Ravens of Eternity

157 The Flow of Power, Pt Raucous cheers swelled all around the stands at the Viper Pit. The crowd went wild as a couple of top tier duelists began to exchange blows down below. Up on the screens above, their fight cards were plain for all to see.

—

Rank: 2nd Tier, 7th Seed

Win Streak: 9

Odds: 1.18:1

KO Bonus: +2

—

Rank: 2nd Tier, 12th Seed

Win Streak: 7

.....

Odds: 0.97:1

KO Bonus: +4

—

Beyond their close Seed rankings, the two were Reborn, and were incredibly vicious and powerful combatants. Their footwork was precise, as were their strikes and parries. Every feint and jab and dodge made it abundantly clear: these two were at the top of their game.

The 7th Seed slashed downwards at the 12th Seed with great power, but her blade was easily turned away. The 12th Seed quickly countered with a lateral slash, but his blade just barely scratched her armor as she evaded nimbly.

Team Ra-ventrii sat up in Alevos’ box seats and watched the fight with great enthusiasm.

Eva had placed a meager bet on the “underdog” 7th Seed, simply because she had a good feeling about her.

She and all the others decided to celebrate their successes with one last visit to the Pit, but strictly as spectators. Eva had long since had enough of bleeding Drogar dry. And besides, she wanted to end her career as a duelist on a high note.

In their hands were a variety of intoxicating drinks, some earthy, others fruity, all intoxicating.

Though it was meant to be a celebration, the mood was a little somber. Because most of all, they were here to say goodbye. In truth, no-one wanted to say it. Though they started out as a business venture, they felt relatively close as friends.

They all spent a great deal of time and effort defending each other, whether it was physically, or financially.

Eventually, it was Alevos who broke the long silence.

“I wish this didn’t have to end,” he said. “It was all such a great amount of fun, and a great amount of Coin. Most of all, it was great meeting the four of you. I never thought I’d be one to befriend such renowned Justicar. Or Reborn.”

“In spite of all the deaths, of course,” added Szereth. “And the pain we might’ve inflicted.”

Eva nodded in agreement. Too many had suffered, some of which she had perpetrated herself. Which they all, in their own special way, helped perpetrate.

“It sucks what it all came down to,” she said. “And I definitely had a hand in how it all played out. I’ve been thinking... if I hadn’t been here – down there – would those terrorists have even attacked at all?”

“Don’t even think like that,” refuted Severas. “Those fools attack everyone and anyone they want. They go after those who simply think differently from them. Their attack on your people would’ve happened no matter what. The fact that you were here, learning what you learned – that only helped us fight them off.”

“Still-”

“No more. Just celebrate that you and yours are still alive, and that we did what we could, when we could.”

Eva nodded in resignation and looked down at the drink in her hand.

“Cheers,” said Miko.

Everyone then raised their drinks in the air before they took healthy swigs from them.

“Should you even be drinking?” Eva asked Miko.

“If someone wishes to stop me, they can try,” she replied.

There was a hint of sarcasm in her voice, which they both giggled at. But the Drogar in the room had a different view of her words. Doleth tried her best to imagine what kind of monster it would take to actually stop either of them from doing what they wanted.

She gave up trying to picture it and just drank more.

“So when do you two go back to the asteroid?” she asked.

“Wanna see us gone that bad, huh?” countered Eva.

“What? No! I didn’t mean it like that!”

As Doleth stammered out a hasty apology, Eva chuckled lightly at her.

“Relax, I’m just teasing you,” she said. “But to answer you seriously... Not long now. A cycle or two maybe? This might be the last time we’ll see each other. At least for a long while.”

“It was all destined to end at some point,” said Severas.

“Perhaps it does not have to,” interjected Miko.

“What, you want us to stay here?” asked Eva. “I’ll be a professional Duelist, and you can be Szereth’s arms designer? Is that what you mean?”

Szereth perked up at the idea, but did his best to hide his excitement right after. Having a designer like Miko or even the Admiral would have been a serious boon to his business.

As a team, it only took the three of them less than ten iterations to perfect their shield. Ten! Some researchers and developers spent their entire lifetimes and thousands of iterations to refine a single technology. And yet somehow, the three of them tackled it with ease.

Of course, it was always easier developing weapons when under threat of death. People tended to become extraordinarily creative when faced with impending annihilation. Entire wartime industries were dependent on that fear, even if it was nonexistent.

Still, he knew that if the three of them combined forces, their contributions to the arms industry would cause a revolution in technology. He imagined destructive weapons and government contracts falling from the sky like rain. There, the three of them danced amidst the torrent.

But the gold in his eyes crumbled to dust with Miko’s answer, sadly.

“No, that would be silly,” said the girl. “I mean the OmniCast! What if our show was here as well? Do you think people would watch? Would it earn Coin?”

Eva was taken aback by the suggestion, and looked out to the dueling floor as she thought about it. As the idea rolled around in her head, she realized that its benefits vastly outweighed the negatives.

