The hands on the clock moved into place. A cadence of ticks bounced around as they travelled in a circle, soothing the onlookers and the battlefield with its presence.
Tick, Tick, Tick.
Ranger grabbed his weapon with both hands, again preparing to reload, this time inserting a green box inside. Leo's earlier amazement had to be put on hold for now though.
'Looks like he's always stopping for a whole turn after firing a ball.'
He was contemplating whether to take advantage of that fact and attack, risking being intercepted by fatty should he be careless. Or focus on the challenger at hand and then pick off ranger at the end.
The latter being much less dangerous but perhaps would take much longer to execute.
Leo's breathing got heavier as his lungs visibly pumped out his chest and through his clothes. Weighing the options here, neither looked good.
'I'm gonna run out of stamina before killing both, and I'll be killed by fatty before reaching the other.'
With a droop in his eyes, he glanced over at the circling militia, it was out of the question now. Dragging things out wasn't even an option.
'Damn it all, wait for me Luna!'
Resolve burned through his hands, gripping the hilt tight as the sweat on his palms evaporated from the friction.
Step.
Dust and rock flew backwards as Leo stretched his figure forward, launching off the ground into a piercing arrow heading right for the ranger on the other side of the arena.
Relatively, fatty was way closer to Leo, which is why he had to be careful when moving. One misstep and he'd be no more, leaving him open for attack with no way to defend.
His running and stance was laughably amateur. It was nowhere near the level of the heavy knight. In comparison, Leo was a slug trying to be an eagle.
Three, three was the number of fatty's movement now. Did the clock know Leo's movements? Did it predict him? Would it adapt to him?
These were all questions running through his mind as he reached across a third of the arena. Whatever happened next depended on the answer to his question. He was reaching the danger zone in the middle, where from there on forth he would be blind to any attack from behind. The last stretch would have to be the fastest and most precise one yet.
In the moment, he tried recalling how his previous opponent operated.
'The knight charged twice, I'm sure there's something in there that I'm missing...'
Multitasking was hard with blood surging through his body and heating up his brain.
'When it charged at me, it missed both times, by a long shot...'
The brute missed miserably indeed. It almost had him when he was stuck in one spot trying to put the fire out. And so that pushed only one question in his mind:
'Do they have a fixed attack path?'
He wasn't too sure yet. So far, the others have been almost spot on with their attacks. Though that may be credited to Leo's lack of experience, making him an easy target to hit in the first place.
But that was his suspicion.
'If it can't move away after starting, then it's worth a shot.'
He had a plan in mind, one that would hopefully make use of the clocks weakness. It was a real gamble, but if it worked, it would instantly win him the battle.
Danger was soon approaching. The middle was now closer than ever as fatty twisted his body around, ready to launch a decisive attack. The craters on his hand switched off, Illuminating only one of the engravings. Leo did not understand what it was telling him, but it constantly switched or remained constant with the tick of the clock.
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Lazing off the side of its attire, a slender chain reeled around fattys hip. It grabbed the free end of the chain and brought it to a hook at the bottom of its spear, latching on the chain to the spear.
Leo was ten or so steps away from the midpoint, he could only guess what its next move was.
'I need it to charge at me or do do a poking attack.'
Metal rustled as the chain went up in the air along with the spear, it held it up in one hand and placed it way above its head. With the other hand it took aim, pointing two fingers toward Leo as he waited for the perfect moment.
'A throw!'
Leo was now more than halfway across, he would have to rely on his hearing from this moment on, losing sight of the reloading ranger could not happen – not after all the momentum he's built up.
Swoosh.
The fang broke through the air, ignoring everything in front veering ahead of Leo, headed for his back.
'Not yet...'
Some whirling could be heard now, the spear was violently shaking again and the chain was producing an unbearable amount of noise. Leo was listening for a certain que, one that would tell him the spear is close enough.
Creak.
'Now!'
Leo took a step back immediately, the spear flew right by and the chain followed soon after. The whole contraption landed square in the wall on the other side of the room, flying past the circle soliders and into the marble works.
On his backfoot he preserved momentum, bending his knees and launching himself forward again before it could reel the chain in again.
It was go time, Leo's plan from here on was straightforward.
First, use the moment between movements to close the distance to ranger. Leo closed the distance as fast as his legs allowed it, dragging his silver beauty with his whole body.
Fatty reeled back the chain, the next movement of the clock wouldn't start until they were all stationary. Giving Leo a huge window of attack.
Second, line his body up so that he's stood in between both the Spear and the ranger.
Leo took the step to the side, losing some of his speed but strategically placing himself in between the two as he landed mere steps from ranger.
Click.
Eight, Seven.
Third, let ranger take aim at Leo. This was the most dangerous of the steps, the attack the ranger took was the most important part of the plan. Rangers number was eight. The Spears number was irrelevant, as long as it went according to plan of course.
As unpredictable as the attacks were, he was sure it would be another shot.
Two engravings lit up on his hand.
Fourth step, at the last second dodge!
Ranger lifted his weapon in the air and with the bladed side, it swung down hard onto Leo's blocking sword – pushing him back a few feet.
'Shoot it!'
It took its arm and pointed it forward, successively slamming down on the trigger and releasing a cluster of yellow droplets.
Holding his breath, Leo stepped to the side and forward, dodging the incoming trail of yellow dust heading for the fatty –who wasn't doing much, just preparing for some useless charge it would never complete.
Following through with the dust, the bearing system sparked up again, setting the exiting particles not on fire this time, but bringing lightning forth into the world.
In perfect synchronisation, Leo took his sword from below with both hands as it dragged near the floor to deliver a flaming blow to the hardly armoured ranger.
Slash! Crash!
The hands on the clock exploded immediately, debris falling everywhere as the grand clock hung near the ceiling began crumbling into thin air.
A huge dressed oval rolled on the floor in pieces as another decorated circle went up in flame.
His hands were shaking.
He looked at them, and then at his sword, and finally at the runes.
"Saw that?
[...]
"Useless bastards..."
After Leo's little stunt, nearly being hit by the exiting lightning in his arm, he dropped straight to the floor. Gasping for air and sweating from every corner of his body. Some of the fire on his back still wrecked havoc, but it was nowhere near enough to be dangerous. At most it burned as much as the sun during the night.
Ranger plopped on his face, the flame taking his body and head all together before all his belongings dispersed in the same ashen glitter that the rest did.
Thud, Thud, Thud.
Thud, Thud, Thud.
Thud, Thud, Thud.
Each and every single knight on the side took up their sword from the ground, pointing the up to the sky and in the middle – pointing right at the lifeless fatty rolling on the floor.
Leo looked over his shoulder and back at it, his plan worked wonders, affirmed by the disappearance of the clock. All he could see behind was a fragmented spear and the mangled clothing of a warrior. The sight only pushed a hidden thought further, highlighting his recklessness and luck:
"That could've been me..."
His hands were shaking, unlike the rest – who were taken cleanly by the flames – the Spearman was taken out by his own.
The runes finally made their appearance.
[Claim your prize]
They took off from the sword, swaying through the air, pointing at the fatty corpse.
At the same time, the engravings on his hand shifted back, back to their rightful positions – a dial.
Beneath larger runes appeared, completing their message as they danced steadily.
[Champion]