“I remember the first compliment my Osai master gave me; ‘impressive, Veldraken! I’ve never seen a fledgling master their cycling technique so quickly! How did you do it?’ I can’t recall the excuse I made up at the time, but afterward we both shared a laugh at a joke he wasn’t in on. Those were lighter times.
It wasn’t easy killing him in the end.”
- The Unabridged Interview of Veldraken Juinper, ARCborn
❄
Mori sipped her water next to Prime, trying not to think about how much of a fool she felt for losing control of her cycling twelve times in one match. She had struggled to form a technique of any kind over the past month, lost control of it in her training sessions, but this was the worst it had ever been.
Honestly, Mori had thought Hermel might charge her again after the match was finished, he was so mad. There was making a splash, and then there was looking like a total asshole. Mori felt she was heading toward the latter.
Which wasn’t great if the whole point of this was to attract strong Ascension team members.
Prime standing next to her by the railing didn’t seem to care either way. She pulled a packaged protein bar out of her robe and proffered it to Mori. “Keep your energy up. It’s chocolate mint flavored.”
MiasmaMint Protein Bar ™, the packaging read. Mori’s stomach still felt sour from her last match. She eyed Prime’s robes. “Do you… always keep snacks in there?”
“What is the point of a good robe if it can’t hold snacks?
Mori nodded. Fair point. “Thanks, but I’m not hungry.”
Prime placed it in her hand. “Doesn’t matter. We can’t have you flagging from lack of energy in your next match. You’re one win away from making a sweep.”
Mori grimaced at the protein bar, but opened up the packaging. “Will sweeping keep my entire class from hating me?”
“Hate is irrelevant,” Prime said. “The Ascension favors strength over all else. Even if your whole class hates your guts, if you are the strongest, they will flock to you eventually.”
Mori took a bite of the mint chocolate protein bar. It had a metallic after taste that somehow made her even less hungry.
Prime looked at her. “Is it important for you to be liked?”
Mori thought about that while she chewed. She didn’t need to be liked, especially by Favored who viewed the unFavored beneath them like dirt. As long as she could grow strong enough to wield the weapon inside her, then she could be the most hated person in the galaxy. And, of course, as long as the twins still liked her.
Mori did her best to chew and swallow. “No.”
“Good,” Prime said. “A sweep might also be beneficial as a buffer for what happens after the exams.”
Mori choked on her next bite, beating her chest and sipping her water to get it down. Right. She'd almost forgotten about after exams. Everyone with decent funding would advance to Acolyte, all while she stayed at Initiate. She didn't need to look at her status window to know it still read, 'no parameters met.' While she had gotten used to reacting to Acolyte level speed, she had never managed to win any of her training sessions. They were faster, stronger, more resilient, and had two manifestations to her one. It came down to simple math.
She managed half her protein bar before closing it back up in the packaging. “I’ll find a way.”
“I hope it’s the way I’m thinking of,” Prime said.
Other than to grow stronger, Mori had no desire to meditate and practice her cycling, to be left alone with her thoughts. The vivid memories. But she knew it had to be done. “I’ll manage.”
An Entry Exams staff spoke through her nanites. “Mori of House Prime. Please proceed to Ring Four for your third fight out of four. Again, please proceed to Ring Four…”
Mori handed Prime her half eaten bar, and though Mori couldn’t see her face under the mask, she could practically feel her grimace as she reluctantly took it from her. “Good luck.”
Mori nodded.
As she descended the Favored viewing platform to the arena floor, the cheers of the stadium rose once more. At least the crowd was on her side, even if they were part of why she struggled to concentrate on her cycling. Still, she felt their support, identified with where they came from.
Whether they knew it or not, she was doing this for them.
She climbed the nanite stairs into the ring. Gitta, the number one Initiate rank Striker, grinned opposite of her. “Looks like the brackets have aligned. I’ve been dying to fight you.”
Mori balled her hands into fists. She would have been lying if she told herself she wasn’t eager to try her hand at the girl’s summon.
“I mean, daughter?” Gitta said, slack jawed. “Who would have thought? It makes so much sense now when I think about it.”
Gitta sure liked her pre match banter. Mori narrowed her brows, curious. “What makes sense?”
