Wish upon the Stars chapter 366

I was able to get a bit of sleep before my match. Not as much as  usual, but enough that I wasn't really tired or jumpy. Despite that, I  was at least a little nervous. The chances of me fighting a team member  again, even with the smaller pool to draw from, were low. For the  eleventh round I'd probably be up against a stranger, but that didn't  help as much as I'd have thought.

Whoever  this was, they had made it almost to the end of the solo rounds, which  meant they were terrifyingly strong. Whether it was someone I knew or  not, I could almost guarantee that my next match would be a tough one.  When I arrived at the arena, Rime headed for the stands while I made my  way down to the waiting area to get ready, and I couldn't help but  fidget a bit with worry.

When  they finally called the match to start, I strode out onto the sand on  my own. Hardly my first solo fight, but the closer I got to the end the  more intimidating this became. When I saw my next opponent though, I  calmed down a bit.

He  wasn't intimidating. Just a scruffy looking teenager with brown hair  and brown eyes. He had a green shirt and red baggy pants and a relaxed,  peaceful smile. "Like, hey man. It's nice to meetcha." He waved lazily.  "Pretty far out we managed to get almost to the end right? My best pal  got bounced out last round but I think it's pretty legit that I get the  chance to keep tryin'."

His  voice was a lazy, happy drawl, and it made me chuckle a bit in  response, my shoulders relaxing. I didn't let my guard down, mind you,  but I felt less worried. Hard to fear for your life against someone that  mellow. "Yeah, it is neat. My girlfriend was in the solo rounds until  last fight, when we went up against each other. Carrying on for her is  pretty cool. I'm Solomon by the way. If it matters. From the Starchaser  Pavilion."

The  shrug he gave was nonchalant. "Matters to you, man. That's like...good  enough right? I'm Norman from the Enigma Corporation." I cocked my head  at him, not seeing anything corporate about him, and he gave a low  laugh. "It's like, an ironic name man. We're just pals who like to  travel around helping people out with weird stuff. We get that reaction a  lot though, don't worry."

I  laughed at his wry tone. Norman was a pretty interesting guy.  "Alright." I said as my laugh ended. "Well, may the best man win, but  I'm not holding back." He gave me a laconic nod, and then I triggered  Moonlit Night. The whole arena filled with fog only I could see through,  and I activated State of Grace and Ripple running alongside it.  Kneeling down, I coated my arms in magma, triggering touch of tears  after that, then stood up and started to circle.

Norman  did...nothing. Like at all. He just stood there, though I could vaguely  see a silver glow coalesce around him, not that it was easy to spot in  the glowing backdrop of the fog. I waited, but he didn't engage at all,  just waiting completely at ease, and I realized I'd run out the clock on  my skills if I didn't attack first. Pushing off the ground, I bounced  up into the air, then planted my foot on nothing with ripple running and  shot toward his back.

I  spun in a tight rotation midair as I came in, bringing my hand down at  the back of his head in a spinning backfist even as I flew straight at  him. Norman leaned ever so slightly forward, and my fist passed within  inches of his skull as he stepped aside casually to avoid the rest of my  body impacting him. I hit the sand at a skid and slid for a few feet,  before turning to stare at him in confusion.

He  didn't look flustered, or even aware of my presence. I triggered my  overlay, checking to see how I should attack next, and got...red. All  the arrows were red. That made no sense. Triggering Eye of Revelation  next I tried my best to observe anything, but nothing happened. He just  stood there, glowing slightly silver at the edges and staring blandly  ahead. I closed in slow, keeping Eye of Revelation active, and then used  Steam Arrow, spitting an arrow of boiling water at him.

Adjusting  himself so slightly it was barely perceptible, he leaned back  diagonally, letting the arrow pass within a hair of his skin yet again.  Fuck. I tweaked the Moonlit Night skill, allowing my voice to pass  through. "You have some kind of prediction ability." I said flatly.  Nothing I could see to try would hit him, at least not according to my  overlay. The Eye was more reactive, but it didn't spot any weaknesses in  his form or anything.

Shrugging  again, he smiled. "Like, I don't know man. I just move before stuff  hits me. It's all instinct." His voice was placid and cheerful as ever,  and unlike before, it kind of annoyed me. Being taken so lightly was  bound to irritate anyone, even if I was pretty sure it was nothing  personal.

I  narrowed my eyes at him, then triggered Sucking Mud and used up a shadow  attack to create the Dark Swamp. The sand beneath him started to  darken, but before it could happen he hopped casually back.  Unfortunately for him, Dark Swamp wasn't just a quicksand trap, it could  respond. He tried to shift in midair to avoid the tentacles of earth,  but since the attack had been launched while he was midair, and by  something that didn't actually think, he hadn't seen it coming.

With  no leverage his legs were dragged back into the dark sand, and he  started to sink. I charged in, attacking again with a flurry of punches  and kicks to see how his defense was holding up.

