on his face. “Finish them off!” Sal roared out, causing Bolt, Rogue, and Archer to whirl around in a panic to survey their teammates.
That opening was all Blathnaid needed to activate her leaper boots. She cartwheeled backward in an arc, with her right foot connecting with the underside of Archer’s chin, knocking him unconscious instantly. As though he was able to predict what was about to happen, Bolt burst toward Archer to try and prevent the attack, but out of nowhere, Barry materialized with his pulse gauntlet aimed directly at Bolt’s face.
