I looked around at the gathered champions, seeing some familiar faces and taking note of those who were absent. There was no sign of either the Gimp, or the guy with the giant wolf. A couple others were missing too, though I hadn’t actually met those ones before. Had they been killed off too many times to bring back, or had Robe gotten to them, removing them from the game in an even nastier way? I’d probably never know.

Once I was done looking over the competition, I turned my attention to my friends. Matt and Teri stood beside me, both of them wearing their new armor. Teri had grown just a little more muscular since our last competition, which along with her armor, made her look a little dangerous. Matt didn’t have the physical presence of his sister, but he had his paintball gun slung over his shoulder, and as he’d proven with Spear Chick, he knew how to use it.

Cassandra stood nearby with her blow slung over her shoulder. I took a moment to admire her curves, then quickly looked away before she caught me doing it. However, from the satisfied smirk on her lips, I was pretty sure that she knew.

It had been three days since we’d gotten a little tipsy and kissed, and though there hadn’t been a repeat of that, or even a conversation about what had happened, something had definitely changed between us. Ever since then, Cassandra had been subtly encouraging me to check her out, whether it was bending over to give me a better look at her cleavage, or walking in front of me with an extra sway to her hips. I still wasn’t sure what to think of this flirting. Was she messing with me to amuse herself, or was she actually interested in me?

“You know,” Matt said with a thoughtful look. “This is a lot of trouble to go through, just to entertain some bored gods.”

“I don’t think they consider this entertainment,” I responded, remembering some of the things that Maelyne had told me. “I think it’s more of a cold war situation. They’re really at war, just fighting each other with pawns and proxies instead of putting each other into a position where things might go nuclear…”

“That…makes sense,” Matt admitted. Then he gave me an odd look. “I’d expect sports metaphors from you, or even gaming ones…but not political.”

I shrugged at that. “I did a history report once on the cold war…”

Matt snorted at that. “I remember. In fact, I remember helping you work on it too…”

“Hey,” Teri said, elbowing me in the side. “That Coordinator guy is about to talk…”

I looked up to the invisible platform, where the Coordinator, the Referee, and the Cleaner stood. They began the same way they did with the last two competitions, with the Coordinator announcing what the contest would be. This time, it was going to be a race, with the first champion who crossed the finish line being declared the winner.

“Sounds simple enough,” I said, though I knew better than to assume that simple meant easy.

Then I realized something else. This was a race, not a relay or team competition. That meant, this time, Cassandra was my competition. From her grim expression, she was thinking the same thing.

“Great,” I grumbled, not at all happy with that. Cassandra and I worked well as a team, and I REALLY didn’t want to face her as an opponent, and not only because she was my friend.

I took another look around and saw Don looking towards us. He gave me a nod of acknowledgement. Nadine, however, was standing beside Robe and her other two teammates from the last competition, and was giving me a dirty look. I was just thankful that looks couldn’t kill. At least not hers, though I wasn’t certain about all the other champions.

“Good luck,” Cassandra told me before grinning. “Just not too much.”

“Same to you,” I told her. Then with a grin, I impulsively asked, “Wanna bet which of us gets to the finish line first?”

Cassandra’s eyes lit up with interest. “What are the stakes?”

“How about the same ones as last time?” I suggested.

Cassandra’s grinned more broadly. “You’re on.”

“What bet was this?” Matt asked.

Before I could answer, or at least come up with a believable lie since I wasn’t about to admit to wearing makeup, the Referee called out the start of the race. Nearly everyone began running in an attempt to get an early lead.

The first part of the race was through downtown, though I wasn’t sure which town, or if they’d created it the same way that they had the dungeon. All I knew was that it certainly looked like a real city center, though there were absolutely no people present besides us.

I ran down the middle of the street, with Matt and Teri right beside me. There were cars, but they were all parked right in the middle of the street, as though the drivers had simply stopped, gotten out, and walked away. It was actually pretty creepy.

Even though this contest was just a race, fights were already starting to break out among various competitors. Off to the side, I could see Spear Chick and the magical girl fighting it out. At any other time, I might have stopped to watch, but I couldn’t afford that.

“See you at the finish line,” Cassandra exclaimed, before she abruptly changed direction and ran down an alley, probably to try finding a shortcut.

“Think we should follow her?” Matt asked.

I remembered the way Cassandra had somehow gotten on top of the building during her fight against Mary, when I hadn’t even seen her moving. “No. I have a feeling that it wouldn’t do any good.”

“Let’s just get out of here as fast as we can,” I suggested.

“Good idea,” Matt agreed. “While everyone else is fighting, we might be able to slip through without anyone noticing…”

We continued running down the street with the intention of getting through the first section of the race as quickly as we could. There were just too many places for other champions to hide, which meant, too many places where we could be ambushed.

