We stood in our respective spot as we eyed our opponents for the first round. They were from a jungle nation called…Nabiline…Nanbalin…Naniban…anyway, a jungle nation. The team consisted of two very attractive girls and one very unattractive man. 

The man, called Jallau, had a huge tongue that hung out of his mouth. He was bald and his skin was a light brown color. He had a slightly portly look that was off-put by his long scrawny arms. His hands were large and wide. His eyes were huge and too far to the sides. In the end, he could probably pass for a frog person. He wore an olive green tunic with a red poncho. His large gangly feet were bare. His weapon was a long silver chain with intricate engravings all over it. He held it wrapped around his shoulder ready to lasso someone.

The more striking of the two girls was named Fennic, and she had spiky silver hair that shot back and outwards like animal ears. Her ice-blue eyes were piercing. Her form was lithe and tall. She probably stood a good foot taller than me. She wore baggy silver and grey clothes with a silver sash around her waist with all excess material hanging from her bottom down to her ankles like an animal’s tail. Her weapon was an intricate compound bow that seemed to be covered in frost.

Unlike her two animalistic teammates, the third woman was a princess of N… the jungle nation, princess Sinni. She had platinum blond hair and purple eyes. She had one heck of an hourglass figure for being pretty thin. Her sides scooped in sharply under her ribs only to jut back at the same angle to wide and round hips. I wondered if there were any bindings underneath her clothes. She wore a purple tube top embellished with gold trim. She had a purple skirt and a choker and bracers made of some purple metal. I saw no weapon she would be using.

We lined up in our respective locations. We started on the left side and with them on the right. The crowd was screaming at the royal carnage that was about to happen. Who wouldn’t want to see members of the ruling class duke it out? It was like a reverse colosseum. 

The opponents line up in an interesting position. Before the chime rang, we could occupy anywhere on our side of the field. They decided to line up the frog guy and princess in the absolute middle with the bow girl in the far back. A blitz was likely. We lined up in the middle of our field side by side. Non-Clem in the middle with me on the left and Rox on the right.

‘Keep an eye on the archer. They are likely going to try some fancy diversions only for us to get blind-sided by a sniping shot. Use Clem’s shield as cover if you need to.’

‘I could just tidal blast the front row and have you finish them off.’

‘And out you as a Fairybond? Also, the key is to win using as few tricks as possible. We don’t want to give away anything to our future opponents. Rox, stick to your weapon’s basic abilities, and Clem, just try to be a big target.’

The two women nodded and we signaled we were ready. The other team signaled, and the announcer’s count down began. The crowd chimed in as probably-magic speakers blasted the announcer's voice.

‘5…4…3…2…1!’

Hooooooong!

The frog-man dashed forward as the princess began to channel purple energy into her hands. It formed a black void that I swore I could see stars in.

‘Spirits of the Void, hear my call! Dark Gravitas!’

The dark ball flew forward and into the air and stopped just above Rox. A similar void appeared in a circle around her and she crashed down to the earth.

‘Ack! So heavy!’

I heard a twing as a blue arrow flew through the air and shattered against Clem’s shield. Ice crystals formed at the point of impact which quickly formed at her arms and feet, pinning her in place. It was then that I got in range of the frog-man. He whipped his chain in the air and it glowed with yellow energy. The chain shot forward with its own will before I could do anything and wrapped around me.

Seeing the three of us pinned, the princess did a little fist pump and shouted over to the frog-man.

‘It worked, Jallu! We got them! Now we just need to break their charms!’

I waited patiently for Jallu to come my way when I heard Non-Clem start to laugh.

‘Pfffft! Ahahaha. They actually tried to use binding magic on you! This is priceless!’

‘Clem…’

I furrowed my brow in annoyance as the frog-man stopped and inspected me cautiously. He noticed the not so rigid nature of the chains and attempted to pull it back. With one quick movement, I drew and slashed my sword. The chain broke apart and the links scattered in useless chunks of metal all over the ground. The frog-man retreated as I made several slashes at him. He was quite the springy guy. I retreated back to my side of the field.

