Chapter 1135 – Back in Black 17 – Battle of the Elites


    John stood atop a hill. William stood on another on the other side of the Illusion Barrier. Between them was a valley, about two-hundred metres wide. With them were their elites. William was joined by his daughter and eight other fully armoured knights. John was with his familiars, Rave, Nia, and Chemilia. By the rules they agreed on, familiars counting as half a person, that put Fusion at a numbers advantage.


    This and other factors meant that the Gamer wasn’t overly worried. The first battle had shown that he was a better strategist. A sample size of one was not necessarily reliable, but it was good enough for John in this instance. The second battle hadn’t shown much. While John’s Charisma must have played a role in just how well his encouragements had worked, fundamentally it was the appeal to heroism that had worked more than his words. Really, that one had turned out to be less a battle of leadership than a competition between the motivating power of the guilds’ underlying principles.


    The summary of those two battles was, however, that William Brighton was not as powerful as he posed to be. From all John had seen, the Lord-Protector thought himself the Gamer’s equal. While that may have been true in a broader philosophical and perhaps even political standpoint, when it came to power levels John had his reservations. Back at New Libraria, the Lord-Protector, with much of the same elite now with him, had fought one of John’s doubles and the ‘twin’ maids. Everyone had held back. Still, that was a fight with only his double and without the elementals, before the Death Zone and the Court Dust grind.


    John was far away from topping out in his powers. He was also already among the most powerful people on the planet. William matching him would have meant that he, past his prime, was still level 400. Frankly put, the chances of that were not slim, they were practically zero. Moira was the true wildcard here. She had been able to defeat Rave last encounter. According to the feline Lightbearer, the Warden had been the stronger of the two, but not with such a wide gap that there was no hope of victory. The indestructible shield blocking her old Babel Phrase had ended the battle in the redhead’s favour. That, again, had been before the Death Zone. An important detail, with Rave’s transformation since.


    In short: John liked their chances.


    Aside from the two forces, only a small pocket of onlookers was around. They were on a simple viewing platform. Mages had been tasked with keeping up a shield that would prevent any kind of stray projectiles hurting them. A battle between Abyssal elites would necessarily turn destructive. That wasn’t a big issue for Nathalia or Eliana. Magoi and Lorelei, though, would need that sort of protection. Scarlett and Lee had opted to follow events via livestream instead.


    ‘I guess we are up to nine and a half if I count Copernicus,’ John thought and checked his phone. ‘Not sure how to count the melded tiger. A quarter? It’s not like he does nothing.’ “30 seconds until the agreed start,” John told them. “Really considering trying to break William’s Observe protection...”


    “Why now?” Momo wanted to know.


    “Well, this is supposed to be war. Now or never.”


    “I advise against it,” Undine stated. “You will need that mana.”


    Siena laughed, “I think you should do it. Sounds fun.”


    “It does, but let’s find other uses for that mana,” John said and threw his phone into his inventory. On the other hill, the knights started their charge. “The battle has begun. Salamander, give them a greeting. Sylph, assist her.”


    “Oh, I LOVE the sound of that shit!” the apocalypse elemental shouted and rose up into the air. “Keep up, airhead!”


    “You don’t have to be mean about it!” Sylph babbled back with overplayed outrage and zapped right after her fellow elemental.


    Fifty metres up, they stopped. With a devilish grin on her face, Salamander raised a hand above her head. Above her extended index finger, a red sphere appeared. Small at first, but growing rapidly as she poured her Unleash and mana into it, the sphere grew from a flicker to an inferno. The apocalypse elemental’s energy coloured the majority of the flames black. Earthy brown separated the coal-like shade from the gold at the core. Silver, purple, green and blue rarely flickered at the core.


    The amount of green suddenly increased when Sylph added her energy to the combo attack. Lightning jumped in pale blue all through the sphere, a few stray arches even connecting to the ground. Salamander drew her arm back and the entire ball of energy followed the motion. “FOR THE HELL OF IT!” the apocalypse elemental screamed and ripped her arm forwards.


    The sphere burst into a myriad of unequally sized fragments. No matter how small or large the chunks were, they all drew behind them a path of apocalyptic fire and lightning. A blood red chunk of molten rock grew at the heart of each energy bolt, making a mockery of the laws of friction. Depending on the intensity of the magical energy, each manifested into a rapidly advancing meteorite.


    John just barely noticed a barrier of gold being erected, then the various impacts blasted apart the green hills. The booming of explosions and the scattering of ash and dust were all underlined by Salamander’s loud cackling.


    If she had the resources to, she would have thrown another swarm immediately. Fortunately for what remained of the landscape, there was a two-minute cooldown attached to her Unleash. “Think that’s it?” Siena asked, scrapping her blade-like claws against each other.


    “Not...” John began to answer, but had to stop to swat aside a chunk of exploded meteorite with his left hand, “...likely.”


