AW Chapter 85 - Grand Finals (Patreon)

Do I deserve to win this?

The question kept invading Veyra’s concentration. She’d come to the match with the assumption that she just wouldn’t win. She obviously didn’t stand a chance against Annath, so she didn’t need to worry about whether she deserved a win or not. As much as Aiden could try to hype her up, and as good as he was drawing smiles out of her, conjuring the trophy for them wasn’t that easy.

So how were both teams on match point?

Three minutes remained on the timer with only Veyra yet to click the ready button. Miko and Prancer were fully focused. Annath looked ready to finally release all the pent up resentment and destroy Veyra, like SevenStrife had destroyed the guild.

Veyra had, for a fact, destroyed The Celestial Order. The guild she knew four years ago had just about disbanded. Out of the original members, Prancer and Miko were one of the few that had stayed with Annath over all the drama. Their reputation was ruined, and all Annath was left with were a few loyal members and an empty guild hall. Everyone else chalked her up as a toxic guild leader who relied on a cheater to frontrun events.

That was wrong on so many levels. The original Celestial Order hadn’t been dominant because of Veyra. Annath herself had been way stronger back then, and not just because of her skills with the sword. Annath was a genius at clearing dungeons. She’d proved her god-status by single-handedly reviving the Celestial Order back to rank three on the global leaderboard.

But Annath never reached number one.

Top players refused to join her guild after the incident. Annath instead recruited upcoming rookies and trained them from the ground up—always lacking firepower and experienced members. No matter how hard she tried, Annath had yet to win the Guild PvP tournament a single time, always falling behind Zenith Protocol or Syntrix. Usually both.

But what if Nightrin and Toonten had never left? What if I wasn’t such an idiot and actually entered a local competition?

Veyra already knew what Aiden would have to say about her current thoughts. He’d call Annath a dumbass, who was responsible for her own reputation, and he’d say that Veyra had no obligation to feel bad about the past. He looked fully serious as he faced their opponents to Veyra’s right.

Aiden’s opinion on the matter would be correct. Veyra already knew. But even still, Aiden didn’t have the full story. He’d probably been practising ninjutsu on a field or whatever assassin stuff he’d been busy with back when it happened.

Maybe I’m just silly and immature, Veyra thought.

Regardless of who was right, emotions were hard to argue over. She’d lost so many hours of sleep after it happened. She’d tried to apologize to Annath, but understandably, that wasn’t enough.

Could she really show up to the grand finals now, with no apology, threatening to steal yet another trophy from Annath’s hands?

Two minutes remained before the most important match of the tournament, with thunder raging in the stormclouds around the mountain, the air humid and chilly, when Aiden suddenly spoke. “Everyone there is your former friend, right?”

“Well, yes?” Veyra said. “Why do you ask now?”

Aiden’s tone was serious. “You look like you don’t want to fight them. But you also aren’t afraid of them.”

“Everything is fine,” she said. “Just let me focus.”

Aiden eyed her for a moment. “Alright. Sorry. Let’s go.”

Veyra pouted at the ground. This silly guy—somehow, Aiden was so good at reading her mind whenever she worried over nonsense. The only problem was that he tended to give up too easily if Veyra told him not to worry.

“You’re right, though,” Veyra said, shifting her posture. “I guess I’m being a bit of an idiot in my head right now. I’m just regretting a lot of things. Past stuff. The only reason I’m Annath’s enemy is because my younger self was an idiot.”

“Annath told me something similar,” Aiden said. “Not that you were an idiot—no, she didn’t say that. If anything, I think she blames herself. She regrets how the situation played out. If that helps you feel better…”

“Yeah…” Veyra said.

“Sorry, I’m just rambling, aren’t I?” Aiden said.

“No, no,” Veyra said, somehow smiling now. “I like how thoughtful you are. Thanks.”

He blinked at her. “Really? You think that?”

“Yeah?” She chuckled. “Why else would I say it?”

A light smile found its way on his lips. “I’m… happy to hear that.”

He honestly looked happy, as if that simple compliment was somehow the greatest thing in the world. He turned to her and said, “I like the way you stress out about things. It’s wholesome.”

Veyra couldn’t help but chuckle again. Only Aiden could make the prep-phase to a finals match feel like a Sunday date. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Uh, I’ve heard horror stories from my friends,” Aiden said. “Apparently, every girl they’ve met is always stressing about something indecipherable. With you, I’m happy for every chance to share thoughts with you.”

