"And the winner of the first Enforcer game is team Pantheon!"
Olivia's eyes widened as everything changed. One moment, she was clashing with Ash, her spell about to overtake his, and then the next, she stood back on the square platform, the forest completely gone. Olem and Miranda both also stood next to her, and all the damage she had taken was completely gone.
It had all been a simulation, one eerily similar to the way the Arcane Knight entrance exam worked. Then again, that used Elf tech, and the Licht-Fulk were similar to elves, so it made some sense that their games would use the same simulation-like arenas.
"Pantheon won?" Miranda muttered.
"Sorry." Olem hung the closest thing he had to a head and tapped his fingers together. "I wasn't able to hold Cinder off for as long as I thought. She beat me, and it seems that spawned a Super Ho, which destroyed our crystal."
"That's how it ended?" Olivia made a face and glanced back at Ash.
He was breathing heavily and was on the other side, so she couldn't hear what he was saying, but he was staring daggers at Cinder.
"We won," Cinder announced proudly. "All thanks to me!"
"Why did you do that?" Ash growled.
"What?" Cinder seemed confused by his outburst.
"My spell was about to overtake hers! I was going to win!"
Cinder rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. "Beating some useless blood mage isn't what matters. Winning the round is all that counts."
"That's easy for you to say," Martel spoke up and rubbed his head. "Your honor is still intact."
"Let this be a learning point for both of you," Cinder said in a stern tone. "Do better next time."
"Whatever." Ash turned away. "Just stay out of my way."
"Excuse you?!"
Back over with Olivia and her group, she let out a sigh. "Sorry, I wasn't able to come up with a plan that let us win."
Olem placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be sorry. Be proud. You did awesome. Your plan wasn't bad. We were fighting Cinder, and sadly, in the world we're in, those with power stand at the top. No amount of planning could have gotten around her. Even if we had jumped her, the other two would have gotten involved, and it'd turn into an all-out brawl. We played with the hand we had been dealt and made it as far as we could. That's good. Besides, the crowd seemed to like it."
"The crowd?" Olivia glanced toward the stadium full of people and felt her heart begin to beat faster.
The Licht-Fulk were cheering and celebrating even louder now, having been given a great first match. They seemed happy.
Ho, the actual one, not the mini ones, flew into the air and did a little jig, getting the crowd to scream even louder. "Ladies and gentlemen! The first game has come to an end! Pantheon just gained a point, but for those who were on the losing team, fear not! Both the queen and the princess watched these matches and will silently assign each of you points based on how well you performed and your plan! Of course, none of you will find out about these points until the end of the match! Now, please step off the platform so the next games can begin!"
Olivia, Olem, and Miranda all walked down the stairs and rejoined their group. Gormay pulled his sister in for a noogie, while Clause and Mama Herta patted Olem on the back and congratulated him, and Ragna gave the golem a fist bump.
"Olivia!" Ghost grabbed Olivia's wrist and dragged her over to the group, where Davi, Ken, Falco, and Sieg all were. "You did so freaking cool!"
"Since when can you fly on your scythe?" Ken demanded.
Olivia sheepishly tapped her fingers together. "I did it a bit ago when Davi was in danger. I grew wings on it. This time, I just did it without the wings?"
"How?"
"I don't know, I just told it to fly."
"That's pretty impressive," Sieg snorted. "Then again, you've always seemed to be more attuned with your constructs than others. Most people can't bend spells the way you do."
"Even I can't do that." Falco glanced down at his hand. "Speaking of which, I'll need to step it up a lot. That guy you fought used a freaking Mana Strike!"
Olivia rubbed her stomach and winced slightly, recalling Ash's powerful punch. "Yeah, that freaking hurt."
"What even was that?" The group turned a little surprised when Susie, of all people, asked a question. "You called it a Mana Strike?"
Falco gave a hesitant nod. "There are a few moves people can do using raw mana. You normally need a Core that is at least E1, and I'm betting that guy got one due to all the pills his guild fed him. Anyway, you need to do a reverse process of building up mana. We usually cover our body in energy that comes from us, but in the case of Mana Skin or Strike, you have to reverse the output and undo your traces from the mana, causing it to become chaotic and impure. In the case of Mana Strike, space and time are twisted and flow, akin to a black hole, minus the gravity, for a nanosecond. That brief moment causes a massive strike. Despite being powerful, it's sort of hard to perform or get the timing right. You and Davi have workarounds since you both create those orbs out of the energy, but that's mainly because you both have Golden Cores. Well, you have a Golden Core; Davi's just fucking weird."
"That attack he hit you with was a one in a million." Ghost giggled and put her arm around Olivia's shoulder. "You got really unlucky; he pulled it off. Most mages don't even bother. The only one I can think of who actually uses Mana Strikes like that is Ragna, but that's because he's also weird and decided to make a method that lets him pull it off whenever he wants."