    “At least Moira should make it out of that,” Rave said and rolled her shoulders. Quiet metallic singing underlined even that simple motion. Illuminare would see its first battle today.


    At high speed, the knights of the Order burst out of the dust cloud, leaving trails in their wake. All ten of them were still around, their armour gleaming even stronger than moments before. Everything about the plates that was gold glowed as if directly illuminated by sunlight. A stark difference to the grey colour the overcast sky put on everything. ‘Guess William used his blessing,’ the Gamer thought. “I know this isn’t the usual strategy, but how about I take the frontline here?”


    “You just want to fight Lord Brighton,” Stirwin observed.


    ‘Stance: I pass.’


    ‘Same,’ Momo echoed.


    ‘Fuck it, might as well,’ Metra was the last to answer.


    All of the knights were executing their second swing at John and his double and all of them were interrupted. Metra appeared out of a rift, grabbing and shattering a descending blade. Sylph sent the axe-wielder flying with a powerful gust. Salamander achieved a similar result in a more explosive fashion by sending a single meteorite crashing into a knight’s armour. Aclysia swung Tiemarath with such overbearing power that the target, the female knight, was instantly pulled away by Fateweaving. Gnome showed more restraint, simply opening the earth up underneath her target and closing it again after they had fallen down to the hips.


    The last knight, most distant of all, might have assumed that they were getting away without punishment for a moment. Claws screeched over the side of their helmet, while Siena’s tail slithered around their neck. “I couldn’t bear it if anyone felt lonely,” the midnight elemental gasped and laughed, while the knight bucked like a wild bull in an attempt to get her off.


    “Yeah, sorry about her,” John said. “We could just en-“ A fist came down on his cheek. It was the first punch of many. William had let go of his sword and was now pummelling the Gamer with his gauntleted hands. Attempting to pummel, at least, as each impact was neutralized by a flare of silver arcane. “Are you being for real right now?” the Gamer asked, flabbergasted, catching both fists in his own hands. “You’re actually starting to annoy me.”


    The two men locked hands and engaged in a simple contest of strength while all around the knights of the Order were being dominated by John’s familiars. The struggle to put William on his knees was intense by comparison. With each passing second, Rising Annihilation was fuelled further by the actions of his familiars, raising John’s Strength and putting him further and further ahead.


    Gradually, the taller leader was forced to look up at John. The pressure was unrelenting and John could feel the exact moment when William’s muscles reached the point of exhaustion. His knees gave in and for the first time there was something other than determination in his eyes. An unwilling realization that he had no chance whatsoever. Raindrops fell on his face, the clouds descending on them in a shower.


    “John Newman!”


    “Yes?” the Gamer asked and ended the power struggle to turn around and face the speaker. The red haired Warden stood proud and tall, her armour glowing even more intensely than her father’s. Quickly as the rain soaked her hair, she was still a radiant figure. ‘Back off,’ John instructed his familiars and all around the battle ceased, leaving only the rush of rain as sound around them.


    “Stay away, Moira,” William instructed, “you’re not ready for this.”


    “With all due respect, Father, I’m more powerful than you.”


    The Lord-Protector’s face reflected surprise at that backtalk and anger at the assertion itself. Before he could say anything, Rave resting her elbow on his shoulder startled the redheaded man. “Ya know, she’s right,” the feline Lightbearer said. “If ya can’t beat tiger in a melee, you’re definitely weaker than her.”


    Copernicus’ fur hissed, each of the raindrops evaporating upon hitting his fur. He prowled around the battlefield, then stopped in front of Moira. “Which just means you will lose against the rest of his allies,” the jaguar purred.


    Clenching her hammer, the Shield Warden stared down at the solar feline. “The honour of the Order will be defended,” she declared.


    “How about we make that a wager?” Rave asked, causing her boyfriend to laugh. John had known this was coming, he had only asked himself when. “You and me, if ya win, ya win this battle and Fusion will pull back so we can prepare for the proper war that comes next. If I win, I get to call ya the nickname again.”


    “...Are you serious, Rave?” the Shield Warden asked, baffled.


    “Not my choice weather for our final confrontation,” Rave put her headphones on, “but yeah, I’m serious.”


    John made a waving gesture, causing his familiars to follow him while he walked off to the side. Confused, the knights looked to their leader. William remained where he was.


    “You would wager the entirety of a war in a duel against me again, after what happened last time?”


    “I told ya when ya dropped off the demons,” Rave extended her hand towards Copernicus. The light spirit turned into streams of energy that fused with her left arm. Intensely, the lines covering her arm shone through the pink bodysuit in multi-coloured light. The hard-light claws manifested, extending from the black glove that only covered her hand on that side. “I won’t lose again.”


    “...Give us space,” Moira commanded.


    The knights rose to their feet, ready to follow the order. Before their official leader committed to it, however, none of them actually moved away. William rose to his feet with all the pride he still had and took a deep breath. Without another word, he walked over to where John was sitting.


    “I accept,” the Shield Warden declared.