The Gide couple found themselves slightly buffeted by the crowds streaming in. It was bad form to let your Presence push away other Professionals, but that happened anyway. The spectacle would draw people from all over, from tier eight – the lowest ever invited to Panomekon’s nexus zone – to tier seventeen. Or even above.

As they entered, they spotted their usual high-tier friends, Ahati-waqrat and her usual crowd, in a special rental booth. They made their way to the reserved seating area, exchanged customary descriptors with the people around and seated themselves. They were probably the youngest and lowest level in this particular crowd, but nobody really cared. The real uptight Lords of the Labyrinth would be in their private and gaudy abodes.

“Want some juice? There’s a new heavy one coming recently. A product from the Montana Distilleries. That’s in sheaf Beta,” she said, referring to the one-third of the zones connected to Panomekon. Ahati-waqrat, her team and friends, and the Gide were all from Alpha, as the sheaves were named in order of the first Professionals who entered the nexus zone.

“Gladly, if you’re paying,” Nicolas said.

“Gentlemen and Ladies, welcome to this today’s Brawl,” came the titanic Presence-enhanced voice across the sandy arena.

“You know, that’s the first time I’ve seen one,” Anne Gide confessed.

“No wonder. The Big Brawl is every five years or so. The top participants need that much time to prep their tactics,” her host replied.

“First time? You’re in for a spectacle, Miss,” one of the Professionals commented.

“Nicolas and Anne, I don’t think you’ve ever met Narsete here.”

“Probably not. Name doesn’t ring a bell,” Nicolas replied.

“Guy I used to partner with a few decades ago before Guthrumsson poached me.”

“A few meaning, what, fifty years ago?”

“Well, more or less that.”

The man, Narsete Cioppa, laughed at that.

“And you were tired of farming the same zones, I get it,” he said.

“We all get tired of it. Don’t you spend most of your time on Earth-220 these days?”

“It’s my home, and I rather enjoy the wonders of modern life… oh sorry,” he stopped.

“We’ll find it one day,” Nicolas said, dismissing the concern about their missing Divergence.

Ahati-waqrat added, “Narsete is from the late 19th century. What, 1899?”

“Yes, around that. Migrant to the United States, landing in New York City two weeks before Divergence. And what is it about that city. The Gates always open in Central Park, no matter when. Never Washington DC, not once in six known Divergences with the USA since 1776.”

“Beats me,” another man said, slurping on the heavy glass filled with the weird slightly fluorescent “juice”.

“And now, the first champion. All make room for Learned Prepared Spellmancer Thorleif Valorsson!” the announcer thundered.

“They’re going to spend fifteen minutes introducing everyone,” complained Narsete.

“I think that guy learned his trade in your Divergence, Narsete,” she replied lightly.

The Italian-born Professional snorted in reply.

“I’ve always wondered about what life would be in those future eras. I know Johann is from the furthest Divergence ever found, but he does not want to talk about it,” Anne prompted.

“Don’t push. If you really, really want to, there’s documentation at the Library, and that’s not a happy tale. But yea, there are relatively few late Divergences. After the 16th century, they become very rare, for some reason, and Nov. 9th 1918 is the last one. Narsete’s the second oldest, I think.”

The announcer’s voice rose again, announcing another Professional woman, before starting to highlight her career.

“So how is it?”

“Well, it’s now the mid-late 21st century there. Lots of technological wonders, but, of course, almost all of them stop working in the Labyrinth. There are some machines that can decide on actions by themselves, energies almost as good as Power Crystals, all kind of things to fly around the world in hours.”

“We had flying stuff. The Montgolfier made a flying machine, what, fifteen years before the Gate opened.”

“Not like that. And now there’s even going to space. The Doumu station was built five years ago, and putting people into space would have never been possible without Professional help anyway.”

“Space? Like… above Earth?” Nicolas asked.

“Yes. It’s a strange place, space is. The Void debuff that you get saps about two per cent of your Constitution in health per second, but with enough regeneration to push you to around twenty per cent base, you can do anything. I’ll tell you, it is something.”

“You’ve been there, then?”

“Yes. The Chang dynasty will hire any high-tier Professional to work on their space program, no matter where they were born. Even a gweilo, if that’s what it takes.”

“Aaaaaand, for the first time in almost a century, cheer for the one, and unique, Enduring Perseverant Aerialist Tang Feeeeng!”

“What?” was the simultaneous exclamation of the booth occupants.

The immense clamour across the Arena made an echo to the local surprise.

“Is that… tier twenty?” Anne Gide asked, after calculating the combination.