Unfortunately, I was proven right a couple minutes later when a ball of fire suddenly hit the ground ahead of me. It would have hit Matt in the back if he hadn’t seen it coming in time to dodge aside.

“Aw, crap,” I exclaimed, clenching my spear tightly and looking around.

Nadine came charging out of an alleyway with both hands on fire, and with a look of fury on her face. I braced myself to throw up a shield wall or put shields on my friends, but then I saw she wasn’t alone. Nadine by herself as bad, but I’d already proven that I could beat her.

“Shit,” Matt exclaimed when Robe suddenly leapt at him, swinging the scythe.

“We’re kind of outnumbered here,” Teri pointed out, drawing my attention to the final two champions who were with Nadine.

I immediately recognized Nadine and Robe’s teammates from back in the dungeon. There as the woman with the blue and white dress and the massive guy with the heavy armor and greatsword. After our encounter in the dungeon, I’d asked Cassandra about them, because I’d been pretty sure that sooner or later, I’d have to face them.

According to Cassandra, the big guy was Steve March, champion of K’raethar, god of steel, war, and resolve. She said that he was really tough, which was no surprise if his patron was a god of war.

The girl was Denise Harker, champion of Br’ieze, goddess of wind and air. She looked bored with this whole situation, and like she was there because she had no choice rather than because she actually wanted to attack us.

“You know, you guys are wasting a lot of time,” I pointed out, putting a shield on Teri right before Nadine hit her with a burst of fire. “At this rate, you’re going to lose the race…”

“Your death will benefit my patron more than winning this race will,” March announced in a grim tone. But in spite of that, he turned to Harker and said, “You’re the fasted one of us, so go win this race while we deal with Sievers.”

“Fine,” Harker said, almost looking relieved. “Have fun with that.”

Harker abruptly turned and ran, then launched herself up into the air with a powerful gust of wind. For a moment, I thought she was going to just fly through the race, though she only made a long jump of about thirty yards before landing again, then rushing off in a burst of speed.

“Damn she’s fast,” Matt exclaimed.

“I owe you for killing me,” Nadine snarled at me.

“Not as much as I owe you,” I responded grimly. My heart raced with a mixture of fear and anger. I could almost feel the fire burning me again, which made me shake just a little.

Nadine formed a large ball of fire in her hands and looked like she was about to throw it right at me. However, she snapped around and threw it at Teri instead. Teri jumped back, right into the path of Robe, who was coming right at her with the scythe.

At that moment, I suddenly realized that Nadine and Robe had planned this in order to take out one of my companions. Knowing Nadine, she’d done this to hurt me more than anything else. I could have thrown a shield on Teri, but that was probably what they were expecting. So, I decided to change it up and used ‘summon companion,’ immediately transporting Teri to my side in a burst of sparkles.

“WHAT THE HELL?” Nadine demanded in surprise.

Teri responded by flipping her off. “Too slow…”

March charged straight at Matt, who jumped back and opened fire with his paintball gun. The ball bearings bounced off March’s armor and didn’t seem to be doing anything more than annoying him.

“Don’t waste your ammo,” I warned Matt, though Matt was already switching over to his knives. I didn’t know if those would do any more than the paintball gun, but maybe he’d get lucky and find a gap in the armor.

I threw a shield on Matt, though it wasn’t necessary since Matt jumped back out of the way.

Nadine came at me, throwing two fireballs in a row, which hit my shield wall. I stepped back and formed another shield wall, right before my first one faded away. The look of frustration on Nadine’s face brought a smile to mine.

Robe came around and tried to get me from the other side, which wasn’t protected by a shield wall. Teri saw him coming and slammed into him, then knocked him to the ground. He began glowing purple so I threw a shield on Teri, just in time.

Teri screamed in pain and jumped back. I immediately hit her was a ‘lesser healing’, but even with the shield and the healing, her life was down to about 50%.

“Crap,” I exclaimed, healing Teri again and throwing up a shield wall between me and Robe.

“I don’t know how you survived my soul killer,” Robe said. “But you made me look bad to Arakthiel.”

Robe hit my shield with his scythe a couple times, and he knew as well as I did that the shield wouldn’t last much longer. Nadine worked around my shield, obviously planning to catch me between her and Robe.

“Hey, bitch,” Teri exclaimed, swinging her bat at Nadine, in spite of the fact that she was still shaky from being hurt by Robe. The bat connected to Nadine’s side, and my psycho ex-girlfriend let out a yelp of pain. I threw another shield on Teri, right before Nadine hit her with a burst of flame.

As soon as my shield wall dropped, Robe came at me with his scythe. He probably expected me to throw up another shield wall, but instead, I surprised him by lunging forward and trying to impale him with my spear. He reacted quickly enough to bring his scythe up, though he couldn’t knock my spear far enough away. Instead of catching him in the middle of the chest, I only hit him in the side.

“Gotcha,” I exclaimed triumphantly.