Non-Clem flexed and the ice crystals shattered and fell to the ground like they were made of fragile glass. I wondered if she had any resistance to ice, being bound to a water fairy, or if they were separate elements and she had just busted out due to sheer strength. I remembered Miss Wintry’s ice prison she had cast on me during the naming ceremony. That seemed so much more imposing than the arrow, but I guessed the icy lock was an aftereffect of a very potent arrow.

‘A little help here!’

Rox yelled out. She was still locked onto the ground. The one benefit was that being prone made her a smaller target for the bow wielder. I hoped she wasn’t a crack shot that could nail an attack at that distance. I was proven mostly right when a chilled arrow flew just past her and made a set of small icy stalagmites on the ground.

‘Clem! Shield her! I’ll run offense!’

Non-Clem reflected the next oncoming arrow as I ran towards the opposing princess. I ducked as an arrow flew over my head. As I closed in, the frog-man jumped in front of me. I sprung into the air and jumped off of his shoulder. In surprise, the purple-clad woman channeled energy and threw it to the ground.

‘Obscurum Novis!’

The circle of energy dispelled from under Rox and appeared under me. I found myself never cresting my jump and continuing upward.

‘Ack! Crap!’

I turned in the air and flailed as I spun upside-down. I saw the sniper take aim at my floating form. I pulled my legs up under me in a crouch and pushed off a wall of air. This wasn’t the first time I’d had to fight in zero gravity. I had wanted to wait to use any Magus abilities, but air dash was benign enough to show off.

An arrow frew past me as I pushed forward and struck. Both the princess and I were slightly surprised when my blade came in contact with the frog man’s back. I heard a shattering sound and a yellow light flashed over him. His charm, which he had worn around his neck, shattered into dust. He vanished and appeared outside of the arena.

Trying not to miss a beat, I landed outside the circle and moved to attack the princess. I paused and ducked as a pale blue arrow flew past my face. The princess muttered a phrase as purple energy surrounded her feet.

‘Celox Inanis!’

She flew backward as if a rope had been tied to her waist and yanked hard. She came to an almost-graceful stop by the sniper.

‘What’s going on, Fennic? You’re missing all of your shots!’

‘I don’t know! I could swear I’m shooting dead on, but it just passes by at the last second!’

I smiled. They're catching on to our advantage, but don’t quite understand it yet.

‘Rox! Clem! Arrow formation. Charge! Stay two meters apart to avoid her circle catching two of us.’

Non-Clem ran forward as Rox followed from behind. As they passed, I followed too. Non-Clem lead with her shield and Rox and I fanned out to form a triangle. As we approached, the princess charged her ability again as the archer fired off several shots while cursing in frustration. The shots either bounced off Non-Clem’s shield of flew harmlessly past us.

 ‘Dark Gravitas!’

I suddenly felt myself crash to the ground as if several hundred pounds of force were suddenly added to my clothes. It hurt as I skidded for a few feet, but I was otherwise left mostly unharmed. The two other girls stopped for a bit to look back at me.

‘I’m fine! Go!’

The two continued forward as I struggled against the increased gravity. I could have probably blinked out of the circle, but I didn’t want to reveal that card yet. I suddenly felt a shift around my body and realized that my special protection had been lifted. I looked in surprise as Doey as she flashed a mischievous smile in my direction. I snapped back to see an arrow fly in my direction.

I moved with all my strength to redirect the arrow. It was like fighting with a sword in water. I managed to get my sword in the way, and the arrow shattered as crashed into it. I winced as I felt ice crystals cling to my arm and sides, pinning me more to the ground and burning my skin.

I channeled Mana into my fist and smashed it into the ice. Pain shot through my fist and the ice broke off of my arm. The cooling sensation mixed with the heat generated from my body caused steam to irradiate off of me. I leered at the archer and prepared for the next shot.

Her eyes darted from the two oncoming women and back to me as she made a split-second decision. She pulled back and two arrows of ice formed in her bow. She let the twin arrows fly in my direction just as Non-Clem crashed into her. The two arrows spiraled as they flew through the air. I tried to gauge their trajectory and block, and as the first arrow crashed into the bottom of my blade, I thought I had been successful. The freezing pain in my stomach said that I was not.

I had forgotten to calculate for the added drop that the projectiles would experience when they entered the increased gravity of the circle. A sharp, cold pain irradiated out from my chest as my whole body was consumed by ice. I heard a cracking sound and I was suddenly on the side of the arena.