Gitta jutted her chin in the air. “Why Prime selected you as her candidate and not me, even though I’m clearly the strongest Favored of this generation.”
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It took Mori a moment to process the words. There was a lot to sort through in that statement. She was dumbfounded by the Striker’s mind numbing confidence. But, Mori couldn’t deny the girl had a strong Summon—the type of Summon she’d want on her Ascension team.
In Mori’s vision, two holograms of her and Gitta appeared side by side. The announcer spoke in her ear. “Now, here is a face off, folks! We’ve got two fighters with egos large enough to fill the void—”
Mori wasn’t fond of the characterization.
“—both with a 2-0 and looking for their sweep, Mori of House Prime VS. Gitta of Mid City Cultivation Entertainment! Gitta has won her two matches with instant KOs, and Mori has still not used her manifestation once, while giving her opponents the run around. She’s crushed her last two opponents' chances of getting a full sweep. Will she get her third?! I don’t know if it’s the third ARCfuel I’ve had tonight folks, but I am positively vibrating at the edge of my seat!”
The crowd’s cheer permeated their ring’s shielding, but Mori still heard Gitta’s loud voice fine. “By the way, try any of that unsparking Aether shit against me, and you won’t live long enough to reignite, we clear? Give me all you’ve got.”
Mori bit her cheeks, fell into a stance.
Gitta huffed. “I wanna see that pretty manifestation of yours.”
“Fighters! Spark your anima!”
Mori ignited her channels, power flooding her. She focused on finding her cycling cadence while the crowd screamed all around her. It became more difficult, heavier, with the more anima she'd burned.
“3, 2, 1, fight!”
Gitta’s Summon materialized into her hands, her eye trained down the anima cross hairs. Mori was already moving when the anima gun fired.
The bullet was so tiny, so fast, Mori couldn’t track it as it grazed her upper arm and drew blood. The pain combined with the cheer of the crowd caused her anima cycle to stutter, but she held onto her off-time rhythm for dear life. One misstep, and Gitta would sink a nanite bullet in her head.
Gitta’s eyes widened, as if shocked to see her still standing.
Mori dashed diagonally. Gitta retrained her sights.
Going with her instincts, Mori feinted, throwing herself back as she anticipated the path of the next bullet.
And Gitta’s gun barrel followed her.
Agony flowered up Mori’s side, warm wet soaking into her nanofiber suit, the bullet through her gut. There wasn’t long, now. No time to think before she dropped. Mori charged. It was close the distance or it was over. She almost reached for her Enhancement to seal her belly wound, but her anima sputtered out.
Her speed slowed. She screamed through the sudden increase in pain.
The next bullet pierced her neck.
Mori gurgled, eyes bulging as she struggled to breath. She felt her limbs losing strength, and saw the ground coming up to greet her. But she needed this sweep, she needed every edge she could get.
She stoked her anima to life, ramping it through her channels to the point of burning. She could feel a force suppressing her desire for power—her nanite inhibitors shoving her back. She snaked her foot out underneath her and planted it on the ring tiles, tensing every fiber of her being to keep herself upright.
Mori manifested her Enhancement. She stopped the blood pouring out her throat with Chill Touch—though her vision was still fading from the lack of oxygen—and plugged the hole in her gut with cold. Icy blue veins crept up to her shoulder blades.
The crowd gasped.
With raw determination, she took another step forward, and Gitta only watched.
“An Enhancement?” The girl laughed, pointing her weapon down.
Mori could only gurgle and growl, her head swimming, her anima starting to churn unevenly and wild.
Keep going. You can’t stop now.
Gitta clicked her tongue, shaking her head. “Wow, and here I thought you were concealing something special for the First Year Showcase. Totally something Prime would have done in her Stellar days.”
Mori dragged her next foot forward, her vision going in and out, the stadium around them beginning to swirl and spin. It took everything to lift her arm halfway to horizontal.
What if she applied her cold Enhancement to Gitta’s mouth and nose? Maybe stopping her from breathing? That would do it. She could win.
Almost. There.
Gitta let her Summon dissipate in a cloud of nanites. “Turns out, your manifestation doesn’t have much use besides plugging bullet holes.”
Mori gritted her teeth. Her legs gave out. She slammed into the interlocking tiles at Gitta’s feet.
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