Luke’s hands swiftly moved across the metal, reinscribing his power armor. He pushed his Memory and Dexterity stats to the limit, trying to get this done quickly and perfectly. He wasn’t going to let himself get distracted again. Bosa was stationed at the door to the locker room and promised to run interference if anyone barged in before he was done.

  Time slowed down, Acuity giving him the ability to focus and hurry. The life rune was already done, he was almost done with the inertia rune too. When the door opened, he didn’t even look up at first. Instead he kept going, finishing the last of the rune before he set the tool down. He turned and gave the attendant a triumphant grin.

  The orc smiled back at him, “I was going to let you finish first anyway. The mistress of the arena has summoned you and your competition. All four contestants must have a short conversation with her before the final round.”

  “Sure, sure. Let’s see what else the old bat wants to do to sabotage me.”

  “Master Luke of Machines, please don’t talk like that. This is a respected countess of the Empire. I am sure she only has the best interests of everyone in mind.”

  “Yeah, whatever. Lead the way, dude,” Luke said and gestured. He was proud of himself for remembering the Thenubian word for dude.

  He climbed into his slim power armor and followed the attendant to the elevator. They arrived at the elevator at the same time as another young orc leading two others. They were clearly the competition for the final round. The six of them boarded the elevator together and sized each other up.

  They were a pair of men, an elf and an orc. The elf was tall and unusually muscular for his kind. He wore glittering blue scale armor and had thick leather gloves. Twin crossbows hung from slings at his side. He had short cut white hair and a grizzled look, like a Kalibutan version of a cowboy. His partner was a bare chested orc. He had red paint across his chest, one that really made the patterns of his skin whorls pop. He looked young, but his head was shaved. He held two sticks that looked like totems, complete with hanging feathers.

  Both contestants gave Bosa a quick look and dismissed her, but gave Luke a more considered look. They seemed a little put off that they couldn’t see his face behind the full body armor.

  They walked off the elevator together and directly towards the countess and her hangers on. The rest of the crowd that had been there before was on the far end of the room.

  The countess cleared her throat and said, “I apologize for the interruption, but we have a time sensitive matter that needs to be addressed immediately. Viscount Osifo has a proposal he would like to present.”

  The viscount stepped forward with a sneer. “After hearing about the mistreatment of an elf, I couldn’t help but find a solution. This elf has been forced into working with scum just to survive. I have arranged a better position for you, Bosa of Domestic. One where you can work with your own kind. In the transport division of the Empire’s military, they need someone with your administrational skills, who can also survive should a convoy be attacked by monsters.” He turned to Luke and said, “I realize it will be an inconvenience for you. The countess asked me to wait until after the tournament, but we have a column heading out now, and they can’t wait. They also need her to be healthy, so I figured that helping her avoid injury or death in the last round would be best for everyone.”

  Luke was a little stunned. How important was this Tournament that the organizers were willing to let blatant manipulation like this happen right under their noses? Now he was really curious about the prize. All these machinations only made him want to win even more. But he couldn’t do that alone.

  “I need my partner for the next few minutes. You can have her afterwards. Don’t worry, I won’t let her get hurt and we won’t take long to beat these two,” Luke said.

  The viscount shook his head. “I’m afraid that won’t work. The column is already leaving the city, she would have to run as it is already.”

  Luke opened his mouth to argue but Bosa beat him to it. She said, “Luke of Machines, you mentioned when you hired me that I could leave your service whenever a better offer came along. I’m sure the Empire’s military can pay me more than you have been, and I don’t want to let a good opportunity like this pass me by.”

  He turned to her with a betrayed look on his face. He understood what she was doing, of course. Working in military transportation would be the ideal position for a spy. He was happy for her, but it still hurt. “Bosa, you can’t wait? I can pay you extra.”

  She shook her head, “I apologize. The needs of the Empire must always come first."

  Viscount Osifo said, “Bosa of Domestic. My man is behind you, the one in green and yellow. He will lead you to the column. Hurry, I believe they have recently left the city walls.”

  The two of them swept out of the room. Luke watched them go, still a little stunned. He flexed Acuity to give himself time to come to grips with this and come up with a new solution.

  He didn’t necessarily have to give up now that he had lost his partner. He had basically carried the last round by himself. But he was going to be up against an orc and elf that had won three rounds in a row. The countess and viscount seemed to think that taking away Bosa would be enough for them to beat him. His bullet time ended while he was still furiously thinking of a solution.

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  “With that matter taken care of, I believe we can proceed,” the countess said.

  An idea formed, one that he was putting together as he started talking, “Countess Notayo. Thank you for calling us here to discuss this. I know you are a glorious leader and would never stoop to sabotaging a tournament for personal gain. You are far too honorable for something that despicable. I assume you have called us all here because you want me to select a new partner for the Tournament, correct?”

  The countess was caught off guard, but recovered quickly. “That’s correct. You may choose one person among those assembled on the observation deck for your partner. You may only ask one person and they must agree.” She gestured towards the people on the other side of the observation deck.

  Luke turned to examine his options. More than two dozen people stood there awkwardly. These people would be nobles here for entertainment, or fighters who had already lost their round. Not a promising bunch. Getting one of them to agree to fight with him would be a stretch too, particularly since none of them were willing to meet his eyes.

