AA. 56 (Patreon)

“I think we're incentivized to collect enemy pouches,” Nil said, going through the stolen supplies. In addition to water, the pouch contained an energy drink—or a green concoction that smelled like one—a burn ointment, and a strange stone that flashed when squeezed. “I wonder if everyone got something different with water as a consistent element. Unless they used it already, Mr Scimitar didn't get a first-aid kit.”

“I think you're right,” Fatima said, going through her new container. A couple of hours had passed since the battle royale began, and the trio had just found the opportunity to rest and regroup. As predicted, the scream drew pursuers, and shaking them took a while. None of the team was interested in fighting so early in the day, and they ended up exhausted—especially a concern for Xiang- and had to run until they got two teams to run into each other. “This one's the same.” She popped the top on the glass bottle, sniffed, and took a sip. Fatima shuddered. “You can't see it, but that just gave me goosebumps. It tastes rank, but it feels like I just had a refreshing nap.” Fatima rolled her shoulders. “The aches from running for two hours nonstop are gone, too.”

Xiang's eyes widened after she took a sip from the open container. “Must be some sort of stamina recovery drink,” she said. “It washed away all of the lactic acid buildup.”

Nil shook his head, rejecting the open container. “I'm fine for now. Let's conserve it,” he said. Energy Instinct highlighted how the blue-gold aura Xiang radiated ceased fluctuating and compressed until it was no more than a shimmer. Her arcane suppression—apparently an essential skill for mages—appeared to fluctuate based on fatigue, stress, and her general mental state. It was essential in their current setting so others with similar sensing abilities didn’t detect her.

Energy Instinct has progressed to Mortal 6!

While Xiang and Fatima hydrated and ate a bit of jerky each, Nil ascended through the hole in the ceiling and scanned their surroundings.

The barrier now touched the temple the team initially used as their viewing spot. A big thirty-eight flashed on the glassy surface above. It updated whenever the dome shrank, letting them know how many participants remained in the match. Nil expected the numbers to have shrunk far more across the first couple of hours. The competition wasn’t as hot-headed as he had hoped. More groups were approaching the battle royale strategically than expected. 

“We’re twenty minutes away from the barrier shrinking again,” Nil said, returning to his companions. “I think we need to be more proactive and start tracking and eliminating people, preferably stealthily. The more people there are in a cramped space, the more chaotic things will get. I can withstand physical attackers, but I suspect that almost every team has someone with a metaphysical ability. Those will take me down faster than I can react. Our best bet might be hoarding medical supplies for when the time comes.”

“But fighting without drawing attention is impossible,” Xiang said. “Someone will cry out or fire off a loud attack, and then we’ll get swarmed. It's not what we planned. Your patience is waning.”

“So we attack when others can’t come for us,” Nil said. 

“I’m not sure I understand.” Xiang frowned.

“He’s suggesting we attack when the barrier shrinks,” Fatima said.

Nil nodded. “My sensory ability tells me we’re not the only people hiding and moving along the arena’s edge or just inside. I bet people are trying to find others like them and avoiding the center.” Magic endlessly flashed at the heart of the arena, and sounds of battle rang across the mostly silent city. The team had guessed someone had holed up at the location and was drawing people in to eliminate. “These groups will move just before the end of the hour or with the barrier. That’s when we strike, Xiang. Let's put them down swiftly or just grab their pouches and run. If they chase us, Fatima can flank them and take out their long-range attacker, and then we converge on the rest and finish them off.”

“Then we take cover and track other teams for the next hour?” Xiang asked.

Nil nodded. “I think that’s our best chance at victory. What do you think?”

“I think it will give us a chance to get picked even if we don’t make it to the final five.” Xiang walked to the nearby window, pressed herself against the wall, and peeked through the broken glass. Lights flashed at the arena’s heart and also along the border. The latter conflict wasn’t far. “Let’s move closer to them. We’ll follow the survivors until the end of the hour and then attack.”

Nil took the lead, and Xiang followed closely behind him. Meanwhile, Fatima stuck to the rooftops. They occasionally signaled each other with the stones from the stolen pouches: two flashes for ‘safe’ and one for ‘lie low.’

The fight they encountered involved two groups in a stalemate and a third peppering them with long-range attacks. All individual teams were so locked in combat with one another that they didn’t notice Nil and Xiang or the hunters stalking them on the other side of the battlefield. Neither hidden party struck, watching the conflict and waiting.

They have the same idea as us.

Much to Nil’s annoyance, Fatima moved independently, ignoring the plans. She looped around the battlefield, giving the main conflict a wide berth. Then, one of the presences Nil detected with Energy Instinct winked out. A handful of minutes later, she returned to her hiding spot above Nil and dropped a pair of bloody pouches next to him. He hastily checked them. The varying contents suggested they were from two different groups. 

The stalemate broke when the hunters hiding in the shadows launched a powerful spell into the mix and fled. Nil guessed Fatima’s assassination had thrown their plan into disarray and was probably shaken, too. Her silence and clean cuts did that to most people. The explosive magic forced the two melee teams out of cover, and then the ranged group, which had two spell casters, unleashed a barrage on them. 

As luck would have it, the barrier started moving just then. All surviving participants ran deeper into the arena and away from each other. Xiang and Fatima gave chase. Meanwhile, Nil rushed into the heart of the now-abandoned battlefield, grabbing every pouch he could see. The barrier didn’t give him much time, and he only got three of the four before he chased after his teammates, picking up speed with Expend. 

