Chapter 22

MAC Fighting: The Charity that Shares

“Welcome one and all to Magical Acumen Combat. The only combat whose certs are nearly guaranteed to force a magical or mental class evolution. Today we have a crowd favorite from the Endarian cluster. Someone who has never been seen in the Human clusters. I present to you the debut performance of the Lightning Queen!” The announcer’s voice rumbles with excitement as he introduces my professor, who is dressed in a blue and yellow form fitting outfit. While not quite a leotard, it still clings tightly to her, assets, like a leotard would. The outfit is simultaneously ostentatious, while also going a long way to explain her powers. There is a giant lightning bolt down the front of her uniform, along with what appears to be a lightning cloud on her cape. Yep, she wears a cape. She is left looking somewhere between a comic book hero, and a LARPer. Fortunately, she doesn’t have any vampire themes going, so she likely won’t be criticized by the elitist LARPers I met earlier, but still. She doesn’t seem to be painting a good picture for professors at the Academy.

I am also by her side. I have on a healer’s uniform. Which just so happens to be form fitting leotard that has a giant red cross down the front and back, surrounded by white fabric. I feel ridiculous, though it must be nothing in comparison to what Astria is feeling.

The only part of me that is allowed to show through my uniform are my intensely glowing purple eyes. Everything else is covered by the oppressive skintight fabric. I am also allowed to keep my violin with me, which is one of my few comforts I am allotted. Everything else I came in with, including my neon-colored civilian clothes are secured in a locker.

“Tonight’s event will be a fifty-fifty raffle. Where fifty percent of the certs acquired will go to the Lightning Queen, who has already pledged these certs to serve challenged youths at a nearby school. The other half will be put up for auction, so you our perspective fans can grow from this experience.”

As the announcer speaks, I wonder if the comment about giving certs to challenged youths at the nearby school was somehow a jab at the military Academy students? Myself included? Still there is no time for that, as I am needed to get into position.

I serve as both healer and the final line of defense. As it turns out I am not the healer for Astria, instead I am the healer in case either her spells go wild and vaporize half the audience, or a monster gets through and then Astria must vaporize the fleeing creature and audience members alike. Given that safety is an issue, there is a protective barrier that blocks most of the attacks that could fly up into the stands. That shielding also serves as a viewing monitor for the crowd who wishes to see the action. There is a thin clear portion of the wall that can be seen through, basically a way to convince the gathered crowd that what they are seeing on the jumbo-trons are accurate and being shown live.

There apparently is also a counter that is visible that reveals how many estimated certs have been generated by the mayhem. I am told that this counter will begin to split off the number of certs collected by Astria. The idea is simple, it shows the overall earned and how many certs will be up for auction at the end of the night. Since this is a charity, once the operational expenses are covered, along with a slight margin for growth, everything else gained from the raffle after this competition will go to improving the community in some way. It sounds like a good idea, a form of entertainment that not only provides a somewhat safe environment for the audience, but also showcases what the true elites of the universe are capable of.

“For those of you who do not know how this works, we have set up teleportation arrays near a recently spawned spatial anomaly. You will first witness us piercing the anomaly, which will allow a slow trickle of monsters to exit the anomaly. Those monsters you see will be immediately picked up by our teleportation arrays and sent here to our combative arena. On the right you can see the levels, class rarity and composition of the monsters that are going to be released from the spatial anomaly before they get here. So, without any further ado, let the festivities begin!”

Wild Pandemonium. The ground began to tremble from so many people shouting at the top of their lungs and stomping their feet. I almost lost my balance for a second, before recovering.

Astria looked back at me, and though her face was covered by her crazy uniform I could tell she smirked at my sudden loss of balance.

“I can’t hear you!” The announcer bellows. There is a noise meter that is seen slowly rising the more the crowd cheers and gets into the frenzy. We are allowed to see this part inside the dome, as it is meant to help us prepare for when the action will begin. Finally, the noise meter fills fully, then on the screen showing the spatial anomaly a giant laser flares to life and cuts a small incision into the rift. Almost immediately a black monster appears from the spatial sack, then I feel a chill run down my spine as I see a horror from my past come to life.

