---------LEGEND---------
PLAYER/USERNAME
Alexander/AlexFae
Amber/Davina
Grace/Lasair
Xia/Genevieve
-------------------------------

January, 2045

The first evening of the Maritime Cup tournament had arrived, Xia had her heart pounding in her ears from how nervous she was, and to think that she hadn't even reached the moment of having to show up in person for the semi-finals yet! She sat on her bed with her hands clasped together on her legs, watching a timer she had set on her computer that was slowly ticking down to its end, tick tock, tick tock...

00:02:00

Xia raised her hands to her face and rubbed her eyes and cheeks, she was starting to imagine all the worst scenarios and her anxiety left her no respite. Deep breaths, everything would be fine, Lasair, Davina and AlexFae were with her.

00:01:00

She swallowed through a dry throat and lay down on the bed. Xia took her NexNetVR and placed it on her head, securing it more carefully than usual, then started Legacy of the Ancestors and took another deep breath.

00:00:30

00:00:00

The moment Xia connected to LotA she received an invitation to access the start-of-game lobby. She accepted the invitation, and one loading screen later found herself in a medieval parlor with a wide walkway so big she could have sat in it.

Around the fireplace there were two four-seater sofas with short four-inch legs, some seats were already occupied on both sides while in the middle, patiently waiting, stood a presenter dressed like a butler, with his hands clasped behind his back and a broad smile on her beautiful young face.

Lasair smiled and waved a hand towards Xia, only Davina was missing from her team's side, “here you are, we're waiting for Davina and two players from the opposing team.”

Xia approached, shooting a quick glance at the competitors on the opposing team.

[Alkanoid]
[Level 39 – HP: 100%]

[MuttonChops]
[Level 40 – HP: 100%]

It wasn't an impossible challenge considering that thanks to the donations from Davina's channel's subscribers and their adventures in the dungeons and against the minibosses, the levels of Xia's team had grown to the point that Xia and Lasair's levels were equal to that of AlexFae – at the thirty-seventh level – and Davina's was only two levels lower than theirs.

Suddenly, Davina appeared out of nowhere, “hey! I'm arrived!!" She exclaimed beaming.

Ten seconds later the last two members of the opposing team also arrived, Xia glanced over their heads.

[CatInHat]
[Level 38 – HP: 100%]

[MyrtleGirl]
[Level 38 – HP: 100%]

“Well, now that we're all here it's time to begin the challenge,” the announcer said, glancing at both sides.

Xia and her teammates had investigated their opponents before the fight; the Fearless Pixels team was composed only of [Guardian]s and [Warrior]s, they had neither spellcasters nor characters specialized in ranged combat, even if CatInHat (one of their [Guardian]s) fought mainly with a crossbow and using support spells to keep opponents away from him while targeting them. The most important thing was that Davina did not find herself alone or isolated since a formation like that was unfavorable to her if caught off guard and favorable if she managed to keep her attackers in a single spot.

The player they should have been most wary of was MyrtleGirl; Grace had watched about ten of Fearless Pixels' matches and had also told Xia that among the four opponents she was the player with the greatest skill: her number of assists and kills was the highest of the entire opposing team and she had proven to be incredibly versatile.

In Xia's opinion, Grace was the only one who could have faced that girl in a 1vs1.

“Team Fearless Pixels vs. Team…” the announcer frowned and muttered a confused, “…Nova Scotia Angels?”

Unfortunately the brand had solidified as such after many months of use and live streams, changing it had become counterproductive.

“Okay,” the announcer coughed, “Team Fearless Pixels vs. Team Nova Scotia Angels! You will play a game of capture the flag!”

Capture the flag was a variant of the game which consisted of recovering two flags located one in the upper corner of the map and the other in the lower one, in two points equidistant from the spawn points of the two teams; the aim of the game was to capture both flags and bring them back to your spawn point, this meant that there were various methods to face that kind of challenge. You could try to recover the flags as soon as possible and then bring them back to the spawn point or go beyond the flag points and attack anyone who was trying to take them back to their base. In capture the flag, killing an opponent or losing a teammate wasn't the end of the game as after a short cooldown period the fallen players respawned and resumed the fight.

One team could win only by bringing both flags to its base or having at least one when the countdown came to an end, if the countdown reached zero and neither of the two teams had at least one flag, there was a play-off where the first team to even touch a third flag wins.