Olivia glanced at Ragna and shuddered slightly. In her sparing matches with him, he never showed something like that off. Just how much had he been holding back? The real Ragna must have been crazy strong.
"I can't wait for the next match!" Falco looked amped up and grinned. "I hope I get picked. What about you, Davi? You've been silently brooding."
Davi had been silent since the end of the games. His head was cocked upwards, and he was staring toward the box where the royal Licht-Fulk were. The princess was looking back down at him.
"Davi?" Sieg elbowed his brother. "You good? Hearing anything?"
Davi shook his head. "No. I haven't heard any new voices, thankfully. Just thinking."
"What are you thinking about?" Ken questioned.
"Stuff."
"I see… Want to elaborate?"
"No."
"..."
"I wonder what the next games are going to be?" Ghost hummed.
"It'll be good to watch, instead of play." Olivia grinned.
"You know, you can still be picked, right?" Falco snorted.
"I can!"
"Yeah. There's a chance you can get picked for all the games. They're totally random."
"Damn! I bet you totally just jinxed me also!"
"Oh, whoops, my bad."
A loud static sound filled the area as Ho flew up and got all eyes back on him. "Alrighty, people! Now that the state is clear, why don't we go ahead and move to game number two for the day! Get your butts back in the seats; grab some popcorn and a soda, because the next game is about to start!"
The black screen glowed and began to flip through a series of names before finally settling on one.
"Oh come on! Why is it me again?"
"It seems like Mary Lot has been selected again!" Ho said happily. "Guess she liked the games so much she wanted to play twice in a row!"
Olivia shot Falco a death glare, who had the decency to look sheepish. "Sorry, Liv."
"Fuck you."
"She won't be alone either!" Ho called out. "Last game she had two teammates, but this game she'll be getting three! Who are her partners going to be?" The screen flashed and whirled, going through the names in rapid succession before finally landing on one.
Clause let out a chuckle. "Oh my, it seems like I'll be playing." The old man winced and stood up straighter, his ancient bones snapping into place. "I sure do hope my back can handle it."
"Clause is getting to play?" Ken raised an eyebrow. "Now that I think about it, I never actually saw him fight. I wonder how strong he is."
"Come on, come on, come on." Falco held his hands up in a tight fist and shook them. "Please let me be picked, please let it be me! I want to play so badly!' The screen flashed and cycled the next name. Falco's face dropped when he didn't see his name as one of the selected ones. "Damn!"
Ghost let out a loud laugh and placed her hands on her hips, her name flashing up above her. "It seems like luck isn't on your side, Falco! Don't worry, I'll be sure to win this match for you!"
"Ghost, Olivia, and Clause." Sieg folded his arms and looked to the three of them. "One more. Who will it be?"
All of Phoenix Flight turned to the screen as the last name began to appear. Some members prayed to be selected, and others prayed it wasn't them. Eventually, the name did appear.
"Yay!" Pock clapped his hands together and did a dance, his zippers dingling. "I was selected!"
Olivia, Pock, Clause, and Ghost. Those were the four members of Phoenix Flight, selected to play in the next game.
Olivia walked up the stairs along with her three companions. She glanced between them, already figuring out a good game plan. She had no idea what Clause could do, but she and Ghost spent a full month training, so she was confident she could work in tandem with her. As for Pock, he was a vice captain and one of the stronger members of the guild. She was a lot more confident with this team than she was with the last one.
Then, she heard the enemy team. Four names were selected.
"First up in Pantheon!" Ho cycled through the names quickly, and each time he did, the crowd cheered even louder. Max and Sera were both called up. Those two were squires like Ash.
She knew a lot about Sera; the girl had been best friends with the missing Ashley, but Max was someone she hadn't really heard anything about. Sera was small and short, while Max was a grown-ass man. Most squires were around the age of eighteen, but he looked like he was forty! He had a bushy beard and wild hair and wore a skin-tight shirt and shorts, no armor or weapons on him. She also didn't sense any energy coming from him as well, so he must have been suppressing himself well.
Olivia's confidence grew when she saw the two Squires, since her team should be able to handle them, but that confidence then faded when the last two names were called out. Dread took its place as Battery, and Whisper both joined Max and Sera on stage.
Whisper was already extremely bad. She was the vice captain to Pantheon, which meant she was insanely strong. Likely even above Cinder. Battery was also an issue. He was the man who had led Davi's team during one of the exams, then got pissed and tried to beat Davi up. Battery was famous for his power, and many guilds wanted him as a vice captain, so his power was around that level as well. Without a doubt, both of them were far stronger than Cinder.
