NOVGO.NET Chapter 60: The Silver Duelist
Chapter 60: The Silver Duelist
The morning command assessments reduced the sixty-four tournament entrants to sixteen qualified teams, four from each pool.
Halden House passed the demanding evacuation and supply exercises cleanly without taking any combat damage or penalty.
"Now the noon knockout bracket starts," Maya said.
"One win puts us in the top eight," she added.
"Listen to the crowd out there," Ruby said, tightening her gauntlet straps.
She stood ready in the shadowed athlete staging tunnel directly beneath the roaring concrete arena stands.
Sixty thousand spectators stamped their boots in unison, making the thick concrete walls vibrate with concussive rhythm.
Fin leaned against the metal staging rail, carefully checking the balance and grip of his steel hatchet.
"Odds give Aegis Wing ten-to-one," Maya reported.
"Scholars bet on pedigree," Ruby grinned.
"Let them bet on medals while we collect our tuition," Fin said.
’Academy fencing is precise, but warehouse timing never misses a shift.’
The heavy iron staging gate lifted with a loud mechanical clatter, letting bright noon sunlight flood the tunnel.
Fin and Ruby stepped onto the packed white arena sand under the steady gaze of floating broadcast drones.
Across the circular sand ring stood the four fighters of Aegis Wing, clad in pristine navy academy tunics.
The arena floodlights cast long shadows across the white sand as dust motes settled in the air.
At the head of their formation stood Nila, a slender pale-haired duelist holding a polished steel rapier.
Her cool grey eyes scanned Fin’s relaxed posture with the cold, calculating detachment of an experienced battlefield scholar.
"Prepare your formation," Nila called out.
"We do not use formations, just honest shifts," Fin answered.
"Your shift ends in thirty seconds," Nila declared.
The arena referee blew a sharp brass whistle, signaling the official start of the first qualifying tournament round.
"Tri-barrier wedge, advance!" Nila commanded.
Her two frontline fighters raised rectangular tower shields, generating dense interlocking translucent blue mana barriers across the sand.
Their third academy member channeled a focused wind spell, directing sharp concussive pressure waves straight toward Ruby’s shield.
Ruby sprinted forward across the sand, planting her heavy kite shield directly into the path of the wind blast.
The kinetic wind shockwave scattered harmlessly across Ruby’s reinforced shield rim without displacing her firmly grounded stance.
"The barrier anchor sits at the center seam," Maya transmitted through Fin’s earpiece.
Fin did not trigger Overclock, choosing to operate purely within his baseline Rank D physical attribute limits.
He accelerated smoothly across the white sand, his worn sneakers finding reliable traction with each rapid, balanced stride.
He read Nila’s tactical formation with ease, treating it like a printed manifest on a busy factory floor.
The two barrier guards stepped forward aggressively, attempting to pin Fin against the outer arena boundary wall.
Fin lowered his center of gravity, sliding effortlessly between the two advancing shield rims with fluid, practiced grace.
The heavy flat of his steel hatchet struck the left guard’s knee joint with sharp, pinpoint leverage.
The armored guard collapsed with a sharp grunt, his blue mana barrier flickering and shattering into bright light.
Fin drew his primary steel dagger with his left hand while keeping the hatchet ready in his right.
Nila circled carefully, her boots tracing shallow arcs as her rapier tip wavered with lethal intent.
Fin tracked the subtle weight shifts in her lead knee, anticipating the thrust three paces before her blade surged forward.
Nila reacted with lightning precision, lunging forward across the sand with a rapid series of five rapier thrusts.
Her slender rapier whistled through the dusty air, aimed directly at Fin’s vulnerable collar and shoulder seams.
Fin deflected each thrust using the flat side of his hatchet poll and the pommel of his dagger.
His practiced packing-line economy neutralized her academy fencing angles without wasting a single millimeter of defensive movement.
’Her blade speed is exceptional, but her footwork follows predictable classroom rhythms.’
Nila stepped forward to execute an advanced academy disarm technique with her rapier tip.
Fin smoothly slotted his hatchet into its magnetic belt loop, drawing his second dagger into a reverse grip.
Fin stepped directly inside her guard, catching the rapier blade cleanly between his crossed steel daggers.
