Chapter 15: The Stage

So. The stage was set, Miguel thought to himself.

All of the contenders had returned to the now-smaller shared area with the benches. He spent some time looking over his equipment, strapping his helmet and chestplate back on, and checking for any damage. He then cleaned his axe as best he could with one of the towels.

Satisfied as well as he could be with what he could see, Miguel mentally spoke the word inventory, and the following appeared:

Ammunition pack (crossbow) Belt pouch (large) Crossbow Dagger Helmet Iron chestplate Hoplon shield Throwing stars (2)

Next, he looked around the area briefly, trying not to make eye contact with the others, and then stared down at his feet. Adrenalin was already pumping, there was no doubt. He didn’t yet know what their next task would involve, but he knew that it must be some kind of showdown. A battle to the finish.

Moments later, the guide’s voice rang out once again:

“In today's arena, the goal will be simple,” it said. “The last player standing is the winner. However, there will also be a central stage in the game arena. In the event of a tie, where more than one player survives for the duration of thirty minutes, the player who has spent the most overall time on that raised platform will be declared the victor.”

Miguel nodded to himself, trying to picture what to expect. Sword fights on a huge medieval-style raised wall, perhaps, with others trying to climb up ladders to get there?

“Certain items will be available to find and claim within the arena,” continued the voice, “and your existing equipment will also be fully functional. You have all been gifted an additional four hit points to help you in the trial. The six remaining contenders are as follows.”

At this point, a listing of names appeared as before, but this time it appeared to hang in the air, no background behind it, but yet clearly visible:

1) Sid Geraghty 2) Tarja Tuomi 3) Miguel Rubio 4) Chloe Králová 5) Gwendolyn Acoba Árbenz 6) Brad Green

At almost the same time, Miguel saw a notification:

You have gained four hit points at a cost of 0XP; You now have 16 out of 16 hit points remaining.

“For the first time in the contest so far, the deaths of any remaining players will be openly announced. Now, when you appear in the arena – in just a short time from now – you will have a single minute to orient yourselves and take up positions before the other contenders become visible to you. Again, the winner is the last player standing, or the survivor who holds the stage for longest. Good luck.”

With that, the surroundings shimmered and gave way to what looked like an outdoor area, and Miguel was alone again. Or at least, that’s how it looked.

The new arena looked very much like the one where their first trial with the giant centipedes had taken place, but for the lack of a central pit. In its place was a raised platform – this must be the stage which the announcer had mentioned, Miguel realized. It was bronze colored, and rose around three feet above the ground as a whole, with no obvious set of steps leading to it, but low enough to easily clamber up onto. The edge was smooth and shiny, as was the circular top of the platform. It could easily have been a solid block of bronze.

Miguel looked behind him. The jagged tops of the hills looked much the same as he remembered, but there were now very tall pampas grasses growing around the far edges of the area. This vegetation obscured the base of the hills. Could there be items to collect in that long grass?

Perhaps.

And was the cave with the sheer cliff – where he had first sheltered with Chloe – still present? It was currently impossible to say. But it could be useful to keep his knowledge of that location in mind, as many of the others would likely be unaware of it.

He smiled at the thought of his occasional ally, and then grunted with annoyance at himself, clenching his fist.

Man, he needed to stop thinking about her. She was a rival, a foe – at least for the time being.

Equip crossbow

Miguel began to hurry over in the direction where he believed the cave to be. He remembered the overall layout of the arena well, and at first he thought that a cave would be as good a place as any from which to take cover and shoot towards the central area – especially if that is where the others were gathered.

When he reached the edge of the tall grass, he paused, listening, and looking for signs of movement.

Nothing so far.

But who knows what might be lurking in there?

Thinking back to the previous trials, it rapidly occurred to Miguel that there could be almost any kind of danger, monster or trap among the grasses. The sense of cover could be highly deceptive.

The grass grew taller than head height, so not only could monsters lurk within, but any of his rivals could easily have taken up position in there by now. Just as Youssef had positioned himself by the gateway at the lake, ready to pick his rivals off...

Maybe it would be better to stay a bit closer to the center, Miguel reflected. And anyway, if he went deep into the long grass, he would lose sight of the others. If they stayed near the center, it would be impossible for him to shoot at them... And one of them would win by virtue of staying closest to the platform.

He took one step and then another into the tall grass, turned, and then tried to stand perfectly still. There were now around two feet of grass in front of him. He was still able to see the stage area from where he was, but was fairly sure that he was deep enough in to make it difficult for others to spot him.

He could just stand there with his crossbow at the ready. Assassin mode activated, he thought to himself.

Mere moments later, a gong sounded, there was a familiar flickering, and the other contenders seemed to appear out of nowhere – though Miguel knew that Demon Hunters had just made them visible to him. He watched them as they reacted to seeing one another. Sid, predictably, was close to the center. After spinning around to look for enemies, the big man ran towards the bronze platform, mounting it in a single leap, his red beard flopping over his shoulder as he did so. He then stood in the center, great-axe at the ready.

Gwendolyn and Brad were both already there. They stood eyeing Sid warily from the edge of the platform, perhaps considering whether they could trust their former ally not to stab them in the back now that the final showdown had arrived. It certainly appeared to Miguel that the three of them had agreed in advance that they would work together to secure the stage.

Of course, that meant that if any of them survived to the end, he was going to lose – they were already on the stage and he wasn’t. Unless he could somehow dislodge them early, the only way for him to win the contest was for all three of those players to die.

His heart sank slightly. Had he already made a major blunder?