“That’s only because you pay attention every now and then,” Veyra said. “You should be the one giving your friends advice.”

Aiden grinned like the smug idiot he was. The timer read fifteen seconds. “After the match, wait for me in your game pod, okay?”

“Why? Is something happening?”

“Oh, I’d just like to hug the trophy.”

Veyra rolled her eyes and laughed at the same time. “What, so you see me as just some medal to obtain?”

“No, I just need excuses to hug you,” Aiden said. “Winning a Worlds event deserves a big one, right?”

“I guess so.” She slowly shook her head. Not because she disagreed, but because she couldn’t stop smiling. “We need to stop flirting on the Worlds stage, Aiden.”

The timer read one second, and the arena was about to open. “Let’s win,” Aiden said again. “Good luck.”

“Good luck,” she repeated, and the fight had begun.

Veyra was forced to focus. Luckily, the initial spells were simple enough to cast with her eyes closed. Veyra shot a shower of hail and cast [Astral Defiance] like a support mage casting her buffs. There wasn’t much Prancer or Miko could do to intercept her casting just yet. Their mana was better spent by simply casting their own buffs on Annath.

How can he talk about this stuff before a match? Veyra thought as she tried to wipe the smile off of her face.

The Celestial Order kept a closer formation this time with the supports almost next to each other. That would make them more susceptible to AoE, but they’d have an easier time hitting Aiden.

Veyra’s role would remain the same. Disrupt the enemy back-line one versus two. She was at a severe disadvantage, but this strategy was still the best one available. She took her opponents’ attention away from Aiden, and forced the back-line into a battle of skill with minimal tricks.

She took a deep breath, wasting a few seconds as she ran through the runic patterns of her spell rotation without adding mana, until she placed a portal behind the enemy backline.

She hopped in, only for a Prancer to immediately force her to focus. She had a fraction of a second to cast [Elemental Barrier], blocking [Blinding Illumination].

She succeeded, but she had no response for Miko’s spell. Her feet were stuck in [Warlock’s Territory], and both enemy mages were already casting spells.

Luckily, Wonderwind’s [Slowed] debuff didn’t affect spellcasting. Her aim would feel sluggish and her hands were heavy, but the frost of [Absolute Zero] traveled across the ground swiftly at Miko’s feet.

Miko’s spell went off and [Mana-draw Puppet] appeared. The scarecrow-like figure popped out of the ground a few feet to Miko’s side. Veyra’s control over [Absolute Zero] disappeared as the puppet pulled her spell like a magnet. Miko’s puppet ate the [Freeze] effect.

She gritted her teeth. Miko read her completely, having started the cast-time for that spell long before she attacked. The puppet not only drew [Absolute Zero] its way, it would also attract Veyra’s next spell until she destroyed it.

She couldn’t worry about that as Prancer was casting [Heaven’s Rebuke].

Haven’s Rebuke: When an ally under sixty percent health takes damage, fire a bolt of light to the attacker. If the bolt lands, heal ally for 5%.

Miko’s body lit up in flames, sacrificing 50% health to cast his own spell. He began casting a spell that shouldn’t have been possible. [Fire Elemental].

How does he have that skill!? Veyra thought. Miko never used [Fire Elementals]. Was this a bluff, and he was only casting a level one elemental?

A fiery monster rose from the ground, a blazing inferno whirling around it, so bright that the color of the air itself was changed. The elemental’s head was shaped like a curved tidal wave burning with fire, with hands poking out of its sides.

Not a bluff! Veyra panicked in her head. This whole time, Miko had just been hiding a serious chunk of his skill points.

Re-speccing during a Worlds tournament run was disabled, meaning that players sometimes hid a spell or two for the absolute last matches. Miko must have been intending to save this for more important matches in the Guild PvP stage.

Prancer was also hiding a skill, as he suddenly cast [Ember Benediction] on Veyra: a debuff that made its target lightly magnetic to fire. The debuff was undodgeable.

Veyra couldn’t cancel either mage’s cast-times with [Mana-draw Puppet] still up and alive. The puppet would draw any projectile Veyra fired into its direction.