He twisted his wrists in a sharp counter-clockwise rotation, applying his sixty-eight Strength leverage against her guard.
The rapier snapped out of Nila’s grip, spinning twenty feet through the air before landing in the sand.
Before Nila could recover her balance, Fin tapped the flat pommel of his dagger firmly against her breastplate.
The sharp physical shove launched Nila three paces backward onto the sand, leaving her momentarily gasping for breath.
Simultaneously, Ruby’s heavy kite shield slammed into the two remaining academy guards, bowling both fighters onto the sand.
The arena referee’s whistle blew with three sharp, piercing blasts, signaling the official conclusion of the match.
The crowd roared in amazement as the broadcast cameras captured slow-motion replays of the precise physical deflection on giant screens.
[ Tournament round 1 victory: Aegis Wing downed ]
[ Match duration: 1 minute 48 seconds ]
[ Combat EXP awarded: +60,000 EXP ]
[ EXP: 535,700 / 2,500,000 ]
[ Tournament advancement: main quarterfinals secured, top-eight raid-license eligibility earned ]
The entire stadium fell into stunned silence before detonating into a deafening roar of cheers from sixty thousand fans.
High in the concourse seats, Bram and the seven porters waved their purple Halden House banners with enormous pride.
Nila knelt in the white sand, clutching her aching empty wrist as she stared up at the young commander.
"That was not an academy parry," Nila whispered.
"Who parries like that without mana?" she asked.
Fin extended his open right hand toward the pale-haired duelist, offering to help her up from the sand.
"A worker who unloaded twenty tons of freight every morning," Fin answered with a faint smile.
Nila hesitated for a brief second before grasping Fin’s callused palm, allowing him to pull her upright.
"You dismantled four years of theory in two minutes," Nila said.
"Theory is useful, but dirt and practice teach you where the seams are," Fin replied.
"My family lost everything trusting sponsors," Nila confided.
"Corporate sponsors only invest in trophies they can control," Ruby pointed out, walking over.
"If you ever need an honest sparring partner, Halden House keeps an open door," Fin offered.
Nila looked at both guild founders, a faint, deeply respectful smile breaking across her calm face.
"I will hold you to that offer after the tournament concludes," Nila agreed, bowing politely.
"We will have tea waiting on Halden Street whenever you decide to visit," Ruby said warmly.
"I might take you up on that," Nila replied, sheathing her rapier.
Fin, Ruby, and Maya marched steadily back toward the athlete tunnel as floating broadcast cameras tracked their steps.
In the quiet locker room, Maya pulled up the real-time tournament statistics on her glowing computer display.
"Our victory triggered an emergency adjustment on the exchange," Maya reported.
"Goldwake’s flagship squad won their opening match against a junior team from District Three," Ruby noted.
"Their captain Torren the Breaker will be our opponent in the quarterfinals," Maya added, displaying his profile.
Maya displayed the telemetry breakdown of the pneumatic warhammer, highlighting its pneumatic pressure cycles in bright yellow wireframes.
"Torren swings a pneumatic warhammer with thirty thousand newtons of force," Ruby read.
Ruby retrieved a clean towel from Jolly’s pack, drying the condensation from her steel greaves with steady, measured motions.
"He relies on wide horizontal swings," Maya analyzed.
"A wide swing leaves a three-inch gap under the armpit during the recovery phase," Fin observed.
"We will exploit that recovery gap just like we cleared the golem reactor," Ruby agreed with a nod.
"Let him bring his hammer," Fin said.
"A hammer can be redirected with proper leverage," he added.
Fin wiped his dagger blades with an oiled flannel cloth before sliding both weapons back into their fitted scabbards.
"Jolly just sent a text confirming forty thousand viewers joined our fan forum," Maya reported, smiling.
"Keep the ledger updated," Fin instructed.
"We take fifteen minutes of rest and stretch our legs," Ruby suggested, sitting on the bench.
"Hydrate well, because Torren will bring every ounce of syndicate pressure onto the sand," Maya advised.
"Our squad is fully rested and prepared for any tactical surprise," Fin assured her calmly.
’One match cleared, and sixty thousand EXP closer to the wall.’
The cool shadows of the athlete tunnel welcomed the victorious founders as the next tournament round approached.