New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Astaroth turned his head expectantly towards Killi. The man was also looking at him. He was smiling.

They both started shining, as they got teleported back into the arena. The two men looked at each other, in anticipation.

*Gong!*

Astaroth was the first to dash forward. He melded with White as he did, gaining more speed as he advanced.

Killi started running in a circular motion, trying to deal as much damage as he could before the first clash.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Astaroth exclaimed.

He dropped on all fours, the claws on his hands digging into the stone floor, and he launched himself at Killi, taking an interception course.

“What the!” Killi yelped, as a beastly, white torpedo was not coming at him like a jet-propelled missile.

Astaroth pulled out his shield, impacting Killi in the chest with it not a second later. The collision blew the air out of Killi’s lungs, blowing him away and launching him into the nearest wall.

He took a lot of damage from the two hits, but not enough to kill him. He jumped out of the rubble, expecting a follow-up attack.

But it didn’t come, as Astaroth had not landed on his feet from the collision. He was getting up just as Killi noticed him, dusting off his armor.

“That needs some working on.” Astaroth said casually.

Killi burst out in laughter.

“Ahahaha! Kid, you are mad! Very well. I shall get serious too.” Killi said.

He put away his longbow, trading it for his two scimitars. Astaroth grinned at the action.

He knew Killi was a very skilled swordsman. He had seen many of his fencing competitions.

So he was expecting a tough battle from here on out. Even though his stats were much higher than Killi’s right now, skill was paramount in a duel.

Astaroth forewent taking a weapon and chose to get experience fighting with just his beastly claws. They were weapons of their own, anyway.

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Astaroth knew he had only five minutes with this stat advantage, and then he would have to play it safer and pace his attacks. So he made the most out of his current situation.

The more time went by, the more refined his fighting technique became. He wasn’t shadowing his opponent this time, since he wasn’t wielding blades, but he was learning an entirely new style.

It overjoyed Killi to have a worthy opponent. It had been years since someone clashed against his sword and managed to stay relatively unscathed for so long.

Time ticked away rapidly, as both men were enjoying this confrontation to the maximum. But Astaroth would soon lose his advantage.

He was starting to make headway into dishing some attacks of his own during the exchanges, but it wasn’t fast enough. There were only thirty seconds left to his melding, and Killi’s health was not going down as fast as he needed.

His last seconds of melding passed without change. When the melding undid itself, he immediately summoned White, sending him after Killi.

Astaroth went for a different technique than the last time he fought him. Instead of trying to pincer him with White, Astaroth started attacking from afar with his shortbow.

He tried all kinds of tricks, combining magic with almost every shot, finding out a multitude of new spells. Some of which were very unsuited for combat, others that were much more.

After expending almost all of White’s summon timer, and most of his health too, Killi finally dropped to his knees. Astaroth was thoroughly impressed.

White currently had the stats of a level twenty-five zone boss. And yet, Killi had withstood his and Astaroth’s onslaught for almost ten minutes.

Plus, given more time, he would have felled the wolf. That was no small feat.

Astaroth walked to Killi, pulling out his great axe for the final blow. Killi looked him in the eyes while he did.

“You have potential, kid. Don’t turn out like the angry garden dwarf in the stands. You can do better. You can be better.” He said, lowering his head.

Astaroth lifted his axe up high.

“I thank you for the high praise. I will try to live up to it.” He replied, before swinging his axe down.

Killi’s body turned to pixels, reappearing in the arena, but on the other side from the rest of the players.

‘Sweet. I get to watch.’ he thought, chuckling.

Astaroth was teleported out, reappearing near his friends, and saw Killi on the opposite side. He nodded his head once to the man before sitting down.

The next combat was between Blue Peacock, and a player that had made it here by a mix of skill and sheer luck. She made quick work of him, using him as target practice, more than an actual opponent.

It only took her 2 minutes to kill him, seeing as his health pool was large, and she refused to use any skill. The man tried the best he could, but did not even land one attack on her.

She was too elusive for the likes of him. After dying a dog’s death, he reappeared on the other side, his shoulders drooped and his head slung low.

Astaroth almost had pity for him. But this was the way of the powerful.

The next ones up were Phoenix and I’die. Phoenix clapped the latter’s shoulder, smiling at him, as they both disappeared from the bleachers.

When the gong rang to signal the start of combat, I’die froze, as Phoenix immediately started with her power move. The flame tornado engulfed the arena, vaporizing the poor elf, and sending him directly to the loser’s side.

Athena punched Phoenix’s shoulder when she reappeared, giving her an earful about ‘being nice’ and ‘Giving the kid a chance’. Phoenix took the scolding with a wry smile, saying nothing back.

Astaroth once again watched from the sidelines, chuckling to himself.

‘At least it’s not me.’ He thought.