The [Fire Elemental] hurled flames at her with enough force to crack [Elemental Barrier]. Veyra's feet stuck in [Warlock’s Territory] and a homing fire bolt flying her way, her only option was a thick free-handed wall of ice. Her mana bar dwindled rapidly.

The elemental’s attack burst into the wall with an explosive crash, cracking the ice all the way through. Veyra pushed more frost into the wall as [Searshot] collided right after. Her efforts kept the wall barely standing, though it was cracked beyond repair.

I already lost to them without their hidden skills! she thought through gritted teeth.

The fire elemental hurled another attack, and it would continue doing so until it died. Veyra imagined all the possibilities on how she could take it down. She had a few more tricks, but none were useful for the situation.

She really wished she had a few points in [Thermal Freeze] right now. The spell converted a target’s fire resistance to frost vulnerability. That would have let her deal with the [Fire Elemental] with relative ease. With her current spells, a fully charged [Time Freeze] would have worked wonderfully, but landing that in this situation was just about impossible.

The elemental’s attack crushed her shield. She blocked the residual flames with a quick and small [Elemental Barrier], then fired back at Miko with [Ray Of Time]. The elemental would die if she killed Miko. The ray fired at [Mana-draw Puppet] for a second, destroying it, before snapping to Miko.

A second was more than enough for Prancer to hop in the way. He blocked with [Shield Staff], while Miko breathed flames at his elemental to further buff it. The elemental hurled another fireball.

Veyra cursed under her breath and cast an [Elemental Barrier] at the [Fire Elemental]’s shoulder. Its hand got stuck in the process of throwing, canceling the attack.

Veyra spared a glance at Aiden for a split second. Their duel moved rapidly as Aiden chased after Annath, who hopped back, playing with an oddly defensive style, as if buying time for her back-line to deal with Veyra.

What can I do? Veyra thought, her chest heavy with adrenaline.

At this pace, she’d waste all her mana fighting the elemental. She was also buying time, sure, but Aiden’s body wasn’t glowing with defence, not with Annath playing a defensive playstyle. He wasn’t dominating Annath at all this time.

The elemental placed both of its hands together for a more powerful charge of fire.

She couldn’t see any way of fighting that, except to portal away. She relocated on the opposite side of the enemy back-line.

Their response was instant and systematic. Miko switched [Warlock’s Territory] to Veyra’s new location, and both players repositioned behind their fire elemental. Miko then began casting another [Mana-draw Puppet] with Prancer protecting him.

Veyra was forced to form yet another wall of ice, wasting more mana that she really couldn’t spare. She bit her lip, thinking of anything she could do. If her [Frost Storm] had more than one skill point in it, or if her equipment gave more mana, she could have cast that to bomb their location from the sky. At level one, the spell wasn’t worth casting even if it was ideal for the situation.

Her options dialed down to the four main spells she’d invested skill points into. None were optimal. [Time Freeze] would get her killed during the cast time unless she managed to somehow surprise Miko and Prancer a second time. [Chronorift] required her to be closer to her opponents, and the skill was much more useful against melee opponents that chased her. [Absolute Zero] would hit [Mana-draw Puppet]. [Ray Of Time] was her most normal and versatile skill, but even that was just a basic time mage’s attack. No matter how well she used it, she wouldn’t beat two professional mages with it.

Her build was never planned with PvP in mind in the first place. All of her skills were great at cheesing monsters. Sure, spells like [Absolute Zero] had gotten her a few proud moments, like when she’d caught Neige out of guard with it, but there wasn’t much to do when she was this outclassed.

All she could really do was keep blocking with the rest of her mana, keeping the [Fire Elemental] away from Aiden, while occasionally poking at her opponents with [Ray Of Time] if they tried to take their attention off of her. It didn’t yield results, and she was down to her last mana potion.

PvP was fun, though. Maybe we can do this again next year. With an actual build for PvP.

The cling of metal hitting metal came from the enemy’s side as Aiden hit Annath’s chestplate—so close that Miko and Prancer both flicked their staves in the direction. Aiden pressed forward, Annath hopping back. The two were in their own trance, neither paying attention to anything except each other.

Blades collided violently with Aiden on the losing side, failing a perfect block. He flew across the air like a cannonball.

He collided with [Mana-draw Puppet], tearing the scarecrow into pieces before continuing on. Everyone turned to him. His [Shadow Dash] seemed to be on cooldown. Miko hit him with [Warlock’s Territory] and Prancer hit [Binding Illumination], snaring him in place.