Despite  his immobile legs being secured from the shin down, he swayed and moved  out of the way with lazy graceful ease. But this time, he also attacked  back. His fist shot out at a weakness in my guard I hadn't even known  was there, and I tried to get my arms in the way of the blow, barely  managing thanks to the speed boosts.

There  was a loud crack as the blow landed on my encased arms, crossed in  front of me, and even through my armor and the magma I felt the bones  rattle as I was blown backwards. I skidded over the sand, my arms barely  working after the impact of that one punch.

Of  course the instinctual fighter who could dodge without thinking was a  Might focus. Because that would be where the fucking speed to dodge came  from. I'd have guessed Perception before he explained it, but if he had  no actual input, then he wouldn't be perceiving, his power would. There  was probably some of that because of his reputation, but since he was  so physical he probably just came across as a bruiser.

"Like,  careful man." Said the relaxed monster in front of me. "I punch pretty  hard. Don't want you to get hurt too bad." I grimaced, triggering a heal  burst to patch my arms up as I circled. Blunt force was a bad match for  my armor, but anything helped. I felt the surge of energy flood me,  slowly relieving the pain in my limbs as I circled.

Norman  was still sinking into the sand, but not fast. He seemed unbothered by  the trap, sitting eerily still and ignoring it, which of course made it  slower. The Dark Swamp was reactionary at heart. Even with the shadow  attack, once it captured you it didn't keep dragging unless you tried to  escape.

I  needed some angle. Coming at him directly wouldn't work. Without a  Perception focus, his reactions to my attacks were either ignoring the  stealth completely or he was reacting at the last possible instant.  Either option wasn't good for me. I was wracking my brain for what to  do, when it finally dawned on me.

Triggering  Mercy Kill, I used a gravity attack. The ability, boosted by Moonlit  Night and Mercy Kill, landed heavily on Norman. Then I did it again, and  again, and again. I stopped at four, since I only had eight of those,  and then blitzed forward again to attack. State of Grace allowed me to  bypass the field around him easily, and when I attacked this time, I got  much closer to hitting him.

I  still missed, because he was FAST, even under the pressure, but he  dodged by a much narrowed margin. His placid expression finally cracked,  his brow furrowing a bit. When my next attack came in at him he dodged  and tried to counter, but I used Afterburner to increase my next ten  attacks.

With  the existing boost of speed from State of Grace added to the attacks,  my fist was a blur as it raced in at his face.  He dodged the first, but  the second he had to divert his counter to deflect. I grunted in pain  as my arm creaked under the pressure, but I ignored it. Redoubling my  attacking efforts.

Norman  seemed to get serious this time, his hands flying up to deflect my  blows. I grimaced, because I was running out of attacks on Afterburner. I  tried Steam Arrow, and the explosion of steam was much more powerful  because of Afterburner. He tried to avoid it, but because of the slowing  effect of the gravity and the increased power of the arrow it scored  him across the face, leaving a thin burn on his cheek.

He  was so stunned by the injury he froze up, and I used my tranq blows on  the three punches I managed to get in on him before he had a chance to  react. I tried one more, but didn't manage to land it, and my  Afterburned ran out, forcing me to retreat to avoid being hit.

I  panted in exhaustion as I stared at him, having gone all out even with  all the stacked debuffs to keep up with this absolute beast. I was damn  lucky his only trick seemed to be close combat. If he had a ranged  attack he might be able to keep up with Abel. I circled slowly, waiting  to see what he would do, but he just waited, unmoving, patient to the  end as he let his power prepare.

And  I did nothing. I sat there, waiting, and let him prepare. I was  weakened because of Afterburner, and exhausted from the fight, and there  was no need for me to attack. Norman's weakness was his strength. The  ability to sit still and remain unconcerned while he trusted his power  to predict any attacks.

A  minute passed, then two, he kept sinking, but only got to mid thigh. I  just waited. I'd won this already, and it was only proven when I heard  the first faint snore. I grinned. Those tranq blows were supercharged by  a bunch of buffs as well as stacked, and I'd known they would do the  job.

I raised  a hand to signal the end of the match, and when he didn't move or  respond for a minute they called it. I groaned, debating healing him but  realizing I'd only managed a few glancing blows anyway so it wasn't  needed. As he stirred awake I held out a hand and let Dark Swamp fade,  pulling him up out of the sand. He grinned it me. "Like, wow man, that  was a pretty cool nap. Shame I lost, but nice moves."

Laughing  I returned the sentiment and we traded numbers, Norman saying he could  use the occasional knock out to get some rest since the nap had been so  peaceful. I was happy to make a connection with such a badass. Turning  to leave though, I felt a pang of fear knowing the next fight would be  even worse. I'd need to bring my A game to win that. I had two more  days, it was time to finally rank up my DS Mastery.