I shot Doey a side-eye as she was having a fit of laughter. I’d be more pissed if I didn’t think it was a pretty good strategy. Heck, I was more pissed I didn’t think of it myself. I turned my attention to the battlefield again.

Non-Clem was fighting with the sniper. She had closed the gap while the fox-like girl was shooting at me. The girl attempted to block a downward smash with her bow, and it splintered with a crack as it was hit. A wave of icy energy rippled through the arena leaving a slight frost on the ground.

Rox was simultaneously trying to fell the princess. The purple clad woman was using her gravity magic to dodge or manipulate the direction of the spear. I nodded to Doey and she grinned as she played a silent medley on her pan flute.

Suddenly, Rox’s spear made contact. The princess yelped as the spear raked across her shoulder and took a piece of cloth with it. Her body flashed yellow but the charm didn’t break. She channeled energy again and jumped backward. 

‘Celox Inanis!’

Again she flew like she had been tugged across the field. She was positioning herself to be back towards the middle to be free to start casting magic again. Rox frowned in annoyance as her mark had fled. She looked at her spear, shrugged, and then hoisted it over her shoulder. She took a few vaulting steps and then hurled the spear.

It made contact just as the princess landed. She had positioned her body in a way to absorb the impact as she landed and was not expecting a projectile to come at her. It hit her square in the chest and sent her flying backward. There was a flash of yellow light and she vanished. The spear continued and lodged itself into the ground, wobbling back and forth.

 Things were a lot less dramatic on Non-Clem’s side. The fox-girl tried to get away, attempting to use her ample dexterity to evade attacks and get some distance. Non-Clem was having none of that. the threw her weapon to the ground and grabbed her tail like cloth. She yanked her back in and then shield bashed her to the ground. She then, quite brutally I felt, crashed the tip of the heater shield down into the fox-girl's stomach. A flash of yellow signaled defeat as the girl disappeared from the arena.

The crowd went wild. Rox retrieved her spear and I was allowed back onto the field. We met in the middle and my two companions proceeded to do a little victory pose. The opposing team walked forward and we shook hands. The fox-girl looked sadly at her broken bow.

‘How did you do it? I’m the best shot in the Twelve Realms. I don’t miss at this range.’

‘Don’t worry too much. If it makes you feel better, you were hitting your targets, we just made sure your targets weren’t us.’ 

She looked confused for a second and then raised her eyebrows in surprise.

‘Image distortion?!’

‘Something like that. I’ll compliment you though. Your lockdown and shoot strategy was pretty solid, but it relied too much on your offensive capabilities. This match-up was the worst possible outcome for your team.’

The princess came over and shook my hand and smiled as she overheard my conversation with her companion.

‘I wasn’t in the country very long before I started to hear rumors about the Other-worlder called Samantha. I look forward to hearing more of your accomplishments in the future. It was good fighting you.’

‘So how were you able to cast gravity magic without a fairy? I thought that either a fairy or a magic weapon was necessary to work magic.’

‘Like fairies, spirits exist that can grant magic. It is a lot rarer, but I was born with the ability to call spirits from the void between our world and others.’

‘Huh, I’d never seen spirits in between the worlds. I’ll have to look for them next time, or maybe ask Iggy. Thanks.’

The princess looked confused as she tried to interpret my outward musings. I didn’t care if she understood them or not. We parted ways and returned to our room. Clem was there waiting for us and as we entered, she ran over and started hitting Doey.

‘What the heck, Fauna! Why did you let Sam get shot!’

‘Because Ah thought it would be hilarious! Ahaha! You should’a seen the look on your pretty face when Ah dropped the glamor.’

‘Ha ha, Doey. Actually, it’s fine, although it did surprise me. The fight was pretty much in the bag, and the sniper focusing on me let Blue and Rox close the distance, so I’m happy to be a lure if it gives us a win.’

Clem pouted and folded her arms.

‘I don’t have to like it, though.’

‘Well, it got us through the first fight with no magic outside of a little air trick from me. Rox didn’t even need to use her weapon’s magic. Nice throw, by the way. Maybe we should have found you a returning spear instead. Anyway, the next fight is going to be a three-way fight, so let’s get ready…’