“Yes. One of the three known in Alpha to make it to tier twenty so far. From the oldest Divergence to open to the Labyrinth, as far as we know, over three and half centuries ago at the end of the Northern Wei era. The man is a monster. If you want to see what it does to you when you have over thirty thousand in Potentials, you’re going to see that in action. The others can't be very far behind, but he's going to break multiples thirties.”

“How high can he be in Adjustment?”

“Probably less so than many lower tiers. Maybe less than me even. At those levels, it’s not healthy to have too many.”

“I sometimes wonder if us Adjusted Professionals aren’t an impasse. As you advance, it’s so hard to keep going even without the risks,” Narsete said.

“A non-Adjusted might make it to tier twenty, sure. In two or three millennia,” Ahati answered drily. “But yea. You need to be careful about your progression. That’s what your team is there for.”

The last vestige of noise suddenly vanished around the Arena and the booth members’ conversation ended abruptly. Hundreds of high tier Focus fell on the three tall figures, each representing one of the major sheaves of zones intersecting in Panomekon. The three champions of their respective group of Divergences, of various Earths and their histories.

To show that Potential and Vitals were not all that mattered, but at that point, skill and experience, honed against the most unpredictable creatures of the highest tiers was what mattered against that most legendary enemy.

A Lord of the Labyrinth.

A gong sounded across the Arena… and nothing else happened at first.

The strategy behind the Brawl was usually simple, as someone had explained to Nicolas Gide when the competition was announced. Figure out the most powerful, eliminate him with the assistance of the other champion, then try to take that one out. Of course, that changed during the fight, and fast and what had been the most dangerous might become the weakest.

“Any idea what build Tang will use?” Ahati-waqrat asked around for an opinion.

“No idea. He’s going to rely somewhat on his base build of course, but with the right artefacts or maybe heroics, he can massively shift his main Potentials and Skill ranks,” Narsete replied.

“Is that why none of them is attacking yet?” Nicolas Gide asked, curious.

“Yes. It’s like that in those high-tier combat. Who makes the first move shows his…”

Twin bright lights opened, as one of the three lighted her hands with a black sparkling cloud and a bright fire respectively. In a second, the Professional – Quick Stoic Enforcer Caíreach Ní hAragáin – crossed the Arena, closing distance with Tang Feng. But Feng was already on the move, and a flash of light jumped between the raised hammers suddenly in his hands and the incoming enemy.

“Shit, has Tang borrowed a Lightning Hammer? No, both?”

“Beta Artefacts?” Nicolas hazarded, remembering something about an announcement last year.

“Yes. Highest artefact weapon to exist in two identical copies, save for a few levels difference. My guess is he called in some favour and got both to use for the fight. He’s going to rely on that pair, I bet,” Ahati confirmed.

As the Aerialist escaped the dual melee attack of the Enforcer woman, the last champion entered the fray. To the outside observer, it might have been near invisible, but people instantly noticed the shackling effects the Spellmancer used, drastically reducing the movement speed of his tier twenty target. And allowing the Enforcer to strike.

The slowing status vanished fast. But Tang Feng had to waste aether on removing those effects and this forced him to waste precious time doing so. In answer, another return lightning strike slammed into Valorsson, forcing him to shield himself or face multiple strikes. The Aerialist then switched back to the Enforcer and struck her in return.

“Nobody’s going to heal, I guess?” Anne asked.

“Waste in single combat. It’s all about protection, absorption, stacking bad conditions and dealing damage. The Hammers ignore a lot of the defence rating, which make them situational in the Labyrinth but potentially devastating against a Professional since we all use some or even a lot. I bet that he’s loaded protection skill ranks rather than multiple offences. The Hammers will be his main attack,” Ahati replied, engrossed in the match.

From there, few could see the full descriptors and status of the Professionals. The Arena-level booths were better located and more expensive of course. So Nicolas had no idea why the Spellmancer suddenly switched targets and a massive storm of smoke and ice suddenly manifested, miniature meteors of ice trailing black fog slamming into hAragáin’s form. No doubt the caster had decided that the underdog Enforcer was now the most dangerous enemy and switched priorities.

The fight might seem to be destined to flip-flop between the favourites like that for some time, but then a second later, both the Enforcer and the Aerialist exchanged a blow then unexpectedly turned and ran toward Valorsson. The Spellmancer was taken by surprise and barely dodged the incoming champions. The two split and converged, making a pincer move.

For the first time, Nicolas saw the nordic guy nearly fly. As he slammed on the ground, though, he twisted and restored himself to standing. Even if he did not favour an Agility build, he would still have thousands, making it hard to unbalance him unless you stunned him as well.

“Why? Have they decided…”

Narsete offered an opinion, having gauged the flow of combat.