The [Fire Elemental] was the only opponent with any attention Veyra. It kept hitting her cracking ice wall.

Now! My chance!

Her heart thumped in her ears as she cast a sneaky portal. She closed her eyes and pushed mana to her staff, initiating the pattern to combine time and ice magic. The rune in her head filled up in a record time of two-point-two seconds, and she fell into her portal.

Crystalline frost enveloped the humidity of the stormy mountains as a fully charged [Time Freeze] blew up in the middle of the fray.

Slash.

Veyra didn’t look at the notification and pointed her staff at Miko’s forehead, quick-casting an icicle. A second slash came, and with Miko’s death, the [Fire Elemental] collapsed into a smoldering clump of stones.

Prancer’s staff glowed orange, and a runic circle with two intercrossed cubes initiated. He panic cast [Wisp Of Major Healing], only for Miko to already be dead.

[Absolute Zero] caught him entirely off guard, [Freezing] him. Casting [Chronorift] was as easy as circling his feet in. The spell went off, and Veyra immediately initiated the final spell of her rotation, blasting [Ray Of Time] against his head.

Another slash came, and Prancer died.

Veyra chugged her final mana potion, took a glance around herself, and desperately hoped she’d see a notification telling her the match was over.

Instead, she saw that the first person her ultimate had finished off had not been an enemy.

[Touch Of Godhood] ended, and Annath lost her wings, falling to her feet. Particles of frost clung stubbornly to her armor. Her health was at 14%, having taken heavy damage from [Time Freeze], but now that Aiden was dead, her defence was back to full.

Annath drank a health potion, bringing her health back up to 34%. Slowly, Annath stepped forward. Veyra matched the pace, stepping backward.

“You’re still incredible,” Annath said through her visor. “Shame what happened during the first round.”

Veyra kept walking backward. It didn’t seem like Annath was in any hurry to finish her off. Any time spent chatting benefited Veyra more than her opponent.

Still, they both knew Veyra’s spells lacked the firepower to pierce mythic armor. She’d need a dozen hits to finish Annath, while The Celestial Runesword would one-shot her.

Veyra made use of Annath’s leniency regardless by opening her inventory and switching the Emerald Aurora back to the Robe Of The Grand Sorcerer. Now that there was nobody to heal, she might as well use her DPS robe.

Annath snorted at that. “I’m sorry for not being the guild leader you needed. It was easier to believe you were cheating than it was to blame myself for failing you.”

“I’m the one who failed everyone,” Veyra said, while her cooldowns ticked and mana regenerated.

If she charges, I portal. If she hops, I fire.

“Regardless of the past, you have an amazing future.” Annath ran a finger across a frosted part of her blade. “Whichever guild you choose to join will dominate next year.”

Veyra smiled.

“What?” Annath asked.

“There’s no need to join a guild,” Veyra said. “I’m already in the best guild in the world.”

“I see…” Annath said. “You two might be good, but alone, you’ll never be the best.”

The break ended. Annath initiated a hop, and Veyra fired. There was just barely enough distance to shoot an icicle without getting cut down. It landed on Annath’s shoulder, dealing half a percentage of damage.

Veyra turned around and ran, then used an old trick. She sprayed the ground ahead with smooth ice, as if creating a long carpet. With as much speed as she could muster, she hopped on and slid. She initiated the pattern for time magic.

Casting spells while moving was complicated in Wonderwind. Some spells, like fire bolts, allowed the user to run while system casting them. Others slowed movement, while a lot of ultimates locked movement during the cast time almost entirely, like [Time Freeze] and [Chronorift].

If Veyra was already in motion when she started casting the spell, however, like sliding across ice or falling, the momentum would remain. She faced Annath, and this time, Veyra didn’t shoot a spell as quickly as possible. She paused the pattern at an early junction, giving her the option to react to Annath and choose a spell accordingly.

Annath didn’t chase, probably expecting a [Chronorift]. Veyra shot [Ray Of Time] instead and hit Annath’s armor, taking her health bar to 30%.

She’s baiting me to use mana, Veyra thought. If Annath had chased, Veyra would have used a [Chronorift]. That spell cost a lot, and if it missed, Veyra’s mana pool would run out quicker than Annath’s health bar.

