Special Episode! - 10 - Arashi Akihiro (part 2)

Araki

“ETA?”

“Still assembling. Eighty-four seconds”

“Copy.” As she waited for her new armour to come in, she kept harassing the monstrosity. “It may be big and level one-hundred and fifty but, in the end, it’s not that scary. It only as its defence and hp pool to shine but its attack power is only average seeing its size and level.” She stabbed it once more with her pile-bunker, slowing it even more. The Tarask suddenly stopped focusing on her and turned its head once more toward the rampart.

“Darn it, it’s trying to pierce the damaged part once more. You see? That’s what you get not focusing on the city and always staying in your laboratory! Why didn’t you fix this place again?”

“Focus on the fight, you vip-FUCK! A Princess is approaching your position with her Knight.”

“I need to kill the Tarask to close the barrier, my ice isn’t enough! ETA?”

“Fourteen seconds.”

“Start charging the other pillars, we’ll overdrive the last one. If a Princess is showing, a Queen could be really near!”

“Copy!”

She looked at the monster tearing down the metallic rampart… And the screen faded to black.

“What? What happened?” Asked the young boy.

“I didn’t know sweety.” Answered his mother.

However, their question was quickly answered by the host.

“Lady and Gentleman, I can feel your disappointment from the studio but, as you know, In-game records can be tricky to come by and this was everything our cameraman could shoot before he was killed. However, I can say that Araki succeeded in her goal to kill the Tarask in time to close their Bastion. Now, a lot of you have figured out that this was indeed our beloved Japanese pro player superstar, and her avatar, Arashi Akihiro, nicknamed Deathsteel by Argosphael.”

“Indeed Michele.” Said the female host, taking the lead over her male coworker. “This genius player started playing during the BD Second Wave along other well-known figures of the Ten Ultima like Sorell and Leon Richter. Since she started in the now open Bastion of the City of Steel, very little is known about her debut but, as anyone knowing what a bastion is could say, she received an insane amount of resources by clearing it, resources that are directly noticeable in her fighting style. Paired with the Summoner known as Meyers, nicknamed the mad scientist, she opened her Bastion to the world one year after her first connexion, bringing awe and wealth to the whole Borchen Kingdom. Like any other Ruler, Araki engage a lot in politic, but her most well-known achievement is the one that gave her another of her nickname, The Bugs Dam, as her city is the main base of operation against the bug swarm the made their home in the Pestilent lake not a hundred kilometres away from the Steel City.”

“This swarm…” The male host had taken the lead back. “...Is also one of the main reasons she is so powerful. Bu constantly fighting an ever-adapting enemy, she harvested a lot of benefices. This, coupled with the seemingly infinite ores her city produce, created the playstyle she is using now: The Reassembling Armour. We didn’t know a lot about it until she took the world by surprise and choose to take part in last year World Fate Tournament, where she demonstrated her overwhelming power in the Link Event and became the dark horse that won the third place by defeating Alika. Some even claim that she could have taken second place, if not for fighting Argosphael during the fourth round.”

“But it was there that she showed her shocking talent since very few Ultimas and Miracles took part in the Link event of the Fourth World Tournament. Her summoner, Meyer, demonstrated are truly marvellous ability to adapt to every situation with a nearly infinite amount of trinkets and gadget, each one of them able to counter and stall his enemies. By doing so, he was able to support Araki so to make her use her full potential.”

“Her true potential, the Reassembling Armour.” Added the male host, Michele. Images started playing in the air at his side in the studio set, depicting the fight between Argosphael and Araki. “The principle behind The Reassembling Armour is very simple: Being able to change one's gear extremely quickly during a fight to adapt and counter the enemy’s moves in real-time. This is a common technique used by high lvel players. As everyone knows, due to game restriction, this can only be made with two or three sets of items, based on the mass and clutter of said items and the holding capacity of your spacial inventory. However, what araki does is much more than that. With his vehicle, the Mobile Workshop, a Legendary-grade piece of equipment, Meyer analyse, optimise and assemble the best armour possible for the current fight, delivering them to Araki as she use the pieces of the old armour to protect herself during the switch. It is hypothesized that nearly all of Araki’s classes are optimized around wilding and using armour, seeing how she can manipulate and change pieces on the fly.”

“Of course, the limitation of said technique is the price, that’s why, in Binding Fate itself, Meyer and Araki only use cheap components, easily discarded and replaced, like during the fight against the Tarask. However, this doesn’t apply during World Tournament, as resources used during the events are given back at the end of said event, or between rounds if needed. This way, Meyer and Araki showed us of their trump cards, in particular during the fight against Alika and Vincent, where the Duo used what we know as Calypsean Lost Tech, weapons that are banned by the Wizard Tower in Binding Fate. That really makes one see how the Ultima ranking doesn't forcibly imply fighting strength!”

Just like that, the mother and son watched the show till its end, very focused on the hosts analyzing of Araki’s and Meyer’s power, beaming with smiles during fight scene or in-game interview…