Nil caught up to Xiang just in time to see her knock down a fleeing skinny man with a thrown chakram. He was one of the melee fighters from the stalemate. Unwilling to drop his loot, he leaped high and landed on the man’s legs with both feet. The sickening crunch turned Nil’s stomach, but he steeled himself, ignored the screaming, grabbed his opponent’s pouch, and set his sights on the next target. 

The same pattern followed. Xiang’s second target was a muscular brute covered in ugly bony growths. Nil doubted the same leg break tactic would work. Instead, he exploited the man’s low speed. He passed the collected pouches to Xiang and instructed her to keep running. She seemed perturbed by the burden but didn’t complain since the barrier was a dozen feet behind them. Observation had proved that it let people out and not back in. Once outside, people had no choice but to activate the Return spell gifted by the arena’s construct.

Nil leaped into the brute’s path. The man didn’t stop. His eyes went wide when he slammed into the much-skinnier Nil and stopped in his tracks. The shock was a nice bonus and didn’t go uncapitalized. Nil grabbed his opponent’s belt pouch and hopped back a step, switching to neutral just as Xiang ran past him. The brute hesitantly glanced at the approaching barrier and Nil. Then, he charged again. An Expend-powered kick with half of Brutal Battery’s stores behind it sent the man staggering backward. The brute proved sturdier than possible and didn’t go down. However, it got the job done.

The barrier caught up to the man and he slipped through it. He nor his angry screams got through the transparent surface. Nil didn’t spare him a second thought. Brutal Battery’s stores dropped to a fifth of maximum as he raced away, increasing the distance between himself and the barrier. Fatima waved at him from a nearby roof, and an empowered leap carried him to a neighboring roof. Only fifteen percent of his energy stores remained when he reunited with his companions, and the barrier ceased moving.

“How many did you get?” Nil asked. He helped himself by sipping an energy drink before draining a bottle of water. Sweat soaked his hair and dropped down the back of his neck. It was tempting to pour water over himself, but he resisted. They had several bottles, but conserving them was the smarter move. Fatima had no such qualms.

“I took out both mages,” she replied, drinking half a bottle before pouring the other over her head, face, and neck. Two pouches lay at her feet. “There was one more guy. I don’t know if he was with them or the other hunter group. The bastard got away.”

“Twenty-three people left,” Xiang said, pointing at the new numbers on the dome. Then, she and Nil dug through the pouches, consolidating the supplies. They found more food, a salve that looked and smelled like Symbiotech’s wound-sealing spray. Medical supplies seemed sparse. There was more food and a small bag of magic-recovery lozenges. Xiang took them.

They consolidated all of the loot into five pouches. Since Xiang’s chakram power increased with Spark, she hadn’t invested much in her Might. As a result, her strength and stamina lagged far behind Nil and Fatima’s. They let her only carry one pouch with water, magic lozenges, and a couple of sips of the energy drink. They were in the middle of discussing how to divide the rest when a near-crippling headache pulsed through Nil’s head. He staggered, grasping the flat roof’s wall for support. 

Xiang appeared unaffected, but Fatima collapsed, screaming and clutching her head. The pink flecks dancing off her multiplied and darkened. The red crystalline material that formed her blades and knuckle guards extended over her hands and wrists. The symbiote covering her squirmed, almost seeming to merge with hardened blood. Purple energy motes joined the pink.

“Psychic attack,” Xiang whispered. She conjured four chakrams. The rogue-mage held two and let the second pair hang from her wrists. “Take Fatima and run. I’ll cover you.”

“Are you sure?” Nil asked.

Xiang nodded.

Fortunately, Fatima had enough sense to cling to Nil’s back when he kneeled in front of her. Xiang attached all the pouches to her waistband while Nil focused on the fighting in the distance. Katherine had taught him to fight and resist psychic attacks, but they weren’t in training anymore. The Mind Mage likely had companions coming for the party. He didn’t see Xiang engage the opponent as he ran. Chakrams whirred through the air and shattered. Angry shouts followed. It was tempting to check on Xiang, but he resisted.

Absorb cushioned Nil’s fall from the roof. He kept the ability active as he sprinted away, moving along the barrier. He saw the flashes of Xiang’s chakram in his peripheral vision. They were close. When the tightness around Nil’s head tightened, he knew fleeing wouldn’t work. Before returning to the fight, he stashed Fatima and all the pouches inside a half-collapsed building.

Instead of helping Xiang, he silently ran past her as she fought two melee fighters. Nil poured all his focus into Energy Instinct even when the discomfort increased. The shadows squirmed, and the back of his ears itched. Then, he saw the pulsating pink that surrounded Katherine when she used her ability and spells. Except the one ahead was significantly weaker, lacking intensity and luster. 

Thanks to Absorb, the source didn’t hear Nil's approach. Worried an Expend-powered strike would kill them, he opted to choke the mage out. Grunts, screams and gasps burst from the cloaked figure as Nil increased the pressure on their neck. The pain and tightness around Nil’s temples increased, but he didn’t let up. If Katherine’s magic was a bad fever, the mage’s spell was like the sniffles. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and snot trickled from his nostrils as he fought off unconsciousness.

Mind has progressed to Mortal 7!

Nil almost collapsed when the mage ceased struggling. He dropped the unconscious body as the Mind Magic’s effects melted away. Nil wanted nothing more than to collapse, but he needed to help Xiang. The longer the fight continued, the greater the chances of another team finding them.