Veyra had mana for two more spell rotations. Even if she landed everything, she wasn’t sure if she’d have enough damage.

Annath switched [Sword Dance] to its defensive variant, making her armor glow. That didn’t help in the slightest. Her visor had a tiny opening to slide a dagger into, and Veyra could have technically landed an icicle there for a crit, but landing that would have required a miracle in itself.

Once again, she simply didn’t see a way to win this. Without mythic gear, fighting a monster like Annath would have required a full guild.

I promised to give this my all.

She kept running and repeated the sliding trick, once again hitting [Ray Of Time]. Annath chased, but cautiously, slowly pushing Veyra toward the edge of the map. Every carpet of ice she created herself spent a considerable amount of mana, leaving Annath with an easy option to play safe.

Veyra’s plan wasn’t going to work. Without armor penetration debuffs like Aiden’s defence steal, she just wasn’t going to deal enough damage with the mana she had. Her only option would be to land a crit, or something similarly violent.

Would some pocket sand—or rather, pocket ice particles—be enough for that?

The edge of the map inched closer and closer behind her. Annath advanced like a pack of wolves cornering their prey. Her plan was so transparently simple. She would advance until Veyra was forced to portal to safety. And with Veyra’s escape on cooldown, Annath would locate her with [Super Sensitivity] and immediately [Sword Dash] to finish her off. If that failed, [Celestial Slash] was also coming off of its cooldown, giving Annath a ranged slash to seal the deal.

Theoretically, none of the tools at Veyra’s disposal could deal with Annath’s tactic.

I could portal next to her with Time Freeze, she thought. There was a small chance Veyra could land a half-way charged nuke.

That still wouldn’t do enough damage, and Annath could easily just cast [Celestial Slash] for the one-shot during the cast-time, or even dash in and kill her. The moment Veyra’s body glowed with ice magic, she would die.

Her head perked up. Suddenly, she had an idea. Something even better than pocket sand.

She spawned a portal ten feet from Annath, and her body glimmered with ice as she initiated a long cast time.

Annath’s eyes glowed behind her visor as [Celestial Slash] came like clockwork, forcing Veyra to drop into the portal not half a second into her cast-time. She appeared on the other side, particles of frost gathering around her, charging an attack.

Annath hopped and slashed down at her head, with Veyra’s feet stuck in a casting animation.

Except, she wasn’t casting [Time Freeze], and her feet weren’t slowed in the slightest. She side-stepped.

Her actual spell came as a large spike of free-handed ice magic burst into Annath’s chestplate from below like a rising glacier. Annath’s health bar fell to 18% from the heavy impact, violent enough to inflict the [Frozen] effect.

Veyra casted the quickest [Chronorift] of her life. Spikes of time magic joined the ice, repeatedly hitting Annath, who couldn’t dodge. Veyra then turned her staff into a spear of ice and simultaneously cast [Ray Of Time].

With the ray burning Annath’s helmet, Veyra hefted the spear with both hands and slammed it at Annath’s head.

The glacier was broken as Annath was knocked back, her armor crashing against the ground. Her health bar read 1%.

A single percentage.

Veyra fired a quick-casted icicle. By miracle, Annath’s sword blocked it. The Swordmaiden sprung to her feet and cast [Sword Dash].

Veyra lifted her staff for a desperate block. The blade collided, and she was blown across the arena. She tumbled across the ground, health bar dropping to 36% in one indirect blow. Her staff had a crack in it, and its durability dropped to zero. It disappeared to her inventory.

Annath was running toward her, still at 1% health. Veyra pushed herself up. The game rounded numbers, and it never rounded to zero. One percent could have meant anything from 0.001 to 0.99.

With the last of her mana, Veyra imagined a dagger of ice, giving herself a weapon. With her other hand, she flicked a spray of harmless ice particles into the air, as if tossing a cloud of sand, and she threw her dagger into the mist, where she’d last seen Annath’s helmet.

Cling.

Slash.

Thump.

[You Slayed Annath!]

[You Have Won Round Five]

[Team Solo Mage 3 - 2 Team Celestial Order]

Her hands shook. Every breath was heavy. The mist of ice particles cleared, revealing Annath’s collapsed clump of armor. Veyra’s thoughts blanked as she watched her former guild leader disintegrate.