The peaceful scenery of the living room vanished and after a loading screen of a few seconds, it was replaced by a pleasant enchanted forest full of colorful butterflies and small fairy creatures. Xia looked around, focusing on AlexFae, Davina and finally Lasair.

5… 4…

[Genevieve: I’m going to the bottom flag, who’s coming with me?]

[Lasair: I’m with you.]

[Davina: there's no point in leaving them the top flag without putting a fight, but I can't go there alone.]

3… 2…

[AlexFae: I’ll cover you, I’ll cross their line and take them from behind. Can you resist?]

[Davina: there’s only one way to find out ;-)]

1…

[Genevieve: good luck, girls!]

START!

- - -

Grace followed Genevieve in step, both running through the verdant forest. The fictitious sun of the arena shone on them even though being false it didn't make them sweat; once they arrived in sight of the flag they began to slow down and Grace separated from her teammate so as not to risk being both the target of CatInHat's bolts if he were nearby.

What if Grace had failed? If her sister had been there the victory would have been guaranteed...

She hesitated, why? Why were those thoughts intruding into Grace’s head right now?

[Lasair]
[Level 37 – HP: 92%]

Grace groaned, a bolt stuck in her body; CatInHat's presence in the bottom flag had been confirmed, it was time to inform Davina and AlexFae.

[Lasair: CatInHat is in bottom.]

[Genevieve: MyrtleGirl, too.]

That revelation petrified Grace: she had seen many videos of MyrtleGirl's matches and her conclusions were that she was a fantastic swordswoman almost to the level of Dravaros, what hope did they have of succeeding against her? Maybe… maybe if they had resisted long enough for Davina and AlexFae to come to their rescue…

Grace took cover behind a tree just in time to avoid another bolt; from a point behind some trees she saw movements, black hair streaked with green, the sparkles of two swords... the orange skin of MyrtleGirl's avatar.

[Genevieve: Lasair!]

More bolts whistled toward Grace. The flag remained placid, swinging delicately in the light forest breeze while the two swordsmen gave their best. What hope did Grace have of being helpful? Dravaros had defeated her in less than a few seconds…

[Genevieve: Grace!]

When Genevieve called her by her real name, Grace awoke from her trance.

[Lasair: I lost like a beginner to Dravaros, MystleGirl is at least as skilled as him. If I challenge her, I will lose.]

[Genevieve: that's not true! I've seen MystleGirl's plays too and there's no comparison between you and her!]

[Lasair: are you sure?]

[Genevieve: absolutely, maybe you can't believe in yourself, but I believe in you.]

Grace raised her head, did Xia believe in her that much? If that was the case, she owed her at least one try, whatever it will happen!

[Genevieve: blow that crossbowman away!]

Grace traced the somatic components of one of her few spells in the air, then threw herself out of cover, ending the spell with the command words, “[Daring Dash]!”

CatInHat was ready to stop Grace, but her spell made her leap over his [Spider’s Web]. Grace landed just beyond the area of effect of CatInHat's spell and didn't hesitate for a single moment in running to the hiding place from which she had seen the last bolt leave.

Grace drew a new spell, “[Power Strike]!”

CatInHat responded with another spell, “[Rocky Spear Wall]!”

[Lasair]
[Level 37 – HP: 86%]

[CatInHat]
[Level 38 – HP: 97%]

Grace and CatInHat struck each other with their spells: Grace was pierced by stone spears that emerged from the earth while the crescent of golden light from Grace's spell broke the stone of the spears and continued on its path, striking - although not in direct manner – its target.

"You're fast!" CatInHat exclaimed. Curious, it looked like he was dressed like Robin Hood, “try this!” he said, abandoning his crossbow on the ground to grab a saber in its place.

The two faced each other with the mastery of expert fighters who had seen hundreds of battles, but Grace was simply better, she had grown up with the shinai in her hands, she was a fighter first in real life and then in the virtual one. After an exchange of blows, Grace's technical superiority was confirmed when CatInHat bursted into many colored bubbles.

[Lasair]
[Level 37 – HP: 83%]

“Genevieve! I'm coming!" Grace exclaimed. Caught up in the moment, she didn't even realize that she had already proven herself to be a capable fighter to far more spectators than just Xia.