“There you have it!” The announcer speaks. “Our first Prolaxian has appeared! These monsters are the scourge of the universe and at one time nearly wiped out all of society. Even going so far as to wipe out many of our home worlds. Now, we actively hunt out their spawning points, to save the universe. That is why we first developed the MAC, to both fight and bring awareness to the universe about these deadly monsters.”

Hearing that, my heart begins to thump wildly. As I see dozens of the monsters who have killed me, the scourge, over my past seven lifetimes come to life in a giant swarm. All for that swarm to be sucked up by a dimensional pocket and pulled to here. There is only one problem, the laser that cut a hole in the spatial anomaly either wasn’t malfunctioning or didn’t compensate for just how much pressure the spatial sac was under. As the number of monsters that appear are nowhere near the slow trickle of monsters. Instead, it is a flood of giant space swarming insects that start off the size of a fist but can easily spawn the size of a small cat flooding through the opening and directly into our arena.

“SHIT!” Astria shouts out.

ZZZAPP!

A sound that can only be described as an insect zapper coming to life flares up as an initial wave of the monsters are taken down instantly. But there is only one problem, there are too many. Originally the plan was for Astria to start off slow and slowly generate water that would further conduct the lightning bolts she created. Then from there she would slowly build herself up into a storm cloud of death that would kill off the bugs before they got to these ridiculous numbers. The plan was to make it a show, to slowly build up the constant cycle of death to the monsters.

I can see Astria is already trying her best, creating a wave of water, which the beasts quickly fly through. Then a torrent of lightning that burns half of the monsters, while the other half manage to fly forward through the wave of lightning, singed but still moving about freely.

In a moment I see glimpses of my last life flash before me. I see a wave of black death rolling in over me. At that moment something breaks inside of me. I feel the protective layers of discipline I slowly built up over the last two months erode quickly, as a new feeling takes over. Rage.

“DIEEE!” I scream, as I hold up my hands and summon pillars of Pyrokinetic flames to rise before me. I am seething with anger, as flames erupt up and out of me burning everything that comes near. I use my minor control over air to push out the flames and give me room to breathe. The wind also helps continue to push the flames forward. In a second there is an inferno of heat coming forward. I feel the minds of the insects slowly winking out of existence when they get within feet of me.

In moments a scene that went from near disaster now has the crowd cheering even louder.

“Heal Boy for the save. Did you see that display of power Males and Females of all races?” The announcer shouts out.

Heal Boy? I think to myself, as that has got to be the stupidest name I’ve ever heard.

“We don’t know who is behind the mask, but we were told that this healer was chosen specifically by the Lightning Queen herself. And boy can we see why. With the Lightning Queen mowing down the monsters in front and Heal Boy getting any monsters that make it past her, we are set for an entertaining evening ladies and gentlemen.”

While I am not the best at Pyrokinetic flames affinity wise, my insane Power attribute for my level, along with my simultaneous use of Air Magic make this an easier process than one might expect. I am so focused on my protecting the audience that I almost miss the moment that Astria comes over my flames. My only real warning is that there are a few droplets of rain that come down over top of my pillars. I look up to see Astria giving me a kill it command. With that I drop my control over the flames and see that Astria now has her storm cloud going. Lightning bolts are flying so fast and quickly that most of the monsters are dead before they fully realize where they are.

I let out a sigh of relief but remain focused. I also do a quick scan of the crowd to make sure none of those monsters made it through. It appears that we got them all, but even one loose Scourge, or what this universe calls a Prolaxian is enough to eventually wipe out the planet if left to get a foothold on this planet.

“It seems that the moment of excitement is over, as the Lightning Queen has once again taken over the field. Letting us see why she is the master of these events. But let’s hear a big round of applause for Heal Boy too!”

RUMBLE!

The ground begins to shake as the crowd begins stomping their feet and shouting wildly. My eyes are still forward, but I give the crowd a wave of gratitude.

“Stomp them into the ground!” A female voice calls out from right behind me. I look back to see a freak wearing a full body costume and face paint that matches Astria’s almost perfectly. I almost notice something about the fanatic when my mind pulses alerting me to an immediate danger in front of me.