This might have only been a glancing hit, but that was all I needed. There was a flash of light from the tip of my spear, and suddenly, Robe’s side was a shredded and bloody mess, with a large chunk of flesh actually missing.

My upgraded spear could absorb ten percent of all damage that was blocked by my shields, and use it as a damage bonus on my next attack. The thing is, that damage bonus stacked, so each time Robe hit my shield, or Nadine blasted it with fire, part of that damage was being added to my spear. And now, I’d just let all of it out at once, right into Robe’s side.

YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY DEFEATED AN OPPOSING CHAMPION.

REWARD: +20 MANA POOL, +20 MANA RECOVERY, +20 HEALTH, AND +20 REGENERATION. YOUR COMPANIONS GAIN +20 HEALTH AND +20 REGENERATION.

“That’s for Heather,” I muttered under my breath. It was just too bad that he’d probably be brought back to life.

“Holy shit,” Teri exclaimed. “Jeri just one-shotted the creepy robe guy…”

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” Nadine demanded, seeming offended that I’d actually done something other than just defend.

“I’m not exactly helpless anymore,” I responded with an evil grin, savoring the look of worry on her face.

Of course, I might have an offensive power now, but it was melee only…unless I threw my spear and left myself unarmed, only through my weapon, and it was reliant on me playing defense. As I’d just proven, this new trick could be extremely useful, but there were a lot of limitations involved in using it.

Nadine snarled and began to form a large ball of fire in front of her, charging her alpha strike. Teri immediately backed up to my side, which saved me the trouble of transporting her back to me. As soon as she was within range, I activated Maelyne’s shield. Matt was far enough out of range that I didn’t worry about him.

Intense flames rushed over my shield, but I’d survived this attack before and was confident I could survive it again. In fact, I had more mana to spend on the shield than before, and I had a larger buff on my shield strength, so it would be easier to weather this time.

As soon as the flames ended, I dropped my shield, only to see Nadine on her knees, grimacing from the pain. She glared at me with a look of hatred, as though I was somehow responsible for causing the pain.

Matt chose that moment to open fire with his paintball gun, blasting Nadine with the ball bearings. She howled, though I was pretty sure her armor was protecting her from most of the damage.

March came at Matt, who saw him coming and leapt out of the way. The large champion swung his sword at Matt and missed, hitting a car and slicing right through it with ease. Then he apparently decided to ignore Matt and turned his attention to me.

“You’re more dangerous than I remember,” March announced, right before swinging his swore at me. I threw up a shield wall, which he destroyed with a single strike.

“Crap,” I blurted out, creating another shield wall, which he also destroyed with a single blow.

“Unlike my allies, I don’t have anything personal against you,” March said. “My patron needs to remove yours, and removing you from the game will help him do that.”

“How about I remove your head instead?” Teri asked as she swung her baseball bat at March. It bounced off his armor without effect.

When March turned to focus on Teri, I gulped and immediately put a shield on her. Then I lunged at him with my spear, trying to get him from behind. I hit him right in the middle of the back, and my spear unleashed all the bonus damage that I’d built up from him and Nadine. There was a flash of light and his armor was cracked and dented in that spot, but nothing more.

“Aw, crap,” I exclaimed.

March snapped around, swinging his sword at me. Matt hit me and tackled me to the ground, right before the blade would have sliced right through me.

“I need to save up my bonus a bit longer,” I grumbled in frustration.

Unfortunately, March was damn tough, maybe even tough enough to survive my most powerful hit. There was a limit to how much damage my spear could store up for later use, but I hadn’t gotten close to the cap yet. If I could survive enough attacks from March and Nadine, I might build my attack power up enough to do some real damage to him.

Just then, someone called out, “If you don’t mind, I would like to step in…”

A second later, Don was there, using his shield to block March’s attack. The blow was powerful enough to knock Don back a step, though my ally retaliated by smashing his mace into March’s side.

“Thanks,” I said, grateful for Don’s help, but a little confused by it.

“Of course,” Don responded. “We are allies…”

I backed up and watched as Don and March exchanged blows. Nadine looked like she was about to jump back into the fight, so Teri went at her. However, Nadine burst into flame and drove Teri back.

“Go ahead and finish the race,” Don told me. “I’ll keep these champions occupied…”

“You won’t win the race that way,” Teri pointed out.

Don just chuckled while blocking another blow from March. “I’m too slow to win any race, but that doesn’t mean I can’t ear favor with my patron in other ways…”

“Alright then,” I responded, touched by Don’s act. Now this was someone who knew the value of teamwork. I healed him, even though he didn’t really need it yet. “Good luck then. Hopefully in our next contest, we’ll be able to team up for the whole thing again.”

“I look forward to it,” Don told me with a nod.

With that, Matt, Teri, and I all ran off, leaving Don behind to deal with our opponents. Nadine tried to follow, but stone column ruse up in front of her and blocked her path, just long enough for us to get away.