[MyrtleGirl]
[Level 38 – HP: 85%]

[Genevieve]
[Level 37 – HP: 47%]

“[Daring Dash]!” Grace said, using one of her spells to throw herself right into the middle of the duel between her teammate and their opponent. Her dive forward sent her flying a few feet until the blade of Mythical Sword of the Ancient Knights of Lenivara crossed paths with that of Genevieve and MyrtleGirl. “Genevieve, b-bring the flag back! I'll hold her b-b-back!"

MyrtleGirl's avatar was a Redsprite elvreth with orange skin and yellow, curly hair, the tips were tomato red for almost two inches of their length, she had yellow eyes with feline pupils and an aggressive expression. Its tail and ears resembled those of red foxes.

Genevieve took two steps back and nodded, unfortunately, her face didn't encode her smile for the virtual world, “I knew you could do it. I'll leave it to you!"

“There's no problem for me, my comrades will intercept her before she can bring the flag back to base!” MyrtleGirl confidently exclaimed, “and I saw some of the games your friend uploaded to YouPipe. I was really hoping to meet you, Lasair!”

“W-why?” Grace stiffened her shoulders.

“Because you're the best swordswoman on your team, so…” MyrtleGirl gave Grace an intrepid look as she extended her arm with the tip of her sword pointed at her opponent, “I challenge you!”

Really? Wasn't more important to win the match?

“I… uh, accept?” Grace glanced at Genevieve, who gave her a thumbs up and grabbed the flag, running towards the base.

And so the challenge between the two duelists began; the battle was spectacular, with quick exchanges of spells and rapid exchanges of sword blows, their weapons were both of a high rarity and large amounts of resources had been consumed to make them as lethal as possible. The battle raged for a time that seemed infinite, with neither of the two players intending to give up, MyrtleGirl attempted a feint aiming first at the side and then at the head, but Grace managed to understand her opponent's intentions and with a circular movement of her sword first she disarmed her and then pierced her.

[MyrtleGirl]
[Level 38 – HP: 0%]

[Lasair]
[Level 37 – HP: 14%]

"Not bad! Not bad at all! Give me time to respawn and I'll get my revenge!” MyrtleGirl said before exploding into many beautiful colored soap-like bubbles.

Grace had won, she had managed to overpower her opponent. She took a deep breath and felt the same sense of satisfaction she felt when she was inside the kendo gym, especially when she won the tests to move up the ranks. She imagined herself with the LotA world cup in her hands and…

[Lasair]
[Level 37 – HP: 0%]

A bolt from the newly respawned CatInHat pierced Grace straight through, depriving her of the last HP she had left.

Oh well…

[YOU DIED]

- - -

The battle ended as the countdown expired. Grace and her teammates had won thanks to the flag that Genevieve had managed to bring to the base thanks to Grace; The two groups were teleported back to the lobby-lounge where the mood on both sides diverged greatly, with the losers being – as you might expect – in a worse mood.

“This year it went like this,” MyrtleGirl declared, breaking the silence to speak to the winners, “but next year it will be different, you can bet on it!”

Grace glanced at her teammates; AlexFae remained a step further back and was looking away, Genevieve pretended to be minding her own business and Davina winked at her and raised a thumb.

They were all delegating to Grace!

MyrtleGirl held out her hand for Grace to shake, and she responded by turning to stone again; she reached out her hand with great hesitation, shaking her opponent's hand with so much delicacy and lack of conviction that her grip would not have been able to crush a piece of aluminum foil.

“Warrior arm and princess hand, hm??” MyrtleGirl said giggling.

“W-well, uh… I…” Grace stammered, moving her eyes elsewhere and rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand.

“Let's fight again in the future, and look, if you don't win the championship now that you've defeated me, I'll be really angry at you!” MyrtleGirl said smiling.

"Oh! Y-yes! I'll… I'll do my best!” Grace promised, even though her voice sounded anything but confident. How could she promise she would win? She didn't know how strong the other players were or what strategies they would use against her!

It's hard to live with a calm mind when you're terrified that everything you do will be openly or tacitly judged by the rest of the world.

MyrtleGirl released her hand and after an exchange of words between the members of the two teams, they both logged out. Grace took the NexNet off her head and placed it next to her on the bed, the first phase of eliminations had been passed.

 

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