“hAragáin probably thinks she has good defences against Tang’s build, but less against a heavy caster. Valorsson has probably stacked spells yet again. And Tang Feng will probably favour a melee fight, so both decided they have a reason not to let the caster stay up too long.”

The two champions struck again, making another, slightly different pincer manoeuvre. The Spellmancer twisted, but the two were adjusting the attacks at the last moment, and whatever skill they augmented those.

Valorsson tried again to push the distance, but a massive pillar of fire fell on him, just as an almost visible set of movement draining status fell on him from a different direction. The time spent trying to remove that status proved nearly his undoing as Tang Feng ran into the holocaust of white-hot fires, unaffected by his attack.

The hammer strikes pushed the man out of the danger zone, however, and he twisted again, trying to move aside. But the Enforcer finally brought out her primary weapon, a long gnarled branch of ebony on which red thorns crawled, disappearing and erupting on their own at the point where the weapon struck a fraction of second before it connected.

“Walking Forest. That’s why she was staying weaponless until now,” Ahati commented.

“Old two-handed Artefact. Not that high tier, but it can cause a large aether drain,” she explained seeing the look on Anne. “She probably kept a couple of possible weapons stashed. Once you bring one out, can’t put it back in the Puppet, so you’d better be sure.”

“And against Tang Feng?”

“She probably…”

The figure of the Learned Prepared Spellmancer flew again, nearly bouncing on a wall, and stayed on the ground this time.

“Combat’s almost over now,” Narsete said, relaxing slightly.

The two figures retreated slightly, as Tang Feng surrounded himself with a firestorm again. The Aerialist knew that, if his opponent needed melee, she’d have to expose herself to the ongoing fire. But the Enforcer had taken this into account, and an enormous enhanced air burst slammed the Aerialist out of his protective zone, while the woman crossed the entire burning field in tenths of a second.

Hammers crossed a black branch that suddenly twisted on itself.

“Mamma Mia, she’s going to try to disarm Fang,” Narsete whispered.

“Mistake. If Fang’s strategy relies on those hammers, he’s going to be prepared,” Ahati offered.

The two melee fighters exchanged lightning-fast strikes, and the two weapon sets disengaged as pale green translucent panes manifested. The shields nearly instantly broke, but the disarmament effort was stopped.

“Simple but effective,” Narsete commented.

“Don’t even need 30+ ranks, it just has to last enough to break contact.”

Suddenly the Enduring Perseverant Aerialist backpedalled, as the Enforcer plunged her offhand into his gut. The move looked mundane, but it was obviously backed by a surprise skill if Tang Feng had moved in anticipation.

The two spheres of fire and dark lightning manifested again, mixed on that fist.

Tang Feng dropped on the ground.

The yell of victory from Caíreach Ní hAragáin was deafening, backed by tens of thousands Presence, but cut abruptly down as the woman collapsed.

“What?” Nicolas blurted.

“Probably a bad status lingering. You couldn't see with your Focus, but they all used every opportunity to deploy some. She had to choose between cancelling it or finishing right now. But a win is a win, even on a second difference in dying. Against someone like Tang Feng, that is probably as good as a flawless victory.”

“Is that it?” Anne said, realizing that the entire fight had lasted less than two minutes.

“Yep. That’s the main part,” Ahati-waqrat said as various Professionals ran toward the fallen champions. Anne saw them expertly stripped of their gear to reduce the health maximum, while Constitution and health boosted Professionals waited to apply Resurrection – their usual team members would be the ones doing it.

“Of course, there will be days of discussion, criticizing gear picks and execution, and seeing behind you to find where the shortcuts were. Especially with those three. The Celt and Feng are not commonly Brawling,” she added.

“Sounds like a big waste of time, this Brawl of yours. Minutes and it's over,” Nicolas commented.

“What? No, that’s the first event. The next sets will be the 3-vs-3 cap-based finals. There are three categories based on how many Milestones total your team must have at maximum. Elimination matches happened during the year since you’d need to wait out Lingering Death all the time. But now we have the finals, and those things last usually a looong time. And then you have the full team combat, six against six, and the Battle Royale at the end for fun,” Ahati explained.

“But then, why put the main event first?”

“Why not? If you’re only there for it, you would still pay the same, and you’d be bored, or show late anyway. That way, if you were in here just for the one, you’ve seen it, and you’re good,” she said, looking at the handful of people who were already standing and moving toward the exit. Or, in a few cases, Recalling in a shower of rainbows, just to cut a few hours of walk.

“Still, Tang Feng himself. Can’t believe he came back to Brawl. Must be bored with the look on tier twenty zones,” Narsete commented.

"But Gamma wins again. They always have something to prove, even today," Ahati-waqrat replied.