“Shit!” Astria calls out.

On reflex I summon forth a pillar of flames, as a group of seven medium pet sized monsters charge through the bolts of lightning.

Whoosh!

Flames erupt from the ground, as the insectoids are quickly burnt to a crisp. While Pyrokinesis isn’t my best power, it is the one that is best at dealing with the Scourges, due to some weird amoeba like component in their cores that can survive impact. That is why an elementalist like Astria is important, her electricity can often surge through the fluid filled amoeba sacs at the heart of a scourge and ensure the killed scourge’s body cannot be used to incubate a replacement member of their species.

With that second scare, I keep my eyes forward and let the noise and distractions of the crowd fade from my mind.

I am starting to feel slightly woozy from all the use of my Psionic energies. Fortunately for me Astria’s magical barrage is generating more than enough magical energy to drown out my Psionic resonance. Which is why I am cognizant when I hear the crowd begging to shout out “Ten. Nine. Eight…” I am confused for a moment. I look up to see that the flow of scourge has dropped to almost a crawl by this point. While the monsters are larger, Astria is more than capable of killing these beasts with a single bolt of lightning.

I look up to the screens and see that the spatial anomaly has completely sealed itself shut. The bulging sac of empty space is now smooth once more. I blink for a second, before I realize there is a counter on the screen of monsters that will soon be teleported here. Then the next second the monsters appear, only to be zapped to a crisp. Before the next appears. Each time one appears, the number the crowd is chanting dies out. Then finally the crowd gets to “one.”

With that one final scourge comes through, far smaller than the other larger ones we had just seen. This one looked to be about medium sized and looked like they were possibly caught up behind their larger brethren.

“Zero!” The crowd chants loudly.

“There you have its folks. An entire large scale spatial anomaly taken care of by the Lightning Queen and her sidekick Heal Boy!” The announcer shouts out.

That name still sounds stupid, no matter how many times you say it. I think to myself, but I can’t really complain at least not now.

With that announcement, Astria slowly stops controlling the storm cloud she is sitting on and begins to drop to the ground. I go over to catch her, as she clearly seems shaky. I cast Cleanse and a few other healing spells on her. After a few seconds she recovers and nods to me.

From there we are taken over to a podium where Astria pulls out the certs she generated during the attack. True to form they look like metal coins. Looking at one I see the system numeral for one, and the mark of the system on it. Which is just a big flashy ‘S’ which is on the other side of the coin.

Once all the coin shaped certs are provided, they are counted and distributed evenly. There is one left over, which she grabs and then hands over to me in a big show.

“I think this is only fitting. The spare cert will go to Heal Boy for his excellent saves.” The Announcer says.

I take the coin and wonder if I somehow got cheated. Though to be fair I did agree to only do this for one cert, which is what I was just given. So, I can’t really complain, though at the time I didn’t think I had made such a bad deal.

I almost want to ask if they are normally this tough but decide not to say anything with the announcer’s voice amplifier, which is still going on in full effect.

“Now we will have the auction, where the Lightning Queen herself will hand over the certs to the winner.” The announcer states.

I was told that this would happen. The reason being that only Astria, the earner of the certs will be able to transfer them, and then they can only be transferred once. So, this was it, she earned certs and would now hand them over to whomever won the bidding frenzy.

“Forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine. We have it a complete cycle.” The announcer says.

A complete cycle is what is referred to when there are enough certs to force a change at every rank of rarity. Meaning that not only would the classes next offered be different, but by then end one was almost… “That’s correct, a full cycle. Enough to GUARANTEE! A magical awakening. With the level of power on display from the Lightning Queen and Heal Boy, we are certain that these will be powerful.”

“To make matters fair, we will break these up into sets of seven. Enough for a full rarity improvement.” The announcer began.

Then came the long process of people bidding, over and over and over. In the end all seven groups of seven certs went to one girl. To my surprise it was the extremely loud LARPer from the crowd. The one that was wearing face paint and dressed up like Astria. From the size of the bids going on it was clear this woman was loaded.

