Charis was dimly aware of some sort of fanfare: an announcer called out her name, as well as her opponent’s, and some sort of ceremony ensued. However, she made sure that stayed in her periphery. She had to focus on her main objective: destroying her opponent.
Said opponent literally floated above the ground across the arena, a sinister phantasm with obvious malicious intent. Her HUD showed that her opponent possessed an “ethereal” form, meaning her physical attacks would be useless. Therefore, he – it? – likely put a premium on magic resistance knowing that such attacks were her only viable mode of offense. No doubt an opponent favoring darkness and shadow like this would also look to blind her with smokescreens of some kind, and deception and sneak attacks would be his specialty. All-in-all, he seemed to be a fairly predictable match-up – but she wouldn’t let her guard down.
Casting a glance around the arena, she confirmed what she already knew: the fighting area had plenty of space at roughly half the size of a basketball court (at her new size). The walls didn’t exactly provide a barrier to keep them penned in – she could easily leap over them, and assumed her opposition could as well. The flooring consisted of red scales. She assumed both the scales and the walls would be able to withstand anything either of them could muster. Briefly, Charis scanned the stands, searching for Rima and Milan. She must look tremendous to them, although by now Rima had to be used to ridiculous size disparities. Charis wondered how much trouble Vane had gone to in order to make her growth possible. After all, he had said that he got the idea from encountering Gage and Alicia – was it that easy for him to create this especially-sized stadium, as well as enlarge them in the first place? Previously, even Milan believed such powers were reserved for the Magic Beans.
Shaking her head, Charis dispelled these superfluous thoughts and focused on the task at hand. While she couldn’t know with 100% certainty, she pretty much assumed he would begin the fight with a fog-type maneuver, one that would undoubtedly enhance his abilities as well. Still, with both Gage and Alicia enhancing her abilities, Charis felt confident that she could keep up with the dark mass. On the other hand, Milan had always preached that an immediate strike often yielded the best results. Suppressing a smirk, Charis knew what she had to do.
…
Rima gazed out at the now-gigantic Charis facing off against what appeared to be an inky-black rain cloud. She paced agitatedly back and forth in their viewing box, clearly nervous about the ensuing fight. In stark contrast, Milan lounged in a nearby chair, looking both chic and completely at ease. Rima spitefully supposed that even if this fight ended in disaster, it would be no skin off of his back – he could always just groom another champion for the next iteration of this event. On some level, she still didn’t trust their suave benefactor.
“Come on, Charis,” she muttered under her breath.
Various announcements seemed to continue on interminably, but before she knew it, the announcer finally said: “Contestants, ready?” An unnecessarily long pause ensued. Then:
“Fight!”
Immediately, the shadow-cloud began to swell outward at an alarming rate – but before it had even reached Charis, she had drawn her pistols and fired. A blinding flash enveloped the stadium, eliciting screams and gasps from the crowd. Rima shaded her eyes and turned her head, but still strained to keep track of what was going on with her peripheral vision. She fleetingly noticed that Milan had put on sunglasses, but otherwise remained completely unperturbed.
Slowly but surely, the light began to dim, and after a few more seconds, Rima could try to find out what became of the battle. To no one’s surprise the dark cloud had vanished, leaving only Charis standing in an empty arena, guns lowered. She cut quite a confident figure, dressed in her skin-tight blue outfit, lips pressed in a thin, no-nonsense line.
Her attack had been so overwhelming, that it took far too long for the crowd to react. Scattered applause sputtered into a more appropriate roar of approval, and the announcer shouted the victor’s name. Just then, a tremendous portal appeared, and without so much as a wave to acknowledge her adoring fans, Charis exited the arena.
…
Her heart raced as she emerged in their box seat, evidently back to her normal size. Before she could say anything, Rima had already wrapped her in a massive bear hug.
“Careful!” scolded Charis. Rima backed off like a startled cat as Charis removed Gage from her person and set him down on a nearby table. “Ok, we’re good,” she smiled. Rima squealed and once again squeezed her tight, obviously ecstatic about the victory.
“Very clever,” a by-now familiar voice said. Charis released Rima and turned around, her eyes meeting with Erivar Vane’s.
“Thank you,” she replied simply, not sure what the etiquette was in this situation.
“You didn’t even need to use your… advantages.” Charis nodded, working hard to control herself. Vane intimidated her like no one else. “Just know that your little trick won’t work again – the next stadium will have ways to prevent that. Then we’ll see just how clever you really are.” Charis couldn’t help herself: she gulped. “Congratulations on your first victory – good luck.”
With that, he spun on his heel and exited via the portal he came, leaving her decidedly rattled.
“What was he talking about? What ‘trick’ did you use?” asked Rima excitedly.
“Well, it’s sort of complicated,” she began, “but basically I set up a series of portals around him under the cover of the flash distraction. At the same time, I drew my weapon and fired – he couldn’t know what was coming, so I knew he would dodge – directly into one of my portals. I shut them all right away – game over.”
“Wow, where did you learn to be so clever!” complimented Rima.
“Milan,” she replied shortly.
“Let’s not get too confident,” he chided. “There’s still many more fights to come, and I don’t expect any of them to go as smoothly as this one.”