161 A Night to Remember (1/2)
With another lash of his tail, the gialgathen's desperation grew. I deflected another cutting strike. He flapped his wings, flying up into the air. Dipping into my mana, I pulled him downward. Alzoroth snapped,
”What is this vile trickery.”
I stomped my heel, slamming him into the arena. His wide feet cracked into stone. He stumbled back, giving away precious space. His tail pummeled me from all angles, panic growing in his eyes. I controlled the fight with absolute calm, however.
I redirected strikes, countered his wild attacks, and pushed him into a corner. Within a minute of fighting, his back feet slipped from the arena into the water beside it. He pulled himself back up, meeting me.
He snapped at me with open jaws. With a tight, condensed hook, I crushed the needle teeth in his mouth. His head shot sideways, his tail missing its mark. I dashed forward, keeping my stance composed. Beside his belly, I gyrated a heavy hook into his side. The impact of my fist rippled up through his scaly skin like ripples through a pool.
He gasped in pain. Alzeroth raised his legs, stomping at me with his left foot. I caught his limb with one hand, my telekinetic energy dispersing the weight outwards. The arena cracked, stone breaking across the entire expanse. The gialgathen gasped,
”I...I can't believe it. How?”
I gripped my hand into his feet, bones grinding against bones in my hand,
”I'm strong.”
I flung his foot sideways. As he fell, I spun on my heels. Torquing momentum into my right hand, I smashed an overhand right into his upper chest. My hand bounced back, the kinetic energy dispersing as if a bomb exploded.
With a loud boom echoing out, the behemoth tumbled out of the arena. Alzoroth slammed into the lower edge of the surrounding waterfall with another crash of sound. No one stood there, but many onlookers gawked from above. As large fissures spread across the entire canyon, those spectators spread out in a frenzy.
The entire portion of the arena threatened to collapse. I lifted a hand, clasping it as I pulled from my vast ocean of mana. The flow of energy evolved into a rush as I kept gathering energy. I reached out my hand, creating an antigravity field over the crumbling canyon wall.
I measured my output and matched the upward pull of my magic to the downward pull of Giess's gravity. This impromptu spell generated an antigravity field over the area of destruction. Kids, stalls, and spectators floated, the disaster turning into an exhibition.
As two espen children began playing in the antigravity field, I shouted,
”Get out of the magic field. I'm not holding this shit forever.”
My words spurred the stunned audience into action. A few nearby tournament fighters flew into the field, helping children and the elderly to escape. I flicked Alzoroth out of the area, floating him towards the medical bay. Asshole or not, I wasn't about to kill the guy.
The adults didn't need help once they got my warning. They crawled out through a field of floating debris. After ten minutes of holding the broken gorge, no one remained. I dropped my hand, letting the entire piece of wall fall. As it tumbled, the announcer floated beside me.
Kiki Mosk grinned at me, his tacky suit shifting colors at random. He grabbed my arm, raising my hand as he roared across the arena,
”And we have the new champion of Icosah! Let's hear it for the newcomer!”
The crowd went wild. The cheering continued for a solid five minutes. B then, they exhausted my patience. I left the arena, jumping back towards Althea. As I reached her, she crossed her arms and pursed her lips at me,
”You know you didn't have to show off like that.”
I grinned, ”Did I though? He had it coming.”
She raised her eyebrows, ”Ok, I can't lie about that.”
From the crowd,a tuft of white fur scrambled towards us. Caprika reached us, her red mask reflecting an orange sheen from the sunset. She grabbed my arms and shook me, ”What in Schema's name was that?”
I wobbled back and forth, ”I kicked his ass. What else?”
She spread out her hands, ”If you could beat him so easily, why not just do so without causing a scene? Other members of the tournament know all of your tricks now.”
I scoffed, ”That's the thing. That's not all the talents I have at my disposal. Trust me.”
With a slow nod, she backed away, giving me some welcome space. Caprika sighed while composing herself, ”Hmmm...I suppose I'm fortunate to have chosen such an able warrior to represent me then.”
Althea grabbed my arm, grinning up at me, ”You are.”
I wrapped my arm around Althea's shoulders, ”Heh, you'd be doing the same thing. It might even be more overwhelming than my fighting style.”
Caprika put her clawed hands onto her hips, looking back and forth at us,
”I believe a celebration is in order. My treat for your dominant victories.”
I gave her the thumbs up, ”Sounds like fun.” I looked at Althea, ”What do you think?”
She shrugged, ”I'm game. Let's invite Kessiah and Torix. Kessiah will like the food and Torix will enjoy the company.”
I hugged Althea up to my chest, pulling her off her feet, ”I'm so lucky to have someone as sweet as you.”
Althea giggled while Caprika gagged in the sidelines,
”Bleck. Your overt happiness is disgusting.”
Althea rolled her eyes as I set her down, ”I know a guy who knew just what to say in times like this. I quote, 'Hod think fur lady peanut butter and jealous.'”
I bust out laughing while Caprika shook her head in confusion. Caprika leaned her head into a clawed hand, ”Whoever friend is, he's unbelievably stupid.”
Althea laughed, ”Yeah, you and Torix would get along perfectly. The grouch thinks the same thing.”
We walked off through the crowd, chatting as we headed back to Icosah. I ignored my new fans, too busy to indulge them. I wasn't used to this kind of attention, and I didn't intend on getting used to it either. Knowing myself, I'd say something ridiculous and end up blowing our cover. It was better to play it safe for now.
Once we got back to Icosah, Caprika went back to the Empire's branch. Althea and I stopped by a cafe, enjoying a few drinks of some root juice reminding me of tea. Once finished with winding down, Althea went to find Torix. I searched out for Kessiah.
I found her in a bar, chatting it up with the bartender and a few rough looking mercenaries. As I trot up, the two gruff aliens stood up. One of them walked up and grabbed my hand,
”I saw your fight. It was incredible. You showed those filthy Gialgathens whose boss.”
I frowned, not enjoying the fact he called all gialgathens filthy. Still, I shook his hand back. I shrugged, ”It's more about putting arrogant asshats in their place, not gialgathens.”
He slapped my shoulder, keeling over in laughter, ”What's the difference?”
I squeezed his hand, ”I gotta talk to my friend. Nice meeting you.”
He nodded, walking off into the distance. I sat down with Kessiah, each of us staring forward. She sipped from some unknown brew, looking up at the television screen,
”You know, I saw how you handled Alzoroth on the television.”
I nodded. Kessiah tilted her drink back and forth, looking at me, ”They're playing you up like you're some anti-gialgathen icon.”
I turned towards her, ”Really now?”
She scoffed, ”Yeah. Did you hear them right? Lots of people here despise those frog-dragons.”
I raised a hand, ”You see the resemblance too?”
She spread out her hand like I was ridiculous, ”Well duh. I heard quite a few stories from some training buddies back Earth. A lot of them talked about dragons. They're just flying reptiles. Big whoop.”
I leaned back onto the bar, ”They're more like noble beasts with pure hearts, at least in Earthen fiction...Earthen fiction. That feels weird to say.”
She sighed, ”It is weird to say. My point is, whether they're frog dragons or not, someone is using you against them. That's what I gathered from those two mercenaries.”
I rolled my eyes, ”Come on, this isn't something we have to worry about. Compare that to facing off against you know who. The stakes aren't as high.”