Then as she came forward to collect all seven of her prizes my jaw dropped. At first, I was just so tired from the adrenaline high wearing off that I wanted to go back and rest. Only when I saw the cosplaying bidder’s escort did I pause. I stopped to stare at the woman she was with, as recognition flooded my mind. I remembered seeing this bodyguard before but were.

Then the bodyguard turned to me and gave me a knowing wink. At that my brain finally clicked on as I remembered who she was. This was Mave the waitress from the diner. Which meant, I turn to look at the crazy woman who is covered in paint. The woman who was by far and away the loudest from the crowd, at least the one I could hear from my position in the arena. I looked and then my chest started to pound. Mel?

I thought. It was a good thing the spandex covered my mouth, otherwise I think my jaw would have fallen off right there. Looking at the paint covered maniac I can see my Mel if I squint and look closely. Suddenly my mind ticks back to our call from earlier. The one where I saw the signs. She said she was going to a charity. I could tell I caught her in the middle of getting ready to go. I even noticed the yellow paint on her face. Paint that she evidently completed to look like a lightning bolt on a blue background of the rest of her face.

I must have spoken her name, as everyone looks at me. Well Mave was already looking at me, but the announcer, Astria, and Mel all look to me.

“It appears our young Heal Boy might know our young benefactor here.” The announcer says. Mel for her part just stares at me for a long moment, then Mave whispers something in her ear. As soon as she hears it recognition fills her face. Even with bright blue paint covering most of her features, I can almost swear she is blushing.

“Who knows in a few years, our young Heal Boy might grow up to make a name for himself in these circuits. It is clear he has the power and reaction time needed to be a major part of this. Tell you what, Heal Boy this one time. I will let you reveal your face to the audience.” The announcer says.

Badump. Badump.

I shake my head no, at the same time Mave comes into save me. “I don’t think that will be necessary. We know exactly who this person is.”

“Oh, and who might he be?” The Announcer presses, trying to play up these last few minutes for their full entertainment value.

“He is the protector who saved us after all. Heal…” Mave begins but chuckles slightly as she chokes on the name. Finally, after a half second she recovers, Heal Boy!”

CHEERS!

The crowd goes wild. During the loud screams the Announcer mutes his mic. During this time Mave asks, “God, how can you say such a ridiculous name like that so seriously?” She asks.

The announcer covers his mouth, most likely out of habit by now to keep away from lip readers. “If you heard some of the ridiculous names I have to call out for these events, you would realize Heal Boy is one of the easiest to get out.”

With that the crowd finally calms down enough. After that Mel and I exchange awkward waves, mine with a white gloved hand, Mel with a blue gloved hand. Then the certs are exchanged at the same time as seven major transactions for close to fifty billion cryptos are made.

My heart pounds at that sight. Fifty billion, that number is astronomical. Even looking at it, my mind goes blank. With that Mel gives me one final wave goodbye as she is directed off stage one way. Likely to a room where she can go through the application process. While Astria and I are taken to another direction and set of rooms entirely, where we can take a quick shower and change back into our regular clothes.

Before we change, the Manager, someone entirely different form the announcer, though they could almost be brothers given their similar appearances, stops us. “Great work you two. This is the healer you will be bringing to your other performances.” He asks, but it comes out more as a statement.

“Yes. He will be my healer for the remainder of the circuit.” Astria answers.

Hearing that, the Manager nods to Astria. “You did great kid. Here is another cert for your troubles.” He says flipping a coin from his hand to me. I catch it, barely, but can bring it in. With that I officially got two certs for one night’s worth of work. Not too bad, especially as I would have killed scourge for free.

With that we shower, change, and begin the process of trying to get back onto base after curfew. We get back on post easily enough. The diplomatic tags that Astria has on her bike get us easily through. That and the fact that we both have valid military IDs means we are let through the gate no problem. Astria pulls up to my dorm building then lets me off.

“Good luck.” She says, before speeding off.

I am about to say goodbye when I realize the weight of her words. I am suddenly out after curfew in the front of my building. This means if I am caught, I will immediately be punished, at least for the night.

Dang it. I think to myself as I quickly dart to a shadow and begin the long process of trying to sneak into my dorm unnoticed.