  He turned around and said, “That’s an easy decision. The best partner I could possibly hope for is right here in front of me. Baroness Ewaen. Your glory shines bright. I assume it is because you always do the right thing. Would you grant me the honor of competing with me?”

  It really was his only hope. Baroness Ewaen was Momoh’s liege, and the only one he had a good relationship with. He had no idea if she could fight, but she was nice and might say yes. Viscount Osifo clearly wasn’t a fan of the idea, he had spun to her and was giving her the evil eye.

  She tittered and covered her mouth. “Luke of Machines. How bold. You don’t even know my class.”

  “I don’t need to know that to know you are possibly the best fighter here,” Luke said with a half smile.

  Viscount Osifo stepped forward. “No, you can’t accept his offer. You’ve watched every match, that has given you an unfair advantage. Only those on the far wall can join him. Besides, this is for those that haven’t passed their fifth threshold. You are a baroness of the Empire, by definition you have passed your sixth threshold.”

  “Don’t sign documents for me, Osifo. Countess Notayo said anyone on the observation deck may join the human if they agree. And I agree. This will be fun,” Ewaen said with a grin. “If it will make you feel better, I promise to limit myself to a single skill usage and spend the rest of the fight only utilizing my physical prowess.”

  Osifo sputtered and kept objecting, but the countess couldn’t back him up. Luke had backed her into a corner and she couldn’t go back on her word without losing glory.

  Ewaen shucked off her outer robe, the fancy metal garment the nobility wore, and gave it to Osifo to hold. She quickly strode to the elevator and said to the others, “Come, Luke of Machines. We’ve got a Tournament to win.”

  Luke quickly followed her and hopped onto the elevator. She touched the rune and the platform started dropping before the other two contestants got there. Ewaen turned to him with a grin. She looked very different now than she had when they first met on the train. She still had the same short blond hair with gold specks, and her undergarment was the same yellow with glittering silver runes. But now he could see her excitement bursting through her aloof facade. Her tunic and pants were tight enough to reveal a shapely body, one distracting enough that he had to tear his eyes away. She was the sexiest elf he had ever seen, but he couldn’t be distracted right now.

  He cleared his throat and said, “Let’s talk strategy. I think you’ve seen all my skills. What talents will you be bringing to the arena?”

  She laughed, a high and tinkling sound. “It’s not what I bring, it’s what I take away. The skill I will be using today is called Lockdown. I can stop any magic from manifesting outside your body. So no ranged attacks at all. It will mean no portals or pet summons, but trust me, that’s good for you.”

  “You are taking away most of my arsenal with that skill. How is that good for me?”

  “Harm, the orc you saw, is a Glacial Guardian. He can produce ice mists so cold, they freeze your very soul. I believe his sponsor, Osifo, ordered him to kill you in the arena.

  “It wouldn’t have worked. I have a magic armor skill.” Luke said and demonstrated. Armor Adjunct sprung up and spread out in an aura. Not nearly as far as normal though, it stopped a few inches away from his body. Clearly, Ewaen’s anti-magic skill was already working.

  She noticed and smiled. “Good, good. That skill will allow your machine to still work. I was worried I would have to ask you to leave it behind.”

  “That’s good because I can’t leave it behind, I need it for my class buff.”

  They walked across the bridge together and continued strategizing. Their competition joined them across the arena a short while later. Luke ignored the announcer’s prattle, hyping up the last fight of the tournament. He just focused and tried to get into the zone. When the announcer shouted begin, he was more than ready.

  Luke had his hand up, as if he was about to summon his tank. The competition, Hawk and Harm, were ready too, both of them focused on him. When the round started, he dropped his hand and bolted forward.

  Harm shook his totems and two gouts of dark freezing mist shot forward. They twisted around obstacles and slithered towards him like snakes. Hawk created wooden stairs midair and ran up them. Once he was up there, he created a platform of solid steel several inches thick. He threw out his hands to create something new, but then Ewaen shouted Lockdown.

  The icy snakes puffed into patches of cold air and the thick steel platform fell out of the air with a deafening clang. Hawk shouted as he fell, trying in vain to create something to cushion his fall. When he was almost down, he was able to arrest his fall briefly. He had created a handhold midair, and since it was fully encased in his skin, it was protected from the anti-magic field. At least it was until his grip loosened and he fell the rest of the way down to the ground.

  Luke kept an eye on him as he ran over, activating Armor Adjunct at the same time Ewaen shouted. The aura of magical protection pushed out just far enough to keep his mech working. It wasn’t enough to let him fire off lightning bolts or use his Ice Hammer, but he had hopes that his plasma shot would still work, kind of. Even without magic, it was still superheated air and might act like a flamethrower.

  Ewaen ran towards Harm, slipping around pillars and vaulting over low walls without breaking stride in a display of casual athleticism. She had donned brass knuckle gloves in the elevator, and now they shone a gold that matched her hair.

  Luke and Ewaen reached their opponents seconds after the fight started, while they were still coming to grips with the fact they had just lost access to their magic.

  The chapter title is a quote from The Avengers (2012)