Away from the center, the other two remaining contenders – Tarja and Chloe – were both now carefully stalking around in wide circles, midway between the stage and the long grass. Both had weapons at the ready. Chloe was holding her katana, with her spear once again stowed at her back and the seized pistol at her hip, while Tarja was holding a knife from her bandolier in each hand. They were staring at each other, but neither had yet made a move to attack.

Then, Miguel heard a banging and cracking noise from above, as if there was a vast ceiling above them which was about to cave in. He looked up, and saw that multiple objects were now falling from the simulated sky. Rectangular, wooden, they appeared like crates that had been dropped from a helicopter or airship. But there were no such vehicles in evidence.

The things were falling fast, anyhow, and Miguel barely had time to react before they were landing around and among the contestants. One smashed on the ground a few yards in front of him and he flinched, glancing skywards again to check that he didn’t need to leap out of the way of a second. Several more were landing on the open flat grassy area ahead, but the majority of the containers were landing much further out – near the caves (if they still existed in this version of the arena) and the hills, or directly down into the long grass. The boxes themselves were getting damaged by the fall, but the ones he could see remained still largely intact.

Finally, one large container smashed directly onto the bronze stage itself. Sid slid out of the way just in time; Brad tried to move too, leaping towards the edge of the platform, but the enormous box – at least half the size of one of the shipping containers that lined the entrance to New Baravia – landed directly on top of the bald man’s legs. Brad screamed; even Miguel and the others were wincing as they looked on, knowing that his legs must have been brutally crushed.

Sid hurried forward to Brad’s side and tried to pull his ally clear, but the man was entirely stuck, his pulverized legs underneath the enormous container. And as Sid raised his huge axe ready to smash the side of the thing, there came a bang, and then another. Each box began shaking, and as one, the contestants realized that the banging was coming from inside the containers.

“Shit – there’s something deadly inside those,” muttered Miguel to himself.

His attention was still occupied by the more distant box in the center of the stage. Sid had stepped back momentarily, and as he did so, a six-legged alligator-like demon with red scales and enormous curved teeth clambered out from a crack in the wood, pushing away the damaged beams of the wooden container as it struggled out.

It hissed, screeched, and then leaped down onto the stage itself, its claws rattling against the metal.

Sid’s axe swung, and the beast was propelled off, rolling as it hit the ground several feet away, blood spraying across the grass. But despite the blow it got back up again, stalking towards the platform. And by this time, four more of the beasts had clambered out of the box. One by one they sank their teeth into the prostrate Brad, and soon he was being ripped apart by the monstrous demons.

Announcement: Brad Green has left the contest.

No shit, thought Miguel.

Gwendolyn moved to the edge of the stage, keeping as much distance as possible from the creatures. Meanwhile, Chloe and Tarja each held their ground, while Sid swung another blow at the returning demon that he had hit previously, this time severing its head and causing it to slump, dead, at the foot of the platform.

At least they can be killed, thought Miguel to himself.

But by then, his attention was quickly shifting away from events at the center of the arena, for the large box a few yards in front of him had now begun to shake and bang. And he knew all too well that there were many more of the containers behind him – the ones that had fallen among the cliffs and the long grass.

Did they also contain the red gator–demons?

He had a decision to make – move forward to the raised area to benefit from better visibility and the uncertain temporary alliances with the other contenders, or go and skulk in the nearest cave.

Focusing on Chloe, he ran forward out of the grass.

As Miguel passed it, the nearest wooden crate burst open, shards of wood flying out.

Unequip crossbow

Equip shield

Equip axe

This time it wasn’t more of the red gator-demons that emerged, however, but vast pale-colored spiders, each the size of a large dog. Miguel raised his shield in time to block a falling piece of wooden debris, and then the nearest of the beasts was on him. He swung at it with the hand axe, missing its body but cutting off three of its legs with a wild blow.

He then blocked the attack of another one with his shield, and then ran, mindful that any bite by the creature could easily be poisoned.

Notification: You have gained 10XP Notification: You have gained 5XP

Ahead, Chloe had engaged another of the red six-legged alligator demons. She was ducking and weaving as it gnashed at her with its curved teeth, but its back was turned to Miguel. As he ran, he once again switched to his crossbow, and fired two bolts into it, one into its upper back and the other into the back of its scaled head. It screeched, momentarily immobilized, and Chloe danced forward and stabbed her katana into its eye, killing the creature outright.

Notification: You have gained 10XP

It was then that Miguel noticed Tarja stalking towards them, her approach partially hidden by the stage, where Sid and Gwen were still struggling with more of the red demons. Tarja now had a crossbow equipped, and it was levelled at where they stood. For a moment, Miguel wondered if she was stepping in to rescue them from the rapidly approaching spider-demons. But when Chloe cried out and fell to the ground clutching her leg, he knew differently.

He raised his shield at the same moment that the crossbow twanged again, and a tremendous force propelled him backwards as the bolt struck his shield.

Notification: You have gained 5XP

He lost his footing, rolled, and then stood up near the edge of the long grass, which was now moving ominously as something unseen charged through it. Whatever it was, there were several of them, and they were all moving rapidly in his direction.

Unequip axe

Equip throwing stars

Miguel got to his feet, stumbling at first and then getting a proper grip as he ran back to the scene of the slain demon behind which the wounded Chloe was now sheltering. Tarja was approaching, her crossbow still levelled, but before she could reach Chloe to finish her kill, the blonde warrior found herself surrounded by three more of the spider-demons, with a further four fast approaching. Each one was hissing at her, spitting balls of glue-like web that she had to duck. There were further twangs as she shot at the beasts, downing one, two... but then one was on her, clinging to the shoulders, its mandibles coming down upon her head, too close to be shot at.