Down below, the two Reborn had cut each other up in a few places – arms, legs. But there was still plenty of fight left in the both of them. They circled each other for a few moments before they leapt back towards each other and launched into a mad flurry of jabs and slashes.

The 7th Seed took a vicious cut across her thigh, but she was able to pay the wound back and stabbed the 12th Seed in the abdomen. Both fell back from each other to lick their wounds, but quickly leapt back into the fray not long after.

“I like the idea,” Eva said eventually. “We oughta try to syndicate in every major territory, to be honest. The Federation, the Empire, the Hegemony... whoever else is out there, too. Even if we don’t get a whole lot of views, it would be cool to have the ‘Cast all across the galaxy.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Szereth. “You two have an OmniCast? I feel as though this is the first time I’m hearing about this.”

“Only in Federation space currently,” answered Miko. “Although we have not updated it in some time, because, well... we have been here.”

“Did you not notice the EyeCasts floating around?” asked Alevos. “They’re almost always around.”

“I did,” said Szereth. “But every young Drogar does that. I figured it was normal for young humans, too. I didn’t think these two were actually producing a show... Is it good? Er, I mean, is it profitable?”

“I hope it’s good, though I still feel like there’s a missing ingredient,” replied Eva. “But otherwise, yeah, it makes us a little money. Like Raijin said though, we haven’t been able to keep up because we’ve been a little trapped lately. Kinda hoping that what we show about the Empire will revitalize that.”

“We have a good audience with Federation pilots, mechanics, and engineers,” added Miko. “The question is, would Drogar watch humans do human things in the first place?”

“What is it you two actually do?” asked Alevos.

“Mercenary stuff,” they both answered.

“Blow up this base,” continued Eva,” transport those items, scavenge that battle. That sorta stuff. Legal, of course.”

“What we have published is legal, in any case,” added Miko. “We have much unused footage of our grey activities in the archive.”

The two of them glanced at each other quickly, and their eyes went wide in mutual realization. They could publish the footage of their morally grey work in the Empire! Probably.

Hopefully.

But they decided not to bring it up and kept quiet for now.

“Hmm, combined with your Duelist persona, there could be some serious potential,” said Szereth. “Technically, you’d have the only human-centric show in Empire space. I mean, we’ve got a few ‘Casts with humans in it, but it’s mostly war drama.”

“I take it humans are the bad guys?” asked Eva.

Szereth nodded grimly.

“Humans are almost always ferocious antagonists,” he said.

“How would we get your footage, though?” asked Alevos. “Our networks are completely Voidwalled from each other. Only highly secure, highly official, highly sensitive communications are let through. After serious vetting from multiple levels of security scanning.”

“Well, we are mercenaries,” answered Eva. “We can just take a job at the border every so often. We’ll bring our footage raw and send them to you. ‘Course, we’d need someone to cut it all together and whatnot.”

Cheers erupted around the stands once again. One of the duelists sliced off the other’s offhand. The 7th Seed cried out in pain and drew her stump close to her body protectively. She slashed at the air with her blade defensively to keep her opponent at bay.

But after a moment, she gathered herself and charged at her opponent with reckless abandon. She swung at him with fury and power and kept him in a defensive stance. She struck at him over and over relentlessly, and chipped away at his defenses.

“Or perhaps we could simply meet up,” said Szereth. “I can play observer for a materials convoy, then spend some time and catch up with you.”

Miko looked at the two Justicars with a curious eye.

“Would you two be able to come out as well?” she asked.

“Can’t really promise anything,” said Doleth. “Our work at the capital has been tireless lately, and although the borderlands are practically lawless, there’s more of a need here.”

“Does not the fact of lawlessness mean your efforts are best spent there?”

Severas chuckled lightly.

“Maybe,” she said. “It’s possible that we can request for a temporary transfer. Or maybe even be allowed to go on vacation. You know, into a known conflict zone where fights between naval powers sometimes break out.”

.....

“That’s a hell of a vacation,” said Eva.

“Not everywhere out there’s chaotic wildlands,” said Szereth. “Some of my traders report having relatively safe, peaceful planets on their routes.”

“Sounds like there’s no Chosen out there yet,” laughed Doleth.

“Hmph,” said Severas. “If Chosen aren’t there, then it’s definitely a vacation destination. War-torn or not.”

“Well, I think I’m willing to give it a go,” said Alevos.

“Same,” added Szereth. “Let’s talk contracts.”

In the ring below, both of the duelists were breathing hard and began to fray at the edges. But anger at the loss of her hand seemed to still be fresh with the 7th Seed, and she once again launched into a furious attack.

With his stamina nearing its limits, the 12th Seed took a highly defensive stance. Every parry and evasion he made became clumsier and more careless. And then he stumbled.

Realizing the 12th Seed was at his limit, the 7th Seed increased the tempo of her attacks with the last of her energy, and slashed him all over his body. She allowed her fury to completely take over and cut her opponent to ribbons.

By the time she was done, her opponent was covered in horrendous gashes with blood flowing freely from all of them. He fell to his knees, then onto his face as the light left his eyes.

And the crowd went wild.