Just her luck…
"Clause…"
"Yes?" The old man turned to look at her. He was dressed in chainmail and carried his massive warhammer. "What is it?"
"I don't suppose you could beat Cinder?"
"Probably not."
"Fuck my life…"
"So, we want to just chalk this one up to another loss?" Ghost giggled.
"At least wait and see what the games are." Pock also laughed, seeming not to care how stacked the odds were. "Maybe we'll be lucky, and it'll be a game of chess or something like that!"
"Maybe, but I wouldn't hedge all our bets on luck." Olivia sighed. "Let's just do our best. Maybe we can take the Squires out and jump the other two." Knowing Whisper, the girl could likely fight all four of them on her own.
Once again, she was placed into a terrible situation. Her only hope was that the game would be something she could figure out a win-con with.
"Alrighty, folks!" Ho began to speak once again, his booming voice drowning out the screaming crowd that cheered. "The second match is about to start! The screen will select it, and like last time, you'll be given the rules! Good luck to both teams, and do your best! Most importantly, put on an amazing show!"
The screen glowed, and various letters and symbols began to appear. They faded in and out as it cycled through hundreds, but eventually it stopped on one. The screen showed the symbol of a circle with a lightning bolt placed in the center of it. Words then formed beneath it.
'Blitzball.'
"Blitzball? What is that-"
The arena shook and began to change as the simulation powered on. The floor beneath them suddenly faded, and Olivia nearly panicked, expecting to fall, but instead she found herself standing on air. Then that air was replaced with water. It rapidly climbed up and went over her head, forming a massive dome around her and the other players that was twice the size of a football field.
She gagged as water flowed into her mouth, but then it vanished, and she began to breathe? She was floating in the liquid, and it felt exactly like water, but her chest was rising and falling just fine, and she could breathe just fine. It reminded her of Davi's Shadow Vault. She was able to float in a void that was similar to the ocean, only this place wasn't cold at all, and her clothes didn't feel wet despite being submerged.
Speaking of her clothes, they also changed. The energy of the simulation surrounded her and the other players and replaced the clothing they had on. Gone was her leather armor, and instead she had on sports shoes, knee-high socks, shorts, and a dark pink jersey shirt. Her hair was done up in a ponytail, and pads were placed over her elbows and kneecaps. The rest of her team were also in similar getups, and across from her, Pantheon's members had the same as well, but theirs were blue instead of pink.
All of them floated in the strange bubble of water as more stuff began to appear. Behind her and her team, pink fire appeared in the water, and it twisted into the perfect image of a circle. It emitted no heat, and the water failed to put it out. It was also so big that even Olem could fit through it. More pink fire then appeared above it and formed into the number one.
Next to the circle, a second hoop of pink fire appeared, this one half the size of the first, with the number two above it. Then an even smaller one appeared with the number three, followed by a fourth one with the number two, and then finally, the smallest hoop appeared with the number five above it. Each hoop was half the size of the last one, leaving the final hoop to be slightly smaller than a bowling ball.
Just like with the clothes, Pantheon's team had the same thing on their side. Both sides glanced at their hoops and then turned to look at the final thing that appeared within the strange simulation.
It was smack dab in the center of both player groups. It was slightly smaller than a bowling ball and was most likely created to perfectly fit through the smallest hoop. It was a ball, but it was made of solid gold, and lightning swirled around it, zapping off of it. Real lightning, also, not like the fire, because Olivia could feel her hair start to stand on end, and the water was beginning to boil.
"What the hell even is this game?" Right on cue, the voice of Ho appeared in all of their minds, allowing them to learn how to play.
'Welcome to Blitzball! This is a fun and challenging sport! The rules are also simple! Both teams compete to throw that orb through the hoops of the enemy! Your objective is to stop the enemy from throwing the orb through your own hoops! Each hoop is worth a series of points! The bigger the hoop, the fewer points there are! Also, if a hoop is used, it will shrink and go up by one point until it is worth a total of five points, so don't think you can just keep getting easy scores! Also, be warned! The longer the game goes on, the more electric the orb gets! When thrown through a hoop, the orb's electric value is multiplied by that amount! For example, if you throw it through a hoop worth five points, then the shock it emits will grow five times stronger! The orb will try to shock everyone! Careful when you hold it! Also, spells and weapons are prohibited! Players can use mana, and they can engage in combat with the use of their hands or the Blitzball, but using any sort of tool besides the Blitzball or casting a spell is an automatic failure. And those are the rules to Blitzball! Have fun!'
Olivia blinked as she processed the rules to the game. "Seriously." She glanced back at the other team. "If combat is allowed, then can we even win? No, that's loser talk. I have to figure out the best path."
"Think you can do it?" Clause asked.
Olivia smirked. "Yeah. As a matter of fact, I think I just got an idea."